In February of 2000, several world-renowned soul, r&b, and rock artists gathered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the man who virtually defines this thing they call "blue-eyed soul". McDonald's star began to climb once he began lending his distinctive baritone vocals to some of Steely Dan's great albums, starting with 1974's Pretzel Logic. Who the hell can forget McDonald crooning "PEEEEG" on their brilliant Aja album? All hell broke loose when he joined the already successful Doobie Brothers in 1976 and stole some of the lead vocal chores away from Tom Johnston, starting with the Takin' It To The Streets album.
One of the best-loved films from the idiosyncratic British film studio Ealing Pictures gets an update from the equally idiosyncratic filmmaking team of Joel and Ethan Coen in this offbeat comedy. Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall) is a spry, elderly woman who attends church regularly, doesn't care for loud noises or harsh language, and is looking for a tenant for the spare room in her house. Enter Goldthwait Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks), a silver-tongued college professor who moves in and gains Munson's permission to use the basement for rehearsals with his "medieval music ensemble." What Munson doesn't know is that Dorr's latest project is not academic, but criminal. Dorr is masterminding the robbery of a riverboat casino, and the fellow musicians in his ensemble are actually the crew he's assembled to pull off the job: foul-mouthed "inside man" Gawain (Marlon Wayans), clumsy demolitions expert Pancake (J.K. Simmons), quiet strong-arm man Lump (Ryan Hurst), and logistical expert The General (Tzi Ma).
”Good News from the Next World” is Simple Minds' tenth studio album, released in 1995.