http://perezhilton.com/2011-02-21-dance-assassin-strikes-ellen-staff

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/01/28/take-me-home-tonight-exclusive-still-its-an-80s-dance-off/

Robert Hoffman in "Take Me Home Tonight"

We’re working on a distribution deal for “BoyBand” for 2011 so fans can see Copon as Brad Roberts, a high school football quarterback who gives it all up to start the first ever boyband in 1982, an idea created by Brad’s mom’s boyfriend (played by Robert Hoffman, Step Up 2, She’s the Man. With over 25 original songs, “BoyBand” is “as colorful as a rubix cube” – Telegram & Gazette. “Quirky characters….witty and fun!” – Falmouth Enterprise

Is Mike Copon missing his Armenian producer Andrea Ajemian? Or is it the Basturma?

Anyway- if you haven’t seen it lately check out the trailer for BOYBAND; BREAKING THROUGH IN ’82 which stars Michael Copon.  It’s currently playing at film festivals.

Artigo/Ajemian Films locally produced teen comedy “BoyBand; Breakin’ Through in ’82″ will screen at the historic Regent Theatre, “Arlington’s Show Place of Entertainment,” on Thursday, September 30 at 7:30pm (Boston Premiere Event with Live Performances and ’80s costume contest) and Friday, October 1 at 8pm. “BoyBand” is a teen comedy set in 1982 about a high school quarterback who quits the team his senior year to turn his heavy metal band into the first ever boyband. The film stars a hot Hollywood cast including Michael Copon (One Tree Hill, Bring It On), Robert Hoffman (Step Up 2, She’s the Man), Ryan Hansen (Party Down, Veronica Mars), Laura Breckenridge (Gossip Girl), Ming-Na (The Joy Luck Club, ER), and Boston’s own E-Knock and Lorenzo Hooker III from dance troupe Status Quo (MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew). Currently not yet rated, an anticipated PG-13 rating is expected for sexual references.

BoyBand was shot entirely in Massachusetts and is set at the fictional Worcester High. Over 20 local actors became eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild due to being cast in the film. Featuring over 20 original songs by multi-platinum Music Producer Kaz Gamble, the film opened this summer at select Showcase Cinemas in Massachusetts with the 3rd highest grossing per screen average in the country. BoyBand was the closing night film at the Woods Hole Film Festival this past August, and will screen October 8th at the Cape Ann Film Festival in Gloucester. “Quirky characters…witty and fun!” – Falmouth Enterprise “Colorful as a rubix cube. Three stars! – Telegram & Gazette.

On Thursday, Sept. 30th, The Regent Theatre will present “BoyBand” as an “event film,” complete with prizes for the best 80′s costumes, and live performances from actors in the film, as well as Gamble & Burke (the electro-soul collaboration between Kaz Gamble and Berkeley School of Music alum Dan Burke). The two met when Gamble approached Burke to sing on the BoyBand soundtrack. Gamble & Burke has been blogged about by top pop music bloggers around the world, with arjanwrites.com calling them “exciting new pop” and popjustice.com writing “hinting at something rather great.” Their first single “Let’s Go Together” was just released by the hip French record label Kistune, and is on the itunes charts in Europe. Gamble & Burke will sing songs from the film as well as their originals on the 30th. Producer Andrea Ajemian, who was profiled last year in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine for her film work in state, will also be at the Thursday night screening to do a Q&A after the screening. Friday night will be the film screening only.

General admission tickets for both evenings are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Each ticket purchased admits two people with our “Surviving Lean Times” special promotion. The Regent Theatre is Located on 7 Medford Street (off Mass Ave) in Arlington, Massachusetts, is MBTA and handicap accessible with free parking across the street. For tickets and more information, call 781-646-4849 or visit http://www.regenttheatre.com. Follow BoyBand on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/boybandthemovie, or on their website at: http://www.boybandmovie.com/

Thursday, September 30th, 7:30pm – Regent Theatre, Arlington, MA – Special Boston Premiere Event with live performances of songs from the film, as well as Q&A with Producer Andrea Ajemian and Music Producer Kaz Gamble! Best 80′s outfits win prizes so come dressed in your 80′s clothes. The Regent Theatre will also be screening BoyBand at select times the week of October 1st. For more info, go to: http://www.regenttheatre.com/

Friday, October 8th, 7:30pm – See BoyBand at the Cape Ann Film Festival at the Cap Ann Community Cinema in Gloucester, MA, with Q&A from Producer Andrea Ajemian following the screening. For more info, go to:

http://capeannfilmfestival.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/hello-world/

Click here to read review and watch clip from the show

Check out our new favorite blogger, Gila, from Hamburg, Germany. She’s a big Robert Hoffman fan, and posted a blog about BoyBand on her site. Please check it out, and say hi to our friend over Germany. Thanks for the post Gila! We’ll be sure to look you up when “A New Condition” tours Germany on a double bill with David Hasselhoff.

