Sideshow Performers Define Themselves in the Modern World

Sideshow Performers Define Themselves in the Modern World By Simi Horwitz August 25, 2011 Despite the cheek studs, nose ring, and tribal tattoos, Insectavora could be any performer matter-of-factly talking about her need for a cup of coffee and a cigarette between shows. Calling herself a "self-made freak," she is taking a break during her almost 10-hour grind at Sideshows by the Seashore at New York's Coney Island. Each show lasts approximately 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes off. It is an oppressively gray, muggy day. Still, the scene just outside the small theater is evocative, with the Wonder Wheel slowly revolving, the boardwalk and crowded beach beyond, and tinny music everywhere.Onstage, Insectavora plays emcee (or "inside talker"), coyly introducing the sideshow's traditional 10 acts, a combination of "working acts"sword swallowers, fire eatersand freaks, born and self-made. Several performers, clad in black and strutting about in platform shoes, look as if they've stepped out of a 1980s goth nightspot. Others who are less obviously grunge in their appearance still emerge from a dark place, including Mat Fraseror Seal Boywhose mother took thalidomide during her pregnancy, and Baron Von Geiger, who has had his tongue split. "Body modification," he calls it. Onstage, he shoots staples into himself and hangs fish hooks from his eyes bearing chains and heavy weights. Rotating his head, he swings the weights around in circles.Much skill is on display, some of it arguably inspiring. Still, the tawdry, seedy, and kinky are evident too, with just a hint of masochistic self-display on the part of the performers, while tourists, locals, and hipsters in the audience engage in rubbernecking or chin-stroking.The Sideshow is pure Americana, a performing arts offshoot that has not yet been gussied up. Only a handful of these venues remain, though Sideshows by the Seashore is probably unique and undoubtedly Dick D. Zigun's baby. Dubbed the "Mayor of Coney Island," he also produces the neighborhood's annual Mermaid Parade, a surreal sea-themed burlesque. He has an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, and in 1980 his goal was to open a center for performance art, slam poetry, and world music. By the mid-'80s, unable to find an audience, he realized, "I was overly intellectual and not paying attention to the neighborhood tradition," he says. So he reluctantly booked a female snake handler, and for the next three days the lines went around the block. The following season, 50 percent of the show featured veteran sideshow performers along with a new generation of "modern primitives," he says. "It was the beginning of what we do now. My intent was to do something unprecedented."Step Right Up At one time, sideshows were staples of every circus, explains Ward Hall, who is known as "King of the Sideshows." A promoter of the art form for more than 60 years, his 10-in-one show and museum of oddities still tours the country. "In the late '40s, early '50s, there were 104 10-in-one sideshows touring North America," he says. "Every city, town, and village in the U.S. was visited at least once a year by a sideshow." An "outside talker" (aka the barker) performed the "bally," a sales pitch promising the weirdest, wildest, and most unexpected acts. His exhortations were usually delivered in a booming voice with just a hint of slyness.Sideshows began disappearing in the mid-'70s for many reasons, with changing economics heading the list, Hall continues. Amusement park thrill rides had become the rage and were a whole lot cheaper to run than a sideshow. Advances in medicine decreased birth defects and thus diminished the number of human oddities, such as Daisy and Violet Hilton, the conjoined twins born in 1908 who inspired Broadway's 1997 musical "Sideshow."Political correctness may have played a role, though the experts are not convinced it was that significant. They explain that the freaks were "royalty" in the carnival world and made large sums of money they could not have earned anywhere else. On the flip side, what was once anomalousmassive obesity, for examplewas becoming more commonplace, while the "freakish" enjoyed a growing popularity in the counterculture.In the '80s and '90s, the sideshow reinvented itself, setting up shop in various nightspots and rock 'n' roll spectacles, featuring hard-core acts with harsh biker sensibilities. These acts, which continue to exist, may involve body piercing and blood. As Jim Rose, who is considered the daddy of the genre, recalls, " 'Step right up' wasn't going to cut it anymore. I wanted to do a new, warped version of the old genre." He is credited with bringing a punk aesthetic to the sideshow.Mexican transvestite wrestling and chain-saw football games were among the dark and edgy grunge acts he promoted. A former heroin junkie who is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Blockhead on "The X-Files," Rose asserts, "If you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much room."All the promoters and performers we spoke with agree that to maintain the audience, the ante must be upped. There's just too much competition, say fire eaters and sword swallowers Tyler Fyre and Thrill Kill Jill, a husband-and-wife team. They emphasize the need for polished showmanship, pointing to their "scripted" performances. "There's no story, but we follow a three-act structure," says Fyre. "The audiences wonder, What are those two going to do? You follow character arcs."Today, sideshow acts and the sideshow sensibility surface in many venuesfrom Ripley's Believe It or Not Museums to circuses such as the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus or Cirque Berzerk in Los Angeles. "We take a postmodern approach," says Berzerk co-founder Suzanne Bernel. "We combine different elements and do what's never been seen before. Traditionally, the magician comes in and pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Our clown stumbles onto the stage as if he's drunk. His mouth is bloody. He pulls a top hat out of the rabbit."The most cutting-edge sideshow is probably the traveling 999 Eyes Freak Show, which boasts a vaudevillian band and celebrates human oddity. It's a cheery presentation. One of its lead performers and writers, Black Scorpion, aka Lobster Boy, whose deformed hands resemble claws, says his greatest influence is comedian Andy Kaufman. But let's not forget Todd Robbins. A recognized sideshow authority, natural storyteller, and charismatic performer, he has created the shows "Carnival Knowledge" and "Play Dead," both of which have been produced Off-Broadway. He interweaves historical commentary with performancehis specialty, chewing and swallowing glass bulbs, accompanied with cringes and winces. "Play Dead," a lighthearted look at the world of horror, is scheduled to expand to other markets. "We may move to the West End, but they're looking for a big name," Robbins says. "Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger, is interested."The New-Breed Freak Brigade Now in her 10th season with the Coney Island show, Insectavora was tattooed years before joining the sideshow. Formerly a member of a punk rock band, she had no sideshow skills, short of playing the pretty assistant in the "electric chair" and "blade box" routines. But it didn't take her long to fashion a wild-woman act. Sporting animal skins, she stomped onto the stage and proceeded to eat live crickets and worms. "No, I didn't say 'Uggh,' " she says. "I stopped eating them when I became a vegan. But back then, I saw it as something to do on stage, and it was a way to shock the audience. People go to sideshows to see weird things, and eating bugs is weird."Insectavora subsequently mastered the art of walking barefoot up a ladder of swords, fire eating, and performing the "human blockhead" number made legendary by the late Melvin Burkhart. This act entails hammering nails into various facial orifices. With paintbrushes up her nose, Insectavora paints pictures. Still, she maintains, "Stage presence and rapport with the audience is far more important than the skills."The British-born Fraser is also every bit the performer. In fact, he was a standup comic and actor with a roster of credits before he even considered performing in the sideshow. But unlike