Happy (Belated) Birthday to the Piano Man!

Written by Jon Williams

Last Friday, legendary pop-rocker Billy Joel turned 65 years old. Although the Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer hasn’t put out an album of original pop material in over twenty years, he remains a popular draw all around the world as a concert entertainer.

Joel got an early start in the music business, and his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, was released in 1971. However, Joel was unhappy with its production, and album sales languished. (The album has since been remastered, and the production mistakes fixed.) While he tried to get out of his recording contract so he could sign with another label, he went incognito, taking a job playing at a piano bar in Los Angeles. He used his experiences there as the inspiration for the song “Piano Man,” a song that would become his first hit and his signature tune.

He was successful in switching labels, signing with Columbia Records, and his second album, Piano Man (bearing the eponymous single), was released in 1973. He followed it up the next year with Streetlife Serenade, and in 1976 with Turnstiles. Although these three albums contained notable Joel tracks like “Captain Jack,” “The Entertainer,” and “New York State of Mind,” they did not initially reach the level of commercial success Joel would come to enjoy (although they were all eventually certified platinum by the RIAA, Piano Man four times over).

That success came with 1977’s The Stranger. Produced by Phil Ramone, the song jumped to #2 on the Billboard chart (kept out of the top spot primarily by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours), and four of its nine songs charted as singles. It also earned Joel the first two of his six Grammy Awards, Song and Record of the Year for the song “Just the Way You Are.” In 1978, Joel released the album 52nd Street. Propelled by hits like “My Life” and “Big Shot,” it became Joel’s first #1 album, and also garnered him two more Grammy Awards (Best Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year). Interestingly, in 1982, 52nd Street became the first album to be released on the compact disc format.

The partnership with Ramone was obviously working, and the pair would work together on four more albums: 1980’s Glass Houses, 1982’s The Nylon Curtain, 1983’s An Innocent Man, and 1986’s The Bridge. They contained a string of hits, and all have been certified multiplatinum. In October of 1986, after the release of The Bridge, Joel made a series of performances in the Soviet Union, one of the first American rockers to do so. A recording of his Leningrad performance was eventually released on CD as KOHUEPT (Russian for “concert”); next week an expanded collection of his performances comes out as A Matter of Trust, in a standard 2-disc version (that includes KOHUEPT) and a deluxe edition that also includes a Blu-ray featuring concert footage and a documentary on the trip.

In 1989, Joel released the album Storm Front, his first album to reach #1 since Glass Houses. It contained the smash-hit single “We Didn’t Start the Fire” as well as the song “Shameless,” perhaps more popular as a hit for country superstar Garth Brooks. It was followed in 1993 by River of Dreams, which also reached #1, and is the last album Joel has released.

Still, more than twenty years later, Joel continues to sell out stadiums and arenas filled with legions of fans who come to hear him perform his hits for hours. In addition to touring, he also has a residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City, performing one show there per month. So, despite such a length of time with no new material, interest in Billy Joel’s music remains strong. SmartBrowse his name on our website for all of these albums, as well as plenty of compilation and live albums, concert and video collections, and the biography from Fred Schruers scheduled for release in November.

Hot This Week: May 12

Two fantasy action movies join this week's movie list, with 47 Ronin coming in at the top and The Legend of Hercules at #4. Five new titles leap onto the music chart, but none of them are able to dethrone Frozen's long reign at #1. David Baldacci keeps the top fiction spot for a second week, with a debut from Greg Iles hot on his heels. In non-fiction, a new memoir from actress Diane Keaton is this week's only new title.

DVD

1. 47 Ronin
2. Homefront
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. The Legend of Hercules
5. Frozen
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. Gravity
8. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
9. American Hustle
10. Grudge Match

CD

1. Frozen Soundtrack
2. Lindsey Stirling, Shatter Me
3. Ray LaMontagne, Supernova
4. Passion, Passion: Take It All
5. Iggy Azalea, The New Classic
6. Pharrell Williams, G  I  R  L
7. Future, Honest
8. Timeflies, After Hours
9. Luke Bryan, Crash My Party
10. Whitechapel, Our Endless War 

Fiction

1. The Target, David Baldacci
2. Natchez Burning, Greg Iles
3. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
4. The Collector, Nora Roberts
5. Chestnut Street, Maeve Binchy
6. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
7. I've Got You Under My Skin, Mary Higgins Clark
8. The Serpent of Venice, Christopher Moore
9. Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline
10. NYPD Red 2, James Patterson and Marshall Karp

Non-Fiction

1. A Fighting Chance, Elizabeth Warren
2. Flash Boys, Michael Lewis
3. Everybody's Got Something, Robin Roberts and Veronica Chambers 
4. Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty, Diane Keaton
5. Thrive, Arianna Huffington
6. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
7. David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell
8. Killing Jesus, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
9. 10% Happier, Dan Harris
10. Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

Power Rangers Movie in the Works

Written by Jon Williams

“It’s morphin’ time!” Today Lionsgate and Saban Entertainment announced that they would be producing a feature film that will bring the Power Rangers back to the big screen.

The series revolves around a group of teenagers invested with the ability to morph into a team with special skills and powers that must use said ability to fight off the forces of aliens and other evildoers. Originally based on the Japanese series Super Sentai, the franchise kicked off as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series in 1993. In one form or another it has been in production ever since, entertaining legions of young adults and spawning a popular line of toys and video games. The current incarnation, starting in 2013, is known as Power Rangers Megaforce.

This will not be the Power Rangers’ first foray into theaters; two previous feature films have been made. The first, spurred by the popularity of the original television series, was produced in 1995. In it, the Rangers must battle an ancient alien shape-shifter brought to Earth by their archenemies. In the second, the heroes must protect a wizard from an intergalactic pirate and a demon. This movie, released in 1997, came on the heels of the Power Rangers Zeo series and led into Power Rangers Turbo.

Lionsgate has had great success lately bringing to the screen action movies aimed primarily at the young adult set, beginning with the first two Hunger Games films and the adaptation of the first book from the Divergent trilogy. Certainly they’ll carry that same energy into the upcoming Power Rangers film, which as of now does not have a target release date. In the meantime, though, there is plenty of material to keep young fans entertained. SmartBrowse ‘Power Rangers’ on our website for the full line of TV series and movies in this popular franchise.

Hot This Week: May 5

Happy Cinco de Mayo! The Wolf of Wall Street jumps to #1 and pushes Frozen to #4, with Delivery Man making the list for the first time at #9. The Frozen soundtrack, on the other hand, continues its unprecedented run at the top of the music chart. The latest from David Baldacci tops this week's fiction list, with new titles from Maeve Binchy, Christopher Moore, and Amanda Quick also making the grade. In non-fiction, new memoirs from Elizabeth Warren and Robin Roberts debut.

DVD

1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Homefront
3. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
4. Frozen
5. American Hustle
6. Grudge Match
7. Gravity
8. 12 Years a Slave
9. Delivery Man
10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

CD

1. Frozen Soundtrack
2. Future, Honest
3. Iggy Azalea, The New Classic
4. Pharrell Williams, G  I  R  L
5. August Alsina, Testimony
6. Neon Trees, Pop Psychology
7. Luke Bryan, Crash My Party
8. Lorde, Pure Heroine
9. Shakira, Shakira.
10. 5 Seconds of Summer, She Looks So Perfect (EP)

Fiction

1. The Target, David Baldacci
2. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
3. Chestnut Street, Maeve Binchy
4. The Collector, Nora Roberts
5. The Serpent of Venice, Christopher Moore
6. Otherwise Engaged, Amanda Quick
7. I've Got You Under My Skin, Mary Higgins Clark
8. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
9. NYPD Red 2, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
10. Missing You, Harlan Coben

Non-Fiction

1. Flash Boys, Michael Lewis
2. A Fighting Chance, Elizabeth Warren
3. Everybody's Got Something, Robin Roberts and Veronica Chambers
4. Thrive, Arianna Huffington
5. 10% Happier, Dan Harris
6. Killing Jesus, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
7. The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan
8. Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
9. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
10. David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell

Tony Award Noms Snub Hollywood Actors

Written by Kyle Slagley

Tuesday afternoon, the nominees for the 68^th Annual Tony Awards were announced, recognizing the best of the best among Broadway’s ranks. I must say that this set of awards is one of the most interesting to watch, mainly because the nominees often consist of both well-known stage actors and famous movie and TV actors.

Screen actors who try their hand at stage acting have become a very common occurrence in recent years. It wasn’t too long ago that we saw the likes of Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andrew Garfield, and Scarlett Johansson in the headlines of Playbill.

This year, there were also plenty of big-screen actors on the stage, but a few who were thought to be shoo-ins – at least for the nomination round – were snubbed, most notably Daniel Radcliffe for The Cripple of Inishmaan, Denzel Washington for A Raisin in the Sun, and Sirs Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen for No Man’s Land and Waiting For Godot. What makes it strange is that all of these actors have received such glowing reviews in recent weeks, the snubs are almost blindsiding. Throw in the fact that Michelle Williams was overlooked for her fantastic performance in the revival of Cabaret, and it’s clear that Hollywood simply wasn’t invited to the party this year.

One screen actor who was not overlooked was Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, whose performance as Lyndon B. Johnson in the play All The Way earned him a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. Cranston’s nomination is definitely deserved, but even still it is a bit unusual in that All The Way is his very first foray into Broadway theatre. The same is true for Chris O’Dowd, who received a nod in the same category for his performance as Lennie in Of Mice and Men. O’Dowd is still an up-and-coming name in Hollywood, but is well known in Britain for his role as Roy in the BBC Series The IT Crowd.

The nomination that excites me the most though, Neil Patrick Harris’s nod for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Though I haven’t seen Harris perform as Hedwig (pronounced Head-vig), I’ve read quite a few of the reviews and have yet to read a negative word about his performance. What’s so exciting is that Harris has been a Broadway star for over a decade, and was famously snubbed by the Tonys about ten years ago when he rose to Broadway stardom playing Lee Harvey Oswald in Assassins. Since that time, Harris has all but taken over Hollywood as everyone’s favorite womanizer Barney Stinson. Having hosted the Tony Awards four times without actually having won one, I’d say it’s about time he was recognized for his talent. If you don’t believe me, watch last year's opening sequence for the 2013 Tony Awards.

Yes, as USA Today said, the Tony Awards really took care of their own this year, giving nods to regulars like Idina Menzel for If/Then, Sutton Foster for Violet, Audra McDonald for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and in the process left most of Hollywood on the sidelines..

Though it’ll be hard to top last year’s opening sequence, if anyone can do it, this year’s host and Broadway veteran Hugh Jackman is the man who can. Having hosted the Tonys three times and the Oscars once, Jackman is an experienced emcee himself. If there isn’t another walk-on bit between Jackman and Harris about who hosted the show better, I’ll be floored.

The Tony Awards show takes place at Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 8 at 8pm EDT, and will be aired live on CBS.