The Paris Blog: Paris, France Expat Tips & Resources » Celebrities

French Tapped to Compose Obama Reelection Song

Laurel Zuckerman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:18:12 +0000

According to Le Figaro, United States President Barack Obama has chosen two French composers from Bordeaux (yes, France!) to write his campaign theme song. The ditty, entitled “What’s More,” was written by Tony Jazz and Mathieu Billon.

Raised in the infamous 9-3 (the Seine Saint Denis region just outside Paris), Jazz at 26 had already racked up credits at Universal and Sony and founded his own communications company specializing in musical design. Billon is a case study in finding one’s talents. After a two-year DUT diploma, he entered a work-study (alternance) program in Bordeaux with the hope of founding a restaurant. An internship in marketing at Kaizen Marketing Group opened up a whole new world for him, an “American vision of entrepreneurship” with bosses barely older than himself.

One thing led to another and the two young French entrepreneurs met. In January last year Jazz and Billon created On Air Agency.

How did these two Frenchmen with no connections seduce the president of the United States?

“Talent,” says le Figaro, “Simplement du talent.”

This clip that Tony Jazz made in honor of Obama’s 2008 election caught the eye of Obama’s campaign, which led to a meeting with Charles Rifkin, the US ambassador to France.

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RIP Shakespeare & Co’s George Whitman

Secrets of Paris — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:56:26 +0000

George Whitman, the founder of the famous Shakespeare & Company Bookshop, passed away at the age of 98 on December 14th. Originally from America, he opened Le Mistral Bookshop in the Latin Quarter in 1951, changing the name to Shakespeare & Company to honor of Sylvia Beach’s original shop near Odéon, which closed during WWII. Most people know it as the historic home of the Beat Generation poets and writers, or for today’s annual literary festival attracting notable writers from around the world. Or for the free bed in the library upstairs that so many backpackers occupied over the decades. I met one of my best friends at this bookshop. But it’s not a time to be sad. Now under the careful and dedicated management of his daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman, George Whitman’s legacy will continue. The funeral will be held at Père Lachaise Cemetery this Thursday (December 22) at 3pm in the Crematorium, followed by a Champagne reception at the bookshop at 6pm, where “everyone is welcome to share their stories.”

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French People and Films Sweep Golden Globe Noms

Laurie — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:41:26 +0000

Given the number of French people nominated for Golden Globe awards for 2012—and nods for movies set in Paris—it would be no surprise if the orchestra at the Beverly Hills awards ceremony broke out in “The Marseilleise.” Despite a widely held notion that French films have never recaptured their importance since the new wave era of the 1960s, The Artist snagged a nomination for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. That film’s director Michel Hazanavicius, actor Jean Dujardin, and actress Berenice Bejo earned a nomination for Best Director, Actor and Actress, repectively. In the Best Screenplay category, The Artist will compete against Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s valentine to Paris. But Midnight is not the only film set in the City of Light to earn a nomination. In the category of Best Picture, Drama, Hugo, an animated film set in Paris, was nominated, and its director Martin Scorsese appears on the Best Director list.

Did the French Beat Lindbergh?

Marilyn Z Tomlins — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:27:32 +0000

Charles Nungesser and François Coli left Paris’s Le Bourget Airport on May 8, 1927 to fly across the Atlantic non-stop. The two aviators had met when both were soldiers in the First World War. Nungesser, a fighter pilot, had the third highest rating for air combat victories amongst French pilots. Coli was an ace pilot who commanded a flying wartime squadron despite that he had lost an eye while in the French Infantry.

They set off in the Levasseur PL.8 biplane – a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings – named l’Oiseau Blanc –The White Bird – to fly without halting the 3,600 miles (5,800 km) from Paris to New York. Never before had someone flown the Atlantic without halting and the two hoped to be the first to do so. Their rival Charles Lindbergh was at the same time preparing to accomplish that achievement too but flying from New York to Paris.

They did not succeed. Their plane disappeared. Lindbergh succeeded. Having left New York in his Spirit of Saint Louis on May 20, 1927, he landed at Paris’s Le Bourget Airport on May 21. He knew that Nungesser and Coli had failed; he knew that their plane was missing. The first thing that he said on reaching Le Bourget was to ask if there has been any news of them.

