In the 13 x 525,600 minutes since "Rent" first premiered on Broadway, the economy has gone from middling, to wealthy, to so-so, to pretty great again, to absolutely horrific. And, of course, we still don't have a cure for HIV & AIDS.
 
Although "Rent" played its final performance on Broadway last spring (it was the seventh longest-running show in Broadway history), never before have this musical and its themes of love and compassion felt so fresh and relevant as they do right now.

Set in NYC's East Village in the early 90's, "Rent" is a modern take on Puccini's opera, "La Boheme." It tells the story of a young group of artists and friends struggling for their identity and purposes in the world, while navigating the plague of HIV& AIDS.
 
Back in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre for an almost two-week run, the latest national tour features three standout performers from Jonathan Larson's original New York production; leads Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who also starred in the 2005 movie, and solo vocalist Gwen Stewart (aka - the one who hits the BIG notes on "Seasons of Love").
 
Revisiting the show for the first time since the aforementioned big screen production directed by Chris Columbus, I remembered again why this is my favorite musical of all-time. It redefined the definition of the genre, it was the soundtrack to my 20's, and it has more heart than just about any musical that's come since (although, some have come close... see "In The Heights," and "Avenue Q").

Earlier today, I posted an article for our AccessHollywood.com's music column, "On The Download," asking you to share your thoughts on the best remixed songs of the 2nd half of 2009.

You can read that article here.

So, do you agree with my picks? Or do you prefer the Grammy nominations for electronic and remixed music which just came out tonight?

Or maybe you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about and will just glaze over this post?

Share your thoughts, below (or by clicking on the headline above).

Tell us what you think .... below!
Do you agree... or disagree, with the critics?!

"TWILIGHT":
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"BOLT":
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This morning, The Los Angeles Times and People made some maybe-too-quick-calls in calling Yes On Prop 8 a victory so early (both, at around 8 AM PST).

The fight over the controversial California ballot initiative, which has had a combined over-$70 million poured into it from both sides (a national record in spending for an initiative), is not necessarily over yet, although the Proposition looks likely to pass now.

Even though attorney Gloria Allred, who represents the first gay couple legally married in California back in June of this year, has filed a legal challenge, she may have jumped the gun early on this one too.

(there are various other groups issuing challenges, as well -- they are listed here)

The truth is, at 12:30 PM PST on Wednesday, November 5, roughly 400,000 votes separate "Yes" from "No" (with 97% of precincts reporting) - and the "No" campaign expects, "that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted." The No On 8 campaign has not yet conceded defeat.

(note: at this time, the Yes on 8 campaign, has not declared victory on their Web site -- however, some supporters did declare victory at a rally just after midnight.)

These media outlets should take a cue from others (such as KABC and KCBS) and wait until the California Secretary of State speaks on Thursday to declare how many votes are yet to be counted, before calling the race.

This is irresponsible journalism, at best, and the LA Times and People might want to examine why they made the call so early on this controversial proposition.

By Jeremy Blacklow, Managing Editor

Forget about the Emmy Awards – Zzzzzzz.... the most exciting part of my weekend was the opening night of Dolly Parton's new stage production of "9 to 5: The Musical" at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.

(left to right -- book author Patricia Resnick, Dabney Coleman, Allison Janney, Lily Tomlin, Megan Hilty, Parton, Jane Fonda, Stephanie J. Block & Marc Kudisch) -- click on photo to view full size!)

Based on the hit 1980 movie about women in the workplace taking revenge on their chauvinist boss, the show is pure Dolly at her best.

And on Saturday night, I was reminded what it meant to be a part of a legendary night at the theater – something that's very rare for a former theater-spoiled New Yorker, transplanted to LA.

On hand that night – none other than original film stars Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman. They were present to root on the respective talents taking on their iconic roles for the stage – Megan Hilty, Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney and Marc Kudisch.

It was reported that the show had been having technical problems – and well, opening night was no exception – as the complicated set pieces (which operate by computer) didn’t quite operate exactly as planned during the first Act.

So, as spontaneously as she had done a week earlier during the first previews, Dolly hopped out of her seat and treated the entire audience to an impromptu performance. This time she even tried to coax Jane and Lily to join her (although they chose to stay seated). She then led the crowd in a sing-a-long version of "9 to 5," and was ready to launch into "I Will Always Love You," when the set problems were solved, and the show went on.

And this, folks, is why I LOVE live theater – you never know what you're gonna get, and sometimes, you experience something so special, it's practically cathartic. Dolly put everyone in the house Saturday night in a good mood – you'd have to have been Scrooge, not to have been smiling.

I can’t believe that I only have two more days left in Beijing! The time has flown by so quickly. Maybe it’s because we’ve been working so hard, but it feels like I just arrived yesterday. Still, I miss my family so much, that I’m also excited about getting home.

It rained very hard today in Beijing and, of course, this would happen on the day that the women’s beach volleyball finals were taking place! The rain cleared in the afternoon, but returned right on time for Shaun and Amanda Beard to shoot stand-ups for the show tonight.

