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Movie update: Will Smith promoting 'After Earth' at Spaceport

Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith are, indeed, at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences today.

They are there promoting "After Earth," their summer sci-fi movie, for national TV journalists.

It's part of a new business arrangement between Virgin Produced, the film and television arm of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which will provide commercial space travel from Spaceport through his Virgin Galactic, and Smith's Overbrook Entertainment, which produced "After Earth."

Basically, Virgin Produced will help promote the movie release in exchange for the option to "co-produce, co-finance and co-market" a sequel, according to an announcement from Sony's Columbia Pictures.

It's also a great way for Virgin Galactic, Overbrook and the Spaceport to get a lot of press.

The release of the futuristic movie, by the way, has been pushed up to May 31 from the original release date of June 7.

 

 

Movie update: McCartney's 'Rockshow' in theater, 'After Earth' at Spaceport

Well, we missed out on a Paul McCartney show this summer.

Guess some of us will have to settle for a consolation prize.

A digitally remastered version of his 1980 concert film, "Rockshow," will be shown at 7 p.m. May 16 at Tinseltown, part of a nationwide screening preceding its DVD and Blu-Ray release on June 11.

It was filmed at Seattle's Kingdome (since imploded) during Wings' 1975-76 "Wings Over the World" tour and features 30 songs, including Beatles' stuff ("Lady Madonna," "The Long and Winding Road" and "Yesterday"), solo ("Maybe I'm Amazed") and mostly Wings material (including "My Love," "Band on the Run" and the "Venus and Mars"/"Rockshow"/"Jet" opener).

"Wings Over America," the live album from that tour, will be reissued as a box set on May 28.

Tickets for the Tinseltown screening are $9, $6.50 for seniors and children, available at the theater and cinemark.com.

In other movie news:

• Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences will host a national TV  junket for "After Earth" on May 17.

That's the new Will Smith sci-fi movie in which he crash lands on Earth and must be helped by a teenager with the not-so-subtle name of Kital Raige, played by Smith's son, Jaden Smith.

Unfortunately, press guys like me aren't invited, but I'm assuming the Smiths, director M. Night Shyamalan and others from the film will be there.

There's a picture of the Spaceport on the Facebook site of Warren Betts Communications and Zoomworks Media, which is putting on the junket.

"After Earth" opens June 7.

 

 

 

 

Soviet devils at 'Play' in Ballroom Marfa's The Reading series

James Dilapo describes his screenplay "Devils at Play" as "a detective story set in the Soviet Union right before World War II."

But it sounds like it's so much more than that.

"Devils at Play," which will be given a staged reading at 2 and 8 p.m. May 18 at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, takes place during Josef Stalin's Great Purge of the late 1930s. An estimated 15 million people, including members of the Communist Party, the Red Army and government officials, were wiped out during the campaign.

Set in 1937, "Devils at Play" revolves around Stepan, a detective with the NKVD, the Soviets' secret police, whose discovery of a list of traitors could be his way out his morally bankrupt world.

"He struggles with whether he's on the right track, whether he's working for an evil faction, and in the course of that he uncovers a mystery," Dilapo said by phone from Los Angeles.

"Devils" tells the story from the oppressor's point of view, not the other way around. "When you look at this time period in history, the Soviets or the Nazis, it's usually about what it's like for the oppressed, not what it's like to be on the other side," the screenwriter explained.

"Devils at Play," which Dilapo completed after graduation from New York University in 2011, looks at "how moral justification works in our heads, how we lie to ourselves to believe in what we're doing, that capacity for good and evil," he explained, adding that he looked to books like Robert Conquest's "The Great Terror" for information and ideas.

Next weekend's event is part of the third annual Ballroom Marfa series The Reading, in which one of five screenplays singled out for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Nicholl Fellowships is performed. "Devils at Play" was one of nearly 7,200 entries for the 2012 fellowships, which give $35,000 to five winners.

It was chosen for performance by Ballroom Marfa's filmmakers' selection committee, made up of Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden ("Mystic River"), "Hitchcock" director Sacha Gervasi, director Ava DuVernay ("Middle of Nowhere") and producer Robert Shapiro ("Chariots of Fire," "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," "Empire of the Sun"), who chaired the committee for the third year.

Dallas independent filmmaker Julia Dyer ("The Playroom") will direct a small cast that includes Chuck Huber, who'll appear in the forthcoming Tom Hanks movie "Parkland," as Stepan.

A staged reading is pretty much what El Paso's new Frontera Repertory Theatre Company did earlier this month with "Freud's Last Session" at the Philanthropy Theatre. Actors have scripts, and perform on a set, with lights and sound. Previous The Reading titles were Andrew Lanham's "The Jumper of Maine" in 2011 and Dion Cook's "Cutter," another Nicholl fellowship winner, last year.

"The great thing about the staged reading in Marfa is I'll get to see how it plays out," said Dilapo, who'll fly in from Los Angeles, where he's been working on the script for Warner Bros.' sci-fi version of Homer's "The Odyssey."

He's finished an outline and said the jump from ancient Greece to the future isn't all that difficult, especially since Dilapo grew up in Portland, Ore., loving sci-fi and Greek mythology.

"I've got the world's greatest co-pilot, Homer himself," the 24-year-old said. "The skill with which he told the story is almost effortless."

"Devils at Play" has not been made into a movie, but Dilapo isn't ruling it out.

"Because of the subject matter, I'm willing to be patient on this until it's in the right hands, the right director," he said.

The young screenwriter, whose career is really just getting started, said he's looking forward to his first visit to the little West Texas town of Marfa, home to fresh-off-the-range cowboys and imported artistes. He heard there's a good filafel stand in town.

"It's hard to get good filafel in L.A.," he said.

Performances are free, but seating is limited. Ballroom Marfa staff advises making reservations at info@ballroommarfa.org, 432.729.3600 or ballroommarfa.org.

 

Movie update: Art museum hosts mental health film series

Four local entities have teamed up for a series of free movies about mental health and substance abuse.

The free series at the El Paso Museum of Art starts at 5:30 p.m. May 2 with "Bully," Lee Hirsch's documentary about bullying in American schools.

Next up: Last year's critically acclaimed "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," about an introverted student taken under wing by two older ones, at 2 p.m. May 5.

Also planned: "Girl, Interrupted," in which Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie play patients in a mental health facility in the 1960s, 5:30 p.m. May 9; "28 Days," with Sandra Bullock as a journalist who enters rehab, 5:30 p.m. May 23; and "Brothers," which stars Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal in a story about post-traumatic stress disorder, 2 p.m. May 26.

Mental health experts will address the audience before each screening.

It's a cooperative venture between the city's Public Health and Museums and Cultural Affairs departments, the county's Emergence Health Network and the nonprofit Aliviane Inc., which is under new management after the conviction last month of its former CEO Cirilo "Chilo" Madrid on several corruption-related charges.

 

Movie update: County starts movie series at Ascarate Park next week

County Judge Veronica Escobar is getting into the movie business.

Well, the county's Ascarate Park is.

Escobar announced a new series of free movie screenings, called Movies by the Lake, at the renovated park at 6900 Delta.

The series will open with a pre-Mother's Day showing of "The Blind Side," with Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock, on May 11.

The men will be targeted the following with a screening of the latest James Bond action flick, "Skyfall," with Daniel Craig, on May 18.

Nicole Ruiz, the judge's administrative assistant, said the two-movie schedule is a bit of a test balloon. If they are well attended, she said, more movies will be shown at the park.

The Horizon City Police Department is supplying the inflatable screen and staff, and the El Paso County Sheriffs Office covered the films' licensing fees, Ruiz said.

In addition to movies, food trucks will be open from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. on the site, serving everything from seafood to snow cones.

Participating trucks are The Reef Mobile Kitchen, Grill on the Go, Moshibox, Sweet Addiction Cupcakes, Bayou Snow Cones and Teaze Boba Tea.

What? No popcorn?

Patrons are free to bring their own food, Ruiz said. Blankets and lawn chairs also will be permitted.

The movies are free, but there's a $1 parking fee per car, payable at the entrance.

The county also has set up a Facebook site for the series, which you can click on here.

EP filmmakers raising funds for trip to Cannes film festival

Three El Pasoans who worked on a selection for this year's Cannes Film Festival are trying to raise money for the trip to France.

Three fundraisers are planned, beginning May 3.

Assistant camera operators Julian Quiambao and Carlos Corral and production sound mixer Aaron Madrid all worked on "Stop the Pounding Heart," a film by Houston writer-director Roberto Minervini.

Quiambao has worked Italian Minervini's two other feature-length films, 2011's "The Passage" and 2012's "Low Tide."

"Stop the Pounding Heart" is a documentary, and the last in a trilogy of Texas-based stories by the filmmaker.

The film is one of five that will be shown in the Special Screenings category of the 66th annual film festival and marketplace, which will be May 15-26 in the resort town. It's being shown along with documentary films by Roman Polanski, Stephen Frears and James Toback.

The El Paso guys, members of the Maintain arts collective, hope to raise $6,600 to cover their costs.

The first will be May 3. The filmmakers will have a table set up at the monthly La Parada arts and social event at 9 p.m. at the San Carlos Building, 501 Texas.

It will include performances by Los Superflats, Mextape, System.A and Rob Bass and others. 

Since it's Cinco de Mayo weekend, patrons are being encouraged to wear luchador masks.