Insectavora, he is not a self-made freak. He did not choose to have thumbless hands extending from his elbows. Indeed, much of his life has been spent responding to the collective gawking. "I had to be on the stage," he says. "It called me. But you could argue that a lifetime of being stared at causes an addiction to being stared at, and that's a valid thing worth exploring, though both my parents were performers and I grew up in a world of acting."Fraser's impairment was rarely incidental to the acting roles he played. "Sometimes it informs the character, and occasionally it has nothing to do with it," he says. "But it's always there. You look at me, you see it." A lifetime of marginalization ultimately led him to embrace the freakishness that stigmatized him. He has created several shows, including "Thalidomide the Musical!," "From Freak to Clique," and "The Freak & the Showgirl." The latter is an adult cabaret, co-starring neo-burlesque maven Julie Atlas Muz, that they've performed in a host of venues, including the Box, a pricey East Village nightclub known for its debauchery and excesses. Fraser uses the word "freak" deliberately and provocatively. "It's an attempt at reclamation of the word," he explains. "It becomes a positive description of a postmodern disabled performer working in the sideshow."Indeed, Fraser likens himself to women in neo-burlesque. "They are striptease artists, but they own it," he says. "They're proud of their real, noncosmopolitan bodies. They're saying, 'We're powerful, we're feminist, we're sexy, but please, you pay at the door and we take the money.' That's very different from gentlemen's entertainment. Neo-burlesque uses the history of striptease in their performance. And in the same way, neo-sideshow knowingly plays with the clichs of the genre and owns it."His act is a kind of disability-awareness training. Yet "postmodern ironic satire doesn't always hit the mark," he concedes. "There may be some guy jerking off in the corner. But is that a reason for me not to do it?" Fraser is hopeful there will come a time when audiences don't "walk away feeling embarrassed," he says. "Just talk to us. It's the moment to come out of our cultural apartheid."A major influence, Fraser says, is Jennifer Miller, a bearded woman who runs the gender-bending, Obie-winning Circus Amok in New York City and who often appears at Coney Island's sideshow. Highly political, she views her endocrinological disorder as a feminist assertion. "I didn't grow it as a statement," she says. "It just grew. But it was a feminist positioning that allowed me to keep it."Miller, a trained dancer who has been performing at Coney Island since the early '90s, was initially reluctant to do so. The exhibitionistic and exploitive elements were precisely what she was working against, she says. But at the same time, Miller was drawn to the aesthetic: "I wanted to get into the belly of the beast. It turned out to be a great place to make theater. I'm always interested in places to make theater."Her shtick is physical comedy and rapid-fire vaudevillian commentary, with erudite references thrown in for good measure. "Hello, my name is Zenobia" runs her opening spiel. "I'm a woman with a beard. You know, the woman with the beard. Not the bearded lady. Why? If I said I was the bearded lady, I'd be saying I was the one, the only woman with the beard in the world. And that can't possibly be true." The monologue concludes with Miller juggling knives. She can also eat glass, swallow fire, and escape a straitjacket of locked chains.Miller, who will be launching an academic career this fall as an associate professor of humanities and media studies at Pratt Institute, says that as much as she would like to see the mainstreaming of sideshow performers in theater and film, "the sideshow would lose its place as a folkloric form. It's a great place for people who have been shunted by the society to reclaim their space and have a voice."Insectavora can't imagine a time without the sideshow in her life. "I want to be the oldest tattooed fire-eater," she asserts.In that sweltering Coney Island world at midday, in a place that doesn't feel fully real, her ambition has the ring of possibility. Sideshow Performers Define Themselves in the Modern World By Simi Horwitz August 25, 2011 Despite the cheek studs, nose ring, and tribal tattoos, Insectavora could be any performer matter-of-factly talking about her need for a cup of coffee and a cigarette between shows. Calling herself a "self-made freak," she is taking a break during her almost 10-hour grind at Sideshows by the Seashore at New York's Coney Island. Each show lasts approximately 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes off. It is an oppressively gray, muggy day. Still, the scene just outside the small theater is evocative, with the Wonder Wheel slowly revolving, the boardwalk and crowded beach beyond, and tinny music everywhere.Onstage, Insectavora plays emcee (or "inside talker"), coyly introducing the sideshow's traditional 10 acts, a combination of "working acts"sword swallowers, fire eatersand freaks, born and self-made. Several performers, clad in black and strutting about in platform shoes, look as if they've stepped out of a 1980s goth nightspot. Others who are less obviously grunge in their appearance still emerge from a dark place, including Mat Fraseror Seal Boywhose mother took thalidomide during her pregnancy, and Baron Von Geiger, who has had his tongue split. "Body modification," he calls it. Onstage, he shoots staples into himself and hangs fish hooks from his eyes bearing chains and heavy weights. Rotating his head, he swings the weights around in circles.Much skill is on display, some of it arguably inspiring. Still, the tawdry, seedy, and kinky are evident too, with just a hint of masochistic self-display on the part of the performers, while tourists, locals, and hipsters in the audience engage in rubbernecking or chin-stroking.The Sideshow is pure Americana, a performing arts offshoot that has not yet been gussied up. Only a handful of these venues remain, though Sideshows by the Seashore is probably unique and undoubtedly Dick D. Zigun's baby. Dubbed the "Mayor of Coney Island," he also produces the neighborhood's annual Mermaid Parade, a surreal sea-themed burlesque. He has an MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, and in 1980 his goal was to open a center for performance art, slam poetry, and world music. By the mid-'80s, unable to find an audience, he realized, "I was overly intellectual and not paying attention to the neighborhood tradition," he says. So he reluctantly booked a female snake handler, and for the next three days the lines went around the block. The following season, 50 percent of the show featured veteran sideshow performers along with a new generation of "modern primitives," he says. "It was the beginning of what we do now. My intent was to do something unprecedented."Step Right Up At one time, sideshows were staples of every circus, explains Ward Hall, who is known as "King of the Sideshows." A promoter of the art form for more than 60 years, his 10-in-one show and museum of oddities still tours the country. "In the late '40s, early '50s, there were 104 10-in-one sideshows touring North America," he says. "Every city, town, and village in the U.S. was visited at least once a year by a sideshow." An "outside talker" (aka the barker) performed the "bally," a sales pitch promising the weirdest, wildest, and most unexpected acts. His exhortations were usually delivered in a booming voice with just a hint of slyness.Sideshows began disappearing in the mid-'70s for many reasons, with changing economics heading the list, Hall continues. Amusement park thrill rides had become the rage and were a whole lot cheaper to run than a sideshow. Advances in medicine decreased birth defects and thus diminished the number of human oddities, such as Daisy and Violet Hilton, the conjoined twins born in 1908 who inspired Broadway's 1997 musical "Sideshow."Political correctness may have played a role, though the experts are not convinced it was that significant. They explain that the freaks were "royalty" in the carnival world and made large sums of money they could not have earned anywhere else. On the flip side, what was once anomalousmassive obesity, for examplewas becoming more