Other news from the weekend at press tour:
•The Police may be headed your way.
Well, at least Sting is considering it. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of The Police, and the band's famous former front man says he may take a break from his current lute obsession to reunite with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers.
"We started 30 years ago, so it would be nice to do something to celebrate," says Sting. "We don't quite know what, but we're talking about it."
Sting says this just seems like the right time to discuss the past, though he isn't sure what form that discussion will take, including whether there will finally be a long-awaited, much prophesized national reunion tour. (Told that Police and Van Halen are "the two big reunions the world is waiting for," Sting jokes "I'll join Van Halen.") But he does promise he'll do something with his old band mates.
"I'm deeply, deeply fond of both of them. I'm very proud of the band that we were in. I left the band because I felt I wanted to grow as a musician, to mature as a musician, and to try more things than a band is able to do. A band is very constricted. And you know, I spent the last 25 years exploring that freedom and having a great time doing it. We're still great friends. It is the 30th anniversary. We are discussing something. Don't know what, but definitely something."
Whatever he does with Police, Sting is not yet ready to stop exploring the lute and the music of 16th century British composer John Dowland. His album of Dowland songs, Songs From the Labyrinth, debuted on the top of Billboard's classical chart. And he'll do songs from the album on PBS for a February Great Performances special filmed at his manors in England and Italy.
The lute, he says, is far more than a musical lark. "I took this very seriously. I spent a lot of time studying and researching and took a lot of advice from people who have been in the realm for many years."
Normally, Sting says, this repertoire is sung by operatic singers. But he felt the immediacy and melancholy in Dowland?s music could be adopted to his ?pop singer? style, though doing so, he says, was a great challenge. And that?s not even considering playing the lute, a hard instrument to master.
?I think it?s good to put yourself through apprenticeship now and then to learn something new and really challenging. I?ve played guitar for many years. This is a different kind of animal altogether but I?m fascinated by it.?
And in some ways, says Sting, fascination is its own reward. ?Work is never wasted. If you do something well, it always helps the creative process. So whether you?ll hear it on another record, I don?t know. But it feels good. It feels like I?m doing something that I should be doing.?
Posted 1/14/2007 4:13 PM ET
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television ... tour_x.htm
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