“I choose to live my life with a certain fearless vitality that I think more people should try.”

— James Whiteside, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre

I find the ballet to be a lot like life when it comes to men – the bad boys always stand out.

To be clear, in using the term ‘bad’, I mean no disrespect to the wildly creative artists to whom I attach the term here. I rather use it to describe the fiery, matchless ability of those rare few performers whose talent is so explosive that it can’t be put into a box – those true artistes whose mastery of an art form is so advanced that it can scarcely be harnessed or contained by one genre, but instead must constantly be allowed to spill over into new arenas in order to achieve its fullest expression.

Think Nureyev at the height of his career breaking with tradition to perform both classical ballet and modern dance or Baryshnikov dancing his way to an Academy Award nomination in The Turning Point, the first of his many acting roles on the big screen. More contemporarily, think of genre-busting former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, who is fast becoming a Hollywood ‘It’ boy co-starring and working alongside some of Tinseltown’s biggest names like Ralph Fiennes and box-office megastar Jennifer Lawrence.  Now add to this exclusive clique of auteurs, the always daring, never boring, James Whiteside (aka pop-dance artist JbDubs, aka Ühu Betch of the drag posse known as The Dairy Queens).

Not fully able to express the breadth of his creativity within the realm of his widely lauded, four-year run as a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, which just recently closed its current season at the Metropolitan Opera House, Whiteside has spread his talents far and wide, venturing into music and video production and becoming something of a YouTube sensation under the alias JbDubs, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of his art in almost every direction imaginable. This week, the chameleon-like Mr. Whiteside launches an eclectic, globetrotting series of summer performances that promise to reveal more about the range of his talents than the world has ever seen before…and he couldn’t be more excited.

“My summer has a wide range of dance styles, so throughout the course of the summer I think people are actually going to learn a lot about the real range of things that I can do… from hip-hop to ballet to contemporary ballet and jazz,” Whiteside explains when asked what people can expect to see on his tour which will make stops in Los Angeles, Vail, and Tokyo over the course of the summer. “Normally my summers consist of a lot of gigs essentially,” he continues. “But this summer is a little bit different in that I have programmed a lot of it myself. So, I’m doing a lot of stuff that I really want to do and that I’m looking forward to doing as well as stuff that I’ve done in the past and really loved and want to revisit.”

Among the performances to which Whiteside is most looking forward is one that is set to debut at the Fire Island Dance Festival on July 15 and 16. It is a new work by musical theater choreographer Al Blackstone that promises to showcase a sexy, flirty side of the dancer entitled, “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?”. “The premise of the piece is that I am pining after this guy and these other four guys are pining after me,” Whiteside offers as something of a teaser preview of the performance. “[But] I don’t want to give it away because there’s a bit of a twist – there are some interesting things that go down in the dance. It’s great. It’s just Prince and a piano and it’s a great, sexy, jazz piece.”

Another highlight of Whiteside’s summer calendar will be the premiere of his new production company “James Whiteside Presents” at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA. Along with 5 Dances, a collection of works in varied styles that the he has created over the years, Whiteside will also treat the Jacob’s Pillow crowd to a performance by his sassy, uninhibited pop alter ego JbDubs, whose YouTube hit “I Hate My Job” has scored 4 million plus views. “One of the numbers that I’m going be doing [for my Jacob’s Pillow performance] is to a song that I wrote called “Wallflower”’ says Whiteside who admits to being the antithesis of the person about whom he wrote the song. “It’s basically about not being a wallflower and just getting on the dancefloor and shakin’ it! I’ve got a music video for that song with ABT soloist Cassandra Trenary [and] we’ll be doing a live version of that.”

From there Whiteside will head back to New York for two performances in the world premiere of Impressions, part of an evening with Gemma Bond at the Joyce Theatre, which will be directly followed by a 3-day dance series at The Music Center, in Los Angeles, where James will dance the pas de deux from both Romeo and Juliet and Rubies with fellow American Ballet Theater principal Isabella Boylston and Lauren Cuthbertson, principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. And as if that weren’t hectic enough, to round out the summer, Whiteside will take the stage at the Vail Dance Festival, August 4 and 5, and Ballet Sun Valley in Idaho, August 22 and 24 under the direction of Isabella Boylston where he will reprise the Rubies pas de deux with Boylston, while also mounting his own You Rascal You. Finally, the seemingly inexhaustible danseur will end his extensive calendar of appearances in Tokyo where he will both dance in and choreograph a specially arranged Beauty and the Beast excerpt, “Tale as Old as Time” for Tokyo Disney’s release of Beauty and the Beast.

At this point in the interview, I can’t help but ask Whiteside not only how he keeps all the performances in his schedule straight in his own mind but also how he does it all at such a break-neck pace and with what appears to be such good humor. “I choose to live my life with a certain fearless vitality that I think more people should try,” the performer says patly without missing a beat. “If you’re so serious all the time, you forget to enjoy your life and to enjoy the people around you and the beauty that is existent. I take what I do very seriously…[and]…it is out of joy and love and experience that I am pushing forward.”

So does “fearless vitality” imply that unlike most of us humans, James Whiteside is without fear of anything? And, if so, has he always been so fearless?

“[No]. I’m not without self-doubt,” he quickly offers in reply to my facetiously posed query. “I have plenty of insecurities just like anybody else. It’s just that it’s important to me to keep pushing forward and to be proud of my struggle.”

“But as far as fearlessness goes, it wasn’t so much a choice [for me] as it was [something] that was already there,” Whiteside adds after pausing for a moment to reflect.  “I do recall a time when the PR Manager for the Boston Ballet, which was my first ballet company, came to me with a story that the local gay paper wanted to do on me. I was very young and she said, ‘You know, this is going to be in print and online pretty much forever, so are you sure you want to come out? I just need to ask you, because I know it’s your first interview like this.’

I was so confused that she would even ask. I understand that she was just trying to explain the consequences of what we were doing and that people might be put off by my blatant sexuality, but for me it wasn’t even an option. From a young age…hiding myself or being apologetic for my existence…wasn’t something that really interested me. That got me into a lot of trouble when I was a teenager. I was very opinionated and outspoken and unapologetic. It’s kind of funny, when you’re young, you’re berated for being outspoken but then you get to be a certain age and it gets to be celebrated.”

With no signs of holding back or in any way reigning in his aspirations, expect to see even more of Whiteside and his fearless vitality on the horizon. “In the future, there are so many things I’d like to do,” he tells me in a manner that suggests he’s holding something back…something big that his mind has already leapt to but he’s not quite ready to put into words. That stumbling block aside, he is still able to list some of the highlights on his personal bucket list. “One of these days, I’d like to be on Broadway,” he says clearly ticking through a well-established checklist. “I’d like to go to school for music production. I’d like to choreograph commercially for theatre and the ballet. I’ve got my irons in various fires and I don’t see myself retracting them anytime soon.”

What good news for us. Dance on Mr. Whiteside. Dance on.

Follow James Whiteside and check out his latest projects and tour dates at www.jameswhiteside.org.

To read this story on the Huffington Post, click here.

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When, during a recent phone interview, I asked Slattery about his choice to play Eisenhower with such understatement, he initially joked, “I didn’t look like Ike, so I played him straight,” mischievously intimating that he suspected he only landed the role because someone else must have dropped out.

The post Behind the Scenes of ‘Churchill’ with Miranda Richardson and John Slattery appeared first on .

Speak to Catalina Guirado-Cheadle for any length of time and you’ll soon come to realize that there is not much ground she hasn’t covered in her 20-plus year career. The only daughter of celebrated Spanish artist Juan Antonio Guirado, Catalina has lived in the glamorous world of the gypset (gypsy + jetset) since childhood and embraced it to the full with age.

A quick recount of her recent life is almost staggering. She has been a successful runway and print model, gracing major magazine covers and designer catwalks alike. She’s hosted and appeared on a string of successful television programs in the UK. She’s written songs with and for huge 80’s Brit acts ranging from Echo and the Bunnymen, Henry Priestman and The Yachts to the Christians, Guy Batson, St. Etienne and Blondie (and scored a chart-topping hit or two in the process, thank you very much). She’s even been signed to recording deal of her own with none other than Universal Music. Along the way, she has dazzled on countless red carpets, bewitched paparazzi and dated some of the most notable film and music stars of the last two decades before settling down into wedded bliss with her rocker husband, Matthew Cheadle former guitarist of chart topping US rock group i-94.

