To begin my usual January focus on interesting free music, i’m returning to the ephemeral world of netlabels. Rural Colours appeared in 2010 as a tangential off-shoot from parent label Hibernate, which had begun the previous year. What distinguished them both from other netlabels was the fact that their releases were not purely digital but also made available in limited edition runs of CDs. Another distinguishing feature is their relative longevity, with both labels continuing until 2020. One of Rural Colours’ most compelling releases was Sieleslyk, a 2011 collaboration between clarinettist Gareth Davis and brothers Jan and Romke Kleefstra. The title translates as “soul slime”, and it’s a classic example of what i’ve referred to previously as a steady state.
The 22-minute piece essentially comprises just a few elements, each of which persists in a behaviourally static manner throughout. The most basic is an underlying drone, a deep D natural, the clarity of which continually varies, partly due to what goes on above it, but also due to its own subtle movements, periodically adjusting and causing brief swells or ripples that make it gently throb. The drone also has an interesting timbre, suggesting that it derives at least in part from Davis’ contrabass clarinet, though its exact nature is ambiguous. The second element is Romke Kleefstra’s guitar, not so much a presence as a vaporous apparition, heard together with a continual but sparse array of “effects” – varieties of noise and percussive sounds – that establish more fully the atmosphere. At times there’s the impression of wind, or the innocuous clank of something metallic, alongside more tangible strums of contemplative chords.
Gareth Davis’ contrabass clarinet is the most pervasive element, contributing overtones to the drone from the outset, both consolidating and muddying its fundamental pitch. More significantly, though, Davis’ contributions have a lovely precarious quality, always lyrical but brief, giving the impression of momentary glimpses when an ongoing state of emotionally-charged expression breaks the surface, emerging as small trills, projected tones or cracked harmonics and multiphonics. The final element is Jan Kleefstra’s voice: on four occasions his voice intones a Frisian text that in this already intensely heightened environment has a tone of incantation. Briefly in the foreground, it renders Davis’ clarinet phrases a counterpoint to this now primary action, in the process making everything feel solemnified, even the product of a slow ritual.
With the exception of the drone, heard throughout, the other three elements come and go with absolute freedom though in a way that’s predictable and, in the long term, unchanging. The texture thickens and thins accordingly, the latter leading to a couple of episodes (~6:40 and ~17:50) of the most beautiful repose, where the drone has a chance to radiate a little more strongly some of its black glory. The noirish nature of Sieleslyk means that, though highly attractive, it’s not exactly easy or relaxed listening, laden with an active darkness that manifests as edgy, tense and nervous, the music’s apparent freedom set within a language that sounds paradoxically taut.
Sieleslyk was released by Rural Colours in April 2011 as a limited edition mini CDr and MP3. The label’s website has been defunct for over five years, but Sieleslyk remains available via the Internet Archive.
Rapper Meek Mill has deleted a music video shot inside Ghana’s presidential palace after facing swift backlash online.
The 35-year-old rapper was in the country’s capital, Accra, to perform at the Afrobeats festival when he dropped into the Jubilee House governmental building, which serves as both the official presidential residence and office.
Mill visited Jubilee House in late December 2022, where he met with Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, and other government officials.
“With the president of Ghana appreciate meeting strong black leaders it gives me motivation to be more great!” Mill wrote on Instagram alongside a series of photos of his visit, including standing at the president’s official lectern.
On January 8, the rapper released a teaser from a video that appeared to be shot both inside Jubilee House and outside the unique structure. Drone footage flies overhead in one shot showing Mill and his entourage.
The clip also included footage from his performance at Afrobeats and of him chatting with Ghanaian officials at Jubilee House.
Ghanaians flocked to social media to condemn the video, especially for the drone footage over a supposedly high-security building.
Newsweek has contacted Meek Mill and the Ghanaian government for comment on the controversy.
Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the country’s former deputy education minister, demanded the instant dismissal of those who approved the shoot.
“All those responsible for this despicable desecration of the Jubilee House by Meek Mill must be fired immediately. How do those explicit lyrics from the president’s lectern project Ghana positively? Is Ghana’s seat of government no longer a high security installation?” he tweeted.
Journalist and TV producer Jude Mensa Duncan tweeted: “This is so so embarrassing. The sad part is, the ordinary Ghanaian can’t even stand infront of the jubilee house to take a picture.So why allow someone fly a drone over the place ??”
While sports reporter Rita Mensah wrote: “Nah!! This is getting serious, why are we allowing this? Can Meek Mill shoot a music video in the white house? Eii Gh lol . What a country! We have given these guys too much liberty they don’t even have in their country.”
On Facebook, Nuong Faalong detailed her experience of being banned for filming outside the building as it was “unlawful.”
“Many years ago, a Camera Man called Francis and I grabbed some equipment and headed out looking for the perfect spot to shoot a story,” Faalong wrote.
“We stood at the Afrikiko intersection, turned around and shot a few ‘stand uppers’. It didn’t look good enough, the story was political so we inched closer to Jubilee house , I stood on the grass with Jubilee behind me in the background and we started to roll …. BOOM!!!
“Security came running out real quick, grabbed our equipment, took us inside , we went through all kinds of security processes on the compound , finally went to see the head of Security and then Director of Coms Eugene Arhin who cleared us to leave after we promised to desist. Our videos had been long deleted.”
The reporter added she did not feel angry at the time because she was “certain everyone involved was just doing their job.”
Faalong said she was sharing her story now because she didn’t think it was fair for foreigners to get special treatment over Ghanaians.
“If foreigners are quickly elevated and given all kinds of access over and above local woman like me, of course they will go and blow your Trumpet louder. Our experience of the country are different! This ‘lure’ package allows them to run riot without restrictions or repercussions. They get access and sweetheart deals. We get the rough edges,” she wrote.
“Frankly when some of them hype the country, Ghanaians cannot even relate.”
Matty Healy is chewing on slab of raw steak. Minutes later, after doing push-ups while images of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Margaret Thatcher flash on screens, he crawls into an old rear-projection television and the stage goes black, thus concluding act one of the first UK date of a tour they’ve titled The 1975: At Their Very Best.
