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(October,2002)
From:The Nation (The detail is here) A QUESTION OF RELATIONSHIPS: Courting KeanuPublished on Oct 18, 2002Before you read any further, be warned: today's Relationship column is dedicated entirely to Keanu Reeves. So if the idea kind of makes you feel nauseated, please proceed to the Business section, thank you. But before you start sending angry e-mails to condemn me for abusing this space, let me clear a few things up. The truth is, to begin with, I'm writing this at the behest of Lala, AKA Mother Superior - who, once she learned about our exclusive interview with the superstar, had a hard time restraining herself from gushing about him to just about everyone in sight. In fact, I'm sure she would have trampled a room full of khunyings for the chance to have an up-close and personal rendezvous with the Reevester. But as someone had kindly reminded her, ogling does not become a woman of her age. And since death by drooling wouldn't be too flattering either, she hesitantly passed the torch on to me. "He is such a babe!" she repeatedly exclaimed before staring me in the eyes and muttering under her breath through gritted teeth: "You must stop at nothing to get the low-down on him." So there I was, high up on the 11th floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel, waiting to execute the Mission Impossible. Thoughts were racing through my mind on how, exactly, I would get the lowdown on His Keanuness. Should I start stripping as soon as he came in? But then again, I don't have the cleavage to execute the act. I also wondered if at least the well-nourished hips I possess would attract him at all. But just seconds before I could commit the despicable act, he strode into the room. There he was, Keanu Reeves himself in the flesh, along with his two band mates. The existence of these other fellows was strangely absent from my mind. But Keanu - although he appeared quite groggy, clad in a crumpled black suit and grey T-shirt, with his hair all dishevelled and his face stubby with whiskers - was hot-hot-hot! Truly, now I knew: whether with or without the smouldering crew cut or the ultra-tight leather suit, Keanu Reeves was still very much a Sex-On-A-Plate dish, on and off the screen. Moving towards me and my colleagues, he offered his hand in greeting. And you know what? The moment he took my hand, the room's floor opened up into a whirlpool and all the Keanu and yours truly were instantly flushed out of sight. Or at least, I wished they had been. My memory of what followed is vague, except that Keanu's voice when he began singing "Edelweiss" (gulp!) was so soothing, his sparkling eyes so brown, and his cheeks so rosy like a choirboy's, that I felt like I was bathing in chocolate. Otherwise, he hardly spoke and tried to avoid drawing any further attention to himself. He knows as much as the rest of the world that he was the only reason women bought tickets to the Dogstar gig. Just as we had tolerated watching a film about trout fishing, starring a crumpled Robert Redford, so we could get a closer look at Brad Pitt. Isn't he just so sweet? Time flew, and before I knew it the interview was over. I was just about to get the real goods on the Sweet Prince of "Speed" and "The Matrix" when in marched the female villain in the form of VJ Paula of Channel V - wearing (can you believe it?!), a top cut so low that her navel was almost exposed. Bitch!!!
From:Singapore Straits Times (Sing) October 14, 2002 Whoa! It's Keanu up on stage
Thus, I was anticipating an evening of ear-pounding screams and continuous choruses of 'I love you Keanu!' at the first concert here by American band Dogstar, which is fronted by the Matrix star. Both were passionately delivered - and not just from the female members of the audience. Actually, it should be noted that Keanu Reeves is not the only actor in this band. Rob Mailhouse, the drummer, has appeared in Speed and several television shows including Seinfeld and Melrose Place. Playing at Huamark Stadium, a concert hall large enough to hold the presence of a Hollywood leading man, Dogstar came with the intention of showing off its music. Perhaps this was why some of the 2,000 people in the audience - 90 per cent of whom were Thai - shelled out between 600 baht (S$25) and 1,000 baht to attend. But with only three albums under its belt, the band does not have a lot of material to draw on, nor a record label. And it showed. The 90-minute set was full of loosely-played songs that failed to ignite the standing-room-only floor section of the hall into a dancing frenzy. I heard a young Thai 'fan' say to a friend: 'All their songs sound the same'. The single vocalist - guitarist Bret Domrose - struggled with staying on key and, unfortunately, his two bandmates did not have a microphone in front of them to share the load. It cannot be said that this was a typical rock concert. The rules of this game changed as soon as they decided to put a US$20 million-a-picture actor as their bassist. With each song, all eyes were firmly set on the Beirut-born, Toronto-raised, part-time rocker - so much so that the only time singer Domrose got some attention was when he ventured across the cavernous stage to play a riff beside his bandmate. That said, Reeves' presence as a musician looked decidedly uncertain at times. It was not difficult to see that he carried himself as awkwardly onstage as he occasionally does in acting roles in which he is poorly cast. Much Ado About Nothing and Little Buddha come to mind here. Of course, this was irrelevant to the adoring fans who pushed their way to the front of the stage to gaze at their idol - a demographic varying in range from 15 to 40 and about 30 per cent male. A mere three steps forward and a determined head-pump from the star would whip the faithful into a small frenzy. Unfortunately, however, Reeves did not do nearly enough of this to truly satiate the desires of his ever-loving supporters. He grabbed the microphone just once, to introduce the band and himself, but other than that small teasing gesture, he rarely interacted with his flock. With a couple of actors on stage, you would think perhaps the band would understand how to entertain. Ironically this was not the case. They were uneventful to the point of being rather boring, and if the whimpered yells for 'more!' after the band bade their farewell were any indication, this writer was not the only one who wouldn't have been particularly saddened by the lack of an encore. Most bands would not have returned based on this kind of response. But the boys did return for three more tunes, including a courageous acoustic attempt at Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, which Reeves remained off-stage for. Dogstar apparently is another name for Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. It's a shame the same bright future will likely not be bestowed upon this trio of musicians as a rock 'n' roll act. Then again, they do have Keanu Reeves and this might enable them to sell a few tickets from time to time. Dogstar moves on to Japan for three more dates on their short four-city Asian tour which, this time around, will skip Singapore. The writer is an independent film-maker based in Bangkok.
