ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

January 25th 2008

Daryl Hannah Lends Her Pipes To New Underwater IMAX Film

Filed under: animals, events, events: boston, film-tv, green and famous, television — parrish @ 11:20 am

Oh Daryl, how we love you so. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr. mated and had little green offspring that grew up and saved the world? Pretty sweet idea, right? Oh, but I digress.

Daryl Hannah has just signed on to lend to her voice to the New IMAX Film DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D: Tribes of the Ocean. Dolphins and Whales will premier at the New England Aquarium in Boston on February 13th (a day before V. day…classy) and takes the audience on a 3D tour of the ocean deep.

The film is directed by Jean-Jacques and Francois Mantello and distributed in association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and PADI’S Project Aware and Reef Check.

Daryl released a statement saying, “It is amazing how much we share with these beautiful creatures - play, family, education, community, struggles. Unfortunately, because we often are so unaware of these underwater tribes and our negative impact upon them through slaughtering and uncontrolled human activities, they are facing the greatest challenge of all: to survive the destruction of their habitat and depletion of food resources.”

Oh Daryl, if I was just a little bit older and you were just a little bit younger…watch out!

Visit DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D: Tribes of the Ocean’s official website to find out when it will be arriving in a town near you

September 24th 2007

Fenway’s “Green Monster” Really Goes Green

Filed under: events: boston, sports — paige @ 7:02 pm

Fenway Park is taking the famous “Green Monster” up a whole new notch of green via a partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The club is adopting several green initiatives including a recycling program, improved removal of refuse, and consideration of solar panels to reduce energy consumption taking place over the next five years. Just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” in 2012.

According to the press release:

“We are not only committed to preserving the history, beauty, and integrity of Fenway Park, but we are also determined to enhance the park’s environmental attributes so it can serve our team, our fans, and our community in the 21st century as well as it did in the 20th century,” said Larry Lucchino, President/CEO of the Red Sox. “We look forward to beginning this process with the help of some key partners.”

Some of the proposed initiatives including new recycling bins which actually begin at the next homestand game on Tuesday. We know far too many Red Sox fans to make any puns or generalizations. Let’s just hope for the spirit of the club that this season doesn’t leave fans green with envy. Learn about all the proposed initiatives here.

photo credit: Night Owl City

June 8th 2007

Ecorazzi Exclusive Video - Vega4 @ WBOS Earthfest

Filed under: ecorazzi exclusive, events: boston, green and famous, music — rebecca @ 10:33 am

While attending the WBOS Earthfest in Boston, Ecorazzi field reporters Nina Braten & Dino Malvone teamed up with video producer Gabriel Mugar & host Julia Ely to interview Vega4.

If you’ve never listened to these guys, you are missing out. Not only is their music incredible, but they are planet lovers just like us!

Check out our exclusive video interview:

Click To Play

See previous Ecorazzi Earthfest coverageThanks to video producer Gabriel Mugar who is a teacher in Boston Public Schools and operates Press Pass TV.

May 31st 2007

Unwrapping Earthfest Part 2

Filed under: ecorazzi exclusive, events: boston, festivals, interviews, music — dino @ 11:48 am

“Always listen to your mother,” Gavin Fox of Vega4 told us as we interviewed the band at this year’s Earthfest concert in Boston. This coming from the band who’s lead singer, Johnny McDaid, climbed the metal scaffolding on the JumboTron to close out their amazing opening set!

This up-and-coming foursome are fantastically funny, mildly irreverent, and humble gentlemen as well. Did I mention they’re also very environmentally conscious blokes?

During our interview, Johnny McDaid told us about his plans to work closely with his record label, SonyBMG, to reduce packaging waste with their record. We also learned that the video contest for the song Life is Beautiful on YouTube is coming to a close today. Yes, that’s right folks… TODAY.

The members of Vega4 are asking all of you with a camera to get out there and film an earth conscious music video for their latest single, Life is Beautiful. The lucky winner of this contest will win two free tickes to the Live Earth concert later this summer. If Live Earth is half as fun as Earthfest, I’m so there!

