Categories
Movies

Cool cool cool!!!

Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart Coming Back For ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’

Here is a fun scoop for X-Men fans. Bryan Singer, who helmed the first two superb installments that launched the franchise at Fox and whom Deadline was first to reveal will helm X-Men: Days Of Future Past, has just tweeted the following news: “I’d like to officially welcome back James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult to X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Also thrilled to announce Sir Ian Mckellen and Sir Patrick Stewart.”

How is that going to work with the actors playing both Magneto and Professor Xavier, in the same movie with Fassbender and McAvoy, who played those characters as young men in X-Men: First Class? “The movie is called X-Men: Days Of Future Past, use your imagination,” Singer tells me. “More to come,” adds Singer, who happens to be in New Zealand for meetings — just in time to attend the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. He’s hanging with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and James Cameron is there, as is the whole Hobbit gang, including McKellen, who’s reprising as Gandalf in the new trilogy. What a lucky guy!

Categories
Television

Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!!!

Martin Short, Paul McCartney to Helm ‘SNL’ Christmas Episode

Christmas is coming early to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center when Martin Short hosts Saturday Night Live with musical guest Paul McCartney on December 15th. It will mark Short’s third time hosting, and McCartney’s fourth appearance as a musical guest.

Last time McCartney stopped by SNL, he kept busy, performing five songs, appearing in the opening monologue, showing up in a digital short and stopping by Weekend Update where he unleashed an impression of Prince Charles’ wife Camilla Parker-Bowles.

McCartney’s SNL date will also come on the heels of his appearance at the “12-12-12” Hurricane Sandy benefit at Madison Square Garden. Another intriguing factoid: his visit overlaps with the Rolling Stones’ upcoming gigs in Newark, New Jersey. A surprise cameo there would be a mighty gift indeed.

Categories
Television

I always feel bad for people who are set for life biting the hand that feeds them!!

Angus T. Jones: ‘Please Stop Watching Two and a Half Men’

Has Angus T. Jones pulled a Charlie Sheen?

The 19-year-old Two and a Half Men star has spoken out against the CBS sitcom in a manner that’s sure to ruffle some network feathers.

“If you watch Two and Half Men, please stop watching Two and Half Men,” Jones says in a video posted on YouTube in which the actor discusses his Christian faith. “I’m on Two and Half Men and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth.”

“People say it’s just entertainment,” he continues. “Do some research on the effects of television in your brain and I promise you, you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to … what you watch on television. It’s bad news.”

Jones, who in 2008 was paid roughly $1.2 million a season, then references “the enemy” and how someone like him cannot appear on a TV show. (Jones has played Jake Harper on Men since 2003.)

“A lot of people don’t like to think about how deceptive the enemy is,” says Jones. “There’s no playing around when it comes to eternity … People will see us and be like, ‘I can be a Christian and be on a show like Two and a Half Men.’ You can’t. You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can’t.”

On the subject of his series, Jones concludes, “I’m not okay with what I’m learning [about] what the Bible says and being on that television show. You go all or nothing.”

A rep for CBS says that they are “declining comment.” Jones’s mother also declined to comment.

Categories
Television

Awful, awful news!!!

The game is delayed – ‘Sherlock’ won’t return until late 2013/early 2014

By making only three stories per season, “Sherlock” producer Steven Moffat has already turned the 21st century Sherlock Holmes series (not to be confused with the one on CBS) into a rare enough treat that we have to wait long intervals to consume. And now it sounds like the wait for the next batch is even longer.

EW is reporting that because of the busy schedules of Moffat (who also runs “Doctor Who”) and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (who’s the villain in the next “Star Trek” movie) and Martin Freeman (who is appearing in the 57 films that are being adapted from the 300-odd pages of “The Hobbit”), production on the next trio of “Sherlock” episodes has been pushed back from January to March, which will in turn delay when those episodes will air, first on the BBC (likely late 2013 now) and then PBS (possibly early 2014).

Categories
The Couch Potato Report

Rock and roll!!!

