Benny Tipene to open for American Authors


Benny Tipene will perform with American Authors and Andy Grammer in Auckland in September.

Tipene, from Palmerston North, shot to local fame after appearing on New Zealand’s The X Factor.

He signed with Sony Music after the competition and released his debut EP, Toulouse, in February.

Brooklyn-based alt rock band American Authors are known for their debut song, Best Day of My Life.

Santa Monica’s Grammer was the first male artist to hit the top 10 on Billboard’s adult pop chart in America with his first two singles, Keep Your Head Up and Fine by Me.

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– Stuff

Kiefer Sutherland is a ‘gentleman’


Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 co-star Louis Lombardi says he’s “one of the most professional actors ever”.

Lombardi’s comments come after Freddie Prinze Jr. launched an astonishing attack against Kiefer on Monday, admitting the actor’s supposedly unprofessional attitude on the set of the show in 2010 nearly caused him to quit acting.

But

Kendall fighting Kardashian name shame


Kendall Jenner has blamed her famous siblings for damaging her modelling career.
The 18-year-old reality star has made a name for herself as a high fashion model in recent months, walking the runway for labels such as Chanel and Marc Jacobs.
But while many people thought Kendall achieved her status through her family and hit television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, it actually made things more difficult for her.
“People think that this success just came to me. But it didn’t,” Kendall explained to LOVE magazine.”What I have has almost worked against me. I had to work even harder to get where I wanted because people didn’t take me seriously as a model. Because of the TV show.”
Kendall, whose parents are Kris and Bruce Jenner, was even discriminated against at model castings because of her family.
“I went on castings and some people weren’t feeling me because of my name,” she said. “But it was great when people didn’t recognise me. I was like, ‘Thank you. Please don’t recognise me’.”
However, Kendall’s most famous sibling Kim Kardashian insists her determination to reach the top has made her sisters even more proud of her.
“Kendall had to work extra hard to gain this respect and to fight for people to see she’s serious,” Kim said.”Marc Jacobs gave her a real shot and treated her like any other model. He believed in her and opened the door for her. Then Riccardo [Tisci] and Karl [Lagerfeld] gave her a chance and she has proven that she is the real deal. Her hard work paid off, and that makes me so proud.”

Cliff Curtis denies Mana support


Actor Cliff Curtis denies he is endorsing the Mana Movement this election, saying he remains “absolutely apolitical”.

Mana released a statement yesterday saying Curtis was one of several celebrities who would appear at the launch of Waiariki candidate Annette Sykes’ campaign today to lend their support.

“A key goal for Mana this election is to mobilise our people to vote, especially rangatahi, and win Waiariki,” Sykes said.

“To help with this we’ve got Maisey Rika, Cliff Curtis, and our Mana youth ambassador, Wairangi Koopu, all lending their support for the launch and the wider campaign.”

But Curtis today clarified his position, saying that “while I respect my cousin Annette Sykes’ commitment in engaging in the political process, I do not endorse or support any political party”.

While he had respect for all those standing for public office there had been a “misunderstanding about my supposed attendance at the Mana launch in Rotorua today”, Curtis said.

“My priority in life is my whanau, followed by my work as an artist, which has blessed me with the ability to provide opportunities working with others to advance the wellbeing of Maori. My politics centre around whanau, whenua and wairua (family, the environment and spiritual wellbeing).

“I believe in collaboration, which is why I work with others to make positive contributions of consequence, and why I have made a very clear and unwavering commitment to remain absolutely apolitical.”

The star of films including The Dark Horse and Once Were Warriors said he would vote in the coming election “based on the party and policies which I believe best reflect the needs of my whanau and community”.

“This decision will remain absolutely private to me. I encourage all eligible New Zealand voters to do the same and to participate and to be informed on all relevant political parties and policies before casting their vote in the coming general election.”

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– Stuff

Singer hopes to bring jazz to Hamilton


Raewyn Watkins is aiming to become an expert in all that jazz – literally.

The Hamilton singer and actress is about to head to Stanford University in the United States to take part in an intensive jazz vocal programme at the university’s prestigious Institute of Jazz.

She is hoping when she returns from the six-day immersion course to use her knowledge and whatever new skills she picks up to introduce Waikato audiences to the genre and perform with authentic jazz skills, learnt from some of the best in the business.

”I want to give the people something they may have never heard before in Hamilton. A different experience.”She also would like to pass on what she learns to the city’s younger singers.”

There’s a lot of really good people doing great things in music. In Hamilton, I’d like the opportunity to go to a place and sit and just listen to some nice jazz being performed. I’d like to tee up some musicians and provide them with that option.”

Watkins is a familiar face and voice to Waikato audiences from her numerous appearances in musical theatre. She has performed lead roles in Hamilton productions of Miss Saigon, Oliver!, Me & My Girl, Roger Hall’s comedy Love off the Shelf, and Die Fledermaus, alongside Dame Malvina Major.

She most recently took to the stage in The Last Five Years, an acclaimed off-Broadway musical about an apparently doomed marriage, at Cambridge’s Gaslight Theatre.

Watkins will travel to the US with Taupo-based vocal coach and pianist Alex Wiltshire, who is undertaking a similar, piano-oriented course at the same time.

”The two of us are embarking on a fun learning curve … I’m looking forward to taking in as much knowledge as I can. I liken it to throwing myself into the biggest fish pond in the world and swimming around with the fish and gaining all this knowledge from them.

“Learning jazz will be a big change from musical theatre, where everything is so rehearsed and refined. By comparison jazz is really loose and open to interpretation – yet it is still very much a learned skill.”

Gaining acceptance to the course had been preceded by the organising and recording of two very different songs from the genre as her ”audition”, followed by a very nervous wait to hear if she had been accepted.

The 46-year-old said she had been bitten by the jazz bug while a student at Hillcrest High School in the mid 1980s.

”Jazz resonates with me. It sits well with my voice, which has changed in range over time.”

Al Jarreau – perhaps best known for his sultry theme to the Moonlighting TV series – was among her many musical inspirations.

Located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, Stanford is one of the world’s leading teaching and research universities. Perhaps best known for business and law, it is also home to a healthy humanities school with a vibrant musical arm.

”It’s an intensive course and we are being taught by professionals. I can expect 15-hour days. There will be music theory in the mornings, workshops with various faculty musicians throughout the day, then evening performances. For the energetic, the jam sessions start at 10.30pm.”All those professional musicians to work with, for me will be like being a kid in a candy shop. I just want to grab every one I can reach. It’s going to be great and I can’t wait.”

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– Waikato Times