Steve has revamped his official website


Steve's official website is still http://stevemartin.com. However, it has been completely revamped with a blog, news, and a store for buying genuine Steve stuff.

Long-time users of his site will find that there is no longer a message board. Addicts are wandering the web even as we speak wondering where everybody else is.
- posted by sookeyjane 10/09/2009 04:12:00 PM PERMALINK 1 COMMENTS

 

Another review of Steve at the Rubin


http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2009/05/29/steve-martin-bodhisattva-on-banjo.html
Vanity Fair Online
Steve Martin, Bodhisattva on Banjo
by David Friend
May 29, 2009, 12:42 PM

Steve-Martin_88025699.jpgActor and musician Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers perform at Rubin Museum of Art on May 27, 2009 in New York City. By Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

The redoubtable Steve Martin, comedian-actor-playwright-novelist-essayist-vocalist and balloon-sculpture model, is also a first-rate bluegrass artist, as evidenced this week in his series of banjo jamborees with the Steep Canyon Rangers at New York’s Rubin Museum of Art.

His concert last night, “A Tentative Evening of Bluegrass,” was that giddy amalgam we’ve come to expect from the inimitable Martin: equal parts deadpan, Tin Pan, and pandemonium, with gusts of “A Mighty Wind,” Victor Borge, and P.D.Q. Bach. The setting set the tone. Manhattan’s premiere showcase for Himalayan Art, the Rubin (known for its unrivaled and always eclectic Buddhist-chic slate of performances, lectures, and screenings) has literally zero thematic overlap with bluegrass. But that didn’t stop the Rubin’s inventive producer, Tim McHenry (a former Vanity Fair staffer), from booking Martin and justifying it thusly: “In 2003, musicologists from the University of North Carolina went to Tibet to explain the connection between bluegrass and Tibetan culture. And they found they had something in common: Plucking.” (Music, McHenry posited, is sometimes a reliable path to enlightenment. And rare is the venue in which entertainers can make reference to both a mountaintop bodhisattva and the Foggy Mountain Boys.)

The sextet of Martin and the hirsute, lightning-fingered Steep Canyon Rangers (whose “Lovin’ Pretty Woman” was nominated in 2008 for Bluegrass Album of the Year) went through a boisterous, rollicking, frolicking set that was transcendent in its own whacked-out way. Fiddler Nicky Sanders’s stroking stoked the crowd. Mike Guggino lovingly attacked his mandolin. Guitarist-vocalist Woody Platt, resembling a young Andy Griffith, delivered Glen Campbellished, Del McCoury-ian vocals. And Martin, throughout, was polished, poised, and hilarious.

The four highlights of the night: the Johnny Cash-Goes-To-Kashmir “Song of the Old West” (rechristened “Song of the Old East,” with some subtle raga inflections); the homey, way-Wobegon “Late For School”; the exquisitely heart-warming and electric “Orange Blossom Special” (with Sanders effecting a fiddle-fueled freight train); and Martin’s “The Crow,” performed as a banjo menage-a-trois, thanks to a cameo by Tony Trischka. (Earlier this year, Martin’s song “The Crow,” as the comedian explained, “actually became a minor hit on the bluegrass charts [which means] it’s a big hit on the bluegrass charts, selling, oh, 700 copies.”)

By the end of the night, every cell in this listener’s frame was delightfully athrob.
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 02:39:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve at the Rubin Museum of Art with good pics


http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/05/steve_martin_th.html
Brooklyn Vegan
Posted in music | pictures on May 29, 2009
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers in NYC - a review

Below is a proper review of Thursday night's show to go along with Ryan Muir's pictures....

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Steve Martin

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
The Rubin Museum Of Art
Thursday 28th May, 9.30pm set

by Martin Longley

Steve Martin elected to dub his show A Tentative Evening Of Bluegrass, perhaps guarding in advance against the obvious tendency of his audience asking the question of whether a comedian is also allowed to play the banjo. Woody Allen has faced the same grilling over his clarinet abilities. This is always the way when an artist shifts disciplines, whether from acting to rock'n'roll, from rock'n'roll to photography, from movies to fashion design, from boxing to perfumery or from pop to porn. Martin recorded The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String Banjo in New Jersey, but you'd never guess. It's now riding high in the bluegrass charts.

Three not surprisingly sold-out shows over two nights at The Rubin Museum Of Art demonstrate his picking skills in a decisive fashion. This is a venue that insists on a regime of completely acoustic performance, and that stipulation is ideal for bringing the music right back to its absolute roots. Martin's fronting The Steep Canyon Rangers from Asheville, North Carolina, a youngish quintet that adopt the classic bluegrass formation of guitar (Woody Platt), fiddle (Nicky Sanders), upright bass (Charles R. Humphrey III), banjo (Graham Sharp), mandolin (Mike Guggino) and compulsory vocalising for all. The only element that isn't traditional is the presence of Martin himself, making up a two-banjo attack. But Sharp isn't here to shadow Martin, to support his untried skills. No. Often, the two are alternating phrases in call-and-response, or Sharp is sitting out whilst Martin plays lead. It's more like a twin-pronged soloist set-up. Martin is frequently right out front, spotlighting his fleet skills. He's not a hammerer, but more of a silvery skater.

Some of Martin's songs began their evolution over four decades ago, and have only been completed recently. He's been playing the banjo since he was a kid, and is a genuine enthusiast rather than a casual dilettante. Martin playing some intricate lead phrases, and offering the occasional vocal. His non-amplified projection skills are impressive, as he quips in-between songs. Martin might mock himself, the band, the audience and, indeed, the whole of existence itself, but once the music commences, a serious focus sharpens.

He considered the lyrics for "Daddy Played The Banjo" as bad poetry, but also the makings of a good country song. Martin's odd-tune-out is "Late For School", a racing comedy number where his vocals take centre-stage. There's also a tribute to bluegrass king Bill Monroe, with readings of "Orange Blossom Special" and "Sitting On Top Of The World" (not the old blues chestnut). The Himalayan-obsessed Rubin usually asks its visiting artists to pen a piece that's inspired by an exhibit in the museum, but Martin merely elects to switch "Saga Of The Old West" to "Saga Of The Old East". He's fighting the onstage heat, with persistent banjo tuning problems, which is all good fodder for wisecracks (the changing room temperature is generated by the audience's rapidly-shifting hot-then-cold attention-span!). The rapport between Martin and his Rangers is startling, even they've only been working together for a short spell. When Martin vacates the stage, leaving them to play a pair of tunes from their accustomed repertoire, it's a chance to hear how different their band personality can be when operating independently. These are more song-based pieces. Martin returns, and in the trusty way, everyone gets to step forward, delivering their solo flashes, all of them highly expressive. And then, out comes Tony Trischka for a three-banjo tussle, reprising his 2007 collaboration with Martin. This is prime entertainment, as parodic comedy chaos is grafted onto sheer musical substance. The compulsive charisma of Martin is witnessed at close range, his banjoman reputation is solidified, bluegrass music continues its re-revival and The Steep Canyon Rangers increase their profile immeasurably.

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More about this show, with full picture set, HERE.
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 02:30:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Good Article


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-pasternack/steve-martin-on-banjo-at_b_209175.html
Alex Pasternack
Journalist covering China, environment, architecture and culture
Posted: May 29, 2009 02:49 PM

Steve Martin on Banjo at the Rubin: "My Hit Single 'King Tut' Was Not a Fluke"


He may have lost to Kris Allen on American Idol, but Steve Martin and his banjo album "The Crow" landed on the pop charts this week, his first time back there since 1981's EP "The Steve Martin Brothers." Yet if we were guessing that his new Billboard status might have had something to do with his brand name or the bluegrass firepower he brings with him on his new record - Mary Black, Vince Gill, Tim O'Brien, Dolly Parton along with banjo masters Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick and Tony Trischka - the joke is, well, on us.

That was the verdict last night at the Rubin Museum of Art, after the award winning comedian-actor-playwright-novelist-memoirist rounded out an intimate two-night residency with a mesmerizing display of banjo pickin', songwritin', a bit of singing (his voice doesn't quite warrant the apostrophe) and, yes, jokes. "This is a song," he began with a folkly lilt, "well -- that pretty much says it." Even tuning his instrument between songs drew hair-trigger giggles and hollers.

But it was the songs themselves that drew the biggest reaction. How did it feel to be on the pop charts again after 27 years, I asked him later. "This proves that my hit single, "King Tut," was not a fluke."

The comedian known for his wacky banjo playing seemed a little determined to be something more like the banjo player with the wacky sense of humor. Why else had he traded his trademark white suit for near-black pinstripes? "Beats me," shrugged his wife Anne Stringfield when we asked. "The gravitas?"

On the nostalgic "Daddy Played the Banjo," Martin showed off not only some deft and swift fingering but revealed a lyrical imagination refreshingly heart-felt (the lyrics came from an intentionally bad poem he wrote, but "they made for a good country song"). Even the funny song he sings, "Late for School," had a down-home sweetness to it, and wouldn't be out of place on a children's album, which isn't a bad thing at all.

If, for a moment, the city slicker audience managed to pull its eyes away from Martin, they might have thought they were in the hands of a some progressive Carolinian master. (And they were in the hands of a few: halfway through, Martin left the stage to let his backup band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, take over for a rollicking virtuosic performance.)

But the audience was stuck on the wild and crazy Renaissance guy, hanging on every pluck and quip, and probably at times thinking something like, he's not funny or awe-inspiring - he is a little scary. Agnes Gund, a pal through Martin's art collecting, sat glued down in front. "I've known him for years but never seen this before," she said afterward. "He's really great."

There was modesty and fake pompousness ("I'm in front here, because, you know, I'm the guy," he explained. Later: "I made a deal with Graham [Sharp, the other banjo player] - every time I make a mistake he has to make one too.")

But he also crushed any doubts about his chops with "Clawhammer Melody," a mash-up of standards on which he showed off the unusual style of clawhammering, or frailing. Instead of being pulled by three fingers, like the way Earl Scruggs does it, Martin depresses the banjos's strings with five fingers - a particularly challenging technique, but one at which he's considered a master.