Today, perhaps more than ever before, Guirado-Cheadle is a doggedly determined woman focused on a career that is clearly on the ascent. Following the death of her father in 2010, Catalina was made the sole director of the acclaimed artist’s estate, which she has rebranded as The Guirado Estate and on behalf of which she works feverishly in order to promote and preserve her father’s legacy. Simultaneously, to complement her work with the Estate, the ever industrious Guirado-Cheadle launched Guirado Design with collection of luxury silk scarves, fabrics and bespoke wallpapers inspired by select enlightening works of art by her father. Needless to say, Catalina Guirado-Cheadle is a very busy lady. So I was thrilled to find an excuse to sit down with my great gal pal so that I might catalogue her thoughts for you on everything from the essence of glamour to body image and the fashion industry. Here’s what she had to say:

TheDuaneWells:    When did you first recognize the importance of style?

Catalina Guirado-Cheadle:      When I was about 11. My mum was a seamstress and we used to [visit] some fabulous homes of my mum’s clients.

TDW:  Who was your first style icon?

CGC: Without realizing it at the time, I guess it was my godmother, Marilyn. She was – and still is – super glamorous and subscribed to VOGUE, copies of which were given to me every 2 months. She would buy me Gucci and Prada accessories such as a belt or handbag every Christmas.

She also had the most fabulous homes for which my mum did the furnishings and she loved decorating them herself so we used to go and help. When I was 14, she actually introduced me to the beauty editor of British VOGUE, who was her friend, and that’s how I became a model.

TDW:  Speaking of your start, since you first burst onto the scene, you’ve been a model, television personality, celebutante and now serve as executive director of your foundation. Having lived so many lives, which do you feel best suits you?

CGC: I think the reason I transitioned into [my current role] so easily is because I have done so many different things over the years that are a natural progression within their field. Model turned TV host/actress, turned singer songwriter, turned music A&R, turned music TV executive, turned art and music PR and now President of The Guirado Estate and Creative director and designer for my Guirado Legacy design collection. I am still all of the above but I’m just choosing the hats I wear at the moment for the job title and switching them when necessary. I’m just much more mature and business-like nowadays –and, dare I say it, responsible!

TDW:  What has been your most memorable photo shoot?

CGC: The one that really sticks out was my Maxim magazine cover and spread back in 2002 shot by top photographer Willy Camden. It was when magazines like Maxim and FHM were creditable and really well produced. It was a full-on production shoot at Pinewood studios (where they shoot Star Wars and 007) and I spent the day under a rain machine crawling around a water tank in lingerie. They then photo shopped me into rainy shots of the streets of London’s SoHo. It looked amazing even though I felt like a drowned rat most of the day.

TDW: What conversations have you had to have with yourself about your body over the course of your career?

CGC: Well sadly when I was a fashion model in Europe I was usually telling myself not to eat as I had to be really thin. I would make agreements with myself that If I ate a bar of chocolate I wouldn’t eat the next day. It was so unhealthy and I really blame the model agencies for creating girls that have so many eating disorders and complexes. Being told at 15 with a 23 ½ inch waist that you need to lose more weight isn’t exactly healthy and that was back in the 90s when size 4-6 was the normal model size! I had exactly the same measurements as Cindy Crawford!

Now that I’ve hit 40, I tell myself it’s okay and necessary to be a size larger as your body changes. It’s natural and a 40-year-old shouldn’t compete with a 20-year-old. Plus, I think there is nothing more unattractive than a bony older woman. Eating healthily and working out to be fit, NOT skinny is the goal, which is why I do Pilates as it’s so great for the core and body strength without creating too much muscle. I want to emulate Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch as I grow older!

TDW:  What are the essential elements of great style?

CGC: Well style isn’t something that can be bought for a start! Great accessories help of course but style comes down to interesting influences as well as a fun sense of humor, attitude and life.

I think that staying true to your own taste and personal style is so important [because] people who follow fashion seasons rigidly have no sense of their own identity in life. Mixing vintage, high street with designer labels is the most stylish look in my mind.

TDW:  What is the best piece of style advice you’ve ever received?

CGC: Accessory-wise, take off the last thing you put on! And always check your body from the back. I have a low rib cage and square hips so I have to be careful not to look bigger than I am. Also [I was told] not to wear black on the red carpet as the picture desks don’t usually pick the photos for their spreads.

TDW:  Conversely, what is the best piece of style advice you’ve ever given?

CGC: Take the last thing on, off! And, people over 40 really should not wear daisy dukes or mini mini-skirts! I don’t care how good your legs are — it’s a no!

TDW:  What are your thoughts about color? Prints?

CGC: I love wearing red dresses! It brings Instant attention at a party and on the red carpet. I’m really into color in the summer but in the winter all I seem to wear is black with a colorful scarf accessory (usually one of my own designs).

TDW:  Describe the most common style mistake women make?

CGC: Wearing all designer labels at once and not following their body type but just wearing something they think is cool [though it] should [only be worn by] a 16-year-old stick insect in reality!

TDW:  Is there a universal style weapon (secret) that works for every woman?

CGC: I was brought up in Europe and we are taught that it’s all about having great classic accessories and what’s more classic than a great haircut and blow dry? [With] clean hair, clean nails, good skin, natural make up, quality shoes and [a good] handbag, you can go out in jeans and a tank and still look good.

TDW:  What is your favorite fashion accessory?

CGC: My collection of sunglasses…mainly vintage.

TDW:  What has been your worst style moment?

CGC: The 80s. I hate everything about the horrible make up and horrendous hair. I copied looks straight out of magazines and looked like a glow worm most of the time. Luckily that’s when I discovered Camden Lock in London and my love of vintage 60s clothes started. I was slightly goth too for a while. I shot a Vidal Sassoon commercial and they dyed my hair black and cut short bangs. It was very fashion forward but not great when you are 16 and still at school. I pretended I was in the band Shakespeare Sister and dressed in Katherine Hamnet and dated a rock star all before I left school! No wonder the girls at school were so mean to me. I was so ahead of my [years]!

TDW:  What part or your body or physical attribute have you had to learn to love?

CGC: My face isn’t even and I have slightly different shaped eyes, but so does Christy Turlington so I’m okay with it. [Laughs]

I try not to look at any part of my body for too long as it doesn’t end well. Fixation is most of the problem with today’s obsession with plastic surgery.  I know I’m guilty of thinking I look fat or am sagging when in fact I look the same as before but didn’t obsess. I truly blame Los Angeles, social networking and the selfie. It’s getting scary and its not real. I leave LA and I feel fantastic about myself!

TDW:   If you could bring one fashion item or look roaring back to favor what would it be?

CGC: I’m really happy with exactly now and the revival of 60s/70s boho and disco chic. I’m in retro heaven.

To find out more about the Guirado Estate, click here. Follow the latest with Guirado design at:  www.guiradodesign.com.

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If there is one thing traveling has taught me, it is that the world is full of glorious surprises. Whereas expectation gives way to revelation so do preconceived notions necessarily give way to unexpected marvels. Such were my thoughts as I slipped into the architecturally revelatory Houston Ballet for a tour during a recent visit to the Lone Star State.

While many notable attributes immediately spring to mind when thinking about Houston – savory barbecue, oil derricks, urban sprawl and well above average Mexican fare, for starters – the ballet was not at the top of my list. That is, at least not until recently.

However, as I stood in the midst of the action on the fifth-floor corridor of the Houston Ballet, peering into sprawling studios where an abundance of unobstructed natural light appeared to defy the building’s central location overlooking downtown and the Bayou, I quickly arrived at the conclusion that the ballet was indeed a very serious business in Houston. In every corner, I spied the sincere toil, sweat and passion that have become the legend of the ballet as I envisioned many a Black Swan moment occurring in the hallowed halls and rehearsal spaces around which I presently trod.

