Effects guru Stan Winston dies of cancer at 62
LOS ANGELES - Hollywood special-effects maestro Stan Winston has died at age 62.
The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home Sunday evening surrounded by family after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio.
Winston won visual effects Oscars for 1986's "Aliens, "1992's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and 1993's "Jurassic Park."
Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.
Hedley cleans up at MMVAs
Torrential downpours couldn't dampen the spirits at last night's MuchMusic Video Awards in downtown Toronto where love 'em or hate 'em pop-punk act Hedley cleaned up with four awards.
The B.C.-based group -- whose outspoken, heavily tattooed and ear-pierced frontman Jacob Hoggard has been known to flash his backside at previous MMVAs -- won for best video and best director for the song For The Nights I Can't Remember and best rock video and best cinematography for She's So Sorry.
Heading into the freewheeling, performance-heavy awards ceremony held at MuchMusic's Toronto headquarters which draws thousands of people into the streets every year, Hedley had a leading six MMVA nods. (Hoggard gained national prominence placing third during Season 2 of Canadian Idol.)
Close behind Hedley's six nods were Palestinian-born, Ottawa-based rapper Belly and Mississauga, Ont., ska-punk outfit illScarlett with five nominations each.
At press time, the three People's Choice Awards had yet to be handed out with Hedley and illScarlett also in the running for favourite Canadian group and Belly up for favourite Canadian artist.
Another multiple winner last night was R&B-pop singer Rihanna whose clip for Don't Stop The Music won for best international video (artist) while Umbrella featuring Jay-Z picked up MuchMusic.com's most watched video.
Linkin Park's Bleed It Out took home best international video (group), while the clip for shaggy-haired Montreal rocker Sam Roberts' latest single Them Kids, won best post-production.
Ridin' by Belly featuring Mario Winans picked up best rap video, and Wintersleep's Weighty Ghost was named best independent video.
"This one really goes to the (director) Dave Pawsey and (effects supervisor) Jonathan Legris, again we're just happy that they managed to make a statement with our song through video, they did all the hard work," said Roberts, accepting the award during the MMVA red-carpet special.
In addition to Hedley, Rihanna and illScarlett, among last night's scheduled MMVA performers were New Kids On The Block, whose recent reunion has led to three shows at the Air Canada Centre including the tour launch on Sept. 19, Girlicious, Simple Plan, rappers Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon and Flo Rida, Sean Kingston, and America's Best Dance Crew (Season 2) JabbaWockeeZ.
Presenters included Mel C, aka Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls, Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford, Brody Jenner of The Hills, Kristen Cavallari of Laguna Beach fame, and gossip monger Perez Hilton.
"We're really excited, 15 years has been way too long," joked Jocz of the NKOTB reunion.
Also in attendance was comic actor Rainn Wilson of The Office -- who could be seen on the red carpet taking pictures with fans before the rain fell.
"It's a little Rain-ny this year," kidded Wilson of the dark storm clouds above that eventually opened up and soaked the red carpet and everyone on it. "Hey, do you want to get under my umbrella, brella, brella, brella?"
New CD Releases, June 17: Coldplay, Rihanna, Judas Priest
Coldplay "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends"
The mega-popular UK band finally returns with its fourth studio album, "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends." The disc--perhaps the year's most highly anticipated rock record--follows 2005's tremendously successful "X&Y," which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date.
"Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" was produced by Brian Eno and Markus Dravs. Its first single is the track "Violet Hill," which already is a hit on modern rock radio.
Coldplay will support the new album with a major North American tour, which kicks off next month and is currently scheduled to run through November.
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Rihanna "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded"
This limited-edition CD/DVD upgrade to Rihanna's recent chart-topping album features three bonus tracks as well as behind-the-scenes footage with the star. The three new songs are "Disturbia," a cover version of Maroon 5's "If I Never See Your Face Again" (which features Maroon 5) and "Take a Bow," which recently topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.
The CD also features all the songs that fans have come to love off the original "Good Girls Gone Bad," including, of course, the mega-hit "Umbrella." In other news, Rihanna recently finished up her stint as the main support on Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour, the blockbuster trek that also offered up sets by Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D.
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Judas Priest "Nostradamus"
These metal-music titans are back with a follow-up to 2005's "Angel of Retribution." "Nostradamus" is a highly ambitious affair--a double-disc concept album that tells the tale of the world-famous 16th Century French prophet.
Priest will support "Nostradamus" as part of the Metal Masters Tour. The 15-date trek--which should help fill the head-banging void left by the Ozzfest tour's transformation this year to a one-off event--will also feature Heaven & Hell, Motorhead and Testament, and is scheduled to begin Aug. 6 in Camden, NJ.
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The Offspring "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace"
The O.C. pop-punk troupe is ready to drop its eighth studio album. "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" comes after a four-and-half year recording hiatus; the band's previous disc was 2003's "Splinter."
"Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" was produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, The Cult). The new album's first single, "Hammerhead," is already a hit on modern rock radio.
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Wolf Parade "At Mount Zoomer"
The acclaimed indie-rock act is set to follow 2005's "Apologies to the Queen Mary." Singer/keyboardist Spencer Krug and guitarist Dan Boeckner handled the bulk of the songwriting duties on "At Mount Zoomer." The Canadian band will support the new album with a headlining tour that kicks off July 7 in Pontiac, MI.
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More new releases:
Chicago, "Stone of Sisyphus (XXXII)" (Rhino)
Kathy Griffin, "For Your Consideration" (Red Ink)
Mick Hucknall, "Tribute to Bobby" (Rhino)
Chantι Moore, "Love the Woman" (Peak)
The Notwist, "The Devil, You + Me" (Domino)
Katy Perry, "One of the Boys" (Capitol)
The Pogues, "Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say...Pogue Mahone" (Warner Bros.)
Diana Ross, "Everything is Everything" (Hip-O)
Silver Jews, "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea" (Drag City)
Teddy Thompson, "A Piece of What You Need" (Verve Forecast)
Dan Tyminski, "Wheels" (Rounder)
Julieta Venegas, "MTV Unplugged" (Sony)
Dennis Wilson, "Pacific Ocean Blue--Legacy Edition" (Sony Legacy)
Soundtracks and scores:
"Camp Rock" (Disney)
He's Big Bird: Caroll Spinney loves every feather
NEW YORK - On the street, Caroll Spinney is a 74-year-old of modest proportions. On the job, transformed into Big Bird, he stands 8 feet 2 inches tall and is 6 years old.
Being Big Bird is sweaty, physical work. But Spinney, who has worked on Sesame Street for nearly four decades playing both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, has no wish to be anywhere else.
"I can't imagine willingly walking away from Big Bird and Oscar," he said.
Spinney's workday transformation begins with a pair of orange furry jeans encircled in hot pink ridges. Next, manhole-size pink webbed feet made of foam built around a pair of Hush Puppies loafers. Between takes, he protects them from his kindergarten co-stars with custom-made purple slippers.
The crew straps a television monitor to his chest. Wearing drugstore reading glasses, Spinney will watch the monitor while inside the top half of the costume to see how Big Bird appears on camera. Otherwise, he's blind inside the bird.
To play the role, "you have to not be claustrophobic," he said. "You have to be willing to walk, not seeing anything in front of you."
Spinney tops off his ensemble with the familiar 25-pound top half of Big Bird, a combination of costume and puppet. He works Big Bird's mouth with his hand and the eyes with a coat hanger attached to his pinky finger.
The set is kept so cold for his scenes that the crew sometimes wears hats and jackets. For Spinney, who called out from his perch on the stoop of 123 Sesame Place that he could no longer feel his hands, the relationship between man and bird is worth it.
He remembers a visit to Georgia Tech in 1972, when the costume was "ravaged" by ROTC students. When he found Big Bird, one of the eyes was hanging off, its mechanism ruined.
