Patrick Doyle: 'Impressions of America' soundtrack

Patrick Dolye: Impressions of America (Original Soundtrack)  

Impressions of America is a symphonic composition by Scottish film composer Patrick Doyle. His inspiration for this Original Soundtrack comes from his relationship with America, travelling back and forth from Scotland and Hollywood.

The Soundtrack consists of fiftheen cues, which he composed over the years in his career as a film composer, gives a nostalgic look at America. The landscapes, traditions and it's people.

Scored for and recorded with a full symphony orchestra, Varèse Sabrande releases film composer Patrick Doyle's Impressions of America to celebrate the composer's 60th birthday in April of 2013.
Read more, and download the album, at New Film Scores

Billy Boyd: Beecake's second album launch

Now Billy Boyd is Lord of the Strings

He is best recognised for travelling through Middle Earth – but Billy Boyd is relishing his musical life on this Earth.

Billy Boyd, front, and his band Beecake

The Lord of the Rings star will be playing the Classic Grand on Saturday night with his band Beecake.
They're launching their second album, Blue Sky Paradise, a collection of catchy pop-rock tunes, and the title represents Billy's own way of looking at life.
"The idea is that looking out the window just now it's a gorgeous day and sometimes in modern society you're so tied up with stuff like mortgages that you actually miss what we're actually living in and how beautiful the world is," explains Billy.
"Just look at a David Attenborough show and you realise that. If you're worrying about getting a new car – who cares! As you get a bit older and mature a bit, you think about these things, and how life is much more about relationships, and enjoying this world that we all live in."
As a musician and an actor both on screen and the stage, it seems possible that Billy's own way of looking at the world was sometimes distracted by cramming so much in. But he was able to put his busy lifestyle to good use, writing several songs while on the road with the touring Sunshine On Leith musical.
"As it was a musical I had my guitar with me and was practising songs," says Billy.
"And I wrote a lot of this album while touring this show, so what was happening at that time, whether it was things happening personally to me or to my friends or just watching the news in a hotel room, it was all about that time in my life."
Billy's life has never been the same since he took the role of Pippin in the blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy. The series of smash hit films meant he was suddenly being recognised all over the world, and appearing at premieres before thousands of people.
Now the prequel, The Hobbit, has been released, and Billy has some advice for the likes of Martin Freeman, who stars in it.
"You can't explain what it's like touring the world with these films," he says.
"To go to Japan and have 100,000 people out in the street, it's a mad experience. So I'm looking forward to hearing what Ken Stott – who plays Balin the dwarf – and the others are making of it.
"I think I'll say that you need to take a step back from everything now and again. Just look at what it is as everything is so hectic – never let walking down the red carpet in front of all these people become a normal thing, as it's something very special."
However it's smaller stages that Billy now has his eye on. After his stint in Sunshine On Leith he's interested in securing more stage work, and looking out for any parts that might tempt him.
"I thought I'd been on stage a lot more in the past few years then I actually had, and during the tour I realised I hadn't been on stage with a play that was running for a while for years," he explains.
"Just getting up every morning and learning the routines with a cast that were all amazing and great singers was really exciting.
"I'd like to do more stage work in future. It's quite difficult as you have to book so far in advance and you can be doing other things too, so it has to be something you're really passionate about."
His music is the main aim at the end of 2012 though. This Saturday's launch gig may also come with a special Christmas surprise, as Billy gets into the spirit of the season.
"One of the boys said that we should bake mince pies for everyone, but I'm not sure we'll get that far, although you never know, " he laughs.
"I've never tried to cook them before! But I think we have to play a Christmas song, I think the crowd will be expecting that. We better get our heads down and learn one-"
Beecake, Classic Grand, Saturday, £10, 6:30pm. Blue Sky Paradise is available to buy through www.beecake.com.
Source (including photo): Evening Times

Billy Boyd: Beecake's album launch

Billy Boyd's band announce their album launch

Beecake are delighted to announce the launch of their latest album 'Blue Sky Paradise'. The launch will be held in Glasgow on Sat 22nd December 2012.

Video Release - Beecake have released their 'Please Stay' music video to accompany the release of their 4 Track E.P

Source: Beecake 

Alan Cumming: Making A Difference award, BAFTA Britannia host, 'Beautiful' song vid

Alan Cumming Receives the Making a Difference Award

Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MattShepardFDN

Judy Shepard presents Alan Cumming with the Making A Difference Award from the Matthew Shepard Foundation at the 11th Annual Bear to Make a Difference Gala and Celebrity Teddy Bear Auction.


The Matthew Shepard Foundation was founded by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998.
To learn more about the Matthew Shepard Foundation and their work, please visit http://www.MatthewShepard.org and http://www.Matthew'sPlace.com.

Source: YouTube

Alan Cumming to host BAFTA's Britannia Awards
Scottish actor Alan Cumming is to return for a fourth time as host of the 2012 Britannia Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., organizers announced.
Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles, the event is to take place Nov. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
"I'm so happy to be back hosting my fourth Britannia Awards," Cumming said in a statement. "It's 15 years since I first came to Hollywood and what better way to commemorate that than to be hosting a celebration of the best of British and Tinseltown. I'm excited to see old friends and raise a few glasses to the best in our business -- and be a bit mischievous too of course."
"We're so pleased that we were able to secure Alan to host this year's awards. We owe thanks to the producers of 'The Good Wife' who were kind enough to rearrange their production schedule to allow for Alan to be with us," said Britannia Chairman Nigel Lythgoe, referring to Cumming's television legal drama, which shoots in New York. "We're grateful that we can do justice to the extraordinary caliber of talent represented in this year's honorees with our esteemed host and presenters."
Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and Josh Gad will be among those presenting awards at this year's show.
The Britannia Awards are to be broadcast Nov. 11 on BBC America.

Read more: Entertainment News 

Peppard: See Alan Cumming’s *&%# Beautiful Two by Two encore
With his semi-regular appearance at Dallas’ Two by Two for AIDS and Art, Scottish singer-actor-director Alan Cumming gives more entertainment per pound than anyone since Judy Garland. Appearing as Eli Gold on the hit show The Good Wife, Cumming is a hot commodity. His act is not for the squeamish who mind jokes about vibrators. “That’s right, I said vibrator,” he told the Saturday night Two by Two crowd at the home of Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.
And his encore song, “Beautiful” did include one really profane word—repeated 28 times in less than two minutes. If you think that word might offend, don’t watch the attached video.

Source: Dallas News

Any Day Now interview
The Huffington Post has an interview with Alan about Any Day Now here

Kevin McKidd: Speyside Sessions for Traditional Scot's album of the year

Kevin McKidd @TheRealKMcKidd tweeted earlier this week:

vote for @SpeysideSession for Trad Scot's album of the year scottishcultureonline.com/blogs/nominati… would be cool just to get nominated- go on! Kev x 

Source: Twitter
Link to vote - here

Billy Boyd: new script project, and song video

Billy Boyd & Dominic Monaghan writing movie comedy
Lord of the Rings stars Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are putting the finishing touches on a film comedy they have been writing since becoming best friends on the set of the movie trilogy a decade ago. 

The two Brits discovered they had a similar sense of humour on the New Zealand set of Peter Jackson's epic and producer Barry Osbourne was so impressed with the friends' film ideas he offered to help fund their debut as screenwriters. 

The busy pair have reunited for writing sessions whenever their schedules permit and Monaghan tells Wenn that one recent creative spurt has given them both the confidence to take their project back to Osbourne. 

He says, "Billy just stayed with me for the last few weeks. He and I have been writing a script for a long time, since we spent the best part of nine months in a tree together making Lord of the Rings. We found each other very funny and we wanted to work together.
"The producer of Lord of the Rings, Barry Osbourne said to us, 'You guys should come up with an idea for a script and I'll produce it.' We both love quality comedy, like Life of Brian and Dumb & Dumber and Spinal Tap and Being There and Pink Panther and we're circling around a couple of things right now that we've co-written with some actors.
"Hopefully, in the next six months or so, we'll have something real." 

And Monaghan reveals Boyd isn't the only lifelong friend he made while shooting the Lord of the Rings trilogy - he often hangs out with Elijah Wood and his other co-stars. 

He adds, "I see Viggo (Mortensen) whenever I can and Orlando (Bloom) and Ian MCKellen and Pete Jackson. We've all remained really close friends." 

Source: Contact Music 



Billy Boyd singing Pippin’s song at Ringcon

"Said it’s the first time he’s ever done it. So good."

Watch the video here

Patrick Doyle: scoring the music of Pixar films

Patrick Doyle on Brave - ASCAP Interview  
Much of the magic of Pixar’s animated films comes from the wonderful be it the lackadaisical melodies of Randy Newman in Toy Story or the haunting waltz from Up by Michael Giacchino. Here is a behind the scenes look at where the musical magic happens.