It's 18 and older admission. $5 at the door. Doors open at 8:30 p.m.

System.A also will perform during an art auction for the filmmakers at 8 p.m. May 4 at the Pizza Joint, 2900 N. Mesa.

Maintain is organizing the event, which will include works by Mitsu Overstreet, Diego Martinez, Zyme One and others.

Maintain also will host a third fundraiser at 9 p.m. May 9 at the Lowbrow Palace, 111 E. Robinson. Eureka the Butcher, Rob Bass and others will perform.

It's a $5 cover, and donations will be accepted.

Donations also may be made at the Maintain website.

 

 

 

Concert update: Frontera Bugalu opens 30th MUTS series

Kiko Rodriguez and his new wave cumbia band, Frontera Bugalu, will kick off the 30th annual Music Under the Stars outdoor concert series on June 9 at the Chamizal National Memorial.

The series, which has a new sponsors, GECU, will run at 7:30 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 11, ending with the traditional "Noche Ranchera," this year with one of El Paso's top mariachi groups, Los Arrieros.

Sandwiched in between are the annual Fourth of July fireworks concert with conductor Ron Hufstader and the El Paso Wind Symphony, which will be on July 4, a Thursday. GECU is paying for the pyro.

A couple of popular El Paso-area bands also are on the schedule. Cumbia band La Magiztral Sonora plays June 23 and disco/funk revivalists Fungi Mungle, always good for a big crowd, will be there July 28.

The rest of the schedule is rounded out by out of town bands, several of which are younger and hipper acts, including New Jersey funksters Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds on June 30, Lubbock Americana singer-songwriter Jenni Dale Lord on July 21 and Mississippi roots rockers Rosco Bandana on Aug. 4.

Also booked: Utah indie rockers Desert Noises on June 16 and Chicago's Morry Sochat and the Special 20's, who play vintage jazz and early blues, on July 14.

Last year, Chamizal staff brought back beer and wine, but limited only to sales. No one is allowed to bring their own, a policy that started in 2011 and killed attendance, which used to average around 10,000 a show. Attendance was up last year, but not at the usual levels.

Here's the schedule:

June 9 — Frontera Bugalu

June 16 — Desert Noises

June 23 — La Magiztral Sonora

June 30 — Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds

July 4 — El Paso Wind Symphony

July 14 — Morry Sochat and the Special 20's

July 21 — Jenni Dale Lord

July 28 — Fungi Mungle

Aug. 4 — Rosco Bandana

Aug. 11 — Los Arrieros

 The series is organized and produced by the city's Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.

Note that the Alan Evans Trio, which I reported on this blog a few days ago, is not part of MUTS.

The funk group, the organ trio, led by Soulive drummer Alan Evans, will be part of MCAD's fourth annual Dancing in the City series at the Arts Festival Plaza in Downtown El Paso.

That series will be announced soon. One other show, by New York country band Yarn, is listed on Pollstar for July 13.

 

PCFF update: 'CE3K,' VIP passes, contests, art exhibit and more

It's a good thing I ran into Charles Horak the other day. He caught me up on some developments for this year's Plaza Classic Film Festival, of which he's artistic director.

The sixth annual edition unspools Aug. 1-11.

Here's what's new:

• The first four of more than 80 expected titles have been confirmed, including Steven Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," in which aliens from another world come for Richard Dreyfuss.

It was shown during the first PCFF in 2008, but that was on the little screen in the Philanthropy Theatre. This will be on the 45-foot screen in the Plaza, where other Spielberg blockbusters, "Jaws" and "E.T.," have drawn large crowds.

My first film junket as a college student at Texas Tech was for "CE3K." I got to ask Spielberg and composer John Williams questions (I asked Williams about the significance of the notes played to the alien mothership; he just liked the progression), and interviewed costar Teri Garr. Wonder if I can find clips of the coverage I wrote for what was then the University Daily (now the Daily Toreador).

The festival also has locked in a restored print of the 1924 silent classic, "The Thief of Bagdad," directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks in the title role. It will feature accompaniment by Walt Strony on the Plaza Theatre's Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Also confirmed: Judy Garland in "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944) and Japanese auteur Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 animated fantasy "Princess Mononoke" (imagine seeing that on the big screen).

• The festival, which recently redesigned its website, has begun running their contests in which snippets of four movie posters are posted on the website. The person or persons who correctly guess all four win tickets to this year's festival.

• Speaking of tickets, VIP passes went on sale April 9. They're $200 and include all kinds of perks, including admission to all festival events.

Teens between the ages of 14 and 18 can purchase $100 VIP passes, which includes membership in the PCFF's film club and includes access to filmmakers and other festival guest speakers. It's limited to 25 members.

They're on sale on the PCFF site or by calling the El Paso Community Foundation, which produces the festival, at 533.4020.

• For the third straight year, Horak has been working on an exhibit to complement the movies. This year's will shine a light on the visual artists behind the movies. It's called "Moving Pictures: Storyboards and Concept Art for the Cinema."

It will open in late July at the El Paso Museum of Art, where PCFF curated "The Ten Commandments" exhibit in 2011 and costume designs by Edith Head in 2012.

 

Gabe Gonzalez releases tribute to Smeltertown

Tricky Falls habitues probably know Gabe Gonzalez by site more than name.

He's the quiet, jovial guy with the glasses and bushy beard who hangs out around the sound table and happens to be one of the club's owners.

He's also a musician and producer, not to mention Jim Ward's musical right hand man, who grew up in the Smeltertown area near the soon-to-be-former Asarco site near UTEP.

Gabe assembled some local musicians, dubbed them the Smeltertown Ghosts and released a song and video called "Dust to Dust," his tribute to the place and people where he grew up.

It doesn't take a stand on the implosion of the Asarco stacks on April 13, part of a demolition doubleheader that included the felling of the former City Hall building on April 14.

"I stand on both sides of the fence on this issue," he said in a written statement accompanying the song, a twangy, retro requiem to a time and place that are just about gone. "My family is both from Smeltertown and Buena Vista. It brought life to those communities but with it also brought death; I understand this. To me, it is an end of an era. This is simply as we walk away."

Its wistful tone is reflected in the numerous still images, many black and white, of the people and places that make up the Smeltertown area.

It's one of the better artistic expressions I've run across about the Asarco demolition.

I didn't know Gabe was such a good singer!

Check it out.

 

Concert update: Lovett/Keen, JT Earle, MUTS, Jackie Ryan and more

If you value songwriters the way I do, you'll be doubly happy to know that three of Americana's are coming our way.

Texans Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen are teaming up for a five-city tour of the Lone Star State and the Land of Enchantment, including a May 28 show at the Abraham Chavez Theatre.

There's no information on Ticketmaster yet, nor have I heard anything from theater officials about it, but it is listed on Keen's website.

Tickets, according to his site, will be $30 and $67.50. No on-sale date was listed.

Keen's been here a couple of times in the last three years, but this will be Lovett's first show here since 2009.

Thanks to reader Robert Arriaga for tipping me on the show, which he found on the Pollstar site.

Meanwhile, Robert Ardovino tells me that he's booked rising Americana singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle for an April 30 show at Ardovino's Desert Crossing in Sunland Park.

He was known as Steve Earle's son when his career started in earnest in the late 2000s, but the younger artist (his middle name is a tribute to another sublime writer, Townes Van Zandt) has come into his own with an original mix of folk, country, blues and rock.

He's released five albums, including last year's "Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me." Earle's "Harlem River Blues" won the Americana Music Award for song of the year in 2011.

Ticket prices are being finalized. They should go on sale April 3 at the restaurant.

In other concert news:

• Talk about rootsy. Whilst perusing said Pollstar site, I found the first two Music Under the Stars shows listed.

Brooklyn's eight-member Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, a horn-driven funk and soul band, will perform there June 30.

Mississippi roots rockers Rosco Bandana, a septet with two singers, will play the free series on Aug. 4.

Both are younger, hipper than some of the stuff you associate with MUTS, the Sunday night concert series on the grounds of the Chamizal National Memorial. It's curated by the city's Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.

The series opens June 9. No dates officially have been announced. They usually like to do that in one fell swoop.

• MCAD, by the way, has moved out of its digs in the old City Hall building and will open up in new ones on Monday, April 1 (no foolin').

Their new space is in the Union Plaza parking ramp, a storefront that faces Leon Street, between San Antonio and Overland (about a block from the Times' new offices).

Technically, their address is 400 W. San Antonio, Suite A.

New office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday.

• That Smokey Robinson show at the Inn of the Mountain Gods show I told you about in January is on sale.

The Motown legend, whose old Miracles buddy Bobby Rogers died March 4, will perform at the casino and resort near Ruidoso at 8 p.m. May 23.

Tickets are $35, $40, $60, $70 and $85, plus service charges, on sale at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

• Jazz vocalist Jackie Ryan, who has a 3.5-octave range, will follow a masterclass for UTEP music students with a concert at 7:30 p.m. April 30 at the school's Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall.

The daughter of an Irish father and an opera-singing Mexican mother, Ryan is noted for her stylistic and vocal range. The LA Times called her "extraordinary." She must be. She's worked with piano man Cyrus Chestnut, which says a lot.

She's touring new album "Listen Here."

Tickets for the Fox concert are $3.50, plus service charges, at the UTEP Ticket Center and Ticketmaster.

• Pollstar, by the way, also lists a June 20 Lowbrow Palace show by English electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco.

I don't have any confirmation or ticket info for that.