Mark's blog

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Usher Had Plans To Record With Amy Winehouse

'It could have been one of the most incredible records ever,' he says of his attempt to record with Winehouse.
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Christina Garibaldi

It's one of the great R&B duets that never was. While <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/usher/artist.jhtml">Usher</a> was working on his seventh studio album, <a href="/news/articles/1685178/usher-looking-4-myself.jhtml">Looking 4 Myself</a> , he was determined to take fans on a musical journey and <a href="/news/articles/1686990/usher-looking-4-myself-evolution.jhtml">experiment with sounds</a>  he'd never explored before.So, in addition to teaming up with Diplo for the seductive lead single, <a href="/news/articles/1685264/usher-climax.jhtml">"Climax,"</a> , as well as EDM giants Swedish House Mafia, Usher said he sought out producer Salaam Remi because he was very interested in doing a song with Remi protege, <a href="/news/articles/1667799/amy-winehouse-dead.jhtml">Amy Winehouse</a>,  before the singer died unexpectedly died at age 27 in July 2011. "We met and we talked about it for a moment when I saw her," Usher said of a brief sit-down with the troubled crooner to discuss the potential soul summit.<div class="player-placeholder right" title="Usher Had Plans To Record With Amy Winehouse" id="vid:789773.id:1686957" width="415" height="255"></div>"There was a few conversations that took place, but we never quite made it to it ... I would have loved it." One of those talks occurred while the unlikely duo were shopping at the ritzy London department store Selfridges. "I was shopping and she was doing some private shopping and she came out and we kind of crossed each other's [paths] and, [I was like] 'Is that Amy Winehouse?' ... And before you know it we talked and exchanged information and I invited her to a show ... and she didn't come."Winehouse was out of the country at the time and sent a relative to the gig in her stead, but that missed connection has stuck with Usher to this day. "It could have been one of the most incredible records ever," he said. "A voice like that comes once in a lifetime."Usher still wanted to get in the studio with Remi, and though it was a hard time for the producer, the pair met in New York and worked it out. "The style and the sound that we worked, I felt would definitely compliment what he does as a producer and what I have to offer."The story that the two explored on "Sins of My Father" was a new one for Usher, who had never spoken about his feelings for his dad in song before. "That was a hard one, but he gave me a palette that really worked."<div class="player-placeholder right" title="'Every Album Should Represent An Evolution,' Usher Says" id="vid:789771.id:1686957" width="415" height="255"></div>

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Maroon 5 Get In The Ring For 'One More Night' Video Tonight!

New video, directed by Peter Berg, premieres at 7:53 p.m. ET on MTV, followed by a Q&A with the band on MTV.com.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Kelly Marino

Adam Levine in Maroon 5's "One More Night" music video
Photo:

In Maroon 5's brand-new "One More Night" video, frontman Adam Levine plays a boxer who takes a licking both in and out of the ring. And while one aspect of his performance was all acting (that would be his scenes with actress Minka Kelly), the other was very real indeed.

That's according to "One More Night" director Peter Berg, who sat down with MTV News to talk about the clip ahead of its debut — tonight (June 25) at 7:53 p.m. on MTV as part of "MTV First: Maroon 5" — and made it very clear that Levine pulled no punches during the filming. In fact, he even took a couple punches from one of the best in the business.

"Adam Levine learned how to box here, at the world-famous Wild Card Boxing Gym, home of Manny Pacquiao and [trainer] Freddie Roach," Berg said. "The idea for the video was Adam's. He called me and said, 'I wrote this treatment. Would you read it?' He had this idea, sort of comparing fighting to love, and so I called Freddie, who was a friend of mine, and I said, 'I need you to train this guy.' "

"Of course, Freddie was working Manny Pacquiao at the time [for this month's bout against Tim Bradley], so we had to find one of his trainers, and so we found this great trainer and put him through a 10-day boxing program," he continued. "And the truth is, this kid is just a natural athlete. He took to it very quickly, and we were able to get into sparring scenarios in the ring. ... We had to see how Adam would react to somebody punching him in the face, whether he'd run out screaming and call his bodyguards. But I remember the first time he got cracked in the head, he had a big smile on his face."

Levine definitely wasn't smiling through his scenes with Kelly, who plays the mother of his newborn child. We won't spoil how their relationship plays out, but let's just say she doesn't think his boxing career is going to succeed anytime soon. Though, as Berg explained, shooting those scenes was about as tough as the "One More Night" video got, because from the first sparring session to the final edit, he was definitely feeling the love on this one.

"Minka's a fan of Maroon 5 and she said she'd do it, and we had a great time shooting the video," he said. "I was always a Maroon 5 fan, and now they're in my heart and they're a part of my family."

Don't miss the premiere of Maroon 5's "One More Night" video during "MTV First: Maroon 5" tonight at 7:53 p.m. on MTV, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the band on MTV.com.