The Couch Potato Report – November 24th, 2012

Inside this week’s Couch Potato Report are the latest adventures of Jake Doyle, Hard Core Logo and LED ZEPPELIN reunite.

On December 10th, 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin took the stage at London’s O2 Arena to headline a tribute concert. Founding members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, and I will tell you about the film of that night – CELEBRATION DAY – in just a few minutes to conclude The Report this week.

To start things off, we head to one of the greatest places in the world, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, because that is where the CBC series REBUBLIC OF DOYLE takes place.

REPUBLIC OF DOYLE centers around a father and son who are private investigators and the very colourful group of family and friends who help them and work with them as they travel the streets of St. John’s solving cases, and trying to stay out of jail themselves.

Allan Hawco stars as the son – Jake Doyle – and in the entertaining, engaging and action filled COMPLETE THIRD SEASON he is once again joined by a wealth of great Canadian guest stars, including Gordon Pinsent, Victor Garber, Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea and one well known non-Canadian, Academy Award winner Russell Crowe.

I enjoy REBUBLIC OF DOYLE and I can easily recommend the thirteen episodes in the three disc set for THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON!!

Oh, and don’t forget, SEASON FOUR of REPUBLIC OF DOYLE can be seen on its new night, Sundays at 9 pm, starting January 6th on CBC Television!!

Back in 1996 a mock documentary – a mockumentary – was released about a once great fictional Canadian punk rock band who reunite for a western Canadian tour and one more chance at success.

The tour could end before it even begins as egos, in-fighting and unresolved issues between the four members pop up again, but they somehow get back out there, taking their music to the people once again.

Director Bruce Macdonald’s HARD CORE LOGO succeeds because it loves the music and the musicians that were at its center and because of the performances of Hugh Dillon from the show FLASHPOINT and Callum Keith Rennie of MEMENTO and the reboot of BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA as the two leaders of the band.

They completely embody the punk singer who desperately needs the band because he doesn’t have much else and the guitarist who already has another opportunity lined up once the inevitable break up happens again.

HARD CORE LOGO is now available on blu-ray for the first time in an ALL ACCESS EDITION that is housed in Steelbook packaging – for a limited time – and comes with a wealth of Special Features…including the made-in-beautiful Watrous, Saskatchewan sequel HARD CORE LOGO 2, which is one of the worst films ever produced.

HARD CORE LOGO 2 has very little to do with the first film, and it is virtually unwatchable, but I do recommend the first film. The original HARD CORE LOGO isn’t always great, but due to some very good writing, music and performances it is always interesting…and it does have some amazing scenes and a great rock and roll attitude!!

It is “check your brain at the door” time now, for if you do that you will have a blast watching Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews and Randy Couture tear it up and shoot almost everything in sight in THE EXPENDABLES 2.

This sequel to the testosterone filled 2010 film is about a group of elite mercenaries even ups the ante by adding more former action superstars to the mix, namely Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and some young blood in the form of Liam Hemsworth from THE HUNGER GAMES.

All together, THE EXPENDABLES 2 adds up to something special…and it delivers what you want it to.

Check your brain at the door and you will completely enjoy THE EXPENDABLES 2…I certainly did!

The two films I have to tell you about right now had the chance to be very good, even great, but ultimately each one fails.

Especially THE WATCH, this mess fails miserably!!

THE WATCH puts Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn on screen together for the first time since DODGEBALL, a film that many – including myself – consider a modern day comedic classic.

The main problem with THE WATCH is that it is doesn’t really know what it wants to be – a profane and sex filled comedy made for adults? Or a science fiction style comedy that plays to teenagers? That inconsistent tone really works against it.

PLUS, with few exceptions, the jokes aren’t funny. Even with Stiller and Vaughn, plus Jonah Hill from 21 JUMP STREET and a script co-written by Canadian Seth Rogen and Even Goldberg, who gave us SUPERBAD, even with all that it is not funny.

THE WATCH is about a group of four men who form a neighborhood watch group and find themselves defending the Earth from an alien invasion and you won’t care.