From:The Nation(Bangkok)(The detail is here) Dogged by famePublished on Oct 11, 2002 Keanu Reeves can act. But can he rock? We’ll find out tonight as the movie star and his band, Dogstar, head into BKK. Another hard hitting import show hits the stage at the Indoor Stadium tonight, but this time, the band that’s coming is not your average washed up Western rock’n’roller or a pretty boy band. It’s more than that, it’s a Keanu band. Keanu Reeves had a rock n’roll dream and in 1991 he met up with Robert Mailhouse, a fellow actor and a drummer. Together they talked about music and hockey until they finally decided to get together and jam. Robert and Keanu had a hard time with their instruments and were getting nowhere fast with the band until they met Bret Domrose who later became the “real” musician of the band. With Bret at the band’s forefront, songs were being written and they were a true three-piece rock band – all they needed now was a name. Dogstar was chosen by Robert because as Dogstar legend has it, it’s supposedly the brightest star in the sky in Henry Miller’s novel, Sexus, which Robert was filling his brain with at the time. In 1995, Dogstar’s pivotal cornerstone was opening up for the New Jersey rocker, Jon Bon Jovi during his Australia and New Zealand tour. Dogstar’s popularity skyrocketed after this tour; after all, ten thousand Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong. This was also the year Dogstar signed onto Zoo Entertainment/BMG, their major label debut. By 1996, Dogstar had already recorded a four song EP entitled Quattro Formaggi and finished recording their first full length album called Our Little Visionary. But the question is, can Keanu really rock? The songs are basic pop/rock tunes that aren’t too fast and aren’t too slow, with a touch of distortion and some melodies. But still, Dogstar managed to get an Asian tour consisting of three dates in Japan and tonight’s Bangkok show. “We’ve already sold more than half the tickets so I don’t think the Indoor Stadium will be too big of a venue,” a spokesperson for the organisers, Matching Entertainment, says. They forked out a total of Bt10 million to bring Dogstar over and think there are enough Keanu fans to make the concert a success because “it’s a targetable market.” Not many people know about Keanu’s musical side and the people who do are usually fans of his movies which makes a concert easy to advertise. “We didn’t just want to bring big name famous bands, we also want to give people variety,” Matching’s spokesperson says, “we wanted people to have the chance to see Keanu play in a rock band.” Dogstar’s latest album, Happy Ending was released in 2000, but because of Keanu’s and Robert’s hectic acting careers, touring doesn’t happen as much as they would all like it to. Even though the music is not up to par with guitar heroes, life as a rock star-actor can’t be all bad – it’s probably what every rock’n’roll dreamer dreams of anyway. Keanu decided to pack his bags and leave home for Hollywood in 1985 in order to seek out his acting career. He loaded up his life into a 1969 British racing green 122 Volvo and gunned it all the way out to California. He arrived in Los Angeles looking for work and came across some ridicule and obstacles. His manager forced Keanu to change his name, because “no-one would know what a ‘Keanu’ is.” They came up with some comical names like Chuck Spidina, Page Tempelton III and KC Reeves (C for his middle name Charles). But it didn’t last long, because with Keanu’s rebellious rock attitude, he went to auditions and told everyone his name was Keanu anyway. Not long after his arrival in Los Angeles, he was cast in River’s Edge in 1986. His role was acclaimed by critics and gave him the right exposure which led to bigger and better roles. That was the start of his movie career, which would later branch out into music and take him halfway around the world to Bangkok 16 years later. Manond Apanich
From:Bangkok post (The detail is here)
Dogstar concertIndoor Stadium Hua MarkRamkhamhaeng Road Oct 11 at 8pm - Dogstar, better known as Keanu Reeves' side project band will soon grace these shores, now that the heart-throb has completed the filming of The Matrix, parts 2 and 3. Reeves on bass together with two bandmates, Bret Domrose (vocals/guitar) and Rob Mailhouse (drums) are set to rock out Bangkok. The band toured the US and Europe after the release of Our Little Visionary album. - Tickets at 600, 800 and 1,000 baht are available at all Thaiticketmaster booths. Call 02-262-3673. Established since 1st September 2001 by 999 Squares. |
THAILAND'S entertainment-loving faithful rarely shy away from an opportunity to view a celebrity or two - particularly when the celebrity in question is bordering on Hollywood icon status.