Entertainment News

The network brings the first ever K-Pop dance convention to the United States featuring Movement Lifestyle and Poreotics

Redwood City, CA (PRWEB) May 09, 2011

MYX TV, the only true Asian American television network, proudly brings the first ever K-Pop dance convention to the United States on June 18 and 19. K-Pop TaKeover takes place at the Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn in North Hollywood where K-Pop fans and dancers gather together to learn the latest and greatest in dance from Movement Lifestyle and America’s Best Dance Crew’s Poreotics.

“We wanted to bring together some of the dance industry’s most revolutionary artists and now, they’re finally here,” shares Miguel Santos, Head of MYX TV. “California is home to some of the hottest young dance crews and we want to contribute to the evolution of the dance scene through K-Pop TaKeover.”

The convention brings together famed dancers and choreographers that changed the landscape of hip-hop and the K-Pop movement. Movement Lifestyle choreographers Lyle Beniga, Shaun Evaristo, Keone Madrid and Mari Martin have worked with some of K-Pop’s biggest stars like Taeyang, Big Bang, GDragon, 2NE1 and Se7en. They have led the redefinition of the music and lifestyle that K-Pop is known for around the world.

“We’re really excited to bring our art to the whole community that loves dance and K-Pop music,” says Shaun Evaristo, choreographer represented by Movement Lifestyle. “K-Pop TaKeover is going to be a great experience for fans and dancers but will also be a really special one for us.”

Poreotics is no stranger to the US dance scene, as MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew Season 5 winners. These shaded showmen inspired by robots, entertain the dance world with their unexpected humor and revolutionary mixed style. As they laboriously honed their craft of popping and robotic movement, they blend different dance styles, giving them a distinctive animated look that’s fiercely entertaining.

“We are so excited to be a part of the first-ever K-Pop Tour with MYX TV and Movement Lifestyle,” says Matt Nguyen aka "Dumbo" of Poreotics. “K-Pop and popping… Who could ask for more?! This is going to be the first of many to come around the USA and the world!”

Catch the early registration deals from May 6-May 31, 2011. Tickets will be on sale through June 18th and are available at myx.tv/kpoptakeover.

ABOUT MYX TV®: With its U.S. headquarters in Redwood City, California, MYX TV was developed by ABS-CBN International, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation, the Philippines’ largest entertainment and broadcasting company, through ABS-CBN Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary, ABS-CBN Global Hungary Kft. MYX TV is the premier music entertainment and lifestyle channel dedicated to the Asian American community, utilizing music, culture and entertainment. MYX TV can be seen on Channel 368 on Comcast’s Digital Preferred Tier in the San Francisco Bay Area and Central California and Channel 673 in Chicago, Cox Digital Basic Cable Channel 479 in Orange County and Channel 474 in Northern Virginia, MCV Cable Channel 16 in Guam and RCN Channel 464 in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. It is available nationwide on DirecTV channel 2067. For more information, visit http://myx.tv.

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Keesa OcampoABS-CBN International(650) 508-6614Email Information

NEW YORK – Carson Daly admits he was worried about comparisons of his new singing competition show, "The Voice," with "American Idol."

"Everybody was a little bit worried about it," he said. "I mean we all know about "American Idol" and it's a great, great story in this country and television. It's a juggernaut. It's incredible. It's a needle mover.

"But on "The Voice," we wanted to be sort of a fresh take on the music competition series."

And the show focuses on just that — the sound of its contestant's voices as they perform with celebrity coaches like Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine, who listen with their backs turned.

If the coaches like what they hear, they try to add the singer to a team of possible pop stars. If more than one coach is interested in a singer, the singer gets to decide whose team they want to join. Eventually, the teams are whittled down to one contestant, who wins a recording contract and $100,000.

So far, viewers are tuning in. "The Voice" premiered with a 5.1 rating for viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, and ratings jumped 12 percent for its second week.

