Katy Perry & Russell Brand Buy $6.5 Million “Bachelor” Mansion
Singer Katy Perry and her husband Russell Brand have just purchased a $6.5 million home in Los Angeles’ exclusive Los Feliz area, that was featured [...]
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The iconic sax man for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band (and Lady Gaga) towered over contemporary music for nearly five decades.
By James Montgomery
Clarence Clemons
Photo: Getty Images
Clarence Clemons was affectionately known as "The Big Man," probably because, well, he was a big man. Standing six-feet, four-inches tall -- and nearly just as wide -- he towered over Bruce Springsteen, the E Street Band, and whomever else he shared the stage with during his five-decade career, casting a shadow as formidable as it was striking (it's no wonder Bruce decided to lean on him, like some sort of lamppost, on the cover of 1975's Born To Run).
But his physical size only told part of the story. Because Clemons was also a massive talent, a saxophonist as adept at filing an arena with his booming solos as he was providing a rock-solid backbone to Springsteen's churning, yearning rock. He was the Big Man because everything ran through him, because he was capable of both taking the lead (like on "Jungleland") and laying back in the cut (like on "10th Avenue Freeze Out," where his presence definitely shapes the song, but at no point overshadows its other components), and because of the tones he charmed from his sax ... crisp and clear-eyed, grandiose yet gritty, big yet decidedly blue-collar (just like he was), no one played like Clarence did. And when he died on Saturday at the age of 69 after complications from a stroke he suffered last week, not only did we lose a mountain of a man, but an icon as well.
See photos of Clemons throughout his career.
Simply put, Clemons was the most prominent sax player in popular music. And as proof, I'll ask you to name any of his contemporaries. Chances are, you can't; not because they don't exist, but because they couldn't begin to approach his stature. He was the go-to guy when the stars needed a session hand (recording with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Twisted Sister, and performing live with everyone from the Grateful Dead to Ringo Starr,) and, more recently, Lady Gaga tapped him to perform on her Born This Way album -- he appears in her new "The Edge Of Glory" video, a move that no doubt introduced his sublime playing to a whole new generation of fans. Shoot, he even appeared on "The Simpsons," "The Wire" and "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," where he played, fittingly enough, one of the Three Most Important People in the World.
Remember Clemons with us on Facebook.
In passing, he leaves behind a catalog that's nearly as massive as his frame: not only his notable guest appearances, but several solo albums (and records he cut with backing bands like the Temple of Soul and the Red Bank Rockers) and, of course, the myriad of albums he cut with Springsteen and the E Street Band. And it's on those recordings -- starting with 1973's Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and continuing right on through 2009's Working on a Dream and last year's reissue The Promise -- where Clemons not only shone the brightest, but also showcased the reason why he earned his "Big Man" nickname. Sure, he burns on songs like "Badlands" and "Born To Run," but listen to his work on songs like "Prove It All Night" and "Dancing in the Dark" (to name six dozen) ... the times where he proves to be the Bigger Man, letting his fellow bandmates get their share, too.
Rarely has there been a player so soulful and selfless ... one so secure in his own status that he was willing to let others shine. It's why Clarence Clemons will forever be known as "The Big Man," and why, even in death, he still casts a formidable shadow over popular music and popular culture. He was the sax man's sax man. To paraphrase Springsteen on "Freeze Out," not only was the change was made uptown when the Big Man joined the band, but the mould was broken, too.
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Director Michael Bay explains threequel's many references to 'Trek,' including Leonard Nimoy's voice work.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Bumblebee in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Photo: Paramount
Sometimes Easter Eggs in movies — an intentional in-joke, reference or hidden message — are hard to spot, very blink-and-you-miss-it, and thus require repeat viewings to pick up on. Not so with "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," however. Even the most casual filmgoer should pick up on at least one of the many "Star Trek" references in the film.
When MTV News caught up with director Michael Bay, we asked him to address the "Trek" connections, beginning with his enlistment of beloved actor Leonard Nimoy, a.k.a. Spock, to voice the role of Sentinel Prime.
