Guns N' Roses Taps Weezer As Opener, Band Used In Football Noise Drill
Guns N' Roses has tapped Weezer as its opening act on Monday night (August 26) at the London Arena. GN'R singer Axl Rose was impressed with Rivers Cuomo and company after catching them from the side of the stage during a festival in Tokyo earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Guns N' Roses is helping the Arkansas State football team prepare for the season. The band's music is being blasted at players to simulate crowd noise so the team can use hand signals to communicate instead of communicating verbally. The team was scheduled to play Virginia Tech on Sunday (August 25).
In other Weezer news, the live EP The Lion And The Witch, recorded during the band's recent 2002 World Cup Tour, is due out at select independent record stores on September 24.
Brian Wilson Guest Stars On Richard Ashcroft's 'Human Conditions'
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson guest stars on the second solo album from ex-Verve singer Richard Ashcroft, Human Conditions, due October 22 on Virgin Records.
The new album follows Ashcroft's 2000 solo bow, Alone With Everybody, and features 10 new songs, with Wilson singing harmony vocals on "Nature Is The Law." The first single in the U.K. will be "Check The Meaning," out on October 7, but no U.S. single had announced at press time.
Musicians on the album include former Verve drummer Pete Salisbury, who played with Ashcroft on Alone With Everybody; keyboardist Chuck Leavell, a veteran of tour and session work with the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and his own band, Sea Level; and Mercury Music Prize winner Talvin Singh on tablas. Ashcroft co-produced the album with Chris Potter, and Will Malone handled the string arrangements.
The tracklisting for Richard Ashcroft's Human Conditions is: "Check The Meaning," "Buy It In Bottles," "Bright Lights," "Paradise," "God In The Numbers,""Science Of Silence," "Man On A Mission," "Running Away," "Lord I've Been Trying," and "Nature Is The Law."
Prince To Release First Live Album
Prince will release his first-ever compilation of live material in the upcoming boxed set titled One Night Alone. The singer made the announcement via his NPG Music Club website, where members can download exclusive musical content from the "Purple One" to their computers.
This new collection features songs all recorded during the artist's critically acclaimed One Night Alone tour, which visited several cities in the U.S. and Canada earlier this year. For the outing, Prince and the New Power Generation hit the stage each night with no pre-determined set list, and without the fanfare of large stage production elements. The results of this approach gave fans simply the man and his music, which is captured on the One Night Alone set.
While all the tracks appearing on the release have not been announced, we do know that One Night Alone will contain the songs "Adore," "When You Were Mine," "The Everlasting Now," "The Beautiful Ones," "Condition Of The Heart," "Strange Relationship," "Anna Stesia," "Diamonds And Pearls," "Xenophobia," "Take Me With U," "Raspberry Beret," "Joy In Repetition," "Alphabet Street," "Nothing Compares 2 U," "I Wanna B Your Lover," and "Rainbow Children." The exact release date had not been announced as of press time.
Santana Films New Video With Michelle Branch In Chicago
Carlos Santana shot a video for his upcoming album Shaman on Thursday and Friday (August 22 and 23). The clip for the song "Game Of Love" features young pop tart Michelle Branch, and was shot in Chicago, coinciding with Santana's Friday show at the Tweeter Center in nearby Tinley Park, Illinois.
Sources for both Santana and Branch were unsure whether "Game Of Love" would be the first single released from Shaman, which is due October 22.
While the guitarist has been tight-lipped about other guests on Shaman, it's known that opera tenor Placido Domingo and the Los Angeles group Ozomatli appear on the album, while Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas--who sang and co-wrote "Smooth" from Santana's 1999 collection Supernatural--told LAUNCH he did some writing for Shaman but did not expect to appear on it. Nu-metal stars P.O.D. have also done some recording for the album, but it's unknown whether that track will make the final cut.
More Summer Movies Get Set for Fall Video Release
"XXX" and "Stuart Little 2" will join a busy Sony fall video release schedule that also includes the newly announced "Men in Black II" on Nov. 26.
Fourth-quarter DVD and VHS releases already include "Spider-Man" (Nov. 1), "Mr. Deeds" (Oct. 22) and "Enough" (Oct. 8). "Panic Room" will be released on Sept. 17.
Warner Bros. recently announced an unusual Friday release date for "Scooby-Doo" on Oct. 11. (Most titles are released on Tuesdays.)
Other summer theatrical hits being released on video this fall include Paramount's "Sum of All Fears" (Oct. 29), Fox's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" (Nov. 12), DreamWorks' "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (Nov. 19) and Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" (Dec. 3). Dates for Fox's "Minority Report" and New Line's "Austin Powers in Goldmember" will be announced soon.
"MIB II," which has generated box office of about $190 million at North American theaters, will be available in a double-disc special edition DVD that will include an alternate ending. Fox will release "Ice Age" on the same date.
OSCAR CONTENDERS COMING ON LIKE GANGBUSTERS
As usual, the bulk of this year's Oscar contenders will hit theaters in a frenzied three-week rush before the end of the year.
The heaviest expectations await Martin Scorsese's 18th-century epic "Gangs of New York," which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz. Carrying a price tag well north of $100 million, Miramax postponed its original December 2001 release - supposedly out of concern that post-9/11 audiences wouldn't be receptive to its bloody depiction of New York City draft riots.
DiCaprio also headlines as Frank Abnagale, a real-life con man who successfully impersonated a pilot, professor and other professionals, in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me if You Can," co-starring Mr. Oscar himself, Tom Hanks, as the FBI man on Abnagale's trail.
"Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," the second episode in the trilogy with Elijah Wood and the rest of the hobbit-dwarf-elf gang, is aiming to be the first sequel to nab a Best Picture nomination since "The Godfather Part III."
And then there's the long-in-the-works version of the Broadway musical "Chicago," starring the unlikely song-and-dance trio of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere and Renée Zellweger.
Nicole Kidman is back with "The Hours," unrecognizably de-glammed as early 20th-century author Virginia Woolf. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Ed Harris co-star in this adaptation of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Major stars' turns are anticipated from Oscar winners Jack Nicholson, as a crisis-stricken retiree in Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt;" Kevin Spacey in Alan Parker's "The Life of David Gale," as a falsely accused prof who ends up on death row; Edward Norton as a stockbroker busted for dealing drugs in Spike Lee's "The 25th Hour" - and the irrepressible Roberto Begnini as "Pinocchio."
Streep plays a magazine writer and Nicolas Cage stars as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman in "Adaptation," another mind-blowing comedy from director Spike Jonze and, well, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, the team behind the bizarre "Being John Malkovich"
That may be mild stuff next to "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," which depicts "Gong Show" host Chuck Barris' claim that he was simultaneously a CIA hit man. Sam Rockwell stars with Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and George Clooney, in his directorial debut.
Newly minted Oscar-winner Denzel Washington is also working behind the cameras for the first time on "The Antwone Fisher Story," directing newcomer Derek Luke as a juvenile offender turned screenwriter.
And finally, a couple of contenders for the second Oscar in the new Best Animated Picture category: Disney's big-budget "Treasure Planet" and "The Wild Thornberries," a TV spinoff from Paramount and Nickelodeon.
Here's A Report On Christina Aguilera's Next Disc
Christina Aguilera's gearing up to finally unveil "her baby."
That's how record industry insiders are referring to the singer's much-anticipated album, on which she's staking her transition from pop princess to artist-in-command.
The first single, "Dirrty," featuring hip-hop star Redman, will show up next month along with a "Dirrty" video directed by Paul Hunter. The song's described as having a very urban feel.
The yet-untitled RCA album now has an Oct. 29 release date -- and you can be sure the firecracker talent will be making the talk and music show rounds, in addition to getting cover girl treatment. Christina wrote and co-produced much of the album (which was originally anticipated in June), working with the very hot producer Rockwilder.
Has It?
Has the world really changed since last September?
Almanac Predicts Snowy Winter
If last winter's mild weather kept your snow shovel buried beneath beach towels and tanning butter, the Farmers' Almanac recommends dusting it off this fall.
We can expect heavy snow and colder-than-normal temperatures, according to this year's edition.
"We are predicting a rough winter, with severe weather patterns that gradually shift eastward as the winter progresses," writes Caleb Weatherbee, the pseudonym used by the almanac's forecaster.
The 186-year-old almanac, which goes on sale Tuesday, made similar prognostications last winter. Those predictions, based on a secret model known to only two people that takes into account sunspot activity, planet position, and effects of the moon, were mostly wrong.
It forecast several feet of snow last year for New England, but the region had warmer-than-normal temperatures — the toastiest winter ever recorded in Portland, Maine, and Burlington, Vt. — and a dearth of snow.
Perhaps the editors can be forgiven: Between La Ninas and El Ninos, and talk of climatic change, there has been some weird weather, including droughts in the United States and flooding in Europe.
The winter forecasts, which date back to Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac in the mid-1700s, have become a signpost of Americana. Fretting about their accuracy seems almost beside the point.
Editors insist the almanac's winter forecast has historically been accurate about 75 to 80 percent of the time, even though most meteorologists say the weather cannot be predicted so far in advance.
Such judgments don't seem to faze the publication's editor, who says long-range predictions fill an important niche.
When the Farmers' Almanac, not to be confused with the Old Farmer's Almanac in New Hampshire, began publishing in 1818, almanacs provided the only weather forecasts available.
Back then, the predictions were used mostly by farmers. Nowadays, they may be used more often to pick wedding dates, said editor Peter Geiger.
"I think you use different forecasts for different reasons," he said, also acknowledging: "People do judge us."
Actor Priestley Out of Hospital
Actor Jason Priestley was released Saturday from an Indianapolis hospital where he spent 12 days recovering from injuries sustained in a crash at Kentucky Speedway.
Priestley was released from Methodist Hospital late Saturday morning, hospital spokeswoman Penny Johnson said. She said she did not know where Priestley had been taken after his discharge.
The actor's doctors had said earlier in the week that he would soon be moved from the hospital to a physical rehabilitation center.
The 32-year-old former "Beverly Hills 90210" star was badly hurt Aug. 11 when his open-wheel car spun out of control at 180 mph and hit the wall nearly head-on during practice for the Infiniti Pro Series, a developmental circuit for the IRL.
The day after the crash, Priestley was moved from a Kentucky hospital to Methodist Hospital, where doctors repaired fractures on back and feet. They also operated on his injured nose and one of his eyes.
Doctors have said that Priestley is expected to make a full recovery.
The Summer Movie Season Is Over
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Signs," $14.4 million.
2. "XXX," $13.7 million.
3. "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams," $7.8 million.
4. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," $7.6 million.
5. "Blue Crush," $6.5 million.
6. "Serving Sara," $6.1 million.
7. "Austin Powers in Goldmember," $5.6 million.
8. "Undisputed," $4.7 million.
9. "Simone," $4.1 million.
10. "Blood Work," $2.9 million.