Latest news with #CBGB
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Voice Actor Of Beloved Character Dies After Long Battle
James Carter Cathcart lost his battle with throat cancer on July 8, 2025, at 71. He was widely known for his role in the Pokémon franchise and voiced several characters throughout the show. Notably, he voiced Team Rocket member James and his Pokémon sidekick Meowth. He also voiced Professor Oak and Gary Oak. He was a voice actor in the show for a strong 25 years before retiring in 2023 because of his throat cancer. According to Variety, "Cathcart also voiced Vector the Crocodile in the anime series Sonic X, Weevil Underwood and Lumis in Yu Gi Oh! Duel Masters and contributed to One Piece, Aria, Kirby: Right Back at Ya, The Slayers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mission Odyssey and many more." His reach within the voice acting world was prolific. In a touching Instagram post, his Pokémon co-star Erica Schroeder wrote, "Rest in peace dear sweet man. I will miss you. The community will miss you. The world will miss you. One of the most joyful, exuberant, kind-hearted and talented souls no longer walks with us. James Carter Cathcart you were one of a kind, a gentle, beautiful, playful genius and I was happy to call you my friend." Erica Schroeder ended her post with a final touching remark, "Master of the pen, piano and microphone. Friend to many. Loving father and husband. Thank you for your gifts." Outside of his voice acting, James Carter Cathcart was a creative. Deadline reported, "Prior to launching his voice-acting career, Cathcart played the guitar and sang for the 1970s New York punk band The Laughing Dogs, a CBGB stalwart that toured with Patti Smith Group, Cheap Trick and Blondie. The band's song Get Outta My Way is on the soundtrack of Randall Miller's 2013 film CBGB." According to Deadline, "His death was announced in a Facebook post by his wife Martha Jacobi. 'Thanks to all of Jimmy's fans over the years!' she wrote. 'Giving you joy was why he worked so hard on his craft. Please know how much he appreciated you!"Voice Actor Of Beloved Character Dies After Long Battle first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 11, 2025
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Talking Heads Drop Surprise Music Video Nearly 50 Years After Hit Song's Release
The Talking Heads celebrated their 50th anniversary by giving a gift to fans. The legendary rock band released the first official music video for their classic hit 'Psycho Killer' in June 2025. The song is from their debut album, Talking Heads: 77. The surprise 'Psycho Killer" music video was in honor of the 50th anniversary of the band's first show at CBGB, where they opened for the Ramones in 1975, per Stereogum. Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan stars as a distressed office worker in the video clip directed by Mike Mills. No member of Talking Heads appears in the video, but the now disbanded group did issue a statement. 'This video makes the song better – We LOVE what this video is NOT – it's not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious,' the band said, per Pitchfork. Talking Heads formed in New York City in 1975, featuring guitarist Jerry Harrison, bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, and lead singer David Byrne. 'Psycho Killer" was the first song Byrne ever wrote for the band, and it became the breakthrough single on Talking Heads: 77. Speaking with NPR in 2023, the singer said the future hit was 'an experiment' to see if he could write a song. 'I thought I would try and write something that was maybe a cross between Alice Cooper and Randy Newman,' Byrne explained. 'I thought I'd have the kind of dramatic subject that Alice Cooper might use, but then look at kind of an interior monologue, the way Randy Newman might do it. And so, I thought, let's see if we can get inside this guy's head. So we're not going to talk about the violence or anything like that, but we'll just get inside this guy's kind of muddled-up, slightly twisted thoughts.' 'Psycho Killer" was originally released when the Son of Sam murders in New York were making headlines in the summer of 1977. Byrne denied that the killings were the inspiration behind his band's signature hit, according to Far Out Heads Drop Surprise Music Video Nearly 50 Years After Hit Song's Release first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 7, 2025
USA Today
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
New Talking Heads book: Band's song roots, breakups and makeups
For a band that broke up under a cloud of bitterness, Talking Heads still appreciate a good celebration. The belated first video for the band's 1977 cult favorite 'Psycho Killer' debuted in early June; a live rendition of their thumping rendition of Al Green's 'Take Me to the River' from 1978 just landed; and a new CD box set, 'More Songs About Buildings and Food (Super Deluxe Edition)' is due July 25 to celebrate the quartet's 50th anniversary. The recently released biography 'Burning Down the House' (HarperCollins, 512 pages) from New Yorker contributor Jonathan Gould ('Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America'), takes its name from Talking Heads' biggest hit, an idiosyncratic Parliament Funkadelic-inspired slice of New Wave funk. The book's 42 chapters dutifully cover the journey of singer David Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth – who met at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975, moved to New York and recruited guitarist Jerry Harrison – through years of fractured existence until they disbanded in 1991. But Gould also digs into the grimy club scene of Lower Manhattan in the 1970s, with colorful reminders of Max's Kansas City – a club where musicians including Velvet Underground, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel played foundational shows – and the illustrious CBGB, an art rock/punk playground for Patti Smith, Debbie Harry and a burgeoning Talking Heads. 'This could be our Cavern Club,' Frantz said when the band played a four-night stand at CBGB in 1977, likening it to The Beatles' formative haunt in Liverpool. Major albums augmented by a visual boost from MTV ('Speaking in Tongues' with 'Burning Down the House,' 'Little Creatures' with 'And She Was') and a landmark 1984 live concert film from Jonathan Demme ('Stop Making Sense,' which revived the singles 'Girlfriend is Better' and 'Once in a Lifetime') solidified Talking Heads' worthiness as Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Here are a few book highlights that showcase how they got there. More: ABBA book revelations: AC/DC connection, the unlikely inspiration for 'Mamma Mia!', more The biblical roots of 'Once in a Lifetime' Gould explores how the band's fourth studio album, 1980's 'Remain in Light,' was sequenced dichotomously. The first side of the album brought 'a dance party unlike any dance party ever heard on a commercial recording before,' he writes. But a flip to Side 2 spotlighted Byrne's influences from months of Bible study for his esoteric solo project with Brian Eno, 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.' 'Once in a Lifetime,' the first song of the album's second half, is delivered as a sermon almost by default, with each lyric prefaced with Byrne's spoke-sung, 'and you may find yourself …' before the inevitable big question of, 'how did I get here?' Gould also points out the religious metaphor of the song's chorus, 'letting the days go by, let the water hold me down' as well as its famous repeated refrain, 'same as it ever was,' which provides a 'born-again edge.' By the time Byrne completes this existential exercise, he's looking back at his choices and exclaiming, 'My God! What have I done?' The Tom Tom Club offered an escape from Talking Heads In 1981, Frantz and Weymouth – who married in 1977 – splintered from home base to create Tom Tom Club, named for the Bahamian club where they rehearsed for the first time while on break from Talking Heads. The spinoff that included Weymouth's sisters and King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew formed because, as Frantz says in the book. 'We wanted to make a real musical anti-snob record, because we're fed up to here with all of the seriousness that surrounds Taking Heads.' The musical approach inspired by the 'happier … Island people,' as well as the kitschy spirit of The B-52s, yielded the dance hit 'Wordy Rappinghood,' anchored by Weymouth's delivery which Gould describes as, 'prim elocution of a grade-school teacher intent on imbuing her students with a lifelong love of words.' But the lasting takeaway from the project is 'Genius of Love,' a blipping ditty that skitters through a lyrical tribute to Bootsy Collins, Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley and James Brown. Its clever hook has been interpolated for decades, from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's 'It's Nasty' in 1981 to Mariah Carey's mega-selling 'Fantasy' in 1995 to Latto's 2021 resurrection of the sample in 'Big Energy.' More: New music documentaries rock the big screen at Tribeca A Talking Heads breakup, and brief makeup The band essentially dissolved in 1991 when Byrne abruptly left, which Frantz says he and Weymouth discovered by reading about it in the Los Angeles Times ('David never called us to say we broke up,' Weymouth recalls). Predictably, lawsuits over trademark use of the band's name followed, along with the equally predictable acrimony between Byrne and the rest of the band. But a 1999 anniversary screening of 'Stop Making Sense' provided a brief ceasefire, although the foursome never made eye contact while sitting on a panel to discuss the film. In 2001, their first year of eligibility, Talking Heads were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Following tradition, a live performance was expected, which would be their first in 18 years. For three songs – 'Psycho Killer,' 'Life During Wartime' and 'Burning Down the House' – a truce was in place, sparking a standing ovation from the audience filled with music-industry types, the very people, Gould says, whom the proudly eccentric band 'had done their best to have as little as possible to do with over the course of their professional careers.'
