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"It's, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion.... It's a rather joyous song." ~ Leonard Cohen, creator of the song, Hallelujah. He says: "I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view... It's the notion that there is no perfection ~ that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances." Canadian indie singer-songwriter Allison Crowe's uniquely potent interpretation is heard on her album, "Tidings". (The song enjoys increasingly wide appreciation - even marching into the mainstream in 2008 with a tv performance by American Idol contestant Jason Castro and by UK X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. Leonard Cohen himself has been inspiring audiences on tour this year - he performed Hallelujah as the sun set on Glastonbury 2008.) "It's not hard to see why Crowe's Hallelujah -- recorded in a single take -- is popular. It's one of Leonard Cohen's most affecting songs, and the 26-year-old, accompanying herself on piano, makes it her own with raw honesty and formidable vocal power. It's simultaneously heart-breaking and redemptive, and it has captured the imaginations of people around the world. 'The song itself is just so emotionally resonant,' Crowe said modestly this week." ~ Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist (Canada) "Bet you thought you heard all the versions you need to hear of this song, right? Think again, because Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with. She is from Vancouver Island in Canada, descended from Scottish, Irish, and Manx stock. She's exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and that's just what she's doing." ~ Record of the Day (UK) "Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. This song has somehow become Crowe's signature, if a singer who defies description as stubbornly as she does has a signature... Cohen's original version is a spoken poem, all of the meaning contained in the words. Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction." ~ anacronym (Canada) "Crowe's warm, natural, passionate - and need I add lovely? - voice are perhaps shown to best effect on another glorious standard, Leonard Cohen's magnificent and deeply spiritual quest for faith, Hallelujah." ~ Martin Levin, Women's Post (Canada) "j'ai rarement été bouleversée à ce point par une voix féminine. Pure comme de la glace, puissante et même violente sur la reprise de l'Hallelujah de Leonard Cohen." (en Francais - English translation follows) "I have never been so moved by a woman's voice. Pure as ice, powerful and even violent on the cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah." ~ SplinterMuse (France) "(Jeff) Buckley especially just blew the song to pieces and every artist after him has tried and failed to put it back together. Until now. Allison Crowe manages to pump 'Hallelujah' full of all the soaring vocals and raw emotion that it requires. And the result is a big beautiful lump in the throat." ~ Muruch (USA) blog praises the Buckley and Crowe versions as very different, each great in its own way Allison's hometown covers the whole of Canada - from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island to Corner Brook, Newfoundland. It's a land rich with songs of glory, joy and rare, natural, beauty.

Russell Crowe talks about Hollywood politics, being an outsider, and not 'playing the game' for the media. Free video clip from the popular british talk show 'Parkinson'.

Share with your friends :)) Raymond Crowe is Australia's only UNUSUALIST. Raymond has performed at: CAESARS PALACE Las Vegas NBC's "WORLDS GREATEST MAGIC" and The QE2 He was outstanding in Las Vegas. He was outstanding on the High Seas. And now he's outstanding -- out the back -- waiting to come on!! Please welcome the Secret World of... RAYMOND CROWE unusualist http://www.raymondcrowe.com Tuesday, 23rd October 2007 #10 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Travel & Events - Australia #3 - Most Responded (Today) - Travel & Events - Australia #8 - Most Responded (This Week) - Travel & Events - Australia #72 - Most Responded (This Month) - Travel & Events - Australia #44 - Most Responded (All Time) - Travel & Events - Australia #1 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Travel & Events - Australia #1 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Travel & Events - Australia #18 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Travel & Events - Global #1 - Top Rated (All Time) - Travel & Events - Australia #18 - Top Rated (All Time) - Travel & Events - Global I don't claim this video to be mine, All credits and appreciations go to the actual performer Raymond Crowe.

Beat-boxer Dave Crowe auditioning on Britain's Got Talent 2008, week 2.