"He's actually related to me. He married Susan Bay [the director's cousin]," Bay said. "I was scared to ask him to voice. I saw him at Thanksgiving, and my mom was like, 'Ask him! Ask him!' I'm like, 'No, Mom, no!' "
As difficult as it is to imagine Bay being afraid of anything, he eventually got over his Nimoy anxiety. Bonus factoid for the non-Transformer geeks: Nimoy also lent his vocal talents to the 1986 animated film, as the voice of Galvatron.
Speaking to other "Trek" references, Bay said he didn't have anything to do with them; they all came from the film's screenwriter.
"That was my writer, Ehren Kruger," Bay said. "[He] is a 'Star Trek' geek, so that wasn't my thing."
So how many references did you count? Here are the three we spotted (minor spoilers ahead):
1. When Sam (Shia LaBeouf) meets girlfriend Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) at work and is introduced to her boss, Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), he marvels at their workplace: "It's a beautiful building you guys have. Like the Starship Enterprise in here."
2. Refugee robots Brains and Wheelie, who are hiding out in Carly and Sam's apartment, watch an episode of "Trek," during which one of them says, "Hey, I like this episode. It's the one where Spock turns evil" — which also provides for a nice bit of tongue-in-cheek foreshadowing.
3. At one point, Sentinel Prime defends certain motivations with a fun little reverse quote of Spock's wise words to Captain Kirk in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." "Dark of the Moon" quote: "The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many." Original: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
What did we miss?
Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Diggy talks to MTV News on set of Phil the God-directed video.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Kelly Marino
Diggy Simmons
Photo: MTV News
Diggy Simmons fancies himself an originator, and his first official single, "Copy, Paste," is a toast to the young rapper's individuality. MTV News caught up with the son of Rev Run on the set of the song's video in L.A.
" 'Copy, Paste' is just for people that are original, people that are innovators, people that just do their own thing," he said. "I feel as though that I'm a person like that myself, so just making a theme song or an anthem for people that are like that."
The video, directed by Phil the God, features Diggy in a lab, tied up with tubes. The young rapper bypassed making a run-of-the-mill, club-set rap video.
"It feels great working with Phil the God, that's the director that did 'Made You Look' with me; he did 'What They Been Waiting For' and 'Shook Ones.' Those are like my three viral videos that I did when I was doing my mixtapes, and he just came up with the best treatment," Diggy told MTV News. "It just feels right: We have a great connection. We'll hop on the phone and talk about ideas, the things I want to do, the things he wants to do, and just get hyped off of each other's energy, and the best will come out of that."
After making his stamp in the mixtape game with the 2010 DJ Premier-hosted Past, Presents, Future and Airborne, the 2011 XXL Magazine freshman is putting the finishing touches on his yet-untitled Atlantic Records debut album. While there is no release date set, Simmons estimated he is about 85 percent done.
He also revealed that the previously leaked, Bruno Mars-assisted "Click Clack Away" won't make the LP's final track list. Diggy promised some "great features," but insisted the album will focus primarily on him.
"A lot of it is me: There are only a few features, though, but there are features that fit the songs perfectly," he said. "I don't really go based off of, 'Oh, I like this artist, let's do a song with them.' I like doing that, but the way this went was, 'Oh, he would sound great on this hook, let's do it.' Otherwise, it's all me."
What do you think of Diggy Simmons' new single? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Sly Pyper describes how he overcame his nervousness to sing on 'Fast Lane.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Royce Da 5'9" and Eminem
Photo: Matt Harper / MTV News
Singer Sly Pyper has already made quite the name for himself. After lending his vocals to Dr. Dre's first Detox single "Kush," Sly had many fans thinking the Doc had unearthed a recording of the now late Nate Dogg. But now, thanks to Bad Meets Evil's "Fast Lane" video, folks can put a face to the soulful voice. MTV News caught up with Sly on a recent trip to Detroit and got the scoop on how he landed the high-profile feature.
