Entertainment Express: Oscars, Outkast, Jack White, Kings of Leon, Boston Marathon
Happy Earth Day! Be extra kind to Mother Nature today.
* The Oscar-winning tag-team of Neil Meron and Craig Zadan will be back producing next year’s Oscars show for a third time. Even more impressive is the list of things the men behind Chicago and Hairspray will be working on until then – the TV musical Peter Pan Live!, a new MTV comedy series, Happyland, a movie version of Pippin, a musical based on the Beach Boys catalogue, and Monster High, based on the Mattel franchise. Such slackers.
* Continuing their comeback streak, Outkast will headline the BET Experience in LA in June, adding another slot to their 40-date reunion tour (on top of the just-announced Austin City Limits concert). By the time it’s all over, the duo will surely have become entirely familiar with performing together again (unlike their first Coachella show two weeks ago). Maxwell and Jill Scott will also be performing at the BET Experience weekend.
* Oh, that Jack White – he’s a busy, busy man. After rushing to make his record-breaking Record Day release available this past weekend, he has now shared the studio version of Lazaretto, the next single off his upcoming album of the same name. The album title makes me think he’s created tunes that could wake up even the likes of Lazarus, but come June, we’ll see (hear).
* Kings of Leon announced the band’s Summer tour dates for Mechanical Bull – but more exciting than that is who’ll be supporting them. South African band Kongos, who’ve been riding one helluva wave since the release State-side of their hit single, Come With Me, will be an opening act, along with Young the Giant.
* And just because yesterday was Marathon Monday and an incredible show of the human spirit, after last year’s tragic Boston Marathon bombings, I’ll mention New Kids on the Block in this news round-up. Members Joey MacIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood ran the Boston Marathon for their respective charities, in a race that American runner Meb Kefleghizi and Rita Jeptoo won. 36 000 people took part, as opposed to the usual 9 000, this year!
[Pic: Earth movie]