“Houston isn’t [just] cowboys and NASA,” exclaimed Christian Brown, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Houston Ballet, with a hearty laugh as we strolled the company’s impressive home base. “I mean, it is but there is so much more that goes on here that is dynamic and that is making a unique, exciting echo of notice.”

In a town where big is the order of the day in almost every way, Brown’s humble pronouncement about what the Houston Ballet brings to the city it calls home is almost too understated. Not only is the acclaimed ballet company the fourth largest in America, it is the nation’s largest dance center or, to use Mr. Brown’s more apt description, it is “the largest building in the United States that was specifically designed for dance.”

Moreover, with Australian-born Artistic Director Stanton Welch at the company’s helm for the last decade, the Houston Ballet has soared in international acclaim – touring the globe, forming impressive alliances with renowned companies from Australia to Denmark and attracting top tier talent like William Forsythe and Justin Peck, among others, to work with the company and produce contemporary works. As further proof of its vaunted standing in the world of dance, this past month the company debuted a new $5 million production of the Nutcracker, complete with sets built outside London by the same shop that just completed the new Harry Potter experience. It is the Houston Ballet’s most ambitious production to date and it is expected to exceed last year’s attendance record of 77,000 guests over its 39-show run through December 27.

Bottom line: From its adjoining theatre, in-house cobblers, seamstresses, fabric hall and, yes, even dye shop, the Houston Ballet is a most impressive operation.

“It is the only fine arts organization in Houston that tours and has an international presence at this level,” Brown offers with a hint more of the boastfulness one might find more befitting of a Houstonian.

“We have 59 really talented dancers and, I think what [our Artistic Director] Stanton [Welch] would say, is that we have really talented men. Everyone has talented ladies but our men are fantastic and there are a lot of them and they’re strong and they’re good-looking and I think that is a unique attribute for us.”

Brown is quick to point out the make-up of the students of a class we happened upon during our tour to further drive home his point. “As you can see the ratio of guys to girls is almost, but not quite, half and half,” he offered as we looked in on the class. “Young men who want to be in companies and who want to be strong men in companies are attracted here because of Stanton and his emphasis on men dancing in ballet. [Here, they’re] not just lifting the ladies but having key roles as well. It’s not that [Stanton] over emphasizes men but he is more equal in his use of them.”

One such talented young male dancer who found his way to the Houston Ballet and the tutelage of the celebrated Mr. Welch is Rhys Kosakowski, the undiscovered young talent who would become the first actor outside of London to take on the lead role in Billy Elliot when the production debuted to rave reviews in Sydney back in 2007. Now, one might be inclined to think that, with this pedigree, the ballet would have been a natural calling for the rising star, but on that score, one would be as mistaken as I was in my original estimation of the Houston Ballet.

“My mom put me in jazz and tap lessons at a really young age, when I was maybe 6 or 7,” Kosakowski explains of his haphazard journey into the world of ballet, as he takes a breather in between rehearsals for the upcoming Nutcracker. “It was more like a fun, interactive kind of thing. But as I grew older I took an interest mainly in jazz and contemporary dance. My jazz teacher at the time said to me ‘If you really want to pursue jazz as a future, then you have to do ballet class.’ [Well] I was about 12 at the time and I wasn’t really into ballet at all but taking classes kind of opened my mind up to it a little bit. And then as I started to audition for Billy Elliott, I had to send in a ballet class video to audition. So that’s how ballet started for me. And then after I got the part of Billy, ballet just took off for me and that’s how I fell in love with it.”

Oddly enough, it was with the same degree of serendipity that Kosakowski made the leap from Down Under to the great state of Texas. Contrary to convention, he did not pine away over whimsical thoughts that he might one day join the Houston Ballet. In fact, he didn’t even think the leap was all that possible until his grandmother gave him a nudge in the right direction.

“After Billy Elliott finished, I took about year and went back home and did full time dancing college at the National College of Dance in Newcastle,” Rhys says of his career trajectory. “Then one day, my grandma saw an audition in the newspaper [for the Houston Ballet] and she said I should go for it. I thought I was never going to get it, but I went and then I got the offer to come to summer school so I came to Houston then. That was four years ago.”

As obstacle-free as his journey to one of America’s leading ballet companies may seem on paper, it is clear that the young dancer does not take his good fortune for granted. “Just saying that I’m in a ballet company is a great thing for me,” Kosakowski beams when asked the most rewarding aspect of being a part of the Houston Ballet.

He is likewise respectful of his role as part of the whole that makes up the ballet company. Despite his chiseled good looks, growing modeling portfolio and tens of thousands of followers on social media, Kosakowski seems devoid of even the slightest hint of a prima uomo persona. Asked if he thinks he brings anything unique to the Houston Ballet, he cautiously demurs replying that while “a lot dancers think they have [special] things that they bring, other people view how you dance differently.” That said, he does admit that perhaps his early training in jazz and contemporary dance has played to his advantage.

“I started ballet late so I can definitely say that I am not the most classically trained dancer in the Houston Ballet,” Kosakowski readily admits with a laugh. “But I can [also] definitely see that when other choreographers come in with contemporary works that I catch their eye because I am a little bit different to the rest. But then again, like I said, other people have different opinions about how I dance so… ‘ Another self-deprecating chuckle follows as he contemplates the thought.

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Remember how New York’s The Plaza had Eloise – the hotel’s most notorious, if elusive, resident? Well, allow me to introduce you to Brian Wonders, who could well be a descendent of one of The Plaza’s most eccentric guests. In fact, you might even think of Brian as Eloise’s globetrotting, hipster-in-training great nephew who, like his great aunt, creates his own fantasy world within the confines of the some of the most fabulous destinations around the globe.

The brainchild of Los Angeles- based artist Victor Robert, Brian Wonders is a modern-day “Alex in Wonderland” whose fantastically colorful world of shipwrecks, cabanas, pirates, diving towers and all manner of mischief is beautifully captured in a glossy, bold, eye-popping limited edition story book entitled The Brian Wonders Wordless Storybook.

Each copy  of this exceptional tome arrives signed, stamped, numbered and accompanied by a Magic Magnifying glass that allows the reader to follow Brian’s adventures through the double-gate maze that folds out in the center of the storybook revealing a whimsical journey filled with fantastical seascapes, shiny submarines, glittering swimming pools, birthday party princesses and sheer magic of all varieties.

Oddly however, despite the crisp images that fill its pages, the Brian Wonders story book was not purely born of wild imagination, but also of sheer happenstance. “I loved swimming as a kid but I had really poor eyesight, and since I couldn’t wear glasses in the pool everything was just a big blur,” explains Robert, whose 3D animations skills have also been on display in some of Dreamworks Pictures biggest hits. “Some of the swimming pools were super deep and swimming to the bottom was like entering a dark ocean, ” he continues in explanation of how the snazzy character of Brian came to be.  :And there was one pool that had large circular windows — underwater — half way up the side walls and I always felt I was peering into the belly of a submarine… that’s where Brian Wonders was born.”

On December 7, 2016 LivingWells will present a launch party with Victor Robert in honor of his the new line of  Brian Wonders products. With that date looming near, I sat down with Mr. Robert to dive into the story behind his passion project, his inspiration and his plans for Brian Wonders.

LW:     Who is Brian Wonders and what inspired him?

VR:     Brian Wonders is a little boy of about 7 years old. He is a swimmer. He has an incredible head of hair. He wants a big bright spotlight to be shined on him, but he is also very shy, so he spends a lot time living out glittering fantasies inside his head. You might find him off playacting by himself.  You might catch him spying on you.  He has a powerful imagination but in his case it is a double-edged sword — he will lose control of his imaginary characters and become captive inside his own fantasy.

I was a swimmer as a kid and swam most of my life from elementary school into high school. Swim practice after school every weekday for years upon years…  I think all that time I spent daydreaming underwater, and Brian Wonders came from there.  I was especially small and skinny for my age and felt smaller by comparison when we’d share the pool with the team of seniors. A lot of this shows up in my drawings.

LW:     In the universe of animated characters, what makes Brian Wonders unique?