This thing isn’t worthy of your time, so if you loved Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in DODGEBALL and want them to make you laugh again skip THE WATCH and just watch DODGEBALL again.

The next film that had the chance to be very good – but isn’t – is a foreign film from France called ELLES.

This movie stars Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche from THE ENGLISH PATIENT as a journalist in Paris for Elle magazine who is researching an article about female student prostitution.

The journalist meets two young women, and although they are not initially interested in speaking with her, she eventually persuades them into being part of her article.

The other side of the story in the film ELLES is the weakest one, the journalist’s home life. She has two sons and a husband and seems disconnected from all three of them.

Which is why you could see how she might start to get lost in the world the students are telling her about, or find a connection to the students themselves…and the film does have a few scenes where you can see that she is connecting to it, but they end and are never referenced again.

The journalist meets two women who have freedom, pride, and empowerment…something she doesn’t seem to have at all, but instead of chasing after change…she just goes for a walk.

Really…that is what she does…she goes for a walk and then goes back home.

Yes, ELLES has an awful ending.

The first half of the French film ELLES is great. It is smart, well written and very interesting.

The second half doesn’t hold up, which is why I just can’t recommend the film.

This movie also had the chance to be great, but in the end it fails, and so you should just skip it.

We have arrived at the celebration now. To conclude The Report this week is LED ZEPPELIN’s CELEBRATION DAY.

In December of 2007 The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegün at The O2 Arena in London. The headline act was Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, in a one-off reunion.

Bonham’s son Jason Bonham played drums, sharing the stage with John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

The blu-ray and DVD for LED ZEPPELIN – CELEBRATION DAY doesn’t feature any backstage interviews or conversations with the band members, it just gives us the concert, and while I would have liked to hear what they were thinking as they took the stage together for the first time in thirty-two years, the concert is pretty good on its own!

I wouldn’t call myself the world’s biggest fan of the band, but I really enjoyed this concert. Zeppelin fans, this one is for you, and you need to get the blu-ray as the music sounds amazing!!

The amazing CELEBRATION DAY concert by Led Zeppelin, the okay but poorly concluded foreign film ELLES, the completely awful wannabe action comedy THE WATCH, the exceptionally entertaining retro action flick THE EXPENDABLES 2, the ALL ACCESS EDITION blu-ray of the Canadian rock and roll classic HARD CORE LOGO, and THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of the very entertaining made-in-St. John’s CBC series REBUBLIC OF DOYLE are all available now, either on disc or on demand.

Coming up inside the next Couch Potato Report

THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of the made-in-the-Northwest Territories CBC series ARCTIC AIR, the made in Quebec movie LE TORRENT, and Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return for MEN IN BLACK III.

I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here again next time on The Couch!

Categories
Movies

I saw SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK this weekend and while it wasn’t great, it was very good.

‘Twilight’ takes biggest box office bite

Teen vampire film “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” continued to take a bite out of the domestic box office, drawing $64 million in ticket sales over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend to finish ahead of James Bond film “Skyfall.”

After opening with a massive $141.1 million last weekend, the finale of the “Twilight” franchise brought in a holiday swarm of fans to see teen favorites Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, pushing “Breaking Dawn” to $227 million in total domestic ticket sales.

“Skyfall,” starring Daniel Craig in the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise, finished second, collecting $51 million in weekend ticket sales in the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates compiled by the box office division of Hollywood.com.

“Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s historical film on the last days of President Abraham Lincoln, grabbed third with $34.1 million over the Wednesday-through-Sunday period.

Making its debut in fourth place with $32.6 million was the animated film “Rise of the Guardians,” featuring the voices of Chris Pine and Alec Baldwin as the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and other childhood favorites who save the world.

“Life of Pi,” based on Yann Martel’s 2001 best-seller about a boy who survives on a raft with a tiger after his ship sinks, collected $30.15 million for a strong fifth-place finish.

“Rise of the Guardians,” produced by Dreamworks Animation for roughly $145 million, had been projected by distributor Paramount Pictures to gross $35 million in its first five days, according to Box Office Mojo.