"When I saw him lying in the dirt, it was like seeing your child dead on the floor," Spinney said. "I went into shock."
Spinney got his start on Sesame Street during its first season in 1969, after Muppets founder Jim Henson saw him perform at a puppeteer's convention.
Henson chose him as Big Bird after Frank Oz, who helped develop Bert, Grover and Cookie Monster, swore off costume puppets following a stint in commercials as the La Choy Dragon, which was equipped with an in-costume flame-thrower.
Spinney met his wife, Debra, at Sesame Workshop, and has three grown children and four grandchildren. He's one of a handful of original cast members still on the show; the only other original puppeteer still working full time is Jerry Nelson, who plays The Count.
"One of the things I really enjoy about Sesame Street is that years go by and I'm still the same age," Spinney said. "I'd love to be 70 again, 60 and 50 and 40."
After all these years, Sesame Street remains seasonless. There are crunchy autumn leaves at the foot of the stoop of 123 Sesame Place, because the set looks flat without them, but the garden around the corner is in full summer bloom. Since no brands are allowed on the show, the shelves of Hooper's Store are stocked with Sesame-ized magazines, like "City Monsters: Puffy Furry Fun for All Ages!" and "Stacking Stones."
"We deal with a lot of life's realities on Sesame Street, but not everything," Spinney said. "No one worries about him (Big Bird) sleeping all alone on the street."
While the show takes place in a magical mirror New York, the set is at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, where decidedly grittier fare such as "Fort Apache-The Bronx" was also filmed.
On the last day of filming this spring, the Big Bird head was wheeled upright on a dolly as Spinney sat on the stoop. "Bird on the move!" shouted senior muppet wrangler Michelle Hickey as she pushed it up a ramp.
She pulled the bird off the dolly and put a hand in Big Bird's slack mouth as Spinney, sitting on the stoop, held up his right arm to put it on. As Big Bird's face came to life, another puppeteer, hiding behind a pile of books, acted as Spinney's right-hand man, working Big Bird's right arm as well as a monofilament controlling the left arm.
A question came from the crew: "How's the kid placement?" It was fine.
"And the count is to Big Bird," the floor manager said. The scene began with Big Bird asking two children whether they'd like to hear a story.
When Big Bird and Oscar appear in the same scene, Spinney pre-records Oscar's voice, then act the scene as Big Bird while someone else puppeteers Oscar.
Spinney says he modeled Oscar on the Bronx taxi driver who drove him to the old Muppet Mansion the first day he played the character, greeting him with a gruff, "Where to, Mac?" In Spinney's mind, Oscar is 43.
When the Big Bird costume is not in use, it's stored in a crate about 10 feet high. A muppet wrangler smooths Big Bird's feathers when they get ruffled and hand-glues replacements if they get crunched.
The feathers arrive from supplier American Plume & Fancy Feather Co. in New York's garment district on boas, dyed two colors of yellow. The muppet wranglers grade them, A through D. Only A and B-plus feathers are applied to Big Bird's head and neck.
"I'm still using the head we started with," Spinney said. "He's had face lifts." He estimates Big Bird has been through four bodies. Oscar still has his original eyebrows.
A muppet wrangler also travels with Big Bird when he's on the road. The body of the costume is shipped in two crates; the head travels in a separate box.
"My worst fear is that we take off and I would see the boxes lying on the tarmac," Hickey said.
After seven years of working with Spinney, Hickey described him as having "the heart of Big Bird and a teeny bit of Oscar."
Elizabeth Fernandez, 20, started working at Sesame Street as an intern in the research department and is now an assistant talent coordinator, working with the children who appear on the show, while she finishes college at night.
"People here are so encouraging about going to school, getting your master's degree," she said. "There's room to move up; a lot of people started as interns."
"It really is Sesame Street."
