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Tributes planned for ex-Warrant frontman Jani Lane
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As investigators searched for clues Friday as to what killed Jani Lane, the former lead singer of the metal rock band Warrant, his family and friends prepared for a pair of memorial services to honor the rocker. Lane, 47, was found around dead Thursday in a hotel room in the San Fernando Valley, which is north of downtown Los Angeles. Coroner’s officials did not determine a cause of death after an autopsy Friday, but said they would wait to see the results of toxicology testing that could take up to two months. With his long blond hair and tight leather outfits, Lane embod-
ied the excess of 1980s “hair metal” rock bands. He joined Warrant in 1984 and wrote such hits as “Heaven,” “Down Boys” and “Cherry Pie.” He had an on-and-off relationship with the band, leaving it in 1992 before returning and quitting several times. He left the band for good in 2008. The current band will offer a tribute to Lane at a performance Friday night in Grand Forks, N.D., their publicist said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” the band wrote in a statement. “Jani was a very important part of our lives for a long time. We will always be incredibly proud of the music we
created together. He was a true talent and will be missed by all of us.” His family will convene Sunday for a private memorial service, Lane’s manager and longtime friend Obi Steinman said. A public memorial with performances by fellow metal rock bands including Great White and L.A. Guns will be held in Hollywood on Aug. 24 at a venue to be announced later, he said. “He was one of the great rockand-roll frontmen and singers of all time,” Steinman said. “His music helped shape the ’80s.” Lane had a pair of drunken driving arrests in recent years. Steinman said he battled alco-
Sunday, August 14, 2011
holism for years. “He finally succumbed to that,” Steinman said. “He lost his battle over alcohol.” “Cherry Pie” became a hit record when it was released in 1990, but Lane had mixed feelings about the song over the years. Lane wrote the song after a record executive told him they needed a radio-worthy single for Warrant’s second album. “As a joke, Jani wrote ’Cherry Pie’ overnight in a hotel room,” Steinman said. It became the album’s title and the band and Lane’s biggest hit. The racy music video for the song was also a hit, and Lane
married the model who starred in it, Bobbie Brown. “He used to laugh,” Steinman said. “It was a curse and a blessing all at the same time.” Although Lane denounced the song in the 1990s, Steinman said the rocker later embraced it, but just didn’t want it to “define his artistry.” He spent recent years writing music for other musicians and himself, Steinman said. He also appeared in a season of VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club.” Lane had been married for about two years to his third wife, Kimberly, Steinman said. He has two daughters from two previous marriages.
U2 guitarist still pursuing Malibu development LOS ANGELES (AP) — The guitarist for U2 and several other property owners whose proposal to build a cluster of mansions overlooking Malibu failed to get past state regulators have filed lawsuits against the California Coastal Commission. The lawsuits filed Friday argue that the basis for the commission's decision to deny their permits in June was not legal. The property owners say
they are five separate owners each building a single home on separate lots, an argument that would have made it more difficult for the commission to reject their proposal. The commission, however, determined there was enough evidence to show the project was under common ownership, coordinated and led by U2 guitarist The Edge, whose real name is David Evans. The proposal called for
five multilevel homes of up to 12,785 square feet to be built on 156 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains. Project designs said the homes would have the top green building certifications and the guitarist himself said the mansions would be some of the most environmentally sensitive in the world. "When we buy property zoned for residential use, we expect to be able to build a home," said Fiona
Nelson Mandela opera comes to Johannesburg
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A sexy dose of jazz and the refined strains of Western opera and traditional Xhosa song drive a new opera about South Africa’s former and antipresident apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. The range of musical styles in “Mandela Trilogy” reflects South Africa’s mix of cultures, the production’s writer and director Michael Williams said in an interview before a dress rehearsal on Friday. After preliminary runs in the eastern coastal city of Durban and the heartland town of Bloemfontein, the Cape Town Opera’s production comes to South Africa’s economic and entertainment hub Saturday. The sweeping action of “Trilogy” moves from Mandela’s boyhood village in southeastern South Africa to the Johannesburg townships where he became a political leader and then to the prisons where he spent 27 years. Mandela is shown cheating on his wife, making political missteps and struggling with the burden of holding others’ lives in his hands. “Mandela Trilogy” ends triumphantly, with Mandela’s 1990 release and stirring speech to a crowd in Cape Town. The scenes in the village allow the singers to showcase the hymn-like power of African choral music. As the setting moves to Johannesburg, it’s clear that African jazz easily crossed the boundaries apartheid tried to draw between black and white, African and European. The classical sections, said Philisa Sibeko who sings the role of Mandela’s second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, draw on opera’s storytelling strengths. “It’s visual, it’s audible, and it’s got all these emotions involved,” said Sibeko, who grew up in a Cape Town household led by her great grandmother, who conducted African choirs. South Africans have made opera their own. Sibeko is the second singer to take the stage as Madikizela-Mandela this year. In April, another creative team brought “Winnie the Opera” to South Africa’s national theater in Pretoria, the capital. A South African “Carmen” opened in New York in 2004 and a film version won an award at the Berlin Film festival the next year. A South African “Magic Flute” played London’s West End in 2008. “There is in South Africa
Hutton, spokeswoman for the property owners. "But in this case, after years of working cooperatively with the Coastal Commission and planning the most environmentally sensitive homes possible, government changed the rules and is now denying these families right to use their land." Project opponents, however, including the National Park Service said the development would scar the
expansive ridgeline. The musician and his partners had appeased one of its staunches opponents, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy after agreeing to give the agency more than $1 million, dedicate nearly 100 acres to open space and provide public access to hiking trails if the homes were approved. In the end, the majority of the commission deemed the project too environmentally destructive to allow
and voted against permitting it. Charles Lester, acting executive director for the commission, could not directly comment on the lawsuit because they had yet to see it but said the commission had ample evidence to support its decision. "The commission had a comprehensive presentation on this issue and felt there was a legal basis for their vote," he said.