He's also a master at some other things, and he took plenty of opportunities to hit comedic notes. He did it effortlessly too, without anything like a routine. "This song is so great that I wish I wrote it," he said of "Orange Blossom Special," an old train standard. "And I was thinking about it recently, and I realized, 'Hey, I did write it!'"

He didn't, but he did change one line, intoning the chorus that first made him famous: "King Tut!"

Before he played his new album's title track, an eye-opening duo with banjo master Trischka, Martin said it had became a minor hit in the bluegrass world.

"And in the bluegrass world," he quipped, "a minor hit is a major hit."

Steve will perform two shows tomorrow night at the Grand Ole Opry, accompanied by Vince Gill, Amy Grant, John McEuen and Tim O'Brien. And he'll be on the Jimmy Fallon Show on Tuesday.
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 02:26:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Keep updated on Steve's Banjo Tour Dates


I haven't found anywhere that documents the changing tour dates from Steve's end. But the Steep Canyon Rangers have a constantly updated tour section that I recommend. You can tell which dates are with Steve since they have his pic at the side. Go to: http://www.steepcanyon.com/tour/.

Besides you can hear the Steep Canyon Rangers' music while you browse. They're very good.
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 02:19:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

No Steve at the New Yorker Festival This Year


The headline says it all -- Steve has other things to do, like pursue his new career as a musician.
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 01:58:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve and the Steep Canyon Rangers


http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090906/ENT/909060321

Wild 'n' crazy bluegrass: Steep Canyon Rangers, Steve Martin start tour in Brevard

Tony Kiss • published September 6, 2009 12:15 am

BREVARD [N.Carolina] – Asheville's Steep Canyon Rangers have traveled a long road since the old days, when they were playing bluegrass at Jack of the Wood, the Town Pump and the Harvest Festival in Fairview.
Advertisement

This fall, they're on the road with an upcoming CD, “Deep in the Shade,” shows at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and other famed venues — and a new partner: Steve Martin. Yes, THAT Steve Martin, the film star who's also an accomplished banjo picker.

The Martin-Rangers tour opens at the sold-out Mountain Song Festival on Saturday on the grounds of Brevard Music Center. Then the gang hits the road for a national tour with the Rangers serving as Martin's band.

“He's a great banjo picker,” said Rangers guitarist and singer Woody Platt. “People know him as a comedian and actor and writer, but he's always played banjo. He has a unique style that fits right into bluegrass music.”

The players are taking this opportunity seriously, Platt said.

“It's not a comedy show,” he said. “Naturally, he's the emcee and does almost all the talking, and that somehow turns into jokes. But the main thing is about the music.”

Martin is happily sharing the spotlight with the Rangers: Platt, Graham Sharp on banjo, Mike Guggino on mandolin, Charles R. Humphrey III on bass and Nicky Sanders on fiddle. The actor and the band met through a Platt family connection.

Hooking up with Martin “is the biggest thing that has happened to us,” Platt said. “It's generated the biggest press that we've had. But we are pretty focused. We have come a long way, and it hasn't been easy or for lack of effort.”

Taking the road with Martin would have been sweet enough, but the band's new CD drops Oct. 6, the same night they're playing New York's legendary Carnegie Hall. “That's one of the top venues that I always wanted to play,” along with the Grand Ole Opry, he said. “The Opry happened, and now Carnegie is about to happen.”

Since forming a decade ago at UNC Chapel Hill, the Rangers have always kept North Carolina in their hearts. One of the band's earliest breaks came in 2002, when they won the bluegrass competition at the Mountain State Fair and opened for Earl Scruggs. Four years ago, Platt and musician John Felty, of the band Jupiter Coyote, launched the Mountain Song Festival, which has grown into a major local event.

The same year, the band took the Emerging Artists of the Year honors at the International Bluegrass Music Awards, giving them a national launching pad. And in 2007, their CD “Lovin' Pretty Women” was nominated for the IBMA's Album of the Year.

The 15-city tour with Martin is sure to be a whirlwind, but halfway through “we have to jump off and do a couple shows that were (previously) booked,” Platt said. “Then we go back at it. That's the way it is with bluegrass.”
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 01:52:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve and Banjo in London (England)


http://londonist.com/2009/09/ticket_alert_steve_martin_southbank.php

Steve Martin @ Southbank Centre

"Steve Martin - how come you're not funny anymore," inquired Dennis Pennis in a notorious red carpet moment over a decade ago. Well, Martin has many more strings to his bow than his all-but-forgotten interlocutor. On 9 November, the white-haired entertainer comes to the Southbank Centre with his bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers for his first UK appearance behind a banjo. Tickets are on sale from today for Southbank members, and from Thursday for non-members. Prices start from £25. Here's a preview of the great man twanging his banjo, and you can listen to his infectious new album 'The Crow' on Spotify.

By M@ in Arts & Events on September 15, 2009 10:18 AM
- posted by sookeyjane 9/15/2009 01:51:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Good article on Steve and the banjo


http://www.thestar.com/article/681870
Toronto Star
TheStar.com
Steve Martin in the banjo underground
Aug 16, 2009 04:30 AM
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST

It's no surprise to his more devoted fans to see comedian/actor and playwright/novelist Steve Martin hitting the road at long last with his banjo.

A master of the three-finger picking style for which his mentor, banjo legend Earl Scruggs, is known, Martin began featuring the traditional folk instrument, albeit in a coy, self-deprecating way, in his comic routines 30 years ago.

But to anyone who was familiar with the five-string banjo, it was clear, even then, that the wild and crazy guy with the fake arrow through his head was a serious picker, just lacking confidence.

The banjo has never been far from his side throughout his long performing career. In dressing rooms, hotel suites, and on movie sets, one of his instruments — he owns three rare and valuable Gibson Florentine banjos — is always close at hand.

And banjo music has been a consuming passion for Martin since the folk boom years of the 1960s, he said in a phone interview this week from his home in Los Angeles. While others flocked to music stores to buy guitars, he was checking out the far more demanding — and not nearly as cool — banjo, and hunting down recordings of old-time Appalachian bluegrass bands.

"I just loved the sound of it from the first time I heard it," Martin said amid preparations for a tour that brings him — and sidekicks, the Steep Canyon Band, from North Carolina — to Roy Thomson Hall Oct. 15.

"Nothing else sounds like the banjo. It's the show-off instrument in bluegrass, both percussive and melodic, and capable of such an incredible range of emotions, from joy to melancholy."

Following up on the critical praise heaped on his recently released Rounder Records album, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, comprising banjo-dominated bluegrass instrumentals and folksy ballads — most of them written by Martin — and encouraged by enthusiastic responses this summer to a couple of guest appearances at high-profile festivals and a handful of sold-out small-venue shows in New York and L.A., the famed comedian and movie star is reinventing himself as a banjo virtuoso, with concerts booked in coming weeks at Carnegie Hall, Nashville's Ryman Auditorium and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco.

"I'm playing live venues again for the first time in 30 years, now that the pressure is off," Martin said.

Though he has played continually for his own amusement, and occasionally picked up bluegrass recordings in record stores, Martin credits satellite radio for increasing his appetite for banjo music. "It was fantastic. I could just tune into the bluegrass channel and listen to music I'd never have been able to find any other place," he said.

But it was Scruggs' invitation six years ago to do a little picking on his Earl Scruggs and Friends album — featuring bluegrass, country music, pop and rock stars — and the success of his Grammy-winning version of the bluegrass staple "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," a duet with Martin, that got his strings really vibrating.

"A couple of years later (famed banjo master) Tony Trischka asked me to play on one of his sessions, and I figured there must be 500 pickers better than me," Martin continued. "I said I'd do it if I could bring something original to the table, a piece I'd written called 'The Crow.' That's really how this whole thing began."

"The Crow" actually became something of a cult hit — Martin's second, after his 1978 novelty breakout, "King Tut" — and since he had several other original songs lying around, some dating back to the 1960s, he decided to record them, with the help of long-time friend, banjo instructor and producer, John McEuen. Country, folk and bluegrass greats such as Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Mary Black, David Amram, Stuart Duncan, Russ Barenberg, Trischka and Scruggs, also contributed.

Though The Crow was, he said, "motivated by idleness — just sitting around with nothing to do," he's more than pleased with the result.

"I'm very happy with the record. But I've been writing and playing so much since it was finished, and my chops are so much better. I wish I could do it all over again. And I've written five new songs that I wish we could have recorded as well."

Billed in the liner notes as "the most expensive banjo album in the history of the universe, and that includes possible alternative universes, too," The Crow is hard to dismiss as a movie star's vanity sideline project. The focus of the entire effort is on Martin's own compositions and smart finger work, and both stand up to the intense scrutiny of a really picky audience.

"The banjo culture might be underground, but it's vast," Martin said. "It extends to England, Ireland, Scotland, Czechoslovakia, even Switzerland – I'm just beginning to learn how deep and wide the banjo world is. In North America, banjo playing is like a contact sport, with contests all over the place."

Not that he interesting in competing. "I just want to stick with it," he added. "There are better pickers than me, and there always will be, and certainly better singers. But my audience seems to understand I'm serious about this — and I make it clear to them what they're in for — and I've had no difficulty getting them to come along for the ride."

Where the ride will take him, Martin doesn't care.

"It seems to be keeping Alzheimer's at bay," he said. "And that's a good thing."
- posted by sookeyjane 8/25/2009 04:17:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

3 Articles about Steve Paying Tribute to John Hughes


http://www.vh1.com/movies/news/articles/1617822/20090806/story.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler

movie news | Thu. 08 06. 2009 8:20 PM EDT
Steve Martin, Matthew Broderick, More Pay Tribute To John Hughes

'The man who spoke for geeks way before anyone else did,' writer/director Kevin Smith tweeted.

by Eric Ditzian
John Hughes in 1984 ( AP )
In the hours since legendary comedy writer and director John Hughes passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack, tributes from actors who worked with him over his decades-long career have poured in.

"I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes," Matthew Broderick, who starred in Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," said in a statement. "He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family."

