This weekend, the annual BET Hip Hop Awards commenced in Atlanta—and the evening was anything but dull. 2010’s breakout female rapper, Nicki Minaj, took home three awards: Rookie of the Year, People’s Champ and the Made You Look award. The evening also included performances by Big Boi, B.o.B, Digital Underground, Internet phenomenon Antoine “Bed Intruder” Dodson, and even MC Hammer—who was accompanied by Rick Ross and Diddy for an incredible rendition of “2 Legit 2 Quit”. Flip through to check out all the highlights from Saturday night. More »
Vic Mizzy, a songwriter who was probably best known for penning the themes to ’60s sitcoms The Addams Family and Green Acres, passed away Saturday at his home in Bel Air, Calif. Mizzy, a Brooklyn native, rose up through the vaudeville circuit, eventually writing standards for the likes of Doris Day and Dean Martin. He provided lead vocals for the theme to The Addams Family, and gave the show’s principals direction on just how to snap their fingers while feigning boredom. In the ’60s, he composed music for a slew of movies starring Don Knotts; ater in his career, Sam Raimi asked him to contribute music for the DVD release of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. A few of Mizzy’s compositions (as performed by Day and They Might Be Giants, among others) after the jump. More »
In yet another sign that everyone everywhere is pretty much out of ideas for good, a musical based on The Addams Family is coming to Broadway next year, with Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane in the head-of-household roles: “In this original story, the famously macabre Addams Family is put to the test when outsiders come to dinner, hurling Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester, Grandmama and Lurch headlong into a night that will change the family forever.” Ooh, forever. However! The show’s music is credited to a bunch of people who are definitely not MC Hammer, thus robbing Times Square’s tourist masses of the chance to see “Addams Groove” in full-on production number form. What a shame! I hope this is just because there’s an MC Hammer jukebox musical in the works. [Playbill / YouTube] More »