VR:     [It’s] Hard to put into words what makes Brian Wonders so unique… much of what makes his character unique will reveal itself in later stories… what I can say is there’s a lot me in him, and I don’t see many characters like him represented in the world of mainstream storybooks.

I think that’s another thing that makes Brian Wonders unique is it was created outside of the mainstream world of storybooks. I’m printing these on my own in very limited quantities, and I had fun including additional flourishes — for example, the magic magnifying glass that comes included with each storybook, the large format of the storybook 12” square and the custom made slipcover, adding a double-gate fold out at the center of the book, the fact that there are no words in the storybook. I look at Brian Wonders as the storybook that I wish existed when I was a kid — or my fantasy of what a storybook should be.

LW:     Let’s talk about the book …tell me about the thought process that went into it and the construction of the book itself?

VR:     The drawings were sketched in pencil and then scanned.  In the computer I added basic colors to figure out the lighting and composition and to experiment with size relationships. This image gets printed out, mounted on wood and I begin the painting process. I used mainly acrylics and guache. This raw painting gets scanned back into the computer and adjusted for print.

There’s a wide variety of techniques in the book — some of the illustrations were put together by overlaying layers of 3D CGI elements and then working those layers into the painting. Some spreads are technically very traditional — graphite lines with washes of color.

The over-sized dimensions of our book required we bring our project to a shop equipped with a large scale digital printer. We found one in Minnesota and they were incredible to work with.

LW:     Who do you see as the ideal audience for the Brian Wonders story book?

VR:     Because of the limited nature of this First Edition, I think anyone looking to give a unique creative gift is the ideal audience. In addition, creative parents, artists and storytellers of every age. Teachers. Collectors of illustrated books. And if you were or if you know of a little Brian Wonders, this book is for them.

LR:      How was your love of animation and drawing born?

VR:     Definitely Disney’s Alice in Wonderland made some strange new connections in my brain the first time I saw it. I must’ve been in kindergarten or 1st grade…all us kids we would sit on the carpet in the music room…the teachers would roll out a rectangular tower entertainment system…this was the early 80s… with a giant television on top and a giant VCR hooked up to it… large dumb knobs and dials and buttons and little orange lights… and they popped in Alice in Wonderland and I was dazzled with the colorful palette and the darkness of it. It was a little scary for me [but] I related to Alice in a way that other boys didn’t [and] in a way I think I fell in love with her.

My love for drawing I think came from there. I remember drawing all over the inside covers of books and creating little flipbooks out of the corners of volumes of required reading.

LR:      What’s next for Brian Wonders?

VR:     Well there’s a lot that’s next. I’ve been working on Brian Wonders a while but I think it’s really just at the very start. His next storybook will be told through the perspective of Stella, the girl with blond swirls of hair in the story  and I’m excited to show her personality. As a 3D animator, I can’t resist the temptation to want to pull the characters into the computer and see them animated. I’m already working on 3D models of Brian and Luna. I need to see the characters animated, I think it’s really important for the world to see him ‘alive’, breathing and speaking and reacting so they ‘get’ who he is.

From a brand standpoint, the Brian Wonders world will begin releasing limited edition gifts including designer toys and a collection of designer home accessories featuring art from the storybooks.

LW:     Final question, do you have a favorite character outside of Brian?

VR:     Aside from Brian I love the character of Luna. Luna is Brian’s inflatable pool animal. She’s got red ears a big blue smile and is covered in colorful polka dots and Brian rides her like you’d ride mounted on a horse. Luna is magical but in the way the Cheshire Cat is magical — back to Alice in Wonderland.  There’s a bit of darkness behind her color… something mischievous… she craves risky adventure… she’s his alter ego.  She will whisper things in Brian’s ear, the same things he’s thinking. And once she’s convinced him, he will climb aboard and they will take off together like a speedboat.

And so the adventure begins.

To purchase The Brian Wonders Storybook or to find out more information about other Brian Wonders products, visit brianwonders.com.

Also join LivingWells next week at Please Do Not Enter in Downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of the Brian Wonders collection of designer home accessories. For more details, click here or seee below.

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“I’m not cool. I’m just honest.”

— Oleta Adams

There are a handful of singers who stride into the limelight and captivate audiences not with a catchy hook, a dizzying flurry of choreography or a parade of outlandish interviews and costumes. They instead stand on unadorned stages, without artifice or ego, enrapturing music lovers with the sheer breadth of their talent alone. Oleta Adams is one such singer.

Since her solo career took flight in 1990 with the platinum-selling global hit “Get Here”, Adams has enjoyed a burning under, somewhat underappreciated, degree of fame, buttressed by diehard music fans around the world. Enjoyed is the operative term here with respect to Adams’ career because the singer’s star has largely continued to shine for more than three decades on her own terms, without ever resorting to any of the music industry’s stereotypical, sparkle-inducing shenanigans.

In concert, Adams and Adams alone commands the stage where her rich contralto acts like a beacon summoning up every imaginable emotion from the greatest joy to the most heartbreaking sadness, irrespective of the genre of music to which it is applied. She is, like Nina Simone before her, a master interpreter of music and one can’t help but wonder if like Simone, the true depth of her talent will have to wait decades to earn its due.

Tonight, the indomitable Ms. Adams will take the stage for the first of two shows at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas before continuing on with a string of tour dates in venues across the globe from New York and Chicago to Amsterdam and Belgrade. I sat down for a conversation with the powerhouse singer a few months back after a performance in Los Angeles. In her mellifluous speaking voice, which is, for the record, almost as entrancing as her singing voice, the petite diva talked frankly about remaining true to her gift, the travails of the music business, the challenge her own songs can sometimes present and singing her next chapter.

How do you account for such longevity in such a fickle business?

OA:     I think not doing trendy music is one of the things. I’m not willing to just keep working for someone else’s ideal. I actually have a purpose. I really have to have something to say or else I don’t want to do [the music].

[I think] the sound of my voice is also unique. It’s well oiled. It soothes people and makes them feel as if it is a healing balm. And I try to sing songs that have lasting meaning and songs that people can become invested in and discover for themselves. It’s more endearing that way.

It would be an understatement to say that you have a knack for what might be called the “anthemic”. While some artists create passing moments, you create lasting moments. Do you have a musical secret sauce so to speak?

OA:     Wow. It’s probably the way that I was mentored and trained. Because that was the most important thing – emotion. To give people something to think about and to latch onto. Something to build a little fire in their hearts, one way or another.

I wish you could have been standing beside me when I stepped off the stage to hear all the different stories. There are always stories. As an artist [and] as a composer my job is to identify with the audience and to say for them what they’re feeling – to articulate it – and that’s basically what I’m doing.

I’ve always said that when people are feeling bad, they don’t want to feel better right away. They want to hear someone say ‘I understand what you’re feeling’, and then they can get on with the healing. That’s what these songs do.

Speaking of healing, you’ve released eight albums but your first album, Circle of One, co-produced by Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears, was a musical landmark that spawned quite a bit of healing during and after the Gulf War in large part due to your global hit “Get Here”. However, I understand that behind-the-scenes your second album was more challenging for you than your first on all fronts. Why?

OA:     My second album was received more warmly by the true fans. It had the really deep stuff on it. So for the true diehard fans that was their album.

But when we were looking for producers [for that album] there were some who did not want to produce me because they didn’t like the music. Which is fine. But I had still had a hit in Europe with “Window of Hope”.  [Record labels] try to push songs on you and then you have to go “No…no”.  So some of the songs on that record were pushed on me…mostly the ones I didn’t write.

The first single from that album, “I Just Had to Hear Your Voice”, is a personal favorite of mine but a little birdie told me that you won’t sing that song live anymore. Is that true?

OA:     I can’t hit those notes anymore. [Bursts into laughter] I had to lower it. [Laughs].

I do [still] sing that song but I have to pick certain times when I do it. I don’t want to do it and then disappoint everybody. It’s a hard song to sing. I love it and it’s such a big showstopper but honestly it’s a big song. There are several [of my songs] that are just so wonderful that I can’t really do right anymore and it hurts my heart that I can’t sing them.

That is so honest! I don’t think I’ve ever heard a singer cop to anything of the like before. Usually the response to that question is full-on bravado and everyone says ‘I sound better today than ever’ – which is almost never true, by the way.

