Post by lapayin on Dec 3, 2006 18:35:28 GMT -5
As promised, this was a week of numerous opportunities to see/hear Lara in public appearances, but in addition, it contained the possibility of potentially momentous career developments.
Offhand, one would suppose that the dominant news this week would be Lara's trip to Montreal to promote the launching of the CD/DVD "Un Regard Neuf" (which, BTW, is NTSC as expected). And certainly that did produce some interesting news, and many media opportunities: at last count, there were some 6 TV appearances and 4 radio shows (though it's possible I've missed something). Several new live versions of Aime were performed (while the recorded version got airplay). All of these are available at lara-fabian.net or at lararoch.free.fr. We also got to see some old clips of Lara in Canada. There were also press interviews.
As a result of this bonanza we learned, directly or indirectly these things, among others:
- Lara still feels Canada is her natural home, and she is clearly more at ease in talking with the media. While Lara explains this by saying that people in Quebec treat artists with less idolization, and so one can be oneself, I can't help but think that there is an additional influence, a result of the pecking order in the French culture. Paris, and France in general, is at the top of the list, and Montreal/Canada is the 'minor leagues'. So Lara can say anything she wants, and do anything she wants, because in some sense it doesn't 'really count' - the important things are what happens in France. In contrast, in a recent article, Lara said that she wants to stay away from Paris, that it is too 'upper class' for her. During one of the TV shows, the Montreal announcer expressed great joy that on the new live DVD, the audience in Paris knew the words to Lara's song about Canada, 'Je me souviens'. Lara has to have been influenced by this point of view, which makes Canada a place of less pressure.
- Lara recounted her meeting with Dave Stewart, who came up to her while she was playing the piano and singing in a hotel. That led to their writing a song together.
- Lara's concert in Montreal in April will focus on the songs from "Neuf" (and may actually be a reprise of the 'Neuf' tour).
- Lara has filed suit against Rick Allison in a Montreal court for acting in bad faith when he denied her request to remake some of their joint songs in Italian. Actually, his reply was quite sarcastic, saying that he would give her permission only for languages such as "Flemish, Braille or Martian, which she's been acting like for some time now". Clearly the bad feelings are not only on Lara's side. Their business separation agreement indicated that they would both act in good faith, and one would think she would have a case. What this means for the songs, however, is unclear, if she still expects to have the Italian album out in April.
- Concerning that album, things are again not so clear. On the program "Salut Bonjour", Lara clearly stated that it would contain other languages (English, Spanish…) - but she also said that when she was in Montreal in June. Maybe she was in some sense referring to the multi-lingual album which was expected to follow the Italian album. Remember, before she left for Canada she gave an interview which seemed to indicate that there still was no producer for the 'Italian' album - so how real is the April date, or the album's languages? While still unsubstantiated, there is an indication that she will be at the San Remo festival in Italy in February to sing alongside of Gigi d'Allesio.
- Gerard Pullicino was very evident during this week, another indication of how Lara is not afraid of revealing aspects of her personal life when in Canada. As an additional tidbit, we learned that he did her video for 'Croire', (with the dog!) more than 15 years ago, as well as the clips for 9.
Translations of several interviews that she did with the press in Montreal with additional information are included in an accompanying post. After all the various interviews, it seems as if Lara charmed the Canadian audience, and is back in their good graces. They especially liked the 'Journal de Lara' on the DVD; her very positive comments about Quebec, its light and its people; and the fact that she's bought a new residence there. Perhaps someone from Quebec can comment more fully on that.
However, the potentially more important issue that arose this week concerned Lara's future career moves. In an article in the magazine "7 jours", Lara indicated that starting in September she will be in a production at the La Madeleine theatre playing a great lady from history. This will mark the beginning of a jump for her into a broader entertainment career, which will include movies - in fact, she thought that there would be a movie associated with this performance as well. In Montreal she indicated she is ready for a movie career (with non-singing roles), and in fact she expected that would even precede the multi-lingual album. Several related aspects give this potentially more meaning than her 'future plans' normally deserve. For one, the specific mention of the theatre seems to imply arrangements have already been worked out. In addition, in the same article, she noted that she is ready to have a baby (which she's been saying all along), that she feels Gerard Pullicino is the proper father (and he agrees), and that she wouldn't want to take care of a child when she was out touring. She wants to be in one place, and she specifically mentioned theatre productions or a movie shoot. September would obviously be too soon for that, but if it is the start of a career change with a child in mind, this could be real.
Naturally, the thought that Lara would in some sense be abandoning her music career, or at least putting it on hold, has raised consternation in some people's minds, while others are all for the change. Lara obviously has the looks and the personality to be a multi-dimensional entertainer. Her appearance on the Muppet show clearly presented someone with the aptitude and relish for playing roles. In fact, a number of her recent TV show appearances have been less about music and more about entertainment - think of the recent interactions with Cauet, for example. Her interviews in Montreal left the impression that there were no solid movie projects at this time (she will not be in the film with Corinne Touzet), so that component may or may not come to pass. But the fact that she is willing to postpone the multi-lingual album if such an opportunity arises is a change from her past attitude (when she said the music would always come first). Perhaps the lack of new million-selling records is another motivation for her to move to new pastures (which could then also increase the record sales, or, conversely, take her out of the public's mind when it comes to music). There's also the possibility that her interactions with Gerard, and his filming of the 'tour' for the bonus DVD portion, has wetted her appetite for moving into film.
Having said all that, one must ask realistically whether Lara has the temperament for such a new career. As far as the movies are concerned, remember her comments about the filming in 'Delovely' : "waiting around for hours to do 20 second cuts"; "people were encouraged 'not to think', so they didn't think". Here is a person who describes herself as having a volcanic temperament, and who has gotten used to assuming even more control over everything she does, not less. How will she put up with being continually 'directed'? With respect to the theatre: how is someone of her mercurial nature and 'living in the moment' philosophy going to feel about playing the same part over and over again each night, saying the same words that someone else has written (and again being directed to do it a certain way)? It is all well and good to want to expand creatively into greener or just new pastures, but the reality may prove a lot less attractive than it looks from the outside, regardless of whatever other motivations she has. I hope she has factored realism into this career expansion idea; her track record for that is not overly encouraging.
There are still some shows that Lara has done that remain to be seen in Canada. On Monday, December 4th, she will be on with Sonia Benezra for the show "2 filles les matin" (recorded on November 30). The concert she did for MusicMax on November 28 was apparently a great show - and included a number of takes of 'Je me souviens' as one might imagine. It will be shown sometime later. And the recording 'de Prochaine sortie' for Radio-Canada will be broadcast January 12 at ~13h (Quebec time).
Before she left Canada, Lara was on Studio 22 and performed beautiful live versions of 'Aime' and 'La Lettre' with a full orchestra (another post mentioned her comments concerning recording for the Latin American market). And of course the Muppet Show will become a classic Lara performance. They are available on larafabian.net.
Lara apparently returns to Europe this week, and starting next week, she has some 5-10 additional media shows to close out the month.
David
Offhand, one would suppose that the dominant news this week would be Lara's trip to Montreal to promote the launching of the CD/DVD "Un Regard Neuf" (which, BTW, is NTSC as expected). And certainly that did produce some interesting news, and many media opportunities: at last count, there were some 6 TV appearances and 4 radio shows (though it's possible I've missed something). Several new live versions of Aime were performed (while the recorded version got airplay). All of these are available at lara-fabian.net or at lararoch.free.fr. We also got to see some old clips of Lara in Canada. There were also press interviews.
As a result of this bonanza we learned, directly or indirectly these things, among others:
- Lara still feels Canada is her natural home, and she is clearly more at ease in talking with the media. While Lara explains this by saying that people in Quebec treat artists with less idolization, and so one can be oneself, I can't help but think that there is an additional influence, a result of the pecking order in the French culture. Paris, and France in general, is at the top of the list, and Montreal/Canada is the 'minor leagues'. So Lara can say anything she wants, and do anything she wants, because in some sense it doesn't 'really count' - the important things are what happens in France. In contrast, in a recent article, Lara said that she wants to stay away from Paris, that it is too 'upper class' for her. During one of the TV shows, the Montreal announcer expressed great joy that on the new live DVD, the audience in Paris knew the words to Lara's song about Canada, 'Je me souviens'. Lara has to have been influenced by this point of view, which makes Canada a place of less pressure.
- Lara recounted her meeting with Dave Stewart, who came up to her while she was playing the piano and singing in a hotel. That led to their writing a song together.
- Lara's concert in Montreal in April will focus on the songs from "Neuf" (and may actually be a reprise of the 'Neuf' tour).
- Lara has filed suit against Rick Allison in a Montreal court for acting in bad faith when he denied her request to remake some of their joint songs in Italian. Actually, his reply was quite sarcastic, saying that he would give her permission only for languages such as "Flemish, Braille or Martian, which she's been acting like for some time now". Clearly the bad feelings are not only on Lara's side. Their business separation agreement indicated that they would both act in good faith, and one would think she would have a case. What this means for the songs, however, is unclear, if she still expects to have the Italian album out in April.