Based on “The Guardians of Childhood” book series by children’s author William Joyce, the film will be the last Paramount will release for Dreamworks, whose films will be distributed next year by News Corp’s Fox studio.

Anne Globe, Dreamworks’ chief marketing officer, pointed to “the great parent reactions we’ve seen” to the film, and noting it was among the few choices for families through the end of year, said the studio was “hoping for very long legs through the holidays.”

The Ang Li film “Life of Pi,” on the other hand, performed stronger than expected. “We clearly exceeded our pre-release expectations,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox.

“We’re seeing word of mouth in action, and a remarkably balanced demographic,” including strong ticket sales among those under 25, he said, adding “Many felt it was impossible to film, but Ang Li pulled it off.”

The remake of the 1984 Cold War film “Red Dawn,” finished seventh with $22 million in sales, behind animated feature “Wreck It Ralph’”s $23 million take.

“Red Dawn” arrived at movie theaters four years after it was shot by MGM, but was delayed when the studio filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Last year, MGM decided to digitally alter the villains in the movie, inserting North Koreans instead of Chinese, after Hollywood began courting Chinese companies to help finance its films.

Propelled by the vampires, secret agents, presidents and nursery school favorites, Hollywood ticket sales totaled $290 million for the holiday weekend, beating the holiday weekend high mark of $273 million recorded in 2009. Hollywood studios often release their biggest holiday films on Wednesday to take advantage of school breaks the day before Thanksgiving.

The continued rush of fans to see teen favorites Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner pushed the “Twilight” installment to $227 million in total domestic ticket sales, making it the year’s sixth-largest, according to figures compiled by Box Office Mojo.

“Skyfall” with $221.7 million is just behind at number seven, while the year’s box office champ remains “Marvel’s The Avengers,” which has taken in $623 million to date.

The following are the top 10 movies at North American box offices for the five-day weekend starting Nov. 21, led by “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” at No. 1, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters.

1 (1) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2..$64.0 million

2 (2) Skyfall…………………………….$51.0 million

3 (3) Lincoln…………………………….$34.1 million

4 (‚‚) Rise of the Guardians…………….. $32.6 million

5 (‚‚) Life of Pi………………………….$30.2 million

6 (4) Wreck it Ralph………………………$23.0 million

7 (‚‚) Red Dawn……………………………$22.0 million

8 (5) Flight……………………………..$11.4 million

9 (17)Silver Linings Playbook………………$ 5.9 million

10(6) Argo……………………………….$ 5.1 million

NOTES: Last weekend’s rankings in parenthesis. (‚‚) = new release

CUMULATIVE TOTALS:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2……………………………………..$227.0 million

Skyfall……………………………….$221.7 million

Wreck-It Ralph…………………………$149.5 million

Argo………………………………….$ 98.1 million

Flight………………………………..$ 74.9 million

Lincoln……………………………….$ 62.2 million

Rise of the Guardians…………………..$ 32.6 million

Life of Pi …………………………..$ 30.2 million

Red Dawn………………………………$ 22.0 million

Silver Linings Playbook…………………$ 6.5 million

Categories
People

May he rest in peace.

‘Dallas’ star Larry Hagman dead at 81

Larry Hagman, who created one of American television’s most supreme villains in the conniving, amoral oilman J.R. Ewing of “Dallas,” died on Friday, according to a co-star. He was 81.

Hagman died at a Dallas hospital of complications from his battle with throat cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, quoting a statement from his family. He had suffered from liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver in the 1990s after decades of drinking.

Linda Gray, who played J.R.’s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress’ spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email.

“Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years,” Gray said in a statement. “He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously.”

Hagman’s mother was stage and movie star Mary Martin and he became a star himself in 1965 on “I Dream of Jeannie,” a popular television sitcom in which he played Major Anthony Nelson, an astronaut who discovers a beautiful genie in a bottle.

“Dallas,” which made its premiere on the CBS network in 1978, made Hagman a superstar. The show quickly became one of the network’s top-rated programs, built an international following and inspired a spin-off, imitators and a revival in 2012.