commonplace, while the "freakish" enjoyed a growing popularity in the counterculture.In the '80s and '90s, the sideshow reinvented itself, setting up shop in various nightspots and rock 'n' roll spectacles, featuring hard-core acts with harsh biker sensibilities. These acts, which continue to exist, may involve body piercing and blood. As Jim Rose, who is considered the daddy of the genre, recalls, " 'Step right up' wasn't going to cut it anymore. I wanted to do a new, warped version of the old genre." He is credited with bringing a punk aesthetic to the sideshow.Mexican transvestite wrestling and chain-saw football games were among the dark and edgy grunge acts he promoted. A former heroin junkie who is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Blockhead on "The X-Files," Rose asserts, "If you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much room."All the promoters and performers we spoke with agree that to maintain the audience, the ante must be upped. There's just too much competition, say fire eaters and sword swallowers Tyler Fyre and Thrill Kill Jill, a husband-and-wife team. They emphasize the need for polished showmanship, pointing to their "scripted" performances. "There's no story, but we follow a three-act structure," says Fyre. "The audiences wonder, What are those two going to do? You follow character arcs."Today, sideshow acts and the sideshow sensibility surface in many venuesfrom Ripley's Believe It or Not Museums to circuses such as the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus or Cirque Berzerk in Los Angeles. "We take a postmodern approach," says Berzerk co-founder Suzanne Bernel. "We combine different elements and do what's never been seen before. Traditionally, the magician comes in and pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Our clown stumbles onto the stage as if he's drunk. His mouth is bloody. He pulls a top hat out of the rabbit."The most cutting-edge sideshow is probably the traveling 999 Eyes Freak Show, which boasts a vaudevillian band and celebrates human oddity. It's a cheery presentation. One of its lead performers and writers, Black Scorpion, aka Lobster Boy, whose deformed hands resemble claws, says his greatest influence is comedian Andy Kaufman. But let's not forget Todd Robbins. A recognized sideshow authority, natural storyteller, and charismatic performer, he has created the shows "Carnival Knowledge" and "Play Dead," both of which have been produced Off-Broadway. He interweaves historical commentary with performancehis specialty, chewing and swallowing glass bulbs, accompanied with cringes and winces. "Play Dead," a lighthearted look at the world of horror, is scheduled to expand to other markets. "We may move to the West End, but they're looking for a big name," Robbins says. "Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger, is interested."The New-Breed Freak Brigade Now in her 10th season with the Coney Island show, Insectavora was tattooed years before joining the sideshow. Formerly a member of a punk rock band, she had no sideshow skills, short of playing the pretty assistant in the "electric chair" and "blade box" routines. But it didn't take her long to fashion a wild-woman act. Sporting animal skins, she stomped onto the stage and proceeded to eat live crickets and worms. "No, I didn't say 'Uggh,' " she says. "I stopped eating them when I became a vegan. But back then, I saw it as something to do on stage, and it was a way to shock the audience. People go to sideshows to see weird things, and eating bugs is weird."Insectavora subsequently mastered the art of walking barefoot up a ladder of swords, fire eating, and performing the "human blockhead" number made legendary by the late Melvin Burkhart. This act entails hammering nails into various facial orifices. With paintbrushes up her nose, Insectavora paints pictures. Still, she maintains, "Stage presence and rapport with the audience is far more important than the skills."The British-born Fraser is also every bit the performer. In fact, he was a standup comic and actor with a roster of credits before he even considered performing in the sideshow. But unlike Insectavora, he is not a self-made freak. He did not choose to have thumbless hands extending from his elbows. Indeed, much of his life has been spent responding to the collective gawking. "I had to be on the stage," he says. "It called me. But you could argue that a lifetime of being stared at causes an addiction to being stared at, and that's a valid thing worth exploring, though both my parents were performers and I grew up in a world of acting."Fraser's impairment was rarely incidental to the acting roles he played. "Sometimes it informs the character, and occasionally it has nothing to do with it," he says. "But it's always there. You look at me, you see it." A lifetime of marginalization ultimately led him to embrace the freakishness that stigmatized him. He has created several shows, including "Thalidomide the Musical!," "From Freak to Clique," and "The Freak & the Showgirl." The latter is an adult cabaret, co-starring neo-burlesque maven Julie Atlas Muz, that they've performed in a host of venues, including the Box, a pricey East Village nightclub known for its debauchery and excesses. Fraser uses the word "freak" deliberately and provocatively. "It's an attempt at reclamation of the word," he explains. "It becomes a positive description of a postmodern disabled performer working in the sideshow."Indeed, Fraser likens himself to women in neo-burlesque. "They are striptease artists, but they own it," he says. "They're proud of their real, noncosmopolitan bodies. They're saying, 'We're powerful, we're feminist, we're sexy, but please, you pay at the door and we take the money.' That's very different from gentlemen's entertainment. Neo-burlesque uses the history of striptease in their performance. And in the same way, neo-sideshow knowingly plays with the clichs of the genre and owns it."His act is a kind of disability-awareness training. Yet "postmodern ironic satire doesn't always hit the mark," he concedes. "There may be some guy jerking off in the corner. But is that a reason for me not to do it?" Fraser is hopeful there will come a time when audiences don't "walk away feeling embarrassed," he says. "Just talk to us. It's the moment to come out of our cultural apartheid."A major influence, Fraser says, is Jennifer Miller, a bearded woman who runs the gender-bending, Obie-winning Circus Amok in New York City and who often appears at Coney Island's sideshow. Highly political, she views her endocrinological disorder as a feminist assertion. "I didn't grow it as a statement," she says. "It just grew. But it was a feminist positioning that allowed me to keep it."Miller, a trained dancer who has been performing at Coney Island since the early '90s, was initially reluctant to do so. The exhibitionistic and exploitive elements were precisely what she was working against, she says. But at the same time, Miller was drawn to the aesthetic: "I wanted to get into the belly of the beast. It turned out to be a great place to make theater. I'm always interested in places to make theater."Her shtick is physical comedy and rapid-fire vaudevillian commentary, with erudite references thrown in for good measure. "Hello, my name is Zenobia" runs her opening spiel. "I'm a woman with a beard. You know, the woman with the beard. Not the bearded lady. Why? If I said I was the bearded lady, I'd be saying I was the one, the only woman with the beard in the world. And that can't possibly be true." The monologue concludes with Miller juggling knives. She can also eat glass, swallow fire, and escape a straitjacket of locked chains.Miller, who will be launching an academic career this fall as an associate professor of humanities and media studies at Pratt Institute, says that as much as she would like to see the mainstreaming of sideshow performers in theater and film, "the sideshow would lose its place as a folkloric form. It's a great place for people who have been shunted by the society to reclaim their space and have a voice."Insectavora can't imagine a time without the sideshow in her life. "I want to be the oldest tattooed fire-eater," she asserts.In that sweltering Coney Island world at midday, in a place that doesn't feel fully real, her ambition has the ring of possibility.