Fans with Twitter or TikTok will already be aware of Healy’s recent on-stage antics. Since the band’s tour began in the US last year, clips of the 33-year-old have gone viral: showing him berating security via Auto-Tune, snogging various fans and complaining about menthol cigarettes being thrown on stage. It’s the sort of memeable behaviour one has come to expect from the always-online Healy who, over the last decade, has become one of music’s most compulsively watchable provocateurs thanks to his inescapable charisma, open-mouthed honesty and his band’s self-aware and sparkling 80s pop-rock.
Still, while such virality is surely great for engagement – probably pleasing to the band’s label – it has perhaps overshadowed what might be one of the most inventive, bizarre and entertaining arena shows in recent memory. Split into two distinct acts, the band has done away with the often awkward and well-rehearsed dance between artist and fans where new material is slotted somewhere between the hits. Instead, the first 75 minutes of the show is material almost entirely from the band’s latest album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, delivered as a conceptual show-within-a-show that feels constructed to test the audience’s patience and their expectations about the nature of pop shows.
Bizarre exercise … Matty Healy does push-ups while watching Rishi Sunak on TV. Photograph: Jordan Curtis Hughes
Set against a meticulously crafted set designed to look like the inside of a house, it’s presented as if Healy and his band are recording a TV special: there is even an interlude where they halt the show in order to re-do a take of a song, movie clapper and all. Staggering around the stage, Healy is loose-hipped and bendy, a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other as he mumbles to the audience between songs. The role being played here – drunk and arrogant rockstar – clearly aligns with the thematic concerns of Being Funny in a Foreign Language, which explores the dichotomies of modern masculinity with all its fragility and toxicity: “Men are confused,” Healy says at one point, images of Andrew Tate and Prince Andrew flashing on the screens, before proceeding to grope at himself.
It would be annoying if songs weren’t so kinetic and expansive: Oh Caroline is a swirl of contradictions, a piano glissando clashing with Healy’s gravelly and emotionally wrought vocals. The open Laurel Canyon strum of I’m in Love With You becomes hunched and introverted as whirring synths go off like an alarm. The smoky end-of-the-night smoothness of All I Need to Hear, which Healy performs with his back to the crowd, is distorted by guitars. And the harmonies of When We Are Together feel like they’re enveloping you in their spine-tingling beauty.
Then, following the meat-eating and television exit, the band return to the stage for the show’s second act. “We just played about an hour of music that came out about eight weeks ago and none of you left,” Healy says. “Now let’s get into business.”
What follows is a tsunami of hits. The shimmying If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) feels like a refreshing glass of water after the previous hour, the crowd jumping like they’re at a trampoline park as Healy morphs from awkward incel into competent pop heartthrob. Somebody Else, with its glassy synths and chugging beats, becomes the singalong of the night. There’s a tiny detour as Healy throws his support behind striking workers (“Being anti-Tory is not a hot take,” he says when the crowd cheers), before an energetic performance of The Sound.
Of course, at just over two hours long, and given its perhaps alienating first half, this show may prove divisive for some. But whether you see the bewildering two-act structure as innovative, or simply an exercise in trolling, may supply the truth behind the tour’s name: you certainly wouldn’t get this from anyone else.
American rapper, Meek Mill, has deleted a music video he filmed at the Jubilee House from his Instagram page.
Per multiple checks by MyJoyOnline.com, the video, which the rapper uploaded on Sunday evening is no longer available on his page as of Monday morning.
The deletion comes in the wake of widespread public agitations from a section of Ghanaians about the said video.
In the video, the singer was seen joyously walking through the Jubilee House, together with his colleagues as they jammed to his latest composition.
From the visitor’s hall to other locations in the Jubilee House, including the front of the facility, Meek and his friends accessed the building for their shoot.
But this has not gone down well with some Ghanaians.
According to the critics, the video is an affront to the country’s image, given that it was shot at the seat of the presidency without any recourse to what the facility connotes.
In a series of widespread social media sentiments, hundreds of Ghanaians have decried the use of the Jubilee House, which is the embodiment of the country’s executive power, for filming a music video by a foreigner.
Meek Mill posted the video on Sunday evening, hoping to excite his audience.
But he was met with anger from a section of the populace.
Meanwhile, North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, says those who allowed American rapper, Meek Mill, to film a music video at the Jubilee House must be sacked immediately.
According to the lawmaker, the video and its content constitute a ‘despicable desecration’ of the Jubilee House.
In a tweet on Monday, Mr Ablakwa bemoaned the development, questioning the security implications of the said filming at the presidency.
“All those responsible for this despicable desecration of the Jubilee House by Meek Mill must be fired immediately. How do those explicit lyrics from the president’s lectern project Ghana positively?
Is Ghana’s seat of government no longer a high security installation?”, Mr Ablakwa tweeted.
Government is however yet to officially comment on the matter.
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Paraguayan Southern Rock troubadour Sunburned River closed 2022 with the release of his heart-wrenchingly defiant single, Go On.
Starting with choral 70s folk-rock tones, the disarming single seamlessly builds around orchestrally cinematic and baroque motifs, complementing the rugged acoustic guitar timbres and the low ethereal hum of his evocative vocal timbre. If that wasn’t enough sonic beguile, the singer-songwriter orchestrated an electric guitar riff solo for the ages.
Regardless of who you revere as a guitar hero, Sunburned River’s talent while ripping through the soaring lead guitar work is breath-takingly superlative. The only thing on par with his instrumental ability is his captivatingly immersive songwriting skills.
The official video for Go On is now available to stream on YouTube.
At CES 2023, Disney was inside the Amazon booth giving early demos of “Hey Disney” an upcoming Alexa Skill for Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo. It lets fans communicate with a Disney-themed voice assistant that works alongside Alexa.
Disney opted not to go with Mickey Mouse, or a number of other iconic mascots as its voice assistant, and instead went through round of auditions to find a voice actor who epitomized a certain Disney feel.
The company landed on voice actor Nicolas Roye, known for his video game and anime work, who brings a jovial, if somewhat hammy, performance that should play well with kids. There will be plenty of cameos from Disney characters, however.
Amazon Echo Show on a Mickey Mouse-themed stand at CES 2023 showing off the ‘Hey, Disney’ Alexa skill.
