Attack of the 90s

"Wannabe" on Broadway?: The Spice Girls reunite to announce their new musical

Spice Girls 2012
Spice Girls circa 1997

Stop everything you're doing, Anyone Who Was Alive in the 90s, and do a secret happy dance in your chair. The Spice Girls are giving us what we want — what we really, really want.

The five original members of England's favorite girl group EVER took a stage together for the first time in five years to announce that they will be relevant again thanks to a new musical loosely based on their lives coming to London later this year.

Gloriously entitled Viva Forever, the musical will follow the rise of four friends whose relationships are strained when sudden pop stardom hits.

What! Revolutionary! How do these geniuses know what it is that we want more than anything we've ever wanted but never spoken aloud?!

The musical will include Broadway-sized renditions of all of their decade-defining, chart-topping songs, so now we can get the closure we always needed when Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) left the group and abruptly ended the era of 3rd Wave Girl Power in 1998.

Songs like "Wannabe," "Spice Up Your Life," and "2 Become 1" will of course be in the show, which is named after the last perfectly schmaltzy song the band released before Ginger's departure.

The great news for fans of the group and their bizarre meta-movie, Spice World, is the creative team behind the upcoming musical, which will be unleashed upon London in December.

The brilliant Jennifer Saunders, co-creator and star of the BBC One hit, Absolutely Fabulous, is in charge of the writing for the show. And Judy Craymer — who brought us the over-the-top charm and nostalgic indulgence of Broadway's Mamma Mia — is producing this venture as well.

The cast has not been revealed yet, but according to Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), "They sing [our songs] better than us." (What! No! How?!) Just think: Maybe the person cast as Posh Spice will actually sing! The possibilities are endless!

While it is unclear whether or not Ginger, Sporty, Scary, Posh and Baby will be performing in any of these shows, forever fans can hold on to hope that they will be making special encore performances at a few given shows.

Because, let's be honest, this is going to be huge and schmaltzy and hysterical and awesome in every single way.

Zig-a-zig-ah.

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Sonic Boost

Musical gala spotlights 20 Austin acts including Nemegata, Quentin Arispe

Photo courtesy of Spaceflight Records

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On January 18, charitable organization Sonic Guild will award $150,000 in grants to 20 deserving local bands and solo artists at the Sonic Guild Ball. For the first time ever, tickets are available to the public for this ceremony and show.

This is the 11th year this organization has supported the Austin music scene, though readers might know the organization by its previous name, Black Fret. This public charity is headquartered here in Austin and is on a mission to support artists here (as well as in Seattle and parts of Colorado, now) with a publicly available annual membership.

In return for annual dues, members get to see a bunch of shows and attend private events; and their memberships support local music with grants. Over these years, the group has awarded grants and payments to local musicians, venues, and music businesses totaling over $6 million.

This year's grant recipients are:

Rob Baird
West 22nd
Cactus Lee
The Point
DAIISTAR
Parker Woodland
Nemegata
Deer Fellow
Elijah Delgado
Grocery Bag
Quentin Arispe
Shelley King
Geto Gala
Next of Kin
promqueen
Lew Apollo
S. L. Houser
Harvest Thieves
TV's Daniel
Stella and the Very Messed

These artists were selected through a year-long process where Sonic Guild members, advisors, and prior grant recipients nominated, lobbied for, and finally voted on their favorite artists.

These 20 winners will receive not only grants at the upcoming Sonic Guild Ball, but also mentoring, and will be paid for any performance they do for Sonic Guild audiences in the future. In fact, half of the awarded bands will be performing at the ball itself.

In between performances there will be videos and live testimonials telling the stories of how past grant winners have used their funds to boost their music careers with album recordings, tours, instruments, and more.

“Naming these 20 2024 Sonic Guild Artists puts us at over 200 individual acts we have recognized with a Sonic Guild grant,” said co-founder and Executive Director of Sonic Guild Austin Matt Ott in a press release. “Every member that joins Sonic Guild sends a powerful message to our city’s musicians that their contributions to our culture matters. We must support our music scene as our great city grows to make sure it thrives for generations to come.”

The 2024 Sonic Guild Ball will be held at the Long Center for the first time ever. Individual public tickets are available online and range between $24 and $130 depending on the seat.

Austinites can also become members of Sonic Guild and have access to more than 30 live shows this next season, and will get to vote for the lucky artists that will be awarded with grants at next year's Sonic Guild Ball.

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