Latest news with #Wheelhouse
Winnipeg Free Press
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
New music: Blake Shelton, Blondshell, Ingrid Laubrock, Elation Pauls
Blake Shelton For Recreational Use Only (Wheelhouse) Blake Shelton's 13th studio album opens with a fitting declaration for both his latest project and the current state of his career: Stay Country or Die Tryin'. It would be more accurately phrased like a question. At this stage, Shelton is a longtime veteran of Hollywood on The Voice stage with a pop superstar wife in Gwen Stefani, far removed from his Nashville roots, all while maintaining the position of one of the most high-profile country stars of the current moment. But if country is a lifestyle and an image beyond its musical forms — saying nothing of the opening track's arena-sized rock elements — is he staying true to some ethos? Is Shelton speaking diaristically when he sings, 'Boots ain't never seen easy street,' in the album's opening verse? Perhaps not. In 2025, he performs between worlds, but no matter. He's long dedicated himself to big country radio hits and returns to those roots across For Recreational Use Only. The songs here concern themselves with lived-in bars (Cold Can) and backroad acuity (Life's Been Comin' Too Fast.) Charms are found across the release, like in the honky-tonk happy Texas, and its cheerful reference to George Strait's classic All My Ex's Live In Texas, or the big-hearted and big-voiced ballad on God and grief, Let Him In Anyway. Collaborations are few and pointed. Shelton and Stefani harmonize beautifully on Hanging On; he does the same with Craig Morgan on Heaven Sweet Home, an affecting meditation of mortality. He taps Josh Anderson for the slow-burn closer Years. Shelton might live a very different life than the characters found in his songs, as is often true of any larger-than-life celebrity performer, but make no mistake, this is a giant pop-country record with limitless potential for radio ubiquity. ★★★ out of five Stream: Cold Can; Stay Country or Die Tryin' — Maria Sherman, The Associated Press Blondshell If You Asked for a Picture (Partisan) Sabrina Teitelbaum, who records under the band name Blondshell, is a longtime student of alt-rock. She knows a thing or two about all the ways in which a cutting lyric and thunderous guitar can rejuvenate the soul and soundtrack rage. On her sophomore album, If You Asked for a Picture, she builds from the success of her earlier work — 2023's self-titled debut and its haunting single Salad. Over the course of 12 tracks, Blondshell reckons with a woman's role in her various relationships, personally and societally. Those messages — gritty, real, existential and fluid as they are — arrive atop visceral instrumentation, hearty guitars and punchy percussion. Much of the album sits at the intersection of modern indie, '90s grunge and '80s college radio rock, like that of Event of a Fire. On the acoustic fake-out Thumbtack, instrumentation builds slow and remains restrained. Man is muscular, with its soaring distortion and layered production. On If You Asked for a Picture, relationships are nuanced, awkward and honest — her flawed and frustrated characters show how easy it is to succumb to the whims of someone who doesn't have your best interest in mind, to become someone else when you don't know who you are. If there is a main weakness it is that a number of the tracks bleed together sonically near the record's end, making it hard to distinguish a three-song run: Toy to Man. Fans will likely label it stylistic consistency rather than tiresome repetition. There's a lot to love here, though. T&A, Model Rockets and the palm-muted power chords of What's Fair warrant repeat listens. The swaying mellotron of Model Rockets things and might serve as a mission statement for the album — where identity and desire are malleable, influenced by relationships and the evolving nature of the world, made more complicated by simply being a woman in it. ★★★½ out of five Stream: What's Fair; T&A — Rachel S. Hunt, The Associated Press Ingrid Laubrock Purposing The Air (Pyroclastic) Ingrid Laubrock is a terrific saxophonist who is not playing on her second release; instead, she has written and produced one of the most unique and fascinating albums in recent memory. The album has 60 brief tracks called koans. A koan is defined as 'a story, dialogue, question or statement from Chinese Buddhist Lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhist practice in different ways.' Laubrock has created 60 brief moods as koans, all fragments from the poetry of Erica Hunt. To present them, she has miniature phrases of the poems delivered by four duets: vocalist Fay Victor with cellist Mariel Roberts; vocalist Sara Serpa with pianist Matt Mitchell; vocalist Theo Bleckmann with guitarist Ben Monder; and vocalist Rachel Calloway with violinist Ari Streisfeld. This might sound confusing but the impact is extremely powerful. The range of moods and musical accompaniments is extraordinary. With each duo getting 15 koans, there is wide room for experimentation. From intense repeated words to humorous riffs ('Catch the ball and now I throw it') the surprises are endless. Most of the koans are several minutes at best and while perhaps wanting more, the whole mood is then spun out of shape with a totally different idea. The vocalists are very different and the duet partners are tied in beautifully. For example Koan 5 with Serpa/Mitchell makes 1:37 seem just the right length. Bleckmann's vocals, as the only male singer, make a different sense of the concept. Figuring out how to listen to this album is an important decision. It can sound different the second time through while initially captivating the listener. Cello, piano, guitar and violin work well with the poetic fragments Laubrock has chosen. To my ear, the least successful is the classically trained voice of Calloway. While beautiful, it seems to overpower the moods of the koans, but this is a small comment in an album of challenging and complex music. Expect a new experience. ★★★★½ out of five Stream: Koans 1, 16, 31, 46 — Keith Black Elation Pauls Sustenance (Spektral) Canadian violinist Elation Pauls celebrates her inaugural recording with Sustenance, a self-curated program on Germany's Spektral label featuring nine contemporary chamber works for solo violin and piano, including several commissioned world premières by prominent national composers. What becomes clear in this labour-of-love project born in the crucible of the global pandemic is its fearless sense of adventure. Pauls, who serves as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's assistant principal second violin, immediately displays her expressive artistry in such arresting works as Iman Habibi's Offering of Water. Another is Kelly-Marie Murphy's Fire-and-Ice-Bodied-Doubled-Up-Withdrawal-Anxiety, its driving moto perpetuo figures conjuring the (frankly) uncharted craziness of those unprecedented COVID-19 days. Particular highlights include David Braid's lushly lyrical The Interior Castle and Without Words, as well as Serouj Kradjian's deeply poetic Sari Aghtchig (Girl from the Mountain), derived from a folk melody from his Armenian homeland that enthralls, with Pauls joined by the two composers on piano during their respective pieces. For those who appreciate more narrative-based works, there is Karen Sunabacka's Jack the Fiddler, based on her maternal grandfather Jack's rediscovery and healing through Red River Métis culture, with the Manitoba-born composer also serving as storyteller. Cris Derksen's Country Food similarly features a thoughtful narration regarding Indigenous food sovereignty as a timely topical issue, punctuated by Pauls's dramatic flourishes. The ambitious album is capped by a second Kradjian offering, Tango Melancolico. The internationally renowned composer, now on piano, and Pauls hold nothing back in this passionate ride into the heart of tango; the highly stylized dance fuelled by lyrical passagework and syncopated rhythmic accents seemingly mirroring the intense emotionalism of those gone-but-never forgotten pandemic years that changed us all forever. ★★★★½ out of five Stream: Sari Aghtchig; Tango Melancolico — Holly Harris
Travel Daily News
08-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Boom announces integration with Wheelhouse
Boom partners with Wheelhouse to integrate AI-powered dynamic pricing into its property management system, boosting automation, revenue, and operational efficiency. MIAMI – Boom, the AI property management system (AiPMS), has announced a new partnership with revenue management software Wheelhouse. The AI-powered integration will allow Boom users to connect seamlessly with Wheelhouse's powerful revenue management tools and machine learning capabilities to push optimized nightly rates directly into Boom's AiPMS and out to channels. The partnership brings together two future-focused platforms with a shared mission: to simplify short-term rental management through intelligent automation and data-driven decisions. Wheelhouse users typically see revenue increase between 10 and 40% thanks to the platform's unique flexibility and precision. It is the only pricing engine that allows property managers to mix rule-based and data-driven strategies, offering more than 15 customizable settings to tailor pricing behavior to any day, event, season, or scenario. Operators can create, test, and scale revenue strategies on anywhere from one to thousands of listings. Boom's AiPMS is designed to operate properties autonomously, handling everything from guest messaging and task assignment to maintenance and review management. Boom's powerful AI also collects data and creates dashboards to allow property managers a 360 view of their operations at all times, as well as boosting conversion rates by an average of 10% and revenues by 8%. Combining Wheelhouse's advanced dynamic pricing and revenue optimization with Boom's operational automation, Boom is closing the loop on AI-powered property performance. Shahar Goldboim, CEO and Co-Founder of Boom, said: 'This partnership marks another step forward in our mission to eliminate the manual work and guesswork from property management. By combining Boom's AI management with Wheelhouse's pricing intelligence, our users can maximize revenue while they focus on the areas where they can have the most impact.' Andrew Kitchell, CEO at Wheelhouse, said: 'This integration is a win for short-term rental operators looking to grow their business without growing their headaches. Together, Boom and Wheelhouse offer advanced levels of automation integrated so smoothly property managers won't need to worry about growing pains, missed opportunities, or paperwork.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wheelhouse Entertainment's Courtney White on How Streaming Has Changed Unscripted TV
When Courtney White started working at HGTV in 2005, the standard episode order for a new series was no less than 65 episodes. Today, as the president of Wheelhouse Entertainment, White is tasked with juggling a busy portfolio of unscripted series for broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. As White explains on the latest episode of Variety podcast 'Strictly Business,' the days of getting double-digit episode orders for even the most successful series are long past. More from Variety NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards Launches Sports Docuseries 'Year Five' With Wheelhouse (EXCLUSIVE) Wheelhouse Entertainment Promotes Courtney White to President, Glenn Hugill to Chief Creative Officer and Head of Wheelhouse Studios Jimmy Kimmel's Kimmelot Banner Exits Out of Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse 'The reality, which is a harsh one for the business, is there are very few really high-volume shows anymore,' White says. 