Around the Tubes: May 7, 2022

                 

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting.  This post includes blurbs on The Valet, Emergency, Maggie, The Chi, John Coltrane, Def Leppard, Kira Kosarin, and Animal Sun.

- "The Valet" premieres on Hulu and across Disney streaming services globally on May 20th, 2022.  In “The Valet,” world famous movie star, Olivia (Samara Weaving) faces a PR disaster when a paparazzi snaps a photo of her with her married lover, Vincent (Max Greenfield). The hard-working valet Antonio (Eugenio Derbez) accidentally appears in the same photo and is enlisted to pose as Olivia’s new boyfriend as a cover up. This ruse with Olivia thrusts Antonio into the spotlight and unexpected chaos. In this fish out of water romantic comedy, two worlds and cultures collide as both Olivia and Antonio start to see themselves more clearly than ever before. “The Valet,” directed by Richard Wong and written by Rob Greenberg and Bob Fisher, is the English-language remake of the hit French film.

- Amazon Studios will release EMERGENCY in select theaters May 20th and on Prime Video May 27th.  Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and his best friend, Sean (RJ Cyler), are both seniors in college about to embark on an epic night of Spring Break parties. Sean has the whole night planned out, including every party they will hit on their “legendary tour.” Kunle is down, yet mostly concerned with finishing up his mold experiment in his lab, as his acceptance to Princeton is hinging on the results. They return to their apartment to pre-game, yet find that their roommate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), left the door open. As they enter with trepidation, Sean and Kunle discover a drunk, semi-conscious White female they don’t know on the floor and an oblivious Carlos, who didn’t hear her come in over the videogame blaring in his ears. Kunle wants to call the cops but Sean vehemently opposes the idea concerned how it will look when the cops show up (two Black men, one Latino man and a passed out White woman).

- Hulu Original Series "Maggie" premieres all episodes on Wednesday, July 6th.  Dating is hard enough - it’s even harder when you also happen to be a psychic. Maggie’s gift allows her to see into the future of her friends, parents, clients, and random people on the street. But when she begins to see glimpses of her own destiny after meeting an unexpected stranger, her romantic life suddenly gets a lot more complicated. Can you let yourself fall in love when you think you know how it ends? She probably should have seen this coming… 

-  SHOWTIME has released the official trailer for the highly anticipated fifth season of its hit drama series THE CHI, which will return with its first new episode on Friday, June 24, available on streaming and on demand for all SHOWTIME subscribers, before making its on-air debut on Sunday, June 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. THE CHI, from 20^th Television (HOMELAND), is currently in production on 10 episodes in Chicago. 

-  Since launching in 2020, Verve/UMe’s all-analog vinyl reissue series, Acoustic Sounds, has provided definitive, best-in-class audiophile grade pressings of some of the most important and beloved jazz records of all time, each mastered from the original tapes and produced with the utmost care. The nearly two dozen releases to date feature many of the timeless, classic albums from the Verve Label Group’s stable of labels including Decca, EmArcy, Impulse! Records, Philips Records and Verve, and thus far have included Bill Evans’ Trio ‘64, Clifford Brown and Max Roach’s A Study In Brown, Gil Evans Orchestra’s Out of the Cool, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Ballads, Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson’s Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson, Nina Simone’s I Put a Spell on You and Pastel Blues, Oliver Nelson’s Blues And The Abstract Truth, Peggy Lee’s Black Coffee and Sarah Vaughan’s Sarah Vaughan, and Stan Getz and João Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto.  In 2021, the Acoustic Sounds series yearlong spotlight was on Impulse! Records as they celebrated their 60^th anniversary. In 2022, the series continues to have a strong focus on Impulse! but will also feature several important albums released by Verve between 1956-65. The third year of the highly popular series kicked off in January with two albums by John Coltrane, the legendary Live At The Village Vanguard (1962) and the epic, meditative Crescent (1964). It was followed by Coltrane’s sublime collaboration with Duke Ellington on their joint LP, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963), and the latest release in the series, Coltrane’s landmark album with vocalist Johnny Hartman, John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman, released on April 29.  All four titles are available to order here:

John Coltrane – Crescent: https://UMe.lnk.to/ColtraneCrescent

John Coltrane – Live at the Village Vanguard: https://UMe.lnk.to/JCLATVV

John Coltrane & Duke Ellington – Duke Ellington & John Coltrane: https://UMe.lnk.to/JCDukeEllington

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman – John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman: https://Verve.lnk.to/ColtraneAndHartman

- SiriusXM announced today that legendary rock band, Def Leppard, will play a special invitation-only concert in Los Angeles at the Whiskey a Go Go for SiriusXM listeners. The intimate performance, part of SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series, will take place on Thursday May 26, in celebration of Def Leppard’s forthcoming album Diamond Star Halos which is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 27. On June 16, Def Leppard is set to kick off “The Stadium Tour” which will hit 36 major cities across North America. Def Leppard will be joined by Motely Crüe, Poison, and Joan Jett for this massive and highly anticipated stadium run. Prior to Def Leppard’s tour, this will be the first-time fans can see the band perform new songs live from their latest album live in addition to the stadium anthem hits that cemented them as rock icons. The performance will premiere on SiriusXM’s Def Leppard Radio and Howard 101 on Friday, May 27 at 5:00 pm ET and PT. Additionally, the concert will broadcast throughout June on Classic Rewind (ch. 25) and 80’s on 8.  For information on how to attend SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series, featuring Def Leppard please visit:www.siriusxm.com/DefLeppardLA. 

- After making a name for herself as a successful actress and independent artist, Kira Kosarin is bringing her music to the forefront in 2022. Today, the 24-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist releases a new song “parachute (plan b),” which marks the second release from her forthcoming EP.  Listen to “parachute (plan b)”—HERE.  On the track, delicate acoustic guitar wraps around her soft vocals. Above sparse airy production, she delivers a tender promise, “You’re all I need. I don’t want a plan b.” It illuminates the eloquence of her songwriting and dynamics of her powerhouse voice.

- Indie pop quartet Animal Sun have released the music video for their catchy and hard-hitting collaboration with Dreamers “I’m Already Dead.” Produced and co-written by Kenny Carkeet (ex-AWOLNATION) and co-produced by Aaron “Zeus” Zepeda, the track is the second release off of Animal Sun’s upcoming sophomore album Generation Waiting, due this Summer. Animal Sun is also currently on a nationwide tour with Kelsy Karter through May 11.  “I’m Already Dead” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1E6Z3DU4ko

57 Channels and Only This Is On: May 1, 2022

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  I was not expecting this show to do a teen rom-com episode.  That was weird.  Though one of the teens died and the other one is dying.  At first I thought June and Charlie were playing up the sickness to get the dude to turn off the beckon, but it turns out she really is sick.  Which would make her the second main character seemingly with a terminal diagnosis.  Though, maybe I should use main in quotations because I spent most of the episode trying to remember when the last time we saw Charlie was.  I think she may have been with the group who were holed up in the fort after the bomb went off, but I do not remember her ever being around Morgan since the explosion.

 

The First Lady:  I forgot how racist the media was against Michelle Obama.  She was so beloved during her time as First Lady; it was shocking to remember how some tried to portray her as the “angry black woman.  Oof.

 

The Endgame:  Elena has panned everything out so meticulously, but she did not have a plan in place for the president to just say fork it and bury her alive?  You would think she would have Snow White monitoring the place in case she was ever removed from Fort Tottem.  How do you not see that coming?

 

The Girl from Plainville:  Involuntary intoxication… I may have to remember that one.  Though I guess it is not a great defense if there is a warning at the start of the episode basically saying very few professionals believe it is a thing.  And though I could see it coming from a mile away, the title of the episode was Teenage Dirtbag, but seeing a bunch of grade schoolers sing the song to Michelle was creepy but still fairly entertaining.

 

Moon Knight:  While it is not uncommon for people to create a new persona when dealing with trauma, I was under the impression the primary creates the new persona to deal with the grief, not to be the one who only remembers their mother and a nice and caring person.  That was a little weird.  But R.I.P. Steven?  Though if Mark created him once, I guess he could do it again when he makes it to the land of the living again.

 

The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans:  Oh no, it looks like Julie was trying to make up for the months she did not drink during her first visit to New Orleans in one night.  But why doesn’t Tokyo just leave?  Danny also wanted to stay, let her be his problem and let them get an Uber later.

 

Survivor:  Oh joy, another special episode.  But what makes Drea look bad was that she voted out Chantelle and was talking about stealing Maryanne’s Idol.  Seems like she was perfectly fine with getting rid of half of the black people left, she just got mad when he closest black ally got voted out.  I do wonder if anyone will explain to her the reason why Rocksroy was booted was because he was trying to start an all dudes alliance. Then Maryanne was perfectly fine going to Tribal and voting out another black person when the last Tribal she went to another one was voted out then had to be told by Drea why she should be offended.

 

But I was sure Tori would be the first successful person to play the Shot in the Dark.  I have been talking all season we knew Tori would not go home because the opening montage showed her find something so I was extremely shocked that she went home before she found anything.  I re-watched that opening montage and Jeff talked about the dumb phrase advantage while there was a close up of Tori making a shocked face but it seems like I just somehow morphed that into that she found something.

 

The Flight Attendant: So are the two bodies found in the lake the two people who were in Cassie’s house?  And did fake Cassie alert someone to the bodies being there so they would be found?  But doesn’t Cassie have a pretty good alibi of being in Iceland at the time?  Sure, she was not on the manifest, but her FBI buddy and the person who seat she took can vouch for her.

 

Under the Banner of Heaven:  I know this is based on re al events, but the show does not need a murder mystery, the Mormon family drama in the eighties is interesting enough.  I could do without the cop stuff.  With both episodes going over an hour, I definitely could have also down without the Joseph Smith flashbacks too.  Then the second had way too much dog murder.

 

Made for Love:  Did they really think they could do weeks of treatments without someone noticing?  I understand dude is a bit of a recluse, but wouldn’t he need to go to the grocery store eventually or pick up his meds?  He is just never going to go for a walk?  At least he figured it out by the end of the episode.

 

Halo:  After the big battle last week, this week was a bit of a letdown.  I did like when Master Chef locked the doctor up to see if she put a failsafe in Cortana, but the rest fell flat, especially the reveal of the titular place which really means nothing to someone like me who never played the game.

 

The Blacklist:  So Red basically started the episode working through if Mr. Kaplan was really and how silly it sounds that she could be the one be to kill Lizzie, basically saying pretty much what I said last week.  But I am now thinking that the sister is behind it all.  They did make a point to say how much she looks like her sister.  But how convenient that neither Red nor Harold bothered to join the raid.  I knew that place was going to blow up the moment neither got out of the car.