“Dallas” was the night-time soap-opera story of a Texas family, fabulously wealthy from oil and cattle, and its plot brimmed with back-stabbing, double-dealing, family feuds, violence, adultery and other bad behavior.

In the middle of it all stood Hagman’s black-hearted J.R. Ewing – grinning wickedly in a broad cowboy hat and boots, plotting how to cheat his business competitors and cheat on his wife. He was the villain TV viewers loved to despise during the show’s 356-episode run from 1978 to 1991.

“I really can’t remember half of the people I’ve slept with, stabbed in the back or driven to suicide,” Hagman said of his character in Time magazine.

In his autobiography, “Hello Darlin’: Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life,” Hagman wrote that J.R. originally was not to be the focus of “Dallas” but that changed when he began ad-libbing on the set to make his character more outrageous and compelling.

’WHO SHOT J.R.?’

To conclude its second season, the “Dallas” producers put together one of U.S. television’s most memorable episodes in which Ewing was shot by an unseen assailant. That gave fans months to fret over whether J.R. would survive and who had pulled the trigger. In the show’s opening the following season, it was revealed that J.R.’s sister-in-law, Kristin, with whom he had been having an affair, was behind the gun.

Hagman said an international publisher offered him $250,000 to reveal who had shot J.R. and he considered giving the wrong information and taking the money, but in the end, “I decided not to be so like J.R. in real life.”

The popularity of “Dallas” made Hagman one of the best-paid actors in television and earned him a fortune that even a Ewing would have coveted. He lost some of it, however, in bad oil investments before turning to real estate.

“I have an apartment in New York, a ranch in Santa Fe, a castle in Ojai outside of L.A., a beach house in Malibu and thinking of buying a place in Santa Monica,” Hagman said in a Chicago Tribune interview.

An updated “Dallas” series began in June 2012 on the TNT network with Hagman reprising his J.R. role with original cast members Gray, who played J.R.’s wife, and Patrick Duffy, who was his brother Bobby. The show was to focus on the sons of J.R. and Bobby.

Hagman had a wide eccentric streak. When he first met actress Lauren Bacall, he licked her arm because he had been told she did not like to be touched and he was known for leading parades on the Malibu beach and showing up at a grocery store in a gorilla suit. Above his Malibu home flew a flag with the credo “Vita Celebratio Est (Life Is a Celebration)” and he lived hard for many years.

In 1967, rock musician David Crosby turned him on to LSD, which Hagman said took away his fear of death, and Jack Nicholson introduced him to marijuana because Nicholson thought he was drinking too much.

Hagman had started drinking as a teenager and said he did not stop until the moment in 1992 when his doctor told him he had cirrhosis of the liver and could die within six months. Hagman wrote that for the past 15 years he had been drinking about four bottles of champagne a day, including while on the “Dallas” set.

LIVER TRANSPLANT

In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.

After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life.

“It’s the same old Larry Hagman,” he told a reporter. “He’s just a littler sober-er.”

Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931, in Weatherford, Texas, and his father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray. He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a big name in Hollywood and a Tony winner on Broadway, where she starred in “Peter Pan” and “The Sound of Music.”

Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in “The Taming of the Shrew.” In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of “South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston.

Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap ”The Edge of Night.“ His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the ”I Dream of Jeannie“ role opposite Barbara Eden.

In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner. He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California.

Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be ”spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry.“

Categories
Television

Bye Bye Chevy!!

Chevy Chase Exits ‘Community’

Chevy Chase has left the NBC sitcom Community through mutual agreement and effective immediately, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Much of Community’s fourth season has already been shot and will feature Chase as the crotchety, often offensive Pierce Hawthorne. A few episodes remain, however, and it is unclear whether Chase’s departure will be written into the show. His exit is not expected to effect production.

Based on a November 12th Tweet from writer Megan Ganz that featured a picture of the cast and the note, “Day one of shooting the finale. I couldn’t ask for a better group,” it does look like Chase will appear in the season four finale.

