Pop stars' unbelievable backstage riders

Secret backstage requests from all your favourite musicians. Pictures: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

FROM Beyonce to Sinatra: Fried chicken to iced cheese. Check out the outrageous backstage requests from music's biggest names.

Riders, often outrageously demanded by celebrities, are lists of items requested by musicians for themselves and their entourage while on tour.

Items can be anything from food and drink, musical equipment, even decoration of dressing rooms.

You won’t be surprised to guess that when it comes to the demands of some of music’s biggest names, there’s no item too far fetched.

Demands for everything from Gummi bears to condoms, royal portraits to M&Ms (with absolutely no brown ones) barely raise an eyebrow.

Henry Hargreaves has staged a set of images depicting the demands of these superstars.

Frank Sinatra: One bottle each: Absolute, Jack Daniels, Chivas Regal, Courvoisier, Beefeater Gin, white wine, red wine. Twenty-four chilled jumbo shrimp, Life Savers, cough drops. Picture: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

The Kiwi-native photographer who has been based in Brooklyn since 2001 worked with his food and props stylist Caitlin Levin to create these stunning and insightful images.

Brittney Spears: Fish and chips, McDonalds cheeseburgers without the buns, 100 prunes and figs, a framed photo of Princess Diana. Picture: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

We spoke to Hargreaves about this food-based project and why people are so fascinated about the secret lives of their favourite celebrities:

"Tastes say so much about a person. I like the way people’s taste in food can represent a person."

Rihanna: Hard-boiled eggs, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, at any time throughout the day. Please be prepared! Picture: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

Using food as a commonality between the regular person and celebrity Hargreaves is able to tie a link between our lives and the lives of our favourite stars.

"I was a waiter and bar tender when I was younger. I could almost pick what someone was going to order before they ordered.

Van Halen: Herring in sour cream, large tube of KY jelly, M&M's (Warning: absolutely no brown ones). Picture: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

"I love the way that food can be a common denominator, you can connect with someone over a shared love of food."

The most shocking items on the list?

"While no one item was in itself shocking, it was surprising to read shock-rocker Marilyn Manson wanted Gummi Bears backstage.

Marilyn Manson: Gummi bears. Picture: Henry Hargreaves Source: Supplied

"The saddest was Britney Spears and her request for a portrait of princess Diana. There's something that’s quite empty about that."

Hargreaves' favourite requests came from band Axl Rose and Frank Sinatra but noted that Jagger demands a TV connection so he can watch the cricket. Gotta love that.

Scroll down to see the rest.

Images used with the kind permission of the artist.

See more of his work here.

View the original article here

Stars unite for Boston benefit

New Kids on the Block, from left, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, and Danny Wood. Source: AP

AEROSMITH, New Kids on the Block and Carole King are among the performers set for a Boston Marathon benefit concert.

The show, to be held on May 30 at the TD Garden, will benefit One Fund - the collection of donations that will be distributed to the survivors of the April 15 bombings and the families of those killed in the attack.

Other confirmed acts include Jason Aldean, Boston, Extreme, Godsmack, The J. Geils Band, James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett. Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block said that like other native Bostonians he and his bandmates are honoured to do their part.

Comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright also are in the lineup.

Tickets range from $US35 to $US285 ($34-$277). They go on sale on Monday.

View the original article here

Wayne's World stars 'to end feud'

Dana Carvey and Mike Myers starred in two Wayne's World movies together before reportedly falling out.

THE creators of Wayne's World are ready to party on again at a reunion event 20 years after falling out with one another.

Stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey and director Penelope Spheeris are set to appear at a panel together at the Academy's Wilshire Boulevard headquarters in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The reunion comes two decades after Carvey, who played Garth in two Wayne's World movies, reportedly fell out with Myers, who played Wayne. The feud was said to have been caused by the Dr. Evil impression from Austin Powers, which Carvey felt Myers had stolen from him. 

Spheeri, who directed the first Wayne's World, also fell out with Myers when he stopped her directing the 1993 sequel because she ignored his edit suggestions on the original. 

The Hollywood panel will be hosted by Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, reportedly the inspiration for Carvey's original Dr. Evil skit.

"We're all getting too old to be pissed," said Spheeris. "Wayne's World has such a beautiful, uplifting spirit about it. Why should there be a dark cloud? This is going to be cathartic. Everyone's going to walk out of there high - sort of like they did when they watched the movie."

View the original article here

Google search reaches for the stars

This artist rendering shows the different types of planets in our Milky Way galaxy detected by NASAs Kepler spacecraft. Source: Supplied

INTERNET giant Google its taking its search function to new heights: Finding new planets, no less.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be launched in 2017 and will see Google join NASA to send a set of specialist cameras in to space to scan the skies for planets orbiting bright nearby stars.

NASA has said the satellite will focus upon stars likely to have Earth-like planets.

It will use a technique to analyse starlight to find planets as they swing around their stars, similar to that used by the Kepler telescope which has already found some 2700 orbiting bodies.

"TESS will carry out the first space-borne all-sky transit survey, covering 400 times as much sky as any previous mission," George Ricker, TESS' principle investigator, said in a statement.

"It will identify thousands of new planets in the solar neighbourhood, with a special focus on planets comparable in size to the Earth."

NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to capture a small asteroid and park it near the moon to explore.

Google's role so far extends back to 2008 when it provided initial funding for the development of the telescope's sensors and optical cameras.

Are there plans to launch a Google Space View to join its terrestrial equivalent?

Google has not said.

The launch is one of two projects slated by NASA to be launched in 2017.

The second involves a neutron star scanner to be fitted to the International Space Station.

This illustration provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows artist's renderings of planets Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f compared with Venus and the Earth. Scientists have found the two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere.

View the original article here

Google search reaches for the stars

This artist rendering shows the different types of planets in our Milky Way galaxy detected by NASAs Kepler spacecraft. Source: Supplied

INTERNET giant Google its taking its search function to new heights: Finding new planets, no less.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be launched in 2017 and will see Google join NASA to send a set of specialist cameras in to space to scan the skies for planets orbiting bright nearby stars.

NASA has said the satellite will focus upon stars likely to have Earth-like planets.

It will use a technique to analyse starlight to find planets as they swing around their stars, similar to that used by the Kepler telescope which has already found some 2700 orbiting bodies.

"TESS will carry out the first space-borne all-sky transit survey, covering 400 times as much sky as any previous mission," George Ricker, TESS' principle investigator, said in a statement.

"It will identify thousands of new planets in the solar neighbourhood, with a special focus on planets comparable in size to the Earth."

NASA is planning for a robotic spaceship to capture a small asteroid and park it near the moon to explore.

Google's role so far extends back to 2008 when it provided initial funding for the development of the telescope's sensors and optical cameras.

Are there plans to launch a Google Space View to join its terrestrial equivalent?

Google has not said.

The launch is one of two projects slated by NASA to be launched in 2017.

The second involves a neutron star scanner to be fitted to the International Space Station.

This illustration provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows artist's renderings of planets Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f compared with Venus and the Earth. Scientists have found the two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere.

View the original article here