"Idol" might have come before "The Voice," but Daly was introduced to the masses before "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest. Daly, 37, was a VJ on "TRL" on MTV from 1998 to 2002, where he played music video and interviewed stars such Britney Spears, Eminem and his current "Voice" co-star Aguilera.

Recently, she tweeted a photo of the two of them together on set, and Daly said he heard back from many fans of the bygone "TRL."

Daly has also assumed a role as a mentor to young musicians with his late night talk show, "Last Call with Carson Daly," which is now in its 10th season on NBC.

"There's all these traditional late night shows and they're all fighting for Muse and The Beastie Boys," he said. "I might get those guys if I'm lucky, but in the meantime there's a hundred other bands that are really good and looking for a shot and I love to be the person to shine a spotlight."

Daly says he loves to showcase artists who are on their way up even if it's at an hour where most TV viewers are sleeping.

"My mom had a famous line in high school with me and my sister: 'Be sure to be home at midnight because nothing good happens after midnight,'" he said. "Cut to: I have a television show at 1:30 in the morning!"

Daly also still works in radio, which is how he started in media. He hosts a weekday morning drive show on 97.1 FM in Los Angeles.

"The interviews are always much more casual in radio. Radio is grass-roots," he said. "The DJs are soldiers. They wake up at 4:15 in the morning and play these records for these superstars who ride in these limos and make money."

Daly said that as long as he is connected to music, he's happy.

"The music business is something I always wanted to be around," he said. "... I didn't have the talent to be in it but I wanted to be close to it ... and if success comes in and around that, then that's fine too."

Daly may be serious about his love for music but even he admits to having a few guilty pleasures.

"I'm a cyclist and I have an iPod mix that I would never show anybody," he said. "... Ke$ha (is on that mix) and is helping to fuel my workout. It doesn't get much worse than Ke$ha," he jokes.

"The Voice" airs Tuesdays at 10 Eastern on NBC, and "Last Call" airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern.

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Online:

http://www.nbc.com/the-voice/

http://www.nbc.com/Last_Call_with_Carson_Daly/

http://amp.radio.com/shows/carso

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Playwright Lynn Nottage breaks down the stereotypes and removes the veil of anonymity to delve into the lives of the African-American maids, cooks and nannies who populated vintage Hollywood movies in her clever yet frustrating "By the Way, Meet Vera Stark."

A MacArthur Genius Award recipient and 2009 Pulitzer winner for "Ruined," Nottage has written a comedy bubbling with delicious humor, even if it does take an unsatisfying turn. The playwright is interested not so much in iconic representations of black servitude like Hattie McDaniel or Butterfly McQueen as in less famous beauties such as Theresa Harris or Nina Mae McKinney, whose screen roles suggested greater dignity and complexity. Those women are conjured in the fictitious Vera Stark, a beautiful, sassy aspiring actress, embodied in a brilliantly layered performance by Sanaa Lathan.

The scalloped purple curtain rises to reveal Neil Patel's tongue-in-cheek take on classic Hollywood glamour, all creamy plush and silky drapes, crowned by a chandelier. Stretched on the chaise is "America's little sweetie pie," Gloria Mitchell (Stephanie J. Block). Struggling to hold onto her fading star, Gloria is preparing to test for the lead in The Belle of New Orleans, a consumptive octoroon virgin in a Louisiana whorehouse. Reading opposite the self-dramatizing actress is her tart-tongued maid Vera, whose entreaties to Gloria to get her an audition for the movie are ignored.

In Jo Bonney's incisive, superbly cast production, the sets live on a Hollywood backlot. The first-act scenes shift among Gloria's home, the drab apartment Vera shares with two other underemployed black actresses, and the studio. The writer and director's love for films of the period and for on- and offscreen dream-factory archetypes is infectious.

David Garrison is the essence of the irritable studio boss ("If you're gonna give 'em slaves, give 'em happy ones"), and Kevin Isola nails it as Von Oster, the Russian emigre director who gives him tsuris by insisting on gritty realism over romance. Daniel Breaker drolly conveys the stirrings of black empowerment as Von Oster's Man Friday, Leroy Barksdale, a jazz musician with a yen for Vera. Even better are Vera's roommates, Lottie (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) and Anna Mae (Karen Olivo). Lottie lights up at news of a Southern epic being cast ("Slaves? With lines?"), while light-skinned Anna Mae's strategy is to pass herself off as a Brazilian spitfire.

Period lampoonery can run out of steam, but Nottage and Bonney display a sharp grasp of screwball comedy, peppering the scenes with just enough anachronistic attitude to give them a subversive twist. Humor has often factored in Nottage's plays but rarely, if ever, have they been this flat-out funny. This is especially true when Lathan, Block and the priceless Gregory are in charge. Watching Vera and Lottie seize their moment to play Von Oster's idea of real "Negroes of the earth" is a riot.

At the top of Act II, an extended B&W clip (made by filmmaker Tony Gerber) of Gloria's deathbed scene from The Belle of New Orleans is a perfect evocation of '30s Hollywood melodrama, right down to the syrupy score and shimmering lighting. It also marks Vera's breakout role. But Nottage's play deflates when it shifts to a 2003 panel discussion of Vera's legacy and mysterious disappearance from public life following a boozy talk-show appearance in 1973.

The play's probing intelligence is undercut by the imbalance between its sublime parody of 1930s Hollywood and its attempt to step outside and examine the subject through the contemporary lens of celebrity, semiotics, film theory, gender studies and social politics.

That's not to say this becomes a dry dissertation on race an

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – John Walker, a member of the 1960s pop trio the Walker Brothers, has died in Los Angeles, a statement on his web site said.

He was 67, and had reportedly been suffering from liver cancer. He died at his home on Saturday evening.

The Walker Brothers -- who were not brothers, nor named Walker in real life -- enjoyed bigger success in Britain than in their native United States. Bandmate Scott Walker retains a large cult following across Europe.

The group topped the U.K. charts with covers of "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." The songs peaked at No. 16 and No. 13, respectively, in the U.S.

They formed in Hollywood in 1964, and promptly moved to London where they secured a recording contract. Their version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Make it Easy On Yourself," first popularized by soul singer Jerry Butler, was released in 1965. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," first sung by Frankie Valli, came out the following year.

They broke up in 1968, but a mid-1970s reunion yielded a top-10 U.K. hit with a version of Tom Rush's "No Regrets." All told, the group sold more than 23 million records, according to Walker's Web site.

John Walker was born John Maus in New York City in 1943, and raised in the Los Angeles area. After working as an actor and session musician, he formed the Walker Brothers with Noel Engel (Scott Walker) and Gary Leeds (Gary Walker). His role as lead vocalist was gradually taken over by Scott Walker.

"He was also a fantastic guitarist which a lot of people didn't realize," Gary Walker said in a statement. "He was a compassionate song-writer and a gentleman with lots of style.

"The three of us had the most incredible adventure together, all the time not realizing that we were part of pop history in the making. His music will live on, and therefore so will John," he added.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The epic hero tale "Thor" roared to the top of the box office, tearing down last week's number one "Fast Five" at the start of Hollywood's summer's blockbuster season, data showed Monday.

Starring Chris Hemsworth as powerful warrior Thor banished to Earth from the mystical world of Asgard, where he meets human love interest Natalie Portman, the big budget film reaped $65.7 million in North American theaters.

The fantastical adventure beat out last week's top movie "Fast Five," which broke records on its debut and still managed $32.4 million in its second week, according to tracker company Exhibitor Relations.

The fifth volume in the high-speed car chase series, in which Paul Walker and Vin Diesel reunite with fellow "Fast" veterans, had marked the biggest premiere for any film so far this year with ticket sales of $86.2 million.

In a distant third this weekend, also on its debut, was "Jumping the Broom," which took in $15.2 million, telling the story of two African-American families meeting for a wedding.

