Still riding high on the success of their latest album, ‘No Line on the Horizon,’ U2 have delivered a special treat to its loyal fans with the limited edition remix-CD ‘Artificial Horizon,’ available only to U2.com subscribers — those not willing to sign up for the band’s official website are certain to find it on various online auction sites. This album is filled with remixes of U2’s songs, from “Elevation” and “Vertigo” to the current hit “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” and earlier numbers including “If God Will Send His Angles” and “Staring at the Sun.” Ultimately, the album is for the fans, as these remixes are made to enhance the already polished work of the studio versions.

Remixes, however, are nothing new to U2. As Ralph Moore, an editor at Mixmag, writes, “U2 were one of the first bands to fully explore the idea that a remix could actually improve on a song’s original grooves.” In 1992, a Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne remix of U2’s “Even Better Than The Real Thing” made it to number 8 on the music charts shortly after the original was released. While ‘Artificial Horizon’ isn’t a commercial release, there are plenty of gems to be found, like the almost transcendental sound of the “Staring at the Sun” ambient mix. This latest fan-only album, a follow-up to the ‘Melon’ remix album released in 1995, proves U2 is unafraid to embrace experimentation, a facet of the band’s personality that continues to prove successful.

When U2 became “Rock’s Hottest Ticket” in 1987, as billed on the cover of Time Magazine following the release of ‘The Joshua Tree’ album, they were riding high on the success of a sound nurtured by producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, a duo that had helped the band craft their previous album, ‘The Unforgettable Fire.’ It was a sound that solidified U2’s standing as rock superstars, but it also marked the end of traditional rock tunes for the Irish band.

As the 80’s drew to a close, U2 was growing weary of its “traditional” sound, having become a band that couldn’t escape playing its own greatest hits on the road. On December 30, 1989, Bono told fans attending a concert in Dublin, Ireland, “This is just the end of something for U2… we have to go away and dream it all up again.” By this, Bono meant that U2, for its own creative sanity, had to re-think the style of music they were churning out, and hopefully, dream up something new.

And new was exactly what U2 produced, along with the help of Lanois and Eno. After spending a tumultuous time in the recording studio, U2 re-emerged onto the music scene with a game-changing album. ‘Achtung Baby‘ was “raw”, “rough” and “straightforward,” as the Edge would tell U2’s fan-magazine Propaganda around the time of the album’s release. Nabbing the band another Grammy for Best Rock Album, ‘Achtung Baby’ told the world U2 was unafraid to change. The album was full of industrial rock sounds and electronic tricks. This wasn’t the U2 of the 80’s, but a U2 ready to embrace, and often set the course for the future of rock music.

Since 1991’s ‘Achtung Baby,’ U2 have continued to reinvent themselves. 1997’s ‘Pop’ delivered a full-blown electronic and techno sound, followed up three years later by a slightly conservative and familiar sound with 2000’s ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” But, familiar doesn’t mean old when it comes to U2, as 2004’s ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb‘ proved, delivering “grandiose music from grandiose men,” as Rolling Stone wrote in its album review.

Experimentation has paid off for U2, with their latest tour topping the charts last year, grossing more than $311 million, according to Billboard.com. All 44 concert dates completely sold out in 2009, often within minutes of going on sale to the public. While there is no word as to when U2 might have a new album ready for release, all of the young whippersnappers currently clogging the music charts should be on guard, because when U2 has something to sing about, everybody tends to listen.

While the awards ceremony itself was a bit of a snooze-fest, despite it having a dream producing / directing team and individually hilarious hosts, there most fun I had all night was following Twitter. From insightful commentary to silly banter, Twitter was pumping out one 140-character message after another all night long. As I was also live-tweeting the Oscars, I thought it best to cull through the insanely large number of tweets I sent out last night and present the “best of” compilation. Here’s what you missed if you weren’t following @columbiajames (me) on Twitter last night.

