Los Angeles, California (Top40 Charts/ Rogers & Cowan) BiteSizeTV continues to break new ground, teaming up with legendary Grammy Award and Golden
Globe winner
Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart to create a first of its kind music variety show on the net. The announcement was made by Stewart and BiteSizeTV's founder and CEO Ron Bloom.
"The Ringmaster" is a one-hour, multi segmented, musical variety special, developed as a completely new format for the net, created by BiteSizeTV and Dave Stewart's Weapons of Mass Entertainment. It brings together an eclectic group of the famous and infamous in the circus-like atmosphere of BiteSizeTV's live Hollywood Studio, with the iconic Dave Stewart as the Ringmaster. The show's pilot episode was shot live in front of a VIP studio audience as well as hundreds of fans that lined the street outside of BiteSizeTV's Hollywood and Vine Studio.
The pilot is featured on the homepage of BiteSizeTV.com as well as on BiteSizeTV's
Music Alley network and directly on the following link: https://www.bitesizetv.com/#!/theringmaster .
The wild evening features performances by Oscar® nominee Andy Garcia, Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning seven piece band Ozomatli, award-winning Australian recording artist
Vanessa Amorosi, singer songwriter
Judith Hill ("20 Feet from Stardom"), lead vocalist of the band Berlin Terri Nunn, Somalian sister duo Faarrow and multitalented actor Elijah Kelley ("The Butler"). Guests performed and then joined the party, being entertained by a steady flow of sideshow performances from the world renowned Lucha VaVOOM.
"I have been fortunate enough to travel the world and meet some incredibly interesting people. I wanted 'The Ringmaster' to let the audience have a look into that world," said Dave Stewart. "I wanted to create an atmosphere where my friends would feel relaxed and wanted to perform. More like a private party than a show… at the end, we couldn't get people off the stage. I think we did it!"
The show features a surprise musical performance by Andy Garcia, who penned a song "Jamming with the Ringmaster" for the occasion. He was joined by legendary percussionist,
Sheila E. as well as Ozomatli and the Dave Stewart Band and Choir.
The show's format is unique. Each artist performs live. No dress rehearsals. Everyone is part of the audience as well. At one point in the pilot, all of the bands performed together. Cameras, crew, directors were all part of the action. Antics spilled over to the Hollywood Walk of Fame where Lucha VaVOOM's notorious "Crazy Chickens" entertained the growing crowd.
Currently, the show is scheduled to start bi-weekly and ramp up to a weekly. The team is also producing additional programming around "The Ringmaster" show itself, and are in discussions with brands regarding unique forms of sponsorship.
"The artists loved the sound and the vibe. We were able to capture some incredible performances, beautifully recorded," said BiteSizeTV CEO Ron Bloom, who also joined in as a musical guest. "With so many musicians, guests and performers running around, we really didn't know what to expect. As it turned out, it was a magical evening!"
Stewart, fresh off of a European tour and releasing his latest album "Lucky Numbers," not only brought his talented friends to the show but to make the evening even more interesting, he enlisted the aid of his guest host, Rita D'Albert, co-founder of Lucha VaVOOM, the acclaimed Mexican masked wrestling/burlesque/comedy troupe performing at sold-out shows throughout the world. Add a dose of tattoo artists and Lucha VaVOOM's Mexican wrestlers, the Ringmaster had his hands full.
"We are already planning for the future and it looks like we will be taking the show to the next level," enthused Stewart. "We expect the show to evolve, but we don't want to lose the sense of the unexpected. After all, life is a circus, and it's fun to be the Ringmaster!"
"Most bands and artists just don't like the sound they get on television shows, but we designed our studio with the artist in mind," said BiteSizeTV SVP of Production, Ross Elliot. "It was our first time doing anything like this, and we were nervous. But from the first note, you could just see the artists getting into it and we could tell something special was happening."
