Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, a wonderful event that deserves a lot more national notice than it usually receives. This year's offerings include Cuban Jazz and Fusion artist Roberto Fonseca, whose recording Yo won Cubadisco 2013 awards in the Fusion and Recording (engineering) categories this year (you can read a review of Yo here).  Roberto is playing Friday, September 27 at 10:30 pm, and this show, which will be an interesting departure from what most US listeners typically expect from Cuban music concerts if the material from Yo is performed, is highly recommended. Click here for the Lotus festival's page, which includes a live video. While you're there, check out the rest of the festival schedule, there aren't any additional Cuban acts, but it is very impressive.

In Los Angeles, the AC Jazz Project is having its official CD release party for the new recording Conga Buena at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 26 at 8:30pm.  This group is based in Los Angeles California and features veterans of Maraca, Klimax, Afrocuba and Opus 13.  The leader, trumpeter/composer Josiel Pérez, is originally from Piñar del Rio, played with Maraca and Klimax, and is just getting established in the US after coming here in 2011. The group does both Cuban Jazz and Cuban dance music (Timba, Rumba, Son etc.), and some tracks are already on the radio in a few cities. The album is now available in CD Baby and iTunes

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Last weekend Sweden celebrated King Carl XIV Gustav's 40 years as Regent. Whether you are a royalist or not, you can't argue with the music selection. Calle Real performed as part of the festivities on Sunday September 15th in front of the Royal Palace, so I call it Calle Real at El Palacio Real. After getting the year off to a great start with the tour of Peru and Chile, the bandmembers were busy with various other projects. But summer is over; it's time to get back to work and they gave us a couple of their "new"songs at the concert. I say "new" because one is an updated version of "Hoah"and the other is a new version of Rasmus Faber's house song "Oye", which Thomas sang lead on. It is now a house/timba song. The full concert report including an interview will follow soon, but here is a little teaser from the Palace Concert: the "Intro" and "Somos Familia" and "Oye" from the second set. Stay tuned for more...

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Attention! Today Pablo Milanés releases his long-awaited album "Renacimiento" at iTunes! For more details about the CD see his Offical Website .

Track list:
En paz (Amado Nervo - Pablo Milanés)
Apocalipsis (Pablo Milanés)
Dulces recuerdos (Pablo Milanés)
Los males del silencio (Pablo Milanés)
Cual si fuera a morir esta mañana (Pablo Milanés)
Homenaje al Changüí (Pablo Milanés)
Lamento (Ho Chi Minh - Pablo Milanés)
Canto a La Habana (Pablo Milanés)
Amor de otoño (Pablo Milanés)
El otoño del amor (Pablo Milanés)

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After its much anticipated premier at the 2013 Los Angeles film Festival this past July, The House That Jack Built is a new motion picture coming your way after a nearly 20-year long journey. This was the last script written by Joseph Vasquez, whose 1991 film HANGIN' WITH THE HOMEBOYS was a rare Latino themed hit in the early days of the American Indie movement. With the blessings of Joe's mother, producers Mike Lieber and Sam Kitt (Love And Basketball) kept alive the idea of turning the script into a film, which was then filmed on location in New York by director Henry Barrial.  

Quick summary: With the hope of re-creating his gauzy vision of good times gone by, Jack is pot dealer who buys a Bronx building into which he moves his extended family. When his relatives fail to meet his nostalgic expectations, Jack tries to force them to conform. Instead, he learns a sad lesson about the strength and limitations of family bonds.

Music for the film includes Celosa, a Cuban son by 2013 Grammy nominee Raúl Lara, an old-school, Trio-Los-Panchos love song La Golondrina del Amor by boricua Willie "El Zentinela" Delgado, the Afro-Cuban grooves of Vissión Latina with Que Sabor Tiene Odalys, a lively plena from Plena LIbre with Que Rico Tumbao, the dark urban vibe of Hay Que Frontear courtesy of LG el Xtrasensorial and the ending scene cue from another boricua Tropmontune with Que Pasará.  

A red-carpet film screening of The House That Jack Built is scheduled for New York early October (stay tuned for the exact date). It will be the first film in a series called PROYECTO NEXT, sponsored by HBO.

Speaking of music in film, the Billboard Film & TV Music Conference is scheduled for October 29 & 30 at the W Hotel in Hollywood. Highlights include talks on the expanding role of music publishers -- the key players behind the scenes securing uses of songs for film and TV projects -- and a keynote address by Alexandra Patsavas, whose credits include "Scandal", “Mad Men”, "Hart of Dixie", "Gossip Girl", "The O.C.", the “Twilight Saga”, "Perks of Being a Wallflower", and the upcoming film “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. Use the code LPM13 to register here.

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