Randy Newman

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, actor, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his distinctive voice, mordant (and often satirical) pop songs, and for film scores.

Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. His film scores include Ragtime, Awakenings, The Natural, Leatherheads, Cats Don't Dance, Meet the Parents, Cold Turkey, and Seabiscuit. He has scored seven Disney-Pixar animated films; Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story 3, and Monsters University, as well as Disney's The Princess and the Frog and James and the Giant Peach.

Newman has received twenty Academy Award nominations in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories and has won twice in the latter category. He has also won three Emmys, six Grammy Awards, and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy. Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002, and as a Disney Legend in 2007. Newman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2013.

Randy Newman (album)

Randy Newman is the debut recording by Randy Newman, released in 1968. Unlike his later albums which featured Newman and his piano backed by guitar, bass guitar and drums, Randy Newman was highly orchestral and aimed to blend the orchestra with Newman's voice and piano.

Randy Newman never dented the Billboard Top 200 and was not received as well by critics as Newman's acclaimed 1970s albums 12 Songs, Sail Away and Good Old Boys; indeed, according to Ken Tucker, the album sold so poorly that Warner offered buyers the opportunity to trade the album for another in the company's catalog.Randy Newman was out of print for over 15 years until it was re-released on CD in 1995. It was remastered by Lee Herschberg.

The album is sometimes referred to as Randy Newman Creates Something New Under The Sun, which was written on the reverse of the album sleeve.

Previous versions of songs on this album

As with many of Newman's early albums, several Newman-penned songs had been previously recorded by other artists.

Our Town (Randy Newman song)

"Our Town" is a song used in the 2006 Disney·Pixar film Cars. It was written by longtime Pixar contributor Randy Newman and recorded by James Taylor.

Story

The song is a ballad that recounts the economic decline of the fictional town of Radiator Springs after the creation of Interstate 40.

In popular culture

The song became immensely popular, and later became an anthem for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Awards and Nominations

At the 49th Grammy Awards (given on February 11, 2007), the song won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The same night, Newman's work for Cars won for Music in an Animated Feature Production at the 34th Annie Awards. The film was also nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth.

References

Our Town

Our Town is a 1938 three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.

Throughout Wilder uses metatheatrical devices setting the play in the actual theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in guests lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in playing some of the roles. The play is performed without a set and the actors mime their actions without the use of props.

Our Town was first performed at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey in 1938. It later went on to success on Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It remains popular today and revivals are frequent.

Synopsis

Act I: Daily Life

The Stage Manager introduces the audience to the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, and the people living there as a morning begins in the year 1901. Professor Willard speaks to the audience about the history of the town. Joe Crowell delivers the paper to Doc Gibbs, Howie Newsome delivers the milk, and the Webb and Gibbs households send their children (Emily and George, respectively) off to school on this beautifully simple morning.

Our Town (disambiguation)

Our Town may refer to:

Theatre, film, and television

Music

Our Town (The Vampire Diaries)

"Our Town" is the eleventh episode of the third season of The CW television series, The Vampire Diaries and the 55th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on January 12, 2012. The episode was written by Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed by Wendey Stanzler.

Plot

Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Bonnie (Kat Graham) are preparing a party for Caroline’s (Candice Accola) birthday while Elena tells Bonnie that she asked Damon (Ian Somerhalder) to compel Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) to leave town. Bonnie is surprised and does not agree with that but she eventually says goodbye to Jeremy without telling him that Damon compelled him.

Caroline does not want to have a birthday party since now she is a vampire and dead and stuck being seventeen. They all go to the old tomb to have a "funeral" instead so they will give Caroline the opportunity to say goodbye to her old life and be able to accept the new one to start over.

Stefan (Paul Wesley) asks Klaus (Joseph Morgan) to remove his hybrids from the town otherwise he will start killing them one by one. When Klaus threatens him that if he does that he will kill everyone starting from Damon, Stefan answers back that if he does that, he will never see his family again. To prove Klaus that he is not bluffing, Stefan kills one of the hybrids in front of him. When Stefan leaves, Klaus calls Tyler (Michael Trevino) asking him to bite Caroline but Tyler refuses to do it.