Toronto Star
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
A new biography goes long and deep on the rise and fall of rock band Talking Heads
Talking Heads fans, rejoice! Hard on the heels of the re-release of 'Stop Making Sense,' the 1984 Jonathan Demme film widely considered the best concert movie ever made, Jonathan Gould has published a comprehensive biography of the seminal band that injected an art school vibe into popular music and forever changed rock 'n' roll. Gould, the author of well-received books on Otis Redding and the Beatles, chronicles in meticulous detail the rise and fall of the band that got its start in New York City's underground punk scene and ended up touring the world with a repertoire shaped by blues, funk and jazz. He begins 'Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock' with a vivid description of the drizzly June night in 1975 when the original trio – singer/songwriter David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz – made its debut at the seedy club CBGB in downtown Manhattan, opening for the Ramones before a handful of patrons. With their 'unremarkable haircuts' and 'nondescript casual clothes,' they offered a sharp contrast to the 'baroque turn' that rock fashion had taken in the 1970s, Gould observes. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'The qualities that characterized this neophyte group in their first public performance centered on the awkward, disquieting intensity of their singer-guitarist, David Byrne, their sketchy, skeletal arrangements, and the quirky intelligence of their songs,' Gould writes. 'Tall and thin, with a long neck and an anxious, wide-eyed stare, Byrne stood stiffly at the microphone, his upper body jerking and jiggling like a shadow puppet as he scratched out chords on his guitar.… Instead of doing his best to command the stage and the room, Byrne looked trapped by his surroundings, as if he were prepared, at any moment, to make a break for the door.' Within a couple years of their zeitgeist-changing performances, they enlisted keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, adding a much-needed dose of professionalism to the band. Gould, a former professional musician, writes exceedingly well about music but suffers from a kind of completism, cramming in an almost mind-numbing level of detail including the name of the elementary school in Pittsburgh where a young Frantz first took up drums to every military posting of Weymouth's naval aviator father. Though much of the material is fascinating, including his observations about how Byrne's then-undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome may have influenced his music and relationships with the other band members, it is likely to be a bit too much for all but the most diehard fans. ___ AP book reviews:
San Francisco Chronicle
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: New biography goes deep into rise and fall of rock band Talking Heads
Hard on the heels of the re-release of 'Stop Making Sense,' the 1984 Jonathan Demme film about Talking Heads widely considered the best concert movie ever made, Jonathan Gould has published a comprehensive biography of the seminal band that injected an art school vibe into popular music and forever changed rock 'n' roll. Gould, the author of well-received books on Otis Redding and the Beatles, chronicles in meticulous detail the rise and fall of the band that got its start in New York City's underground punk scene and ended up touring the world with a repertoire shaped by blues, funk and jazz. He begins 'Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock' with a vivid description of the drizzly June night in 1975 when the original trio — singer/songwriter David Byrne, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz — made its debut at the seedy club CBGB in downtown Manhattan, opening for the Ramones before a handful of patrons. With their 'unremarkable haircuts' and 'nondescript casual clothes,' they offered a sharp contrast to the 'baroque turn' that rock fashion had taken in the 1970s, Gould observes. 'The qualities that characterized this neophyte group in their first public performance centered on the awkward, disquieting intensity of their singer-guitarist, David Byrne, their sketchy, skeletal arrangements, and the quirky intelligence of their songs,' Gould writes. 'Tall and thin, with a long neck and an anxious, wide-eyed stare, Byrne stood stiffly at the microphone, his upper body jerking and jiggling like a shadow puppet as he scratched out chords on his guitar. ... Instead of doing his best to command the stage and the room, Byrne looked trapped by his surroundings, as if he were prepared, at any moment, to make a break for the door.' Within a couple years of their zeitgeist-changing performances, they enlisted keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, adding a much-needed dose of professionalism to the band. Gould, a former professional musician, writes exceedingly well about music but suffers from a kind of completism, cramming in an almost mind-numbing level of detail including the name of the elementary school in Pittsburgh where a young Frantz first took up drums to every military posting of Weymouth's naval aviator father. Though much of the material is fascinating, including his observations about how Byrne's then-undiagnosed Asperger's syndrome may have influenced his music and relationships with the other band members, it is likely to be a bit too much for all but the most diehard fans.