When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, ‘I really don’t want to go down to watch beach volleyball; it’s POURING!’ But then I ran into Hoda Kotb from "Today" in the lobby (Al Roker wore his swimsuit to the game!), who convinced me that I couldn’t miss this gold medal game! Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh playing China, on their home turf, to defend their gold medal!

Hoda is very convincing! I put on my rain jacket, and off I went with Shaun Robinson, Access supervising producer Mike, and our crew, Mike and Wally.

The rain didn’t let up the entire match. And the spectator seats certainly weren’t covered. It was a packed stadium of 12,000, all outfitted with umbrellas and rain slickers. Our Chinese hosts were so prepared though; they were handing out ponchos to every attendee.

The match was very dramatic. The Chinese team was the last to defeat Kerri and Misty (who are now on a 108 game winning streak) and they played a smart and strategic game. But the feeling of watching our Americans drop to their knees in joy after they won was worth the potential pneumonia!

Today was exciting around these parts… very, very exciting.

Michael Phelps’ final race – giving him 8 of 8 in ’08, and the most gold medals in Olympic history – was the stuff of legend.

The games are filled with moments – and this was the moment of all moments.

The energy inside of the International Broadcast Center (IBC) today was electrifying.

At 11 AM, dozens of NBC employees were gathered in the commissary watching Dara Torres’ and Michael Phelps’ final races together. There was cheering… sighing… and high drama – it was powerful and emotional. Even though most folks didn’t have tickets to the final races at the Water Cube, this felt like the next best place to be watching the action.

Afterwards, crowds of people were gathered everywhere in clusters around the IBC, just waiting to catch a glimpse of Phelps, as he made the interview rounds --- from Costas, to Brian Williams, to “Access Hollywood” … on to NBCOlympics.com, and soon, to do the “Today” show.

Billy’s interview with Michael was fun and engaging. You can catch it Monday night on “Access”. He asks the questions that are off the beaten track.

From the Managing Editor

One of the most exciting parts about being over in Beijing, amongst many high points, is that it’s the first time Access Hollywood has had an online staffer travel along with the TV team to an Olympics, which goes a long way to explain how important online coverage has become since 2004  -- both to Access Hollywood, and to NBC Universal as a whole.

There are 16 bodies here in Beijing from Access Hollywood --- 15 for the television show, and 1, namely, myself, for AccessHollywood.com. We all share a very small space together in the International Broadcast Center, and so we work very closely (figuratively, and literally… together).

Our ratio of on-air to online is pretty much in line with the rest of the NBC Universal team here overall. While NBC has had huge numbers on-air this Olympics, the percentage increase on NBCOlympics.com has been staggering! Only four days into the games, NBCOlympics.com has already surpassed the totals for the entire Athens Games in page views (a 27% jump), unique users (a 52% jump), and video streams (a staggering 514% jump!!!) -- and that’s with 12 days of competition left to go!

There are plenty of online journalists here in Beijing, but seriously, I probably have one of the best jobs out of any of them. Sure, there are plenty of sports journalists out here, reporting on results and injuries and doping -- but not me -- I’m writing about athletes’ personalities, and asking them, ‘Who are your favorite movie stars?’, and running all around town with stars like Chris Tucker – filing articles, and even more fun, doing a lot of digital photography.

Each day, I head out with our show’s field producers and listen to and assist on the interviews that we’re conducting (most of my career has been as an on-air producer). Occasionally, I’ll field produce a shoot here or there if the show can use my help. And like most print and online journalists, I rarely have to use my digital voice recorder, because the TV show is already rolling on the interview.

It’s amazing to think that most of us have already been here for a week getting ready for the Games to begin.

The energy here has gone from a gentle rumble, to a loud roar.

The streets are full of people and the traffic is insane (thank goodness there’s an “Olympics lane” for media credentialed folks).

It’s truly amazing how much we -- the team at Access Hollywood -- has seen so far… from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to the Dirt Market and Night Food Market.

And we haven’t even explored the nightlife yet!

It’s amazing to wake up every morning and have Dim Sum for breakfast… to drive through the city and see traditional Chinese pagodas side-by-side with modern skyscrapers… to walk through the hallways of the International Broadcast Center and hear dozens of different languages being spoken.

By Jeremy Blacklow

Managing Editor

 

Ahhh, another spring week, another booted "Idol!"

 

Laura's on vacation this week, so I'm pinch-hitting in her absence.

 

This week we lost Chikezie – the man who dropped his last name WAY too soon before he became famous. C'mon Chikezie, even Fantasia waited until she WON "American Idol."

 

I'll miss his personality and his name, but his singing… not so much.

 

Last night's "Idol" was more of the same – I was surprised to see Syesha in the Bottom 3, but I was happy that Carly escaped the same fate. Jason Castro is starting to bury all goodwill that he built up with "Hallelujah" three weeks ago.

 

Oh, and David Cook is kinda officially the "Idol" front-runner now. He's definitely gained serious momentum. In fact, our friends at TV Guide have him with 50 percent of the winning vote, compared now with David Archuleta's 2^nd place 16 percent. I seriously never saw this coming in the first couple of weeks. At the start of the competition phase, this would have been the reverse.