	columbiajames: Why is Mariska Hargitay is on the #oscars red carpet? Love her and all, but this isn’t the Golden Globes. Movie stars only, please. Mar 7, 2010 11:12 PM GMT
	columbiajames: LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was just hitting on ‘Avatar’s’ Zoe Saldana on #oscars red carpet. Problem is, he was w/ his girlfriend. Ouch. Mar 7, 2010 11:27 PM GMT
	columbiajames: Director Jason Reitman mentioned his Twitter habits while talking to Ryan Seacrest on E!’s #oscars red carpet coverage. Mar 7, 2010 11:38 PM GMT
	columbiajames: Is it just me or does James Cameron’s wife Suzi Amis look like Robin Wright Penn w/ a crap load of wrinkles? #oscars Mar 7, 2010 11:40 PM GMT
	columbiajames: Sigourney Weaver always looks lovely, especially when she makes Ryan Seacrest look like a midget. #oscars Mar 7, 2010 11:49 PM GMT
	columbiajames: Is Diane Kruger still dating Joshua Jackson? I’m sad that the ‘Dawson’s Creek’ alum wasn’t w/ her on E!’s red carpet #oscars Mar 8, 2010 12:00 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Oh gawd. Mo’Nique just told Barbara Walters her man loves her hairy legs. Give me a drink, stat! #oscars Mar 8, 2010 12:11 AM GMT

	columbiajames: Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kelly Preston… it’s Scientology all the time on Barbara Walters #oscars special retrospective. Save me! Mar 8, 2010 12:36 AM GMT
	columbiajames: WHY is Sherri Shepherd covering the #oscars red carpet for ABC? Possibly more disastrous than Ryan Seacrest. Mar 8, 2010 01:03 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Someone at our #oscars party said Miley Cyrus was “slunching” on the red carpet. Slutty + slouching = slunching. Mar 8, 2010 01:23 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Neil Patrick Harris in a sparkly tux is singing on #oscars. Broadcast has been redeemed. Mar 8, 2010 01:32 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Feather boas and showgirls strutting around Kodak theatre remind me of a Vegas strip show. #oscars Mar 8, 2010 01:35 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Rugby and tensions between blacks and whites… two of Steve Martin’s favorite things, according to Alec Baldwin #oscars Mar 8, 2010 01:37 AM GMT
	columbiajames: George Clooney is giving Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin the stink eye. He’s probably just regretting being tied down to 1 woman #oscars Mar 8, 2010 01:42 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Ouch. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin bored me to death w/ their opening jokes. #oscars Mar 8, 2010 01:45 AM GMT
	columbiajames: The lone gay at our #oscars party loves seeing Ryan Reynolds, but I’m left wondering why he’s introducing ‘Blind Side’ Mar 8, 2010 01:51 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Amanda Seyfried and Miley Cyrus might not know who Steve Martin is, but nobody should know who those two girls are. #oscars #nitwits Mar 8, 2010 02:01 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Now a ‘Star Trek’ actor is introducing ‘District 9.’ Why don’t they just have the movies’ own stars throw to a clip? #oscars Mar 8, 2010 02:06 AM GMT
	columbiajames: A huge John Hughes cast reunion on stage right now. Amazing! I’ll always love you, John Hughes #oscars Mar 8, 2010 02:22 AM GMT
	columbiajames: There might have just been a Kanye West moment at the #oscarscourtesy of a crazy white lady. Mar 8, 2010 02:36 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Shot glass of Jack is still full. Why has nobody mentioned Jesus in an acceptance speech yet? Bad idea for a drinking game this year #oscars Mar 8, 2010 02:52 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Lauren Bacall reminds me of Hollywood’s golden days. We need a little less Miley Cyrus and a little more class in showbusiness #oscars Mar 8, 2010 02:55 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Keanu Reeves flashed upon in the audience. Still looks stoned, after all these years. #oscars Mar 8, 2010 03:09 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Sarah Jessica Parker has a great dress, but that rats nest hairdo and orange skinned glow… not working it, girl #oscars Mar 8, 2010 03:12 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Tech awards get a sarcastic intro courtesy of Elizabeth Banks. My geeky side is annoyed #oscars Mar 8, 2010 03:29 AM GMT
	columbiajames: Another snub? RT @shonufflives: wait, did bea arthur get missed in the memorium montage, or did I miss it? #oscars Mar 8, 2010 03:45 AM GMT
	columbiajames: I got it. It takes a pretty lady talking to George Clooney in order to get him smiling while on camera at the #oscars Mar 8, 2010 04:27 AM GMT
	columbiajames: I still love Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, but please, never let them host an awards show together again. #oscars Mar 8, 2010 05:02 AM GMT

There was a time when Broadway melodies would play on radio stations across the country, a time when showtunes were part of a crooner’s nightly set list at the club. Those were the days of musical heavyweights like Oscar Hammerstein II, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Irving Berlin. When one of these musical masterminds crafted a song, chances are, people around the country wanted to hear it.

It was called the Golden Age of Broadway — a period of time between the 1940s and 1960s that is often recalled by theatrical historians and Broadway devotees. Sadly, nostalgia does not pay the bills, nor does the current exposure Broadway musicals have been getting these past few years.

While the average twenty-something isn’t dying for another Gershwin-like hit, innovative musicals have been offering up songs that could strike a chord with the iTunes and YouTube generation. If only someone in the marketing community would hurry up and figure out a way to reach these unaware future fans.

The musical ‘Next to Normal’ uses a contemporary sound to deal with themes of depression and emotional crisis — dark themes reminiscent of Emo rock. ‘In the Heights,’ another currently running show, takes soft-rap music and combines it with Latin flair, making it an easy fit for contemporary hit radio playlists. And the soon-to-open ‘American Idiot’ is, well, full of music by the already hit mainstream band Green Day.

It is the latter musical, ‘American Idiot,’ that’s making the biggest strides in Broadway marketing, thanks in major part to Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong and his push to get the Broadway actors on stage at this year’s Grammy Awards telecast. Musicians joining Broadway shows as producers isn’t a new concept, and this season has a few big names joining the crowd, including ‘Fela,’ which boasts an affiliation with Jay-Z. It’s time to take advantage of that relationship.

While the concept of a music video getting major airplay on a channel like MTV is dead — MTV seemingly gave up on music television a decade or so ago, opting instead to push for mindless reality TV programming — music videos continue to live online.

Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group joined forces late last year with Abu Dhabi Media to launch the online music video site Vevo.com, a site offering official music videos without all of the white noise usually associated with YouTube. The site had more than 35 million users logging on within its first month, according to comScore. Yahoo hosts music videos, as do sites including MTV.com, AOL.com and Facebook.

Broadway marketing agencies need to take advantage of this growing new media audience and start pushing music in their direction. A step in the right direction would be to produce glossy music videos that can bridge the gap between music fans and Broadway aficionados. Diverting funds usually set aside for a full-page color ad in The New York Times Sunday section to new media campaigns, like music videos, is the future of Broadway marketing. Between 2008 and 2009, the Times saw its Sunday electronic edition go from 6,385 to 34,435 views, while the print edition lost nearly 22,000 home delivery readers.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, the man behind such pop culture phenomena as ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Cats’ has been hyperactive in promoting his upcoming musicals. In 2006 Webber headlined a BBC One reality program, ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria,’ geared towards finding a leading lady for his London production of ‘The Sound of Music’ — the program was merely a glossy commercial airing on TV every week. This model was copied by NBC in 2007 in hopes of boosting ticket sales for Broadway’s revival of ‘Grease.’ While the show was a ratings loser and the stage production was a critical disaster, ticket sales were reportedly high, according to the New York Post.

Now, Webber is at it again, only this time it is in the form of a music video for ‘Love Never Dies,’ the sequel to ‘Phantom’ set to open in London next month before transferring to Broadway later this year. Rather than slapping together production video clips and packaging it as a TV spot, the creative team behind ‘Love Never Dies’ produced an MTV-style music video.

In fact, there is no Phantom mask in sight, only the leading actor sexed up in hopes of appealing to women everywhere. Packaging the Phantom as a heartthrob prone to belting love ballads might not sit well with theatre fans, but let’s face it, the theatre crowd is already aware of the new musical. This ‘Love Never Dies’ music video appeals to a completely different crowd, one that doesn’t troll Broadway websites and The Times for show listings.

Beyond the recent Grammy Awards appearance, Green Day released a new music video featuring the song “21 Guns,” a track from ‘American Idiot.’ The band joins the Broadway cast throughout the video, further solidifying the link between Green Day’s music and the theatrical production.

As traditional marketing methods prove incapable of creating enough buzz to sell out a new Broadway musical, now is the time for producers and marketing executives to get creative. Whether it’s big budget reality shows or viral music videos, there are options for any budget. With so much creativity coming to life on stage every night, there is no excuse for not pumping that same amount of thought into marketing campaigns.

Viewers are tasked with weeding out the crap, and let’s face it, the crap makes up about 99% of all television programming. From the ‘Jay Leno Show’ to ‘Jersey Shore,’ recent show offerings have been an assault on the senses. In fact, there’s barely one channel that can be relied on for quality programming, except for HBO.

While HBO came to most viewers’ attention in the early 1980’s for its feature film broadcasts, today’s audience most likely associates the channel as the home to such pop culture phenomenon as ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Six Feet Under.’

Such Hollywood heavyweights as Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks flocked to HBO with their award-winning mini-series ‘Band of Brothers,’ and the soon-to-air ‘The Pacific,’ another epic depiction of war. Martin Scorsese recently directed the pilot for an upcoming gangster series, ‘Boardwalk Empire.’ Not to mention the endless number of comics that have benefited over the years from HBO comedy specials.