Macaulay Culkin rose to fame in the Hughes-scripted blockbuster "Home Alone" and went on to appear in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" two years later. "I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person," Culkin said in a statement. "The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."

In 1987, Steve Martin starred alongside John Candy in another of Hughes' writer/director projects, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." "He was such a great writer who created so many enduring characters for film, both as a director and a writer," Martin told CNN. "His real gift was in creating these identifiable characters."

"The script for 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' was the best script I had ever read," he added. "I asked John how long it took to write it, he said, 'I wrote it over the weekend.' The weekend. That shows you what he was able to do."

Jon Cryer, who played the memorable role of Duckie in 1986's "Pretty in Pink," said in a statement, "This is a horrible tragedy. He was an amazing man to work for and with. He respected young actors in a way that made you realize you had to step up your game because you were playing in the big leagues now. That's why he got such great performances out of his actors. My heart goes out to his wife Nancy and their children."

Tributes have come as well from directors and actors who never worked with Hughes but nonetheless were influenced by his work. "The flag's at half-mast," wrote Kevin Smith on his Twitter. "John Hughes, the man who spoke for geeks way before anyone else did."

"R.I.P. John Hughes," Rainn Wilson tweeted. " 'The Breakfast Club' was a revelation to my late teen-age years. You're my hero."

This report is from MTV News.

==
has nice gallery of photos

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/stars-pay-tribute-to-hughes_1112169

07 August 2009 08:11

STEVE MARTIN - STARS PAY TRIBUTE TO HUGHES

STARS PAY TRIBUTE TO HUGHES

STEVE MARTIN, MACAULAY CULKIN and MATTHEW BRODERICK are leading the tributes to director JOHN HUGHES, who died on Thursday (06Aug09).
Hughes passed away after suffering a heart attack while out walking in Manhattan, New York.

The father of two stepped away from the limelight in the 1990s but stars from the big screen have offered their fond memories of the director, whose career spanned back to the 1980s.
Broderick, who was directed by Hughes in the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off, was devastated to hear of his death and has sent his condolences to the moviemaker's grief-stricken relatives.
He says, "I am truly shocked and saddened by the news about my old friend John Hughes. He was a wonderful, very talented guy and my heart goes out to his family."

Actress Molly Ringwald, who starred in three of Hughes' hit movies - Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink - was equally shocked to hear of his sudden passing.

She adds, "I was stunned and incredibly sad to hear about the death of John Hughes. He was and will always be such an important part of my life. He will be missed - by me and by everyone that he has touched. My heart and all my thoughts are with his family now."

Veteran star Steve Martin, who worked with Hughes on 1987's Planes, Trains And Automobiles, remembers the director with affection: "John Hughes was a great director, but his gift was in screenwriting. He created deep and complex characters, rich in humanity and humour."
And former child star MACaulay Culkin, directed by Hughes in Uncle Buck and the Home Alone movies in the early 1990s, is adamant that the late film-maker's work will live on for decades to come.

He says, "I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man."

07 August 2009 08:11

======

The Marquee Blog Watch Showbiz Tonight on HLN at 11pm ET/PT « Back to Blog Main
August 6, 2009
Martin: Hughes’ script “best I ever read”
Posted: 07:35 PM ET

Here’s what we do in entertainment news when we get word someone famous dies:
steve martin

1) Put out calls and e-mails to confirm what we are hearing

2) Gather all the related video and information about how they died and their body of work

3) Put out calls and e-mails to the publicists of those also-famous folks who may have known or have worked with the person who has died, to sort of put the reporting in larger perspective.

Usually, the publicist will return our official request with a short “statement” from the celebrity they represent. We get the star’s words as filtered through the media handler.

About an hour ago, the publicist for Steve Martin wanted to know if it would be alright if Steve called me personally to reply to my inquiry and share his recollections and thoughts. Now, I realize he wasn’t calling ME — Rachel — he was calling CNN, but suddenly don’t I feel special? “Steve Martin will be calling me himself!”, I bragged to my colleagues. “See if he’ll play the banjo for you,” someone said.

Then, came the call (number was blocked from caller ID of course), and I realized I was talking to a guy, who was rather shocked and saddened to hear that someone he really personally respected had passed on. At CNN we’re not only often the first to break the news on air, but sometimes we’re breaking news to those you wish you didn’t have to tell — famous and not.

I think Steve called personally because he wanted to know what I knew, or what CNN knew, about John Hughes’ death.

Here’s what he shared with me and what we’re reporting:

“He was such a great writer who created so many enduring characters for film, both as a director and a writer. His real gift was in creating these identifiable characters.”

“The script for ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ was the best script I had ever read. When I asked John how long it took to write it, he said, ‘I wrote it over the weekend’. The weekend. That shows you what he was able to do.” (Martin says the script for “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” still holds as the best script he has ever read and only film on which they worked together)

“He was funny from the start. You know he began his career writing for ‘National Lampoon’…. A piece called ‘My Vagina’. Very funny. Right from the beginning. If you haven’t read it, you should find it.”

Thanks, Steve. I just read it. He’s brilliant. Thanks for taking the time.

Posted by: CNN Entertainment Supervising Producer, Rachel Wells
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:12:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Trailer review for Steve's new movie, It's Complicated


this site reviews trailers, not movies

http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=11906&xsrc=rec
Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
August 12, 2009
It's Complicated – Opens December 25th

If there's one thing that Nancy Meyers movies have in common, it's that they make a heck of a lot of money. The last three films she directed (The Holiday, Something's Gotta Give, What Women Want) earned more than $200 million in worldwide sales, including What Women Wants' monstrous $372 million.

For It's Complicated, slated for release on Christmas Day, the writer-director aligned some serious star power (Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin) to continue her stretch of successes into the next decade. Even John Krasinski, Hunter Parrish, Lake Bell and Rita Wilson scored smaller roles.

The trailer to It's Complicated doesn't impress me much. I actually didn't laugh much – if at all. Odd, I know, since this one's got peeps like Emmy winner Alec Baldwin. But I trust Meyers in delivering something worth seeing, since I generally take a liking to her finished products.

Grade: C+

You can see the trailer here

This movie is going to be mainly streep and baldwin, with steve playing the nice guy who probably doesn't get the girl.
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:11:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Article about Steve's love of the banjo


with picture

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/steve-martins-love-affair-with-the-banjo/article1249706/

Globe and Mail/Arts

Steve Martin's love affair with the banjo
Steve Martin performs at Club Nokia on May 11, 2009 in Los Angeles.

Steve Martin performs at Club Nokia on May 11, 2009 in Los Angeles. Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

‘The banjo is the most undemanding thing in my life. It's always there for you'

Brad Wheeler

From Thursday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 10:10AM EDT

“The banjo generated nostalgia for experiences I never had, joy I was yet to experience and melancholy that was yet to come.” – Steve Martin, on discovering the instrument as a teenager

But seriously folks, Steve Martin plays the banjo – seriously. The man who would go on to stick arrows in his head, star in The Jerk , write novels and plays and collect art was once a frustrated novice banjo player. Although the plinky five-string mountain-music thing confounded him – “it shouldn't even be playable, but it is” – he had the notion that if he just kept at it, the day would eventually come when he'd have been playing the banjo for 45 years.

Now, with this week's release of The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, a bluegrass album featuring his songs and his playing, Martin's earnestness pays off. The album's subtitle is deceiving – many of the songs are not new, but rerecorded versions of tunes from his 1981 comedy album The Steve Martin Brothers, which featured a complete side of banjo tracks recorded in the seventies.

The new CD, which reached the top of Billboard's bluegrass chart upon its January release on Amazon.com, is as much about Martin's relationship with the instrument as it is about the delightful and spry music. “The banjo is the most undemanding thing in my life,” says Martin from his Los Angeles home, which he shares with his dog and his second wife. “It's always there for you.”

Martin's rapport with the banjo is wryly explained in the generous liner notes that come with the CD. Song-by-song comments tell us that the title track, helped in its development by contemporary players Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka, instigated the new album. It was originally recorded for Trischka's Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular and it became a hit single (his first since the nutty King Tut 30 years earlier) on the bluegrass charts.

The booklet's introduction – which begins with “I have loved the banjo my whole life” – is heartfelt, and the song notes are illuminating. Because bluegrass banjo is not mainstream music, you wonder if the background material is included to give needed context to the songs. Not at all, explains Martin, 63. “I'm a writer, and I grew up with the tradition of liner notes. In the sixties, every album had them, especially the music I was listening to, folk and bluegrass music. Every song had a tradition.”

It was in the sixties that Martin, at 18, taught himself the banjo. Motivated by Earl Scruggs's rendition of Foggy Mountain Breakdown, he would slow down banjo records on his turntable and pick out songs note-by-note, with the help of high-school chum and banjo player John McEuen. (A friend to this day, McEuen produced The Crow.) So as to not annoy his family or anyone else, Martin would practise in his car, parked on the street, with the windows rolled up even in the heat of the California summer.

People can hear Martin now, and although his celebrity will undoubtedly draw new fans to the bluegrass genre, he doesn't see himself as any sort of ambassador. “It's not my job to promote the banjo,” says Martin, the owner of a collection of vintage instruments, including two Depression-era Gibson Florentines and a Gibson Granada. “I'm just playing my music.”

Still, Martin knows that the project can only help create exposure for bluegrass – if not through the album itself, then through his talk-show appearances. “You don't really see five-string banjo on Letterman or Leno or Saturday Night Live,” he says. “I know, by the numbers, [the music is] reaching a lot more people this way.”

More people will be reached when Martin hits the road on a tour that stops in Toronto in October. The former standup comedian, who once padded routines by juggling kitties, twisting balloons and playing the banjo, will now feature his banjo music exclusively. “I'm just feeling my way around to get it to where it's easy and fun to do,” Martin says. “I'm trying to make this as fun as possible.”

