Springsteen Joins Lagy Gaga, Elton John At Rainforest Benefit

Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at Carnegie Hall last night, joining Sting, Elton John, Lady Gaga and other musicians and celebrities for a spirited concert to raise nearly $3 million for the Rainforest Fund. Springsteen performed "Dancing In the Dark" and a cover of Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like A Knife," and joined the all star finale, a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin.'"

The benefit concert, organized by Sting and his wife Trudy Styler, celebrated the 21st birthday of the charitable organization founded by the couple.
 

PHOTOS: ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE AT THE RAINFOREST BENEFIT

The performances were loose and relaxed, with many of the artists performing cover versions and duets. Elton John and Lady Gaga reprised their Grammy Awards pairing with a dual-piano rendition of the "Your Song"/"Speechless" medley. John also played a pair of Madonna covers -- "Like A Virgin" and "Material Girl" -- as well as a searing version of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" with John Sebastian on guitar. Sting and Elton John stayed on the side of the stage for most of the night, doing double duty as hosts and fans.


Other highlights of the nearly two-hour concert included Sting's doing a solo version of the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" plus a duet with Mary J. Blige; Nile Rodgers performing Chic's "Le Freak;" Blondie's Debbie Harry singing "Call Me" and "The Tide Is High;" and Dame Shirley Bassey, whose voice remains ridiculously powerful, did "Hey Big Spender" and "Diamonds Are Forever," inspiring Sting and Elton John to dance out on stage in drag.

The finale united Gaga, Harry, Bassey, Springsteen, John and Sting -- as well as Styler, Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn and the half-naked troupe Rasta Thomas' Bad Boys of Dance - - for Journey's "Don't Stop Believin.'"

Elton John and a stage full of hotties at a charity event

http://ccevideo.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/elton-john-and-a-stage-full-of-hotties-at-a-charity-event/

Filed under: GLBT,Gay Music,News,gay,homosexual,lesbian — ccevideo @ 10:13 am
Tags: gay, GLBT, lgbt, Elton John, rainforest, Sting, Lady Gaga, Carnegie Hall, charity event

Rain forest charity event at Carnegie Hall

Okay so you may not be a fan of Elton John but you have to admit he doesn’t do anything small.  His entire career has been built around his over the top fashion sense and wildly impassioned concert performances (not to mention those signature glasses of his – donned when he was a kid as a tribute to his idle Buddy Holly).  So it should come as no surprise that his latest venture onto the stage is just as elaborate and just as entertaining as the past.

Elton John at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall held a charity event featuring Madonna, Lady Gaga and Sting dressed up in drag and Elton took the stage supported by a cast of hunky underwear clad male back up dancers.  I am sure he was enjoying every minute of it.  The Rainforest Fund along with Sting’s wife Trudie Styler produced the event to support the preservation of rain forests across the world.  I thought you would enjoy these pictures from the event.
I will give it to Elton, at 63 he is still commanding the stage with his electrifying performances.  In his four decade career, Elton John has sold more than 250 million records making him one of the most successful artist of all time.  The single “Candle In The Wind” produced in 1997 single handedly sold more than 37 million copies becoming one of the best selling singles of all time.  He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S.

Don't you wish Elton...don't you wish!!

albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award.  In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.  Elton John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, was knighted Sir Elton John in 1998 and entered into a civil partnership with his partner David Furnish in 2005.  He continues to this day to be a staunch advocate on the worldwide fight to combat AIDS.
Way to go Sir Elton!!

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Sternstunde: Elton John singt Madonna mit halbnackten Tänzern

http://klatsch-tratsch.de/2010/05/14/sternstunde-elton-john-singt-madonna-mit-halbnackten-tanzern/51961

Freitag, 14. Mai 2010, 20:36
New York. Das Kriegsbeil mit Madonna hat er längst begraben. Am Donnerstag bei einem Benefiz-Konzert zugunsten der Rettung der Regenwälder in New Yorks Carnegie Hall überraschte Poplegende Elton John mit einem Medley der Madonna-Songs “Material Girl” und “Like a Virgin”. Unterstützt wurde der 63-jährige von einem Chor unbekleideter Herren. Die acht Jungs trugen lediglich hautenge Badehosen und versuchten sich vor allem im schwulen Posieren.
Der Meister sang übrigens auch mit Lady GaGa im Duett “Speechless” und seinen Klassiker “Your Song”.
Gründungsmitglied Sting, dessen Frau Trudie Styler die Veranstaltung des Fonds produziert hat,  Debbie Harry,  Shirley Bassey und Special Guest Bruce Springsteen waren weitere Stars der Show.
Die Gala fand aus Anlass des 21. Geburtstags des Rainforest Funds statt.

Morocco resists Islamist calls to ban Elton John

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100517/music_nm/us_eltonjohn

