Entertaining Posts: 08/08/11

Monday, August 8, 2011

Jay-Z, Kanye West earn high praise for "Throne"

By Sabrina Ford

NEW YORK | Mon Aug 8, 2011 8:45pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - No need for Kanye West and Jay-Z to simply watch a throne. Judging by Monday's reviews and Web response to their new album, "Watch the Throne," they should just sit atop it to reign over the realm of hip hop.

The highly anticipated album from the pair of music masters was met with high praise across the Web only hours after being released exclusively on iTunes at midnight, Monday.

The album received glowing early reviews. Allhiphop.com gave it 9 out of 10 stars, calling it "a creative victory at worse and at its very best, a paradigm shift for Hip-Hop."

Musician and producer Questlove of Grammy-winning band The Roots took to Twitter in the wee hours of the morning, enthralled by Jay-Z's performances on an emerging fan favorite. He tweeted: "Hov's verse on 'Who Gone Stop Me' is gettin a 4th listen at 2am."

Hip-hop historian and deejay Davey D was so impressed he tweeted that "Watch the Throne" "is better than illmatic, 36 chambers, Aquemini, Sgt Pepper & Joshua Tree combined," referring to albums from Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Outkast, the Beatles, and U2.

Davey D was accused of getting carried away by journalist and author Toure, who tweeted, "friends don't let friends overhype." But even Toure was impressed, calling the album "great," and lauding the "substantive" lyrics on tracks like "New Day" on which Kanye and Jay-Z address their future sons.

Only a few comments steered toward negative. The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot gave the album two out of four stars and called Kanye "desperate, transparent, awkward, vulnerable." He also said Jay-Z lost his steam,

"He no longer needs to surprise us, he simply needs to file annual updates reminding us that, after all, he's Jay-Z and you're not," Kot said.

IMPATIENCE PAYS OFF?

Hip-hop fans have been waiting impatiently for "Watch the Throne" since Kanye West first mentioned it on Twitter almost a year ago. The two have a storied history, dating back to more than a decade ago when Kanye West got his big break producing for artists signed to Roc-a-Fella records, the label co-founded by Jay-Z.

But a lot of the buzz surrounding the album has nothing to Jay-Z or West, Singer-songwriter Frank Ocean's two guest appearances on the tracks "No Church" and "New America," made him a popular topic online Monday. The album also features guest appearances by Beyonce and Mr. Hudson, as well as vocal work from late soul singers Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield.

Mixtape DJ Mick Boogie tweeted, "I feel like Frank Ocean is channeling his inner mos def on "no church" - not a bad thing."

West might want to take note of all the positive buzz. Over the weekend, he went on a rant during a show in England in which he said people look at him like he's Adolf Hitler.

The 34-year-old who has earned a reputation for outlandish behavior, broke into the middle of his set during the Big Chill music festival on Saturday night to talk about how much he was misunderstood and underappreciated.

"I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I'm...insane, like I'm Hitler," he said to boos from the crowd. "One day the light will shine through and one day people will understand everything I ever did."

West is known for public outbursts. He grabbed the microphone away from Taylor Swift while she was being honored for best female video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and said Beyonce should have won the award.

In 2005, West said "George Bush doesn't care about black people" during a Hurricane Katrina telethon.

(Additional reporting by Jason Kandel in Los Angeles; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Tim Allen searches for real men in return to TV

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES | Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:17pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tim Allen is headed back to television in his first network comedy in 12 years, feeling like the last real man in a woman's world.

Or at least, that's what his character Mike is experiencing in "Last Man Standing" -- a family man surrounded by three headstrong daughters and a wife who has gone back to work, turning him into the stay at home dad.

The series, making its debut on ABC in October, turns Allen's former alter ego, construction expert Tim Taylor in his hit 1990s comedy "Home Improvement" on its head. It is also one of a slew of upcoming TV comedies that feature emasculated or struggling men in a world where women appear to have the upper hand.

"What I really wanted was to flip flop 'Home Improvement' and investigate what it would be like to be around four women who are intelligent, strong fun and loving," said Allen, whose "Home Improvement" comedy ran from 1991-99.

"Instead of tools (in 'Home Improvement') it is sporting goods and gun and ATVs and boats, and I come home to 4 women," the actor and comedian told television reporters on Monday.

Allen plays a man working for an outdoor adventure firm, who lives in a world where younger, modern men -- and women -- are no longer able to do simple, once manly tasks like changing a car tire.

But it's a situation that also strikes a chord with Allen, who has two daughters of his own, and admits he still prizes women who like to cook and take care of their men.

"I really believe men need stuff to do...You have to have hobbies," the actor and comedian said.

"I like women who know how to cook, I like the process of letting a woman take care of you. It's either old school or misogynistic...The men in my life like being able to take care of a home, and when men lose this capacity we are kind of left with nothing to do," he said.

Creator Jack Burditt said that the struggling male theme would be just one aspect of "Last Man Standing".

"It is an interesting topic. I am fascinated that for the first time in history more than 50 percent of the workplace are women, and 60 percent of college graduates are women.

"But that's only one element of the show..At the heart of this is a family comedy about people who don't always see eye to eye on everything but who really like each other...There are a lot of themes we will be tackling," Burditt said.

"Last Man Standing" will join new TV shows "Man Up," about three guys trying to figure out what it means to be a man in this modern world, and "Work It", in which unemployed men dress up as women in order to get jobs.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Corrects byline to Jill Serjeant.

Gregg Allman cancels tour due to respiratory illness

LOS ANGELES | Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:16pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gregg Allman, the southern rock legend and frontman for The Allman Brothers Band, has canceled a series of summer concerts due to a lingering upper respiratory condition, his representatives said on Monday.

On doctor's orders, the 63-year-old veteran bluesman and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was forced to cancel tour dates from August 26 - September Some of the dates will be rescheduled for later in the year.

Allman, who battles Hepatitis C and has struggled with drug and alcohol addictions during his life, is recovering from a liver transplant last year. In June, he had to cancel four dates at the end of a four-week European tour.

"His doctor hoped that with rest he'd get better, but unfortunately the issue has persisted," Allman's representative said in a statement. "Treatment is going to involve several days of hospitalization and 4-6 weeks of bed rest at home."

Allman expects to return to touring in the late fall to support of his highly acclaimed "Low Country Blues" album, his first solo work in 14 years, his management said.

The Nashville-born singer, keyboardist and songwriter, who earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, penned the hits "Midnight Rider" and "Statesboro Blues."

His most recent tour comes on the heels of a July 27 benefit concert he gave on the eve of World Hepatitis Day. Allman suffers from Hepatitis C and is a spokesman for the Tune into Hep-C campaign.

The benefit, which starred The Allman Brothers Band, included Natalie Cole, the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. It raised over a quarter million dollars to support the American Liver Foundation and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable.

Allman also struggled with cocaine, heroin and alcohol problems through much of his adult life.

(Reporting by Jason Kandel; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)