EL SEGUNDO HERALD June 8, 2017 Page 7 Entertainment Film Review Check It Out touch & take off! Plus, enjoy speeds up to 45Mbps at one all-included price, with no extra monthly fees. Internet plan starts at $40.00 Internet speeds up to 45Mbps Wi-Fi Gateway router to connect your devices AT&T Internet Security Suite—powered by McAfee Bundle with another qualifying AT&T service and get internet for $30/mo. / mo Saving a life from a potential catastrophe EVERY 10 MINUTES! DIRECTV + Internet + Home Phone Bundles Starts at $89.99/ mo Over 145 of your favorite channels Internet speeds up to 45Mbps A Genie® HD DVR receiver and 3 additional TV receiver HD Included Phone - With over 25 convenient calling features Call today and pay less 855-977-6038 ©2017 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo, and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trade marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. Subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. provide products and services under the AT&T brand. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Studio Grace: The Making of a Record By Eric Siblin Book Review by Roz Templin, Library Assistant, El Segundo Public Library Eric Siblin is a Canadian writer/journalist who had always dreamed of a life in the music industry. Particularly, he had wanted to record an album of his own original music. He started playing the guitar as a child and was in garage bands throughout his high school years. By the time he went to college, his interest in journalism took over and songwriting became a hobby. But even though his professional life became something different, the desire to write songs never went away. As a musician myself, the author and I share quite a lot--a lifetime love of music, listening to it, being influenced by it, learning to play instruments, singing, creating lyrics and melodies and sharing that love by performing with and for others. Eric writes that his earliest influences were The Monkees and The Partridge Family, which led to the purchase of an early cheap guitar. Another thing I have in common with him is that I have found that as we mature, so do our musical tastes. In fact, those tastes have broadened to include many genres that we never would have listened to in our youth. Eric had a couple of dates with destiny when he encountered a fellow musician with dreams of stardom and had a re-acquaintance with a former fellow college student, now a music producer. Studio Grace chronicles the year-long pursuit of honing his compositions into material that is worthy to record. He works with several engineers and quite a few professional musicians to achieve his goal. There are descriptions of the battering his soul takes from criticism--both from himself and from others--the risks he takes when letting go of his control when in collaboration, and the elation he feels when he listens to the results of his and his compatriots’ efforts. Want to hear the actual recordings? Yeah, it’s kind of an interactive experience. Visit the author’s website and insert the secret password found in the book and you can listen to and/or download its musical soundtrack! Character quirks make this story amusing. There’s a bass player who uses Krazy Glue on his injured finger to complete a recording session. Eric’s friend Jo gets steamed when he uses “her” song title. Delta bluesman Michael James Browne (MJB) guests on one of Eric’s songs and observes that “Auto-tune doesn’t make sense for the blues,” and that some notes are intentionally flat to get that sound. Another sideman comments, “With the twist of a knob, you can eliminate the blues!” Reading this book began to inspire me to work harder in my own life. It’s easy to put a part of you aside when your attention and drive are diverted. It’s really difficult to maintain your discipline with practice and performance after a long day. Working in a library means a lot to me and I enjoy assisting the public with research, education and leisure reading. Sometimes the subject of music comes up during research, as well as during our free library concert series that adds additional meaning to providing library services to the public. Read this book and you’ll see it’s never too late to achieve your heart’s desire. • Musical Comedy Opening Night is Worth a Standing Ovation By Morgan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com Birdman meets 30 Rock is director Isaac Rentz’s feature film Opening Night--an ensemble musical comedy with heart, soul, and a bunch of naughty jokes. We spend one hilariously chaotic night backstage the Broadway production One-Hit-Wonderland, a musical journey through the poppy hits of yesterday led by *NSYNC’s JC Chasez (as himself). It is high stakes all around as the outcome of the night’s show will determine whether or not the production will continue its planned run or shut down for good. For production manager Nick (Topher Grace), the Broadway stage has become a long forgotten dream as he now resorts to working behind the velvet curtain, comically tackling all of a producer’s worst nightmares. A wonderfully frenetic Topher Grace hilariously navigates his way through the endless cyclones of disaster. His calm, cool and collected demeanor is pushed to the limit by his flamboyant friend and backup dancer Malcolm (Taye Diggs), drugged-up diva Brooke (Anne Heche), insecure assistant Alex Bean (Lauren Lapkus), clueless prop assistant Ron (Paul Scheer), and overbearing manager Mr. Goldmeyer (Rob Riggle), among others. All of their problems, however, are background noise to Nick as he attempts to uncover the relationship between JC and his ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Alona Tal). As his actions threaten to destroy the show and ruin his relationship with Chloe for good, Nick must learn to face his troubled past if he is ever going to move on. Opening Night enlists some of comedy’s most talented actors--and with a finely-tuned script bringing out the best in everyone, the result is a non-stop joyride of quotable one-liners and belly laughs. JC plays an over-exaggerated version of himself with *NSYNC memorabilia plastered all over his dressing room walls, including a life-sized, shirtless cardboard cutout of himself in the corner. He is both goofy and earnest, poking fun at his boy band past much to the enjoyment of the audience. Rob Riggle as the larger-than-life, insult-hurling manager steals the scene every time. Not only do his cartoonish facial expressions get a laugh, but the stressed delivery of his lines adds to the frantic nature of the situation and pushes Nick to the brink. The musical numbers are another perfectly executed piece of this film’s total package (full disclosure, I am a fan of musicals- -however, one definitely doesn’t need to be fond of theater to want an encore of Opening Night). If you’re familiar with the television show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (if you’re not, get to watching!), the original (and many times vulgar) songs are the main source of unexpected hilarity. Same thing here-- while the songs are all versions of one-hit wonders, the spin the cast takes on them is completely unique. For any director, the jump from the music video environment to a feature-length film-- and a musical, no less--would seem like a tall order, but Isaac Rentz is able to seamlessly make this transition to roaring applause. The fluidity of the film’s pacing and timed comedic beats, coupled with a solid cast of outstanding performances, makes Opening Night worthy of a standing ovation. Opening Night is not rated. 90 minutes. Now playing in select theaters and on iTunes, available on Netflix August 1. • Topher Grace in Opening Night. Courtesy of Dark Factory. Roz Templin. Studio Grace:The Making of a Record by Eric Siblin. alone aloI linve e FREE but I’’I’m m never alone. I have Life Alert.® One touch of a button sends help fast, 24/7, can’t • medical • fall • fi re • invasion • CO gas emergencies. For a FREE brochure call: Medical Alert Medical Alert Industry Leader Industry Leader Since 1987 Since 1987 No landline? No problem! SHIPPING! I live even when you can’’t reach a phone for: AS SEEN ON TV 1-866-591-7844
Herald_060817_FNL_lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above