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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 02 > Entry
Young musicians relish their night in spotlight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For their first full-length live DVD and CD concert releases, Stockbridge rockers Collective Soul called on a few talented kids to help out — more than 100 members of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.
During a VIP red-carpeted party at the Woodruff Arts Center on Wednesday night, rock fans, parents and orchestra patrons got their first glimpse of the lavishly produced DVD “Collective Soul, Home: A Live Concert Recording With the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.” The DVD and CD were recorded over two sold-out nights last April.
The party turned Midtown’s Woodruff Arts Center into a rock venue, complete with blazing stage lighting displays and fog machines at full tilt. Providing symphonic arrangements to the band’s biggest songs, including “Listen,” “Heavy,” “The World I Know” and “Shine,” the ASYO teenagers look like they’re having the time of their lives onstage.
And yes, ASYO music director and conductor Jere Flint knows how to rock out, y’all.
“Is that what he was doing?” cracked Soul bassist Will Turpin on Wednesday. “No, Jere was a great guy, and we were able to communicate with him really quickly. He understood us from the start.”
Turpin, a former performance music major at Florida State and Georgia State, also helped to work as the liaison “between rock ‘n’ roll talk and orchestral performance talk.”
Fusing written symphonic arrangements with the looseness of a veteran live rock act wasn’t as easy as it looks on the DVD. The ASYO and the band had three full days of rehearsing the entire 20-song concert together. Plus, the rockers had to wear exactly the same clothes each night for continuity.
Joked Turpin: “I even had to remember when to take off my shades at exactly the same song each night!”
While the DVD and CD don’t officially go on sale until Tuesday, ASO patrons could buy discs Wednesday night.
A quartet from the ASYO will join Collective Soul on a plane to Los Angeles today. They’re due to tape an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that will air Friday.
Marching Panthers on ‘Ellen’
Hot on the heels of the Honda Battle of the Bands last weekend, 30 members of the Clark Atlanta University Mighty Marching Panthers band also will be in Los Angeles today. They’ll serve as the house band on Friday’s episode of “Ellen,” talk show host Ellen DeGeneres’ syndicated talk show. The show will air locally at 5 p.m. on WGCL. A viewing party will be held on the first floor of the CAU Student Center. BYOM: Bring Your Own Munchies.
Dench dissed?
Harvey Weinstein says Judi Dench was snubbed by three network talk shows because of her age while promoting “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” according to New York magazine.
Dench, 71, was nominated Tuesday for an Oscar as best actress. The film was distributed by Weinstein’s new production company, the Weinstein Co.
Weinstein says Dench was turned down for interviews by NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “The View.”
“They said that she didn’t fit their demographics,” the movie mogul says. “I mean, what do they think, 25-year-old people can’t watch 70-year-old people? The insanity of youth. It also assumes none of us like our families.”
Bill Geddie, executive producer of “The View,” told the AP that Dench had appeared a number of times. “I was never pitched Dame Judi Dench to appear on ‘The View’ in support of ‘Mrs. Henderson Presents,’ and we would welcome her back to the show any time we have an opening,” Geddie said.
Bridgette Maney, a spokeswoman for “Good Morning America,” released the cryptically worded statement: ” ‘Good Morning America’ welcomes a wide array of guests to the program each and every day. Judi Dench is a screen legend.”
A spokesman for the “Today” show didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Buzz, meanwhile, would readily snap up any of Dame Dench’s free time for a chat. And we wouldn’t even ask about that dodgy “As Time Goes By” Britcom that GPB viewers can never seem to get their fill of …
Celebrity docket
Former Culture Club front, er, person Boy George appeared briefly in a New York court Wednesday to answer charges related to his October drug possession arrest.
Following a brief meeting at the bench between the pop singer’s lawyer, Louis Freeman, and prosecutor Craig Ortner, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara postponed the case to March 8.
Boy George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, wore a long black wool coat, black slacks, a black shirt and gray sneakers with white stripes and sported a buzz-cut hairstyle and a large dark blue or black Star of David tattoo on the top of his head. He said nothing during the court appearance. As he was being hustled out of the courthouse by bodyguards, he answered “yes” when a reporter asked if he still maintained his innocence.
George, 44, was arrested after he called 911 to report a burglary at his apartment. Police said officers found a small amount of cocaine next to a computer. The singer and his lawyer say the drugs found in his apartment weren’t his.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Elaine Stritch is 81. Actor Robert Mandan (“Soap,” “Three’s a Crowd”) is 74. Comedian Tom Smothers is 69. Singer Graham Nash is 64. Actress Farrah Fawcett is 59. Model Christie Brinkley is 52. Singer Shakira is 29.
Contributing: news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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