For nearly two decades, France’s Cognac Blues Passions festival has been celebrating all things blues and roots in the world of music. With its “Chase the Music. Own the Stage.” talent quest, Hennessy is taking part in the celebration as well, giving two international acts their chance to join the bill at this year’s fest, alongside Sting, the Cranberries, rising star Selah Sue, and a soon-to-be House-less Hugh Laurie. Following an initial round of submissions, the judges have narrowed this year’s hopefuls down to the top 10 finalists. Two of them will be heading to France from July 3-8 for the 19th annual Blues Passions event, and you can help them out now by voting and commenting on their entries. Click through for a few of our favorite contenders, then head to the Talent Quest page on Facebook to hear them all and get behind your personal pick.
Last week, cinephiles invaded NYC for one of the film world’s biggest annual events, the Tribeca Film Festival. Amid all the screenings, discussions, and celebrity sightings, Flavorpill teamed up with Heineken to host two exclusive Drink and Discuss events, during which the folks behind some of our favorite festival picks sat down to discuss their films and take questions from the audience. Hosted by Flavorwire film editor Jason Bailey, the first event featured The Russian Winter director Petter Ringbom and star John Forté — who also performed a stunning acoustic set for the crowd — while the second one put the spotlight on Side by Side, Chris Kenneally’s star-studded investigative look at the future of film. Click through to check out our photo gallery from the events, then discover our other picks from the festival.
When you’re as obsessed with pop culture as we are, you can’t help wondering what would happen if some of your favorite characters could break out of the confines of their individual universes and get to connect. Not that this doesn’t occasionally happen, but it’s not often enough to stop us predicting things like which TV characters would be friends in real life (or literary characters, for that matter). Our latest musing along these lines took us into more romantic territory, as we started to imagine which far-flung pop-culture characters were practically made for each other. In fact, some of them were so obvious, we’re amazed we didn’t make the (love) connection before. Join us as we play matchmaker for everyone from Harry Potter to Sookie Stackhouse, and then let us know what you think the chances are for these star-crossed couples in the comments.
Sure, right now everyone is caught up in the Coachella craze, but we see it more as the start of the festival season than the end-all-be-all. And out of all the other festivals on the way in the coming months, we’re most looking forward to the return of Lollapalooza. After last year’s epic 20th-anniversary fest, Lolla is returning once again to Chicago’s Grant Park from August 3-5, and we’ve teamed up with our friends at Tablet to celebrate in a big way. Enter now and you can win round-trip airfare and VIP festival tickets for two to this year’s event, plus a five-night stay at PUBLIC Chicago.
To help get you even more excited, Tablet has put together a Lollapalooza 2012 mixtape featuring everyone from Jack White and Florence & The Machine to Die Antwoord and Of Monsters and Men. Stream it for free after the jump, then enter to win our VIP Lollapalooza getaway.
If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we’re no small fans of Tiny Furniture filmmaker Lena Dunham. We’ve had our eye on her ever since her much-praised movie started building buzz, so our excitement at the prospect of her teaming up with comic mastermind Judd Apatow for an original HBO series was well-grounded in longstanding fandom. More recently, a SXSW sneak peek at the show, Girls, had us declaring it to be both “richly inventive and endlessly quotable” and “the most exciting and promising new comedy series since Community.” And since we’ve been salivating at the thought of this show finally hitting the air for months now, we couldn’t be happier to realize the premiere is now just a little over a week away. Click through to watch the latest trailer for the series, along with a clip of Apatow interviewing Dunham on set, then tune in to catch the first episode on Sunday, April 15 at 10:30pm on HBO.
Earlier in the week we hosted the book-launch party for Jeff, One Lonely Guy at NYC hotspot CultureFix, bringing together fans of narrative exploration and postmodern experimentation for a night of readings, drinks, and music. The book’s co-authors Jeff Ragsdale and David Shields were in the house, eager to share stories and reveal more about what happens when you give everyone in the world the chance to anonymously vent. Check out our gallery of photos from the event, then check out an excerpt from the book and grab a copy of your own.
Sure, the Internet is great for connecting with random people, but actor/comedian Jeff Ragsdale was looking for something a little more human when he posted a “lonely guy” flier with his phone number on it in NYC. Jeff, One Lonely Guy intersperses snippets of the thousands of resulting conversations, voicemails, and texts from around the world with a personal essay musing on the author’s life. Frankly, we were already sold when Bret Easton Ellis dubbed it “verification of a legitimate new form of narrative.”
On Tuesday, March 20, we’re hosting a release party with Ragsdale and co-authors David Shields and Michael Logan at CultureFix in NYC, which you can RSVP for here. Either way, you’ll want to click through for a sample from the book, which distills Ragsdale’s many interactions into brief soundbites that provide a uniquely postmodern view of storytelling and human nature.
Remember that Heineken commercial “The Date” from last year? You know, the one that was so entertaining, you didn’t even mind the fact that it was an ad and most likely watched it ten times in a row on YouTube? (If you did miss it, take 90 seconds to see what all the fuss was about.) Well, just in time for Valentine’s Day, the fantastically strange band from that spot is back, and now they’re at your beck and call in Heineken’s hilarious Serenade app. You can use the app to create a custom video for your object of desire, highlighting his/her special qualities while sending an invitation to do anything from karaoke to hot-lava surfing.
To celebrate the spirit of the serenade, we teamed with Heineken to throw a party at New York City’s Hiro Ballroom last week. Compered by comedian Dave Hill, the evening featured an onstage singing competition backed by the notorious live rock n’ roll karaoke band from Arlene’s Grocery and a live feed from a simultaneous bash in Amsterdam. Click through for our exclusive gallery of photos from the night, and then start creating a serenade of your own.
Bushmills has been going all out with its Since Way Back program, partnering with everyone from Bon Iver and Chromeo to Elijah Wood in celebration of strong friendships and longlasting traditions. As part of the campaign, the whiskey maker also teamed with style arbiter Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean. to create a custom-designed tote bag sold both through ACL and the Billy Reid store in NYC, with proceeds going to the Red Cross Tornado Relief Fund. As could be expected from such a collab, the bags sold out in a snap, but you still have a chance to get one — if you act fast. Head to Bushmills’ Facebook page by the end of the day today to enter to win one of four custom totes. If you win the grand prize, yours will even be filled with items selected by Williams himself.
When it comes to RVs, you’ve got your run-of-the-mill vehicles, which lead people to behavior like this, and then you’ve got the classier sort — namely the silver beauty known as the Airstream. The gleaming rock star of the RV world, the Airstream has been embraced by everyone from vintage enthusiasts to NASA since its first appearance in the 1930s. In conjunction with its Sailor Jerry Presents concert series, the retro-minded rum merchant has embraced it as well, outfitting an Airstream trailer to take its rock n’ roll mission on the road. Inspired by that iconic mashup, we went hunting for more adventurous Airstream appropriations — and we think you’ll be equally inspired by what we found.
