Entertainment
Stewart Copeland plays with the animals on latest project 'Wild Concerto'
Stewart Copeland is best known as one-third of the Police, the chart-topping trio that called it quits after five acclaimed albums released between 1978-1983 and launched Sting to solo stardom.
With the Police, which also included guitarist Andy Summers, out of the picture, the drummer-percussionist changed course and became an in-demand film and TV score composer, working on such notable films as “Rumble Fish” and “Wall Street” as well as TV’s “The Equalizer,” “Dead Like Me” and more.
After a worldwide Police reunion tour, which was the highest-grossing trek in 2007, Copeland again pivoted, scoring live orchestra music for the classic film “Ben-Hur” in 2014.
He later also reimagined the Police catalog with a pair of releases, 2023’s “Police Deranged for Orchestra” and the world music exploration “Police Beyond Borders” with collaborator Ricky Kej, whom he also worked with on the 2021 album “Divine Tides,” which won a Grammy for new age album.
Our chat with Copeland, 72, was originally tied to his speaking tour, “Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood and Other Adventures,” but the Los Angeles date was scrapped in wake of the Palisades and Altadena wildfires. Ever the raconteur, Copeland is taking the speaking tour to Europe this spring and fall.
He also has a new album, “Wild Concerto,” which is out April 18. We spoke to Copeland, first via Zoom and then a follow-up phone call, about his new project and his busy creative life outside of the Police.
Tell me about your new album. This isn’t the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” or Pink Floyd’s “Animals” with just a few random animal sounds sprinkled in. You seem to be more committed.
Stewart Copeland: Well, yeah, the animals get a much bigger dressing room on this. It’s not just called animal sounds. It is animal sounds.
How did it come about?
Incoming phone call. Platoon Records, which is owned by Apple. They acquired this library from a naturalist, Martyn Stewart, who is like the [British biologist and TV host] David Attenborough of sound. That’s how he’s been described. He spent his life on his hands and knees out in the jungles and in the mountains recording mostly bird sounds, but all these other animals as well. He has this huge library of these sounds and they’re wondering what to do with it. They said, “How about we do some music?” So they called me and said, “Can you work with this?” And I said, “Why yes, I can. Perhaps the reason they called me was because I have been using found sound, beginning with “Rumble Fish,” where Francis [Ford Coppola]’s ears pricked up when I started talking about doing loops with machines, billiard ball breaks, with dogs barking, all kinds of sounds in 1984.”
So how did you compose music using the recordings of animal sounds?
The folders that Martyn would send me were from different locales where the birds might have stopped, ecospheres of these different zones. I’d start with the background sounds, which are just a forest-scape or a wind-scape, and then I would look for the rhythmic elements, certain birds, which are rhythmic, and I’d build rhythms out of that. I didn’t alter any of the sounds. I didn’t change the pitch. I didn’t change the rhythm, but I placed them all very carefully so I build up a rhythm with these rhythm animals, the rhythm section. And then I looked for the long lines, mostly birds, the wolves also have some very long soloistic melodic lines, which are on pitch. But I put a trombone next to those bad boys. And now we’ve got your [John] Coltrane wolves.
Interesting. So, you didn’t autotune any of the animal sounds?
No autotune. No time stretching.
You mentioned “Rumble Fish.” When I put on the album for the first time, I definitely felt those “Rumble Fish” vibes.
Well, that’s all the percussion that I did all by myself here in the studio.
Producer Ricky Kej, left, natural sound recordist Martyn Stewart and Copeland in the studio during the making of “Wild Concerto.”
(Archie Brooksbank)
After doing two albums of reinterpretations of music by the Police was back to nature the only place to go from there?
I forgive myself for looking backwards and doing Police stuff because I’m confident in my forward motion. Right now, I’m running a gigantic opera I wrote and this album about animals, so I’m moving forward doing cool stuff, which makes me more relaxed about looking over my shoulder.
It seems like this is sort of a natural progression from your film composing and orchestrated work.
Yes, absolutely. The other love of my life is the orchestra and all the amazing things it can do. The orchestra has such a huge vocabulary. In my short lifespan, I probably won’t do more than scratch the surface of what an orchestra can do, but I’m working on it.
