A former Phantom will star in an opera/musical theater series returning for its second season in Daytona Beach.
Grant Norman, who performed on Broadway in "Miss Saigon" and "The Phantom of the Opera," later starred as the Phantom in the national touring company. "Broadway on Tour with Grant Norman" will be one of a five-show series presented by Central Florida Lyric Opera and its production company, Music LIVE, both based in Orlando.
The series also includes three fully staged operas and the comedic musical revue "3 Tenors Plus One."
All performances will be at Seabreeze High School Auditorium, 2700 N. Oleander Ave. Season tickets currently are on sale and are $120, seniors $108. Past season subscribers must renew by Aug. 15 to reserve the same seats as last year.
Individual tickets are $28, seniors $25, students $10, and go on sale Sept. 20. Subscriptions and individual tickets are available by calling 1-800-624-8038, Ext. 1 from noon to 4:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Season subscriptions also may be purchased online at centralfloridalyricopera.org.
The series includes:
Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore," 2 p.m. Oct. 18.
Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," 2 p.m. Jan. 17.
"Broadway on Tour with Grant Norman," 8 p.m. Feb. 5.
Verdi's "Il Trovatore (The Troubadour)," 2 p.m. March 28.
"3 Tenors Plus One," 2 p.m. April 10. A light-hearted take on the "Three Tenors" phenomenon featuring songs from opera and Broadway classics.
He adores '80s synth pop. He loves guinea pigs -- especially cartoon ones. If he says "Jump," you say "How high?"
He's Florida hip-hop artist Flo Rida, and he's coming to Daytona beach.
Flo Rida will be in concert at 10 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Coliseum Music Theater, 176 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach. Tickets are $40, available at the Coliseum box office, Atlantic Sounds in Daytona Beach and Half Times Sports Bar in DeLand. Information: 386-492-5905.
Flo Rida (real name Tramar Dillard) made music chart history in February. His single "Right Round" went to No. 1 and also broke a record for the most digital sales in one week with 636,000 downloads. That broke the previous record he had set himself with "Low."
Fans of '80s new wave rock were touched in the process -- "Right Round" is actually a remake of "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)," a 1985 hit by those Liverpool-spawned, big-haired synth-pop dudes known as Dead or Alive.
Flo Rida is back in the spotlight with "Jump," his duet with Nelly Furtado. The hip-hop track is featured in the current film "G-Force," an animated comedy about a group of covert commando guinea pigs.
That "traveling punk rock summer camp," as the annual Vans Warped Tour bills itself, comes July 24 to the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando.
The shindig kicks off at 11 a.m. Yes, we know -- even you punkers think it's uncool to show up at a party on time.
Whether you are reading this mid-road trip as you pilot your '78 Gremlin toward the sacred Warped grounds and your breakfast burrito is dripping between your thighs and your buddies Sphinx and Bilbo are holding a farting contest in the back seat, or you plan to venture to the gig at a leisurely afternoon-arrival pace, here is your guide to getting Warped: Do the math: The Orlando Warped date boasts 68 bands/artists. At a cost of $30.25 for a general admission ticket (the only kind Warped sells, BTW), that comes out to 44.5 cents per band -- easily the best bargain in the concert biz today (unless the Shaggs decide to do a reunion tour).
Don't forget to brag to Mom and Dad about your economic savvy in these tough times.
Elder statesmen: The Who's Pete Townshend was just kidding when he coined that punkish "Hope I die before I get old" mantra.
Headlining the O-town Warped gig (yes, "headlining" is such an unpunk, classic rock sort of word) will be a band whose members are very glad they didn't die when they got old: Bad Religion.
The SoCal punk vets released their debut album (DIY, of course) back in 1982. Guitarist Brett Gurewitz later did the sort-of-unpunky thing of founding his own punk record label, Epitaph.
In 2004, Bad Religion proved old punk dogs can learn new tricks (or retool old ones). The lads blew a sonic loogie on the Bush administration and its Iraq folly by releasing "The Empire Strikes First." Key tracks: the title one and "Let Them Eat War."
BTW, Gurewitz is not on the tour "this go around," says an Epitaph publicist, "as he's on punk rock paternity leave."
Another veteran group appearing at O-town: ska-punk band Less Than Jake, who formed in 1992.
The non-punk among us: Warped isn't just for punks anymore.
The O-town lineup includes Shooter Jennings, the son of so-called "outlaw country" legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. Yes, Shooter began his music career as a Guns n' Roses wanna-be, but then he wised up and realized his daddy was a bigger bad-ass, better singer and cooler songwriter than Axl Rose will ever be.
And so Shooter wisely returned to his country roots and began cranking out songs like the hip-hop-cloaked "This Ol' Wheel," which finds him "listening to my dad and Johnny Cash doin' 'Chain Gang.'" Among the other non-punk artists: Las Vegas metal band Escape the Fate, Tori Amos-like pop songstress Alana Grace (who deploys several tons of strings on her recordings), and Beastie Boys-style hip-hop group the Dirty Heads (key song: "Hip-hop Misfits").
Cheer for these home teams: Among the Florida bands on the bill are Miami act I Set My Friends on Fire, a freak-rock/pop-punk duo with a side order of electronica (key song: "Sex Ed Rocks"), and Guns n' Roses/Iron Maiden-style Miami metal band Black Tide.
Hook-up: The Warped tour Web site features a "Who's coming" segment where fans who are planning to attend each show have posted their photos and comments. Find a friend at warpedtour.com.