Steve Martin plays Roy Thomson Hall on Oct. 15; tickets on sale Aug. 21.
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:09:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve's Banjo Tour Itinerary for 2009


http://www.livedaily.com/news/19785.html

Steve Martin and his banjo map fall tour
Published August 4, 2009 02:08 PM


By Tjames Madison / LiveDaily Contributor

Actor/comedian Steve Martin [ tickets ] will pack up his banjo for a rare concert tour this fall as he hits the road to support his chart-topping bluegrass album, which surfaced earlier this year.

Following a Sept. 9 appearance at the Grammy Salute to Country Music event in Nashville, Martin and his banjo will tackle a mix of headlining dates and festival appearances through early November, including an Oct. 6 concert at New York's Carnegie Hall and an Oct. 3 slot at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Dates are below.

Originally released exclusively through Amazon.com in late January, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo" entered wider retail release via Rounder Records in May. The album currently sits atop Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart.

Martin, a self-taught banjo player who has been performing with the instrument for decades, wrote all of the songs on the set, which features a mix of instrumentals and songs with traditional bluegrass vocals . A variety of guest performers make appearances on the album, including Mary Blak, Vince Gill, Tim O'Brien, Dolly Parton, Early Scruggs, McEuen, Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas, Pete Wernick and Tony Trischka.

Martin, who has released four comedy albums, previously showcased his banjo skills on the 1981 half-comedy, half-music release "The Steve Martin Brothers."
[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.]
tour dates and tickets
September 2009
9 - Nashville, TN - Grammy Salute to Country Music
12 - Brevard, NC - Mountain Song Festival
29, 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Cafe Largo-Coronet Theater

October 2009
1 - Nashville, TN - World of Bluegrass
3 - San Francisco, CA - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
6 - New York, NY - Carnegie Hall
7 - Boston, MA - Wang Center
9 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheater
10 - Charlotte, NC - Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
11 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
12 - Washington, DC - Kennedy Center
14 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre
15 - Toronto, Ontario - Roy Thomson Hall
19 - Philadelphia, PA - Verizon Theater
22 - Chicago, IL - Cadillac Palace Theatre
24 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
27 - Dallas, TX - Meyerson Symphony Center
28 - Los Angeles, CA - Disney Hall

November 2009
2 - Spokane, WA - Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox
3 - Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:09:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve to appear in Charlotte NC


with excellent picture

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20090813/NEWS/908129946/1101/LIVING?Title=Hottest-Ticket-Steve-Martin-and-the-Steep-Canyon-Rangers

Hottest Ticket: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
Todd Heisler/NYT

Comic legend Steve Martin will perform with the Steep Canyon Rangers in October in Charlotte, N.C.

From staff reports

Published: Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 10:24 p.m.

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

Knight Theater in the N.C. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center

430 S. Tryon St. Charlotte, N.C.

704-372-1000 or www.blumenthalcenter.org,

Show date: 8 p.m. Oct. 10

Tickets: $54; on sale at 10 a.m. Friday
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:08:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve has 6 nominations for the International Bluegrass Awards


http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/53144022.html

Dan Tyminski Band leads bluegrass awards nominations with 9, Steve Martin gets 6

By JOHN GEROME , Associated Press
Last update: August 13, 2009 - 11:52 AM


NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Dan Tyminski Band leads all nominees for the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards with nine nods.

Tyminski, a member of Alison Krauss' band Union Station, is nominated in categories including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist and Song of the Year, the last for "Wheels."

The duo Dailey & Vincent has seven nominations and comedian-actor Steve Martin got six.

Martin burst onto the bluegrass scene this year with his first album.

The 20th annual awards will be presented Oct. 1 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The hosts will be Kathy Mattea and the band Hot Rize.
- posted by sookeyjane 8/15/2009 10:06:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve has Emmy nomination for acting


Steve has been nominated for an Emmy as the Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his episode of 30 Rock. These are for the 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards for 2008. The awards will be presented in September, 2009.
- posted by sookeyjane 7/17/2009 02:08:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

John McEuen on Steve's Crow Album


http://www.pacificsun.com/news/show_story.php?id=909
Marin, California
Uploaded: Monday, June 29, 2009, 2:31 PM

Music: Nitty Gritty, wild and crazy...
Dirt Band founder teams with banjo-humorist for unlikely career resurgence...

by Greg Cahill

When Steve Martin decided to stop using his banjo as a prop in his comedy act--usually accompanied by an arrow through his head--he called his old friend John McEuen, the leader of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, for assistance. The two had met as teens working at Disneyland and shared a love for the sometimes disparaged instrument. Martin went on to become a comedy writer (for the Smothers Brothers and other TV acts) before turning to stand-up comedy and the big screen. McEuen--whose brother William served as Martin's manager for many years--became an influential pop and country musician.

Last spring, Martin contacted McEuen to say he'd written and recorded a few original tunes for the five-string banjo. McEuen listened to the results, which Martin had recorded crudely on a PC, and added a few professional touches.

"Steve was amazed at the results," McEuen recalls. "He called me three times in a single day to discuss the project--I waited to respond because I was savoring his messages that he never knew anyone could make his music sound so good."

McEuen signed on as the album's producer.

"If I had any influence," he says, "it was that I suggested that he record his own music instead of the bluegrass standards he was considering."

He also brought in Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and other country music stars.

The result is Martin's new CD, The Crow: New Songs for Five-String Banjo (Rounder), which is selling, well, if not like hotcakes, then better than your average banjo album.

"How often do you get to make a banjo album with a big movie budget?" he says with a laugh.

Thanks to Martin's star power, McEuen and his banjo-pickin' pal even landed last month on the coveted American Idol finale.

For Martin, The Crow marks his first foray into the legitimate world of bluegrass. McEuen is an old hand at this sort of thing.

In 1966, he formed the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with the intention of fusing traditional acoustical instrumentation with songs that could air on Top 40 radio.

"I got to do it a few times," he says.

The band scored crossover hits with "Mr. Bojangles" and later "House at Pooh Corner." In 1972, the band recorded the classic album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, featuring such bluegrass and country legends as Doc Watson, Maybelle Carter, Roy Acuff and Earl Scruggs. The album introduced a new generation to roots Americana.

McEuen left the band in 1987, for undisclosed reasons. He built a successful solo career and returned to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 2001 to re-master the 30th anniversary edition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which has remained on the country charts for decades. "Some people call it the Dark Side of the Moon of country albums," says McEuen, referring to Pink Floyd's long-charting 1972 rock album. "It's the album that won't go away--just like the group."

Indeed, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has gone on to score 18 Top 10 country hits.

"The Dirt Band continues because the guys in the group appreciate having a chance to play the legacy of the band," McEuen says. "That's partly because nobody in the band wanted another job. Maybe it's persistence.

"Ultimately, our success is the result of the audience wanting us to be successful."

A new album, The Speed of Life, is due later this summer.

"I think it's the best thing we've done," McEuen concludes. "We're not the best band in the world, but we are the best version of what we do."
- posted by sookeyjane 7/01/2009 05:53:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve filming in NY


http://www.lohud.com/article/20090626/NEWS02/906260396/1018/NEWS02

(New York's Lower Hudson Valley)
Streep, Baldwin, Martin movie shoot will close Hastings' Main Street
June 26, 2009

HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON - Part of Main Street will be closed later today and overnight for filming of a movie starring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

The movie is untitled.

The closing affect Warburton Avenue to Broadway and the Boulanger Plaza parking lot. They will be closed from 4 p.m. today until 7 a.m. tomorrow Stores and restaurants will remain open. Parking is available at the Steinschneider Plaza lot, the post office lot and along Warburton Avenue.

=============

On a totally personal note, I loathe Alec Baldwin and have made it a practice to see absolutely nothing he is in, even if I think I would otherwise like it. The only exceptions I have made to this rule in years is where he appears with Steve. And now a movie -- what to do, what to do.
- posted by sookeyjane 7/01/2009 05:50:00 PM PERMALINK 1 COMMENTS

 

Steve jokes a bit about Michael Jackson


http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/06/28/2009-06-28_much_ado_about_michael_jackson_at_the_park.html

Rush & Molloy
Much ado about Michael Jackson at the park
Sunday, June 28th 2009, 10:20 PM


Even Shakespeare was upstaged by Michael Jackson at the Public Theater’s opening-night performance of “Twelfth Night.”

Nora Ephron, Liev Schreiber, Chelsea Clinton, Jane Krakowski and Amanda Peet had come to Central Park’s Delacorte Theater to see Anne Hathaway do her cross-dressing turn as Viola. But all conversation turned to the King of Pop when ABC News’ Diane Sawyer arrived with fresh news of Jacko’s passing.

“I was a writer on ‘The Smothers Brothers Show’ when he sang ‘Ben,’ ” Steve Martin recalled. “He sang so beautifully. I remember saying, ‘Who is this guy?’ ”

Still, Martin couldn’t resist whispering to tittering tablemates that Jackson’s death was untimely because “he had just one more round of plastic surgery to go!”

Martin Short told us solemnly that Jackson was a “huge talent.”

“That’s not what you said to me!” interjected Martin.

“Well, it’s what I thought!” snapped Short.

Director Mike Nichols recalled once trooping to Jackson’s Helmsley Palace suite with studio head David Geffen and “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels.

“We had an idea for him,” said Nichols, who was honored by the Public along with entertainment exec Susan Lyne. “David suggested I tell Michael the idea, but I couldn’t remember. So I asked Lorne and he couldn’t remember it. Michael said to us, ‘Am I on ‘Candid Camera’?”
- posted by sookeyjane 7/01/2009 05:49:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve on his Michael Jackson parody


I was living in alaska when this came out. It cracked me up then; it still does.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/06/steve-martin-michael-jackson.html

The New Yorker
News Desk
June 26, 2009
Steve Martin: My Attempt at Moonwalking

As a dancer, Michael Jackson was great. He was like Fred Astaire. This video, a parody of the “Billie Jean” video, was done for “The New Show,” which was a prime-time NBC program that Lorne Michaels did in 1983-1984, when he wasn’t producing “Saturday Night Live.” This was the opening—it was the first piece on the first episode of the show. Michael Jackson had recently done what I consider to be his life-changing performance on the Grammy Awards, where he did the Moonwalk and threw his hat offstage. He was just brilliant. Then the “Billie Jean” video came out. And this was a parody of that.

I’m not sure whose idea it was; it might have been Lorne’s. Pat Birch choreographed it. The hard move was that little leg twist that he did. You really have to throw your leg. I did it a thousand times in about three days. And a couple of weeks later I noticed—er, I have a pain here. The pain lasted about two years, then it went away on its own.


- posted by sookeyjane 6/29/2009 04:35:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve in free concert, San Fran in October


"Hardly Strictly Bluegrass", a free concert in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, will feature Steve Martin along iwth many others on October 2,3, &4, 2009.

More info later.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/26/2009 05:18:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve Banjo Interview with Pic


http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/02/steve.martin.bluegrass/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Steve Martin and his passion, the banjo
By Denise Quan
CNN
updated 9:22 a.m. EDT, Tue June 2, 2009

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- We were scheduled to speak with Steve Martin just after his sound check for a concert in Los Angeles to benefit the city's public libraries. We pulled into the parking structure 45 minutes early when my cell phone rang. It was Martin's publicist.
Steve Martin has been playing the banjo for decades. His new album is a collection of bluegrass tunes.

Steve Martin has been playing the banjo for decades. His new album is a collection of bluegrass tunes.

"Hey, where are you?" she asked urgently.

"We're in the garage," I replied.

"Can you get up here quickly? He's ready."

A musician ready early? There goes his street cred.

Interviewing Martin can be like an awkward first date. Like many comedians, he's polite, but he sometimes struggles to make eye contact, gives monosyllabic answers and leaves the impression that he wants to be anywhere but talking to you.

But when the subject is his new album, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo," he's chatty, enthusiastic and engaged. On the CD, the comic/actor/novelist/playwright/musician shows off his picking skills as well as his ability to craft witty bluegrass songs with titles such as "Hoedown at Alice's," "Wally on the Run" and "Late for School."

It's been his passion for 45 of his 63 years. This past weekend, the ultimate Hollywood hyphenate made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.

"The Crow" has received more than respectable reviews, but that's not surprising, given Martin's uncanny ability to excel in whatever he does -- except maybe idle chitchat. The following is an edited version of the interview:

CNN: People know you as a versatile artist, but now it's about the banjo and your bluegrass album, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo."

Steve Martin: I did a lot of things when I first started out. In order to be in show business, I juggled, I did magic tricks, cards tricks and I played the banjo.

CNN: You've been playing it for 45 years, right?

Martin: Yes, I have. It's a long time, and I remember when I was going through a particularly difficult time of learning, I'd go, "Well, if I just stick with it, one day I'll be saying, 'I've been playing for 40 years.' "

CNN: Picking up the banjo might seem likely if you grew up in the Appalachians -- maybe Kentucky or somewhere down South. But you grew up in Garden Grove, California. This is the O.C.

Martin: There was a lot of musical activity in Orange County in the 1960s. There were the Dillards, and Doc Watson would come by, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, all these different players. I also had this friend, John McEuen, in high school, and he played, and he actually produced this album now -- 45 years later. [McEuen is a founding member of country-bluegrass group, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.]

CNN: Isn't John the one who taught you how to do an "Open D" tuning on the banjo?

Martin: Yes, he did.

CNN: See, I read your CD liner notes. [Both laugh] There's a cute little story in there about taking a photo of the three things you love most -- your wife, your dog and the banjo.

Martin: Well, we all love more things that that. I just happened to take a photo, and there was my wife, my dog and my banjo, all in the same shot -- and I thought, "Oh, that's like a family portrait right there."

CNN: Sounds like your next Christmas card to me. ... You're playing a benefit for the Los Angeles Public Library.

Martin: As you can see, it's sold out [gestures to an empty room]. ... You know, it's also a little bit sneaky, because doing a benefit takes the pressure off having to be so great. This is the first time I've really played banjo live as a concert -- ever. I mean, I've played a song or two, but I've never done a dozen songs, so I hope people will be forgiving.

CNN: Are you nervous at all?

Martin: I'm a little nervous.

CNN: Really? A little butterfly or two? I'm surprised.

Martin: No butterflies, but it's very different playing music onstage if you're not used to it. I mean, doing comedy is one thing. I used to get nervous on that, but I was very practiced. I'm as practiced as I can be. I'm performing with the Steep Canyon Rangers, a group I met in North Carolina. They're a renowned bluegrass group -- young men who play and sing really, really well. I'm lucky to have them.

CNN: You've won three Grammys and an Emmy. You do all kinds of things -- a modern-day Renaissance man.

Martin: Well, in a strange way, I don't have a job, so I have a lot of time on my hands. When I do work, it might be very concentrated, and it might be months where you're not really doing anything except maybe playing the banjo or writing something. You know, there's a lot of time in the day if you're not working 9 to 5.

CNN: Writing books, writing plays, doing comedy, writing music?

Martin: It's been a long life.

CNN: So have you decided whether you're going to embark on a full-fledged tour?

Martin: I'm kind of seeing if -- you know, I haven't really performed for a long, long time -- 30 years live onstage. You know, I've done things like host the Oscars and things like that. But it's a little different. You have to get comfortable, you really have to know what you're doing, and it has to be almost boring to you to be able to do it well. You have to be so confident. I need to get some shows under my belt just to feel really good about it.

CNN: They always say comedians are the least confident people in the entertainment industry. Do you feel like you're not confident?

Martin: No, I feel confident, but I know what they mean because when you tell a joke, it might last six seconds, and then you have to tell another joke. But a song lasts three minutes, and then you have another song for three minutes and you've killed six minutes. In that time, a comedian does 360 jokes. Might not be the right math but anyway.

CNN: When you guest-hosted "Saturday Night Live" in January, you performed one of the songs on your new album -- which you immediately made available on the Web.

Martin: It was an exclusive release on Amazon because I knew I was doing "SNL," and I wanted the record to be available, and the only way you could get it available that quickly was electronically. And now it's out on Rounder in a more normal release now.

CNN: Are you a big iPod guy who downloads stuff constantly?

Martin: I do, a lot. I find a lot of songs that way. I use the Internet a lot to find music. I always download it legally -- especially my own songs. [Laughs] I think it's very important to keep that honor among yourselves.

CNN: Who do you find a lot of your fans are musically? Are they people who have followed your career from the early days of "SNL"?

Martin: I honestly don't know. It's too new. I don't know if there are any fans. I know that the record sold really well on Amazon, but you know there's a bluegrass audience for bluegrass music, and there's probably an audience that wants to see, "OK, let's see if this idiot can play."

CNN: Can you?

Martin: We'll see tonight. [Laughs] I do have a record out.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/04/2009 07:17:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Another Opry Article with Pic


http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,3034,GAC_26063_5943636,00.html

Steve Martin Brings Banjo to Opry


Steve Martin makes his Grand Ole Opry debut on May 20, 2009. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

June 1, 2009 — Steve Martin is best known as a comedian, but he pulled out the banjo Saturday as he made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, where he was so well received that he was asked to do an encore.

The greatest banjo player in Opry history is Earl Scruggs, and his influence was recognized heavily throughout the performance. Son Randy Scruggs was part of Steve’s band — along with Vince, Stuart Duncan, John McEuen and Tim O’Brien, among others — and Steve’s set list included "Daddy Played The Banjo," a song he co-wrote with another Scruggs son, Gary Scruggs.

"Who better to write a song called ‘Daddy Played The Banjo’ than Gary Scruggs?" Steve noted.

The song was one of three Steve performed from his album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. He kicked off his debut with "Pitkin County Turnaround" and had Vince and Amy Grant sing lead on "Pretty Flowers."

"We’re thrilled and honored to have you here," Vince told Steve after calling him out for the encore. "Let’s pay a little tribute to Earl."

They then launched into "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," one of the staples of Earl’s longtime partnership with Lester Flatt.

Steve’s Opry debut will be featured Thursday on GAC’s Headline Country at 9 p.m. ET. Others in the episode include Gary Allan, Montgomery Gentry, Miranda Lambert and the Eli Young Band.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/04/2009 07:14:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

More Opry Pics


http://www.cmt.com/pictures/steve-martin-makes-grand-ole-opry-debut/1613046/3949278/photo.jhtml
- posted by sookeyjane 6/04/2009 07:11:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

About Steve's Grand Ole Opry Debut


This site also has a picture gallery of Steve playing.

http://www.wkrn.com/global/story.asp?s=10451384

Comedian Steve Martin makes Opry debut
Posted: May 31, 2009 08:53 AM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and writer Steve Martin played the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night.

Martin has played the banjo for 40 years and performed with longtime friend John McCuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Vince Gill and Amy Grant.

The performance included cuts from "The Crow", his first music album, which was recorded in Nashville.

Martin talked about the opportunity to work in Nashville with artists like Gill and Dolly Parton, who sing duets on the album.

"I started my comedy career in a lot of places, but Nashville was a very big part of it because I played the Exit/In," Martin recalled.

"When I was an up and coming comedian that was one of the first places I ever sold out and now I've been selling out for the rest of my career, of course," he joked.

Martin played the Exit/In in the 1970s.

"I took the entire audience to a burger stand and I ordered 300 hamburgers," he joked, "and then changed it to one bag of French fries, but that was a long time ago."

Vince Gill said he's always been a fan of Martin's acting, and that the comedian's talent on the banjo is impressive.

"I knew that he had a musician's heart," Gill said, "as well as being one of the funniest people I'd ever seen."

"Not one of the funniest," Martin interjected.

"The funniest," finished Gill.

Before taking the Grand Ole Opry stage for the first time, Martin received a framed poster commemorating his debut.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/04/2009 07:09:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

NPR and Steve at the Opry


Hear Steve talk about the Grand Ole Opry and his banjoing at NPR.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/04/2009 07:05:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve makes the Pop Charts


http://news.aol.com/article/steve-martin-hits-us-chart-with-banjo/503141?icid=sphere_wsj_teaser

Steve Martin hits U.S. chart with banjo music
Reuters

posted: 3 DAYS 17 HOURS AGO (from June 1, 2009 1:30pm central)

By Gary Trust

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Actor Steve Martin returned to the U.S. pop album chart for the first time since 1981 with a new disc showcasing his considerable banjo-playing skills.

