Posts
For a serious Prince fan like me, it was the perfect interview.
I had secured some talk time with Lisa Coleman, the keyboard-playing half of the songwriting and performing duo Wendy and Lisa -- two proteges of the Purple Genius himself.
I was such a fan that back in college, when I was playing drums in a band that had a record deal with Motown, I wrote them a letter offering to be their drummer -- like a kid asking for Santa Claus to swing by his house for milk and cookies (I got back a publicity photo with a hastily scribbled signature).
I got Stuck in the '80s guru Steve Spears to let me conduct the interview in the podcast studio, so we had an excellent recording of it and it went amazingly well. Turns out, she and partner Wendy Melvoin, who joined the conversation from afar, washing dishes or something in the background, had done some studio work with a friend who was the guitarist in that Motown band I talked about, and Coleman talked candidly about everything from the breakup of her and Melvoin's 20-year romantic relationship to their work scoring TV shows such as Heroes and Crossing Jordan (the one question she wouldn't answer: Who's crazier -- Prince or Me'shell Ndege Ocello?)
To read more, please click here: http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/12/my-biggest-regr.html
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
5 Reasons Why I Love Wendy & Lisa (The HiveMind)
One of my brothers recently told me, “You know what? I believe you liked Wendy and Lisa more than you did Prince back in the day.” I merely smiled and laughed. I then said, “You’re probably right.”
I have special memories of Wendy and Lisa while growing up, and I have my own reasons why I love the super duo. Here’s a few:
1. Girl Rockers Rule…Especially if You’ve Never Seen Any Before
As I kid growing up the 80s, I wasn’t exposed to many “girl rockers” in the beginning. I didn’t have MTV at the time, so I caught music videos on some generic local channel that played videos sometimes. Other than Joan Jett, I didn’t see any other female rockers playing instruments…until I spotted Lisa in Prince’s “1999″ video playing keyboards. While I was fascinated by all of the members in Prince’s pre-Revolution band, Lisa drew my attention the most. She sung on the record; she played keyboards; she dressed in “cool clothes,” and she rocked! Of course, I didn’t understand why the “blond looking Madonna chick” was dancing up close to Lisa while she played keyboards, but I remember always watching out for Lisa every time that video or “Little Red Corvette” came on.
To read more, please click here: http://www.writetilt.com/2008/12/18/5-reasons-why-i-love-wendy-lisa/
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
I have special memories of Wendy and Lisa while growing up, and I have my own reasons why I love the super duo. Here’s a few:
1. Girl Rockers Rule…Especially if You’ve Never Seen Any Before
As I kid growing up the 80s, I wasn’t exposed to many “girl rockers” in the beginning. I didn’t have MTV at the time, so I caught music videos on some generic local channel that played videos sometimes. Other than Joan Jett, I didn’t see any other female rockers playing instruments…until I spotted Lisa in Prince’s “1999″ video playing keyboards. While I was fascinated by all of the members in Prince’s pre-Revolution band, Lisa drew my attention the most. She sung on the record; she played keyboards; she dressed in “cool clothes,” and she rocked! Of course, I didn’t understand why the “blond looking Madonna chick” was dancing up close to Lisa while she played keyboards, but I remember always watching out for Lisa every time that video or “Little Red Corvette” came on.
To read more, please click here: http://www.writetilt.com/2008/12/18/5-reasons-why-i-love-wendy-lisa/
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Purple Reign
You may know them as 'the black chicks in Prince's band', says Priya Elan. But Wendy & Lisa have a secret B-movie past, provide the spooky music to Heroes and may yet write I Kissed a Girl: The Musical WEN-DEEEEEE!" chant Pharrell and Madonna before Wendy Melvoin's funky breakdown kicks in on She's Not Me, the standout track from Madge's recent album. It's an echo of Prince's call for "Little girl Wendy's parade!" as she riffed into action more than 20 years earlier on His Royal Purpleness's anthem Kiss. From inspiring Prince to make the best music of his career to scoring the TV series Heroes, Wendy and her musical (and former life) partner Lisa Coleman have been darting about the pop culture zeitgeist for three decades. Not that anyone would know.