By Lamine Ghanmi Lamine Ghanmi – Mon May 17, 1:57 pm ET

RABAT (Reuters) – Elton John will headline Morocco's biggest music festival this week despite calls by religious conservatives for the gay singer to be turned away, the event's organizer said.
Allowing the British singer and songwriter to perform at the Mawazine World Rhythms festival in the capital Rabat would tarnish the image of the north African kingdom, say powerful opposition Islamists.
The writer of "Candle in the Wind '97"', the best-selling single of all time, according to the Guinness Book of Records, has championed sexual freedom and campaigned against the spread of AIDS during a four-decade musical career.
"Elton John is one of the best artists in the world. He is great and extraordinary when he appears on stage. That's why we invite him and welcome him to the Mawazine festival," festival director Aziz Daki told Reuters.
"The private life of a singer is not our business. We do not invite singers and artists after assessing their private lives."
The festival, backed by Morocco's King Mohammed, brings together musicians from 50 countries and has drawn criticism from Islamists who say such events encourage promiscuity and alcohol consumption, corrupting Islamic values.
"We asked the government to exclude this person from the list of artists invited to this festival. This man -- sorry, I should say this person, not this man -- is known for bragging about his homosexuality," said Mustapha Ramid, a leading parliamentarian from the opposition Islamist PJD party.
"Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform because we have to shield the young from such influences," said Ramid.
Khalil Hachemi Idrissi, editor of the French-language daily Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, said: "Such a point of view, if we do not pay enough attention, will quickly turn Morocco into an ostracised country among civilized nations."
Liberal intellectuals see the calls to scrap Elton John from the festival line-up as part of an attempt by religious conservatives to reverse the modernization of Morocco.
Daki said attendance at the festival would be the "ultimate answer" to critics.
Mawazine runs from May 21 to 29 and is due to feature over 100 musicians including Britain's Mika, Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias and Lebanese star Elissa.

American Idol

Report: Elton John turned down offer to replace Simon Cowell

http://blogs.ajc.com/american-idol-blog/2010/05/12/report-elton-john-turned-down-offer-to-replace-simon-cowell/

5:35 pm May 12, 2010, by Rodney Ho
Access Hollywood, citing no specific sources, said part-time Atlantan Elton John had turned down $33 million to take over for Simon Cowell.
There were no more details in the report, which did not say if he was offered a one-year deal or a multi-year deal.
I don’t know if Elton would have made a good pick. Season three, when he guest judged one week, he accused “Idol” of being racist because LaToya London, Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia were in the bottom three one week. He clearly did not understand how “Idol” voting worked.
EW had said that the show will not announce a replacement until after the finale May 26.

Elton John : une nuit à 38 000 euros à Cannes ?

http://www.dontmiss.fr/n28547-1/elton-john-une-nuit-a-38-000-euros-a-cannes.html

C'est le potin du jour : Elton John a fait un passage très discret pour faire la promo du dessin animé "Roméo et Juliette" dont il a réalisé plusieurs  chansons.

Accompagné de son compagnon David Furnish,
il a improvisé un concert de 40 minutes dans un salon du Majestic.

Mais il se dit aussi qu'il a loué le nouveau penthouse de l'hôtel et qu'il aurait déboursé la coquette somme de 38 000 euros.

Elton John sera de nouveau à Cannes le 20 mai à l'occasion du gala contre le Sida organisé chaque année par l'amfAR, la fondation de Liz Taylor.

CANNES: Saoirse Ronan Slays, Elton John Sings, Festival Buying Crowd Responds

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/soairse-ronan-slays-elton-john-sings-and-the-cannes-buying-crowd-responds/

By MIKE FLEMING | Tags: Actors, Film Festivals, Foreign | Sunday May 16, 2010 @ 12:31pm EDT

The Cannes marketplace is just getting underway, but what's selling? So far, the most significant deal was the Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group's buy of most key territories on Hanna, the Joe Wright-directed action film that casts Saoirse Ronan in a La Femme Nikita role, playing a teen bad-ass trying to rescue her survivalist father and using all the death-dealing skills he taught her. Focus Features has domestic distribution and is selling foreign, and SPWAG bought most of the world -- no UK, Australia, Russia, Greece or the Middle East, but almost everywhere else -- based on 1 minute and a half of footage and a look at the script. Unusual to see a studio-funded specialty film division like Universal-based Focus selling to a rival, but Sony was aggressive, and willing to scoop up hard to pre-sell territories like Japan, and it presented a grand roll-out plan for a film that could do quite well. The SPWAG has a knack for picking winners that recently included District 9. Cate Blanchett also stars.
Gnomeo and Juliet, one of those orphaned Miramax titles that was pulled out of the pending sale to Harvey Weinstein, got buyers sparked up after Pathe showed about 10 minutes of the film at the Majestic Saturday afternoon. The animated film will be converted to 3D but buyers saw it in 2D. After the showing, the film's songwriter, Elton John, got up, gave a speech and sang one of the songs. It went over well with the crowd and I hear it's selling well. Disney set it for a February, 2011 release through its Touchstone banner, and not the Disney label which is apparently reserved for home-grown family titles.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Morocco welcomes Elton John

http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2010/05/morocco-welcomes-elton-john.html

Religious screechers' attempts to get Elton John disinvited from playing Rabat's Mawazine World Rhythms festival have been rebuffed, and he'll still going to go.

"We asked the government to exclude this person from the list of artists invited to this festival. This man -- sorry, I should say this person, not this man -- is known for bragging about his homosexuality," said Mustapha Ramid, a leading parliamentarian from the opposition Islamist PJD party.

"Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform because we have to shield the young from such influences," said Ramid.

Given that Morocco is known as the place where Joe Orton would go to pick up young men, it might be a bit late to start trying to salvage the image of the country.

You've got to love Mustapha's "this man, oooh, no, he's not a man at all" gag. Although if John isn't a man, then surely there's no way he could cause a problem having sex with men? Hasn't really thought this through, has he?

Still, the festival is having none of it:

"Elton John is one of the best artists in the world. He is great and extraordinary when he appears on stage. That's why we invite him and welcome him to the Mawazine festival," festival director Aziz Daki told Reuters.

"The private life of a singer is not our business. We do not invite singers and artists after assessing their private lives."

That's great - although, apparently, they don't invite singers on the basis of their recent work, either.

Happy IDAHO, everybody. Happy IDAHO. --



http://eltonjohnspics.blogspot.com/