Sting appeared on Jimmy Kimmel after the Academy Awards on March 7, 2010 in the following hilarious “Handsome Men’s Club” skit along with a horde of other attractive male celebrities. My favorite Sting line: “I got lost in my own eyes” and “At least I’m a funny joke.” He had some really funny facial expressions too. It’s nice to see Sting’s sense of humor once in awhile. Take a look at this and enjoy!
Sting will remain comfortably in his classical groove with the announcement of a summer 2010 tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, according to the New York Times on February 21, 2010. The short list of tour cities includes Chicago at the Ravinia Festival and begins in Vancouver on June 2, 2010. These performances will be similar to previously successful concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Sting’s songs rearranged for Britain’s 54-piece orchestra along with an additional quartet including guitarist, bassist, multipercussionist and another vocalist.
After attending the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance last May 2009, I know these will be unique and special performances for music enthusiasts and Sting fans, and I hope to have the opportunity to attend myself!
Here is an awesome custom-designed Valentine’s Day card I received from a co-worker this year that reads:
Just a bit crazy 4 U!
Sting performed a short set of his songs accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music on January 30, 2009. Following is the setlist and an interview with one of the local TV station NBC10 Philadelphia. Photo is courtesy of Laurence Kesterson, MCT news wire. You’ll find a review of Sting’s performance on the Lehigh Valley Music Blog.
1.Message in a Bottle
2.If I Ever Lose my Faith in You
3.Roxanne
4.Desert Rose
5.Russians
6. Moon Over Bourbon Street
7. Fragile
8. Every Breath You Take
I’m also happy to report that winter is not Sting’s favorite season after all, and this is confirmed by Sting himself in this interview!
Sting performed a powerful rendition of his appropriately chosen Police song “Driven To Tears” during the Hope For Haiti Now telethon on January 22, 2010 along with Mark Whitfield on guitar, Chris Botti on trumpet, Clark Gayton on trombone, Ira Coleman on bass, and members of the band The Roots. You can always count on Sting to lend a helping vocal during a crisis, and the lyrics to “Driven To Tears” were poignantly relevant to the desperate situation at hand:
Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existance is reduced to a shallow meaningless party
Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
Cause this is what we’ve seen“Driven To Tears” Sting
It’s no secret that Sting suffers from hearing loss himself, and perhaps that is why he is now lending a helping hand in support of a global hearing loss campaign called Hear the World Initiative. Hear The World was established in 2006 by Phonak, a hearing systems manufacturer, with a mission to call attention to the importance of taking care of your hearing, to prevent hearing loss in later life, as well as to highlight the social and emotional impact of hearing loss and the solutions available for those who suffer. Sting joins a large group of celebrity ambassadors supporting Hear The World, including Jude Law, Elle Macpherson, Annie Lennox, Jerry Hall and Peter Gabriel.
Each Hear The World ambassador has been photographed by musician and photographer Bryan Adams holding the Hear the World pose – with one hand cupped behind their ear to convey conscious hearing. These striking black and white photos can be seen on the Hear The World website, and many have been incorporated into a beautiful 2010 calendar available for purchase, with proceeds going to the Hear The World Foundation. The Hear The World website has lots of useful information and even an online hearing test that I’m happy to report I passed. Check it out at www.hear-the-world.com.
Speculation about the extent of Sting’s hearing loss was reported as long ago as 1995 by the New York Daily News and mentioned again in 2005 by Rolling Stone. That makes his support of the Hear The World Initiative a charitable cause near and dear to his own heart and significant to his own health, and he explains his involvement by saying:
“Our hearing is not only integral to how we communicate but also how we experience the world around us.” Sting commented “It’s a fact that we gain more information from hearing than seeing. I hope by supporting this campaign people are reminded to appreciate every sound and fully protect their sense of hearing”.
Photo courtesy of Bryan Adams and the Hear The World Initiative.
Here is an interesting and candid “What I’ve Learned” interview with Sting from the January 2010 issue of Esquire. Be forewarned, there are a few offensive words, so read at your own risk! I like his point about the “unique vocal fingerprint” myself.
http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/sting-biography-0110
Sting: What I’ve Learned
The musician on Michael Jackson, the secrets to a successful marriage, how to have sex for seven hours, and the most outrageous thing you can do in a Macy’s window
By Cal Fussman
It’s my job to sing a song I wrote thirty years ago as if I’d written it in the afternoon.
