Good Friday: Beck performs on James Corden's show; Courtney Barnett appreciation; Morrissey to tour; The Dovekeepers soundtrack; Record Store Day

Good Friday everybody. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend and here is a quick roundup of big news to share this morning...

Last night, James Corden presented his show (The Late Late Show with James Corden broadcast on CBS Television Network) from the living room of a stranger’s house! Beck surprised James, Jeff Goldblum and the house residents, Tommy, Jessica and Luke, and performed for the first time since the Grammy Awards! Check out the fantastic performance of "Country Down" embedded below. 

Dustin Calder has written a fairly lengthy and good appreciation of Aussie singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett that appears in Music News Nashville. I saw her at Coachella several years ago, and her star has really been on the rise, especially in the wake of her most recent release Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. You can read my review of her appearance at Weekend #2 of Coachella last year here.

Yes, it's true. Morrissey has announced a 2015 tour. Get all the details via a Consequence of Sound article posted here. Although he has not yet posted any summer dates here in Southern California, he is set to wrap up his 2015 trek with a July 25, 2015 date in San Jose, CA.

 Varèse Sarabande will release The Dovekeepers – Original Television Soundtrack digitally on April 7, 2015 and coming soon on CD.  The limited event miniseries features original music by Jeff Beal (HOUSE OF CARDS, MONK).  The 2CD set features almost two and half hours of music from the CBS miniseries about the siege of Masada.  A special suite of the music is being created by Beal and will be premiered at the Krakow Film Music Festival (May 27-31) in Poland.

“Alice Hoffman’s novel tells the Masada story through the prism of the personal; four strong and passionate women who give voice to a side of this history we haven’t seen before,” Beal described.  Beal was asked by Yves Simoneau to compose the music for THE DOVEKEEPERS only a few months after he and his wife returned from a trip to Israel where they had visited Masada.  “It’s hard to imagine a place that contains such natural splendor contrasted with the tragic fate of the Jews of 70 A.D. who sought refuge from the Romans there.”

A lauded Emmy award-winning composer, Jeff Beal is a member of a new generation of passionate and talented composers. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Beal received his first national attention while in college as the recipient of an unprecedented 11 "db" awards from Downbeat Magazine for his recordings as a jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger.

As a film composer, Beal has collaborated with Ed Harris’ on his critically acclaimed directorial debut, Pollock, as well as Appaloosa. Other TV and film scores include director Bob Rafelson’s No Good Deed, William H. Macy’s acclaimed Door to Door, The Passion of Ayn Rand, From the Earth to the Moon (episode 9), the theme and underscore for USA’s hit series, Monk, and ABC’s Ugly Betty. Beal’s documentary scoring credits include the critically acclaimed films Blackfish and Tibet: Cry Of The Snow Lion, which chronicles the history and religious life of Tibet. He has collaborated on several projects with Academy® Award winning director Jessica Yu including her feature length documentary, In the Realms of the Unreal, as well as Last Call at the Oasis and The Guide. Other documentary films Beal has scored include The Queen of Versailles, The Battle of AmfAR, and When I Walk. Beal has received several Emmy Awards for music including NBC Sports division's documentary, Peggy and Dorothy, as well as Monk. Beal recently scored the third and final season of HBO’s Emmy winning series The Newsroom as well as the third season of Netflix’s Emmy winning original series House of Cards. Playing both the trumpet and the piano on the show’s main title theme, Beal sets the tone for the central themes of power, greed and manipulation.

The Dovekeepers stars Cote de Pablo, Rachel Brosnahan and Kathryn Prescott in the title dovekeeper roles, Sam Neill as first-century Jewish scholar and historian Josephus, and Diego Boneta as a star warrior of the Jewish army at Masada. The series is based on Alice Hoffman's bestselling, critically acclaimed historical novel about a group of extraordinary women whose lives intersect in a fight for survival at the siege of Masada.

Set in ancient Israel, THE DOVEKEEPERS is based on the true events at Masada in 70 C.E. After being forced out of their home in Jerusalem by the Romans, 900 Jews were ensconced in a fortress at Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. Besieged at Masada, the Jews held out for months against the vast Roman armies. The project will recount the events from the perspective of a few extraordinary women who arrive at Masada with unique backstories, but a common bond for survival. Additionally, these women, who work together daily as dovekeepers, are all concealing substantial secrets.

“I’m honored to stand with such talented collaborators who brought such passion for history and emotion to this film,” Beal said.  “I hope you enjoy this music as an homage to the timeless values of love, family, and hope, and the strength displayed by these remarkable women of history.”

CBS Entertainment presents The Dovekeepers, a four-hour limited event series from executive producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, broadcasted on Tuesday, March 31 and Wednesday, April 1, 2015 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT). THE DOVEKEEPERS – Original Television Soundtrack on Varèse Sarabande, will be available digitally on April 7, 2015 and coming soon on CD. 

http://www.varesesarabande.com/      

Finally, ready for Record Store Day? Here are some last-minute releases set to be issued at the April 18th event? (I can't wait; I'll be at Coachella but hope to score a few titles there...). Blurt has all the last-minute titles, including those from Johnny Cash, Big Star and more!