Bridget Carey/CNET
People who purchase the Hey Disney Alexa Skill, or who have a subscription to Amazon Kids+, the company’s curation of books, movies and games starting at $5 a month, will get a voice assistant that turns the Disney dial to 101 Dalmatians. Here, people can ask basic questions like, “what’s the weather like?” or set alarms, and will get a randomized response from one of 25 different Disney characters, like Donald Duck, C-3PO, and Fozzie the Bear — and the cast of featured characters is expected to grow.
Alongside games and bedtime stories, Hey Disney also comes with Soundscapes. It plays hours of ambient music and sound effects themed to a location from a movie — but this is not from any existing movie soundtrack. A soundscape from Star Wars sounds like you’re sitting on the forest moon of Endor as Ewoks talk and run past you. There’s also a soundscape to feel like you’re walking in the Magic Kingdom, hearing other tourists as a trolley and steam train pass in the background.
When Hey Disney can’t do a certain task, such as play music or answer questions, it’ll pass off the job by saying “I’ll ask Alexa for that,” and the familiar Alexa voice begins to chime in.
Don’t miss: Mind-blowing audio, TVs, more: The most exciting tech coming your way in 2023
“It’s really important for us to continue to find ways for guests to engage with the brand, right? And we do so well with that in our parks,” said Steve Flynn, director of digital experience at Disney.
“Being able to have something like this, that extends into the home, so our brand can become part of the guests’ daily life, that’s always something that’s really important to us, and I think that checks the strategic objective,” Flynn said, adding that since many Disney customers also own Echo devices, the partnership between Amazon and Disney makes good sense.
Disney continues to be a dominant force in entertainment, with an estimated value of over $50 billion. The conglomerate owns ABC, ESPN, 21st Century Fox, Marvel and Star Wars. It’s wide repertoire of franchises and lovable kid-friendly movies creates a fandom that, for some, can last a lifetime. Disney funnels its loyal following into experiences at its theme parks and cruises around the world, giving families memorable, if expensive, vacation experiences. Bringing that experience home gives families and kids daily interactions with the Disney brand, which could lead to more loyal followings.
Disney’s MagicBand Plus can also work with Hey Disney to play Disney-themed games.
Bridget Carey/CNET
Disney is starting to roll out the assistant at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort in Florida by installing Echo Show 5 devices in rooms — which are programmed with privacy protections for guests. Disney is committed to putting the Echo Show 5 in all of its hotel rooms this year at the Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. It’s a substantial order — Disney has over 30,000 rooms in Florida alone. Largely, the experience that guests have at Disney hotels will be similar to when Hey Disney comes to people’s homes later this year, minus the ability to request fresh towels.
Amazon has worked with hotels before to put Echo devices in rooms, but Disney has the first assistant to launch with Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant program, letting companies make their own assistants tailored to a brand personality or special customer need. But behind the scenes, the tech is all from Amazon.
“The goal of the Alexa custom assistant technology is one, to support, again, customer choice and interoperability, but then two, to help brands to extend their brands into Ai and voice, to do it in a way that is simple and also cost effective,” said Aaron Rubenson, vice president of Alexa.
Disney also showed off interactions with its MagicBand Plus, a light-up wearable used at Disney theme parks that can work as park tickets or to interact with certain attractions. The MagicBand Plus and Hey Disney can work together to play certain games, or start buzzing when timers go off.
Expanding Alexa to work alongside other branded assistants could be an important way to for Amazon to continue growing the brand. Late last year, Amazon laid of 10,000 workers, primarily from its Alexa division due to lower-than-expected earnings. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said this week that the company would be laying off an additional 18,000 workers, hitting human resources and retail operations.
One of Australia’s oldest symphony orchestras, Melbourne’s Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 90th birthday in 2023.
Founded by the amateur players of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1933, and named after the esteemed Melbourne violinist Alberto Zelman Jr, who died six years before its founding, the orchestra has given at least three concerts each year since. It is now one of Australia’s leading community orchestras, comprising more than 60 players in a full symphonic ensemble, performing classical, romantic and 20th-century symphonies and concertos with guest soloists.
Led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Rick Prakhoff, the Zelman’s birthday celebrations begin in March at the Melbourne Recital Centre with a musical tour of Vienna featuring works by Strauss, Kreisler and Korngold. Canadian violinist Alexandre Da Costa is guest soloist, playing his 1701 “Devault” Stradivarius in a program reflecting his passion for Viennese music. Da Costa will conduct the orchestra with his bow in the Stehgeiger fashion, a technique he has mastered.
Alexandre Da Costa. Photo: Supplied
On Saturday 17 June at Methodist Ladies’ College, Kew, Zelman Symphony will present two Australian works: Opal: Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra by Melbourne composer May Lyons and Haunted Hills by Margaret Sutherland. It will also play Brahms’ Symphony No 1.
The orchestra’s actual birthday will be celebrated on 10 September with Mahler’s Symphony No 2 at the Melbourne Town Hall. The venue – in which the orchestra debuted in 1933 – will ring with the massed voices of the Melbourne Bach Choir and featured soloists, soprano Anna-Louise Cole and mezzo-soprano Belinda Paterson.
The birthday celebration concludes at MLC Kew on 25 November with a concert of Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola partnered with with the world premiere of a commissioned work composed by Sydney-based composer Harry Sdraulig and Sibelius’ Symphony No 2.
For more information on the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 season, visit its website.
Country music icon George Jones had several nicknames, varying in their implications. For instance, he was known as “King George” because of the place he made for himself in his chosen career. However, he was also known as “No Show Jones” because there were times he was too intoxicated to perform.
George Jones | Beth Gwinn/Getty Images
George Jones was nicknamed ‘King George’ and ‘the Rolls Royce of Country Music’
Born in Texas, Jones began his music career with street performances as a child to help provide for his family (Biography). He started performing in dive bars as a teen and soon moved away to work at a radio station. He married at 18, divorced for the first time soon after, joined the Marines to avoid jail, and cracked country music’s top 10 in his mid-twenties.
Through his music and unique voice, Jones earned the nicknames “King George” and “the Rolls Royce of Country Music,” two of the more positive things he was called. “King George” has a simple indication, suggesting Jones earned a place as country music royalty. He was also called “the Rolls Royce of Country Music” due to his deep, smooth voice.