Steffanie Leigh to be Broadway's New Mary Poppins

After playing the iconic nanny on the North American tour of "Mary Poppins," a Disney spokesperson tells "The Hollywood Reporter" exclusively that Steffanie Leigh will step into the title role on Broadway at New York City's New Amsterdam Theatre starting Tuesday, October 11."I grew up watching the movie over and over again on a laser disc that my grandparents had," Leigh tells THR."So, I loved the movie, been singing the songs since I was yay high, so now to be a part of retelling the story to a new generation is so exciting."This will be Leigh's Broadway debut, though she has been playing the role on the stage production's national tour since February. She will replace Oliver Award winner Laura Michelle Kelly after her final performance on Sunday, October 9.Leigh, who graduated with her BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University, has appeared in numerous regional theatre productions, including "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,""Beauty and the Beast," "Into the Woods," "Grease," "Mame," and"Les Miserables."Her Broadway co-stars will include Tony Award nominee Gavin Lee as Bert, Karl Kenzler as George Banks, Megan Osterhaus as Winifred Banks, and Valerie Boyle as Mrs. Brill.The co-production by Disney and Cameron Mackintosh opened on Broadway in 2006. It holds the distinction of being the only show from the 2006-2007 theatrical season that's still running. Based on P.L. Travers' stories and the 1964 Walt Disney film, the production includes the film's Oscar-winning music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The Hollywood Reporter

Scarface cast reunion rocks LA

Members of the Scarface cast said hello to their not-so-little friends once again as they reunited in LA for the launch of Brian De Palma's film on Blu-ray.Stars Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Robert Loggia, F. Murray Abraham and producer Martin Bregman gathered at the Belasco Theatre in an event filled with the kind of trappings Tony Montana would recognise. Minus the tiger."The Blu-ray is coming out and it just keeps going! It's a film that's always been close to my heart," said Pacino, who was reportedly paid $100k for his services.Co-star Steven Bauer also praised the HD version of the film, especially The Scarface Phenomenon, an all-new documentary that explores the film's place in cinema history."It's really beautiful [on Blu-ray] and the sound is amazing. It comes with a documentary that is a killer. It's the ultimate for fans and people who love the movie," Bauer said.In an on-stage Q&A Pacino noted the rap industry's love for the movie so it was only fitting that Ludacris performed for guests at the afterparty.Scarface is released on Blu-ray on 5 September 2011.

