Fan Fare
Entertainment behind the scenes
‘S Wonderful? Brian Wilson tackles Gershwins’ catalog
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. And Brian Wilson is raising the temperature with an album of Gershwin covers. The 14-track album, “Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin,” comes out in the United States and Canada (and Brazil) on Aug. 17 via Disney, in time to make the Grammys’ eligibility deadline. It reaches Australia and Asia the following week, and finally makes it to Europe on Sept. 6.
Among the usual suspects — “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and “Summertime” — are two obscure tunes likely to excite fans of George and Ira Gershwin: “The Like in I Love You” and “Nothing But Love.” The former is an outtake from the 1924 musical “Lady, Be Good!” The latter is based on an unfinished 1929 song “Say My Say.” They are drawn from more than 100 piano demos left by composer George Gershwin at his death in 1937, and made available last year to Wilson by the Gershwin estates and their publisher Warner/Chappell Music. Wilson completed the pair with bandmate Scott Bennett.
At an industry listening party in West Hollywood on Wednesday, a Disney marketing executive said the two songs are “a key selling point” of the album, and he urged guests to get the album “out to the mainstream.” Maybe an alliance with United Airlines would help? Wilson, 68 (pictured at left with Beach Boy Al Jardine in January), attended the event, reprising the album’s a cappella version of the aforementioned carrier’s theme song “Rhapsody in Blue” with his bandmates, but otherwise not saying much.
“Thank you very much. It’s lovely to have you with us. Good night,” he said before being hustled off to a side room to escape the intensifying chatter as the vinyl version played. (One interesting piece of gossip: Wilson, according to a pal, is driving for the first time in decades.)
Adam Lambert — still out to shock
Remember “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert?
Last season, his penchant for flashy costumes and eye makeup on the No. 1-rated TV talent show earned him the nickname “Glambert”. After the show ended, he disclosed publicly that he was gay. You can read about it here and here.
The cover of his forthcoming debut album “For Your Entertainment” is getting people talking about Lambert all over again, six months after he lost the “Idol” title to Kris Allen.