"The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo" debuted at No. 106 on the Billboard 200 this week, with a little help from "American Idol."
Martin performed the album track "Pretty Flowers" during the talent show's season finale last week, with contestants Megan Joy and Michael Sarver trading vocals.

Martin placed three comedic sets on the Billboard 200 from 1977 to 1979. His last entry until this week foreshadowed his current sound, even if the wait would prove to be more than 27 years. The 1981 LP "The Steve Martin Brothers" featured comedy cuts on side one and banjo music on side two.

After his "Idol" performance, Martin did sneak in one slice of his wry humor. Put on the spot by host Ryan Seacrest to predict who would take home the "Idol" title, Martin quipped, "I know it's a long shot, but I hope I do."

(Editing by Dean Goodman)
- posted by sookeyjane 6/01/2009 01:26:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Review of Steve's recent banjo concert


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203658504574193291486232598.html

LIFE & STYLE
MAY 30, 2009
MUSIC
Steve Martin Takes the Banjo Seriously
On CD and in concert, he plays his own delicate compositions

By JIM FUSILLI

On stage at the Rubin Museum of Art here Wednesday night, the comedian, writer and musician Steve Martin demonstrated once again what is so clear on his new album, “The Crow—New Songs for the Five-String Banjo” (Rounder): He’s written some beautifully bittersweet songs for banjo, an instrument he’s played diligently, if not professionally, since his teen years.

Though the concert was billed as “A Tentative Evening of Bluegrass,” it presented Mr. Martin as a musician, not a comedian who plays around with music. “We’re not here for comedy,” he said gently. Which isn’t to say he fully suppressed his humor. “This is what I would play sitting around the living room by myself,” he announced at one point. “So would you all please leave.” Not only were we advised to turn off our cell phones, but also not to “murmur or make any facial expressions.” He allowed that the capacity crowd of 130 at the Rubin Museum was maybe just a bit smaller than the one that witnessed his recent performance on “American Idol.”

Supported by the Steep Canyon Rangers, Mr. Martin whipped up rousing bluegrass breakdowns and a cute tune about a boy racing to get to school. But during the best parts of the evening, he offered thoughtful readings of his delicate compositions, which are supple, never morose and rich with unexpected minor chords. By playing with tender restraint, he suggested a counterpoint to his familiar comedic persona. Though his face often was knit with concentration, it also glowed on occasion with tranquility, as if he’d found moments in which he lost himself within his music when expressing its layered emotions.
Tune In

Listen to a song from the new album “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo” by Steve Martin.

Though he incorporated the banjo into his comedy act as far back as the mid-’60s and originally released five of his compositions that appear on “The Crow” in 1981, on his album “The Steve Martin Brothers,” the 70-minute show here was only Mr. Martin’s second full-fledged concert as a banjoist; he played a fund-raiser at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on May 11. He’s considering a tour, but he told me he’d make a decision after the three-show stand here and two sets Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. After the sales bump from “Idol,” the concerts fall somewhere between a road test and a labor of love; as he told the audience at the Rubin Museum, “If everything sells out . . . I will only lose $12,000.”

When we spoke by phone on Memorial Day, the 63-year-old Mr. Martin said he’s long been self-conscious about his banjo playing, at least when measured against the likes of Earl Scruggs, Tony Trischka, John McEuen and other masters with whom he’s played. He said he largely gave up his dream of becoming a top-shelf banjo player back in the late 1960s, when he was writing comedy for TV variety shows that featured musicians such as Glen Campbell, John Denver, the Smothers Brothers and Mason Williams.

“They didn’t even know I played,” he said. “Eventually the banjo moved into the background for me. It was kind of, ‘Well, I’ll never be a banjo player. The best work at it every day and I don’t—I work at comedy every day.’”

Still, Mr. Martin had written songs, beginning in the mid-1960s. When I mentioned that composing interesting material to play can trump technical expertise on an instrument, he said, “That’s what my shrink says,” adding, “I doubt my technical abilities, though they’re there.”

Growing up in Garden Grove, Calif., Mr. Martin taught himself to play banjo with records as his guide. “I had an advantage: I had no instructor,” he said. “I was on my own working out the songs.”

Country music wasn’t his primary influence. “I grew up with a different sound—those were the folk days,” he said. “I liked a lot of esoteric albums.” He mentioned “New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass” by Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman, as well as the work of the Dillards, Billy Faier, Dick Weissman, Flatt & Scruggs, and the Mad Mountain Ramblers, who played Disneyland while Mr. Martin worked in its magic shop. “There were lots of different styles. That’s how I began to understand that the banjo had a wide range of emotions.”

On “The Crow,” support is provided by the likes of Vince Gill and Dolly Parton, who duet on “Pretty Flowers,” and Tim O’Brien, who sings “Daddy Played the Banjo,” which also features Mr. Scruggs and his son Gary, who co-wrote the tune. Other guests include Mr. Trischka, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and mandolin, and Mr. Martin’s high-school pal Mr. McEuen, formerly of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, on several instruments. The stately Irish folk singer Mary Black joins Mr. Martin on “Calico Train.”

But here at the Rubin Museum, Mr. Martin was without such notable guests, though the Steep Canyon Rangers are a highly capable bluegrass quintet with three albums under their collective belts. They followed Mr. Martin’s cue, playing with spirit on the up-tempo numbers but exploiting the delicate contours of his quieter songs. “Words Unspoken”—an appropriate title, Mr. Martin said, because the song has no lyrics—began with Mr. Martin playing a spry riff in unison with Woody Platt on guitar and Mike Guggino on mandolin before the band joined in on what settled into a wistful love song.

Mr. Martin told the crowd that “Daddy Played the Banjo” began as his attempt to write a bad poem on purpose; later, he realized, “this may be bad poetry, but it’s a pretty good country song.” In fact, Mr. Martin’s lyrics for the tune hold a surprising twist: The narrator, who claims to have taught his son to play the banjo, reveals he doesn’t have a child and is looking back on a time, as Mr. Platt sang, “when memories of what never was become the good old days.”

As demonstrated on “The Crow,” Mr. Martin’s instrumentals seem to have a similar narrative flow in which the tender and the unexpected meet to reveal a sentimentality not usually associated with banjo music.

“There’s drama in the songs whether it’s a big emotion or small emotions,” he told me. “With the banjo, you can take the same song and play it in an upbeat style or play it with soul in it.” For all the upbeat moments on “The Crow” and in his performance on Wednesday night, it was when Mr. Martin led with soul that his music found its transcendence.

—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop music critic. Email him at or follow him on Twitter@wsjrock.
- posted by sookeyjane 6/01/2009 01:19:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

His movie in progress


While I was not blogging, things happened which I'm now posting. Forgive the delay. Steve is making a movie.

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/10/15/Martin_and_Meyers_team_up_for_movie/UPI-27011224121416/
Entertainment News

Martin and Meyers team up for movie
Published: Oct. 15, 2008 at 9:43 PM
Order reprints | Print Story | Email to a Friend | Post a Comment
Steve Martin arrives for the premiere of his new movie "The Pink Panther" at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York on February 6, 2006. (UPI Photo/Laura Cavanaugh)
Steve Martin arrives for the premiere of his new movie "The Pink Panther" at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York on February 6, 2006. (UPI Photo/Laura Cavanaugh)

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Steve Martin reportedly has signed on for a role in Nancy Meyers' as-yet-untitled big-screen comic love triangle.

Martin and Meyers previously worked together on the "Father of the Bride" movies, which Meyers co-wrote and produced and in which Martin starred.

Variety.com said Martin's character in the new movie will compete with one played by Alec Baldwin for the affections of a character filled by Meryl Streep.

The movie, which Meyers wrote and is to direct, is to start shooting in February, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said.

Meyers' films include "What Women Want," "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Holiday."

Martin, a former "Saturday Night Live" player, was recently seen in "Baby Mama" and will next star in "Pink Panther 2."
- posted by sookeyjane 5/29/2009 05:05:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

For the latest in pics


This is an excellent place to go for the latest in pics of Steve that don't necessarily make it into news or other websites.

Right now there are some from his upcoming movie and from his banjo gigs.
- posted by sookeyjane 5/29/2009 05:03:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Pics of Steve from American Idol and the NokiaTheater


You can see a number of pics from two banjo performances -- one at American Idol on 20 May, 2009, and from the Nokia Theater Library event a week before. Go here.
- posted by sookeyjane 5/27/2009 12:16:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

New pics of Steve and Anne


Steve and his wife, Anne Stringfield attended the LA Art House on May 6, 2009 for an exhibition curated by Carole Bayer Sager in West Hollywood, California.

See three photos here
- posted by sookeyjane 5/19/2009 10:14:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Article on Steve's appearance with banjo in L.A.


go to the site -- it has a pic and a video

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/05/steve-martins-banjopicking-library-benefit.html#more
Jacket Copy - latimes.com

Steve Martin's banjo-picking library benefit

"I'm very sorry for the late start," Steve Martin said as he took a seat on stage Monday night. "If I were you, I'd hate me by now."

Judging by the burst of laughter, I'd say all was forgiven. It was the first time the L.A. Public Library held a fundraiser at downtown's LA Live entertainment district, and the proceedings were a bit bumpy: VIPs stuck on the sidewalk, all but missing the pre-party; crowds bottlenecked at entryways; that 30-minute show delay. But people had come to see Martin talk and then play banjo, and they weren't going to let a few snafus ruin the evening.

Before Martin was joined by the Steep Canyon Rangers for a musical set, he sat with author and columnist Dave Barry for an interview. Perched on a folding chair with his hands on his knees, shoulders hunched under a shiny gray suit, Martin looked a bit uncomfortable — or maybe he was playing at looking uncomfortable. Barry, who may be America's funniest Pulitzer Prize winner, read from prepared cards, feeding Martin straight lines and bouncing lively jokes his way. The exchange between the two felt as much like a good comedy routine as an interview, little jokes piled on top of each other, building to a general ball of hilarity.