OA:     I know. That’s the sad part and mostly women have more problems than guys. Guys can sing longer. Peabo [Bryson] I sing with on his Christmas things and he sounds very much the same as he’s always sounded and it’s just wonderful. He even smoked for many years and still sounds the same!

And I never smoked! [Laughs] But at 62 I have earned not hitting those notes anymore. [Laughs]. I have sung a long time and I hit a lot of big notes for a long time. [Laughs]

Does that thought ever make you think of putting down your microphone and exiting stage left for good?

OA:     Part of you wants to get out [of the business] before it all goes downhill and another part says there’s still a richness there – there’s still a story to tell and it just becomes a new chapter. You think of people like Tony Bennett … he’s like 90 or something and he’s still singing…not the same way…but it’s one of those situations where when you see him, he doesn’t have to sing a note and we stand up and give him an ovation because we know what he can do. He doesn’t have to prove a thing.

I still love singing. I think it’s a good career and I’m still doing different stuff today. So even though I can’t sing the way I used to, I am discovering so many more things.

You have a huge following in the Netherlands. Why do you think the Dutch connect to your music in a bigger way than other audiences?

OA:     I think the Dutch love music.

They’re so full of music – all kinds of music – their own folk music as well as their own pop and rock. They believe in celebrating life and they believe that music is it. They love soul music. And when I say soul music, I don’t mean the rhythm and blues of today, I mean old soul music like 70’s and before! [Laughs] The more soulful you get the more they like it.

And they also love jazz. And thank God they’re trying to keep it going and keep it alive because …hmmm [thinking]…isn’t it something that a music that was developed here in America – jazz music – this is where it was born but…

[Interrupting] It’s having trouble breathing here in America…

OA:     It’s having trouble breathing here. [Laughs] It’s on life support. It’s on a respirator! [Laughs]

Well thank God you’re on the road and performing in venues of all sizes across America and Europe over the next several months. How would you describe what people can expect to see on stage when they come to your upcoming shows?

OA:     We want to get more and more intimate [so] I love the [current 4-piece] combination. The more people you put on stage, the less room you have to be creative on the spot and then everybody has to play a part. Here, we’re playing parts but we’re also breathing together and becoming one. It’s one body with many members and I love that.

We want to expand it and we want to record it, but I just have to stop being lazy. [Laughs]

Lazy is hardly a word anyone other than the singer herself might use to describe Oleta Adams these days. In addition to her current slate of gigs, Adams has a new album of inspirational songs tentatively titled, Place of Peace, in the works. And for the record, despite her modesty on the subject, her voice is not only in fine form, it is as hauntingly stirring as ever.

Follow Oleta Adams on the road on Facebook @TheOfficialOletaAdams.

The post The Singer’s Singer: On the Road with Oleta Adams appeared first on .

Weddings are, by nature, stressful affairs. And destination weddings, for all the beauty and majesty that accompanies them, only add another level of anxiety to what should generally count among the most memorable days in the lives of the event’s central players. That said, a modicum of forethought can go a long way toward reducing the aforementioned tensions on the big day. Or at least so says photographer Joshua Kogan, an award-winning photographer whose work includes editorial spreads in magazines such as Glamour, Town & Country, Marie Claire, GQ, Conde Nast Sport & Style and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as collaborations with Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Billabong Surfwear, Dolce & Gabbana, and countless couples on the brink of wedded bliss across the globe.

A native of Maryland, Kogan grew up surrounded by art. His mother, an amateur photographer herself, and father shared a passion for photography that inspired them to collect the work of photographers like Man Ray, Diane Arbus, Jean Henri Lartigue and Brett Weston. And it was these black and white photographs by some of the 20th century’s most influential portraiture photographers that lined the walls of Joshua’s childhood home.

With photography in his blood, Kogan sought to capture the color of life beyond his experience. After University he traveled the globe working as a top male model, backpacked around India with a disco dancing 7th generation Hindu Priest, spent a decade living and working as a fashion and beauty photographer in Paris, and devoted five years to photographing the behind-the-scenes world of iconic designer Valentino’s Paris fashion shows and private parties. Perhaps, most important of all, Joshua has traveled to the exotic, far-flung reaches of the planet with his camera in tow, documenting the textures and humanity of the world.

With that in mind, to say that Joshua Kogan knows a thing or two about taking a great photo would be something of an understatement. So who better to ask for tips on planning a destination wedding than someone who has mastered the world and photographed destination weddings in many of its more glorious corners? Here Joshua shares his ten top tips for planning the ultimate destination wedding:

1. Choose the right team

If you’re working with a solid team of professionals (planner, photographer, caterer, etc…) and assuming you’ve done your homework and organization in advance, once you get to the destination just let go and have a great time! If the bride and groom are having a blast so is everyone else and that will show in the pictures.

Your photographer needs to have the energy, personality and communication style that’s going to vibe well with you, your family and your guests. In addition to stunning wedding day images you want your photographer to capture landscapes, architecture, interiors, wildlife, fauna, cuisine, portraits of locals, candids of you and your guests having fun around the pool, on the beach, at meals and on excursions. Look for a storyteller who sees and captures the connection between people, places, objects and emotions. An experienced photographer with a strong body of travel, lifestyle, portraiture and documentary imagery, in addition to solid wedding work, is best suited to tell the nuanced story of your destination wedding weekend.

2. Take advantage of the best lighting for your ceremony:

If you’re getting married outside under the open sky, plan your ceremony to begin a couple of hours before sunset when the light is soft, warm, and flattering. An experienced wedding photographer knows how to get the very best out of almost any lighting condition, so if your blue sky wedding ends up cloudy and gray, just keep smiling and go with it, the pictures should still be great. On a recent summer destination wedding in Newport, Rhode Island, we had clouds and rain all day. Luckily for us, the venue was able to quickly transform what would have been a very wet lawn wedding into what became an ethereal wedding under the canopy of the venue’s reception tent. Whatever venue you choose, make sure they have a Plan B in case of bad weather.

3. Plan enough time for the family photos

The best family portraits can take 45-90 minutes depending on the size of the family, the number of variations requested by the couple, and weather conditions like wind. Consider taking the family photos after the first look and before the wedding. This way, once the ceremony is over, your family can join the rest of your guests at the reception while you take 30 minutes or so for a cocktail and some fun newlywed portraits. Some couples, for religious or cultural reasons, cannot see one another before the ceremony. These couples should plan time for the family photos just after the ceremony, which means the ceremony should be early enough to allow enough daylight for those images. No matter how well you plan it, there is always an Uncle Mike or Cousin Susie who didn’t get the memo and is nowhere to be found at the appointed time. For this reason, it’s always wise to designate one family member from each family to make sure everyone is where they need to be when they need to be there.

4. Plan an engagement photography session

If logistics allow, plan an engagement session with your photographer months before your wedding. Engagement shoots allow a couple and their photographer a chance to get to know one another before the pressures of the big day. It’s also a great way for you and your fiancé to get comfortable in front of the camera.

5. Book your photographer for the entire weekend

You’re planning a rehearsal dinner, the wedding day, a day after brunch and a host of fun activities and outings for you and your guests over 3-4 days. Make sure your photographer is there to capture these events as well as unique environmental images which define the setting and story of your special weekend. On a recent destination wedding in Tulum, the bride and groom planned a surprise event for their guests; zip-lining in the jungle at night. It was a challenge following them and their guests through the zip-line course with camera, flash, and extra lenses but these images really added something special to their destination wedding album.

6. Up do’s for I do’s

I always advise my brides to wear their hair up for their wedding day. Up-do’s will not only accentuate your neck and shoulder lines, most importantly, with your hair away from your face you become photographable from almost every angle. This is especially true for outdoor weddings where wind can be an issue. This also comes into play on the dance floor at the reception where down-do’s will inevitably be in your face for the majority of your Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts moments.

I realize a lot of brides want to wear their hair down because they find it more modern and sexy. I get it. But having edited hundreds of thousands of wedding images over the years I promise you that an up-do will insure many (many) more usable images for your wedding edit and album. If you really want to let your hair down, try to do it after the first dance, toasts and cake cutting. This way you’ll insure that most of the day’s key moments are captured without hair in your face.