George Jones was nicknamed ‘No Show Jones’ because he skipped his shows sometimes
George Jones- 1993
During 1981, Jones had a history of not showing up to his shows and earned a reputation of “No Show Jones.” He even wrote a song by that title. Billy Bob Barnett took over his management and tried to keep him in a straight line. pic.twitter.com/Gf1CYypH0A
Jones earned the nickname “No Show Jones” because he didn’t always show up for his shows, and sometimes he was drunk when he did. His alcoholism and drug use made him unreliable, as Reba McEntire once experienced.
His producer, Billy Sherrill, told The New York Times Magazine that Jones eventually developed a cocaine habit. “A lot of the missed shows did start when he was all messed up,” he explained. “You can’t push a rope.”
“Jones has always been laid-back, just never did care,” Sherrill said. “He told me one time — everyone was all mad at him because he’d missed a big gig somewhere — he said, ‘Look, as long as I can go into a Holiday Inn lounge with a guitar and make a living, nobody’s going to push me around.’ So he’s got this thing.”
Jones confessed, “Of course, I was pretty wild. I was pretty wicked.”
“That old stuff will make you do things that you later on wish had never happened. But there’s not much you can do about it because it’s spilled milk. You just have to clean up your act, and that’s what I did. I wouldn’t have it any other way now,” he added.
George Jones was nicknamed ‘the Possum’ because of his face
According to Texas Monthly, Gordon Baxter, once a deejay at KTRM like Jones, explained the country music legend was nicknamed “the Possum” as a young man because of his facial features.
“One of the better deejays, Slim Watts, took to calling him George P. Willicker Picklepuss Possum Jones,” he shared about the George & Tammy inspiration. “For one thing, he cut his hair short, like a possum’s belly. He had a possum’s nose and had stupid eyes, like a possum.”
Despite that origin story, some observers have pointed to how Jones brought his career back from the dead several times as also being like a possum.
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
Music in the background of a movie is often crucial to how we experience the film. In some cases, it can become as memorable as the movie itself. Think of the screaming violins in “Psycho” or the haunting tuba in “Jaws” – the latter written by John Williams – who for more than a generation was Hollywood’s leading composer.
But over the years as directors and studios began to look for edgier scores, they have increasingly turned to a German-born composer named Hans Zimmer. If you’ve been to the movies in the past 40 years, you’ve heard a Hans Zimmer score.
Action, drama, comedy, romance, blockbusters – he’s done them all.
Including the 1994 film, “The Lion King,” for which he won an Oscar. With its opening Zulu chant, sung by Lebo M., a South African musician who was working at a car wash in Los Angeles when Hans enlisted him.
Hans Zimmer: That’s how that opening song came about, literally. Microphone in the room, not in a booth or anything like this.
Hans told the executives at Disney that he wanted to say right off the bat this is not a typical Disney movie; it’s a father-son story that takes place in Africa.
Hans Zimmer: And they said, “Exactly. That’s good. Do– do what– do what you do.”
He showed us what he does at his studio in Los Angeles, where he composes his scores on this keyboard and computer. For example, the music for the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.
Hans Zimmer: So, if you have “Pirates,” which is basically this sort of a thing, there’s a jauntiness, right–
Lesley Stahl: Yeah.
Hans Zimmer: And it’s– The music is really big. And he’s in a little rowboat with a little sail, and you hear this huge orchestra. Because that’s the music he hears in the– in his head, because he’s the greatest pirate that has ever lived in his imagination. So when you listen to the Joker [from “The Dark Knight”], he’s quite the opposite. It’s like, you know, a bow on a bow and arrow. And you stretch it.
Lesley Stahl: Ooh. Oh my god.
Hans Zimmer: And it’s– it’s not pretty.
Hans Zimmer
Lesley Stahl: It’s very emotional inducing. I can’t even express why. I wouldn’t know– be able to put words to it. But—
Hans Zimmer: That’s the idea. At my best, words will fail you because I’m using my own language.
Since the 1980s, Hans Zimmer’s language in his scores, like last year’s biggest hit, “Top Gun: Maverick,” has defined not just the characters but has helped tell the stories of chest-thumping action films and sci-fi epics. Like “Dune,” which he won an Oscar for in 2022, in which he used juddering drums and electronic synthesizers.
Lesley Stahl: So you’ve been called a maverick. You’ve been called a visionary. How would you describe yourself?
Hans Zimmer: I would describe myself as somebody who’s deeply in love with music, and deeply in love with movies, and playful. I love to play, like, as any musician does, as in any language. It says, you know, you play music.
His choices have been unpredictable. For every “Man of Steel,” there’s a “Kung Fu Panda” and a “Sherlock Holmes,” in which he used a broken piano and banjos for the 19th-century detective turned quirky action hero.
Lesley Stahl: How important is the instrument to getting what you want?
Hans Zimmer: Vastly important. I mean, because instruments come with baggage. You know, for instance, the definition of a gentleman is somebody who knows how to play the banjo but refrains from doing so.
Lesley Stahl: Whoa. (LAUGH)
Hans Zimmer: Why that banjo worked, right? Because it was funny.
He has used banjos, bagpipes, buzzing electronics. And this, a good old-fashioned orchestra.
Think about the composer of “The Dark Knight” writing something this delicate.
Hans Zimmer: Really good. Can we just have one more to, you know, protect the innocent?
He invited us to watch him record the score of a new movie in a London studio last summer. It’s about a young girl coming of age based on a Judy Blume book, “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,” that will be released in theaters this spring.
Hans Zimmer: Like the sound?
Jim Brooks: Mmm-hmm.
Academy Award-winning director Jim Brooks is a producer of this movie. This is the eighth film they’ve worked on together.
Jim Brooks
What’s unique about Hans, says Brooks and other directors, is how deeply involved he gets in more than just writing the music. His process typically begins with a conversation with the director long before a single frame of the movie is shot.
Jim Brooks: You talk about what the movie’s about. The story of it. What the scene’s about. You don’t turn to a composer for that.
Lesley Stahl: So he becomes almost a partner in the–
Jim Brooks: Absolutely–
Lesley Stahl: –writing and the directing–
Jim Brooks: Yeah, yeah, yeah–
Lesley Stahl: –every phase?
Jim Brooks: Yeah, yeah.
On “Gladiator,” he partnered with director Ridley Scott. He says he told him that he thought this movie should be about more than just a man in a skirt going into battle.
Hans Zimmer: And I felt right at the beginning we needed to set up the possibility that in this movie we could have poetry.
Lesley Stahl: Can we listen just to a bit–
Hans Zimmer: I mean–
Lesley Stahl: –of the music that you wrote for the–
Hans Zimmer: It starts off just with this note.
Lesley Stahl: And you see the hand.
Hans Zimmer: And you see the hand. And you’re already in a different world.
Lesley Stahl: And there’s— no one is talking–
Hans Zimmer: You left the 20th century. You don’t expect the tenderness.
Lesley Stahl: I mean, you are setting a mood.
Hans Zimmer: It’s a cry. It’s a cry.
Lebo M. jams with Pedro Eustache and Zimmer
His love of music, his obsession, grew out of his childhood in West Germany. While other kids liked to play games, he liked to play the piano.
Lesley Stahl: So did you take piano lessons?
Hans Zimmer: Absolutely. It was two weeks of absolute torture.
Lesley Stahl: Two weeks?
Hans Zimmer: Well, yeah, because he then went to my mother and said, “It’s either him or me.” And, luckily, my mother made the right choice. She kept me, you know? (LAUGHTER) No, no–
Lesley Stahl: No, no. Tell me about piano lessons–
Hans Zimmer: I drove– I drove him crazy. You know, I’m six years old. So my idea was a piano teacher is somebody who teaches you how to– the stuff that’s going on in your head, how to get that into your fingers. That’s not what they do. They make you do scales. They make you play other people’s music. And I didn’t wanna do other people’s music.
Lesley Stahl: Right from the beginning.
Hans Zimmer: Right from the beginning. But I promise you, I know my Beethoven and my Brahms inside out.
He learned about them from his mother, a classically-trained pianist.
Hans Zimmer: And there is the other side, which was my dad who was an extraordinarily appalling jazz clarinetist, but with great enthusiasm. In the middle of his work day, he’d get out the clarinet. I’d be banging around on– and– and we’d be jamming, you know? So that’s where I got the joy.
Instead of college, he became a rock-n-roller, performing with the Buggles.
Zimmer in the Buggles’ music video for “Video Killed the Radio Star”
He was the young guy in the black jacket on the synthesizer. They made pop history in 1981 with the first music video to air on MTV, “Video Killed the Radio Star.”
He began composing scores for low-budget films. One of which in 1988 caught the attention of the Hollywood director Barry Levinson, who showed up one night out of the blue at what was then Hans’ London studio.
Hans Zimmer:And so he said, “Would I mind coming to Los Angeles and maybe doing his movie?” So, off I went to Los Angeles. And I got nominated for an Oscar.
Lesley Stahl: First movie, really.
Hans Zimmer: First movie. I didn’t win, but it didn’t matter because everybody wanted to meet me.
That film was no less than “Rain Man,” which led to “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Black Rain,” and more than 140 other films that began to push the sound of movie music into a new direction.
Hans Zimmer: I love the idea that electronics let you shape sounds in a way that go beyond the way an orchestra can.
He became a pioneer in fusing electronics with orchestral music, using his secret weapon: a digital library that he built himself, with original computer code. He painstakingly recorded each instrument in a real orchestra, note by note, using world-class musicians and the finest instruments, and loading it all into his computer.
Lesley Stahl: Take a violin. And you have the violin play middle C. And then you have that instrument play middle C loud, soft, and all different–
Hans Zimmer: Oh, yeah. Look, look. It can play pizzicato. It can play short, you know.
Lesley Stahl: So, you’re not making it piccato. They played it that way.
Hans Zimmer: They played it that way.
Lesley Stahl: And you’re bringing that up? Whoa. That must’ve taken months. Years?
Hans Zimmer: No, it’s actually taken years.
And millions of dollars. He doesn’t write out his compositions on paper, his computer does it for him, and it helps create the “unconventional sounds” you find in his scores.
Lesley Stahl: Scraping metal.
Hans Zimmer: Yeah.
Lesley Stahl: And electronic thuds. Music?
Hans Zimmer: It can be. Everything can be made to be a musical instrument in one way or the other.
Pedro Eustache
He often collaborates with Pedro Eustache, a world-class flautist, who has built contraptions that produce unusual sounds that Hans thinks up for his movies.
Pedro Eustache: This is an ostrich egg, okay?
Lesley Stahl: That’s an ostrich egg! You put the holes in.
Pedro Eustache: Yeah, and I put all that there. And, it’s a musical instrument.
Lesley Stahl: So you made–
Pedro Eustache: Yeah.
Lesley Stahl: –an ocarina out of an ostrich—
Hans Zimmer: Lemme explain.
Lesley Stahl: Yes, please.
Hans Zimmer: When he’s not stealing eggs at the zoo, (LAUGH) he is a very good customer of Home Depot. And– (LAUGH) and– (CLAPPING) and so many of his instruments made out of PVC piping.
Pedro actually used PVC piping to come up with the 21-foot-long horn that Hans wanted for “Dune.”
He’s currently working on “Dune: Part Two.”
And now he goes on tour with a 38-piece orchestra and band to perform his movie scores.
Lesley Stahl: How have you changed? You’ve been working at this for 40 years.
Hans Zimmer: I tell you what. So, when you start out, you have all that stuff that you’ve never done before. Every movie had every idea, every device, every chord change, every– whatever in it. Now, I think it’s more of figuring it out what to do new. But it becomes harder and harder, because I’ve used up so much ammunition in the past.
He told us that after more than 150 films, he lives in constant fear of the day his phone will stop ringing.
Lesley Stahl: Even after 150? Do you think you’re motivated by that fear–
Hans Zimmer: But it’s only 150, do you know what I mean? (LAUGH) It’s like, what if 151 is a complete disaster? (LAUGH)
Lesley Stahl: Oh, wow–
Hans Zimmer: You know, I’m still alive. You know, I’m 65 years old now and people are going, “Are you gonna retire? You gonna go and put your feet up?” And I’m going, “No, I’m full of ideas. I’m just getting started.”
Lesley Stahl: Do you really think that?
