James Taylor finally tours Canada

TORONTO - James Taylor has never visited Saskatchewan, but - as improbable as it seems - the musician who immortalized his personal struggles with "Fire and Rain" has actually sung about the prairie province that gave birth to Canadian medicare.

That said, residents of Saskatoon or the other stops on Taylor's pending and first cross-Canada tour shouldn't expect to hear him break into the lyrics of the song in question, "Northern Boy," from Randy Newman's rock musical "Faust." (The musical, staged briefly in 1995, is captured on a CD released the same year.)

The picture painted by "Northern Boy" isn't what you'd call flattering. To be fair to Taylor, who played God in the production, his part of the cuttingly witty duet extols Canadians as "clean of limb, clear of eye." It is Newman's Devil who dismisses us as a nation of people "as dull as a butter knife."

Still, as Taylor readies to take his Band of Legends tour to places, like Ottawa, that are named in the song, he'd like to make it clear the song's views are not his own.

"You know, Randy Newman, he's a great writer. And when he decides to make fun of you, if you're a short person or if you're Mr. Sheep or "Northern Boy", he can really...." Taylor's sentence trails off as he looks for a gallant way to finish the thought.

"I think what I'm trying to say is, those aren't necessarily my thoughts on Saskatchewan."

In fact, the musical veteran describes himself as fired up about getting a chance to play places, like Saskatoon, or see sights, like the Canadian Rockies, that are new to him. He's even game to try Canadian cuisine, though it's clear one famous offering - poutine - has until now evaded his culinary radar.

"Putin like the (Russian) president?" he queries when asked if he plans to try poutine while in Canada. When told the cholesterol-laden ingredients - French fries and cheese curds topped with gravy - he bravely offers to go where no cardiologist would follow.

"If somebody puts a plate of poutine in front of me, I'll definitely eat it. I'll give it a try. I'll embark on it," he said in a recent phone interview from his home base in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts.

The quintessential travelling troubadour, Taylor has been a fixture on the summer touring circuit in the United States for decades. He routinely packs the open-air venues he favours with adoring fans who - as he put it in his song "That's Why I'm Here" - come back every year with their babies and their blankets and their buckets of beer.

Occasionally those tours spill into Canada for a date or two. Generally Toronto. Sometimes Montreal. Once in a blue moon Vancouver. But Taylor has never actually crossed the country.

The oversight, he insists, was omission, not commission. His tour schedules coalesce around offers to play that come in, he explains. And in the past, his schedulers haven't seemed to look north of the 49th parallel for gigs.

But Taylor - who hasn't been on a record label for several years and currently manages himself with help from others - is now using Sam Feldman, of the Vancouver-based management company MacKlam-Feldman, as a consultant.

Feldman, is "very knowledgeable about the Canadian audience and venues and stuff and just is the right person to ask to put that kind of thing together. So I'm finally getting good advice on it."

"I really am looking forward to coming to Canada and really playing the whole country," Taylor says.

"True, we won't be in the Atlantic, Maritime provinces, but we'll definitely see a much larger amount of Canada than I've ever toured before. And I'm really stoked about it."

Another reason for Taylor's enthusiasm is the fact that his wife, Kim, and their seven-year-old twins Henry and Rufus will be exploring Canada with him and his band.

The Canadian leg starts in Montreal on Sunday and takes in Ottawa (July 7), Toronto (July 8), Saskatoon (July 11), Edmonton (July 12), Calgary (July 13), Kelowna, B.C. (July 16), Vancouver (July 18) and Victoria (July 19).

It is bracketed by weeks of U.S. dates, during which Taylor and his 11-member band have been playing a set list heavy with cover songs that may or may not make the cut for a CD he will release through Starbucks Hear Music label in late September.

He gathered the veteran musicians - long-time partners like backing vocalist Arnold McCuller and bassist Jimmy Johnson plus newer collaborators like pianist Larry Goldings and drummer Steve Gadd - for a heady 10-day recording extravaganza in late January. They recorded 20 tracks in a studio built in a converted barn on Taylor's property.

"This band is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a very rare thing to have this kind of group of players get together," Taylor enthuses. "These players really are the best."

As he makes time to be interviewed, he's trying to finalize the set list for the CD, whittling down the songs to a dozen. More than that and a collection can lose its sense of identity, says Taylor, who is co-producing the CD.