7. Check the almanac

When planning your destination wedding always make sure to check the almanac for seasonal weather trends. This is especially true if you’ve decided on a tropical destination. They call it the rainy season for good reason. Some years ago, in late July, I was on a 4-day destination wedding in Mexico. It rained in biblical proportions all 4 days. It rained so much that the power went out and part of the hillside above the hotel collapsed causing several guests’ rooms to get flooded. Luckily the hotel had a restaurant large enough to hold the ceremony in. No sun. No beach. No activities. No internet. Unhappy guests. Plan ahead and NEVER assume you’ll get lucky working against the odds.

8. Hidden Treasures

You can have your ceremony at the resort or you can venture further for a truly unique experience. Working with a local coordinator or producer can introduce many interesting and little known location options for a destination wedding couple. Whether it’s a cliff-side that looks out over the vastness of the ocean or a candle and torch-lit forgotten fortress, be creative and make your wedding unique s time, budget, and logistics allow. Make sure you see the best options an hour or two before sunset so you have an idea how the light and backgrounds will look on the big day. Take photos and video for your photographer to get his or her input.

9. Look up

I can’t tell you how many weddings I’ve shot where half the people walking down the aisle, including the bride, were looking down at their feet the entire time. Now, just before the ceremony, I always tell the families and the wedding party to walk slowly and look straight ahead, allowing their excitement to bubble over into some beautiful smiles. Most photographers will not mention this, so take it upon yourself to make this a point with everyone walking down the aisle just before the ceremony.

When I worked with Valentino, capturing the designer’s Paris fashion shows, I remember seeing a sign written in big marker. It was posted for all the models to see just before they hit the catwalk. It said, “You’re an Oscar winner and the world belongs to you!” Why not post a sign your participants will see just before the ceremony? It could read, “We love all of you so much!! Shoulders back…walk slowly…confidence…eyes up and let’s see that beautiful smile! Let’s do this!!!”

10. Beware guests who sabotage your wedding pictures

I strongly urge my clients to request their guests REFRAIN FROM ALL PHONE USE at the ceremony and during key moments at the reception. The worst offenders will be clearly visible (in your wedding pictures!) texting in the background as you exchange your vows or reaching into the aisle with their smartphones (blocking your photographer) as you share your first kiss or make your exit.

Looking through your wedding pictures you will see them hidden behind their glowing screens as they attempt to capture your cake-cutting and first dance on video. Then they spend the next several minutes staring down at their device hash tagging and posting to their social media when they should be immersed in the experience you’ve worked so hard to share with them. The horror!

When did this become acceptable behavior? Phone-free ceremonies and receptions are strongly advised. A simple card left on the wedding ceremony chairs indicating your ceremony and reception are phone-free zones should get the point across in a tactful way.

[Bonus Tip] Plan fun and challenging activities

Of course the main event for any destination wedding is the wedding day, but the activities a couple plans before and after the wedding are integral to the overall success of the weekend and they provide countless memorable photo opportunities. Keep in mind, your friends and family have traveled a long way (and at great expense) to be there with you on this special occasion, so make sure to plan a variety of interesting, exciting and unique experiences for everyone. Some of the destination wedding activities I’ve captured for my clients include private sailboat charters in Tahiti, spearfishing excursions in Corsica, Berber musicians playing on the roof of a riad in Marrakech, horseback riding in Acapulco and swimming in Tulum’s mysterious cenotes.

See more of Joshua Lawrence Kogan’s travel photography at www.joshuakogan.com and his wedding photography at www.studiojlk.com.

To read this article on the Huffington Post, click here.

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Sacrificing your holiday and all the trimmings that come along with it to go on an adventure that will benefit the greater good? Might that not be the greatest gift of all?

This holiday season as most of us check the final items off our last minute shopping lists and race around fraternizing at the traditionally festive round of soirees common to this time of year, an extraordinary group of individuals will be embarking on what can only be described as one of the most physically and emotionally grueling competitions on the planet – the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge. For this challenge, each of the 26 participating teams, which range in size from teams of four to pairs to solo rowers, will endeavor to make the 3,000 mile trek across the Atlantic Ocean in specially designed row boats armed with little more than their own sheer will, determination and raw strength. Hence the reason that the challenge is hailed as “the world’s toughest row”.

Just to be clear, this is no simple race. It is instead a test of endurance that pushes the boundaries of what seems humanly possible. After having inspected the boats being manned by these teams, I can assure you that they make the simplest speedboats look like luxury yachts. This is almost barebones existence. Think camping at sea and you’ll get a pretty accurate picture of what these teams will be up against for the next several weeks (or potentially months).

These rowing vessels are not equipped with engines, bathroom facilities or any real protection from the elements save for a small cabin scarcely large enough to hold the team members in the event of emergencies. Moreover, these teams can expect to spend the next 40 to 90 days completely exposed to vagaries of nature without even the comfort of clothing as most will row naked to prevent the painful chaffing that the combination of salt water and rowing can often bring. They will brave inclement weather, towering waves, nutritional deprivation (as they must also pack all the food, water and other supplies that they will need for the entire journey on their boats), the beasts of the ocean, limited communication with family and friends, and an exhaustive rowing schedule just to complete the race, let alone win it.

But why you ask? Why intentionally engage in such a brutal pursuit?

The truly impressive aspect of the challenge is surprisingly not the conditions with which each of the teams must contend, but the reason that each of them has taken it up in the first place. All 26 teams taking part in this challenge have done so not only for the vainglorious purpose of winning but primarily to benefit a diverse spate of worthy causes and charities that include, among others, The Not Forgotten Association, which provides leisure and recreation for the benefit of serving and ex-service personnel in the UK who are wounded or have sustained permanent injuries; Plan UK’s ‘Because I am girl’ campaign, which aims to protect the rights of adolescent girls and inspire them out of poverty; and St. Jude’s Research Hospital, the renowned children’s hospital responsible for pioneering research that benefits kids with cancer and other lifer-threatening illnesses. Put plainly, these teams are, .

“The charity part is quite a big element of this whole event,” explains CEO and race organizer Carsten Heron Olsen, a former sergeant in the Danish Marine Corps. “So I think that compared to other events where you enter the race, you show up and you’re in it to win it and that’s it, here it’s different. We set the tools in place to explain to the rowers how they can work with a charity. In 2013, among the fleet [in the challenge], they collected about €1.3 million euros (approx. $1.4 million dollars) in total by about two months after the race. Now, this year, before the race has even started, the teams have all collected more than €1.6 million euros (approx. $1.7 million dollars) between them. Considering what it costs to be part of this race with equipment, travel, courses, race entrance fees…then I think the 1.6 million euros figure is significant because it costs between €100,000 to 120,000 euros (approx. $109,000 to $130,000 dollars) just to participate.”

“[But] it’s not just the figures but the awareness of these specific charities,” Olsen continues. “This year we have 26 teams in the race, so we have 26 different stories. You [actually] have 62 different stories because even within each team, there are different stories. It’s a very personal thing for the teams to be involved with their charities. It’s obviously always good to raise money but to spread the word and the awareness about the charities that these teams are working with is also really quite special. Also compared to other events where you have athletes who have trained their whole lives to do something, here we have moms, lawyers, teachers…and everything on the scale…but they all have the same dream of getting across the Atlantic Ocean. And that’s very special to be part of.”

Traditionally dominated by British teams until 2012 when Olsen took over management of the race, this year’s race features an international spectrum of participants including three American teams all of whom hope to cross the finish line first. One of those three teams is comprised of Phillip Theodore and Daley Ervin, otherwise known as Team Beyond, which is an appropriate moniker given the lofty goals the team has set for themselves and their tenacity in reaching for them. No strangers to challenge and endurance both professionally and personally, Theodore and Ervin have perhaps set a higher bar for themselves than any other team in the race.