HBO Back In Business With Diane Keaton With New Talent Deal

HBO is high on getting a show with Diane Keaton on the air. Following the pay cable network’s decision not to go forward with the dark comedy pilot Tilda, which starred the Oscar winner, HBO has quietly inked a new talent holding deal with Keaton and has writers developing projects for her. The network first signed Keaton in a talent deal a few years ago. The actress became attached to a comedy project written by Marti Noxon about an old-guard feminist leader who tries to give new spark to the cause by starting a sexually frank women’s magazine. While the project ultimately didn’t go to pilot, HBO brass sparked to Cynthia Mort and Bill Condon’s script for Tilda and sent it to Keaton who signed on to do it.

Guzman's 'Kiss' looking for limited run

Author-director Phillip Guzman's crime thriller "A Hug along with a Promise" can get a unique limited run at L.A.'s Laemmle Sunset 5 theater beginning Sept. 9. "Hug" informs the actual-existence story of the sociopath (Mick Rossi), who is the owner of and works a mattress and breakfast in Ontario together with his wife, performed by Natasha Gregson Wagner. Pic co-stars Patrick Bergin and Sean Energy. "We wanted to create a film that took it's origin from actual true tales, one which was difficult in subject material, because our primary character would be considered a deeply troubled individual," Guzman stated. "The finish result was 'A Hug along with a Promise' -- a movie that will deeply affect and alter all of us.Inch "Hug," which tested only at that year's Cinequest Film Fest and Dallas Intl. Film Fest, was created by Lab4 Productions ("2:22"). Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Amy Winehouse Dying: No Drugs in System

Based on preliminary toxicology reviews launched by Amy Winehouse's family, the singer had no drugs in her own system during the time of her dying.our editor recommendsAmy Winehouse Dying: M.I.A. Releases Tribute Song, '27' (Listen)Amy Winehouse Dying: Russell Brand's Tribute Recommended by Fans "Toxicology results came back towards the Winehouse family by government bodies have confirmed that there have been no illegal substances in Amy's system during the time of her dying," a repetition for your loved ones informs TMZ.com. STORY: Amy Winehouse's Dying: What Hollywood Says "Results indicate that alcohol was present however it can't be determined up to now whether it performed a job in her own dying," adds the statement. PHOTOS: Amy Winehouse Funeral "The household want to thank law enforcement and coroner for his or her ongoing thorough research as well as for keeping them informed through the process. They await the end result from the inquest in October," it came to the conclusion. Winehouse's father, Mitch, lately came back donations designed to a basis in her own recognition after he stated somebody "stole" the domain AmyWinehouseFoundation.com. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Notable Deaths An homage to Amy Winehouse is going to be broadcast in the MTV VMAs on August. 28. Winehouse was discovered dead in her own London home on This summer 23. Related Subjects Amy Winehouse

Legendary East will get funding boost

Another bit of financing has get together for Thomas Tull's Legendary East banner, with Hong Kong's Paul Y. Engineering Group saying yes to get $220.5 million in the organization for any 50% stake.Additionally, Legendary stated it will likewise begin a credit facility to finance film productions and procedures. Legendary East may be the Asia arm of Legendary Pictures, having a concentrate on developing British-language photos that make use of Chinese culture. First releases are now being prepared to bow between 2013.Legendary East's financial experts Centerview Partners and Goldman, Sachs & Co. assisted facilitate the offer.Following PYE's 50% stake, Legendary East's management controls 40.1%, while Huayi Siblings Intl has 9.9%. Individually, AID Partners has joined right into a subscription agreement to get $35 million in PYE, and can be a significant investor of PYE. Chinese born Hong Kong media and finance entrepreneur Kelvin Wu, a principal partner at AID Partners, produced the venture with Tull, and can serve as Legendary East's Boss.Huayi Siblings, a number one Chinese film conglom, can serve as Legendary East's co-production and distribution partner in China, while Warners Bros. will release the flicks round the relaxation around the globe.Tull known as an investment "another essential milestone following a recent announcement of Legendary East's formation. We share a typical vision with PYE - by using China's rapid economic growth and wealthy cultural background, this can be a filmmaking marketplace increasing. We're devoted to China and also the surrounding region for that long term, and also to creating entertainment that's globally appealing in quality, scale and impact." Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