"It's part of the many years I've actually been working with Dr. Dre," Sly said of his involvement on "Fast Lane," the first single off of Eminem and Royce Da 5'9'' 's EP Hell: The Sequel, which dropped on Tuesday (June 14). "Recently, we came out to Detroit, and [Dre] was doing some collabs with Em already. Em had part of a hook that he asked me to come and just lay my vocals on, lay the velvet on. So I got involved, wrote a couple of pieces on the hook as well."
Even after laying the chorus alongside Akon on Dre's "Kush," Sly admits that his nerves started to get the best of him while he was in the studio with Slim Shady. "It was a little nervous at first, I could admit that," he said. "But I kinda felt like I knew them already just from the music. I kinda felt like we were from a similar place, so I let that stand out more than my nervousness about being starstruck. That just won everything over, made it easier for everybody."
Hell: The Sequel reunites Eminem and Royce Da 5'9", who originally recorded together as Bad Meets Evil for Em's Slim Shady LP and for the independent single "Scary Movies" back in 1999. After a rift between the two, Bad Meets Evil seemed like a pipe dream for rap fans. That was until Em went and signed Royce's quartet, Slaughterhouse, to his Shady Records earlier this year. With the fences mended, Royce and Em began working on Hell: The Sequel in a most organic fashion.
"We didn't get together and say, 'Hey, man, let's make a Bad Meets Evil record,' " Em said in a interview with MTV News. It was more so along the lines of us making amends and repairing our issues that we had, and then one day, Bad [Royce] brought a song to me and wanted me to jump on it, and the way it ended up coming out, it was pretty easy to do. It didn't take a lot of time. It was fun to do it. The way we knocked that record out kind of quickly ... it just morphed into this."
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First of four three-day festivals also features the Flaming Lips.
By Mary J. DiMeglio
Dave Matthews performs at the Caravan festival in Atlantic City on June 24, 2011
Photo: Getty Images
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — For the first stop on its traveling roadshow, the Dave Matthews Band Caravan brought a rootsy collection of friends to dusty Bader Field on Friday. And even after a career-spanning set that included "Don't Drink the Water," "Satellite" and "Why I Am," DMB still have plenty of hits to draw from for the next two headlining performances of their inaugural three-day festival.
Matthews gave nods to almost all of the day's supporting acts, mentioning Delta Spirit, Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Head & The Heart, and saying, "It was a pleasure to share the stage with Ray Lamontagne." David Ryan Harris, who played Friday afternoon, joined the band for perennial crowd favorite "Jimi Thing" from their 1994 debut, Under the Table and Dreaming.
Grammy-winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin proved his chops early, tearing into "You Might Die Trying." Coffin has played with DMB since LeRoi Moore's 2008 ATV accident and death. His Mu'tet ensemble was one of the first acts of the day.
Also pulling double duty was guitarist Tim Reynolds, first appearing in the afternoon with TR3. Reynolds will also join Matthews for an acoustic set Saturday afternoon (June 25).
A memorable aspect of any DMB show is the quirky frontman's non sequiturs, and Friday night was no exception. Matthews shared these gems: "Facial hair is so transformative" and "Too much morphine will make you constipated," after debuting a version of "Buena" by '90s alt-rockers Morphine.
Matthews unleashed his impressive wail on "Grey Street," and the show took a romantic turn when the band followed "Crash" with "You and Me" and "Shake Me Like A Monkey."
Returning from a break, Matthews warned, "I think we might f--- it up, but we're gonna try anyway," before his acoustic adaptation of Procol Harum's 1967 classic "A Whiter Shade of Pale."
Another cover closed out the set, as the band stunned the audience by playing Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times" for the first time ever in concert. Though not exactly channeling Robert Plant, Matthews did sound oddly unlike himself on the vocals, in a rendition highlighted by a deft guitar solo.
And though, rather than returning for a second encore, the band ended 30 minutes shy of their scheduled 11 p.m. ending time, most in the audience, anticipating another two long days capped by three-hour DMB sets, seemed relieved to be shuffling off the grounds.
Previously that evening, the Flaming Lips proved it's never too early for them to bring the weird. Flanked by sunglass-wearing, bopping Dorothys, Scarecrows, Tin Men and Cowardly Lions, they shared their ultra-psychedelic take on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, playing the album in its entirety, interspersed with choice selections from "The Wizard of Oz."