Chase’s departure probably won’t come as a surprise to many as the former Saturday Night Live star has had a rocky relationship with the show for a while now, once saying, “It’s just a fucking mediocre sitcom! I want people to laugh, and this isn’t funny.” His relationship with recently ousted creator and show-runner Dan Harmon was also rather tumultuous, particularly after Harmon leaked an angry voicemail Chase left him at a live show that found its way online.

This shake-up is yet another hitch in a long line of setbacks for Community’s fourth season: Along with losing Harmon, who was replaced by Moses Port and David Gaurascio, the show was originally slotted to return on Fridays this fall before getting its release date pushed back to February 7th.

Categories
Muppets

This is sad, sad news.

Elmo puppeteer quits ‘Sesame Street’

This episode of Sesame Street brought to you by the letters W, T and F?

Elmo’s World was sent into a tragic orbit on Tuesday, as the man behind his famous voice Kevin Clash resigned.

The end to Clash’s relationship with perhaps the world’s most famous collection of cloth came after a second alleged victim has come forward with claims he had underage sex with the puppeteer.

Sesame Street has a history of tackling tough subjects in a way that even children might understand — from tolerance to standing up to bullies.

But the sordid headlines over the puppeteer’s private life proved too much for him to continue to have a home on Sesame Street.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Sesame Workshop made the case on why Clash had to leave Elmo behind.

“Sesame Workshop’s mission is to harness the educational power of media to help all children the world over reach their highest potential,” they wrote.

“Kevin Clash has helped us achieve that mission for 28 years, and none of us, especially Kevin, want anything to divert our attention from our focus on serving as a leading educational organization.”

However, the statement continued: “Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life became a distraction that none of us want, and he has concluded that he can no longer be affective in his job and has resigned from Sesame Street.

“This is a sad day for Sesame Street.”

A second accuser, identified as Cecil Singleton, is demanding more than $5 million in damages from Clash, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Singleton alleges he was 15-years-old when he met Clash, then 32, in a gay chat room in 2003.

Last week, a 24-year-old unnamed man alleged that he had had an underage relationship with Clash. The man apparently later recanted his story.

But it was enough to force the artist to reportedly come out as a gay man.

As for Elmo, and the children he speaks to, life on TV will go on.

The same as it did after the August death of Jerry Nelson, who, over decades, gave a hand to Count von Count.

Other puppeteers have regularly been used to fill in when Clash was away.

Kids won’t care. They love the puppets and not the humans behind them.

Life is good on a street that makes even monsters friendly.

Though they’ll grow up to find out why innuendo is the real-world bogeyman.

Categories
Music

Don’t we all have them all in our iTunes already, after ripping the CDs?

Rock band AC/DC releases entire catalog on iTunes

NEW YORK (AP) — AC/DC is finally releasing its music digitally on iTunes.

Columbia Records and Apple announced Monday that the classic rock band’s music will be available at the iTunes Store worldwide.

Sixteen studio albums will be released, including “High Voltage” and “Back in Black,” which is already in the Top 30 on iTunes’ top albums chart. Two of the group’s albums are also in the Top 100 and several of the Australian band’s songs are in the Top 200.

AC/DC was one of the few acts that would not release music through the digital outlet. Two years ago Apple struck a deal with The Beatles’ record label, EMI Group, and management company, and began selling the group’s music. Kid Rock, who had also been against selling his music through the digital retailer, is releasing a new album, “Rebel Soul,” on Monday and it’s available on iTunes.

Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard’s director of charts, said AC/DC’s decision isn’t shocking.

“It’s something that I think artists realize they need to do in order to get their music into the hands of their fans and to make more money,” he said. “Right now with CD sales being what they are, touring is the main source of income and not every band is equipped to be out on tour 200 days a year to make the kind of money the need to make, or want to make.”

Garth Brooks, however, has yet to release his music on iTunes. Pietroluongo said he believes the country star will come around, but he’s not sure when that will be.

Four of AC/DC’s live albums and three compilation records are also available. The statement said the songs have been mastered for iTunes “with increased audio fidelity.”

The group’s first live album in 20 years, “Live at River Plate,” is out Tuesday.