Click Here to read Gila’s blog!

Watch the BoyBand trailer with German subtitles!

With this cast, the music, and the wacky humor, BoyBand’s future is looking “wicked awesome.” Congrats to everyone.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to see BoyBand yet it is playing at ShowCase Cinema North Monday, June 14-Thursday, June 17th. The show times are as follows: 12:30pm, 2:40pm, 4:50pm, 7:00pm, 10:00pm.

Not in the Worcester area? Well, it’s playing at ShowCase Cinema Revere Monday, June 14th-Thursday, June 17th. The show times are as follows: 12:20pm, 2:30pm, 4:40pm, 7:00pm and 10:00pm.

This is it’s last week in movie theaters (at least for now!) so get out there and support BoyBand! (No need to watch the Finals, we all know the Celtics will win!)

That ’80s film
Rutland filmmaker debuts trip back in time on Friday
Melissa McKeon

Rutland native Andrea Ajemian hardly remembers 1982, but like many who were just entering their teens later in the decade, she does remember the music that was born during that era.

“When I was in high school, everybody was crazy for New Kids on the Block,” she recalled.

Ajemian, who graduated from Wachusett Regional High School in 1993, admits she wasn’t much into the music scene in college; she was too busy preparing for a career in film, with some business thrown in. It’s a path that has led her to producing, where her business education and experience comes in handy.

When she heard John Artigo’s idea for a film about the boy bands of the 1980s, she jumped at the chance to produce it.

Artigo’s vision–a comedy about a high school quarterback who leaves it all behind to turn his heavy metal band into the first boy band–had everything Ajemian likes: fun, nostalgia and opportunities for young musicians and for teenage actors to get a foot in the door.

But it also had its challenges. Neither Artigo nor Ajemian were musicians.

“John and I were at a loss when we came up with this concept and put the script together,” Ajemian said. “We said, ‘we can’t pull this movie off without a real music person.”

Enter Kaz Gamble.

Gamble grew up in Worcester but was pretty far away from home pursuing (with great success) a music career of his own. He came home for a visit and was presented by his parents with a newspaper clipping about the movie. They were looking for someone just like him. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Gamble had recently spent some time DJing oldies, so he admits the music of the 1980s was fresh in his mind.

But the task was daunting: come up with 20 original songs with the boy band feel.

“I went to film school, so I knew that making a film is a lot of work,” he said. “And it’s always harder than you think it’s going to be.”

Gamble went at it full bore. He researched extensively and then did what seemed impossible: produced modern music with an ’80s feel, and without the modern methods to prevent the modern sound from creeping in.

Harder than it sounds, he admits.

After accepting that he’d have to ditch a lot of the modern methods he was so familiar with, he faced the task of trying to replace them.

“You can’t believe, audio production has evolved so much since the ’80s,” he says. “It’s so out of fashion, so you can’t even get a lot of those sounds.”

Gamble couldn’t even find information online about mixing techniques; he went to thel ibrary to find a 1980s book about mixing to guide him.

Gamble wasn’t just writing music to sound like the 1980s; some themes were meant for older characters, whose music was from another era. And to be authentic, he realized that he’d have to take into account all the influences of the 1970s as well.

He’s feeling confident that he’s achieved the gaol: Folks who’ve previewed the movie think some of his songs are authentic to the era, not new imitations.

The movie has plenty of local appeal. Besides set at the fictional Worcester High School, it was filmed entirely in Worcester County. Also, besides Ajemian and Gamble, several local actors and musicians get their screen time with the bigger stars: Recent Wachusett Regional High School grads Nina Genatossio and Ryan Letourneau go to work beside One Tree Hill star Michael Copon and well-knowns E-Knock, Lorenzo Hooker III, Robert Hoffman, Ryan Hansen and Ming Na.

Mixing locals with Hollywood types is part of what makes the film so satisfying to Ajemian.

“In Worcester County, kids in that age group don’t get the opportunities to work as they do in L.A. or Boston or New York,” she said.

BoyBand: Breakin’ through in ’82 opens Friday, June 4, at Showcase Cinema North for a week’s run. An after-party at 9 p.m. ($7 cover) at Gilrein’s, 802 Main St., Worcester, will feature composer Kaz Gamble, who wrote the movie’s 20 original songs, as DJ, spinning 1980s music as well as the film’s soundtrack. boybandmovie.com

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