At one point, Barry asked an atypically serious question about Martin's many creative pursuits, which include writing books, plays and screenplays, acting in and directing films, writing music, playing the banjo and collecting fine art.

SM: That's a serious question, Dave.

DB: [suddenly shouts a curse directed at Martin, tossing his card aside]

SM: [laughing] That card really said [the curse].

Much laughter — except from behind me, where a tense voice whispered, "This is for the library. Please."

The event did make for an unusual intersection of cultures and expectations. Martin is a serious writer, art collector and musician, but he's also the guy who did stand-up wearing a plastic arrow through his head. He is a smart man who has always excelled at being silly; he's an author, but he's a performer, too.

About the musical performance — after the jump.

Martin's CD "The Crow," released in January, has risen to No. 1 on Billboard's bluegrass chart. He'll be touring this spring, as he did last night, playing songs from it backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers. The five young men play fiddle, guitar, stand-up bass, mandolin and banjo ("Isn't that redundant?" Martin cracked).

Martin plays a nimble, warm banjo — banjos, actually, vintage banjos that he'd take time to tune as he switched one for another, making jokes about the brief delays. With the Steep Canyon Rangers he played several instrumentals — "Pitkin County Turnaround," "Tin Roof" and "Saga of the Old West." The songs moved from a kind of serenity — as much as banjo music can be serene — to rollicking, bouncing energy. Toward the end, the fiddle player took on a riff with manic intensity that began to fray his bow, sweeping into bits of "Flight of the Bumblebee" and back again.

Despite all that energy on stage, the audience seemed a little unsure of how to behave. Spontaneous clapping-along applause bloomed and died, always from one corner of the 2,000-seat theater, as if others had agreed that listening in silence until the songs' end was the best way to show respect for the music.

Steep Canyon Rangers' guitarist and lead singer Woody Platt picked up vocals on some tunes, and one song they did without Martin showcased their terrific vocal harmonies (the banjo player isn't redundant; he's got a stunning bass voice).

Martin, who called himself "a pretty terrible singer," sang a few times, particularly on his cute and goofy song "Late for School" (a video of him performing it in North Carolina with the band is below).

Joining Martin on stage for two songs was his record producer and longtime friend John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who played banjo. Barry, who plays guitar in the rock-band-of-authors the Rock Bottom Remainders, came on stage for the encore, the classic bluegrass tune "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." The performers received two standing ovations.

There isn't really anybody with Martin's talents: He can write for page and screen, kill at comedy, play the banjo well enough to accompany Earl Scruggs. If at times some in the audience were slow to shift gears, well, that's only to be expected. They were clearly all fans, but it's hard to keep up with Martin. In fact, he set the bar pretty high for the L.A. Public Library ALOUD series at LA Live — he'll be a hard act to follow.

— Carolyn Kellogg
- posted by sookeyjane 5/12/2009 03:09:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve at the Grand Ole Opry


-- and not as a member of the audience!
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/showbiz/22016-steve-martin-to-make-grand-ole-opry-debut
The Malaysian Insider
Thursday April 23 2009
Steve Martin to make Grand Ole Opry debut

NASHVILLE, April 2 — Comedian Steve Martin next month will make his debut on a new type of stage for the well-known television and movie star, plucking his banjo at country music’s Grand Ole Opry.

Martin, a veteran of TV shows like “Saturday Night Live” and films such as the recent “Pink Panther 2,” has long been a banjo player. He even incorporated the instrument into his stand-up comedy act as he rose to stardom in the 1970s.

But only last month Martin released his first music CD, a bluegrass album called “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,” which he will perform at country music’s premiere venue on May 30, in Nashville.

Martin began playing banjo at age 17, and recently joked with reporters in New York that early in his career he opened a Manhattan night club picking away at the instrument but nobody turned out. On the second night he agreed to play for free, and when the club was empty again, the owner fired him.

“I thought if I don’t do it now, my fingers might slow down or I might forget the songs,” the 63-year-old Martin said about making “The Crow” with 15 original songs.

His friend Jon McEuen, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and producer of “The Crow,” had a different take on Martin’s abilities.

“The Opry audience will find out when Steve picks, that he’s a musician disguised as an actor,” said McEuen, who met Martin as a teenager when both worked at Disneyland in California.

McEuen also will perform songs from Martin’s album at the Opry, alongside country stars including Vince Gill and Amy Grant.

Opry manager Pete Fisher said the venue was excited about the upcoming show. “Of course we’ve all been fans of (Martin’s) work on stage, television and in film for years, but we’ve also been very impressed with his musicianship,” Fisher said. — Reuters
- posted by sookeyjane 4/22/2009 05:52:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 

Steve on Tour with his banjo


http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2009/04/22/662753.aspx
Steve Martin Unleashes His Inner Banjo Man
Posted on Wednesday April 22, 2009 at 11:01 AM 1 |

One of the more unusual lineups to benefit a charity this year has to be the night billed as “Steve Martin’s Big Bad Banjo and a conversation with Dave Barry.” It’s happening May 11 at L.A. Live’s Club Nokia, and it benefits the Los Angeles Public Library.

Steve Martin fans already know the comedian/actor/author’s history with the banjo. Any one who caught one of Martin’s early appearances on TV during the ‘70s is sure to remember the image of the comedian wearing bunny ears or an arrow-through-the-head novelty gag while playing the instrument.

Martin’s banjo playing kind of took a backseat during years of movies, books and more movies. That is, until he played second banjo on Earl Scruggs’ Grammy-winning recording of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” in 2001, holding his own against country stars like Vince Gill and Marty Stuart.

Martin will perform songs from his hit bluegrass album, The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String Banjo. Playing with Martin will be the Steep Canyon Rangers as well as the CD’s producer, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen.

“I am very excited to raise money for the Los Angeles Public Library and plan to try to keep it all,” Martin said.

But that’s only half of the show. Humor author Dave Barry, the inspiration for‘90s CBS sitcom “Dave’s World,” also appears. Barry is a musician in his own right and plays bass for the literary music group known as the Rock Bottom Remainders.

“In today’s economy, we need to support our public libraries. And when you say ‘public library,’ the phrase that immediately comes to mind is ‘banjo music,’” Barry said. “So I’m really looking forward to asking Steve Martin probing questions about his new album, such as: ‘WHY?’”

The evening will be presented by The Library Foundation of Los Angeles and it launches the organization’s “ALOUD at L.A. Live” series. Tickets go on sale April 24 and range from $25 to $250.

AND...

http://www.antimusic.com/news/09/april/17Steve_Martin_Sets_Album_Release.shtml
Steve Martin Sets Album Release
04/17/2009
.
(Rounder) After a successful run with a limited release of The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, multi-talented Grammy and Emmy winning actor/comedian/musician and bestselling author Steve Martin will release the album on Rounder Records on May 19, 2009.

Originally released exclusively through Amazon.com on January 27, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo reached #1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart, #7 on Billboard’s Top Internet Albums chart, #38 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart and reached #2 on Amazon’s Top Music Sellers. All of the songs on The Crow were written by Martin.

The Rounder release will feature an instrumental version of “Calico Train” as a bonus track that was not on the Amazon version. Rounder will also release a deluxe version of The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, with several additional tracks and special pop-up artwork, the details of which will be announced shortly.

Martin will make his Grand Ole Opry debut on May 30. Lifelong friend John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) who produced the album and assembled an all-star cast to record with Martin, will appear on the show along with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Stuart Duncan, Tim O’Brien and more. The artists will be performing select songs from The Crow album, and Martin will sing his composition “Late for School.” The only other time Steve performed this song live was when he hosted Saturday Night Live for the 15th record-breaking time on January 31, 2009.
- posted by sookeyjane 4/22/2009 05:47:00 PM PERMALINK 0 COMMENTS

 



To my readers:

You will undoubtedly notice a long hiatus in posting here. I have no real explanation other than exhaustion. However, I am now unexhausted.

This blog was intended to be the What's New section of The Compleat Steve, my website on all else Steve. When time came to renew the domain name, I was broke. Someone else stole it, so you can't go to compleatsteve.com anymore and find the site. However, you can still get to it. Try here.

And boo to domain thieves.
- posted by sookeyjane 3/16/2009 06:33:00 PM PERMALINK 3 COMMENTS

 

Steve subsidizing high school production of his play


This controversy has a background:

http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Board-denies-appeal-to-bring-back-LHS-play
The Observer (Union and Wallowa Counties, Oregon)
Board denies appeal to bring back LHS play
Written by Dick Mason, The Observer
February 26, 2009 02:10 pm

The La Grande School Board, following a spirited, contentious but civil hearing before about 300 people, voted 4-3 Wednesday to uphold a decision by Superintendent Larry Glaze to cancel the LHS play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” by Steve Martin.

“I am disappointed but not surprised,’’ said LHS sophomore Madison Young, a student involved with the play’s production.
Glaze, in one of the most controversial decisions of his three-decade career in school administration, canceled the production Friday after a complaint was filed by parent Melissa Jackman because of the play’s adult themes and content. Her complaint was accompanied by a petition signed by 137 community members.

An appeal of Glaze’s decision was filed Monday by LHS Principal Doug Potter and the play’s director, high school French and English teacher Kevin Cahill.

Potter spoke out against censorship during a presentation to the board Wednesday. He said that everyone agrees that public “K-12’’ schools should be held to a higher standard.

“But I submit that censorship is not the higher standard,’’ Potter said.

The principal said that standard should encourage, “in this democratic society,’’ an expression of the diversity of options and a tolerance of the views of other people.

“Our standards should show some faith and trust in the intelligence of our students. Censorship doesn’t do that,’’ Potter said.

Cahill stressed that the play is a comedy and that people should not lose sight of this when addressing its adult content, which include sexual references.

“Comedy makes us laugh first, reflect later. Steve Martin invites us to do both. Laughing at sex isn’t the same as endorsing it,’’ Cahill said.

