Jennifer Hudson and Harvey Fierstein To Star in NBC's "Hairspray Live!"

Jennifer Hudson & Harvey Fierstein will star in Hairspray Live! on NBC, December 7. Photos courtesy of NBC/Universal. 

It was announced yesterday that award winning performers Jennifer Hudson and Harvey Fierstein will headline the cast of NBC's Hairspray Live!. The show, produced by Universal Television, will broadcast from Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 7 at 8PM ET/PT.

Harvey Fierstein who will play Edna Turnbald, the role he created on Broadway and won a Tony for, is  also writing the teleplay. Jennifer Hudson will play Motormouth Maybelle.

About The Show

Based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, “Hairspray Live!” takes place in 1962 Baltimore. Teenager Tracy Turnblad’s dream is to dance on “The Corny Collins Show,” a local TV program. When, against all odds, Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight and meets a colorful array of characters, including the resident dreamboat, Link; the ambitious mean girl, Amber; an African-American boy she meets in detention, Seaweed; and his mother, Motormouth Maybelle, the owner of a local record store. Tracy’s mother is the indomitable Edna Turnblad, and she eventually encourages Tracy on her campaign to integrate the all-white “Corny Collins Show.”

Upcoming: Alberta Cross at Rough Trade NYC, 6/8

Photo credit: Chris Rubino

Alberta Cross

Wednesday, June 8

Rough Trade NYC

64 N 9th Street

Brooklyn, NY

Doors: 8PM / Show: 9PM

Tickets: $15

21+

Alberta Cross released their self-titled album in October 2015. You can pick it up HERE.

Rachael Sage To Release New Album In May + Tour Dates

Rachael Sage is set to release her new album, Choreographic, on May 20. The album was inspired by her lifelong relationship with dance. Check out the track "Try Try Try" from the album below.

If you want to catch her live, Rachael Sage will be taking the stage at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2. See below for more details.

You can pre-order Choreographic, HERE.

Rachael Sage

Friday, May 13

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

196 Allen Street

New York, NY

Doors: 6:30PM / Show: 7PM

Tickets: $12

21+

Tour Dates

• Apr 30 The Last Waltz Live @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Bethel, NY
• May 04 Ethel's Stage Left Lounge Columbus, OH
• May 06 First Unitarian Church Pittsburgh, PA
• May 07 Cyber Cafe West Binghamton, NY
• May 13 Rockwood Music Hall - Stage 2 New York, NY
• May 14 Muses in the Vineyard Festival Columbia, NJ
• Jun 02 How The Light Gets In Festival Hay-On-Wye, UK
• Jun 05 Hotel Utah San Francisco, CA
• Jun 07 The Hotel Cafe West Hollywood, CA
• Jun 09 Uncommon Ground - Edgewater Chicago, IL
• Jun 11 The Ark w/ Mary Fahl Ann Arbor, MI
• Jun 12 Seven Steps Up Spring Lake, MI
• Nov 18 Nikolaisaal Potsdam Potsdam, Germany

Film: Money Monster Opens May 13

George Clooney (Lee Gates, center) stars with Giancarlo Esposito (Captain Marcus Powell, left) in TriStar Pictures’ MONEY MONSTER. © 2016 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Property of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.

Money Monster, starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell opens Friday, May 13. The film was directed by Jodie Foster. Check out the trailer below.

Julia Roberts (Patty Fenn, center) stars with Carsey Walker, Jr. (Sam Shaw, left), James Warden (Jim, right) in TriStar Pictures’ MONEY MONSTER. © 2016 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Property of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. 

About The Film

In the taut and tense thriller Money Monster, Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a bombastic TV personality whose popular financial network show has made him the money wiz of Wall Street. But after he hawks a high tech stock that mysteriously crashes, an irate investor (Jack O’Connell) takes Gates, his crew, and his ace producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) hostage live on air. Unfolding in real time, Gates and Fenn must find a way to keep themselves alive while simultaneously uncovering the truth behind a tangle of big money lies.

© 2016 TriStar Pictures / Sony Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Vaudeville Etiquette To Release New Album

Seattle based band Vaudeville Etiquette are set to release their new album, Aura Vista Motel on May 6. Check out the video for "Damn Lovely" from the album below. This one has been on repeat; I'm finding it a damn fine song. Also, notable from the album, "Set It On Fire", "Empty Hands" plus rockers "Crosseyed Crazy" and "Tipping Point".  I'm not good at and don't like putting things in a box but I would call this album down-to-Earth country rock.

The new album gets its name from the motel that once occupied an infamous stretch of Highway 99 in Seattle. In its heyday, here was a motorist’s utopia, filled with a thriving middle class that was ready to explore America, traversed by the likes of Kerouac and Salinger, and full of romantic intrigue and possibility. Today, it’s a forgotten relic, a notoriously seedy stretch of road that attracts violence, drugs, prostitution, and one 5-piece folk-rock band that relentlessly believes in its spirit and potential. 

What used to be the Aura Vista Motel is now where the band writes, rehearses, celebrates, argues, hones their music, and shoot their videos. It’s the Vaudeville Etiquette headquarters, it’s haunted, and it’s the catalyst behind all that they do. You can hear it on this record, as each song plays like a guest in a different room; separate but united by our wayfaring desires and sordid expectations. 

They recorded the album with producer Shawn Simmons Studio Litho in Seattle, WA. “His knack for honing an intrinsic Seattle sound in the work he’s done with bands like The Head and The Heart and Lemolo was exactly what this record needed,” says Lynn. “He pushed us to create unique arrangements and employ unconventional recording and burrito-eating techniques that take the sounds on this album and gracefully elevate them to a psychedelic whirlwind, then down to an intimate lullaby and back around again. He’s a joy to work with and a hero at the helm.”

You can pre-order Aura Vista Motel HERE.

Upcoming: Maggie Rose at The Studio at Webster Hall, 4/28

Photo Credit: Rob Norris

Maggie Rose

The Morrison Brothers

Thursday, April 28

The Studio at Webster Hall

125 E 11th Street

New York, NY

Doors: 7PM / Show: 8PM

Tickets: $12

16+

Maggie Rose released The Variety Show, Vol. 1, April 2016. Check out the video for the track "Same Sky" below.

On Tour: The Griswolds

Photo credit - Instagram: @jar_osullivan | Twitter: @jaredosullivan 

The Griswolds are on tour. Check out the list of tour dates below.

The Griswolds released their album Be Impressive, August 2014.

Tour Dates

• 4/24/16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Rave
• 4/26/16 - Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity
• 4/27/16 - Kansas City, MO @ Madrid Theatre
• 4/28/16 - Denver, CO @ Gothic
• 5/1/16 - Edmonton, AB @ Starlite
• 5/3/16 - Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial
• 5/4/16 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
• 5/5/16 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
• 5/7/16 - San Diego, CA @ North Park
• 5/8/16 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
• 5/10/16- Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
• 5/11/16 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
• 5/13/16 - Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
• 5/14/16 - Dallas, TX @ The Granada
• 5/15/16 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues
• 5/17/16 - Nashville, TN @ Mercy
• 5/18/16 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West

Video: Victoria Reed - "Nothing To Lose"

Today we have for you, "Nothing To Lose" from Victoria Reed. Check out the Adinah Dancyger directed clip below. The track is from her latest album, Chariot.

Victoria Reed released Chariot in February 2016 and you can pick it up HERE.

Basement Revolver - "Johnny"

Photo by Ro Agalawatte

Today we have for you "Johnny", from Basement Revolver.  They're set to release their debut EP July 2016. "Johnny" was released April 7, check it out below.

Upcoming: The 1975 at Barclays Center, 5/17 + Video

The 1975

Wolf Alice / The Japanese House

Tuesday, May 17

Barclays Center

620 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn, NY

Doors: 7PM / 8PM

Tickets: $39.50 - $49.50

All Ages

The 1975 released I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, February 2016…you can pick it up HERE.  They've just released a video for the track, "A Change Of Heart". Check it out below.