Not only do they hope to set a new record by completing the crossing in under 40 days, Team Beyond also plans to raise $1 million to help feed more than 5 million hungry families in America while simultaneously using their extensive business relationships to foster donations to and new partnerships with charities around the country. They have in short created their own model for success, right down to starting up their own non-profit, the Beyond Hunger Foundation, after coming to the realization that they could, in Theodore’s words, “build a much better mousetrap” through which they could insure that 100% of the funds they raise will go directly to the fight against hunger in America. It may all sound a bit ambitious but for Theodore and Ervin it is only a continuation of what they have been doing their whole lives.

The two friends who met at an Iron Man competition in Brazil back in 2008, have since forged what they describe as a father-son relationship (Ervin is 29, Theodore is 47). Collectively they have competed in 15 ultra-marathons, 12 marathons and 10 triathlons and been part of 10 start-ups, so to say that these guys know a thing or two about overcoming obstacles in difficult situations would be an understatement. But to say that they are applying the fundamentals that have made them successful in both their previous endurance challenges as well as in their business dealings to their turn in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge would most certainly not be.

“I had a strength and conditioning coach based in New York who was writing up plans for me and [with whom] I would work out a couple times a week,” Ervin explained when asked about how he and his teammate prepped for the race. “We had a group out of London called CHHP who trained last year’s winners and they did a lot of our rowing programming for us. Another thing about this race is that it’s not just about the physical aspects. [So] we got the best boat builder in the world to help build our boat. We got the best coach in the world who set the world record to do this race [with us] and we surround ourselves with a team that supports the entire cast. The physicality is important but there’s a lot of other aspects that are important as well.”

“We approached this just like business,” echoes Theodore. “We said ‘What’s best in class?’ And we went and found the best of the best.”

And just like in business, Theodore and Ervin have been relentless in their pursuit of their goal. On the challenge side, it is worth noting that neither Theodore nor Ervin had any significant rowing experience a year ago, but they have since spent months training and even practiced in the rugged North Sea where they found themselves humbled by Mother Nature as 40-foot waves forced them to make a call for help and yet they persevere undaunted. On the charity side, Theodore, the former CEO of Ready-Pac, has already leveraged relationships with his former colleagues to create long-term collaborations with charities that will now ensure that healthy, fresh produce that was once destined to go to waste in landfills will instead reach families in need through various charities. It is a gift that Team Beyond estimates to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.5 million dollars and one that they hope to see doubled or tripled after the race. But that’s only part of the goal.

“We’re also trying to get out to schools to teach young kids about food labeling,” Theodore said reiterating his conviction about the importance of nutrition. “We liken it to recycling, smoking and seatbelt laws and where that was decades ago. The way that we beat all that, and the reason that people’s lives have improved as a result of that, is because of education. Education is the key. So, first we want to rescue food and get it those who need it but at the same time we want to educate folks. It’s a tall task [because] it’s very, very hard to change people’s habits but through education and perseverance, which is what we think this race embodies…we’re here to have an impact and to make a difference…[by]… educating folks and driving change in schools and driving change in regulations.”

As for what Team Beyond hopes that people hearing their story will feel, the answer is, in a word, inspiration. “Always do something before you’re ready. That’s always been kind of our theme,” Ervin says of their story. “We weren’t even close to being ready to do an Iron Man. Every time we’ve signed up for something [it’s been] before we were even ready. A lot of people wouldn’t take that first step. So I think that by inspiring one person to take a step that they weren’t ready for is a reason to do this. The start-up mentality is that you jump off a cliff and build an airplane on the way down and any time I’ve done that it has worked out pretty well or at least I’ve learned something from it.”

Food for thought as the new year approaches.

Also competing in this year’s challenge from America is Latitude 35, which is made up of long-time friends Jason Caldwell, Thomas Magarov, Nick Khan and Greg Wood whose team will test the meaning and power of leadership on the high seas. And Cranial Quest, a pair of seniors from the University of Lincoln in Nebraska who will be the first team to row an American designed boat in the challenge.

This year’s Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge launched from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on Sunday morning, December 20. Follow the progress of Team Beyond, Latitude 35, The Cranial Quest and all the teams participating in this year’s challenge at www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com.

Watch the start of the race here:

Read this article on the Huffington Post at: www.huffingtonpost.com/duane-wells/extreme-voluntourism

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“It is very important in the world we live in today that we as humans can just let go of what we’re doing sometimes and just enjoy ourselves and dance. I love to give people that experience.” — MORTEN

The Danes are coming! While the Swedes may have laid claim to a pretty significant parcel of the dance music landscape in recent years, Danish DJ MORTEN is almost single-handedly carving out a slice of the scene on behalf of his fellow countrymen in neighboring Denmark. Could this be the start of a new Danish dance music revolution?

Perhaps.

Who can say? Music is a fickle thing.

But revolution or not, there can be little doubt as to fact that MORTEN is in the midst of a very big moment that kicked off in earnest back in 2008 with a chart-topping, award-winning collaboration between the DJ and Danish pop duo Nik & Jay and has continued through the last several months capping off what can only be described as a very good year musically for the Dane. In addition to playing a slate of major gigs in some of the hottest venues around the world in 2015, one of the highlights of which was closing the popular Skanderborg Festival just this past August in his native Denmark before a crowd of 35,000, there was his glorious unofficial remix of Adele’s “Hello” that began setting dance floors across the globe ablaze just a few weeks back, racking up more than a million spins in its first three weeks of release despite being quite difficult to find given that it was unsanctioned.

Unlike so many other remixes of late which have woefully fallen so deep into the soulless ravine of homogenous dance beats and contrivances that they wind up completely and utterly detached from the original melody or vocal, MORTEN’s take on “Hello” is organic inasmuch as it leaves the signature vocal front and center and respects the intent of the song while simultaneously layering an infectious groove onto it that works for the dance floor. It is in fact the kind of remix that hearkens back to the era of what might be called the ‘superstar remix’ – that moment in music not so very long ago that heralded the rise of superstar djs who were savvy enough to craft remixes that were as good as or better than the originals. Remember those? Of course, I’m referring here to the mix masters behind mega remixes of hits in the late 90’s and early 00’s by the likes of that era’s ruling cabal of one-named divas – Whitney, Mariah and Cher. [Gold star to you if you called that one.]

Like those who have done with the music of other divas what he has done with Adele’s latest mega hit, perhaps the key to MORTEN’s take on “Hello” is that it reflects his deference to the raw talent of the diva about whom the whole of the music business is currently buzzing.

“I’m a great fan of Adele,” the DJ with the model good looks enthused during a call from Copenhagen, where he was taking a break from shooting a new campaign for the Danish brand Halo. “For me, Adele is one of the greatest singers we may have ever had. I love her so much. The track [“Hello”] came out on a Thursday or Friday and I heard it on Saturday. Then I woke up on Sunday…and played around with it. I called my manager that night and played it for him and he was like, ‘We have to do this!” We knew we had to be on it. I worked three days straight with another DJ in Denmark…I didn’t even sleep because I knew there were going to be other [remixes] coming out.”   MORTEN’s efforts not only paid off in the form of the near universal praise his remix received from his fellow DJs and fans alike but also in the rapturous reception his spin on the hit track has continued to receive during his live sets in clubs from New York to Vancouver and beyond in recent weeks.

Listen:

On the heels of that bit of unexpected, if welcome notoriety, comes a completely different and edgier collaboration with DJ Karma Fields called “Stickup” which, after years of delay, was finally released on the Monstercat label on November 30^th  and features vocals by actress and singer Juliette Lewis, another artist whose talents inspire enthusiastic praise from the rising star DJ.

“First of all, I think Juliette Lewis is so cool. She’s [expletive] amazing! I’ve always loved her. She’s so edgy!” MORTEN gushed.

“[‘Stickup’] is actually an old track. It’s a weird story,” he explained before launching into the tale of how the collaboration came to be. “I was so lucky to get in the old EMI studios with [Juliette] in LA three years ago and I had this house track that was kind of rocky so I played it for her and she loved it right away. She had all these ideas…and she was very excited and she was like ‘Let’s do this!’ [The recording] was really intense. She was screaming and pulling her hair. It was great. Right after I got out of the studio I knew the production that I had wasn’t suited to her vocal because her vocal was too intense…too strong…it didn’t fit the production. I needed something crazier. I met this guy in LA called Karma Fields. He does really crazy electronic stuff so I sat down with him and we finished up the track and I think it is a unique track and it really suits her vocal.”

