Entertainment News

Most people I know would jump at a chance to hear live music or see a visual art exhibit – but they get a bit reluctant when I mention poetry readings and contemporary dance. Luckily, the Contemporary Art Museum has created an event that allows people to enjoy what they already know they’ll like, while getting a taste of something that might be a bit new to them.

The Kranzberg Cultural Arts Center, sponsored by Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, is slated to open in mid-August, once again lighting up the former Woolworth Building at the corner of Olive and Grand in Grand Center.

The Kranzberg Arts Center will be comprised of two performing spaces, a rehearsal space and a satellite location of the Craft Alliance.

Focus Features has announced its intentions to support African filmmakers with their new Africa First program.

According to their recent press release, Focus will be offering $10,000 for aspiring directors for the production or post-production of narrative short films made in continental Africa.

The product is the brainchild of Imani Cameron, who will be supervising the program.

Columbia Pictures wants to pay your mortgage!

According to a press release, Columbia Pictures is holding a contest in honor of the upcoming release of their new film, "Hancock."

The winner of the contest will a grand prize of up to $360,000 toward paying off their mortgage.

Those entering the contest will have to write and submit a 200 word essay explaining why they are the most deserving family. Details are available at www.hancockmovie.com .

Press release from Fair St. Louis and Live on the Levee:

Fair Saint Louis and LIVE on the Levee will be Live OFF the Levee in 2008

Downtown St. Louis – Due to the flooding of the Mississippi River , Fair Saint Louis…LIVE on the Levee announced today that it will relocate the event to the Soldier’s Memorial area in downtown St. Louis . Fair Saint Louis and LIVE on the Levee are usually held on Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd. along the river levee. The street is currently underwater. While the river is expected to crest this weekend, it is not expected to ebb until mid-July.

Hollywood has lost one of its best and brightest with the passing of Stan Winston.

Winston, the mind behind such memorable special effects as the Tyrannosaurus of "Jurassic Park", the extraterrestrial monsters in "Aliens," and a great many others has died from cancer at the age of 62.

Winston's work was widely recognized in the industry, earning him Oscars in 1986, 1992, and 1993 for "Aliens," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," and Jurassic Park. He also earned a makeup effects award for his work on Tim Burton's "Batman Returns."

GasHole is disturbing. Not Requiem for a Dream kind of disturbing, but more the kind of disturbing found in Fast Food Nation. It is a film that digs into the past of the gasoline industry and finds what some might not be too surprised to find – that alternatives to petroleum do exist, that it is possible to get more than quadruple the gas mileage that we are accustomed to getting, and that gas companies have known this for decades and have been very successful at covering it up. In some cases, claim GasHole directors Jeremy Wagener and Scott D. Roberts, the gas companies themselves have been responsible for innovative techniques that would be saving us billions as a country and keeping us safe from the danger of dependency on foreign oil. Not only do they make these claims, but they also have pretty good evidence to back it up.

While Wagener and Roberts have experience in filmmaking, GasHole is their first documentary. So don’t judge too harshly the sometimes-heavy hand of narrator Peter Gallagher and a couple of gimmicky fast cuts here and there. The message is still clear: the tyranny of oil could and should be ended, but it certainly won’t be unless the consumer finds a way to hold those with power (not only gas companies, but congress, too!) accountable for their cash flow driven actions.

And here’s the good news! GasHole was originally scheduled to be in St. Louis for just the past weekend (June 13-15), but because over 400 people turned out to see the film, the Hi-Pointe has decided to remain open (it’s currently in the midst of renovations with a grand-reopening possibility in the future) to show the film for one more weekend. So you can catch GasHole this weekend, June 20-22, at one of the 7 show times (Friday, 7:15 pm; Saturday & Sunday, 2:30, 4:45, 7:15 pm). Matinee and student tickets, $6.75, adult tickets, $8.75. The Hi-Pointe is located at 1001 McCausland Ave. For more info: gasholemovie.com, stlouisgreen.com.

If you haven’t checked out the Open Lot, and you have no opposition to art and music that demands that you bend your mind about so that it resembles a spicy pretzel, you should hurry over to the collaborative studio the next chance you get. It’s located in Lafayette Square and specializes in showcasing art, design and music that the organizers view as being underrepresented in the St. Louis art scene.

Most recently, I attended a concert featuring Zimbabwe Nkenya and Jim Baltz – an mbira duo – and the Chicago-based avant folk duo Spires That In The Sunset Rise. Both groups delivered enthralling sets that prompted the audience to beg for “9 more!” songs when Spires announced they were nearing the final song of the night and even inspired an impromptu jam session utilizing whatever instruments the audience could find lying around the studio – and believe me, there were plenty.

When Rebecca, one of my friends and fellow film freaks, came to me and told me she was starting her own movie blog, I was ecstatic.
Rebecca has an absolute love of movies that translates well to the Web, and I would like to encourage readers of The Vital Voice to visit her new website, “Queer Video Maven: Real Life Tales from Lackluster Video.”

Hollywood lost a great up-and-coming actor when Heath Ledger passed on.
Fans have been eagerly awaiting his posthumous effort as The Joker in the upcoming "The Dark Knight", but early rumors said that the other film he had been working on, another Terry Gilliam production called "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," would be cutting all footage of the rising star.