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News
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July/August 2003
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Brainchild Of Backstreet Boy Celebrates Opening
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Source: Louisville Courier-Journal
From August 2003
Full-service music workshop, brainchild of Backstreet Boy, celebrates opening
Local artists looking for a foot in the door in the music industry now have workshop to perhaps guide them all the way from garage rehearsals to backstage at the Grammys.
The Music Workshop, the creation of Backstreet Boy and Kentucky native Kevin Richardson and his partner, songwriter Keith McGuffey, opened Friday in downtown Louisville.
Hundreds of local business leaders and politicians gathered in the Main Street office Friday for a ribbon cutting and tour of the facilities.
"Music is a wonderful, wonderful gift ... Unfortunately, the business can take the joy out of the music and the art and the creativity," Richardson said.
The workshop will offer classes for anyone wanting to tweak the knobs on a sound board, strum a guitar or even negotiate a sweet royalty rate. McGuffey is a certified Pro Tools instructor, Richardson said, and will teach classes on digital recording and production equipment.
Eventually, the workshop will include a full recording studio, giving students the opportunity to learn how to record an album and how to get the music in the right hands.
The workshop will begin accepting students in September.
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Backstreet Boys Performer Opens School For Aspiring Musicians In Louisville
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Source: Wave 3
From 1st August 2003
It's not Nashville, New York, or LA, but Louisville may soon be the next best thing.
A standing room only crowd witnessed the official opening of The Music Workshop today. The facility in downtown Louisville gives regional performers a chance to learn about the music industry.
One owner is Kentucky's Kevin Richardson, a member of the Backstreet Boys. His partner is international performer, Keith McGuffey.
"We're going to try just to educate people on the basics," McGuffey said, "the first steps to take in case you decide to leave home and pursue music in the recording industry."
"The Music Workshop begins classes next month.
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Hit show turned hit movie hits road as 'Chicago' rides again
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Source: Alameda Times-Star
From 12th August 2003
By: Chad Jones, STAFF WRITER
THE world, it seems, just can't get enough of "Chicago," the ebullient jazz-age musical that nearly tanked when it first appeared in 1975. All but blown off Broadway by "A Chorus Line," the Bob Fosse-directed and choreographed "Chicago" would have to wait more than 20 years to be properly appreciated.
When audiences finally re-discovered "Chicago," they did it in a big way. First there was the 1996 revival directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Fosse favorite Ann Reinking.
Spare, elegant and just plain hot, the show snapped up six Tony Awards and got movie producers sniffing around.
Before you could say Roxie Hart, Miramax had put the movie into production, and the happy ending for "Chicago" came last spring when the movie, starring Rene Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, won six Oscars, including best picture.
The movie, which comes out on DVD later this month, was such a hit that Broadway producers Fran and Barry Weissler decided the country needed to see "Chicago" in its original live form. A new national tour was born.
As if seeing the story of "merry murderesses" Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart wasn't enough to entice "Chicago" fans into the theater, the Weisslers have beefed up the cast with some stars.
Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson takes over the Gere role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn. And Marcia Lewis Bryan, a Tony nominee for the "Chicago" revival, is stepping back into the role of Matron Mama Morton for four cities on the tour, including San Francisco, where "Chicago" opens Wednesday at the Golden Gate Theatre.
"'Chicago' was way ahead of its time in 1975," Bryan says. "I saw the original production with Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon and made a note in my head that someday I'd like to do the role of Mama, the prison matron. By the time Encores! revived the play in 1996, the world had caught up with the show. What was bad taste in the 1970s -- murderers becoming celebrities -- made us smirk in the 1990s."
Newlywed Bryan, who now makes her home near Nashville, Tenn., says she's as happy as can be with her new role as wife but didn't need much prodding to jump back into the role of Mama.
"Our company has been inspired by the movie, even if only subconsciously," Bryan says. "As different as they are, they still have the same wonderful energy. I loved the movie because it was so in your face. I thought Queen Latifah as Mama was marvelous."
At 31, pop idol Richardson is a tad young to be playing worldly Billy, but he comes with a pedigree of having performed the role on Broadway.
Last winter, Richardson -- the eldest of the Backstreet quintet -- made his Broadway debut as Billy and caused screaming fans to line up around the Shubert Theatre.
