CBGB Music & Film Festival has announced a number of exciting events highlighting a trio of industry veterans during its daytime schedule. Van Toffler, President of Viacom Music and Logo Group, has been announced to deliver the CBGB 2013 Keynote. Renowned filmmaker and President of Magnolia Pictures, Eamonn Bowles will be awarded the CBGB Indie Award. Celebrated guitarist of groundbreaking rock bands Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and Jane’s Addiction, Duff McKagan will deliver the CBGB 2013 Music Festival Keynote. The CBGB Music & Film Festival Conference will be held from October 8-13 at Lower Manhattan’s Landmark Sunshine Theater with performances at venues throughout New York City and Brooklyn.
Delivering the influential keynote speech on the state of the music industry in 2013, Van Toffler has been chosen for being a pioneer and visionary in the ever-changing media landscape. Overseeing a collection of the most successful and vibrant brands in music and entertainment as President of Viacom’s Music and Logo Group, Toffler is responsible for all of Viacom’s music services, including MTV, MTV2, CMT, VH1, VH1 Classic, Palladia and CMT Pure; their affiliated screens, businesses and online sites; and Logo, the network originally created for the LGBT audience which celebrates one-of-a-kind personalities, unconventional stories and discovering what’s coming up next on the cultural spectrum.
Toffler works hard to also ensure that pro-social programming is an integral part of all the brands with campaigns like MTV’s Peabody and Emmy Award winning “Choose or Lose” political awareness campaign, renamed “Power of 12” for the 2012 presidential election; the extremely successful “Save the Music” campaign, in which VH1 has helped raise millions of dollars’ worth of musical instruments to place in public schools across the country, and CMT’s “One Country” campaign which promotes volunteerism, including supporting veterans and military families in partnership with the U.S.O. Taking the lead from viewers, Toffler and his team continue to create pro-social initiatives that speak to the audiences’ beliefs and desire to help those less fortunate. It is through all of these accomplishments and more that the festival is honored to have Toffler as CBGB 2013 Keynote speaker.
As one of the leading visionaries in independent cinema, Eamonn Bowles, the President of Magnolia Pictures, will receive the 2013 CBGB Indie Award. This distinguished filmmaker has overseen the release of such popular indie films as “Food, Inc.”, “World’s Greatest Dad”, “Blackfish”, “Humpday”, “Man on Wire”, “Take this Waltz”, “Prince Avalanche”, “Europa Report”, “The Queen of Versailles”, “Ong-Bak”, “Venus and Serena”, “Into the White”, “God Bless America” and “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.” The essence of the word “independent”, Bowles has not only been instrumental in challenging the viewing public with thought-provoking films, but he is also a veteran of the rock n’ roll stage who played CBGB over seventy-five times as a member of The Martinets and other bands.
As an integral part of some of the most successful rock bands in history – Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and Jane’s Addiction, Duff McKagan will deliver the CBGB 2013 Music Festival Keynote. Leading the charge of rock music since the 80s, McKagan continues to be a potent and venerable noisemaker in the industry. A multi-faceted artist today, when McKagan isn’t shredding on the stage, he effortlessly morphs into a journalist (SeattleWeekly.com, Playboy.com, ESPN.com), an actor (Dead Pool, Sliders), or a producer (biographical documentary It’s So Easy (And Other Lies)). Outside of the arts, he founded Meridian Rock, a wealth management firm aimed at musicians to help educate them about their finances. His versatility and his impact are the epitome of what it means to be an artist today.
CBGB has released an interactive mobile app for iOS and Android smartphones for free download, providing real-time updates on the music showcases, film screenings, and daytime conference schedules. The app lets users set up their own ‘favorites’ schedule for the festival, connect with other fans, and explore previews of the full offering of the CBGB Festival. The CBGB app is available for free on the Apple App store, Google Play, or via direct download at: http://www.oneevent-oneapp.com/cbgb-2013.
As previously announced, the major motion picture, CBGB, will have its U.S. premiere at the festival. Based on the behind-the-scenes story of the beginnings of the US punk movement, the film features a talented ensemble cast channeling the prime movers of the era including Alan Rickman (HARRY POTTER, LOVE ACTUALLY) as late CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, Malin Akerman (WATCHMEN, THE PROPOSAL) as Debbie Harry of Blondie, Ashley Greene (TWILIGHT) as Lisa Kristal, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) as Iggy Pop, Mickey Sumner (FRANCIS HA) as Patti Smith, Rupert Grint (HARRY POTTER) as Cheetah Chrome of Dead Boys, and Johnny Galecki (THE BIG BANG THEORY) as record exec Terry Ork among many others.
There are a number of ways to participate in the CBGB Festival. There are a limited number of tickets available to attend the Red Carpet Premier of CBGB The Movie at the Landmark Theater on Tuesday, October 8th. Tickets and badges for the CBGB The Movie Red Carpet Premier Experience and three additional different tiers of festival access are available on the CBGB website. The CBGB VIP Platinum Badge is available through Ticketmaster. For more information, please visit either CBGB.com or Ticketmaster.com.
An abbreviation for “Country, BlueGrass, and Blues”, CBGB holds a very important place in rock ‘n’ roll history when it began its auspicious origin as a music club on The Bowery in NYC’s East Village. Founded by the late Hilly Kristal in 1973, CBGB became a hotbed for American punk and new music with bands like Ramones, B-52s, Talking Heads, Television, Blondie, the Patti Smith Group, and The Dead Boys. The 2013 CBGB Music & Film Festival will take place on October 9-13 in New York City and will feature more than 500 artists in over 175 venues in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The event will also host more than 125 speakers and 100 films for a total of more than 700 live events.
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