Broadway, Modern Whomp and ....Movies?

Taylor Hicks has been repeating in the on-air and live interviews that he's viewing this Broadway venture as a vehicle to get his 'feet wet' into acting. Naturally that indicates he may ideas about getting into film and not limiting himself to pressed plastic. Taylor Hicks did start his American Idol journey with that Sam Cooke classic, "A Change a Gonna Come", which may very well be exactly what the man lives for - change.

Taylor's still dipping his toes into the musical waters, he's set to release his pre-Idol music on Vanguard Records, August 12; this being one of his projects he's spoken about over the past year. Hicks is not actually signed with Vanguard Records as some on-line sources have indicated, instead he's marketing his music under his own label, Modern Whomp Records. Make no mistake, Hicks has no affiliation with the individual who started the same-named magazine, Modern Whomp Magazine.

Revisiting my past thoughts on this whole 'Modern Whomp' phrase, I'm just not sure what it means. Too, seriously doesn't it sound rather self-grandiose to go and try to create a whole new music genre for yourself? Perhaps if the Post-Idol CD would have held more of a definitive sound and vibe, set itself truly apart rather than being so Pop based I'd feel differently about that name. Taylor tied the phrase, "Modern Whomp" to that CD which may have been the mistake. Should his next endeavor include that elusive definitive sound fitting for a genre rename, that's another matter. Likely he's done some re-mastering and possibly remixing of the tunes on this new release, but hopefully not a great deal of bells and whistles added. Often, less is much more.

Regarding speculation that Mr. Hicks may have eyes turned toward Hollywood, there have been multiple singers turned actor including Cher, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg, Jon Bon Jovi, Snoop Dogg, Elvis, Will Smith. Mariah Carey tried her acting skills out in that forgettable bomb, "Glitter", showing why this is not a good idea for everyone. Girl needs stick to the music.

Back in the glorious big haired days, Prince released "Purple Rain", a semi-autobiographical offering that went over well at the Box office and benefited his music career. Thing is, as happens to many famous folk, Prince went a little over the rainbow and his videos and music on-line now look and sound something like THIS. Hopefully Mr. Hicks will never decide to let the life in the public eye affect him to this degree. Yeah, and the name thing...See, Prince got to thinking he was above paltry spoken names and decided to create a symbol for his moniker instead. Sad, because Prince has such massive talent, just shows genius and crazy often walk hand in hand... (My symbolic name?)

Then too there were offerings from The King...Seriously, Mr. Hicks never let anyone talk you into doing something like this bit of "Monkey Business".

video c/o Natalia68
Now on the other hand, Will Smith is one of my favorites to cross between music and movies. He's funny, dynamic and charismatic. Men in Black one of my favorite movie series.

I'm looking forward to this new offering from Mr. Smith; I love superhero tales and this one looks fantastic. What's not to love about a guy who flies with a bottle of whiskey in his hand? Comes out July 2nd.
"Hancock"

video c/o Georgegem2789
I think it a long time off should the Soul man venture into the silver screen arena, but you can never tell with this guy. Who knows, perhaps one day we'll see MWM to mean Modern Whomp Movies...