The Kate Hudson and John Krasinski romantic comedy "Something Borrowed" came in fourth in its opening week with $13.9 in box office receipts.

In fifth, the still popular tropical bird comedy "Rio" took $8.5 million dollars this weekend for a total of $114.8 million over its four-week run.

Depression-era romance "Water for Elephants," starring British heartthrob Robert Pattinson and Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon, took in $6.1 million as it dropped two spots to land in sixth, ahead of the critically-panned "Madea's Big Happy Family," which took in $4.2 million for its third week, at seventh.

In eighth place was "Soul Surfer," which earned $2.3 million for the true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton returning to the ocean after a shark attack.

Coming-of-age flick "Prom" followed with $2.2 million and rounding out the top 10 was "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil," a 3-D cartoon with ticket sales at just over $2 million.

Former "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul reunited with Simon Cowell on Sunday, joining the celebrity panel on the upcoming U.S. version of the music impresario's TV talent show "The X Factor."

Abdul, whose love-hate professional relationship with the acerbic Cowell helped "American Idol" become the most-watched show on U.S. television, arrived in Los Angeles for the first "X Factor" auditions in front of judges.

"I'm thrilled," Abdul told Reuters Television. "It's a show you don't have to calculate or guess how you're going to approach it. I walk into this, it's a new journey. It's a brand new show and a new experience."

Abdul, who quit "Idol" two years ago in a contract dispute, will join Cowell, British singer Cheryl Cole and record producer Antonio "L.A." Reid on the "X Factor" judging panel.

Completing the celebrity talent, Fox announced on Saturday that former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger and British TV presenter Steve Jones would co-host the show.

"The X Factor" is due to air on Fox in the fall, offering a $5 million prize and a recording contract for the winner.

Cowell has made no secret of his desire to work again with the volatile but endearing Abdul, a choreographer and pop singer.

"This show would never have been the same without Paula, and I can't believe I am saying this -- I have missed her a lot," Cowell said in a statement on Sunday.

The celebrity line-up gives "X Factor" a strong British flavor and gambles on introducing new faces to prime-time U.S. television.

Although Cowell became a household name in the United States in his 10 years on "American Idol", Cole -- a member of British pop band "Girls Out Loud" -- is virtually unknown in the United States despite being a big star at home, where she has been a judge on the U.K. version of "X Factor."

Jones, a former fashion model, is also a newcomer for U.S. audiences. His better-known namesake, former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, said on Twitter that he was inundated with congratulatory messages, but sarcastically noted "it wouldn't make sense to give the gig to someone who knows music."

Cowell has spent more than a year putting together the team for his "X Factor" venture, which he announced in January 2010.

Since then, "American Idol" has brought in singer Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as judges, and has grown its audience this season after years of slipping ratings.

Several other rival TV singing shows have also been launched, including "The Voice" on NBC, which boasts a star power panel of coaches/judges in Christina Aguilera, country singer Blake Shelton, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, and R&B singer and producer Cee Lo Green.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Alicia Avila, editing by Dan Whticomb)

His prison sentence behind him, rapper Mystikal returned Saturday to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and his hometown fans a little older, a little wiser and a bit more humble — but still carrying that same fresh spirit that helps keep the party going.

Introduced by Saints player Jonathan Vilma, Mystikal hit the stage acknowledging the thousands of screaming fans. "I love ya'll," he said over and over.

He gave the crowd all they wanted, walking through all his hits, including "Bouncin' Back (Bumping Me Against the Wall), "Danger (Been So Long)," "Here I Go" and "Shake Ya Ass."

"His style is so unique," said Lionel Grant, of New Orleans. "He definitely deserved his own stage."

Mystikal, whose real name is Michael Tyler, was a featured artist at this year's festival. He earned a place on the schedule after last year's guest appearance during Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews' set had the crowd singing along and shaking and remembering, six years later, why they were fans in the first place.