- Concerning that album, things are again not so clear. On the program "Salut Bonjour", Lara clearly stated that it would contain other languages (English, Spanish…) - but she also said that when she was in Montreal in June. Maybe she was in some sense referring to the multi-lingual album which was expected to follow the Italian album. Remember, before she left for Canada she gave an interview which seemed to indicate that there still was no producer for the 'Italian' album - so how real is the April date, or the album's languages? While still unsubstantiated, there is an indication that she will be at the San Remo festival in Italy in February to sing alongside of Gigi d'Allesio.
- Gerard Pullicino was very evident during this week, another indication of how Lara is not afraid of revealing aspects of her personal life when in Canada. As an additional tidbit, we learned that he did her video for 'Croire', (with the dog!) more than 15 years ago, as well as the clips for 9.
Translations of several interviews that she did with the press in Montreal with additional information are included in an accompanying post. After all the various interviews, it seems as if Lara charmed the Canadian audience, and is back in their good graces. They especially liked the 'Journal de Lara' on the DVD; her very positive comments about Quebec, its light and its people; and the fact that she's bought a new residence there. Perhaps someone from Quebec can comment more fully on that.
However, the potentially more important issue that arose this week concerned Lara's future career moves. In an article in the magazine "7 jours", Lara indicated that starting in September she will be in a production at the La Madeleine theatre playing a great lady from history. This will mark the beginning of a jump for her into a broader entertainment career, which will include movies - in fact, she thought that there would be a movie associated with this performance as well. In Montreal she indicated she is ready for a movie career (with non-singing roles), and in fact she expected that would even precede the multi-lingual album. Several related aspects give this potentially more meaning than her 'future plans' normally deserve. For one, the specific mention of the theatre seems to imply arrangements have already been worked out. In addition, in the same article, she noted that she is ready to have a baby (which she's been saying all along), that she feels Gerard Pullicino is the proper father (and he agrees), and that she wouldn't want to take care of a child when she was out touring. She wants to be in one place, and she specifically mentioned theatre productions or a movie shoot. September would obviously be too soon for that, but if it is the start of a career change with a child in mind, this could be real.
Naturally, the thought that Lara would in some sense be abandoning her music career, or at least putting it on hold, has raised consternation in some people's minds, while others are all for the change. Lara obviously has the looks and the personality to be a multi-dimensional entertainer. Her appearance on the Muppet show clearly presented someone with the aptitude and relish for playing roles. In fact, a number of her recent TV show appearances have been less about music and more about entertainment - think of the recent interactions with Cauet, for example. Her interviews in Montreal left the impression that there were no solid movie projects at this time (she will not be in the film with Corinne Touzet), so that component may or may not come to pass. But the fact that she is willing to postpone the multi-lingual album if such an opportunity arises is a change from her past attitude (when she said the music would always come first). Perhaps the lack of new million-selling records is another motivation for her to move to new pastures (which could then also increase the record sales, or, conversely, take her out of the public's mind when it comes to music). There's also the possibility that her interactions with Gerard, and his filming of the 'tour' for the bonus DVD portion, has wetted her appetite for moving into film.
Having said all that, one must ask realistically whether Lara has the temperament for such a new career. As far as the movies are concerned, remember her comments about the filming in 'Delovely' : "waiting around for hours to do 20 second cuts"; "people were encouraged 'not to think', so they didn't think". Here is a person who describes herself as having a volcanic temperament, and who has gotten used to assuming even more control over everything she does, not less. How will she put up with being continually 'directed'? With respect to the theatre: how is someone of her mercurial nature and 'living in the moment' philosophy going to feel about playing the same part over and over again each night, saying the same words that someone else has written (and again being directed to do it a certain way)? It is all well and good to want to expand creatively into greener or just new pastures, but the reality may prove a lot less attractive than it looks from the outside, regardless of whatever other motivations she has. I hope she has factored realism into this career expansion idea; her track record for that is not overly encouraging.
There are still some shows that Lara has done that remain to be seen in Canada. On Monday, December 4th, she will be on with Sonia Benezra for the show "2 filles les matin" (recorded on November 30). The concert she did for MusicMax on November 28 was apparently a great show - and included a number of takes of 'Je me souviens' as one might imagine. It will be shown sometime later. And the recording 'de Prochaine sortie' for Radio-Canada will be broadcast January 12 at ~13h (Quebec time).
Before she left Canada, Lara was on Studio 22 and performed beautiful live versions of 'Aime' and 'La Lettre' with a full orchestra (another post mentioned her comments concerning recording for the Latin American market). And of course the Muppet Show will become a classic Lara performance. They are available on larafabian.net.
Lara apparently returns to Europe this week, and starting next week, she has some 5-10 additional media shows to close out the month.
David