Russell and Marcia Hines singing at AFI Awards

http://www.blacktree.tv/ American Gangster, The Return of Superfly Frank Lucas, once the city's biggest, baddest heroin kingpin the original O.G. in chinchilla, now seems like just a very likable guy. But don't be fooled. * By Mark Jacobson * Published Aug 14, 2000 During the early seventies, when for a sable-coat-wearing, Superfly-strutting instant of urban time he was perhaps the biggest heroin dealer in Harlem, Frank Lucas would sit at the corner of 116th Street and Eighth Avenue in a beat-up Chevrolet he called Nellybelle. Then living in a suite at the Regency Hotel with 100 custom-made, multi-hued suits in the closet, Lucas owned several cars. He had a Rolls, a Mercedes, a Corvette Sting Ray, and a 427 muscle job he'd once topped out at 160 mph near Exit 16E of the Jersey Turnpike, scaring himself so silly that he gave the car to his brother's wife just to get it out of his sight. But for "spying," Nellybelle was best. "Who'd think I'd be in a shit $300 car like that?" asks Lucas, who claims he'd clear up to $1 million a day selling dope on 116th Street. "One-sixteenth Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue was mine. I bought it. I ran it. I owned it," Lucas says. "When something is yours, you've got to be Johnny-on-the-spot, ready to take it to the top. So I'd sit in Nellybelle by the Roman Garden Bar, cap pulled down, with a fake beard, dark glasses, long wig . . . I'd be up beside people dealing my stuff, and no one knew who I was . . ." It was a matter of control, and trust. As the leader of the heroin-dealing ring called the Country Boys, Lucas, older brother to Ezell, Vernon Lee, John Paul, Larry, and Leevan Lucas, was known for restricting his operation to blood relatives and others from his rural North Carolina area hometown. This was because, Lucas says, in his down-home creak of a voice, "a country boy, he ain't hip . . . he's not used to big cars, fancy ladies, and diamond rings. He'll be loyal to you. A country boy, you can give him any amount of money. His wife and kids might be hungry, and he'll never touch your stuff until he checks with you. City boys ain't like that. A city boy will take your last dime, look you in the face, and swear he ain't got it . . . You don't want a city boy -- the sonofabitch is just no good." Back in the early seventies, there were many "brands" of dope in Harlem. Tru Blu, Mean Machine, Could Be Fatal, Dick Down, Boody, Cooley High, Capone, Ding Dong, Fuck Me, Fuck You, Nice, Nice to Be Nice, Oh -- Can't Get Enough of That Funky Stuff, Tragic Magic, Gerber, The Judge, 32, 32-20, O.D., Correct, Official Correct, Past Due, Payback, Revenge, Green Tape, Red Tape, Rush, Swear to God, PraisePraisePraise, KillKillKill, Killer 1, Killer 2, KKK, Good Pussy, Taster's Choice, Harlem Hijack, Joint, Insured for Life, and Insured for Death were only a few of the brand names rubber-stamped onto cellophane bags. But none sold like Frank Lucas's Blue Magic. "That's because with Blue Magic, you could get 10 percent purity," Lucas asserts. "Any other, if you got 5 percent, you were doing good. We put it out there at four in the afternoon, when the cops changed shifts. That gave you a couple of hours before those lazy bastards got down there. My buyers, though, you could set your watch by them. By four o'clock, we had enough niggers in the street to make a Tarzan movie. They had to reroute the bus on Eighth Avenue. Call the Transit Department if it's not so. By nine o'clock, I ain't got a fucking gram. Everything is gone. Sold . . . and I got myself a million dollars. "I'd sit there in Nellybelle and watch the money roll in," says Frank Lucas of those near-forgotten days when Abe Beame lay his pint-size head upon the pillow at Gracie Mansion. "And no one even knew it was me. I was a shadow. A ghost . . . what we call down home a haint . . . That was me, the Haint of Harlem."