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Source:
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Bridget Moynahan Britney Spears Brittany Daniel

Usher - Lil Freak

Lil Freak

Artist: Usher
Label: LaFace Records, JLG
Director: Anthony Mandler
Album: Big Walter Horton with Carey Bell

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1270&vid=497563

Jessica Cauffiel Jessica Paré Jessica Simpson

Usher - Without You featuring Usher

Without You featuring Usher

Artist: Usher
Label: Capitol Records
Director: Christopher Hewitt
Album: La Explosion del Momento!

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1270&vid=703211

Elisabeth Röhm Elisha Cuthbert Eliza Dushku

'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter': The Reviews Are In!

Critics says Benjamin Walker brings 'backbone' to an otherwise 'fake and cartoony' retelling of the Civil War.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Erin Wasson and Benjamin Walker in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"
Photo:

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" reimagines the Civil War as a struggle between the living and the undead with our 16th president as a slayer of the bloodsuckers. It sounds like a fun premise, but critics certainly wish the filmmakers had stuck to the history books.

Here is our roundup of what the critics are saying about "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

The Story
"The story opens with young Abe witnessing the murder of his mother by a vampire. He swears vengeance, and some years later is lucky to be getting drunk while standing at a bar next to Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), who coaches him on vampire-killing and explains that it is a high calling, requiring great dedication and avoiding distractions like marriage. Against Henry's advice, Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) marries Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and the story moves quickly to his days in the White House, where he discovers that the vampires are fighting on the side of the South." — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Benjamin Walker
"He lucked out big time nabbing Benjamin Walker to play Lincoln from 8 to 80 (not exactly, but you get my point). Walker, 30, was a dick-swinging smash on Broadway in the 2010 musical 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' playing Old Hickory as a genocidal horror in sexy pants. Walker brings backbone and flashes of humor to the guy on the five-dollar bill." — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The Direction
"To stand a chance of pulling this off on film, you need wit and a deft touch, and, boy, is Timur Bekmambetov the wrong man for the job. (Tim Burton, who produced, would have been the better choice.) The director came out of Russia some years back with a pair of showy fantasy thrillers, 'Night Watch' and 'Day Watch,' and has since made the Angelina Jolie shoot-em-up 'Wanted.' Bekmambetov's filmmaking style manages to be both frantic and ponderous, and he has the humor of a nightclub bouncer." — Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

The Script
"Adapting his own richly embroidered novel, which is a lot more fun than the movie, Seth Grahame-Smith (who also wrote 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies') strips his book for parts and ditches the most interesting cockamamie detail and context." — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

The Final Word
"Unfortunately, director Timur Bekmambetov and writer Seth Grahame-Smith, adapting his own best-selling novel, take this concept entirely too seriously. What ideally might have been playful and knowing is instead uptight and dreary, with a visual scheme that's so fake and cartoony, it depletes the film of any sense of danger." — Christy Lemire, The Associated Press

Check out everything we've got on "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Tony Parker Files $20 Million Suit Over Drake/Chris Brown Club Brawl

Suit against W.i.P. club was filed on Monday in connection with injuries NBA star suffered in the melee.
By Gil Kaufman

Tony Parker
Photo:

One of the most high-profile victims to emerge from the shattered glass wreckage of the nightclub brawl  between members of Chris Brown and Drake's crews at New York nightclub W.i.P. has filed a multimillion-dollar suit against the SoHo night spot.

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, claims in a $20 million lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this week that the club's owners are responsible for the "corneal laceration of the left eye and other injuries," according to the New York Post.

A spokesperson for the club told MTV News on Friday (June 22) that they were unable to comment on the suit because they have not yet been served with any papers. In addition, the club, whose owner, Jonathan Cantor, was arrested on unrelated charges  tied to two outstanding warrants, continues to be closed on a temporary basis.

Parker's suit claims that W.i.P.'s owners should have known better than to let the two romantic rivals for Rihanna's affection into the club at the same time. Lawyer David Jaroslawicz added that the extent of Parker's injuries are not yet known, but that eye injuries "certainly don't improve your outside shot." The NBA star and one of the key members of the championship team is slated to play for his native France in this summer's Olympics.

Neither musician is named in the lawsuit, but it does mention them as being the catalyst for the fight. "The defendants were reckless, careless and negligent in permitting Drake's entourage and Brown's entourage to be in the club at the same time despite known tension between the two," the suit reads. "She's been known, like Helen of Troy, to cause trouble," Jaroslawicz said of Rihanna.

According to the suit, Parker wasn't sitting with either party, but has said he was with "my friend Chris Brown" when the troubles started and claimed that he and his friends took some blows before "they started throwing bottles everywhere."

The baller said he's been sidelined for a week as he recuperates from the injury with the help of a "therapeutic" contact lens. While he said his eye felt better at first, it began to hurt when he landed in France to practice with his team for the games, forcing him to visit the ER for more treatment. "I'll be missing the start of the French team because I can't do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops," he told the paper.

Police have not made any arrests over the incident, but they have subpoenaed the security tapes from the club and are reviewing them.

Garcelle Beauvais Genelle Frenoy Georgianna Robertson

Photos | 2010 American Music Awards Presenter, Nominee And Performer Highlights

2010 American Music Awards Presenter, Nominee And Performer Highlights

Desiree Dymond Diane Kruger Dido