Tyler was released from state prison in January 2010 after serving a six-year term for sexual battery and extortion. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mystikal said he's humbled by the fans' support and promises "to do great things with this second chance."

"Six years is a long time," he said. "To leave the fans with their hands in the air and to come back six years later and the people still have their hands in the air, that's nothing but God. I'm standing in a position that's so humbling."

He said he's still awed by fans' reactions to his performances.

"It just floors me, especially to see the youngsters," he said. "It's like their parents passed me down like a pair of pants. Those kids don't really know me or my music — but then they do, through their parents' memories of me and my music."

Tyler, now 40, said getting out of jail was just the first step to reclaiming his life and career.

"I was so far behind in terms of fashion. I came home looking like a character, wearing a throwback (shirt). I just knew I was looking good and nobody would tell me different. I was so wrong," he recalled, laughing. "The world was spinning so fast when I got home and I had to catch on. But I took my time and jumped back in and now I'm on one leg. Soon, I'll be on both."

Before the show, Tyler said festival fans could expect to see the same kind of energy and passion that he brought when he was in top form.

Grant said he definitely delivered.

"He's more focused now than he was before he left. I don't think his form has fallen off at all," he said.

"I think he's gotten better," said Ronnika Allen, also of New Orleans. "I just love the way he flows."

Mystikal said he also plans to drop "Fish Grease," a mix-tape, in June as a prelude to his next album. "It's the least I can do," he said, "to come back with some strong music."

Ryan Mercadel, of New Orleans, said Mystikal's performance was impressive.

"He's expanding his repertoire which is good, but he's still got the same unique style that his fans love," Mercadel said.

The festival, presented by Shell, runs through Sunday at the Fair Grounds Race Course

Former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger will co-host the upcoming TV singing show "The X Factor", Fox television said on Saturday, but there was no official word on whether former "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul had signed up as the final judge.

Scherzinger will host the contest along with British TV presenter Steve Jones, Fox said in a statement. But on the eve of the first scheduled auditions in front of judges on Sunday, the statement omitted any mention of Abdul.

Abdul, who quit "Idol" two years ago in a contract dispute, was reported earlier on Saturday to be in final talks to join her old "American Idol" sparring partner Simon Cowell, British singer Cheryl Cole and record producer Antonio "L.A." Reid on the "X Factor" judging panel.

"The X Factor", created by English music entrepreneur Cowell, is due to air on Fox in the fall of 2011, offering a $5 million prize and a recording contract for the winner.

The celebrity line-up gives "X Factor" a strong British flavor, and gambles on introducing new faces to prime time U.S. television.

Although the sarcastic Cowell became a household name in the United States in his 10 years on "American Idol", Cole -- a member of British pop band "Girls Out Loud" -- is virtually unknown in the United States despite being a big star at home, where she has been a judge on the U.K. version of "X Factor."

Jones, a former fashion model and now a British TV presenter, is also a newcomer for U.S. audiences.

Cowell has spent more than a year putting together the celebrity line-up for his "X Factor" venture, which he announced in January 2010. He has made no secret of his desire to work again with Abdul.

Since Cowell announced plans for "X Factor", "American Idol" -- still the most-watched TV show on U.S. television -- has been revamped and has grown its audience after years of slipping ratings, and several other rival TV singing shows have been launched.

They include "The Voice" on NBC, which boasts a star power panel of coaches/judges in Christina Aguilera, country singer Blake Shelton, Maroon 5 front-man Adam Levine, and R&B singer and producer Cee Lo Green.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant)

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Opponents of Swaziland's monarchy called Saturday for an international culture and sports boycott on the small southern African kingdom.

The country's King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in Africa, is facing mounting pressure for reform amid a budget crisis that has forced huge spending cuts and sparked anti-government protests that were violently put down by security forces.

"Concerned human beings must bar Swaziland from cultural and sporting activities," the Swaziland Solidarity Network, a dissident group based in neighbouring South Africa, said in a statement.

"There cannot be any festivals and dancing in the country while the country's authorities hold Swazi children in their jails under trumped up charges just so they can frustrate their political ambitions. Human rights abuses and political repression are getting worse in Swaziland."

The call came three weeks before Swaziland hosts the Bushfire Festival, a three-day music and arts showcase that was expected to feature international acts including the Yale Concert Band from the US, D'bi Young from Canada, Habib Koite from Mali and Goldfish from South Africa.

US rapper Jadakiss last month gave a concert to a near-empty music hall in the Swazi city of Manzini after opponents of Mswati called for a boycott of the show, which they said was linked to the royal family.

Several South African acts pulled out of the concert after the boycott call.

Mswati, whose fortune is estimated at $100 million by Forbes magazine, has ruled tiny Swaziland for 18 years.

The jet-set lifestyle of the 43-year-old king and his 13 wives has become increasingly controversial in the tiny kingdom, where nearly 70 percent of people live on less than a dollar a day.

Discontent over government moves to slash civil servants' salaries in the face of a crippling budget crisis erupted into street protests on April 13, with police detaining, beating and tear-gassing demonstrators.

RICHMOND, Va. – Charles Reed Jr. is skipping his college graduation ceremony to do something much more significant to him: retracing the original 1961 Freedom Ride and paying tribute to those who helped win the civil rights that his generation enjoys.

The 21-year-old business administration major at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, says missing Friday's graduation doesn't compare to the sacrifices the original Freedom Riders made when they challenged the South's segregation laws: quitting jobs, dropping out of college and, ultimately, risking their lives.

"What the Freedom Rides did 50 years ago paved the way for what I have today as an African-American," said Reed, one of 40 college students chosen from nearly 1,000 applicants who will join a handful of the original Freedom Riders on an eight-day journey from Washington, D.C., through the South.

The students pulled up in their bus Friday night to greet more than a dozen original Freedom Riders at the Newseum in Washington for the premiere of a new PBS documentary on the rides based on a book by Raymond Arsenault. They sang "Oh, Freedom" and other tunes together before viewing the film, which premieres May 16 on public broadcast stations.

The documentary recounts the rides state by state and how they pushed President John F. Kennedy to advocate for civil rights. As a young rider, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia said he "felt like a soldier in a nonviolent army," though the rides were more confrontational than Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders would have preferred.

Congress of Racial Equality head James Farmer, six other black people and six white people participated in the first Freedom Ride, which left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961. The trip was to test whether southern states were implementing Boynton v. Virginia, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred segregation in public-transportation facilities.

The group faced violent attacks from white mobs who opposed integration. One of the buses was firebombed in Anniston, Ala., and the riders were beaten. Attacks in Birmingham, Ala., drew national headlines and international embarrassment for the Kennedy administration.

As news of the violence spread, hundreds joined the Freedom Rides. Hundreds were jailed that summer in Jackson, Miss., and transferred to the infamous Parchman state penitentiary after the local jail ran out of space. The demonstrations became a defining point in U.S. civil rights history.

Lewis said it's important for students to learn that the Freedom Riders were willing to die to confront the "whites only" and "colored only" signs at transit stations to end segregation.

"We never gave in," Lewis said. "We kept the faith, and it's important for the stories to be told over and over again so future generations and especially these young people that are traveling will learn that in a matter of a short time, we brought down those signs."

Diane Nash, who organized a wave of riders from Nashville, Tenn., said she got involved because it was humiliating to be segregated and many in Nashville were fed up.

"I think we should consider how long it would have taken to desegregate ... if we had left it to public officials," she said.

The lesson from the Freedom Rides is to take the country's future into your own hands, Nash said.

"My colleagues had you in mind," she told the student riders. "We had not met you, but we loved you."

After events in Washington, the bus heads south on Sunday. Along the way they'll stop in a number of cities, including those where the 1961 riders were harassed, p