Canuck indie singer-songwriter Allison Crowe pays tribute to one of her great inspirations, Joni Mitchell, in this live performance of River ~ a song from Mitchell's timeless album, "Blue". The song appears on Allison Crowe's "Tidings" album. "An intensely moving rendition of "River," one of my favorite holiday tunes. When the artist sings the crystalline, sorrowful line "I made my baby cry," you can almost feel the tears welling up inside." ~ Carol Swanson, ChristmasReviews & Professor of Law at Hamline University (USA) "One of my favorites; there is a pinch of Shawn (Colvin) in Allison's voice, except imo Allison has more punch and emotional bite in her vocals. She makes singing this song seem easy, and anyone who's tried it will tell you it's not." ~ Bob Muller, Joni Mitchell Discussion List (USA) "truly transcendent" ~ Joseph Blake, The Times Colonist (Canada)

Stay tuned for exclusive interviews with the cast of American Gangsta on www.BlackTree.TV AMERICAN GANGSTER Scheduled for release: November 2, 2007 Genre: Drama Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carla Gugino, John Hawkes, Ted Levine, RZA, T.I., Yul Vazquez Directed by: Ridley Scott Writer: Steve Zaillian Produced by: Brian Grazer Executive Producers: Nick Pileggi, Steve Zaillian, Branko Lustig, Karen Kehela Sherwood, James Whitaker, Michael Costigan Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Brian Grazer, Steve Zaillian and Ridley Scott team to tell the true juggernaut success story of a cult hero from the streets of 1970s Harlem in American Gangster. Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Oscar® winner Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts (Oscar® winner Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top. Washington (Training Day) and Crowe (Gladiator) lead a spectacular cast of accomplished and rising stars—including Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carla Gugino, T.I., RZA and John Ortiz—in this blistering tale of a true American entrepreneur directed by Oscar® nominee Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and produced by Academy Award® winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind) from a screenplay by Academy Award® winner Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List). Birth Name Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. Nickname D Height 6' 0½" (1.84 m) Mini Biography Tall, strikingly handsome leading man of films and television in the 1980s and 1990s, Denzel Washington was born in 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the middle child of the 3 children of a Pentecostal minister father and a beautician mother. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at Fordham University intent on a career in journalism. However, he caught the acting bug while appearing in student drama productions and upon graduation he moved to San Francisco and enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater. He left A.C.T. after only 1 year to seek work as an actor. With his acting versatility and powerful sexual presence, he had no difficulty finding work in numerous television productions. He made his first big screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Through the 1980s he worked in both movies and television and was chosen for the plum role of Dr. Chandler in NBC's hit medical series "St. Elsewhere" (1982), a role that he would play for 6 years. In 1989 he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tripp, the runaway slave in Edward Zwick's powerful historical masterpiece Glory (1989). Through the 1990s Denzel co-starred in such big budget productions as The Pelican Brief (1993); Philadelphia (1993); Crimson Tide (1995); The Preacher's Wife (1996); and Courage Under Fire (1996) - a role for which he was paid $10 million. He lives quietly in Los Angeles with his wife Pauletta and their 4 children. Cerebral and meticulous in his film work, he made his debut as a director in 2002 with Antwone Fisher (2002). Born in New Zealand, Russell has made his home in Australia since he was a small child. The son of movie set caterers, Russell got the acting bug early in life. Beginning as a child star on a local Australian TV show, Russell's first big break came with two films the first, Romper Stomper (1992), gained him a name throughout the film community in Australia and the neighboring countries. The second, The Sum of Us (1994), helped put him on the American map, so to speak. Sharon Stone heard of him from Romper Stomper (1992) and wanted him for her film, The Quick and the Dead (1995). But filming on The Sum of Us (1994) had already begun. Sharon is reported to have held up shooting until she had her gunslinger-Crowe, for her film.