Hans Zimmer: I really think that.
Produced by Richard Bonin. Associate producer, Mirella Brussani. Broadcast associate, Wren Woodson. Edited by Richard Buddenhagen.
Lesley Stahl
One of America’s most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since 1991.
When I start my Zoom session with Adam Blackstone, he’s in the studio. He had spent all day there the previous day, working on a new version of Legacy, his debut album from last year, re-interpolating melodies from singers like Kirk Franklin, Jill Scott, and Jazmine Sullivan.
The album has already been a big moment for Blackstone. The Sullivan-featured “Round Midnight” from Legacy is nominated for a Best Traditional R&B Performance Grammy and made President Obama’s list of his top songs of 2022. Blackstone, a bassist from Willingboro, New Jersey, who made his bones in the Philly music scene, admits he didn’t always receive such lofty individual recognition during his 20-plus years as a bandmate and musical director for legends like Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna, whose highly anticipated Super Bowl 57 halftime show he’s co-MD’ing with Philly brethren Omar Edwards.
The Feb. 12 spectacular will be Rihanna’s first performance in five years, but she’ll be in good hands. She and Blackstone have worked together for years, and he’s also helped curate the past three Super Bowl halftime shows, including the Emmy-winning 2022 rendition featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and their high-powered friends. Blackstone promises an “envelope-pushing” set that celebrates the versatility of Rihanna’s catalog.
“Rihanna knows that her career has expanded different sonic palettes, from EDM to pop to hardcore hip-hop to ballads,” Blackstone says. “We’re coming up with the setlist together because everybody who is a Rihanna fan has their different moments of who Rihanna is to them, and what each song means to them as well. We want to try to give a little bit to everybody.”
Along with music-directing upcoming events like the Superbowl, Emmys, and NBA All-Star Game, Blackstone is excited about the Legacy Experience, a live show where he and a band perform songs from the album but also delve into jam sessions with stars like Dr. Dre, Justin Timberlake, and New Edition occasionally stopping in. He’s done a Legacy Experience in just about every major American city, and says he’s looking to take things “a little bit bigger” in 2023 and beyond.
But before then, he’s headed to Glendale, Arizona, to make sure Rihanna has the best comeback possible. We talked to Blackstone about the Super Bowl halftime show, his winding career path, and how one goes about turning Janet Jackson’s 30-year catalog into a digestible set.
You said you got a spark of inspiration for your Legacy album when you heard someone say, “I don’t want to die with a laptop full of ideas.” How cathartic did it feel to put your music out in the world under your name?I got to tell you, I see it today. I don’t mind saying this, I just voted for myself on the Grammys. Even just seeing my name, man … being on Jimmy Fallon a couple weeks ago, and being on the Good Day morning show … I’ve done those shows for 15 years, but never as myself. It’s a whole new area of life. When Erykah Badu said, “Keep in mind I’m an artist, and I’m sensitive about my s***,” that rings so crazy true to me right now, because I always overcared, but I was caring for somebody else’s baby.
Now that this album Legacy is my own child, it becomes a different type of watchful eye. It becomes a different type of execution to present it to the world. And I continue to be in awe of how much my music is touching people. I just made a couple of new playlists on Spotify. I was just looking at Best Vocal Jazz of 2022. You know what I’m saying? My music is on there. And Best Jazz Songs of 2022. I made Obama’s top ’22 songs list. That’s crazy. My man, B.O. is rocking my joint at the crib right now! I’m just super thankful, man.
What made you want to have Jazmine Sullivan cover “Round Midnight”?First of all, Jazmine Sullivan is arguably one of the greatest voices of our generation, period. And then let alone, that’s my sister from Philadelphia. So the hometownness of it was always a vibe that I wanted to display. Everybody knows how much Philadelphia has helped nurture my gift, and I think me and her displaying that together along with James Poyser on the keys and Questlove on the drums on that record, we wanted to put a little Philly spin on that classic tune.
Secondly, I heard her do that at one of my first open mics, so it was a full-circle moment for me. And I heard her do that probably, man, she might have been 15 or 16 years old. So the MySpace days, when she was singing live at the open mics in Philly where her mom and dad had to escort her into the club. When I had the opportunity and the vision to do this jazz thing and make it be as progressive as possible, I said, “Jazmine, I would love for you to be on this. I think we have the power to impact the world.” And the validation of the Grammy, the validation of being on Obama’s playlist, it just feels real good, man. It really, really does.
How will you celebrate if “Round Midnight” wins the Grammy?I’m going to do a lot of crying, a lot of thanking God — I’m a cry baby. It’s all good. When I won my Emmy, I was the first one up there like, “This is crazy.” I never did music for the accolades. I never did it to be a job either. It was something that I was passionate about. And once I found out I had the ability to make other people passionate about it, listening to it, hearing it, seeing it, I always wanted to do my best.
Getting this Grammy nomination is a testament to hard work, dedication. It’s a testament that people are touched by my music. And if I were to win, I’ve been dreaming about this trophy since I was seven, eight, nine years old, bro. And it would just be a lot of emotion and thankfulness and gratitude.
I told somebody the other day, it’s different winning an Emmy. I won an Emmy for musical direction for Super Bowl 56, but that was always going to be great because I was going to do my best. The Emmy and the nomination for that just validated that other people thought it was great, too. But when you have something in your stomach and in your brain and in your heart about music that you’re not hired to do, and then people and the Recording Academy nominates you, it feels validating — and not that the music would’ve been any worse or better without the nomination, but it feels good to get nominated and to know that your peers think that it was great as well.
You referenced the Super Bowl 56 halftime show that you MD’d. What do you think that moment and the Emmy win means for hip-hop and Black music?One of the greatest compliments that I got about that show was it was just a great music show. It wasn’t a great Black show, wasn’t a great hip-hop show, it was just a great music show. If we can be honest, 60-year-old Caucasian men drive the NFL demographic. And we had the number-one halftime so far. So it goes to show how hip-hop has permeated not just Black culture, but the American and world culture globally.
And I think that we have set our foot in the ground to show that culturally, Black music can carry a world stage, you know what I mean? We’re at the forefront of it right now, and we’re setting it up for future Dr. Dres and future Snoops and future Marys and future Kendricks. That generation after us now knows that they have something to aspire to do. And I don’t think growing up that we even thought hip-hop would be at that level. So now that you’ve seen it, now that we’ve been awarded for it, we’re inspiring generations, man, and I’m thankful for that over everything.
I saw both you and 50 Cent wanted to do a tour of the show. How realistic is that in the future?You never say never. Kendrick just came off tour — Big Steppers was amazing. Mary just came off tour, and now we got to get the other guys together, and see what happens. So hopefully them being all friends and respectful of one another [helps the chances]. I just did the VMAs with Eminem and Snoop Dogg. That was all spawned from being at the Super Bowl as well. God willing, we’ll all be here to continue to let their music shine on, and hopefully we can all join together and do something again onstage.
You’ve done three Super Bowl halftime shows before this one. What do you feel like you’ve learned over the previous three that you’re bringing into number four here with Rihanna?I’ve learned patience. I’ve learned that it’s bigger sometimes than the music, the corporate of it all. Sometimes we have to alter things to make sure that people are respected, [when it comes to] language and stuff like that. So it is definitely us navigating through the music and through some other things. But I’ve also learned that music helps push culture forward, and we’re literally fitting a concert into the biggest game of the year. Sometimes people end up tuning in just to see that concert, so I’m thankful to be a part of that.
What has the creative partnership been like with Rihanna so far?
It’s been cool. We’re spearheaded by the team at Roc Nation, Willow, incredible choreographer and creative director Parris Goebel, and my partner on this is Omar Edwards as the co-musical director. So it’s been really cool, man. The thing about Rihanna is that she’s so creative. She is boundary-pushing at all times, so it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and we always try to push the envelope with her.
From your vantage point, what’s her preparation been like so far for the show, especially as a mother?[We’re] all parents, so we all have dual priorities. I think family always comes first, but we’re in every day leading up to that big day, man. It’s going to be great.
To borrow some football terminology, would you say the setlist is on the goal line, that you know what you’re going to do and now it’s just a matter of refining it?I would say this. When you get a gig like the Super Bowl, it’s what we call a catalog show, right? The artists that they normally get have so many hits, that we know that teenagers all the way up to our grandparents hopefully have heard their songs before, or heard of them. So the good thing about what Rihanna can do is she can do no wrong with the setlist because she has massive, massive, massive hits. So I think it’s safe to say that we are really close. It might be an order change here and there, but there are just some songs that are stable mates in our culture that we have to do, and it’s just going to be [about] how we execute them.
Can you explain the basics of your job as a musical director?All things live-music-oriented is what my job entails. I have to make sure that what you see, you hear it well, too, that the mix is proper. I normally sit down with the artists and get great setlist ideas. Like I said, Rihanna has an incredible catalog. So what story do we want to tell during the show? How do we want to start? How do we want to end? Do we want to have peaks and valleys in the middle? All of that is what we come up with. And then it’s my job to essentially score her thoughts and make it a live-music show.
Along with programming, hiring, making sure that the music goes with the lights, making sure the music goes with the dancers, making sure the music goes with wardrobe — [I do] all of those things as a musical director. Getting vocal arrangements together, engineers, all of that. And I’m thankful to have that job, man. I’m highly involved because I still continue to love it. I’ve been in the game now for about 20 years, and I pray that God allows me another 20, and we’re going to keep killing it and pushing the culture forward.
When you and Rihanna first met up to talk about the show, how adamant was she about the story that she wanted to tell sonically?I honestly think that she was open. This is her first time back. We’ve done Savage Fenty now for four years in a row, which is the highly, highly, highly accredited fashion show that she changed the game with on Amazon. So we’ve been able to push some sounds and some sonic palettes out there.
But this is her first time coming back as Rihanna, the artist. And so she was really open. She knows that her career has expanded different sonic palletes, from EDM to pop to hardcore hip-hop to ballads. And so we’re coming up with it together because everybody who is a Rihanna fan, they have their different moments of who Rihanna is to them, and what each song means to them as well. We want to try to give a little bit to everybody.
The NFL has been the subject of numerous race-related controversies in recent years. How do you feel like the league has fared in those regards since you’ve been working with them?Having Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg represent the league at their biggest stage is clearly an evolution to show growth, to show inclusion. To hire Jay-Z and Roc Nation as their consultants for entertainment, that to me shows growth and inclusion as well. I’ve seen so many “Lift Every Voice and Sing” moments, and I’m not trying to just put timestamps on a couple things, but at the end of the day, this is a corporation that does not have to do these things. They do not have to give back to inner cities. They do not have to give back to Africa. They do not have to have hip-hop be at the halftime show. So for them to make that change, because it’s a clear change, no matter what the catalyst is, it’s a clear change. And I’m thankful to be a part of that. Commissioner Roger Goodell has been very adamant that he wants to grow personally and as a corporation. And so I think this is only the beginning. And music, I’m thankful for, has had a lot to do with that. I’m glad that they are seeing that our culture is an asset to them.
Tell me about the Legacy Experience.They’re a live version of how we created the album, [they’re] bringing even Philly vibes all over the world. [They’re] very structured jam sessions, and everybody’s having a good time and letting the music speak in the room. I plan on trying to capture one of those and put it on record.
I’ve done L.A., Atlanta, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and New York so far. We’re actually taking it a little bit bigger for 2023, so it’s going to be all over. We got anybody in there from Dr. Dre to Justin Timberlake to New Edition to Estelle. I brought Eric Benét up, Joe Thomas. Chloe Bailey was on the last one. Mary Mary. It gets real crazy in there, bro. It’s the place to be, for sure. So if you get an opportunity, everybody come out to the Legacy Experience in a city near you soon.
Let’s go back a bit. What was it about the upright bass that enamored you?I switched over to electric bass about second or third grade. I was a drummer first, growing up with my family being very prominent in a Black church in New Jersey. When I switched to the bass, man, it was more about the rhythm, and how I felt like the root notes dictated what everybody was doing chordal-wise. Getting into high school, then getting into jazz and listening to Ron Carter, and Charles Mingus. And I was a huge Avishai Cohen fan. And watching my mentor Derrick Hodge just kind of evolve on upright bass. It was a challenge, and it continues to be. I ain’t going to front, that’s a whole different instrument.