"Originally it was going to be just sort of a good time party sort of soul song album. But I'm going to just try to choose the things I like the best. The 12 best songs and put them out. But it's hard to decide."

The U.S. audiences have been getting a preview of the possibilities - hearing songs like "Wichita Lineman" and "In the Midnight Hour."

But Taylor says the set lists for the Canadian concerts will focus more on James Taylor classics, songs like "Sweet Baby James," "Fire and Rain" and "Handyman" (itself a cover, but one for which Taylor won a Grammy in 1977).

"These are audiences that I won't have had the chance to play for and I ought to play James Taylor music, not cover tunes," he explains.

Taylor is also working on the songs for a new collection of his own material, which will be his first studio release since "October Road" in 2002. He's also planning an instructional DVD on his unique guitar style.

Taylor, who turned 60 this year, keeps up a pace unusual among his contemporaries. Many - Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne - make less frequent forays into the musical marketplace. But Taylor, who is clearly revelling in his work, has a sense that time is passing.

"I'm loving working now," he admits. "But you get to this point, you get to being 60 and it's not like open-ended really anymore."

"It's sort of like: What do you really want to do? What do you want to make sure to do? And let's put it on the calendar and let's get there and do it. Let's get it done."

Some facts about singer James Taylor, whose first cross-Canada tour starts Sunday in Montreal:

Age: 60.

Original claim to fame: Lanky, long-haired embodiment of the singer-songwriter movement of the late '60s and early '70s. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in March 1971.

Current claim to fame: Hardworking singer-songwriter who maintains an ambitious touring schedule, regularly selling out shows.

Hits: "Sweet Baby James," "Fire and Rain," "You've Got a Friend" (penned by Carole King), "Shower the People," "Mexico."

Albums: 22, including 15 CDs of original material, a Christmas album, live albums and "greatest hits" collections.

His song-writing process: "I don't control what I write.... What comes out as a song is a mystery and a gift. I don't turn any of it down. If it's good enough to finish, if it's good enough to actually follow through to its end, then it's good enough to exist."

Bozo the Clown actor dies at 83

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83.

His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.

Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular frizzy-haired clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of TV stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.

"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.

"Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the childlike ways in all of us," Harmon said.

Pinto Colvig, who also provided the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy, originated Bozo the Clown when Capitol Records introduced a series of children's records in 1946. Harmon would later meet his alter ego while answering a casting call to make personal appearances as a clown to promote the records.

He got that job and eventually bought the rights to Bozo. Along the way, he embellished Bozo's distinctive look: the orange-tufted hair, the bulbous nose, the outlandish red, white and blue costume.

"I felt if I could plant my size 83AAA shoes on this planet, (people) would never be able to forget those footprints," he said.

The business — combining animation, licensing of the character, and personal appearances — made millions, as Harmon trained more than 200 Bozos over the years to represent him in local markets.

"I'm looking for that sparkle in the eyes, that emotion, feeling, directness, warmth. That is so important," he said of his criteria for becoming a Bozo.

Joy Division singer's gravestone stolen

Thieves have stolen a memorial stone for Ian Curtis, frontman of the influential post-punk band Joy Division from a cemetery in northern Britain.

The stone has the inscription "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the title of his most popular song.

Cheshire Police said the stone was taken some time between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. They have appealed to the local community for information.

Curtis, who was returned to the spotlight recently with the release of the film Control, based on his life story, died in 1980.

He suffered from depression and hanged himself at age 23 just before Joy Division was to tour the U.S.

The band's second album, Closer, with the single Love Will Tear Us Apart, was released after his death.

Curtis's widow, Debbie, was said to be in "a state of shock" after being informed that the stone was missing.

Stephen Morris, former drummer of Joy Division and later rock band New Order, speculated that a misguided fan may have stolen the stone. He appealed for its return.

Fans from all over the world have travelled to the site over the past 20 years to pay their respects and often leave messages and tokens behind.

Springsteen remembers NJ boardwalk fortuneteller

ASBURY PARK, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen is paying tribute to a boardwalk fortuneteller he made famous in a song.

Madam Marie Castello, who told fortunes on the Asbury Park Boardwalk in New Jersey, died recently. She was 93.

Springsteen wrote about her in his 1973 song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."

In a posting on his Web site, Springsteen remembers Castello as a boardwalk fixture at the Temple of Knowledge.

"I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach, and watched as she led the day-trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future," he writes. "She always told me mine looked pretty good — she was right."

Springsteen adds: "Over here on E Street, we will miss her."

Indy Jones, fridge replace Fonzie

LOS ANGELES -- Harrison Ford doesn't tell Shia LaBeouf to "Sit on it." Nor does Cate Blanchett's slinky Soviet come running when the crusty 65-year-old hero snaps his fingers. But with the 19-years-in-the-making sequel Kingdom of the Crystal Skull still in theatres, the question is curiously apt: Is Indiana Jones the new Fonzie?

Apparently so. What other conclusion is there now that "Nuked the fridge" may soon surpass "Jumped the shark" as the catch phrase of choice to describe a once-beloved franchise that has spiralled into such preposterousness it will never recover?

A brief recap for those of you with lives: During the opening sequence of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ford's intrepid archeologist-adventurer finds himself on ground zero at a secret nuclear test site.

Faced with imminent atomic doom, our newly-minted senior citizen ducks into a lead-lined fridge -- he's in the middle of simulated suburbs populated by mannequins -- and is blasted who-knows-how-far as everything else in range is logically decimated.

Miraculously -- or simply because, like Jar Jar Binks, story architect George Lucas thought it was a neat idea -- Jones survives, tumbling out of the household appliance unharmed by the mushroom-cloud-sized explosion and radiation-free. (If only Bruce Banner had hopped into a beer cooler before those gamma rays turned him into a rampaging green-skinned goliath.)

Although the Steven Spielberg-directed sequel earned mostly positive reviews (mine included) and has amassed $300 million at the North American box office, nastier-than-thou fanboys and bloggers retaliated the only way they know how: By inventing a ridiculing viral lingo. And thus the term "Nuked the fridge" was born, a reference to -- and replacement of -- "Jumped the shark" which harkens to the 1970s sitcom Happy Days.

Back then, fans were stunned into disbelief by an episode in which Henry Winkler's leather-jacketed rebel, strapped to water skis, spends his Hawaiian vacation jumping a Great White. Ever since, "Jumped the shark" has been invoked to describe a series that has careened well past its prime. (Most recently Lost jumped the shark in Season 2 only to rebound or "reverse jump the shark" this past year.)

Although "Nuked the fridge" is barely a month old, it's already become an Internet sensation, popping up on message boards, online reviews of other movies and cultural catch-all YouTube. It's even gotten its own url (nukedthefridge.com) and been named "Word of the Day" on urbandictionary.com recently.

According to the latter site, "(Nuked the fridge) is used to denote the point in a movie or movie series at which the characters or plot veer into a ridiculous, out-of-the-ordinary storyline. Films that have 'nuked the fridge' are typically deemed to have passed their peak, since they have undergone too many changes to retain their initial appeal, and after this point critical fans often sense a noticeable decline in their quality."

The site goes on to name several other examples of franchises that nuked the fridge, we just didn't have a phrase for it then:

* Star Wars: "Jar-Jar Binks says 'Ex-squeeze me.' "

* The Matrix: "When 100 Agent Smiths attack a CGI Neo spinning around on a pole."

* Spider-Man: "When Peter Parker turns Emo and starts dancing around a bar."

As for how Lucas, Spielberg and Ford reacted after learning their sequel has contributed so dubiously to the lexicon, we can only imagine. As The Fonz himself might have said: "Heeeeeeeeey."

Fiddler MacIsaac offers half of future revenues to winning eBay bidder

Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, as known for his attention-seeking stunts as his musical talents, has launched an online auction to sell half of his future revenue.

In an eBay listing, the 33-year-old musician says he'll share 50 per cent of his future receipts with a winning bidder until the day he dies.

The deal also includes a concert a year for the next decade, located wherever the winner chooses.

As of Wednesday afternoon, one anonymous eBay account holder has met MacIsaac's starting bid of $1.5 million. The auction ends July 7.

The Cape Breton-born, Toronto-based fiddler is reportedly working on a new album.

Considered a musical prodigy since his childhood, MacIsaac rose to fame in the mid-1990s for mixing contemporary rock 'n' roll elements with traditional Celtic music.

His genre-smashing album Hi, How Are You Today? became a Canadian and international hit, with the single Sleepy Maggie climbing Top 10 charts around the world. However, his musical achievements were soon overshadowed by his eccentric behaviour as well as drug problems.