"It's, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion... It's a rather joyous song." ~ Leonard Cohen. The songwriter also says: "I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view... It's the notion that there is no perfection ~ that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances." By request, Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen's song, fittingly described by Allison Crowe as "awesome", is seen/heard here performed live in the tv studio. It's part of Crowe's "Tidings" special ~ broadcast across Canada each December (since 2003 by CHUM's A-Channel network) and her album of the same name. The one-hour music program was created by Producer Doug Slack and his team "Inside Pandora's Box". Allison Crowe joins a host of artists, including Popa Chubby, Dresden Dolls, kd lang, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and John Cale, each in their own ways, expressing the genius of Leonard Cohen. "Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'... it's one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I am happy to report that Allison Crowe does it justice and then some. Her voice will give you chills. If it doesn't, check your pulse, you may not be alive. It's incredibly moving." ~ Amy Lotsberg, Collected Sounds (USA) "...a radiant, rousing, celebratory rendition of Leonard Cohen's lovely 'Hallelujah' " ~ Shirley Goldberg, Mo Magazine (Canada) "Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah,' which, as performed by Allison Crowe, may be one of the most amazing things ever recorded onto magnetic tape." ~ Semper Ubi Sub Ubi (USA) "HALLELUJAH is absolutely the best version I have ever heard of that song...and there have been some almost perfect recordings of it. But (Crowe)s takes the cake. Powerful, yet vulnerable. Sexy and innocent. Just amazing." ~ Steven Stewart, MusicFreedom (Finland) "Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. This song has somehow become Crowe's signature, if a singer who defies description as stubbornly as she does has a signature... Cohen's original version is a spoken poem, all of the meaning contained in the words. Crowe's version is a living thing, a meditation and a celebration and a benediction." ~ anacronym (Canada)

Canadian musician Allison Crowe performs live-in-the-studio, Let It Be. The Beatles songbook is rich for interpreters and this gospel-inflected tune by John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one which Allison Crowe loves to perform and have audiences sing along. "Let It Be", the audio version, is on Crowe's album "Tidings".

Editor, Lisa Churgin ("House of Sand and Fog," "Cider House Rules") on Russell Crowe winning Best Actor for "Gladiator" - 73rd Annual Academy Awards®.

Here, musician Allison Crowe performs the traditional carol, The First Noel. This recording was made live-off-the-floor one Canadian Winter - as a gift for Allison's Fan Club.

Time Out Film interviews Russell Crowe on his role in Ridley Scott's 'American Gangster'.

An unsuspecting builder and plumber are asked to survey a site they believe needs work. They man they come to meet seems to think he's Maximus though. Heres a message from one of the great sports involved! "N15gooner" Ringers....Fame at last. Ringers....Fame at last. Robert, Thanx for posting the "ringers" sketch up,.. I'm the fat plumber on the second half of the sketch, its really weird to see yourself on you tube, showed it to my little girl who was amazed to see her dad on the internet. We run a small Plumbing and heating firm in St Albans Hertfordshire, my business partner new someone that new someone on the BBC production team, and put me up for it, I was sent over to meet a rep from St Albans council to carry out an estimate for some work on the site of the Roman walls and theatre, when I got there a young girl met me and said that she had double booked the reps appointment and he was having his photos taken for some publicity shots, And would I mind meeting him while he was dressed as a Roman General, When I walked onto the set they production team were taking photos of him, just to add to the con of it. It was filmed in September 2002 and first aired at Christmas, I didn't watch it, but I knew it was on when I had ten calls and text messages from my pals ripping the mickey from me. I was in a Local builders merchants, when a little old lady asked me If I was the lad from the telly, I denied it and said "it was me brother luv, nobody would get me like that" some of my mates still take the mickey even today, but you have to take it the way its ment, with good humour. Anyways best be off, I've got an aquaduct to build between St Albans and Londinium, but I might sub-contract it out to Freddie McAlpine. Best wishes, Marcus Ludicrus. Aka Mark the Plumber, St Albans.

