33-448: Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was ( / w ʌ z / ), is an American musician , record producer , music director , film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the American jazz label Blue Note Records . For his work as a record producer, he has won six Grammy Awards, including Album of
66-407: A musical instrument . Musicians may perform on their own or as part of a group, band or orchestra . Musicians can specialize in a musical genre , though many play a variety of different styles, depending on the cultures and backgrounds involved. A musician who records and releases music can be known as a recording artist . A composer is a musician who creates musical compositions . The title
99-439: A weighted average , assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. At the 50th Golden Globe Awards , the film was nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy , while Nicolas Cage was nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy . The soundtrack was composed mainly of covers of Elvis Presley songs performed by country and pop/rock artists. The film
132-585: A bassist, he has toured as a member of Bob Weir and The Wolf Bros since 2018. Born in Detroit , Was graduated from Oak Park High School in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park , then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but dropped out after the first year. A journeyman musician, he grew up listening to the Detroit blues sound and the jazz music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis , amongst many others. As
165-526: A budget of $ 25 million It opened at Number 1, and spent its first five weeks in the Top 10 at the domestic box office. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 64% of 36 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads: " Honeymoon in Vegas is a light screwball comedy that has just about what you expect (and nothing you don't)." Metacritic , which uses
198-474: A family, and he proposes a quick Las Vegas marriage. They check into the Bally's Casino Resort . Before the wedding, however, a wealthy professional gambler, Tommy Korman, notices Betsy's striking resemblance to his beloved late wife, Donna. He arranges a crooked poker game that prompts Jack to borrow $ 65,000 after being dealt a straight flush, only to lose to the gambler's higher straight flush; Tommy offers to erase
231-536: A flight to Las Vegas. He joins a group about to depart for Las Vegas but discovers mid-flight that they are the Utah chapter of the "Flying Elvises" – a skydiving team of Elvis impersonators . Jack realizes he has to skydive from 3,000 feet to get to Betsy. Jack overcomes his fear. He lands and spots Betsy, ruining Tommy's plans. Jack and Betsy are married in a small Las Vegas chapel with the Flying Elvises as guests. Jack
264-409: A good musical. He was distracted making movies but then had open heart surgery in 2001. "When you have open-heart surgery, you say, what do I really want to do? What haven't I done? I thought it'd be great to do a musical." Jason Robert Brown, a composer, had always wanted to do Honeymoon as a musical and wrote some songs on spec. He and Bergman agreed to collaborate. "We certainly were looking to do
297-464: A one-time sale as Ionic Originals. In 2023, it was announced that Was would join former Dead & Company members Weir, Lane, Jeff Chimenti , Oteil Burbridge and Mickey Hart as part of Dead Ahead, a four-day festival in Cancún , Mexico in early 2024. Was is the son of World War II veteran and Bronze Star Medal awardee Bill Fagenson, who served with the 96th Infantry, 381st Regiment. Was's sister
330-419: A raised podium and communicates with the musicians through hand gestures or eye contact. Examples of performers include, but are not limited to, instrumentalists and singers who perform for an audience. A musician can perform as a solo artist or as a part of an ensemble (e.g. an orchestra , a choir or a pop group). A music producer plays a crucial role in shaping the sound of an album or song, overseeing
363-437: A real book musical that isn't really done much anymore," said Bergman. We wanted the sound to be of the '60s and '70s—not that it's a throwback, but we wanted that sound. We wanted to be brassy, come and love us kind of show." A big change from the movie was the character of the mother was kept alive. "Having her recur is a great thing for the show," said Bergman. "It keeps her spirit alive and it keeps his mishigas alive. That
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#1733084621363396-480: A teenager, Was was influenced by 1960s counterculture, most notably John Sinclair . In high school, Was became the lead singer and guitar player in a Detroit rock band called the Saturns. Using the stage name "Don Was", he formed the group Was (Not Was) with school friend David Weiss ( David Was ). The group found commercial success in the 1980s – releasing four albums and logging several hit records. Their biggest hit