However, it wasn’t the big names or flashy titles that first drew me into the cult of HBO, although ‘Fraggle Rock’ might have been the main reason I started watching. What sucked me in was a seemingly simple opening sequence that HBO tacked onto its movies every night. Beginning in 1982, HBO used an introduction to its programming that included shots of a miniature city and its giant logo floating through space.

Those recognizable chrome-plated letters seemed awe-inspirsing to me as kid transfixed to the television set, unaware that I was quite privileged to have HBO piped into our household at a time when most friends merely had basic TV, if that.

Now, thanks to a post on PhantomLeap.com, anyone that missed that glorious HBO sequence can watch it again while also learning how the whole thing was put together in a making-of featurette. Starting with a miniature 30-foot-long cityscape, complete with working light bulbs in every building and hand-made foliage, the intro was painstakingly created by Liberty Studios in New York. After all these years, it was exciting to discover that a few bums and hookers were scattered throughout that memorable miniature city.

With a score by Ferdinand J. Smith that was meant to give HBO the “biggest, most exciting sound on television,” every time the channel would air a film, I distinctly remember rushing to catch that opening sequence. From a branding standpoint, the introduction provided HBO with all that it set out to achieve, excitement and wonderment, at least for this viewer.

Quality programming has kept me tuned into HBO over the years, but the initial impact its sweeping introduction provided is surely what made me a long-time viewer. Perhaps other networks can learn a thing a two from watching it again.

Published by the Huffington Post February 9, 2010.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Written by Donald Margulies and directed by Daniel Sullivan, ‘Time Stands Still’ touches on the always relevant, yet often sidelined, subject of journalism. This at a time when the profession is battling e-readers and blogs — formats that erase the desire for hard copy newspapers and day-late stories.

While ‘Time Stands Still’ lacks enough focus to drive home the point that hard working journalists give up comfort and love to pursue their calling, the subject is touched upon throughout the play. Laura Linney tackles the role of a war photojournalist that has recently suffered a near-death experience while reporting from the Middle East. Riddled with scars, both physical and emotional, she carries the baggage of front-line reporting. Death, devastation and futility are common themes journalists encounter when covering disaster and war zones. Where the play succeeds is in its slow-paced portrayal of an emotional meltdown.

Linney’s character hobbles back to a New York City apartment with her long-time lover, also a conflicted journalist, and spends the entire play fighting an urge to return to the Middle East. It’s an emotional battle for her, because returning to work would mean losing her boyfriend and risking further injury.

Most of the play focuses not on journalism as a whole, rather, on the emotional hardships associated with love and how people settle for something comfortable in life rather than going it alone. Linney’s boyfriend, Brian d’Arcy James, suffers post traumatic stress disorder following troubles in a war zone and decides he wants to settle down, raise a family, and spend his days obsessing over horror movies.

Eric Bogosian is a magazine editor suffering a mid-life crisis that takes the shape of a simple-minded Alicia Silverstone. After spending years with an over-analitical woman, Bogosian opts for a pretty, young face that he finds comfort in.

By the end of ‘Time Stands Still,’ Linney stands alone, the only one of her cohorts willing to sacrifice for the journalistic cause. Such actions can be read as heroic amongst the young journalists springing up from the Columbia Universities and North Westerns of the world — I’ll own up to being a Columbia Journalism School alum — but to many watching the play, it might seem tragic that Linney’s character finds solace in a life of torment.

After all, when you read the news for free online, be it blog or the New York Times via an iPhone, how tragic it must be to imagine someone risking their lives to write up that quick blurb read between subway stops. Yet, as ‘Time Stands Still’ points out, some stories require a journalist willing to forgo a life of comfort for the greater good. The fact that Linney’s character is unable to give up on her life-long pursuit of journalistic truth is a message the public and media leaders alike must pay attention to.

Published by The Huffington Post on February 1, 2010.

Video I produced of 'Mask'

Video I produced of 'Of Mice and Men'

One venerable theatre that lent itself to my cause was the Pasadena Playhouse, a theatre founded in 1917 and the home to many inspiring theatrical works. Actors including Gene Hackman, Raymond Burr and Dustin Hoffman trained at the theatre — it was at one point known as the ‘Star Factory.’

