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Your Stars

Legendary Black rock band The Veldt embark on headlining tour

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH

Special to the AmNews

The Chavis brothers have already been on a nearly 30-year journey as talented musicians, their music, ethereal, otherworldly guitar-heavy waves of sound mixed with soul and gospel vocals. In 2015, they opened for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, a tour that wedged the door open for the Veldt to be introduced to new fans, and connected them with influential fans such as Peter Holmström of the Dandy Warhols. Holmström has produced a remix on the band’s recent release “Check Out Your Mind” and worked with Wu-Tang Clan producer Carlos Bess on their February 2022 release “Electric Revolution.”

To top it off, The Veldt have started their own record label, 5BC Records, where they are rereleasing their 1989 debut album, “Everlasting Gobstopper,” on 12 inch vinyl along with their unreleased Illuminated 1989 album, 1992’s “Marigold” LP and a deluxe edition of 1994’s “Afrodisiac.” Most importantly, The Veldt will be embarking on their first headlining tour with their first stop being Lincoln Center in New York City, a gig arranged by the groundbreaking music critic and musician, the late, great Greg Tate.

Though the band has performed throughout Europe and the United States, this current journey, The Entropy tour, is a lead up to the 2023 release of their upcoming full length album of the same title and marks the band’s very first lengthy headlining tour.

These Black rock legends deserve these auspicious firsts and they have worked tirelessly to morph, evolve, and stay relevant in a world inundated with sounds and new music every day. They have stood the test of time, and continue to overcome limitations by being resourceful and incredibly independent.

You can catch The Veldt at Lincoln Center on Aug. 18 in New York City. Donate to their Indiegogo to help fund the tour at https://www. indiegogo.com/projects/theveldt-entropy-2022-u-s-tour#/

For more information, visit www.5bcrecords.com.

Twin brother bandmates Daniel and Danny Chavis of The Veldt (Brett Villena photo)

‘The Bear’ now on Hulu—we dare you not to fall in love with this show!

By MARGRIRA

Special to the AmNews

“The Bear,” starring “Shameless” star Jeremy Allen White, takes the viewer into the world of running a restaurant, which here is utter chaos, and I am here for it!

“The Bear” (which is actually an FX series) is packed with African American actors filling the roles of amazing, and real characters, who work inside chef Carmen’s (a.k.a. Carmy) world. He’s a gifted and hard-working food prodigy who has returned home (Chicago) to run his dead brother’s sandwich shop. Warning, don’t watch this delectable series hungry because most of the frames feature food—beautifully shot food—being made in the frantic pressure cooker of a res(Edwin Lee Gibson), and the tightly coiled smartmouth Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Rounding out the characters there’s handyman Neil (Matty Matheson), seen-it-all twice prep cook Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), and the new sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri). Hey Hollywood, keep a sharp eye on this cast but pay particular attention to Ms. Edebiri! Her character, Sydney, is the needed glue to bring the fractured restaurant back to life.

Just like the organized chaos of the kitchen, Mike’s finances are equally messy with him owing their uncle (Oliver Platt) hundreds of thousands of dollars and now that crushing debt is on the shoulders of Carmy.

I challenge anyone who might not like this show. Structurally, it’s crafted to perfection by Christopher Storer (“Ramy”) and Joanna Calo (“Hacks,” “BoJack Horseman”). These episodes give us a healthy taste of what living inside a kitchen looks and feels like. The only thing closer to the real thing is the docuseries about food life.

I promise you, you will not be disappointed. There are eight episodes for season one, and each is better than the last.

Lionel Boyce and Ayo Edebiri in “The Bear” (Matt Dinerstein/FX photo)

Alex Brightman (center) and company from “Beetlejuice” (Matthew Murphy photo)

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

“Beetlejuice” is back on Broadway and it’s as funny as ever! This musical comedy about death is a bone-breaking, gut-wrenching, good time! At the Marquis Theatre on W. 46th Street, this show will have you howling with laughter as hilarious music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect have a perfect reunion with the book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. The musical, based on the Geffen Company Picture with a story by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson, inspires the audience to give in to a darker type of humor.

From the opening scene Alex Brightman, reprising the role as the angry, lonely, frightening ghost, had everyone screaming approval. Brightman is so well cast as Beetlejuice—he brings a hilarious, sinister, evil, bitterness and disregard for human life to this role in a way that draws you to this dark musical comedy.