But it also brings a level of class that I try to embody within my own self. It separates me [when it comes to] session work and some other areas of music that I’m able to dive into — whether that be classical jazz, chamber music — that if I just stuck to electric bass, I may not be able to do. So I’ve always been the guy to try to expand. Whether that’s been movie scores, or getting the calls to do jazz sessions, or just a different texture on record. I think that’s what drew me to upright. I knew I could still groove and control that low end, but it gave it a different vibe.
At one point you were working as a session musician, and then you were touring the world. How did that first tour came about?I moved to Philadelphia in 2000 and stumbled upon our open-mic scene at the Five Spot, which was run by the Roots crew: Ahmir ”Questlove,” and Shawn G, and Richard Nichols took me under their wing. We went on the Okayplayer Tour, which was basically showcasing new soul talent. And that was my first big run. At that time, Jay-Z was looking for a live band. He did [MTV] Unplugged and he called the Roots, who ended up doing his Unplugged show and tour. And so when they went on tour, Ahmir took me as the bass player for that.
How did things evolve to you being a musical director? Is that something you envisioned doing when you were younger?No, I don’t think I knew what that term encompassed. I always just cared a little more. I was more engulfed in what the music was. I wanted to rehearse extra. I liked hiring the people, or helping hire them. Always wanted us to look good, and be on time.
A lot of my job is so non-musical, specifically on that stage. It’s the preparation process that people and artists allow me to help them bring their visions to life. I’ve always been that creative guy to say, “Yo, I got this idea to try this.” My first big MD position was Jill Scott, and I think she saw at that time in ’04, ’05, how in tune I was with her vision and what the music was. And she allowed me to execute her visions.
I saw that you worked with Jay-Z on his run of eight shows at the Barclays Center in 2012. How did you go about making sure those concerts felt like a hometown show?Omar Edwards was highly instrumental as Jay’s MD for that. He’s been my partner throughout the years, and he’s another Philly guy. But I think that what we tried to do for sure was hit them hometown Brooklyn joints. You know what I’m saying? Quick sidebar, that was the moment where Jay-Z took the subway to the gig. I think that it was nostalgic for him being a Brooklyn boy and all of that. And he told us, “Yo, we going to do the joints that the hometown love” — whether that’s “PSA” or “U Don’t Know.”
And we did. That was almost the start of doing the B sides and making it like a thing. I also remember we were highly ambitious because that setlist changed from night to night just so that we could give the crowd a different experience. I think one day we had Beyoncé come out, one day we had Mary come out. It was a real experience for that week. Doing eight shows in a row was just crazy. And then being at this brand new arena, which nothing had ever been done there … Jay talked to us about seeing the Marcy Projects off the top of the roof. It was surreal for him.
What we tried to do was make sure we hit not only the hits, but we hit a couple B sides, because that’s what got him where he is within that structure of Brooklyn. Talking real, being from New York, and talking about what the city meant to him.
Janet Jackson’s career spans decades. Can you take me into the challenges of making sure that every one of her eras is properly represented for the fans?Yeah, that was one of the hardest plannings for me in general because she has a 30-year career. I literally engulfed myself in Janet Jackson’s music, man, for about 60 days straight. I didn’t listen to anything else. I wanted to get how they made these sounds. I wanted to get why the sounds meant so much. I wanted to get why this baseline was what it was, why it moved like it was.
And so one of the challenges is that when you have that much music, you can’t do a whole song at a concert because it’s taking up time and you want to hit everybody’s favorite joint. And so one of the things that me and her did, and she taught me so well, is how to make a medley and get in and out of songs. Maybe do just the chorus of this song, have that lead into the same tempo as this other song, and maybe do just a verse and a bridge of this song. Probably one of the hardest setlist moments for me was saying, “Yeah, your typical concert may be 15 to 17 songs max.” She’s like, “That’s one of my albums. I got 12 albums. How are we going to do 40 songs?”
That process was intense. That woman knows her music so well. She knows the keys. She knows what the chord should sound like. She knows you’re playing it wrong. She’s essentially Michael in the female form, from what I hear. And so that is nerve-wracking, but also great experience for me because it lets you know that when she vibes with you on something, you’re on the right track. And so I’m super excited for what she’s even about to do for 2023. That’s my family right there, that’s my big sis. And she’s been so instrumental as well in pushing me forward in this business. So I’m super thankful, and it might not be the last you see of us working together.
To what do you attribute your ability to curate for all kinds of artists?
My love for music, man. My love for pop music. And when I say pop, I mean popular. So whether that’s jazz, whether that’s Christian music, whether that’s country, my love for music has no genre or boundaries. I love working with Justin Timberlake just as much as I love working with Jimmy Allen. I love working with Usher just as much as I love working with Tim McGraw and Chris Stapleton. It fulfills me very similarly to know that there is an audience out there that is affected and touched by the arrangements and how I present their favorite songs to them.
So I attribute that to just the love of music and to me growing up in church and being able to be more of a spur-of-the moment music guy. In church, when the spirit hits, you might go to a different chord or something like that, but in art, onstage, what artists love that I’m able to do is adjust within the context of the concert. A lot of that has a lot to do with my upbringing and my mom and dad not putting me in a box as far as listening to certain types of music, and to how I’ve been able to just expand my ear palette.
How do you feel about the year that your music service company, BASSic Black Entertainment, had in 2022, and what does the future hold?
We killed them in 2022, man. I put up a small recap. My wife who was also co-creator and CFO of our company, she was like, “That’s just your recap. That’s not our company recap.” And I was like, “What you saying?” And she was just saying, “While you were doing that, our company was also doing this, that.” And of course I know that, but it’s so humbling to hear and see while I was out doing the Super Bowl, we also had Charlie Puth out on the road, or we also had Giveon out on the road, or we also had SZA out on the road.
So we had a great year, man. I’m so thankful for every musician, every programmer, every engineer, every staff member that BASSic Black has that continues to keep this s*** rolling. It’s a testament to everybody’s hard work, from Super Bowls to NBA All-Star Games, to Oscars, to Emmys, to VMAs, to BET Awards to everything, man, to Grammy nominations. We’ve only touched the surface, man. I really truly believe 2023 is going to be bigger and better.