London Riots: 25 Million Discs Destroyed in Sony Warehouse Fire

Three teenagers were arrested Wednesday in connection with the fire that destroyed Sony DADC's warehouse during the London riots Monday, gutting the inventories of more than 150 independent labels.our editor recommendsLondon Riots: British Stars Speak OutLondon Riots: Indie Labels 'Devastated' by Sony Warehouse BlazeLondon Riots: Image of a Woman Jumping From Burning Building Goes ViralLondon Riots: Official Calls for Blackberry Service to Be Shut DownLondon Riots: Worst Civil Unrest in Memory as City Gears Up for 2012 Olympics According to a BBC report on Thurday morning, two of the suspects, aged 17 and 18, remained in custody while the other, 17, was released on bail. The three were among the 922 riot-related arrested reported by police authorities to the press on Thursday. The 150 companies affected by the blaze include premiere U.K.-based indies such as XL and Domino -- whose rosters include Adele, Arctic Monkeys, the xx and many others -- that are still in the process of assessing their losses in the wake of the fire. The larger labels have said they have stock at other locations, but many of the smaller indies are facing devastating losses. A Sony rep told Billboard that some 25 million discs total -- including CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and video games -- were destroyed. STORY: London Riot Footage Should Be Handed Over to Police: PM David Cameron The Guardian reported that PRS for Music, the U.K.'s music royalty organization, and the Association of Independent Music are working on a plan to provide relief loans to labels that might not otherwise survive the loss of stock and sales. While the paper said inventory in the building is believed to be insured, it may take a considerable time for payments to reach the labels. The paper also reported that HMV, which owns more than 250 stores, has offered warehouse space for Pias for all stock intended for the retailer so that it can go straight to its stores with as little disruption as possible. STORY: London Riots Lead to Blackberry Website Hacking A campaign called LabelLove has been created in an effort to raise money for the labels affected by the fire. The 215,000-square-foot Sony DADC warehouse, used to store CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and video games, was the company's primary distribution center in the U.K. and Ireland. Around 40 firefighters fought the blaze; one witness claimed to have seen a number of looters leaving the building with discs before the fire became prohibitively large. On Wednesday, Sony DADC issued a business continuity plan in the wake of the fire. According to a statement released by PIAS, the company is "back up and running from a new control room in Enfield" -- the London borough where the original warehouse was located. STORY: London Riots Damage Jamie Oliver's Birmingham Restaurant "Sony DADC have identified a temporary distribution partner [yet-to-be-announced] and it is envisaged that they will be in a position to pick, pack and ship orders in the course of next week," the statement continues. "Our key focus at the moment is to get things re-manufactured and we are working with our labels on the best way of doing that is -- identifying which lines are turning over the fastest and getting them to start re-manufacturing again," Nick Hartley, chief operating officer of PIAS Entertainment Group, told Billboard.biz. "At the same time we looking in our Brussels warehouse and [speaking to] other labels in Europe, if they don't go through us, to see what stock there is to be able to ship back from Europe into the U.K. in order to keep supplies going," he said. STORY: Entertainment Businesses Hit as London Rioting Hits Third Night According to Hartley, the present situation is aided by the fact that U.K. retailers typically "carry a reasonable amount of stock." "Our biggest problem is going to be the depth of catalog," he said. "Remanufacturing and getting stock in [outlets] next week of the top several lines is do-able, but we had over 8,000 lines at Sony DADC. [As for] whether they will all ever be re-manufactured, there's obvious issues there and I think some of them will lose out in that process." On Tuesday, AIM, the U.K.'s Trade Association for the Independent Music Industry, issued a statement calling on music fans to help support U.K. indies affected by the blaze. "This is a disaster for the music community, but with the fans' help, labels and artists will survive, said Alison Wenham, Chairman and CEO of AIM. "Please show your support for the music community by buying a digital album from an independent label today." U.K. labels trade body the BPI has additionally offered its support to the U.K. indie sector. "It is devastating for the labels affected, and we are liaising with members and DADC/PIAS to offer help and information where we can to help them to react as quickly and effectively as possible to these very regrettable events," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive at U.K. labels trade body BPI, in a statement. Related Topics International London Riots

TBS Cancels 'Lopez Tonight'

The writing had been on the wall for George Lopez's late-night show on TBS. There was speculation that the network was planning to cancel the show last year, but Conan O'Brien insisted on Lopez sticking around so he is not perceived as the guy who pushed Lopez out. Lopez Tonight got a stay of execution, but now the show, originally developed by Telepictures as a syndicated talk show, will end its two-season run tomorrow night. Lopez Tonight has not been doing well in the ratings, especially after moving to midnight last fall to accommodate Conan, recently averaging 400,000 viewers and a 0.2 18-49 rating for original episodes. There have been rumors that TBS had tried to make the show broader and less ethnic. For one reason or another, both late-night shows with minority hosts, Lopez Tonight and BET's The Mo'Nique Show, bit the dust within the past two weeks. Here is the official statement from TBS: "TBS has reached the difficult decision not to order a third season of Lopez Tonight. Thursday will be the final episode of the show. We are proud to have partnered with George Lopez, who is an immensely talented comedian and entertainer. TBS has valued its partnership with George and appreciates all of his work on behalf of the network, both on and off the air."

Revolution Television Moves Forward With Digital Puppet Project (Exclusive)

As if developing Anger Management for Charlie Sheen isn't enough of a challenge, Joe Roth's Revolution Television is moving forward with an unusual pilot tentatively called Movin' On Up! that will incorporate digital puppetry into a situation comedy. Revolution has made a deal with the special effects company Legacy EFX along with Dallas Jackson and Rodney Barnes, who will write the pilot script that is described by the co-writers as "a throw-back sitcom in the vein of The Jeffersons meets The Fresh Prince with a unique twist." The title is a homage to The Jeffersons' theme song "Movin' On Up." If the script and effects work come together as expected, Revolution will likely finance the pilot before seeking distribution on a network or in syndication. Barnes is expected to serve as showrunner and Jackson as an executive producer along with Legacy EFX. Vince Totino of Revolution is overseeing the project for the studio. The puppet characters are said to be in the vein of the popular MVP (Most Valuable Puppet) commercials that Legacy EFX did for Nike in 2009 with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Barnes has been a writer-executive producer on such TV comedies as 'Til Death, My Wife and Kids, Everybody Hates Chris and The Boondocks, which just concluded its fifth season on Cartoon Network. He also worked on the feature script Think Like a Man, now in production at Screen Gems. Jackson wrote and is attached to produce the martial-arts movie remake The Last Dragon for Columbia Pictures with Samuel L. Jackson attached to star. He's also co-penning Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC with scribe Cheo Hodari Coker (Notorious). On the TV side, Jackson is attached as an executive producer on projects at Starz and ABC Family. Besides the Nike campaign, Legacy EFX has created special effects for movies including both Iron Man films, Avatar and I Am Number Four and more than 300 TV commercials. Partners in the company, which was founded in 2008 by former associates of the late Stan Winston, are Alan Scott, John Rosengrant, Shane Mahan and Lindsay MacGowan. Barnes is represented by Paradigm, manager Brian Dobbins at Principato/Young and attorney Darryl Miller. Jackson is repped by attorney Darren Trattner. Revolution TV has Are We There Yet on TBS and is developing Anger Management with Sheen to star and Lionsgate TV to produce. Related Topics Joe Roth