Following presentations by Cahill and Potter, the public weighed in during a comment session that extended for more than hour. Steve Donnell of La Grande is among those who spoke in support of canceling the play.

“Whenever a play that is performed in the school environment and is a school-sanctioned function mocks these standards and encourages counterproductive conduct, that play should not be an official function of the school,’’ Donnell said.

John Sprenger, a retired LHS teacher, also spoke out against the play. He emphasized, though, that he was not speaking against those connected to the production, such as Cahill, who selected the play.

“I would be appalled if anyone attacked Kevin personally. I’m attacking the play.’’

Sprenger said that it is clear to him that the play’s adult content violates school district policy.

“I see no alternative but for the board to follow its own policy,’’ Sprenger said.

Dr. Joel Rice, a La Grande psychiatrist, told the board that studies show that plays like the one in question do not have a negative influence on youths. He also said he believes censorship is dangerous.

“I strongly believe censorship erodes the human soul,’’ Rice said.

Stacy Shown, a La Grande parent, said she objected to the profanity in the play.

“As parents we need to set a standard,’’ Shown said.

She also said that if the play were allowed to go forward at LHS, many conservative families would move their children out of the La Grande School District and into charter or online schools or begin home schooling.

Greg Monahan, an EOU history professor, told the board that Cahill went through all of the right channels to get the play approved. He said that to ban the play after all the rules had been followed “would be a gross miscarriage of justice.’’

A number of people said they were upset with the play’s content because it would exclude them from attending.

Cahill noted, though, that the number of people at the meeting was greater than the number who attend plays.

“Let’s be honest here. You have not been coming (to the plays),’’ Cahill said.

Board members Merle Comfort, Reed Waite, Glen Herman and Keith Walker voted against the appeal and to uphold Glaze’s decision. Michael Frasier, John McKinnon and Randy Tweten voted in support of the appeal.

Herman said that he had received 50 e-mails on the subject, and 45 were in support of Glaze’s decision. This input and Herman’s faith in Glaze’s ability had a big impact on his decision.

“I have a great deal of respect for Larry. He is so connected to the pulse of the community,’’ Herman said.

Waite said he was influenced by a survey he did at work. He showed the passages of the play to 20 people, and all 20 said it is not appropriate.

Frasier, prior to voting, said it is unfortunate that issues concerning the play were not addressed before a boiling point was reached. He said people need to be aware of possible controversy and take steps to head this off.

“They need to be proactive before there is a firestorm of controversy.’’

He noted that the play was successfully produced last year at West Linn High School. Frasier said he called there and learned from an administrator that West Linn is known for putting on cutting-edge productions. He also was told that the play had been edited.

Frasier said editing is always an option, and that as music teacher at LHS he often edited musical productions. The board member said he believes that a better play could have been selected at LHS.

“It was the wrong play to do. Adults were in error,’’ Frasier said. “The kids did not do anything wrong.’’

Still, Frasier endorsed having “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” performed at LHS.

“My solution, “If you don’t like it, don’t go. If you don’t want your kids in it, don’t let them be in it,’’ Frasier said before his vote.

“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” was written by Steve Martin, the well known comedian and actor, in 1993.

The play would have been performed at LHS April 23-25. Auditions for the play were conducted in mid-January, and rehearsals started Feb. 2.

The play features the characters of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, who meet in a bar called the Lapin Agile in Paris in 1904, when both men are on the verge of creating their landmark works.

Einstein published his theory of relatively in 1905, and Picasso painted the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907.

Rehearsals for the play ended at LHS after the play was canceled. Rehearsals are now being conducted in the homes of students involved with the production.

LHS senior Richie Scott, who has a lead role in the play, is hopeful that the play can be performed off campus at a site such as EOU.

“I want to let the community know that we will do the play regardless of what it takes. They have not silenced us.’’



Next:

PLAY FRAY
Written by Dick Mason
The Observer
March 13, 2009 03:51 pm

The continuing debate involving “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,’’ the play banned at La Grande High School because of its adult content, has a new twist.

Entertainer Steve Martin, the play’s author, is stepping into the picture.

Martin is offering to pay the cost of producing the play off La Grande High School’s campus. He is making his offer in a letter to the La Grande community, which appears on Page 4A of today’s Observer. Martin’s offer would cover the cost of producing “Picasso at the Lapin Agile’’ at EOU’s McKenzie Theatre. Eastern recently granted permission for the EOU Student Democrats to host the play at Loso Hall’s McKenzie Theatre. The play is set to run May 16-18.

Martin stands up for his work in his letter.

“He is trying to defend the reputation of his play,’’ said Kevin Cahill, the play’s director and a French and English teacher at LHS. “The letter expresses his interest in seeing the production go on. He simply wants the play fairly represented.’’

“Picasso at the Lapin Agile’’ was banned from the LHS campus Feb. 20 by La Grande School District Superintendent Larry Glaze because of its adult content. Glaze made his decision after receiving a written complaint from a La Grande parent that was accompanied by a petition signed by 137 community members.

An appeal of Glaze’s decision was denied by the La Grande School Board, which upheld the superintendent’s ruling at a Feb. 25 school board meeting attended by about 300.

Martin, who wrote “Picasso at the Lapin Agile’’ in 1993, learned about the controversy online, said Alan Nierob of Los Angeles, Martin’s publicist. Nierob said Martin does not know of any other place his play has been banned.

Martin was not available to be interviewed.

“Picasso at the Lapin Agile’’ is about a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in 1904 at a bar in France, just before each produced their greatest works.

Martin has attended some productions of his play. The entertainer will not be able to attend any of the the May productions in La Grande, though, Nierob said.

Cahill said he believes Martin is stepping forward to ensure his play’s production in La Grande because he wants people to see it in its full context, one he says would lay to rest misconceptions.

“He believes it is being unfairly characterized and stereotyped,’’ said Cahill, who has not communicated with Martin but has read the letter.

The money Martin donates for the production of his play in La Grande will be an addition to the funds the EOU Student Democrats are raising for it. If more money is donated than what is needed for the production, the additional money will go to a scholarship fund the EOU Democrats have started for thespian students at Eastern from La Grande High School.


Steve's Letter:


Of arts and sciences
Written by Steve Martin March 13, 2009 04:07 pm

To the citizens of La Grande:

It has come to my attention that there is a controversy regarding my play, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” which was to be produced at your local high school.

First let me compliment Mr. Kevin Cahill, the teacher who selected the play, on his excellent taste! The play has been performed, without incident, all over the world by professional and amateur companies, including many high schools.
Because I don’t know the standards of your community or the life experience of your students, it is impossible for me to address whether my play is appropriate to be performed on campus, although in the limited web exchanges I have read, the students, and the eloquent Mr. Cahill, seem to understand the play and can discern that the questionable behavior sometimes evident in the play is not endorsed.

I have heard that some in your community have characterized the play as “people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects.” With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is like calling Hamlet a play about a castle. This play is set in an actual bar in Paris that was frequented by Picasso, a historical site that still exists today.

Focusing on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity and Picasso’s master painting, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” the play attempts to explain, in a light-hearted way, the similarity of the creative process involved in great leaps of imagination in art and science. Pablo Picasso, as a historical figure, does not come gift-wrapped for the sensitive. He lived as he painted, fully sexual and fully daring, and in the play he is chastised by a sage bartendress for his cavalier behavior toward women.

Because of the controversy, I recently reread the play, and, frankly, I could understand how some parents might object to certain lines if they were to be delivered by a 16- or 17-year-old. Yet I do believe that the spirit of the play and its endorsement of the arts and sciences are appropriate for young eyes and minds.

So while the question of whether students should perform the play at their high school remains something to be determined by the community, I firmly believe that seeing the play will bring no harm to them and might well uplift them — and acting in the play, if they are permitted by their parents, would also bring them no harm, and may help them to understand the potency, power and beauty of the arts and sciences.

I suspect that the signers of the petition against the production read excerpts only, and were not shown the more delicate and inspirational parts of the script.

To prevent the play from acquiring a reputation it does not deserve, I would like to offer this proposal: I will finance a non-profit, off-high school campus production (low-budget, I hope!), supervised and/or directed by Mr. Cahill and cast at his discretion, so that individuals, outside the jurisdiction of the school board but within the guarantees of freedom of expression provided by the Constitution of the United States, can determine whether they will or will not see the play, even if they are under 18.

I predict that the experience will not be damaging, but meaningful.


Steve Martin wrote the play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.’’ He is an actor and comedian.


NOW:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7944830.stm
Steve Martin backing banned play

Comic actor Steve Martin has stepped in to support a school production of his play that was banned after parents objected to its adult themes.

Students at La Grande High School in Oregon were stopped from staging Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Martin has offered to help pay for the play to be performed off-campus.

He said he was supporting the production because he did not want his play "acquiring a reputation it does not deserve".

Written in 1993, the play depicts a meeting between a young Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in a Parisian bar in which they get into a discussions on the superior merits of art or science.

Wrong impression

In a letter to the La Grande Observer, Martin said although there were lines in the play he understood parents may feel uncomfortable letting their children say, the students knew the "questionable behaviour sometimes evident in the play is not endorsed".

He also wrote that, contrary to the protests, the play was not about "people drinking in bars and treating women as sex objects".

"The play has been performed, without incident, all over the world by professional and amateur companies, including many high schools," Martin added.

Rehearsals for the play were stopped after the headteacher received a letter from a parent which contained a petition signed by 137 people against the staging of the play.

Teacher and director Kevin Cahill told La Grande Observer that funds were now being raised to put the play on at the nearby Eastern Oregon University.

Any money left over from Martin's donation will be put towards acting scholarships for students.


And a note from the blogger:

Go see the play. I saw it in about 1995 on a trip to San Francisco. I was surprised (sorry Steve) at just how witty, literate, sly, thoughtful, and downright funny it was. I had just started getting into Steve's writing and everything else (the start of the Compleat Steve and the blog), and seeing the play only increased my opinion of Steve's mind and creativity.
- posted by sookeyjane 3/16/2009 06:00:00 PM PERMALINK 1 COMMENTS