Patrick Doyle (PRS) has composed for some of film's great characters, from Hamlet to Harry Potter. But the Scotsman had his work cut out for him when he took on Merida, the headstrong protagonist of the new Pixar feature Brave. Doyle spoke to us (in a brogue as thick as Scottish porridge) about scoring Brave, the best-named bagpipe ensemble in the world and much more. 

Source: Film Makter IQ 

Alan Cumming: 'Any Day Now' at Hamptons Film Festival, and album narration for Nicholas Phan

• Any Day Now - review

Director-writer Travis Fine’s drama is set in the late-1970s in Los Angeles’ gay community, a romance between a lip-synching drag-club performer (Alan Cumming) who really wants to be a proper singer, and a closeted assistant district attorney (Garret Dillahunt). The two are drawn together to care for an abandoned teen with Down syndrome (newcomer Isaac Leyva), and pose as cousins to skirt systemic anti-gay prejudice. Strong performances from all three leads rise above this story’s preachy and melodramatic elements,  while songs performed by Cumming’s character, including the title track, serve as plot signposts.
Source: The Province  

On Friday, Alan tweeted a link to his blog:

Here I am on TV this morning, talking about STDs and penises and all sorts

The tweet included a link to Alan's latest blog update:

I am in the Hamptons, for the film festival. Any Day Now plays here on Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow I do a Q&A at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, and on Sunday I host the Golden Starfish Awards. Earlier today, in fact, very earlier today, I went on Good Day New York to chat about the movie and the festival, penises and STDs...

Watch the video clip at Alan's blog
Source: Twitter

• Tenor Nicholas Phan's New Album STILL FALLS THE RAIN Features Narration by Alan Cumming

Named one of NPR’s Favorite Artists of 2011, American tenor Nicholas Phan returns to the music of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) on a new album available October 9 from Avie. On the eve of the Britten centenary, Still Falls the Rain showcases both the great British composer’s remarkable gift as a collaborator and Phan’s increasingly lauded interpretative powers. The album features The Heart of the Matter, a song cycle for tenor, narrator, horn, and piano, performed here by renowned actor Alan Cumming, as well as the principal hornist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jennifer Montone, and pianist Myra Huang, Phan’s long-time recital partner. -
Read more at Broadway World

Alan tweeted about the album on Thursday:

Look! My first classical album! Actually it's by Nicholas Phan aka @grecchinois and I just spout some Edith Sitwell.

 

Source: Twitter 

Ewan McGregor: charity single, and film festival award

Ewan McGregor leads celebrities getting behind the STV Appeal single

Hollywood A-lister Ewan McGregor has endorsed the official STV Appeal single, Take You There by Mánran and Michelle McManus. Ewan passed on details of the single to his 121,000 or so Twitter followers.

The single has also been supported online by presenter Lorraine Kelly and DJ Scott Mills.

Other stars, including DJ Jim Gellatly, comedienne Janey Godley, showbiz journalist Dean Piper and MSP MP Christina McKelvie, all added their support for the song.

Take You There is available to download and, of the cost, 40 pence goes directly to the STV Appeal to help children in Scotland who live in poverty.

The song has been written and performed by Celtic boyband Mànran and singer and presenter Michelle McManus. Scottish music legend Phil Cunningham produced the single.

The STV Appeal, now in its second year, will raise money to help the thousands of children in Scotland who live in poverty.

Read more – and watch the video – at STV 

Ewan McGregor to receive San Sebastian film festival’s Donostia Award

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor and Oscar-winning US actor Tommy Lee Jones will be honoured with an award in tribute to their careers at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain next month.

McGregor, the 41-year-old Star Wars star, will receive the festival’s Donostia Award, “awarded to a great film personality in recognition for their work and career”, at a ceremony on September 27, they said in a statement.

“Often hailed as one of the finest actors of his generation, Ewan McGregor consistently captivates audiences with a diverse line-up of roles across a multitude of genres, styles and scope,” it said.

“McGregor’s career has been highlighted by a continuous string of bold and daring performances, from his breakthrough role as the heroin-addicted Mark Renton in Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, to the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars saga, to starring opposite Nicole Kidman in the musical Moulin Rouge.”

The actor’s latest film The Impossible, a drama based on a true story of a family’s fight to survive during the 2004 tsunami, will have its European première at the festival after the ceremony to award McGregor the prize.

Read more at Tabloid! 

Also reported by Contact Music and many others

Patrick Doyle: return to Thor?