This musical tells the story of Beetlejuice, a ghost who cannot haunt people because no one can see him. He waits years for a young, annoyingly good and boring yuppie couple—Barbara and Adam—to meet an untimely end in their home. Now, recently deceased, he offers to be their guide to the Netherworld, but he needs them to get a living person to say his name three times, so that he can be seen. Lydia, a teenage girl whose mother recently died, moves into the house with her father, Charles, and lifecoach Delia. (Charles and Delia, by the way, have something going on on the side.) Lydia is a sad girl who walks around mourning her mother’s death, which her father refuses to do. Lydia is a bit weird and somewhat unusual, and is able to see the dead couple, Barbara and Adam, and she is not afraid. She doesn’t want to be in their home and agrees to help them to scare her father and Delia from the house. Delia is an airhead who has had relationship issues in the past and hopes to make a go of it with Charles. She also likes to feel at one with her environment and often quotes her life coach Guru Otho. (Did I mention that, because Lydia is different she can also see Beetlejuice? Well, she can.) So, now you have Beetlejuice trying to convince her to say his name and I won’t say what happens from there.

I will say though, that the hauntingly good times are plentiful at this production. I love how the songs that Lydia sings all have this powerful, incredible rock vibe! Elizabeth Teeter brings the house down with every number. It is a delight to watch the journey of her character as she deals with her grief and loneliness. This entire cast and ensemble gives you that stirringly ghostly vibe. Kerry Butler and David Josefsberg as Barbara and Adam are a pure delight. Adam Dannheisser is fantastic as Charles, a role he stunningly originated on Broadway. Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer is also perfectly cast in her original role as Delia. She brings the ditsy and the crazy. Kelvin Moon Loh is marvelous as he reprises his role as Otho. Zonya Love is an African American who plays multiple roles and stuns with each—Maxine Dean—simple wife of a rich developer; one of the neighbors of the haunted house; and Juno, the guardian of the Netherworld and Beetlejuice’s demon mother. “Beetlejuice” has delightful choreography by Connor Gallagher and hauntingly, wonderful, ghoulish direction by Alex Timbers.

One of the elements of this musical comedy that makes it even more enduring is how Brightman continuously breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly. You’ll see what I mean. You must fly to “Beetlejuice“ and take the whole family. There is adult language, but nothing totally shocking. ENJOY!

New ‘Minions’ film is silly fun

‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ (Courtesy photo)

By MARGRIRA

Special to the AmNews

“Minions: The Rise of Gru”—the fifth movie in the “Despicable Me” franchise—is now officially my favorite in the series. Naturally, the clever and charming Minions steal the show.

And what’s wonderfully fun is that we get to see Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) young, at that deliciously mischievous age of 11. One would think he would look like a kid but he actually looks like the kid version of Gru, with the start of his hunchback and pronounced hook nose, and naturally he’s focused, even then, on world domination.

He’s so career-driven that on career day, at school, he announces to the universe— “I want to be a supervillain!”—and wants to join the Vicious Six. Here’s Gru’s first test of friendship, where he questions if the Minions might harm his opportunity to join their evil ranks.

In terms of structure, the “Minions” sequel is more like a “Despicable Me” prequel. Here we are introduced to the mad scientist, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), future rival Vector, and the Bank of Evil.

Of course, the Minions look up to their new young “mini-boss” and show it as often as they can, even though he’s no taller than they are at the moment. Meanwhile, Gru decorates his childhood bedroom (he still lives with mama Marlena, voiced by Julie Andrews) with pinups and action figures of the best baddies in the biz: Stronghold (Danny Trejo), Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), and Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin). This is Gru’s beloved Vicious Six. We all know that truly evil supervillains can’t be trusted and midway through their latest daring heist—snatching the Zodiac Stone from a jungle hideout—Belle lets Knuckles fall to what looks like a grisly death.

But for Gru, it’s an opening and he asks to interview for the recently vacated spot. Of course, they laugh in his face reminding him that “evil is for adults” with Belle being particularly cruel. But Gru is dedicated to becoming one of their members and refuses to go home, and he steals the stone away from these adults forcing them into a high stakes game to get it back. The villains go after him with a vengeance and Knuckles (not dead) returns to recapture his spot and the prize.

Now, enter the Minions who Gru kind of adopts but he’s not sold on them right away because they are always messing things up, such as when Otta trades the magic stone for a pet rock. Naturally, Gru is shattered and fires all of them, which makes them work harder to get their jobs back.

Director Kyle Balda cleverly focuses on Otto and the beloved one-eyed Stuart, skinny Kevin, and mini-minion Bob who travel to Northern California after Knuckles kidnaps their master a.k.a. their mentor.

Balda supplies the fun. The San Francisco scenes are some of the very best where the Zodiac Stone’s power is unleashed and the Vicious Six take on scary animal forms— tiger, monkey, snake, dragon, etc. while the Minions are transformed into a “minion” version of a goat, rooster, bunny, etc.

There’s no reason to push into some of the script shortcomings because the movie is about tiny minions and a kid who dreams of being the world’s worst, or is it the best, villain in the world. What we need is fun and that’s exactly what “Minions: The Rise of Gru” delivers. Fun. Fun. Fun.