Live Music: Reggae Sumfest "gets Common"

Organizers of the Reggae Sumfest Music Festival recently announced Oscar and Grammy-winner, rapper/actor Common has been added to perform at its 20th staging at the summer music festival taking place from July 12-18 in Montego Bay.

"We are elated to have a performer of the magnitude of Common on the Reggae Sumfest stage. He is a versatile artiste, and undoubtedly he will add something very special that our audience will be able to appreciate. He has a unique and vibrant style that will excite patrons," explained executive director of Summerfest Productions, Johnny Gourzong.

The artiste comes as the first announced international act billed to take the stage at its Catherine Hall home on International Night 1 (July 17).

Common recently received an Academy Award win for the song Glory, a collaboration with singer John Legend which was featured in the film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay and starring David Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey.

In addition to "Selma" his screen credits include "Smokin' Aces" "American Gangster" "Just Wright" and "happy Feet Two"

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"Taken" slays box office; Hollywood old guard slays "Selma"

Finale to Fox’s vengeance franchise powers to $40 million triumph as Oscar hopeful “Selma” stumbles in expansion

Liam Neeson and “Taken 3” went out with a loud bang at the box office this weekend, opening to a better-than-expected $40.4 million as the highly regarded civil rights drama “Selma” stumbled in its national expansion.
The final installment of the EuropaCorp vengeance movie franchise that turned the 62-year-old Neeson into an action star knocked “The Hobbit” out of the top spot after three weeks with the second-best January opening ever, and easily outpaced the weekend’s other wide opener, the awards hopeful “Selma.” And with another $41 million in grosses from overseas, “Taken 3″ had an $81 million weekend globally.
Paramount Pictures expanded “Selma” from 22 to 2,179 theaters and it wound up second with an estimated $11.2 million three-day total, under the expectations of analysts and the studio. By comparison, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” opened to $24.6 million last year, but that was in far more theaters (2,933) and August, a less-competitive slot for awards hopefuls.The underwhelming debut capped a tough week for the Ava DuVernay-directed drama, which was overlooked for top honors at the British Academy Film Awards nominations Friday, after being similarly snubbed by the Producers Guild earlier in the week.

“Selma” was expected to land in the mid to high-teen millions by analysts and the studio. It had performed strongly and earned $2 million in limited release since opening in 23 theaters on Christmas Day. But making the mainstream leap may take some time for the historical drama based on the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches in Alabama. The film has been drawn into a controversy after questions surrounding the historical accuracy of the relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson.