Julianne Moore has learned many life lessons at home and at work.

In addition to a rich life as an actress, Julianne says that family life is equally important to her and she keeps her work close to home as a result. She, her husband, director Bart Freundlich, and their children, Liv, 11, and Caleb, make their home in New York.

During a recent spring chat Moore was friendly, charming and eager to talk about her latest movie. The English Teacher, which opens on Friday, May 17.

The well-written and expertly acted indie movie, which was featured at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, is about Linda Sinclair, a 40-year-old unmarried high school English teacher in the small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania. Linda is so immersed in her collection of great literature and her students that she has no close personal relationships aside from those she has with her favorite authors.

Linda’s life is far less complicated than the dramas on the page, and she is comfortable with the status quo – a nice quiet apartment, two Siamese cats, and a predictable routine.

Linda’s simple life turns an unexpected page when her former star pupil Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano), returns to Kingston High School after trying to make it as a playwright in Manhattan. Now in his 20s, Jason wants to abandon his art and is pressured to go to law school by his overbearing father Dr. Tom Sherwood (Greg Kinnear). Not wanting Jason to give up his dreams, Linda figures out a way for the high school drama department, led by flamboyant teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane), to stage a production of his play.

With Linda out of her comfort zone, The English Teacher is a page turner on film – funny, touching, charming, dramatic, clever and well-written – everything you want a film to be.

Have you shared this movie, The English Teacher, with your family, or your children, yet?

JULIANNE MOORE: No, but my kids have never seen anything that I’ve done. I don’t really show it to them. They don’t have an understanding of this. It’s kind of something that’s separate. It’s my job. I’m just their mother. My husband sees stuff. He saw it. But the kids, I kind of don’t do that.

Do your kids affect your choice of film roles?

JM: Absolutely. If there’s something that they wanted to see or they wanted me to be in, that would be great, great to be able to do something like that.

What are your personal challenges in doing this film and in general being an actor?

JM: Everyone has this issue, it’s not just actors – everyone wants, as Freud says, you need love and work, that’s what you need. So you want to have a relationship and a family and a personal life and that’s a rich life that way. And you want to have a rich and interesting creative and work life. And trying to have that, for all of us, it’s the balance that you want to create. But it’s great to have those options, we’re so lucky to have those opportunities. But I think that’s the day-to-day challenge.

Will your character of Linda have that?

JM: I think she does, and that’s Linda’s story. She’s someone who’s only been in the book. She’s only been in the narrative and she hasn’t stepped out of it. She’s kept her choices very restricted, and she sort of blows it open at the end by making all these mistakes and kind of being present in the real world.

This was a terrific ensemble with Nathan Lane, Leo Norbert Butz, Jim Breuer and John Hodgeman, more like a stage play than a movie.

JM: That’s right. It was a pretty extraordinary cast, actually. They were great, really, really, great people. Jim Breuer I had already done SNL with. My son was two months old, so that was 15 years ago. We had a great cast.

One of the things about this movie is that everybody does something they should apologize for. But not everybody apologized. Please talk about that.

JM: I think one of the nice things about the movie is that people don’t apologize. They all do some things…it’s kind of one of those cause and effect things, where at the end of the day, a lot of people are very shamed, but there’s a kind of forgiveness that they all offer one another, and looking the other way… Maybe they weren’t all their best selves at that moment, but they had the best intentions. There’s a humanity; I think, to their recovery that’s very nice. In the sense that your mother always told you – just let time go by. It’s true, they all let a little time go by and it all settles down again.

I found your character to be inherently sweet. Is that something that you did for that character?

JM: I love Linda. I was like Linda, I was the kid that read all the time and went to the library and won the summer reading contest and ended up in the drama club after school. I wasn’t athletic, I couldn’t do anything else, and it was sort of another extension of reading. I feel like it would be very easy for me to have been Linda if I didn’t have a high-school English teacher who told me I could be an actress. So I found her incredibly relatable, and I loved her. I loved her [that] she’s sort of innocent, and I thought she was really endearing, actually.

Can you talk about the sex scene? Because I think it’s so sweet and funny. It’s funny. Talk about how you worked on that.

JM: I’ve had a lot of experience with them, so – you know – Michael was more, I guess we do this, than we do this?

Tell me more.

JM: I just kissed him because I wanted him to feel comfortable, like he didn’t have to be afraid. We were just going to do it. You’re always doing it [comedic] as well, so a little bit of the onus is off. You know you’re going to play with the props and throw some things around. I took my hair down, took my glasses off. All of those really silly things, and it was funny to go from that, ‘oh, you poor kid, your dad is so bad to you’ – to a love scene. It was fun.

Have you ever had anybody who you knew years earlier come back to you, and say you’ve influenced me…?

JM: Not yet! But I’ve had someone who has influenced me greatly.

Who was that?

JM: My high school drama teacher, Roble Taylor, was the one who said to me – you can be an actor. I was in plays, but I’d never met an actor, I’d never seen a real play, I didn’t think you could make a living doing it, I didn’t know anything about the theater. And she said – here’s a copy of Dramatics Magazine, and here are different schools that you can go to, and I was like, oh, okay. Had I not met her, I don’t think I would have done that. She changed my life, and she knows that, I told her. I met her years later when I was in LA for a while, and she was in Arizona. She altered the course of my life.

How do you juggle your career and family life? It’s always been a bit of an issue for women can you have it all… What do you think about that?

JM: It’s that thing that everybody says – yeah, you can have it all; you just can’t have it at the same time. You can’t. There’s going to be compromises somewhere. There are some jobs you’re not going to do. I don’t go to Australia and work, I can’t shoot the film in Romania, I can’t do that kind of stuff, it’s just too far away. So, if I shoot a movie, I shoot here in town, or in the summertime, they can come with me or they’re at camp or something. Or we break it up into little pieces. You figure it out.

We are pleased to offer you the chance to win some incredible prizes in support the upcoming Warner Brothers film “The Hangover Part III”! The film will open May23!

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The band is current hitting the U.S. festival circuit with appearances at Carolina Rebellion and the upcoming Rock On The Range, as well as, opening up for Bullet For My Valentine and Halestorm on the Hard Drive Radio tour across the States.

We recently had a chance to catch up with Young Guns while out at Carolina Rebellion. Despite having a bit of any early set time at Carolina Rebellion, the band blasted through their set with so much energy and vigor it was a fantastic way to wake everyone up to start the day. Although “Bones” is getting a ton of radio play, it was amazing to witness the crowd belting out the lyrics to each and every song throughout the band’s set, and Young Guns are without a doubt poised to have a huge year in 2013!

Check out the full interview below:

(PCM) Always proving that they haven’t gone anywhere, Papa Roach continue to take their music and live performance to the next level each and every time. The band is currently out on the road in support of their latest album release “The Connection” (Eleven Seven Music) and are tearing it up on stages all over the world all summer long.

The band continues to churn out hit after hit, with “The Connection” single “Where Did The Angels Go” reaching the coveted number one spot at rock radio and the new single ” Leader Of The Broken Hearts” poised to follow closely behind. In addition to over 10 million in album sales world-wide, two Grammy nominations, an MTV VMA nomination, twelve Top 10 rock hits (5 reaching #1) and seven Top 10 alternative hits including the “Most Played Alternative Song of the Decade” (BDS) with “Last Resort,” the band has recently surpassed 4 MILLION followers on Facebook. It is truly refreshing to witness a band that continually prove that rock music is far from dead and are certainly showing absolutely now signs of slowing down.

We were recently able to catch up with Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix and guitarist Jerry Horton at the recent Carolina Rebellion festival in Concord, NC!  The band put on positively blazing set at Carolina Rebellion filled with a solid mix of old and new material that was certainly pleasing to fans. Papa Roach always deliver with a captivating performance filled with raw energy and pure adrenaline from beginning to end.

Check out the full interview below:

For more information, please visit:

www.elevensevenmusic.com

www.paparoach.com

www.facebook.com/paparoach

@paparoach

The title track is available on iTunes now.

The band are also offering their die-hard fans the chance to hang out with them on tour via the “Road to Rise VIP Experience.” For more info check out this video here.

Skillet will also be hitting the road this Summer on the Festival Circuit. Be sure to catch them at Rock on the Range, Alive, Creation East, and Rock the Park this summer.

To stay current on all things Skillet related, be sure to check out their Official Site, Facebook, and Twitter.

The tour will bring American audiences the very best that rock music as a whole has to offer, with a decidedly international feel. Rock music is a universal language and all the acts on this tour embody the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll without borders.

“The fans have made our North American visits thus far this year great fun and truly memorable,” Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen said. “We are looking forward to headlining Monster Energy’s Rock Allegiance festival tour this summer, and sharing the stage with HIM, All That Remains and Airbourne.”

Danish superstars Volbeat, who have enjoyed No. 1 status at active rock radio, will share the stage with HIM, a cult favorite from Finland whose fans are disciple-like in their devotion. All That Remains have scratched and clawed their way out of Massachusetts and rocketed up the radio charts over the past half-decade, all the while keeping a firm foothold in the hard rock/metal scene. Airbourne have been making a name for themselves ever since emerging from Australia, armed with plenty of riffs and just as much attitude.

The first round of dates are below. Tickets for these shows go on sale on Friday, May 17. For ticket information, go here.

8/24 – Twin Lakes, Wis. | Shadow Hill Ranch Festival
8/31 – Tulsa, Okla. | Convention Center
9/3 – Salt Lake City, Utah | Maverick Centre
9/4 – Las Vegas, Nev. | The Joint at the Hard Rock
9/6 – Seattle, Wash. | KISW Pain in the Grass
9/19 – Houston, Texas | Bayou Music Center
9/22 – Atlanta, Ga. | Tabernacle
9/27 – Boston, Ma. | Tsongas Arena
9/28 – Brooklyn, N.Y. | Brooklyn Waterfront

More dates will be announced after Memorial Day Weekend, so be on the lookout for further details, date and information soon.

Maximum-blues-infused, hard rock band RIVAL SONS will perform two songs acoustically Wednesday, May 15 at 7:00 PM PT live on AXS-TV: singer JAY BUCHANAN and guitarist SCOTT HOLIDAY will do “Keep On Swinging”–the first single from their acclaimed current album HEAD DOWN–as well as “Burn Down Los Angeles” from their 2011 album Pressure and Time.  The video for “Keep On Swinging” can be seen here: www.vevo.com/watch/rival-sons/keep-on-swinging/GBA631200133.  

AXS TV is broadcast on DIRECTV Channel 340, DISH Network Channel 167, AT&T U-Verse Channel 1106, Verizon FiOS Channel 569.   For additional affiliate and distributor channel information including Comcast Xfinity, Charter, Suddenlink and others please visit:  www.axs.tv/subscribe

RIVAL SONS–Jay Buchanan (vocals), Scott Holiday (guitar), Robin Everhart (bass) and Michael Miley (drums)–just wrapped up their headlining tour with shows in Canada, Europe and the U.K. Next, the group will tour the U.S., beginning May 29 in Grand Rapids, MI (itinerary below), to support of their third album HEAD DOWN, which was released March 19 on Century Media Records. It features “Keep On Swinging,” which hit #1 on the Active Rock Radio Charts in Canada and remained at the top for six straight weeks.

The band is anxious to be back in States, says drummer Michael Miley, “Finally!  Back in the USA! We’ve been steeped in Europe and UK love for two solid years.  We’re so ready to play the home court. Live, raw, and truthful.  We’re thankful to the US radio stepping up and taking a risk on us.  See you soon!”

Reaching #1 on the Rock chart in 2012 in the U.K., HEAD DOWN has garnered the group four-star reviews (including Mojo and the Guardian) overseas as well as magazine covers and the “Breakthrough Artist” award at the 2012 Classic Rock Awards show in London. The RIVAL SONS made their major national television debut when they performed “Keep On Swinging” on ABC-TV’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” in March. Here are the links:

Performing their single “Keep on Swinging”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwW43MaPNDM
Performing “You Want To”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p16PSwrcODc

RIVAL SONS will also be the first American band to stream a live performance on LiveMusicStage.com–an online platform where audiences can interact with the performing artists, while enjoying high-quality live streams. The RIVAL SONS concert will be streamed live from Kivenlahti Rock–an outdoor festival in Finland which annually attracts about 15,000 music lovers–on Saturday, June 8 at 10:30PM local time (3:30 PM Eastern). The band’s gig can be viewed all over the world through LiveMusicStage.com for the fee of 5 Euros. The show will be found at the following address: www.livemusicstage.com/kivenlahti-rock.

For more information, check out:
www.rivalsons.com
www.facebook.com/rivalsons
twitter.com/#!/rivalsons
www.youtube.com/user/RivalSons

Catch the RIVAL SONS on tour: 

Mutli-talented actor, dancer, and singer Matthew Morrison has just released his new single, a cover of Duke Ellington’s jazz standard “It Don’t Mean A Thing” (available now on iTunes). The song, which premiered this week on Huffington Post, will appear on Morrison’s upcoming album, Where It All Began, due June 4th as the debut release on Adam Levine’s 222 Records.

Featuring a collection of classic standards and Broadway hits, Morrison turned to legendary producer Phil Ramone (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett), along with GRAMMY Award-winning producer Gregg Field, to create the album. Where It All Began featured such treasured classics as “Singin’ In The Rain,” “Luck Be a Lady,” “West Side Story Medley,” and more.

Be sure to check out the stream of “It Don’t Mean A Thing” on SoundCloud, and head to Morrison’s official website for more of the latest news.

Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson, who apparently survived his fatal battle with Loki in The Avengers, assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D., Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division.

Here is a preview look at Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., coming to ABC Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET this fall.

 
Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe,protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. The “superhero” just may be Luke Cage

Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet), and more than a few Joss Whedon fans have noticed Angel’s Gunn, J. August Richards as an unmentioned super being.

From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville,” “Lost,” “Heroes”)

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.

Agent Coulson in “A Funny Thing Happened On The To Thor’s Hammer:

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(PCM) What started out as being one of the most promising festival line-ups this summer Carolina Rebellion came to an abrupt end on Sunday evening with performance cancellations of headliners Volbeat, Bush, Rise Against, and Soundgarden due to the inclement weather conditions in the North Carolina area. The situation left many fans in attendance, who braved the elements for hours, wet, muddy, and just plain disappointed as festival organizers scrambled to come up with a game plan, ultimately deciding the conditions were just too dangerous for both attendees and the performers to allow the show to continue.

In true Rebellion spirit, the frustrated crowd on Sunday started several chants such as “Rain Or Shine, Rain or Shine” tossing every imaginable object at the stage in efforts to urge festival organizers to get things back on track. There were several times throughout the day when things appeared to be turning around with absolutely fantastic and dedicated performances from American Fangs, Heaven’s Basement, Pop Evil, Red Line Chemistry, Steel Panther, Hollywood Undead, Escape The Fate, Sevendust, and Buckcherry. Those band’s that played deserve the utmost respect for their dedication to the fans and proved to be resilient against the obstacles of the day.

On a much brighter note, day one of Carolina Rebellion went off without any problems with some absolutely stellar performances. The day got off to an early start with upcoming and coming band Young Guns taking the stage at 11:00am with a huge number of attendees showing up early to catch their set. Although the day was overcast and cold, the weather conditions did nothing to dampen the spirits of the fans who got to witness some blazing performances from Otherwise, Sick Puppies, Bullet For My Valentine, Asking Alexandria, Halestorm, and Papa Roach. Device, the new band fronted by Disturbed lead vocalist David Draimen, really stood-out amongst Saturdays performers especially when fans were treated to a duet with Draimen and Lzzy Hale of Halestorm on the song “Close My Eyes Forever” which was just gorgeous. The energy levels were sky high through most of the days performances especially from Papa Roach, who never disappoint in the live atmosphere and Deftones, who performed a set filled with pure adrenaline and raw emotion.

Day one closed out with performances from Limp Bizkit and Alice In Chains. Limp Bizkit had the audience at full attention as soon as they took to the stage, playing an amazing set filled with fan favorites and a few surprise covers such as Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name Of” and “Thieves” by Ministry.  Alice In Chains brought the night to a beautiful close performing new tracks such as “Hollow” and “Stone” paired up with classic Alice In Chains tracks such as “Them Bones” and “Rooster”, closing out the set with “Man In The Box” and “Would”.