Howard Gordon: 'The Timing of [Showtime's 'Homeland'] is Significant, Accidental and Fortuitous'

Showtime"Homeland" The cast and crew were working on their second episode of Showtime's Homeland when Osama Bin Laden was killed. Executive producer Howard Gordon remembers getting on the phone with Showtime chief David Nevins and his co-producer Alex Gansa that night asking, what it means for the series. The timing of the show, which will premiere nearly a month after the 10th anniversary of 9/11, is at once "significant, accidental and fortuitous," said Gordon, noting that other recent events, including Osama Bin Laden's death, will impact the way this series is viewed. To hear Gordon (24) tell it, the small screen has yet to explore the price of 9/11 on this country the way their Showtime effort plans to. The Claire Danes vehicle, Homeland, will center on a CIA officer (Danes) and a returning war hero (Damian Lewis) whose loyalty is in question. "24 existed in a real post-9/11 world and Jack Bauer was an action hero," he added. "In response to that, 10 years later things have become deeper and more complex and the heart of this show is really show psychological: How America is dealing with that 10-year period." Danes, whom the script was written for, acknowledges that she hasn't found scripts that feature characters that are as compelling or layered in the film world. "I just gravitate to the most interesting work and this was impossible to ignore," she said, with co-star Lewis nodding in agreement. Added executive producer Gansa, "One of things that movies can't do is offer stories like this the breath and scope that they deserve," noting that in a couple of hours you can't really tell "the complexities and grayness and just the breadth of a story about terrorism." Over the course of a series, he argued, "you really get the chance to explore and delve into different purviews of intelligence and terrorism and the issues facing this country right now." Of course, neither of the series' stars or the executive producers would have signed on as willingly had the story been made for broadcast television. After Danes waxed on about the creative freedoms of working in cable, Gordon jumped in. "This is an intensely, deeply serialized drama and on a normal broadcast schedule it's an impossible task and you wind up vamping," he said, admitting that he's still exausted from the grueling 24-episode schedule of 24. Email: Lacey.Rose@thr.com Twitter: @LaceyVRose Howard Gordon TCA Summer Press Tour 2011

Lonergan's 'Margaret' to finally hit theaters

After many years of delay, Kenneth Lonergan's publish-9/11 drama "Margaret," from Fox Searchlight, will hit theaters on Sept. 30. Filming for "Margaret," in regards to a teen (Anna Paquin) involved with a fatal car accident, covered with 2005, however the pic was caught inside a legal fight after helmer-scribe Lonergan battled to provide a workable edit. Martin Scorsese eventually came aboard to assist Lonergan finish the editing process. "Margaret," that also stars Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick, marks Lonergan's second film after 2000's "You Are Able To Rely On Me." Pic is created by Scott Rudin, Gary Gilbert and also the late Sydney Pollack. Searchlight intends to release the film limited within the U.S., with two other 2011 year-finish releases on its plate: Sundance pick-up "Martha Marcy May Marlene," which bows March. 21, then Alexander Payne's George Clooney family drama "The Descendents" looking for release on November. 23. "Margaret" launches with fellow niche photos including, Michael Shannon-starrer "Take Shelter," from The new sony Pictures Classics, and Sony's belief-based police drama "Courageous." Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Trace Adkins Talks Amy Winehouse, the brand new Nashville and Making Movies (Q&A)

