Issa Rae 'Lovebirds' Comedy Moves To NETFLIX

The Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani's romantic comedy, Lovebirds, has moved to NETFLIX with the newly set premiere date on Friday, May 22!

Vivica A. Fox Launches Hustling With Vivica A. Fox

Vivica A. Fox is one of the hardest working women in Hollywood, with a career spanning over 30 years. Recently, she added author to her impressive resume, with her book, Every Day I'm Hustling. The message of the book is that you make your own luck, you never wake up thinking someone’s going to call you and offer you that part, ask you out on that date, or change your life; instead, YOU change your life. Vivica hustles in every aspect of her life and has learned many lessons while creating a lasting career, through sheer, roll-up-your-sleeves, hard work.

Vivica’s podcast will harness her personal experience and hustle to help listeners with relationships, career, style, sex, self-esteem, and will give an unfiltered look into her life. An avid sports fan, Vivica will deliver her own spin on athletes and games.  

Vivica A. Fox has built a multifaceted career in film, television, and business and one woman’s been by her side for three decades, attorney and producer Lita Richardson. These two forged a friendship and business partnership that changed the course of their lives and now they’ll help others to build the right squad with the right people to open new opportunities.  In a culture that tells women they need to compete, Vivica believes women build opportunity, success, and power when they stick together – and she and Lita have the stories to prove it. From a chance meeting at a party thrown by Magic Johnson to producing a film together at Sundance to signing the deal for the Vivica A. Fox Hair Collection, find out how this duo built one of Hollywood’s longest-running and most successful careers.

Entertaining, informative and intimate, hear how Lita talked Vivica into a prenup, talked her out of quitting Celebrity Apprentice, and why she was unable to talk any sense into her during the infamous 50 Cent breakup! Listeners will feel like they are eavesdropping on two girlfriends who just happen to hang out with Will Smith and Snoop Dogg. 

'Like A Boss' Out on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD

The comedy LIKE A BOSS debuted on digital April 7, 2020, and on Blu-ray, DVD, and On-Demand April 21 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

The Digital* and Blu-ray releases deliver even more laughs with deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes bonus content featuring interviews with the uproarious ensemble cast.

Best friends, Mia and Mel (Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne) are living their best lives, running their own cosmetics company until a villainous beauty mogul (Salma Hayek) conspires to steal it from under them. When her devious plan drives the besties apart, Mia and Mel learn that sticking together is the only way to turn the tables and take their company back. The beauty business is about to get ugly.  The film also stars Jennifer Coolidge and Billy Porter.

Under The Lake Releases 'Your Horizon Too'

        

In February when announcing the coming release of jazz-funk band Under The Lake’s “Your Horizon Too” album, the story that inspired the new record was chronicled about the chance reunion between keyboardist-songwriter-producer Jayson Tipp and the group’s former saxophonist-flutist Quintin Gerard W. 

Two weeks prior to the album release date, which dropped Friday on the Mind In Overdrive label, Gerard took ill from COVID-19. After enduring a miserable fortnight, he finally turned the corner and is on the road to recovery as the album dropped. But the scare brought the reality of the novel coronavirus and the message behind the outfit’s fifth album into context for Tipp.   

“This extraordinary time reminds us how important the people in our lives are. We feel like our recording of The Stylistics’ track “People Make The World Go ‘Round” from ‘Your Horizon Too’ hits home as we think about the special people in our lives,” said the Portland, Oregon-based Tipp. “When I consider how Quintin and I reconnected two years ago when he happened to tune in while I was doing a live radio interview, picked up the phone and called in…I mean, that’s kind of random. That led to a reunion with other original Under The Lake members – special friends - to create ‘Your Horizon Too,’ an album about how although we may have different perspectives, we all share the same horizon, a shared point of connectivity that unites everyone much like this global battle unites us to combat the virus.” 

The core four who formed Under The Lake decades ago – Tipp, Gerard, bassist Nathan Brown and drummer Richard Sellers - reunited in a San Diego recording studio to track “Your Horizon Too” where they were supplemented by guitarist Patrick Yandall. The chemistry between the players returned instantly. The setlist mixing jazz, funk, fusion, and rhythm & soul consists of ten tunes penned by Tipp along with a couple of reworked classics – the aforementioned “People Make The World Go ‘Round” and Steely Dan’s vibey “Josie.” The first single that inspired the album title, “It’s Your Horizon Too,” is a Tipp-Gerard collaboration that is presently working its way onto playlists. Tipp is in the process of assembling a video clip for the track for which each player shot his part at home.   

Concert dates to support the release of “Your Horizon Too” have been scrapped for now, but Tipp is hopeful that new listeners will discover the collection, encouraged by messages from fans who were quick to tap into new music from Under The Lake.

“We realize that it’s an odd time for everyone. We’re all out of sorts having to stay at home. Folks are streaming content like never before. We know music is a salve for people and we’re just honored that our fans are turning to us. We hope that everyone is looking and moving forward to the horizon out there in front of us as we get through this together but socially distanced apart. And that’s the meaning and the message of the particularly apt album and single titles: we’re all in this together and it’s everyone’s horizon.”

Aretha Franklin Biopic To Open On Christmas

While many studios jockey to launch their awards-season fare in the thick of autumn, a movie can still go in the tail-end holiday season to garnish buzz and bucks, i.e., American Sniper, 1917 and Hidden Figures, all of which were blockbusters and Oscar-lauded movies.

Respect is directed by Liesl Tommy and stars Dreamgirls Oscar winner Hudson as Franklin, Forest Whitaker as C.L. Franklin, Marlon Wayans as Ted White, Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington, and Tituss Burgess as Rev. Dr. James Cleveland.

Respect was set to go wide October 9 and moves away from 20th Century Studios’ Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie feature adaptation Death on the Nile and Warner Bros’ The Witches.

On December 25, Respect is the only exclusive release, though next to 20th Century Studios’ limited opening of The Duel (which could likely move since production was stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak).

The wide entries on January 15 currently include Sony’s Kevin Hart movie Fatherhood, Universal’s Simon Kinberg action thriller 355, Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat and United Artists Releasing’s untitled Guy Ritchie film.

For Gina Kronstadt 'October Comes Too Soon'

Jazz singer-songwriter Gina Kronstadt journals an alluring temptation on “The Threat of Love,” the first single from her third album, “October Comes Too Soon,” which dropped last Friday on FallOff Records. Kronstadt wrote and produced the storybook musing on love, intimate relationships, and astute observations. The single earned most added status on the Billboard chart in its debut week at radio. Debuting the same week was the sensual black and white video for “The Threat of Love” that was lensed on the streets of Los Angeles.

Kronstadt writes music as therapy – mental and spiritual - and she composed the eight songs that comprise “October Comes Too Soon” during a challenging eight-month period while recovering from multiple shoulder surgeries. She cleverly uses “real” lyrics and her soothing-caress-of-a-voice to capture and convey honest thoughts and emotions, feelings of vulnerability and heartache, and ruminations on love, bliss, and politics. When it was time to lay the tracks, Kronstadt called upon noted musicians to vividly illumine her tales: keyboardists John Beasley and Nicholas Semrad, bassist Benjamin Shepherd, drummer Joel Taylor, trumpeter Michael Stever, and saxophonist/woodwind player Bob Sheppard. A first-call violin player who has performed on an extraordinary library of crème de la crème recording projects and concert stages, Hollywood box office hits, and landmark television series, Kronstadt helmed the 12-piece string section that draped the tracks with lush backdrops, adding depth, drama, and elegance.

         

While the first single garners attention from smooth/contemporary jazz radio programmers, cuts from “October Comes Too Soon” have also been proliferating playlists at a second radio format: straight-ahead jazz radio. In fact, Kronstadt’s disc is already making its way up the Jazz Week chart.

       

Kronstadt is eager to share the music from “October Comes Too Soon” with listeners live on stage although current global circumstances may force the delay of her album release concert slated for April 23 at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City.    

Guitarist Pierre Bensusan's Latest CD Is 'Azwan'

  

PARIS (24 March 2020): Best laid plans, right? After spending the last few years off the concert trail in order to meticulously craft a new album, “Azwan,” preceded by an accompanying book, “Pierre Bensusan Guitar Collection,” and the unveiling of a handmade Lowden Guitars signature model, all of which were to be supported by an extensive 110-date US and Canadian concert tour running from March 7 into July, world music fingerstyle guitar virtuoso Pierre Bensusan suddenly finds himself back home on French soil after having to pull the plug one week into the concert trek due to the Coronavirus outbreak. While the entire tour is being rebooked for 2021, until then, listeners will have to discover the magic and masterful musicianship showcased on the 12-track digital and CD release composed and co-produced by Bensusan for his 3DADGAD Vision label, which is distributed by MVD Entertainment Group.

The COVID-19 global pandemic that has ensnared humanity underscores the oneness of our world and our interlocked connectivity. That’s Bensusan’s message and the meaning behind “Azwan,” the award-winning artist’s 15^th album that dropped March 13. The French-Algerian guitarist-vocalist said, “Along my life’s journey, I have experienced unity off and on, being more or less aware of the impact and influence of every action upon the entire universe. As time goes on, the more I feel connected to all people, animals and universally to the whole of nature. Being that we are all connected, my intention is that every action and behavior contributes, supports and adds value to our interconnectivity, especially through my music. It feels like a nurturing or even a healing process for me and those with whom I share the music.”

Voted by Guitar Player magazine readers as Best World Music Guitarist, Bensusan’s music is contemplative, wistful, sublime and prodigiously performed with inspiration rooted in nature. “The concept of ‘Azwan’ came from observing bees, those solar insects working in the darkness together as one, and by observing flocks of birds flying and dancing together as one. It has been an inspiring symbolic representation of the continuum of music. When seeing ‘Azwan’ written, it can evoke a place, a city or a mood, but when hearing it said out loud, it sounds like ‘as one.’ I’ve been contemplating all the music from ‘Azwan’ for years before actually recording it, taking time to allow all the notes to come together as one.”

Bensusan is a storyteller, using expressive and lyrical acoustic guitar parlance and ethereal vocalization to allure, transfix and transport. “‘Azwan’ is primarily a solo instrumental album on which the guitar is conceived as an orchestra, delivering melody, bass, chords and counterpoint in the same space. To it, we add some vocal elements and several collaborations with guest musicians,” said Bensusan who has lived in Paris since age four.

“Azwan” opens with “Fils de la Rose,” a fragrant guitar and violin bouquet that welcomes the musical journey prepared to blossom. “Optimystical” is a seamless swoon of exquisite guitar, atmospheric vocalization and even sweet whistled melodies. On the title track, Bensusan’s simple, meditative and evocative fretwork dispenses poise, hope, and grace. “Abeilles” (“Bees” in English) enchants with a touch of celestial vocal harmonization and string accouterments. Bensusan deploys an endless array of dexterous fretwork on “Balkangeles,” which includes a special appearance by French guitarist Jean-Marie Ecay, who coproduced “Azwan.” Bensusan indulges his wanderlust on “Return to Ireland” and seductively romances with a Latin flair on “Without You.” On “Wee Dander,” Bensusan seems to delight by deftly constructing melodic licks over complex guitar rhythms at constantly vacillating cadences. Adding Christophe Cravero on alto and violin and Stephane Kericky on upright bass lend dramatic sensibilities to “Dia Libre.” Bensusan’s music is genre-defying and genre-uniting, which “Portnoo” exemplifies in its unique alchemy. The artist sings in French on the fun and playful romp “Corps Vaudou” and closes the set poignantly with the sensitive “Manitowoc,” an Indian title meaning “land of the great spirits.”

Teaching himself to play guitar at age eleven after four years of piano training, Bensusan inked his first record deal when he was 17, winning the Rose d’Or at the Montreux Festival for his 1975 debut album, “Près de Paris.” More recently, he won an Independent Music Award in 2014 for “Encore: Live,” a triple live record. He’s regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitar players of the 21^st century, known for his immense sound vocabulary utilizing hues of world music, new age, jazz, classical, traditional, folk and pop with French, Arabic, Latin, and Celtic cultural references.    

“Azwan” contains the following songs:

“Fils de la Rose”

“Optimystical”

“Azwan”

“Abeilles”

“Balkangeles”

“Return to Ireland”

“Without You”

“Wee Dander”

“Dia Libre”

“Portnoo”

“Corps Vaudou”

“Manitowoc”

For more information, please visit https://www.pierrebensusan.com.