429-693: A trio which undertook a North American tour in the fall of 2018, and continued with a second tour of twenty more shows in the spring of 2019. On April 16, 2021, Was debuted a new radio show, the Don Was Motor City Playlist on WDET-FM, Detroit's NPR station, with co-host Ann Delisi. Was played bass on the 2021 Bob Dylan recordings of " Blowin' in the Wind ," " Masters of War ," " The Times They Are A-Changin' (song) ," " Simple Twist of Fate ," " Gotta Serve Somebody ," and " Not Dark Yet " produced by T-Bone Burnett and recorded and mixed by Michael Piersante for
462-420: A weekly radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio's Outlaw Country channel called The Motor City Hayride . During the 2011 season of American Idol, Was appeared in several episodes producing contestants Haley Reinhart, Scotty McCreery, Paul McDonald, Lauren Alaina and Casey Abrams. In January 2012, he was appointed president of the jazz record label, Blue Note Records in succession to Bruce Lundvall . He won
495-783: Is Nancy Potok , former Chief Statistician of the United States . Was is married to former Virgin Records A&;R executive and video director Gemma Corfield, and they have three sons who are also musicians— Tony , who played in Eve 6 , Henry who plays in Thumpasaurus and Justin Jay's Fantastic Voyage, and Solomon who has played in Leven Kali and Felly. Musician A musician is someone who composes , conducts , or performs music . According to
528-482: Is attacked by Tommy and arrested. Jack's dentist friend, Sally Molars, bails Jack out of jail. Mahi Mahi meets Jack outside and admits that Tommy left for Las Vegas with Betsy and has convinced her to marry him. Mahi races Jack to the airport. Betsy decides she cannot go through with the wedding and escapes from Tommy. Meanwhile, after changing many planes and finding himself stuck in San Jose, Jack tries frantically to find
561-432: Is principally used for those who write classical music or film music . Those who write the music for popular songs may be called songwriters . Those who mainly write the words for songs may be referred to as lyricists . A conductor directs a musical performance; conducting has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture". The conductor stands on
594-402: Is scored by David Newman . Shipments figures based on certification alone. Other tracks featured in the film but not included on the soundtrack include " Viva Las Vegas " by Bruce Springsteen , " Jailhouse Rock ", " That's All Right ", " It's Now or Never " by Elvis Presley , and "La Donna è Mobile" by Franco Bonisolli . Bergman says when he finished the film he thought it might make
627-502: Is wearing a white illuminated jumpsuit and Betsy is in a stolen showgirl outfit. Director and writer Andrew Bergman said about the film, "It wasn't based on anything. I wanted to do a boy-girl story, and in my perverse fashion, it turned out to be this." The film's budget was $ 25 million. Filming began in August 1991, and was underway in Las Vegas by that September. Bally's Casino Resort
660-486: The United States Employment Service , "musician" is a general term used to designate a person who follows music as a profession . Musicians include songwriters , who write both music and lyrics for songs ; conductors, who direct a musical performance; and performers, who perform for an audience. A music performer is generally either a singer , who provides vocals, or an instrumentalist, who plays
693-796: The 1989 Grammy Award for Album of the Year . Don also collaborated with co-producer Ziggy Marley , on Family Time , winner of 2009's Best Musical Album For Children. He produced the Rolling Stones ' 2016 album Blue and Lonesome , which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues album. He served as music director and/or consultant for several motion pictures such as Thelma and Louise , The Rainmaker , Hope Floats , Phenomenon , Tin Cup , Honeymoon in Vegas , 8 Seconds , Switch , The Freshman , Days of Thunder , Michael , Prêt-à-Porter , Boys on
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#1733084621363726-697: The 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on the CBS TV special The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles . On November 18, 2015, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., he led the house band that performed at a concert celebrating Willie Nelson , recipient of the 2015 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song . In 2018, Was joined former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Jay Lane to form Wolf Bros ,