You are able to put a variety of modifiers before Trace Adkins' title: new bands star, Celebrity Apprentice finalist, actor, father, recuperating addict... Everything factors into his music, and possibly there is no better example than his new album Proud to become Here (out today). The 49-year-old Louisiana native spoke to THR about the eve of record's release and shared candid ideas about the music business, how Nashville has developed, his bout with alcoholism and whether more movie roles follows his recent acting submit The Lincoln subsequently Lawyer. The Hollywood Reporter: Your Tennessee home burned lower in June. How's everything, and how's it going? Trace Adkins:I'm good, appreciate asking. Everyone's doing fine. It's type of a postponed recognition because every single day I think about something I wish to achieve for, after which I recognize, "Oh, I don't have that any longer." Therefore it keeps adding insult to injuries nearly every day. I figured, "Oh, this isn't gonna bother me whatsoever," however it appears such as the further I move away from it, the greater it appears to affect me..We'd had the experience 12 years. THR: So there have been lots of reminiscences, physically and psychologically. Adkins: Ok last one. I'd stuff inside will be able to't place something on, like among individuals old red-colored-whitened-and-blue guitars that Bob Nolan provided -- such things as that simply can't be changed... As being a father of 5 kids, I believe I've the legal right to say this: such things as this appear to affect women more. They take most of these items to heart a bit more than [boys] do. But we're doing great. We're fortunate. We now have means, therefore we're not destitute or destitute. I'd more and more people reaching to me and attempting to express generosity, and that i stated, "Please, take individuals feelings and individuals feelings and provide towards the Red-colored Mix or somebody like this because we're OK." THR: I would request you about Amy Winehouse, whilst not many particulars happen to be launched... Adkins: I believe we are able to all virtually you know what happened. And That I doubt seriously there's anybody that's surprised. THR: Have you got knowledge about addiction, and do you experience feeling the background music industry is filled with enablers? Adkins:Nine years back, I'd an extremely caring and responsible manager who forced me into an intervention situation. I went and did my month in rehab, also it labored for me personally. I've been sober for nine years. It had reached a place during my existence where it had been most likely likely to take me lower that road, too. Whether it didn't finish up for the reason that situation, it certainly would require me to pay my career -- and my manager saw that, plus they cared enough about me to collect my buddies and family and co-employees altogether, plus they put me through among individuals stomach-wrenching interventions. Should you've have you been through among individuals things, it is the most humiliating experience you'll ever have. To listen to people you respect and love wallow in it and let you know the type of discomfort you've been leading to them. They tear you lower completely they haul you on rehab. And So I did that, and yeah, I'm an alcoholic. And therefore are there enablers? You will find, however i fortunately were built with a group around me that finally take their feet lower. THR: Do you experience feeling some of it is you're more aged, not getting accomplished breakthrough success until your mid-30s? Adkins:After I began out fifteen years ago, I came right as they are having a platinum album plus some No. 1 records. I figured, "Guy, this really is destined to be easy!" Well, then you definitely hit that sophomore slump, and you reach that third album and situations are beginning to obtain a much more challenging, and that i just began getting really depressed and self-medicating. ... I'd been an alcoholic for a long time anyway, also it got even worse. Getting sober, these last nine years happen to be the very best, most productive many years of my music career. And So I've been focused and conscious of this incredible chance that's been handed me within this existence -- to have the ability to earn a living doing something I enjoy do. All I must do is do not spoil it bad, you realize? To date, I've been effective in keeping going and turn into clean, and situations are working. THR: How's the condition of Nashville at this time? Healthy? How does one compare it to whenever your career started? Adkins:As healthy as possible. Will still be alive, but when I needed to compare it to fifteen years back, it's not too healthy. I arrived in the very start of the Internet and could secure my domain title, TraceAdkins.com, and that i didn't think anything about this. It had been like, "OK, whatever. I'll have an online prescence if I must.Inch That appears silly in my experience now, which i am trivial about this. I've seen the entire factor feel the changes, and the one thing that bothers me probably the most today is the fact that artists are actually just judged through the singles installed out, the tunes which go to radio, the tracks that will get downloaded. And never as numerous individuals have an chance to listen to things i still call "albums" -- these collections that people record every 12-18 several weeks on. And That I get judged being an artist by things that people hear about the radio, also it's enjoy just taking one sentence from a paragraph and never obtaining the whole story, a treadmill chapter of the book... you don't genuinely have a sense of where a painter's mind is. Within this digital-download age where everyone's cherry-picking tunes that like which's all they are fully aware a good artist, they don't really obtain the whole picture any longer as in comparison to in older days. Now, I use and that i make an album, and that i accidentally record three tunes which are commercial, which's the way they know me. THR: Is crossing over into acting or reality TV essential to become more effective nowadays? Adkins:Really, acting is one thing I needed to complete through the years. I simply hadn't been presented individuals possibilities, or sometimes the timing was wrong and that i couldn't fit it into my schedule. This can be a time if this did easily fit in, and that i thought it might be fun to complete. A guy's reached know his restrictions, and that i know mine. I'm not really a trained actor, though I'm guessing very seriously after i get the opportunity to get it done. I'm very selective about the a few things i decide on. I must seem like it's something which's type of during my wheelhouse, something I'm able to accomplish. Within The Lincoln subsequently Lawyer, there's an innovator of the biker club, and that i can ride a motorbike -- and so i checked out the part and stated, "I believe I'm able to do that.Inch I truly obtain a remove to do these items. I really like finding yourself in movies as well as on individuals sets. I love being around individuals incredibly gifted and inventive people. I've found it stimulating and incredibly challenging. When you place yourself in a scenario in which you're outdoors your safe place or tossing yourself right into a area where it's not your forte - guy, that's an adrenaline hurry, in which you're just standing there praying to God that nobody finds out you have no clue exactly what the f--- you're doing. THR: It may sound as if you have newly found respect for Hollywood and what Matthew McConaughey along with other stars do. Adkins: Absolutely. I arrived at to him. I had been like, "Dude, you've got that helped me to here." I went in the trailer, we went within the moments, and that he was very gracious and incredibly giving, and that he assured me: "You have this, guy. Don't be worried about it. It's awesome. It's destined to be great." So he assisted me convey more confidence starting the times we did that stuff together, and that i felt real confident with it. Guess what happens? I'm glad I had been within this movie since it's a great movie, I believe. I'm difficult on movies -- I don't just always provide them with a thumbs up -- but this is an excellent movie. THR: Therefore if something of that nature arrived again, you'd get it done? Adkins: Sure, obviously. I believe my ultimate role is really a mute gunslinger - that's things i'm searching for. I'd just ride into the city and shoot people, and I've got a love interest, however i don't have dialogue. THR: Should you be beginning your job today, can you check out for The American Idol Show? Adkins: It's hard that i can put myself for the reason that place. Used to do enter a contest within the beginning -- it had been the Wild Poultry Fight of Country Bands. We won the neighborhood factor in Lafayette, La., only then do we visited Dallas and that we won the regionals, only then do we visited Nashville for that finals -- and that we clogged whenever we arrived. However it wasn't public or anything like this. It wasn't anywhere close to the scale it's on today... I take a look at these kids and also the record deals they're needing to sign, everything they're needing to hand out just to obtain a recording contract. I don't determine if I'd do this. They need to hand out the website and all sorts of their merchandise. The contracts they've them sign nowadays are extremely exclusive. They own you. To answer your question, I type of lean toward no. I'd most likely be employed in the oil area. I'd make a great living, and most likely be content. THR: We may not have known who Trace Adkins was. Adkins: The planet wouldn't have skipped me. (Laughs.) Related Subjects The Lincoln subsequently Lawyer The Celebrity Apprentice