'So it really is about the six- or eight-episode order. That that is the norm.' White details the structure of Wheelhouse Entertainment, part of Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse group, where she oversees seven busy production labels that are experts in specific genres and sub-genres of production. It allows Wheelhouse to make the most of each title that flows through the company. A TV series is no longer just a series but a concept that can be built out as a documentary, a podcast, a digital extension, merchandise and e-commerce and more. Among Wheelhouse's latest offerings are the Netflix series 'Million Dollar Secret' and Hulu's 'Got to Get Out.' 'We think of ourselves as the Avengers. We've got specialists in all of those sub genres, and they share resources. Our digital teams support all of those labels,' White says. 'Those digital teams are really charged with building out the content from a vertical standpoint, but then we also have things like our legal and our production management team that is centralized. The idea is that the labels all areare quite specific and they're scrappy and really development focused. And when they get series up and running, they plug into our centralized machine. And our centralized machine is also quite scrappy, because we find every project is bespoke and needs a specialty team.' White spent 17 years as a top programming executive for Food Network and HGTV. She joined the Wheelhouse group in 2022 when she stepped down as president of Food Network in advance of the merger that created Warner Bros. Discovery. White also explains why Wheelhouse has invested significant resources to host networking events — dubbed 'Ladies Who Launch' — for creatives in New York, L.A. and other cities. In a world where most pitches now take place on Zoom, Wheelhouse wants to create that environment of spontaneous chit-chat that sometimes leads to huge breakthroughs. 'When you now pitch an idea on Zoom, it's a very controlled half hour pitch. You pitch the idea, then you click off. And what executives and producers say a lot is that [traditionally], the real business didn't get done in that pitch. It used to be that time when you'd walk to the elevator. That's when something unplanned happened,' she says. 'So many shows were birthed that way, and so this is about bringing people together who might not otherwise intermingle, and it's about the magic of collaboration.' 'Strictly Business' is Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025 The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards Launches Sports Docuseries ‘Year Five' With Wheelhouse (EXCLUSIVE)
Minnesota Timberwolves player Anthony Edwards — currently making headlines for posting his own thoughts on the L.A. Lakers' Luka Dončić trade (sending Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks) — is launching the sports docuseries 'Year Five,' which premieres next week on Edwards' YouTube channel. 'Year Five' is a collaboration between Edwards' Three Fifths Media and Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse, which first struck a partnership in October. The series will be produced via Wheelhouse Sports, a new division inside Wheelhouse, as well as with branded and original content company Portal A, which has also worked on digital series for Stephen Curry, Carmelo Anthony, Adam Rippon and Odell Beckham Jr. More from Variety Jimmy Kimmel's Kimmelot Banner Exits Out of Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse Wheelhouse Entertainment Taps Whitney White as EVP of Development at Butternut, Liz Fine Upped to EVP of Programming (EXCLUSIVE) Wheelhouse's Additive Creative Partners Signs 12 TikTok Food Content Creators Under New Culinary Vertical (EXCLUSIVE) 'Year Five' will produce five episodes, at between 15 to 20 minutes in length, following Edwards during his current season with the Timberwolves. The show will look at Edwards' game from the NBA All-Star Weekend to the NBA Playoffs. Per the series description, 'viewers will get an inside look at 'year five' as it unfolds – the triumphs, setbacks and everything in between. Moving at the speed of its subject, the docuseries will drop new episodes as the action happens, often within days of filming. In addition to exclusive interviews with Edwards, the series will also feature insights and commentary from those in his inner circle, his teammates and others.' Episode 1 will launch Tuesday, Feb. 11 on Edwards' YouTube channel, along with additional content on his Instagram and TikTok feeds. That first episode will showcase Edwards in the wake of the departure of his former teammate, center Karl-Anthony Towns. 'I'm excited for everyone to see what we've been cooking up,' Edwards said in a statement. 'The only way you could feel any closer to the action is if you were playing.' Brent Montgomery, Stan Kaufman, Justin Holland and Nate Houghteling are executive producers, with Portal A co-founder Houghteling and Tre McCain co-directing. 'Anthony Edwards is one of the most captivating athletes in all of sports, and a major reason for that is that he's authentically himself in any situation,' Houghteling said. With 'Year Five,' we knew our job was to let Ant be Ant and give him the ultimate platform to connect directly with his fans.' Added Wheelhouse Sports VP Stan Kaufman: 'Anthony Edwards represents the future of sports storytelling—bold, authentic and completely in control of his narrative. 'Year Five' is just the beginning of what we're building together at Wheelhouse Sports. This series isn't just about basketball—it's about bringing fans inside Ant's journey in real-time, and we're proud to partner with him, Three Fifths and Portal A to make it happen.' Holland is the founder/head of Three Fifths Media and Edwards' business manager. 'Fans will get to step into Anthony's shoes and experience the journey of his NBA season in a way that is exciting and different,' he said. Here's a first look at 'Year Five,' including his take on the Lakers Dončić trade at the top of the video: Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