I find New York a very easy place to be famous because there’s a lot of self-esteem, probably more than in any other city. Whether they’re taxi drivers or cops or firemen or driving a refuse truck, the people all have their own TV series and they are the star of it. “Oh, Sting is on my show this week!”
Gratitude is the fundamental emotion that one should feel in a state of grace.
I tend to write the music first. If it’s good music, it has a story.
You don’t have to be the greatest singer in the world. What you need to be is unique. Whenever you open your mouth, people should know: “Oh, that’s Van Morrison.” Or “That’s Bob Dylan.” Or “That’s Bono.” You want to get to that point where you have a unique vocal fingerprint. Then it’s about refining that sound and making it more and more you.
Your parents name you, but they haven’t a clue who you are. Your friends nickname you because they know exactly who you are.
You can be born Elvis Presley. But Reg Dwight is not going to make it unless he has this ritual where he becomes Elton John.
I had a pretty miserable childhood, but would I want to change it? No. Childhood made me who I am, and I’m quite happy with who I am. Without my childhood, something else would’ve happened.
The truth is mutable and plural.
I used to go to confession. You’re asked to ask for forgiveness at the age of seven. But people don’t commit sins at that age. So they give you this whole list of sins so you can walk in and say, “Oh, I’ve got this confession.” This allows you to make some shit up, which is a lie in itself.
Assume you’re going to make different mistakes than the ones your parents made with you, because you will.
Trudie and I have been together thirty years and married eighteen. You can multiply that by seven because show business is like dog years.
There’s no secret to a successful marriage. I love my wife. More important than that, I really like her.
The whole aspect of fucking for seven hours is really not what tantric sex is about. But, yes, you can.
I’m pretty confessional in my creative life. I’m pretty candid and open about my preoccupations. I’m not going to reveal everything — that’s pornography.
What’s it like to sing with Tony Bennett? Just being in the same room with a master rubs off on you. Something happens, you know? You’ve got to get the ball over the net. So you raise your game.
Sometimes mediocre poetry becomes incredible song material.
People send me song lyrics all the time. It’s difficult. I’m not sure what they want me to do with them. Looking at lyrics without the music is like looking at a one-legged man.
Yes, yes, cough and Nabokov is a silly rhyme. I got such grief for that. But I did it deliberately. It was hilarious to me to put Nabokov in a song.
I thought when my kids got to twenty-one, that would be it, you know? They’d be out the door. We’d never have to worry about them again. But I have a thirty-two-year-old, and I still worry about him like he’s a little boy.
It’s stress that kills you in the end.
I felt sorry for Michael Jackson for a long time. Of course, he’s sold nine million records since he died. I told the record company, “Forget it, I’m not ready.”
All these kids who say they want to be famous, they don’t know what they’re talking about. You can become famous by showing your dick in Macy’s window.
As a celebrity, you’re told how people feel about you, whether they are informed, intelligent, or not. It’s something quite rare. Most people go through life without anybody telling them what they think.
I’ve got the same rank as James Bond. Commander of the British Empire. It used to span the whole world, from Britain to India and including America. But now it’s the size of a postage stamp. Frankly, there is not much to command. At the same time, I’m kind of sentimental about my country.
A friend is someone who will tell you when you’re bullshitting, when you’ve overstepped a mark, or when you’re being an idiot.
I was twenty-seven before I had any success. That probably saved my life. I’d had a job with a pension. I’d paid a mortgage. I’d had a kid. All those things gave me an appreciation for reality, and I think that allowed me to still have a career now at fifty-eight.
The Snow It Melts The Soonest
Fields Of Gold
Cherry Tree Carol
Alone With My Thoughts This Evening (intro only to I Was Brought To My Senses)
Every Breath You Take
Message In A Bottle (encore)
Here is a nice article about the event from The Journal Live (photo above from The Journal Live also): Sting’s golden moment at Sage party . Included here also is a front row ticket and setlist from the event courtesy of Sting fan “Green” (thanks Paul). Click on thumbnails for larger images.
Sting helped pay tribute to Bruce Springsteen, one of five recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, on Sunday, December 6, 2009. Sting performed Springsteen’s “The Rising” along with a gospel choir to end the evening. Check out a little bit of Sting’s performance here.
Happiness is checking my email and finding in my inbox a message From: Sting, Subject: Happy Holidays from Sting, even if it is from the Sting Fan Club. Check out the following and click on the flash link under “2009 Holiday Greeting From Sting” for a little holiday cheer from the man himself!
And you can download a digital 2010 Sting Calendar here:
Happy holidays to all from Message In A Bloggle at Stingfield.com!