Tony Awards make a nod to the past and future
NEW YORK - Broadway looked to the future and to its past at the 2008 Tony Awards with "In the Heights," the best musical winner, and "August: Osage County," the best play, sharing the spotlight with a nearly 60-year-old "South Pacific."
Both "Heights," a salsa and rap-flavored look at the Latino immigrant experience in Upper Manhattan, and "August," a brutal dissection of a backbiting Oklahoma family, were written by artists making their Broadway debuts.
Yet it was Lincoln Center Theater's lush, lavish revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that took more awards seven than any other show Sunday at Radio City Music Hall. Besides winning the musical-revival prize, it collected awards for debonair leading man Paulo Szot, who plays the French plantation owner Emile de Becque; director Bartlett Sher; and for the designers of its sets, costumes, lighting and sound.
Sher, in his acceptance speech, thanked not only the men who wrote the show's music and lyrics, but its original director, Joshua Logan, and James Michener, who wrote the World War II short story on which the musical (which won nine Tonys back in 1950) is based.
"They were kind of incredible men, because they seem to teach me particularly that in a way I wasn't only an artist but I was also a citizen," Sher said. "And the work that we do in these musicals or in any of these plays is not only important in terms of entertaining people, but that our country was really a pretty great place, and that perhaps it could be a little better, and perhaps, in fact, we could change."
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the Tony-winning score for "In the Heights," rapped his acceptance speech and later proclaimed, "It is like the best prom ever, dude. I have several more musicals inside my head, and I want to write them." The show, which was first seen off-Broadway last season before moving to Broadway this year, also won awards for choreography and orchestrations.
"August" playwright Tracy Letts, whose previous work in New York was only seen off-Broadway, said, "Writing is better than acting. You get to use your words and you don't need to be there eight days a week."
And in thanking his producers, Letts took a swipe at Broadway shows that cast movie stars and winners from TV reality shows and said, "They did an amazing thing: They decided to produce an American play on Broadway with theater actors."
Two of his "August" actors, Deanna Dunagan and Rondi Reed, and the play's director, Anna D. Shapiro, also won Tonys for their work in the show, which began life last summer at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Said Dunagan, who portrays the bilious matriarch in the play: "This is so overwhelming. This whole year has been entirely unexpected and astonishing. ... After 34 years in regional theater, I never thought about it (the Tonys). I watched it on television like everybody else."
Despite losing the musical revival prize to "South Pacific," "Gypsy" monopolized the musical performance prizes, taking three of the four awards.
The most dramatic was Patti LuPone's win for her portrayal of Rose, the ultimate stage mother. Her rendition of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" during the show got the cheering audience to its feet.
"It's such a wonderful gift to be an actor who makes her living on the Broadway stage and then every 30 years or so picks up one of these," said an exuberant LuPone, who last won a Tony in 1980 for "Evita." "I was afraid to write a speech, because I had written a couple before and they never made it out of my purse. So I'm going to use one of the old ones and add a few names."
Her co-star, Boyd Gaines, did even better. He collected his fourth Tony, winning for his portrayal of Rose's gentlemanly candy-salesman suitor, Herbie. And Laura Benanti, who plays the ugly duckling daughter who blossoms into Gypsy Rose Lee in the show, received the featured-actress award.
"Boeing-Boeing," a 1960s sex farce awash in slammed doors and split-second timing, took the play revival prize. Its lead, Mark Rylance, who portrays a nerdy visitor to Paris, won the top acting prize. He gave the night's most bewildering acceptance speech, riffing about wearing clothing appropriate to your vocation or avocation.
"Otherwise, it might appear that you don't know what you're doing, that you're just wandering the earth, no particular reason for being here, no particular place to go," he said. "Thanks very much for this."
"Passing Strange," which had been expected to give "In the Heights" the stiffest competition, managed to take only one award book of a musical for its star and creator, Stew, another Broadway newcomer.
He said the intention of "Passing Strange," a young black man's journey through sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, was to stay "true to the music that people actually listen to... on subways or when they're at home getting stoned or when they're at parties."