May 31st 2007

Unwrapping Earthfest Part 1

Filed under: events: boston, festivals, music — dino @ 11:13 am

John Butler, Shannon Birchall and Michael Barker - the Australian triumvirent that combined create the John Butler Trio - brought the noise when they played at this year’s Earthfest Boston this past weekend.

Interesting sidenote: this trio is constantly evolving - there are five previous members, all of which have moved on to other projects. It’s this evolutionary thread that keeps these guys together, and the band’s ultimate goal is to unite people through music to positively affect both social and environmental change.

That’s why the band has joined forces with the CLIF GreenNotes Program, a program designed to partner with musicians to minimize the impact their tours have on the environment.

Not only does this band believe in mimizmizing their carbon footprint, but they are amazing musicians as well. During their Earthfest set, John Butler himself played the constantly evolving guitar solo, Ocean, a song that he never plays the same way twice. Everyone around me was on their feet smiling and they certainly recruited a new fan in me.

May 29th 2007

Earthfest Boston: A Kaleidoscope of Green

Filed under: ecorazzi exclusive, events: boston, festivals, interviews — dino @ 11:24 am

Wow, that was fast. Memorial Day seemed to just fly by this year! But before we pack up our picnic, we’ve got one last fish to fry: Earthfest Boston, my friends. We’ve been talking about Earthfest quite a bit lately around these parts, and for good reason. The line-up was AMAZING: The John Butler Trio, Vega4, Mat Kierney, Guster, KT Tunstall and Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. The weather couldn’t have been nicer too. You could smell the environmental awareness in the air and Boston’s Charles River Esplanade is spring simply cannot be beat!

A few of us from ecorazzi (Nina and I) and our friends (Gabe, Frank, and Julia) got the chance to spend the afternoon at Earthfest on Saturday. Nina and Frank captured some amazing photographs, Gabe shot some amazing video, Julia interviewed some super cool eco-friendly people, and after hearing The John Butler Trio’s ghostly-instrumental jam, Ocean, I was immediately their biggest fan.

Backstage, we got to watch a number of bands giving live radio interviews, and we were able to catch up with Vega4, Adam Gardner from Guster, and Lauren Sullivan, Director and Co-Founder of Reverb. We have some amazing video of our day, and that’ll be coming at you all very soon. Stay tuned!

May 27th 2007

KT Tunstall Rocks at 14th Annual WBOS EarthFest

Filed under: ecorazzi exclusive, events: boston, festivals, green and famous, music — nina @ 5:50 pm

Saturday was a gloriously sunny day in Boston and a perfect one for celebrating our planet. KT Tunstall, among many other talented artists such as Vega4, Grace Potter, John Butler Trio, Mat Kearney, Tim Finn and Guster, rocked out by the esplanade in Boston’s Hatch Shell for WBOS 14th Annual Earthfest.

With over 100,000 attendees, the artists showed their various commitments to environmental issues by sharing their thoughts and eco-tips in-between playing their hit songs. KT Tunstall remarked: “We just need to use less stuff. Only buy what you need.” She also dedicated her song Under the Weather to the earth and shouted out into the crowd: “Show it some respect!”

In a backstage interview, Tunstall also expressed appreciation for Earthfest’s deliberate efforts to be an environmentally friendly event, which included a recycling squad, biodegradable plates, and utensils in the VIP tent, and eco-tips posted all over the esplanade, which were sponsored by Whole Foods. She said: This festival really sets a precedent. It’s fantastic. This is the way all festivals should be.”

Tunstall’s new album will be coming out in September and it’s one I am dying to hear. I’ll buy it for the sole purpose that KT’s tour bus runs on bio-diesel. Plus rumor has it, it’s a fabulous album. You gotta love green rocker chicks!

Photo Credit: Frank Siteman

May 16th 2007

Ecorazzi Interview with Adam Gardner of Guster & Reverb

Filed under: ecorazzi exclusive, events: boston, festivals, green and famous, music — rebecca @ 4:58 pm

We’ve often talked about Reverb here on Ecorazzi, as we are super impressed with the concept. Founded by a husband and wife team - one a rocker, one a professional environmentalist, the organization that sets out to green the music industry has married two great topics.

