Long time TORn friends Emerald Rose have announced the upcoming release of their newest cd ‘Con Suite’ just in time for DragonCon! Stepping back from their Celtic roots, the group has prepared a genre-busting set of light-hearted tunes that cover subjects from Harry Potter to Star Trek to Dungeons and Dragons. ‘Chocolate Frog’, a happy ditty about a Potter wannabee, is available for free listens and downloads here.
Fans can find a trio of videos, including the ‘Never Split the Party’ brickfilm (Lego’s characters) by Larry Morris, which is causing a stir on YouTube.com, here. Tolkien fans will find a few characters and situations in the video that they recognize! Emerald Rose will be performing songs from the new cd at their concerts at DragonCon.
Posted in:
Share:
“One Morning Long Ago”
A JRR Tolkien Inspired Art Exhibition
Friday 19th to Tuesday 23rd May 2006
The Redesdale Hall, High Street, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire
Andrew writes: The exhibition opened at 7pm Friday 19th May 2006 for a private preview party by invite only. From the visitors book and replies 107 people attended in addition to the organisers, artists and performers. 1 large Eagle also attended. Complimentary drinks (soft drinks and alcoholic) and food was served throughout. A welcome speech was given by the organiser who introduced the programme of events, tour guide and the artists. Ted Nasmith formally opened the exhibition. Live music was performed, Piano pieces by Charlotte (Enting) Dom on the tin whistle and Tolkien inspired songs performed by Ted Nasmith, Madeline Anderson and Alex Lewis. The evening ended around midnight.
The Exhibition was open to the public from 9am until 5pm daily from Saturday 20th until Tuesday 23rd May 2006. In that time 1376 different visitors attended, including many Tolkien Society members, (some came back daily). In addition 1 senior school art group attended on Monday 22nd for a private guided tour (12 students) and 1 local junior school (30 students). Total Attendance 1525. (plus 1 dog and 1 large Eagle attended 3 times Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Overseas visitors came specifically from Germany, Belgium, many other overseas visitors in the UK added this event to their itinerary (USA, Australia, New Zealand).
15 new members joined The Tolkien Society (Malcolm Lindley has forms for 13 and the organiser has a further 2 applications).
25 people including organisers, helpers, artists, 1 member of the Tolkien Society Committee, and visitors staying in Moreton from overseas attended a special Hobbit meal (Stewed Rabbit) at The Bell Inn High Street Moreton in Marsh Saturday evening 7pm. Live music was performed into the night.
During the exhibition live music was performed, educational talks, drama and sketches, favourite readings from Tolkien passages. A number of visitors were moved to tears listening to Ted Nasmith. A quiz was held On Sunday at 3pm and the 1st prize (a limited edition framed Ted Nasmith Print) was won by Gary Emerton who donated this to The Tolkien society to be auctioned to help raise funds.
Cont………..
Also a cast was taken of Ted Nasmiths hand and a bronze mounted cast (holding a paint brush) will be produced and auctioned to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Approximately 1/3rd of all original art was sold and multiple orders received for Limited edition prints. Many Tolkien books were sold and Bob Blackham attended and signed copies of his new book “The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle earth”. 1 rare book was stolen.
Letters have been received from visitors and the organiser is aware that 3 children have been inspired to start painting and 4 visitors have purchased copies of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings to read them for the first time.
The exhibition will be repeated with a Private party on Friday 22nd September 2006 (a notable date) and the exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday 23rd until Tuesday 26th September 2006. (The week after Oxonmoot as proposed by Malcolm Lindley).
Posted in:
Share:
The music from Lord of the Rings has been voted the top movie soundtrack for the fifth year running. The Oscar-winning score composed by Howard Shore was the clear favourite in the poll by Classic FM. Hans Zimmer’s epic soundtrack for Russell Crowe film Gladiator was second. In third place was the 2004 film Ladies In Lavender, which starred Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. The score was written by Nigel Hess. [More]
Posted in:
Share:
As you might expect of anything connected to The Lord of the Rings, the numbers behind Howard Shore’s score for the Peter Jackson film trilogy are mighty impressive:
• Four months of solid research.
• Nearly four years to compose.
• A total of 11 hours of music.
• More than 50 leitmotifs (individual themes).
“It was pretty daunting at first,” Shore admitted of the task. “Writing film scores is always difficult to do – but the funny thing was, I didn’t want to stop when it was over.”
Shore has since moved on to other projects: He’s preparing a staged version of The Fly for L.A. Opera with film director David Cronenberg and author David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly). [More]
Posted in:
Share:
Marion Arts writes: I am a New Zealand composer/singer and have fairly recently released a cd of original songs inspired by the poetry/chants& ballads in LOTR. This is an independantly released cd, of very original acoustic music featuring a most unusual instrumentarium. My name is Marion Arts (ex Red Hot Peppers), The CD is called “Songs Of The Rings” and it is available at [fragilecolours.com]
Posted in:
Share:
Nick writes: In today’s Times there is an enthusiastic review of the LOTR musical, plus a profile of the musical team, plus a free download of one of the songs (Lothlorien). [More]
Posted in:
Share: