The 5 AM Miracle

Dear Friend,Remember what it was like “being in the zone?” Doing something you loved, being at your very best and having everything in life going your way? You may believe that was then and this is now, or that “being in the zone” is only temporary… or is only for young people, or just for winners. You might even believe that YOU can never get back there. But you can, and we’ll take you back to the Miracle Zone during the Wellness Revolution. We call it the Miracle Zone because it is where miracles are born.

Emir Kusturica & No Smoking Orchestra - Live Is A Miracle In Buenos Aires
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 515 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Nikitin # 4607173157546 | Country/Year: Russia 2005
Genre: Folk, World | Style: Folk Rock

From 1986–88, Kusturica played bass guitar in Zabranjeno Pušenje, a rock band from Sarajevo (SR Bosnia and Herzegovina). Although Kusturica played a minor musical role in the band, he returned to the group following the Black Cat, White Cat film and the band's name changed to Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra.

This entry into the Japan-only Premium Best series highlights the recordings of composer/performer Laura Nyro. Unlike other single-CD North American compilations, this 16-track disc gives sufficient time to her tragically underappreciated post-Smile recordings. Several of these titles are not even available on CD in the States, which is perhaps correlated to the seeming lack of interest. There are actually numerous advantages to this collection – not the least of which is the artist-sensitive track list. Presumably the Premium Best series is aimed at the casual enthusiast, as the hardcore collector would either already own the contents or buy it anyway if they were a completist. By including seminal album sides such as the imperially haunting "New York Tendaberry" and "Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp," a more accurate overview of Nyro's career is presented here.

Spike Lee's World War II film Miracle at St. Anna begins in 1983 with Hector Negron, a veteran of that war, unexpectedly shooting a customer dead. Police discover that the suspect, a quiet postal worker, kept a statue head worth millions of dollars in his apartment. An eager young reporter (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) interviews Negron in his cell about the mysterious artifact. While serving in the all-minority 92nd "Buffalo Soldier" Division, Negron and three comrades managed to sneak deep into enemy territory in Italy. One of the men, Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller), picked the head up while they were serving in Florence and believes it brings him good luck. Negron (Laz Alonso), Train, and Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy), along with their sergeant, Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke), take refuge in the Italian village of St. Anna, harbored by locals who are resisting the Nazis – who themselves surround the area. Train also protects an injured Italian boy he discovers while investigating a seemingly abandoned dwelling.