The bad-boy musician began courting controversy, including in an incident where he kicked up his kilt and exposed his genitals during an appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and after talking in an interview about his sex life with an underage boyfriend.

The outlandish behaviour eventually extended to concerts as well, including several New Year's gigs in 2000 where he launched into profanity-laced tirades directed at the audience. At one point, he joked about declaring bankruptcy — something that came true in spring 2000.

In recent years, he has toyed with a bid to represent Dartmouth, N.S., as an Independent member of Parliament (he later withdrew his plans); briefly ran for leadership of the federal Liberal Party (he dropped out after a few months); and declared he was planning a same-sex wedding ceremony in Calgary to protest Alberta's opposition to gay marriage (he and his partner eventually married onstage during an East Coast Music Awards concert in Halifax in 2007).

"A lot of things I still say today aren't true about me. I say stuff to media that I'll make up just to see if they'll print it," MacIsaac once told CBC-TV's biography series Life and Times.

"I've had some public issues that people have read about, whether it was drugs or money, but that's the persona."

Friends: The Movie?!

According to The New York Daily Mail, the cast of Friends is ready to take on the big screen thanks to the success of the Sex and the City movie.

An insider thinks the movie can come together within the next 18 months. The cast has apparently been ready for a while, but Jenny Aniston was the one who wasn't so sure about a movie. Some source said, "As the biggest star of the Friends franchise, Jennifer can't help but look at what's happened with Sarah Jessica Parker and the Sex And The City film and be a little jealous. What's held back a Friends movie so far is that people were worried that Jennifer had simply become too famous to play Rachel again." Yeah, some big star. "Derailed" anybody? "Rumor Has It" anybody?

Get ready, because barring a feud, they will soon be there for you...again!

"Hancock" poised to extend Hollywood hot streak

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Hancock," the new Will Smith action movie opening ahead of the July Fourth holiday, seems sure to extend Hollywood's latest hot streak, keeping the U.S. box office on pace to exceed last year's record summer.

Starring Smith as a chronically hung-over, often-reckless superhero, "Hancock" is expected to give Sony Pictures its first No. 1 release of the lucrative season and gross $70 million to $80 million in its opening weekend.

Smith's last movie, dystopian thriller "I Am Legend," raked in a whopping $77.2 million its first weekend in mid-December last year, a career best for the 39-year-old star.

Counting ticket sales from Tuesday evening previews slated for most of the 3,965 theaters showing the film this weekend, the movie's North American tally through Sunday is virtually certain to surpass $100 million, analysts predicted.

Despite mixed early reviews, the film got off to a robust start with Sony reporting nearly $7 million collected from advance screenings Tuesday night.

That's about twice the $3.5 million rung up by Marvel blockbuster "Iron Man" from Thursday previews in 2,000-plus theaters in May, according to distributor Paramount Pictures. "Iron Man" has gone on to gross more than $300 million domestically.

"This is a good sign," Sony executive Rory Bruer said of the promising early returns. "This is where you want to be."

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking service Media By Numbers, said weekend business could suffer from Friday falling on July 4, a day many families celebrate by going to cook-outs and fireworks shows rather than theaters.

By comparison, action film "Transformers" opened last year on Tuesday, July 3, and grossed $70.5 million in the subsequent Friday-through-Sunday period. "Transformers" also drew bigger preview business, $8.8 million from advance screenings.

Still, Dergarabedian predicted that "Hancock" would pack enough punch -- combined with popular film holdovers like last weekend's top two releases, "WALL-E" and "Wanted" -- to continue a recent box office winning streak.

HOLLYWOOD HOT STREAK

From the start of the 18-week summer movie season in May through the midway point last Sunday, North American ticket sales rose nearly 6 percent compared with 2007, and attendance was up almost 3 percent, according to Media By Numbers.

Moreover, U.S.-Canadian box office receipts have remained well above year-ago levels for five weeks straight -- running about 20 percent ahead on average -- in a trend that Dergarabedian said could extend for a sixth week.

At this pace, he said, Hollywood could be on track to top the record $4.18 billion box office for all of last summer.

Dergarabedian said that prospect was "unthinkable" six to eight weeks ago, when the movie industry was still struggling to reverse a commercial slump. The summer season can account for as much as 40 percent of annual domestic ticket sales.

One key source of box office strength this summer, according to Daily Variety, has been an abundance of mid-range films that have exceeded expectations, such as eco-thriller "The Happening" and horror movie "The Strangers."

While the top 10 films so far this season have grossed nearly $150 million on average, about even with last summer, the average grossed by films ranking 11th through 20th is $36.7 million, up sharply from the $22 million averaged by comparable movies last summer, Variety said.

According to Variety's analysis, mid-level films have benefited this summer from a release schedule that has squeezed fewer wide releases into each weekend, enabling films farther down the marquee a chance to find their audience and thrive.

Dergarabedian agreed but cited several other factors, including rising gasoline prices and economic woes in general that have curtailed vacation plans and sent many consumers in search of escapism and relatively cheap entertainment options.

Several big franchises are still to come later this summer, including Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor."

Jessica Simpson winning over country listeners

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - When Jessica Simpson announced plans to go country after her last pop album flopped, there was a collective eye roll in Nashville.

To some skeptics, it appeared to be a calculated move to follow in the footsteps of other pop stars who have found success by crossing over to country radio. After lackluster album sales, acting disappointments and bad press over her high-profile romances, Simpson certainly needed a boost.

But "Come On Over," Simpson's debut single from her upcoming country album, is not only winning over those same skeptics, it's gaining ground on country radio. A flirtatious, steel guitar-laced slice of pop country, the song has cracked the top 30 on Billboard's country singles chart.

"The best way to sum this up is what program directors have been telling our promotions staff: 'I really wanted to hate this record, and I don't. I love this,'" said Tom Baldrica, vice president of marketing for her label, Sony BMG Nashville.

Despite her crossover potential, that's not what the label or the Texas-born Simpson seem to have in mind with the single, which was co-produced by John Shanks, who's also worked with Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch and Melissa Etheridge.

"If other folks want to play it, we're not telling them not to," Baldrica said, "but our focus is on country. We want to make sure she's in this format because this is where she belongs."

John Hart, a Nashville-based marketing researcher, says the song appeals to young, active listeners who are more likely to call radio stations and attend concerts and events. It tested in the top five in his online sampling the past few weeks and also did well in random telephone surveys that reach country's more traditional base.

"I don't think people were anticipating the song to be that good," said John Paul, program director at KUPL in Portland, Ore. His station has been playing the song for two weeks in light rotation.

"It's a good song regardless of who sings it, but having her sing it — whether you like her or hate her, everybody knows who Jessica Simpson is," he said. "And I think there's a lot of credibility that she co-wrote the song. "

Country fans have seen a steady parade of artists from outside the genre. The Eagles, John Mellencamp and Bon Jovi made inroads, and Simpson is currently joined on the upper half of the chart by Jewel and Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker.

But Simpson, 27, may have a special challenge because of her tabloid persona. These days, the pop star/reality star/movie actress is better known for her relationships (Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is her current beau) than her music.

"We were certainly aware of that and knew that it would be an issue in some places," Baldrica said. "But like everything, if you have it in the music then everything else has a tendency to take care of itself."

Simpson comes to country after her last pop album was a commercial and critical failure — it sold just 299,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album "Do You Know" is expected to be released in September; The title track was written by Dolly Parton, who sings background vocals.

For her part, Simpson is promoting the song pretty much the same as any new country singer. She courted fans at last month's Country Music Association festival in Nashville and will perform at state fairs and visit radio stations.

"She's done what a lot of newcomers and established stars have done by putting out fun, uptempo, put-the-top-down and cruise type songs," remarked David Scarlett, senior editor of Country Weekly magazine. "It's a great way to introduce herself. I think country audiences will be receptive based on the music they hear. If they like what they hear, they're going to embrace her. And so far, she's done very well."

Stompin' Tom is going digital for Canada Day.

The Canadian music legend is issuing five of his classic albums, including Bud The Spud, on iTunes beginning Tuesday.

It's the first time Tom Connors, who has recorded 49 albums, has released his work digitally, EMI said in a release Monday.

The other albums to be released are:

- Fiddle & Song.
- Ode For The Road.
- My Stompin Grounds.
- Live At The Horseshoe.

Individual songs from the albums, including hits such as Sudbury Saturday Night, are also available.

More of Connors's catalogue is expected to be released digitally over the next few months.

Connors has a new album coming out later this year, recently performed duirng the NHL awards show in Toronto and will be honoured with his own stamp next year.

He is already a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award of Performing Excellence.