759-506: The 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on the CBS TV special The Beatles: The Night That Changed America . Records that he has produced have sold close to 100 million albums for a wide range of artists including The Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan , Willie Nelson , John Mayer , Wayne Shorter , Kris Kristofferson , Iggy Pop , The B-52s , Brian Wilson , Elton John , Garth Brooks and Ryan Adams . Primarily known as
792-676: The Side , Toy Story and The Paper . In 1995, he directed and produced a documentary, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times , about former Beach Boy Brian Wilson . The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won the San Francisco International Film Festival 's Golden Gate Award. He also received the British Academy Award ( BAFTA ) for Best Original Score in recognition of his compositions for
825-487: The Year in 1989 for Bonnie Raitt 's Nick of Time and Producer of the Year in 1994. In 1995 he produced and directed a documentary about the life of Brian Wilson , I Just Wasn't Made for These Times , that won the San Francisco Film Festival's Golden Gate Award. As a film composer, he won the 1994 British Academy Award (BAFTA) for Best Original Score in recognition of his work on the film Backbeat . He won
858-524: The albums for lost outtakes, remastering some songs while producing entirely new vocals and tracks on others. Was also produced the B-52's 1989 album Cosmic Thing , which included their hit " Love Shack ". Since 2008, Was has hosted the proceedings (and led the house band) at the Detroit All-Star Revue , an annual showcase of local acts from the Detroit music scene . From 2009 to 2012, Don hosted
891-507: The debt in exchange for spending the weekend with Betsy. After Tommy states he will be a perfect gentleman, the desperate couple consents. Jack discovers that Tommy has taken Betsy to his vacation home in Kauai . The gambler asks his taxi driver friend, Mahi Mahi, to keep Jack as far as possible from him and Betsy. Jack discovers this and steals the taxi. He sees Betsy outside the Kauai Club where he
924-658: The film Backbeat . Was, a longtime Rolling Stones fan who saw them in concert when he was 12 in 1964, has produced for the band since 1994, working on their albums Voodoo Lounge , Stripped , Bridges to Babylon , Forty Licks , Live Licks , A Bigger Bang , Blue & Lonesome and Hackney Diamonds . He also worked on the Rolling Stones' reissues of Exile on Main Street , released in May 2010, and of Some Girls released in October 2011. Was scoured old master recordings of
957-580: The recording process, and guiding the overall creative direction. They often collaborate closely with artists, musicians, sound engineers, and other industry professionals. Honeymoon in Vegas Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Andrew Bergman and starring James Caan , Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker . Private eye Jack Singer swore to his mother on her deathbed that he would never marry. His girlfriend Betsy wants to get married and start
990-505: Was "Walk the Dinosaur", from their album What up, Dog? A jazz/R&B album of Hank Williams covers, " Forever's A Long, Long Time " was released in 1997, under the name Orquestra Was. In 2008, Was (Not Was) reunited for a new album titled Boo! and tour. Was has received six Grammy Awards including the 1994 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year . He produced several albums for Bonnie Raitt including her Nick of Time album that won
1023-757: Was a real change." A musical stage version of the movie was written by Jason Robert Brown (music and lyrics) and Andrew Bergman (book). A Broadway -bound production was expected to debut in Toronto in November 2012, starring Tony Danza as Tommy Korman. However, the Toronto premiere was canceled, and production was transferred to the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey instead with Danza remaining. The Paper Mill production opened on September 26, 2013, and ran through October 27. The musical began previews on Broadway at
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1056-766: Was among the filming locations in Las Vegas. Las Vegas' Chapel of the Bells wedding chapel was also used for filming. Other filming locations included New York, and Culver Studios in California. Filming in Kauai was concluded in November 1991. Among the filming locations in Kauai was the Inn on the Cliffs restaurant, located at the Westin Kauai Hotel. Filming also took place at Kauai's National Tropical Botanical Garden . A house on Anini Beach
1089-469: Was used as Tommy Korman's Hawaiian residence. The film was initially rated R for language, and was edited to instead receive a PG-13 rating. A premiere event was held for the film at Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 25, 1992. The film was released theatrically on August 28, 1992. In the United States and Canada, Honeymoon in Vegas grossed $ 35.2 million at the box office, against
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