"It was a dream come true being on Broadway," says the Kentucky native who grew up doing school and community musicals. "To make my debut in such a cool show was awesome. 'Chicago' is theater at its stripped-down best. There are no scenery or costume changes, so it's all about the actors, the dancers and the music."
Richardson, filling in for Gregory Harrison, will perform for the show's three weeks in San Francisco, then he plans to jump into the London company, which has been up and running for five years now.
The Backstreet image -- suave, sincere and sweet as pie -- would seem to be at odds with the more reptilian lawyer Flynn.
"I can be cynical. We can all be cynical," Richardson says. "I play him as a young, very confident, hot, on-fire attorney who has everything going for him and knows exactly what he's doing."
Being in the music business, Richardson says he has encountered his share of smooth Flynn-like characters.
"I totally know this guy," he says. "I draw on the music industry for certain parts of this character. There are some good people in show business, and there are sharks."
If Richardson is on the road with "Chicago" and planning a long London stint, that must mean the Backstreet Boys have -- gasp -- broken up.
Not so, says Richardson.
"We've been together 10 years," he says. "We're all giving each other a chance to follow our dreams. Brian (Littrell) is enjoying his baby boy and planning a gospel album. A.J. (Maclean) is working on a solo album, and so are Howie (Dorough) and Nick (Carter). I may be shooting a film in Spain this winter, and I'm writing and producing for some artists I'm helping develop. When I'm not in acting class or at auditions, I'm in the studio with these musicians."
Earlier this year the Backstreet Boys gathered together to talk about future projects, but, as Richardson puts it, "not everybody was on the same page."
"We realize our fans want another record," he says. "We feel like we owe ourselves another record, but at this point, we don't feel like gettin' in the studio and puttin' it together. It'll all take care of itself when the time is right."
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Celebrity Carters patriarch is jailed
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Source: Keynoter.com
From 12th August 2003
Robert Carter, father of Marathon residents Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and his brother Aaron, another pop sensation, landed in jail Thursday night on a charge of domestic battery after allegedly pushing his wife in a shower, bruising her head.
The arrest followed a heated argument over the division of property, according to a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office report.
The report says that Carter, 50, and his wife went for a ride in his racing boat during the day, then had dinner at Burdine’s Waterfront at the end of 15th Street. Then they returned to their home, and he "started yelling at everyone."
A witness statement says that when the Carters returned to their house from dinner, Robert Carter said he noticed photos of Aaron, the younger son, were missing. "He then became angry and loud," the statement says.
Robert Carter allegedly threw a coffeepot and other things at his wife, then entered a moving truck and started tossing boxes out of it.
His statement says he "got mad because [she] took things that did not belong to her. She got upset and made believe that I was beating her and calling people to be a witness to that."
However, in her statement, she said he followed her into the house and she locked herself in a bedroom and he kicked the door in. She then locked herself in a bathroom, but he kicked in that door, too, then shoved her in the shower, "causing her to fall and hit the back of her head."
Robert Carter remained jailed early Friday afternoon in lieu of $5,000 bond.
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Pop Stars' Father Charged With Domestic Battery
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Source: NBC6.net
MARATHON, Fla. -- The father of pop stars Nick and Aaron Carter was arrested in Marathon Thursday and charged with battering his wife.
Robert G. Carter, 50, faces a criminal charge for allegedly shoving his wife to the ground during an argument over their impending separation.
Carter was arrested after the fight with his wife, Jane Carter, at their Marathon home, Monroe County sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said Monday. He faces a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, punishable by up to a year in jail, she said.
The Carters told deputies they were arguing over dividing up their personal belongings under their separation, according to an arrest report. Robert Carter became angry when he noticed pictures of Aaron were missing, a witness told deputies.
Jane Carter, 44, told deputies her husband chased her around the house, kicking down two doors that she had locked behind her. He allegedly found his wife in a shower and shoved her, causing her to fall and hit her head.
Jane Carter said the fall caused her head to bruise and swell, but deputies responding to a 911 call found no evidence of that, the report said.
Robert Carter admitted kicking down the doors, but denied in a statement that he hurt his wife. He was taken into custody and released a day later.
Herrin did not know if Robert Carter had a lawyer. His arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.
A man who answered a phone Monday at the Carters' house refused to answer a reporter's questions and hung up.
Nick Carter was a member of the pop group The Backstreet Boys and Aaron Carter is a solo pop singer.
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