Patrick Doyle in talks to return to compose THOR: THE DARK WORLD

AICN asks composer Patrick Doyle, responsible for the sound of the first Thor film, if he'll return to compose the sequel, Thor: The Dark World.

Patrick Doyle who composed the first Thor film used many different elements to make a fantastic score. Ain't It Cool's, ScoreKeeper asked him about the sequel and his return.

SK: You have had a really incredible couple years, scoring PLANET OF THE APES (2011), THOR (2011) and then now BRAVE. Is there any talk yet about you being on board for the next PLANET OF THE APES or even the next THOR movie?

PD: Well it’s being discussed at the moment. (Laughs) That’s all I can say. I’m having meetings with the directors, so that’s the hope.

Thor: The Dark World is scheduled to be released on November 8, 2013.

Read more at Comic Book Movie

The World of Modern Film Composers: Patrick Doyle

A blogger's view of Patrick Doyle's work to date - read it here

Patrick’s profile on YouTube:

Scottish composer and actor Patrick Doyle has written music for and appeared in several of Kenneth Branagh's films. Before coming to films, Doyle received his education at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In 1981, he appeared in his début feature, Chariots of Fire (1981). He began his association with Branagh in 1987 when he joined the Renaissance Theatre Company. There Doyle composed music, served as musical director and acted in Branagh's productions. He began composing film scores in 1989 with Henry V. He has since worked steadily in films, both as an actor and a composer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Source: YouTube  

Gerard Butler: musical makeover, 300 sequel news, Chasing Mavericks trailer

Gerard Butler plans musical makeover

Thr 300 star is trying to relaunch himself as a singer, and has sought advice from the likes of Manson and Tenacious D's Jack Black.

Hollywood hardman Gerard Butler is being advised by Marilyn Manson as he plans to turn himself into a rock star, US reports have claimed.

The Paisley pin-up is said to be writing songs and making an album.

And according to the National Enquirer, pal Johnny Depp has introduced him to music industry veterans including Goth idol Manson and Tenacious D star Jack Black.

The magazine quoted a Hollywood insider as saying: “Gerry is rocking out big time and is already writing songs and cutting an album.

“He’s been a closet singer for years and has decided the time is right to try doing it professionally.

“In fact, he’s in the process of making what he hopes will be a best-selling CD.”

Gerry sang in a movie version of Phantom of the Opera and jammed with US rocker John Mayer in 2010 as he celebrated his 41st birthday at New York’s Darby Club.

And the Enquirer says he returned to the Darby’s stage in April this year, getting a rousing reception as he belted out tunes by The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Oasis.

Gerry is said to have sharpened his focus on music after a stint in rehab this year.

He checked into the Betty Ford Centre after reportedly having problems with prescription drugs. Reports claimed he suffered pain after his gruelling physical training for 2006 movie 300, and a surfing accident while filming Of Men and Mavericks last December.

A spokesman for the star said in February: “Gerard has completed a successful course of treatment and has returned home in good health.”

The Enquirer’s source said: “Gerry started channelling all his energy into music and it’s turned out to be a great outlet.

“He even turned to Johnny Depp for advice on putting a first-rate band together.

“Johnny and Gerry have jammed together, and Johnny introduced Gerry to some of his musician friends, including Marilyn Manson and Jack Black.”

Celtic-mad Gerry plays a former professional footballer in his new movie, comedy drama Playing for Keeps.

Source: DailyRecord 

Also reported by Ultimate Guitar 

 

Gerard Butler 'Not Doing' the '300' sequel

The hunky actor says he wishes the cast 'the best' with the flick...

Gerard Butler has confirmed that he will not be appearing in the sequel to hit movie, 300.

The last time we checked in on the latest developments with the flick, Warner Bros. ended the "is this movie ever happening?" debate by finally announcing that 300: Battle of Artemisia will hit cinemas on 2nd August 2013.

Read more at MTV 

Chasing Mavericks Trailer 2012 - Official movie trailer 3 in HD 

Starring Jonny Weston, Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue, Abigail Spencer - directed by Curtis Hanson, Michael Apted - surfing phenom Jay Moriarity sets out to ride the legendary Northern California surf break called Mavericks.

"Chasing Mavericks" movie hits theatres on October 26, 2012.

The inspirational true story of real life surfing phenom Jay Moriarty. When 15 year old Jay discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, is not only real, but exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives, and their quest to tame Mavericks becomes about far more than surfing. Chasing Mavericks trailer 2012 is presented in full HD 1080p high resolution.

Chasing Mavericks official movie trailer 3 courtesy 20th Century Fox

Source: YouTube