This album was produced by Ricky Kej, who you’ve worked with in the past. What did he bring to the project?
He’s an incredible musician and a great producer and he works way over there in Bangalore. He came to Abbey Road [in London], which is where we recorded the orchestra and produced a session. Having a producer is a very new thing for me. I went through my whole career never having a producer. The Police never had a producer. We just had recording engineers. And so recently I had an experience with a producer and, man, what took me so long? This is great. Somebody else to lean on, to carry the load and to hit me upside the head when I need to be hit upside the head.
But didn’t the Police have producers listed along with the band, like Hugh Padgham on “Synchronicity”?
He was used to producing Genesis and other civilized, well-behaved, respectful musicians not to be stuck on an island with three a— going at it. He did know where to put the microphones while dodging pizza. He did actually get a good recording. If there was a [more] active producer, he could have helped sort of break up those fights or keep things civil, but maybe not.
Are you still playing polo? [Copeland’s logo on his website is a polo player riding a horse]
No. I traded all the horses in for children, and they turned out to be even more expensive. I’ve got seven kids, which is more expensive than 12 horses.
Wow. What’s the age spread of your kids?
[Starts to say 50 but slurs his words to make it undecipherable] down to 25. And then I’ve got five grandchildren. When you start lying about your kids’ age you know you’re getting up there.
What was the oldest? I didn’t quite make that out?
[Once again starts saying 50 but slurs his words].
Fifty-something?
Yeah, 50-something. We’ll go with that.
Copeland conducting during recording session for “Wild Concerto”
(Archie Brooksbank)
But you still seem young and spry.
My kids became middle-aged before I became decrepit. I could always outrun, out-climb, out-sport all of my kids. And then I started to get creaky around age 70.
Are any of your kids involved in music or showbiz?
Just one. He’s in London. He’s actually a filmmaker but he has the gift of music. He picks up any instrument and the music just falls out of his fingers. And one of my grandchildren, who is 8. Young Arthur hasn’t got any musical chops, but whenever they come over he goes straight to the grand piano and he’s looking for cool stuff on there. You can see that it’s just there in his DNA.
Entertainment
Lucas Museum to give free annual passes to South L.A. neighbors, host community preview day
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is moving at light speed toward its Sept. 22 opening, announced Thursday that it will give free annual passes to its South L.A. neighbors living in the 90037 ZIP Code. The 300,000-square-foot, $1-billion museum located in Exposition Park will also host a special community preview day on Sept. 13, more than a week before the general public gets to step inside.
The 90037 ZIP Code has a population of more than 65,000 and is bordered roughly by the 110 Freeway to the west, Slauson Avenue to the south, Central Avenue to the east and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north. Residents can register for passes at lucasmuseum.org/lm37 and will be alerted in August when the program launches. Pass holders can reserve tickets for themselves and one guest.
Tickets for non-pass holders go on sale July 21. They cost $25 for adults and $21 for seniors. Kids 17 and under are free.
“Storytelling has the power to bring people together and create a sense of community,” said Lucas Museum Chief Executive Tracey Bates in a news release about the program. “Through LM37, we are inviting our South Los Angeles neighbors to make the museum part of their lives and take their own path of discovery through the art, programs and experiences that will help shape this new cultural hub for Los Angeles.”
The community preview day is designed to give local business owners, community partners, civic leaders and registered LM37 pass holders a sneak peak of the 10,000 square feet of exhibition space, as well as the expansive gardens with 11 acres of park space.
The opening programming, curated by co-founder George Lucas, features 20 inaugural exhibitions across more than 30 galleries, including one titled “Star Wars in Motion,” containing vehicle designs, high-speed racers, flying vessels, props, costumes and illustrations from the first six films in the beloved franchise.
More than 1,200 objects will be on display from Lucas’ personal collection of narrative art. Highlights include work by Norman Rockwell and Dorothea Lange, as well as a variety of manga, children’s book illustrations and comics.
Movie Reviews
Movie review: Supergirl is a blast
Last year’s “Superman” ended with Iggy Pop singing “Because I’m a punk rocker, yes I am” — an ironic coda for a superlatively square hero. But it rings straightforwardly true for Superman’s cousin.
Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl, sports not a spandex suit but a Blondie T-shirt. When we meet her in Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl,” she’s been on an interstellar bender for days. She’s more Courtney Love than Clark Kent.
Nonchalant and sarcastic, Kara is also a little Han Solo-ish, you might say, given that she moves capriciously through the galaxy in her junky spaceship while getting in fights in extraterrestrial bars. She’s a welcome, jagged riff on more buttoned-up superheroes, and Alcock is terrific in the role. If only “Supergirl” was as good as she is.
While the latest DC release, and second under James Gunn’s stewardship, has its moments, “Supergirl” struggles to match Kara’s punk-rock energy with an equally spirited supporting cast and story.
Skepticism seems to have gathered for “Supergirl” ahead of its release. Many fans have argued it wasn’t the right next step for DC Universe. But I’m not so sure. Alcock’s breezy cameo in “Superman” was one of that movie’s highlights. Handing the follow-up to her, and her faithful floating dog Krypto, strikes me as an extremely natural next step. When in doubt, follow the dog.
And much of “Supergirl” is winning. It resides almost entirely in space, touching down only momentarily on Earth. In its consistently creative production design, clever needle drops and underdog story arc, “Supergirl” resides a little closer to Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies than other DC entries. Its outer space is filled with cosmic detritus, mean characters and cute critters. Seth Rogen as the voice of a tiny alien co-piloting a space bus is an inspired concoction, as is a shabbier sci-fi realm with rest stops along the intergalactic highway.
Entertainment
Justin Baldoni and wife break silence after ‘It Ends With Us’ legal battle with Blake Lively
Justin Baldoni has broken his silence after reaching a settlement in a lengthy and highly publicized legal dispute with Blake Lively.
Baldoni and his wife, Emily Baldoni, presented a united front in an Instagram video the couple shared Wednesday that began, “So we have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years, and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say, because Lord knows we have.”
The “It Ends With Us” actor and director said that although they’d wanted to address the debacle that involved dueling lawsuits with Lively, nearly two years of tit-for-tat fodder and culminated in a confidential settlement, “something was telling us not to.”
The couple said they prayed about when to make a public statement. “This feels like the moment,” Emily said.
“What does feel important,” she continued, “is that we can genuinely say that we are sitting here today feeling immense gratitude for so many things and so many people and so many things that have happened to us.”
“Gratitude has saved us,” Justin added.
“I also feel that it’s important as we say that — in that gratitude — it doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years, and we’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things,” Emily said. “How could something like this even happen? Let alone disguised as a fight for women. So much to unpack. And the truth is, reality is, is that there’s been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family, which also makes it hard to speak.”
“We don’t even know this is the right thing to say, but we just know we need to share something,” Justin said. “What I will say is that there have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence — “
“Untruthful,” Emily broke in.
“We didn’t want to add to the noise, so we just wanted to let the justice system run its course,” he said.
“And the truth and the facts have spoken for themselves,” Emily said.
The couple’s statement comes a year and a half after Lively filed a bombshell lawsuit against Baldoni alleging sexual harassment, retaliation and several other charges on the heels of a messy “It Ends With Us” summer release and press tour that fueled rumors of on-set turmoil.
Less than a month after the allegations against Baldoni rallied Hollywood against him, he countersued Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million in damages, claiming they’d smeared his name in the press and wrestled away his control of the film. His suit was later dismissed.
In May, two weeks ahead of the trial, Lively and Baldoni reached an agreement to resolve their legal dispute, bringing an abrupt end to the contentious battle.
“The parties in the Blake Lively and Wayfarer Studios litigation have reached an agreement to resolve the matters,” lawyers for both sides said in a joint statement.
“The end product — the movie ‘It Ends With Us’ — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind. We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
In June, a federal judge ordered Baldoni and his production company to pay Lively’s attorney fees related to his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against her, but rejected her bid for additional damages.
“So, how are we doing?” the filmmaker said in the Instagram video. “We are healing, and if you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It lives different every day, and we have had to rethink for ourselves what is real. What matters, and it’s this. It’s our family. It’s our friends. It’s our community. It’s our faith.”
Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.
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