Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Harry Shearer's Record Label

From Yahoo!:

Harry Shearer has put his stamp on such iconic roles as Spinal Tap bass player Derek Smalls and "The Simpsons" nosy neighbor Ned Flanders, but he's about to add record label owner to his resume.

Along with his singer/pianist wife Judith Owen and her manager Bambi Moe, Shearer has founded Courgette Records, whose first release is Owen's latest album, "Lost and Found."

(Courgette is an English term for zucchini -- a wink to the infamous airport scene from "This Is Spinal Tap.")

The label, which will be distributed by Warner Music Group's Alternative Distribution Alliance, was the result of the couple's frustration with the major record companies.

"It came from me already being on major (labels) and having less than a joyful experience," Owen told Billboard.com.

"One of the situations where 'new prez' comes in, the whole thing falls apart. After a situation like that, when you've lost your main guy, and you spend your life jumping through hoops trying to please people, it leaves you with the sensation of, 'God, wouldn't it be amazing just to be an artist?' It was a sense of Harry and I both being 'outside of the box artists' in our own fields."

...Shearer said there will be no shortage of projects for the new label. "What we hope is to break Judith as a major artist," he said. "Secondly, I'm going to put my television stuff, both from 'Saturday Night Live' and HBO, on DVD for the first time, and package it with a CD of comedy material -- mainly from my radio show ('Le Show') about the era of anchors who are leaving or have left: Brokaw, Rather, Koppel. And then to go down the line, Judith has a lot more material."

Courgette will also handle the original cast recording of a Broadway-bound musical comedy called "J. Edgar!," which stars Kelsey Grammer and John Goodman.

"There are a couple of fairly interesting soundtrack situations that we can't yet announce, because we're still in negotiation. And beyond that, we'll start looking at other artists," Shearer said.

Other projects for Shearer include Christopher Guest's new film, "For Your Consideration," which starts shooting in October.
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They're had better be mimes at Courgette parties, that's all I know.

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