Sadly, the Pasadena Playhouse has announced it will close Feb. 7 due to money troubles. “The playhouse is essentially out of cash and faces more than $500,000 in immediate bills, as well as payments on more than $1.5 million in bank loans,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

Word of a potential disaster for the Playhouse started leaking late last year, with the wife of an audio supervisor writing on the Huffington Post, “If the Pasadena Playhouse closes, we all lose. The actors, the production staff, and most of all, the community.”

Sheldon Epps, the Playhouse’s artistic director said he’s holding out hope for a last-minute donation or help from the city. Read more about the Playhouse’s struggles at the LATimes.

As Los Angels readies to bid the Pasadena Playhouse farewell, I thought it best to remind people of the inspiring work staged at the theatre during my time out West.

A new musical, ‘Mask,’ based on the 1985 Universal motion picture, had its world premiere at the Playhouse in 2008 under the direction of Tony Award-winner Richard Maltby, Jr. Watch a video I produced for the production.

Director Paul Lazarus took on John Steinbeck’s classic sotry, ‘Of Mice and Men,’ giving it a Southern California spin with a focus on the plight of Mexican immigrants. Watch a video I produced for the production.

Now playing in London and soon to debut on Broadway, ‘Sister Act the Musical,’ with music by Disney alum Alan Menken, made its world premiere at the Playhouse in 2006. I had the chance to review this still in-progess production.

And I truly enjoyed reviewing the intriguing play ‘Orson’s Shadow’ in 2008 with riveting performances by actors Sharon Lawrence and Scott Lowell as the storied theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.

My only hope is that some type of donation or funding comes along in the near future, helping to re-open the Pasadena Playhouse. Without such breeding grounds for creativity, there is no telling how many pieces of art will go unseen.

Published by The Huffington Post on February 1, 2010.

First hosted by comedian Steve Allen in 1954, ‘The Tonight Show’ has seen many lead the talk show. From Allen and Jack Paar to the venerable Johnny Carson and now O’Brien, the program is full of comic history. Jay Leno reigned as king of ‘The Tonight Show’ from 1992-2009 after nabbing, some would argue “stealing,” the show from David Letterman upon Carson’s retirement.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the show, with ratings dropping and that ill-fated format switch in 1957 to a news-type program. However, there has been a sense of dignity about hosting the legendary broadcast, until now. Who wants a washed up comedian, Leno, to return to late-night with his tail between his legs, besides Jeff Zucker?

With O’Brien departing ‘The Tonight Show,’ and Leno set to return as host March 1, NBC is certain to face an uphill climb as it tries wooing back viewers and re-building the dignity of its storied program. Any TV viewer that ditched ‘The Tonight Show’ once O’Brien took over shouldn’t be that hard to get back, pending they haven’t died of old age. No, NBC shouldn’t be concerned about that demographic. It should, however, be nervous about the 18-to-49 demographic — a group O’Brien plays well to.

O’Brien has been the leader in late night with the 18-to-49 year-old viewers this season, according to BusinessWeek.com. Leno, on the other hand, has been struggling to garner any viewers for his prime-time show. And once O’Brien is able to return to the airwaves in September, Fox could prove a strong competitor to NBC should they snatch up O’Brien for its own late-night program. The network is the most-watched in prime time when it comes to youngsters.

Zucker recently told Charlie Rose he made a “mistake” regarding the whole late-night debacle. When the coveted 18-to-49 year olds follow O’Brien this Fall, perhaps Triumph the Insult Comic Dog can interview the NBC executive and get him to admit something worse. After all, it appears the NBC higher-ups decided to lock up Triumph and most all of O’Brien’s comic creations so that they can’t be used on a competing network.

Perhaps Zucker’s master plan is to have Triumph the Insult Comic Dog co-host ‘The Tonight Show’ with Leno. Now that might be the only positive thing to come out of this late-night madness — a puppet upstaging Leno each and every night. I’d definitely tune in.

Published by The Huffington Post on January, 25 2010.

Turns out the director of Broadway’s recent Hair revival, Diane Paulus, decided to direct a production of Il mondo della luna (The World on the Moon) by Joseph Haydn in the Planetarium — a perfect setting for a show about a nobleman who is fooled, by a fake astronomer, to believe he has been sent to the moon.

Written in 1777, the story of Il mondo della luna remains intriguing to both art lovers and science enthusiasts, thanks in part to the stunning projections displayed on the Planetarium’s 180-degree dome throughout the production.

I had the opportunity to film the opera’s rehearsal and document this cool production. Check out the video below and if you happen to be in New York City between now and January 28, 2010, try scoring a ticket to this intimate opera.