Now there is to be a new search for the duo. To commence this coming June, it is as a result of the unrelenting campaign of the now 72-year-old Bernard Decré, creator of theTour de France air race and a pilot himself. Studying archives from the Canadian Air Force and Canadian Coastguards, he had come across reports that soon after the two aviators’ plane had come down, sailors on ships had seen two white wings of a small aircraft drifting in the Atlantic off the coast of the French self-governing overseas territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. (Off the coast of Newfoundland.) It was sufficiently convincing for Decré to want to start looking for the plane’s wreckage in that area.
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It’s a Girl!

Laurie — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:39:46 +0000

Pin-teresting

Laurie — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 18:00:15 +0000

I’m a bit obsessed by Pinterest, a social media tool for creating and sharing mood boards or any kind of collection of images. Here’s “Des Mecs,” my compendium of beautiful French men.

A Family in Concrete

Invisible Paris — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:24:51 +0000

I have written previously of the works of architect Auguste Perret (particularly his Mobilier National building), but not as yet of his two creations that also became his offices and homes. As these buildings are separated by 30 years (and around 500 metres!), it is also interesting to note how tastes and techniques changed in this period.

His first self-designed home, on the rue Franklin in the 16th arrondissement, is also a building that is considered to be one of the seminal constructions of modern architecture. It was built in 1903 when Perret was only 29, and although it owes much to his upbringing and the comparitive success and wealth of his family, it also clearly showed the genius of the family’s oldest son. The Perret family: mother, father and five children, were evidently very close, choosing to live and work together throughout their lives. The father – Claude Marie Perret – was a stonemason and later a builder, and was determined to bring up his three sons to learn the trade.

Whilst working for the family firm, Auguste also continued his studies, eventually choosing to specialise in reinforced concrete (although he would never gain a full diploma in architecture). Together they were able to form a company called ‘Entreprise Perret et Fils’, which was capable not only of construction, but also of designing buildings and of providing the materials.

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Messing with History

An American Mom in Paris — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:18:23 +0000

The ads on the side of the Conciergerie are becoming just plain cruel. Look at the nonsense that’s up there now. Really, Conciergerie? Isn’t that kinda mean, featuring a painting of Marie Antoinette without a face, and a title of “Ghost Save the Queen” on the side of the building where she was held prisoner right before she LOST HER FACE and WAS NOT SAVED? All that’s missing is the slogan, “Hey, folks, DON’T LOSE YOUR HEAD over this Samsung thing, yeah decapitation!”
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Raul Vega Solo Exhibition

Laurie — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:13:33 +0000

Yes, that’s Sharon Stone naked. Once you get over the surprise of seeing a never-published photograph of the Basic Instinct actress in the buff–and you stop looking for public hair that appears non-existent–your eyes are drawn to the face. It’s not exactly a come-hither stare. And that is where you start to understand the artistry Raul Vega‘s photography. The Los Angeles based photographer, noted for his portraiture, will open his first European solo exhibition this Thursday. “classicNeoclassic” is a mini-retrospective of images from his career, which began in the 1970s. But the photos of celebrities such as Demi Moore and Jim Carrey make up the minority of the show. There are also erotic art photos that Vega created as personal work when not producing commissions for Vogue, Time, Rolling Stone and InStyle. And a photo of a cloud that the New Yorker magazine used to illustrate the landmark feature on the light of Los Angeles. But the centerpiece of the new show is new work of digitally manipulated architectural abstractions. The images, which have been printed in limited-editiron series of 20, depict (for the most part) Los Angeles structure–and, impressively, its amazing light. The show of 18 images open this Thursday at 7 PM Transacmer, and is open to the public.

Through October 27 at 19 rue du Bac, 75007

A Playboy’s Plight

Laurel Zuckerman — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:31:31 +0000

Arnaud Lagardère, heir to one of France’s largest and most powerful industrial empires, likes a pretty girl. No would would care except that, according to The Economist, the 49-year-old has been playing hooky from board meetings.

Now this wouldn’t matter either, if Lagardère were a little family-owned business. But, sadly, it is not. It is a media, aerospace and defense GIANT which includes such baubles as Airbus, Eurocopter, and Astrium as as well as Lagardère Publishing, the world’s second-largest publisher.

Sharesholders are not thrilled. Especially since young Arnaud is supposed to become EADS’ chairman.

Under the amusing title “Bad Heir Day”, The Economist dryly notes that: ”Executives at EADS are dismayed to see their future boss behave like a nincompoop.”

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