“Stickup” – featuring Juliette Lewis

The result is a track that may not be to everyone’s taste, but is nonetheless proof of the breadth of MORTEN’S talent and his willingness to take risks in an increasingly derivative arena of the music business. All of which is in keeping with the music man’s thoughts about music in general and the anatomy of a great dance song. “I think music is a bit like fashion. It moves. It travels,” he explains with the quiet zeal of a shaman. “But for me throughout the years it has always been [about] something with a good groove. It’s got to be bouncy. I listened to a lot of hip hop when I was younger and now I work a lot with house music and I like to add these elements from hiphop where it feels like the head is bouncing and you put your hands up and it’s like you want to be moved by the music. And then there’s the feeling …if you have a vocal that really touches you that’s something different. If you can combine these two things…the elements that make you move and the words and the vocals or melody that gives you emotions then you can really create something unique. That’s what I look for…ways to touch people through music.”

Asked about his favorite temples around the world in which to ply his craft, he offered the following without skipping a beat, “I really enjoy playing in Miami. I love playing in New York. I love playing in Vegas and I love playing in LA. I always kind of play the same clubs in the U.S. I play Live in Miami, I play Marquee in New York and I play XS in Las Vegas. I think the major cities in the U.S. have really good nightlife and, compared to Europe where I’m from, the U.S. has that spark of interest in new house music that I really enjoy.”

“Recently I’ve been playing in South America,” said the DJ who now calls Los Angeles home. “I’m actually playing in Peru again in two weeks and the crowd down there is just completely crazy and that is really, really fun. And then of course Denmark. Most of my fans are here.  I played in here in Denmark this past Saturday and it was the first snowstorm of the year and 1,200 people still showed up for me so it’s always very special to play here. Ibiza is very special as well because it’s like the capitol of house music.”

Given the number of miles he logs on the road in a given year, I asked what items he never leaves home without. “I kind of have a fetish for skincare products and hair care products,” he responded quickly with the slightest chuckle. “I don’t leave without those because I’m not a big fan of the hotel products. I like to have my products. There are also so many good things to bring from LA like protein bars and healthy stuff like vitamins…I always have those things with me [as well]”.

Speaking of healthy stuff, my final question to the DJ of the moment was not about music but instead about tips for staying healthy while on the road, since he is notoriously fitness minded.

“For me it’s just part of a daily routine. I work out almost every day. I have to do it,” he replied summoning up that shaman-like zeal once again.  “I think it’s very important to get into a routine where you work out regularly. It’s not important how much you work out it’s just important that you get it done every day. There’s no excuse not to because you can even do it in your hotel room. I often do something called 500 or 600 where I do one hundred of each thing…a hundred sit-ups, a hundred push-ups, a hundred squats…and it may only be 20 or 30 minute workout but it’s important to get your body moving especially after a long flight.”

“I stand on the stage every week,” he added with a sense of benediction. “If I feel good in my body and my clothes feel good on my body, I have one less thing to worry about and I can worry more about the music and being present instead of worrying about whether you can see my belly or that I’m not healthy.”

And again…it’s all about the music with MORTEN. Just as it should be.

Find out more about MORTEN and his upcoming international tour dates at mortenofficial.com.

Read this article on the Huffington Post at: www.huffingtonpost.com/morten

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As the world marks the centenary of the First World War, the new film Testament of Youth, directed by James Kent and starring Game of Thrones hero Kit Harington and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, revisits the landscape of the England that inspired Vera Brittain’s seminal memoir upon which the film is based, while simultaneously celebrating the majestically diverse beauty of Yorkshire, one of Great Britain’s crown jewels.

In the film, Vikander takes on the role of Brittain, the pugnacious, free-spirited, feminist-leaning aspiring young writer whose whole world is forever changed by the war. Meanwhile an almost unrecognizable Kit Harington portrays Roland Leighton, the great love of Brittain’s life who heads off to war full of the kind of cocksure arrogance that misguidedly led England’s leaders at the time to believe the First World War would be a scant six month affair rather than the grief-stricken four year stretch that became its brutal legacy.

Told from a woman’s point of view, Testament of Youth is, like the book, a beautifully crafted meditation on love, loss and unpacking the baggage that those left behind struggle with in war’s aftermath. Not a traditional Hollywood epic wherein warfare is viewed through the soldiers’ lens, Testament of Youth is instead a contemplative film that leans on often painful moments of resilience, sacrifice, survival and transition rather than guts and glory to explore life during wartime. It is also a film that is a far cry from the more testosterone driven fare that has placed Harington, the film’s male lead, atop Hollywood’s list of most in demand stars. And it is a departure that the actor welcomed.

“It was slightly the reason that I wanted to do this film,” Harington explained of his attraction to the role during a recent sit down in Beverly Hills.  “Unlikely as it seems to me, I’ve been doing a lot of action hero roles. Spooks, I filmed just after this so it was a nice balancing act between the two films – one period and one modern-day contemporary. But it was more the emotional journey that I could go through with this film – the transition that the character goes through – that was important [to me] rather than trying to break away from some kind of stereotype.”

“There were various reasons that I wanted to do [Testament of Youth],” he continued. “Loving the source material, really having a very good feeling about the director James [Kent] from the get go and also wanting to work with Alicia who was a friend prior to doing this movie. And it was also a chance to quite frankly look very different from how I usually have to look,” he adds with a hint of a laugh referring to the fact that in the role of Leighton his normally tousled mane has been tamed as part of his transformation from action hero to uniformed, poetry-writing English gentleman/matinee idol.

Despite the seeming departure from the onscreen persona that has become part and parcel of his budding body of work, Harington says that off screen he is actually more akin to Roland Leighton than he is to the swashbuckling Jon Snow character he plays on Game of Thrones.

‘I think this character is a much closer fit to who I see myself as,” the actor ruminates. “He had similar interests to me and…I guess if I was born in that period, we would have been from similar backgrounds. So it did feel like a more natural fit to me as a person than these sort of fantastical action heroes I’ve been used to playing. He was a real life person as opposed to a modern day spy in a Bourne-esque spy thriller or a fantasy sword-wielding hero.”

As for the film’s third star, the county of Yorkshire, which provides the sweeping and romantic backdrop against which much of the film’s drama unfolds, Harington feels a similar kinship. “Strangely enough in Game of Thrones I play a Yorkshireman and in this film I’m not playing a Yorkshireman and yet we were filming in Yorkshire,” Harington muses. “Yorkshire… and Yorkshire Dales, where we shot a lot of [the film], is a part of the world that I love …and…It’s a stunningly beautiful area of England.”

Harington’s sentiments are echoed by the film’s Northern born director who like Brittain not only attended Oxford University, but was also brought up in the neighboring county of Derbyshire. “Yorkshire people call Yorkshire ‘god’s own county,’” Kent says brightly as he fondly recalls his childhood home. “I think it’s just the most stunning place in the world. It also has terrific nature and nature mattered to Vera. She loved flowers, she loved birds, she loved wildlife and the landscape of Yorkshire refracts her feelings. I wanted nature to be a metaphor for the virgin soil before it got scarred by war. It’s this beautiful Eden before the war comes and the trenches are built and the mud desecrates the landscape. [So] everything was shot there – the beaches, the moorlands, the beautiful lake…it’s stunning.”

In the final analysis, the onscreen combo of Vikander, Harington and Yorkshire as handled by Kent in Testament of Youth, delivers a story not simply about loss and grief but also one of inspiration that imparts some lasting life lessons, one of the most overarching of which is expressed by Kent himself.

“Each and every one of us is born in search of a voice,” the director explains. “[Each of us is born] in search of a way of having an entitlement in this world to say what we want to say and Vera went through hell in order to find that artistic voice. And that’s the lesson for all of us…it will be tough but at the end of it, you will be wiser, richer and you’ll have more compassion for your fellow human beings.”

Testament of Youth opens in theatres on June 5^th.

To read this feature on the Huffington Post, click here.

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