AP Photo
Aubrey Lodewyk plays Nelson Mandela igiving a black power salute at the end of Mandela's treason trial during a dress rehearsal of the new opera "Mandela Trilogy" in Johannesburg, Friday.
this incredible singing tradition,” Williams said. “We have wonderful choirs here. And opera is the next step.” A 40-piece orchestra of Western instruments backs the singers of “Mandela Trilogy.” The music is punctuated by the clashing of the fighting sticks of the Xhosa village characters, the clanging of metal cups against prison bars, and the tapping feet of dancers performing the pantsula jazz style. The opening scene shows Mandela in prison, but not acting like a prisoner. He meets his jailers as their equal: “May I remind you, we are not criminals, but political prisoners, jailed for our belief in a free South Africa,” he says. In preparing to take on Mandela as an operatic figure, Williams studied biographies and delved into the official archives at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The set is decorated with reproductions of calendars and photographs Mandela had in prison and that now are housed at his foundation. Most in the audience won’t be able to see such details, but they show the artistic team’s determination to create a realistic atmosphere. Sets use archival footage of antiapartheid protests and a photograph of Mandela’s Robben Island prison cell projected on screens. Williams also read histo-
ries of Johannesburg’s townships, discovering an obsession urban South African criminals in the 1950s developed for the 1948 Hollywood gangster movie “The Street with No Name.” Scenes from the movie play silently in the background during the jazz segments. Some lyrics are taken from Mandela’s speeches and other writings. The result can sometimes seem stilted, but the words often flow poetically, as in the final scene, when Mandela and chorus sing: “We must not allow fear to stand in our way.” Gloria Bosman dons a red crushed velvet dress to deliver a compelling performance as the South African jazz age star Dolly Radebe — once Mandela’s mistress. “It’s information that’s documented. It’s not gossip,” she said. She added she did not believe Mandela should be seen as a god, because that might discourage others from trying to make the right choices in life despite their frailties. Three singers portray the anti-apartheid icon as a village boy, a young revolutionary in the city, and a prisoner who is to become president. “Mandela Trilogy” runs from Aug. 13-19 in Johannesburg. Performances are scheduled next year in Britain and Norway.
AP Photo
Outside Lands fest about more than music
In this June 10 photo, Win Butler of Arcade Fire performs during the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn.
NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP MUSIC WRITER
The Outside Lands festival has acts like the Grammy-winning Arcade Fire and Muse as headliners, but co-promoter Rick Farman is just as excited about another attraction at the threeday event — its culinary delights. “People (are) talking about what they’re going to eat and going to drink ... almost as much as what they’re going to see or hear music-wise,” he said about the event, which started Friday and wraps up Sunday. Outside Lands, now in its fifth year, this year features acts including Erykah Badu, John Fogerty, the Arctic Monkeys and dozens more. Since its inception, the festival has played up its San Francisco food-and-wine connections. Its “Taste of the Bay” lineup includes numerous local eateries, and it also has a separate wine component. “It was very much a part of the original plan of the event, to really incorporate some specific aspects of the Bay area culture into the event, and food
and wine were two of those top things that we focused on right off the bat,” said Farman, whose Superfly Presents is one of the two promoters of Outside Lands. “But that said, it certainly has grown each year, and this year, sort of the vision that we had first set out for the festival has really culminated.” Many music festivals incorporate art, food and other elements to enhance the event. Superfly Presents also puts on the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., which also has film, comedy and other attractions. Far man said Outside Lands was inspired by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which incorporates that city’s famous food fare into the festival. “We really looked to that in some ways as a mode — how could we create an event that expressed the culture of the Bay area? So I think it is something certainly festivals in general can offer music fans other than something beyond (the) music experience,” he said.
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