To read more, please click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/20/1?gusrc=rss&feed=fromtheguardian
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Wendy & Lisa Talk HEROES and the Future: Sidebar Interview
December 08, 2007
Ep. 27: WENDY & LISA Talk HEROES and the Future
Boys will be boys and girls will be brothers, or at least that's the way Wendy & Lisa see it! These two musicians, re-dubbed The Girl Bros, have been making it funky since their early 80's roots playing with pop music icon Prince. After years of collaborating as the guitarist and keyboardist in his band The Revolution, they left Prince’s camp in 1986 and began establishing their own path. With four great albums to their credit, the third being the glorious Eroica, they put being artists on hold and focused on composing for TV and film. Movies like Dangerous Minds, Soulfood and Something New have all benefited from their touch, plus shows like Crossing Jordan, Carnivale and Brothers and Sisters. But it's NBC's surprise hit Heroes that has everyone buzzing. Heroes is fantastic in and of it's self and it's made all the better by Wendy & Lisa's terrific music. We had a wonderful talk with them in between sessions for the show and they brought us up to speed on this season, the writer's strike and the possible future of Bionic Woman too. We also get into a little of their past with Prince, their early days as recording artists, Seal and their love for comic books and b-movies. It was truly a blast—thanks, grrls!
To download the interview click here: http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2007/12/wendy-lisa-talk.html
(site last visited: May 17, 2009)
Ep. 27: WENDY & LISA Talk HEROES and the Future
Boys will be boys and girls will be brothers, or at least that's the way Wendy & Lisa see it! These two musicians, re-dubbed The Girl Bros, have been making it funky since their early 80's roots playing with pop music icon Prince. After years of collaborating as the guitarist and keyboardist in his band The Revolution, they left Prince’s camp in 1986 and began establishing their own path. With four great albums to their credit, the third being the glorious Eroica, they put being artists on hold and focused on composing for TV and film. Movies like Dangerous Minds, Soulfood and Something New have all benefited from their touch, plus shows like Crossing Jordan, Carnivale and Brothers and Sisters. But it's NBC's surprise hit Heroes that has everyone buzzing. Heroes is fantastic in and of it's self and it's made all the better by Wendy & Lisa's terrific music. We had a wonderful talk with them in between sessions for the show and they brought us up to speed on this season, the writer's strike and the possible future of Bionic Woman too. We also get into a little of their past with Prince, their early days as recording artists, Seal and their love for comic books and b-movies. It was truly a blast—thanks, grrls!
To download the interview click here: http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2007/12/wendy-lisa-talk.html
(site last visited: May 17, 2009)
Monday, December 3, 2007
BEEMAN’S BLOG – SEASON 2, EPISODE 11 "POWERLESS"WARNING SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN
BEEMAN’S BLOG – SEASON 2, EPISODE 11"POWERLESS"WARNING SPOILERS ARE CONTAINED WITHIN
Sorry for getting the blog up a little late this week. Sadly, here at the HEROES offices we’ve dropped below a skeleton crew to a nobody crew, and I got stuck doing all the computer uploading, research and spell/fact checking alone. If there are more mispellings and fact mistakes than usual, forgive me!
So… Tonight our eleventh episode aired. It was written by Jeph Loeb and directed by Allan Arkush, both of who did their usual outstanding job! And I hope you all agree it is a fitting end to this segment of the season.This time I thought I would do something a little different. I’ve been meaning to interview our composers Wendy Melovin and Lisa Coleman since way back since last season. I’ve actually tried to do it several times, but our schedules have been notoriously out of sync with each other. Now we finally hooked up.
To read more, please click here: http://gregbeeman.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
Sorry for getting the blog up a little late this week. Sadly, here at the HEROES offices we’ve dropped below a skeleton crew to a nobody crew, and I got stuck doing all the computer uploading, research and spell/fact checking alone. If there are more mispellings and fact mistakes than usual, forgive me!
So… Tonight our eleventh episode aired. It was written by Jeph Loeb and directed by Allan Arkush, both of who did their usual outstanding job! And I hope you all agree it is a fitting end to this segment of the season.This time I thought I would do something a little different. I’ve been meaning to interview our composers Wendy Melovin and Lisa Coleman since way back since last season. I’ve actually tried to do it several times, but our schedules have been notoriously out of sync with each other. Now we finally hooked up.
To read more, please click here: http://gregbeeman.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
(site last visited May 17, 2009)
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