Before Eric Todd left the Daytona area to pursue his country music dreams in Nashville in 2001, the singer-guitarist often teamed with Ormond Beach songwriter Donna Fant.
The duo co-wrote a honky-tonk ditty titled "Amazing Grace (and Red-Hot Lucille)," which Todd recorded for his self-released album "Shadow of a Doubt." After Todd moved, he continued to sing on "demo" (demonstration) recordings of other Fant creations, including one he did last March for her song "If You Can Hear Me in Heaven."
That demo, Fant said, was "the last one he did for me."
How many shows has Ted Neeley performed the title role in "Jesus Christ Superstar"?
"I have never been one to keep that record," Neeley says by phone before a show in Charlottesville, Va. "Multiply eight shows a week times slightly over 2000 years, then you'll get a round number." Neeley breaks into a hearty laugh. "I'm sorry to go there."
Fans are still going to witness Neeley in "Superstar," the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber "rock opera" that garnered five Tony nominations after it debuted on Broadway in 1971.
Although he auditioned for the role of Judas, Neeley took a spot in the chorus of that production while also becoming the understudy for the Christ role. For the 1973 film, Neeley stepped into the sandals of Jesus, a role he has continued in numerous theatrical touring productions ever since.
The current tour plays March 25 at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach.
Neeley isn't totally occupied by his Jesus gig. He's also a drummer and composer who's written music for films and TV shows, and he's acted in films, TV and other plays. But the talk was all J.C. when Neeley checked in with The News-Journal.
Sure, she wasn't even a teenager yet. But that didn't stop fans of the doll from scoring the "Barbie Goes to College" play set and hop-scotching with her from dorm rooms to the football stadium to the sweet shop to the movie theater. (Hmmmm, where were the classrooms in that play set?)
Now, Barbie goes to the museum. No, really.
"Barbie Doll: Celebrating 50 Years of an American Icon" is on display through April 5 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach. The exhibit features over 400 dolls from the collection of DeLand resident JoAnn Winspur. She not only collects Barbies but also sells them (retail and wholesale) through the Doll & Hobby Shoppe, a business she runs with her husband and son.
New Zealand-born, Australian-bred country star Keith Urban says Aussies have a need for speed. So it's no wonder Urban is performing a pre-race mini-concert Feb. 15 at the Daytona 500. (His performance will be televised on the Fox network.)
Since debuting on the American scene with his first solo album in 1999, Urban has raced to the top of the country music world. The singer-guitarist has racked up seven No. 1 hits, another seven Top 5 hits, and 10 million albums sold. He won Grammys for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his songs "You'll Think of Me" and "Stupid Boy."
Along the way he married actress and fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, and the couple had their first child, daughter Sunday Rose, last July.
Urban took time out from recording his new album, "Defying Gravity" (due out March 31), to answer some questions via e-mail. You're set to perform at the Daytona 500. And, in the video for your new single, "Sweet Thing," a Ford Mustang is sort of one of the "characters." Are people in your native New Zealand and Australia as obsessed with cars as Americans?
Oh yeah, Aussies are definitely obsessed with speed. One of my favorite films still to this day is "Road Warrior" ("Mad Max 2" in Australia) with Mel Gibson. The XB Ford Falcon GT that he drove was THE pinup car of many Aussie boys. I wanted one so badly but had to buy a truck to get all our band gear around. But, when I had my first No. 1 song here, I bought a '94 SS Impala. Black, 5.7 liter ... mmmmm. I ended up selling it to George Jones. Who knew Ol' Possum was such a speed freak.
Never mind that country singers Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry sing about toning down their hell-raising on their latest album, "Back When I Knew It All."
If there's a party in Daytona, there's a good chance the duo, who bill themselves as Montgomery Gentry, are going to be here. The lads will perform their fourth concert in the area in as many years when they play at the Beam Bash on Feb. 13 at Destination Daytona in Ormond Beach.
Stomping out of their native Kentucky in 1999, the duo juiced the country music scene by spiking honky-tonk music and rowdy country with shots of Lynyrd Skynyrd-sized swagger. That brew resulted in such hits as "Hillbilly Shoes," "She Couldn't Change Me," "Speed" and "Hell Yeah."
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis "wasn't the nicest of guys," photographer Herb Snitzer says. "You read his biography and he makes the statement: 'If white people ever knew what black people were thinking, they'd be scared to death.' Stuff like that."
Snitzer found himself in a backstage showdown with Miles at a Boston jazz festival in 1988.
"You know Miles had this reputation for turning his back to the audience," Snitzer says by phone from his St. Petersburg home. "So he did that and he sees me. Now, I had known Miles since 1960, right? He's wearing these light-tinted sunglasses. He looks over the glasses at me and he has this stern look as if to say, 'I don't want you photographing me.'"
"And I thought to myself, 'Well, what's Miles going to do? Is he going to come back and hit me? Is he going to walk offstage?' He wasn't going to do that. So I just said to myself, 'Screw you, Miles' and I kept shooting."
No rabbits need apply for jobs with magician David Copperfield.
"For magic to be relevant, it has to evolve so it keeps up with, or even surpasses, the best film and theater," Copperfield said in a press release. "I want to base my work on what people really dream about. Most of us don't dream of pulling a rabbit out of a hat."
Copperfield will perform his new touring show, "Grand Illusion," on Jan. 27 at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach.
The show "was partly inspired by an unfulfilled wish of my grandfather's that a lot of people share: winning the lottery and finally owning that one special thing you always dreamed of," Copperfield said. "We call it an 'intimate' evening of grand illusion partly because it's interactive.