Those looking for something lighter found instrumental jam band Lotus keeping it groovy as the sun set. An ocean breeze brought welcome relief from the hot and humid day as seagulls cruised overhead.
O.A.R., Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Thievery Corporation join the caravan Saturday, while Sunday's festivities will feature David Gray, Dr. Dog, Bassnectar and Michael Franti with Spearhead.
The party travels to Chicago in July, returns to the East Coast in August for a weekend at New York's Governors Island and wraps up at The Gorge in Washington in early September.
Did you see the Dave Matthews Band Caravan? Share your review in the comments below!
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The rapper thrilled fans with a hard-hitting, hit-packed headlining set on Saturday.
By James Montgomery
Eminem performs at Bonnaroo 2011
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
MANCHESTER, Tennessee - By the time Eminem strode onstage Saturday night at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, 80,000 sun-stroked fans had already witnessed workmanlike sets by everyone from Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys to Bootsy Collins and Buffalo Springfield. So it was no surprise that, when it came time for Em to do his thing, he decided to follow in that same model, eschewing flash and dash in favor of good old-fashioned sweat.
And sure, his headlining set did feature booming pyro, a massive (and frequently skull-filled) video screen, and some actual fireworks, but, in keeping with Bonnaroo tradition, what stood out the most about Em's performance was the sheer tenacity with which he attacked it. This wasn't so much a performance as it was an exercise in determination; a focused, fierce 90-odd minutes of grit and guile.
It's the same renewed vigor Eminem has displayed on his most-recent efforts, not only his massive Recovery album, but also the upcoming, back-to-basics Bad Meets Evil team-up with Royce Da 5'9." Much like Friday night's headliner, Lil Wayne, the man simply knows how to work. And that was evident from the get-go on Saturday night. Dressed in a black hoodie, Bad Meets Evil T-shirt and camo shorts, Em wasted no time ripping into his catalog, kicking off with "Won't Back Down" and following it up with "3 a.m.," both of which hit hard thanks to his machine-gun cadence and the addition of a positively whomping live band. The impact wasn't lessened when his mic cut out during the next song, "White Trash Party," as Em powered through the mishap and earned the cheers of the tens of thousands who packed in to see him.
Flanked by D12 member (and hype man) Mr. Porter (a.k.a. Kon Artis), Eminem stalked the stage and didn't come up for air, tearing through songs like "Kill You," "So Bad" and "Cleanin' Out My Closet" before finally disappearing backstage for a moment while Porter introduced the masses to "the newest member of Shady Records," the aforementioned Royce Da 5'9." Em was back before the crowd could stop cheering, and the pair gave them a taste of what they can expect on the upcoming Hell: The Sequel EP: the muscular "Fast Lane" and the Bruno-Mars assisted "Lighters," which, not surprisingly, had everyone thrusting theirs skyward.
Then Em shifted the focus back to his solo hits ("Stan," "Toy Soldiers") and some of his high-profile guest spots ("Airplanes, Part II" and, thankfully, "Forever"), crouching low and delivering his verses with ferocity. He got deep on "Love the Way You Lie" and downright celebratory on "Crack a Bottle." Then, in a nod to his past, shot through three of his earliest hits ("My Name Is," "The Real Slim Shady" and "Without Me") in rapid-fire succession. The crowd, which, for the majority of his set, had been firmly poised on the brink, positively lost their collective minds at the inclusion of those classics, and seizing the momentum, Eminem closed his set with a rattling version of "Not Afraid."
After a brief rest (and several minutes of the crowd chanting his name), Em reappeared to cap the night off with "Lose Yourself," which seemed even more anthemic given the magnitude of his set. And then, as the crowd screamed their approval, he thanked them and thrust his hand in the air, looking understandably exhausted but also unbelievably happy. And, in apparent appreciation to his efforts, the Bonnaroo folks kicked off a massive fireworks display, one that boomed in the distance and was a pretty fitting tribute to what we had all just witnessed. Only Eminem's musical fireworks were better.
Were you at Bonnaroo? Share your reviews in the comments!
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