Ecorazzi recently had the chance to talk with Adam Gardner of the band Guster and co-founder of Reverb with his wife Lauren Sullivan. You can see Guster and some other incredible bands at this year’s Earthfest in Boston on Saturday, May 26. There’s no excuse - it’s free - and sounds incredible!

Adam & Lauren live in a small condo in downtown Portland, Maine. The location allows them to walk most everywhere - that is, when Guster or Reverb aren’t on tour. In fact, Lauren & Adam even got others in the building to agree to composting. But they are doing more than just greening their personal lives - they are helping the entire music industry get on the bandwagon.

It’s not that the music industry and musicians haven’t wanted to be environmentally friendly, “There is a lot of intention there,” said Gardner, “There is just a lack of resources and knowledge. That’s where Reverb can come in and help.” Reverb will sit down with an artist and lay out all of their options. He explains that it’s not all or nothing and tells the musicians, “What do you want to do? You wanna do some, you wanna do all? You wanna order a la carte from the menu? Or you can do a combo meal, what would you like?”

And as time goes on, it is becoming easier for musicians to go green. Guster used to have to fight with their label to get eco-friendly packaging for their music. Now, Adam tells us, it’s a different story, “We’ve been on this label for a bunch of years now and every time we put out a record I remember having that conversation. What are we doing about the paper, can we use soy inks? ‘Well you can, but it will cost more’. Now, again, when this record Ganging Up on the Sun came out last year, I was all ready to get in my fighting position with my product manager about eco-friendly paper and he was all ready to get into it to. We were in our crouching positions ready to fight and then he said, ‘Well, let me find out the cost differences again.’ Then he came back and said, ‘You know what? New policy, all paper will be eco-friendly.’” In fact, Warner Music Group even made Guster’s entire back catalog carbon neutral.

I commented to Adam that what I like about Reverb is that they are actually greening musicians & their tours - biodiesel buses, energy efficiency, education - as well as using offsets to make the remainder carbon neutral, which are controversial, I said, depending on who you talk to. That got him fired up…

Read on to find out what Adam Gardner thinks of carbon offsets, how Reverb is making going green sexier, who’s huffing on exhaust pipes, and which Guster band member is crazy for composting.

Read the rest of this entry »

May 1st 2007

Vega4 at Earthfest, Boston

Filed under: events: boston, festivals, music — dino @ 12:53 pm

Last week, Rebecca told you that Guster would be headlining this year’s Earthfest in Boston, brought to you on the on May 26^th. For those of us who’ve been listening to Guster ever since they got their start at Tufts University just outside the city, this is a major homecoming!

Fellow Boston contributor, Nina Braten and I plan to spend the day at Earthfest and will have a ton more to report back. It seems as though Guster is sharing the bill with some other amazing acts, including KT Tunstall, Mat Kearney, the John Butler Trio, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, and last, but certainly not least, Vega4.

Vega4, who’s 4 members come from wildly different backgrounds and musical tastes, hail from London, where they met some years ago and built a bond based on their shared interests in music. They’re also sponsoring an awesome contest on YouTube where they’re asking folks to use their song, Life is Beautiful as the soundtrack to their own green music video.

From the guys in Vega 4:
“We suggested to our record label that they should sponsor a Life is Beautiful contest to inspire everybody to try and make a difference. We know that many of you are creative people, and with that in mind, we’d love to see what you can do. Use Life is Beautiful as the soundtrack to your videos and slideshows and upload them to the Vega4 group on youtube.com. We’ll watch all the videos and slideshows and decide which one we like the best. The winner will win two tickets to the Live Earth show at Giant’s Stadium this summer.” Here is my favorite from the group…

All you aspiring green music video directors, GET GOIN! Click here for more information on how to submit your own! And for more information about Earthfest, please visit Earthfest.com.