This is a dvd release by Whitehawk and Crowe of which they sing off their album "Wikiwam Ahsin"

Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe performs, live-in-the-studio, The Beatles beautiful In My Life. "There are places I'll remember/ All my life though some have changed..." wrote John Lennon ~ and, with Paul McCartney contributing on the musical side, the song marked a beginning of a more literary creativity for The Fab Four. This song is found on Allison Crowe's "Tidings" album. "In My Life, looking back at life... is perfect (for the season of joy and peace)." ~ Allison Crowe "You're about to hear from one of Canada's very best artists. I first heard her live at the lift-off for our beloved colleague David Grierson... I made her promise not to make us cry, but she sang this Beatles tune." ~ Shelagh Rogers, CBC Radio Host & Public Broadcaster (Canada) "A stone's throw away at the village hall, Canadian angel Allison Crowe gave one of the weekend's most magical moments, earning one of few encores for her solo rendition of Lennon's In My Life (a song inspired by Durness)." ~ John Lennon Northern Lights Festival review in The Scotsman (UK) "Songwriter and mistress of coversongs Allison Crowe beat out Johnny Cash, Ben Lee, Chantal Kreviazuk and Shawn Colvin covers of In My Life at the last minute. Buy or download all Crowe's albums via Rubenesque - her own label - and you'll know why this Canadian youngster is one to watch for the next half-century." ~ Cover Lay Down blog (USA) "Crowe improves upon a classic" ~ John Kimantas, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Canada)

A Russell Crowe in an advertisement for Avondale College, a Seventh-day Adventist college in New South Wales, Australia.

This funkily lo-fi recording is from a concert just before Christmas 2006 (more hometown glory - Winter). Allison Crowe performs "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" - a song written in the '60s by Ronnie Shannon, and which was a break-through hit for Aretha Franklin. Bob Muller, curator of cover songs at JoniMitchell.com says: "it takes a lot of self-confidence to tackle Aretha's version of "I Never Loved a Man..." but Allison does and nails it just as good as the Queen of Soul herself. Her piano playing is equally exquisite. Treat yourself to one of the mightiest talents on the singer-songwriter scene today." Cheers to Del and Scott for capturing this happening. Warmest thanks to web creator extraordinaire Cylune for enabling this video to be enjoyed as it is ( : Another live, first-take, recording of this song appears on Allison Crowe's "This Little Bird" CD album.

From Allison Crowe's album "This Little Bird" comes this jaunty take on relationships. Here's a version recorded live, in June 2006, in Canada's most easterly province, Newfoundland, for the über-popular Rogers tv program, Out of the Fog. Hosts Krysta Rudofsky and Paddy Daly ~ marking his first week not on hockey programming ~ along with Producer Mike Fisher and his team are ace!

This post is dedicated to the memory of my late friend, Wayne Fields. This is J.D. Crowe & The New South at the Eagle's Club, Flatrock, Michigan, in March, 1993. Band members are J.D. Crowe, banjo; Richard Bennett, guitar; Wayne Fields, mandolin; Phil Leadbetter, resonator guitar; Curt Chapman, electric bass. Listen to the great trio singing! You can see why J.D. wanted to have Wayne's voice in the band, and Wayne plays some very respectable mandolin, too, though he was well-known to be -- with the possible exception of J.D. -- the BEST banjo player anywhere around central Kentucky.

Lindsay follows the events of May 22nd, the day that David Crowe is scheduled to be executed.

Great interview with Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. A Rare interview between friends.

Allison Crowe, a child of the '80s, performs one of her favourites of that era in concert - a cover of Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman's "Time After Time". (A song being heard in the repertoire of Lauper on her "True Colors" tour. This vid audio recording is heard on Allison Crowe's "Little Light" CD album.) This recording (thanks Scott LJ for the audio!) comes from the same pre-Christmas '06 concert as does the version of "I Never Loved a Man" also here on YouTube. With this song, there is no concert footage available, and, so, inspired by the example of Cylune, one of the great artistic Web 2.0 vidders, I've made my own, very simple (primitive?!), vid to accompany the music. Thanks muchly to Steve for capturing the images of Allison's hometown glory - in Canada's Winter time!

Great interview with Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman. Rare interview between two friends.

http://blackrussiancomics.com Part 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznl0wcuCOo