Fiery cross

When John McLaughlin looked through his archives in preparation for an upcoming tour celebrating his pioneering Seventies jazz-rock outfit the Mahavishnu Orchestra , he was shocked by how out-there his old tunes still seemed. “I was into my yoga, my meditation, no drugs, but I wrote some weird music in those days, man,” says the British guitar virtuoso with a laugh. Now 75, McLaughlin was not yet 30 when he formed the Orchestra, the band that would make him a legend among fellow guitarists and devotees of boundary-pushing musical hybrids. Their explosive sound drew as much on Indian music and psychedelic rock as on his earlier experiences playing electrified jazz with Miles Davis and drummer Tony Williams. The teachings of McLaughlin’s then–spiritual guru Sri Chinmoy – who gave him the moniker “Mahavishnu,” a combination of “maha,” meaning great, and the name of the Hindu deity Vishnu – helped inspire the band’s ecstatic intensity. Their performances matched the high-prog … [Read more...] about John McLaughlin on His Final U.S. Tour, Revisiting Mahavishnu Orchestra

Starz has set its main cast for Power Book IV: Force , the third installment in the Power universe. Lili Simmons ( Banshee, Ray Donovan ), Gabrielle Ryan ( The Haves and the Have Nots, Bonding ), Isaac Keys ( Get Shorty, The Oath ), Hightown alum Shane Harper, Kris D. Lofton ( Ballers, Empire ), Anthony Fleming III ( Prison Break, The Beast ), Lucien Cambric ( Chicago P.D., The Chi) and Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ) are set as series regulars opposite Joseph Sikora in the series from Courtney Kemp and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Lionsgate Television. Power Book IV: Force centers around Tommy Egan, played by Joseph Sikora, after he cuts ties and puts New York in his rearview mirror for good. Kemp and Jackson will executive produce alongside Mark Canton, and series creator and showrunner Robert Munic ( Vital Signs, The Cleaner ). Lionsgate Television produces the series for Starz. Related Story … [Read more...] about ‘Power Book IV: Force’: Lili Simmons, Gabrielle Ryan, Tommy Flanagan Among 8 Cast In Starz’s Series

The Nora Ephron-directed romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle turns 25 today. For Gary Foster , who first read the cross-country romantic comedy as a Jeff Arch spec script and fought for three years to keep its vision intact in the usual creative collisions of star-driven studio films, here provides an illuminating look at how a good spec evolved into a terrific movie. On a hot Saturday afternoon in 1990, I sat down on a small couch in our baby daughter Kayla’s room to read a script entitled Sleepless in Seattle . Dave Warden, an agent representing a new writer named Jeff Arch, had submitted it to my company. I give most submissions 25 pages, and if I’m not in by that point, I put it down and pick up the next. That afternoon, I never noticed the 25-page mark. I zoomed right past it, drawn into this story about a widower, who wanted a loving partner in his and his son’s life, and a woman, who thought she had found her perfect match only to discover another destiny. One lived … [Read more...] about ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ Hits 25: Producer Gary Foster Narrates Evolution From Spec Script To Seminal Romantic Comedy