Hard Rockers Metallica Get Touchy-Feely

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - After two decades as one of the biggest hard rock bands in history, the members of Metallica took the most radical step of their career.

They sat down a few years back and got to know each other.

With the band teetering on the brink, the staunch defenders of bone-crunching heavy metal brought in a therapist who inspired them to share their feelings, hug each other and even resolve issues going back to their childhoods.

Such heartwarming moments play out on "Oprah" every other day, but Metallica didn't sell 80 million records by adopting a warm, cuddly persona. The band became huge through grim anthems like "Creeping Death" and "Seek & Destroy." Onstage, it projected invincibility, pummeling fans with symphonic power.

"St. Anger" (Elektra), Metallica's first studio album since 1997's "Re-Load," set for release the week of June 9, reveals a vulnerable side to the newly enlightened musicians, says drummer Lars Ulrich.

To fans who might worry that the band has lived too long in the liberal bastion of San Francisco, Ulrich told Reuters: "If people don't like the fact that that's what it is now, then at least respect it and then walk away from it gracefully."

That's what bass player Jason Newsted did in early 2001. He stunned the group by quitting after 14 frustrating years during which he was prevented from working on outside projects and also bullied by bandmates grieving his predecessor, Cliff Burton, who died in a 1986 tour bus crash.

"RADICAL CHANGE"

"In retrospect, it's amazing that he lasted 14 years," Ulrich said during an interview at Metallica's headquarters in San Rafael, north of San Francisco. "But what he did was he forced us to take a look at the way we were doing things, and it was very clear that ... in order for this band to have a future and to continue doing something under the Metallica banner, there had to be radical, radical change."

Enter Phil Towle, a performance coach who specializes in getting members of sports teams to get along. But exit singer/guitarist James Hetfield, who spent several weeks that year in alcohol rehab and seemed poised never to return.

Since Ulrich and Hetfield, now both 39, co-founded Metallica in 1981, the two have battled each other for control of the band. The turf war pitted the leonine Hetfield, a shy big-game hunter, against the diminutive Danish-born Ulrich, a self-confessed control freak, whose controversial stand against music piracy enraged fans who like their music for free.

Normally, Hetfield's absence would have allowed Ulrich to grab power. But Towle taught the band -- which also includes 40-year-old lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and Newsted's recent replacement, Robert Trujillo -- to work as a collective.

"We don't spend half our energy now fighting for pole position because now we actually have found a new way of communicating and talking to each other and sitting down and considering other points of view," Ulrich said.

"The whole thing was completely adhered to in the recording of this record, and pretty much all the decisions."

Ulrich and Hetfield were solely responsible for most of Metallica's songs in the past. This time they shared the credit on all of "St. Anger" with Hammett and longtime producer Bob Rock, who filled in on bass.

All the songs were created during lengthy jam sessions at Metallica's headquarters. No one was allowed to bring in any material of his own. After each session, Ulrich and Rock sat at the computer, molding the best bits into songs.

Primary lyricist Hetfield then added the words, with help from his bandmates. Sober and relaxed, he bares his soul in such songs as the title track ("I want my anger to be healthy") and "Dirty Window" ("I drink from the cup of denial, judging the world from my throne").

"COLLECTION OF MOMENTS"

Ulrich calls the record "a collection of moments." Make that "long moments." None of the 11 songs is under five minutes, and three clock in at over eight minutes. That's classic Metallica, before they annoyed fans during the 1990s by recording radio-friendly songs.

Perhaps more worrisome for aficionados is the absence of guitar solos. Ulrich says the band tried desperately to add overdubs, but they ended up "cheapening" the sound.

Trujillo, 38, who was working with Ozzy Osbourne when he got the call to join Metallica in February, said the band has already accepted his input on such matters as album artwork and the DVD that will accompany the CD.

"They're motivated to have a collaborative entity, and that's really important for me," he said. "If this would have been happening two years ago, I may not be sitting here because we might have been clashing in certain ways."

Toronto SARS show sold out in 3 hours

TORONTO (CP) -- It just goes to show how few people are afraid of SARS when weighed against seeing their favourite stars.

All 70,000 tickets for a June 21 concert featuring Avril Lavigne, the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan sold out in just three hours Thursday.

The Concert for Toronto was organized to kick off the summer tourism season at a time when many are avoiding the city because of the SARS scare.

Ticketmaster said its outlets, call centre and online system were busy after tickets went on sale at noon.

"Demand far outweighed the supply of tickets," said spokeswoman Patti Babin. "The response proves that the ticket-buying public is confident in Toronto as the place to be."

Ticket prices for the all-Canadian show -- which also features the Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace, Sum 41, Swollen Members, Remy Shand and Glenn Lewis -- were dirt cheap at $29.50 and $19.50, compared with other summer concerts that tend to run over $50.

The six-hour show will take place simultaneously at two downtown venues, the SkyDome and the Air Canada Centre, with acts alternating between the two. That means fans at the SkyDome will watch acts at the Air Canada Centre via a video feed and vice versa.

Organizers have said more acts will be added. It's rumoured Shania Twain and Neil Young are being courted to perform and Mike Myers and Jim Carrey to act as hosts.

Stars Flock To Big-Screen Cole Porter Musical

Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall, Alanis Morissette, Robbie Williams, and R&B singer Vivian Green will appear in "Just One of Those Things," a big screen musical portrait of songwriter Cole Porter. Actor Kevin Kline will portray Porter in the MGM production, currently shooting in a number of international locations, including London and Venice. Ashley Judd co-stars as Porter's wife, Linda Lee.

"These are some of the world's top musical talents," director Irwin Winkler says in a statement. "By lending their voices to some of the most spectacular music ever written, we'll be able to introduce the genius of Cole Porter to a whole new generation of fans."

Morissette will dance and sing "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" in the film. She previously appeared in the non-speaking role of God in the Kevin Smith-directed features "Dogma" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

Costello -- who performed with Burt Bacharach in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" and appeared as himself in "200 Cigarettes" and "Spice World" -- performs "Let's Misbehave." The artist also had a small part as a public defender in the 2001 film "Prison Song," which starred Q-Tip and Mary J. Blige.

Crow, whose previous silver screen acting credit is 1999's "The Minus Man," save for a cameo as a nightclub patron in "54," will tackle "Begin the Beguine." Williams, who has only lent his voice to the animated features "Magic Roundabout" (currently in production) and the 1999 holiday TV special "Hooves of Fire," will perform "It's De-Lovely." He previously recorded Cole's "Did You Evah?" on his 2001 EMI album "Swing When You're Winning."

Krall, a jazz singer and pianist who is no stranger to the Porter songbook, has two songs in the film. She will be seen and heard performing the title song and "I Get a Kick Out of You." Krall will also soon be seen in Woody Allen's upcoming feature, "Anything Else." Expected later this year, that film stars Allen, Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Fallon, Stockard Channing, and Danny DeVito, among others.

Green, who sings "Love for Sale," will be making her film debut in "Just One of Those Things."

Kline will perform a total of 14 songs in the film, including a duet with Judd on "In the Still of the Night." An actress who comes from a musical family that includes sister Wynonna and mother Naomi, Judd also sings "True Love" and several other songs.

Producer Rob Cowan says the film "is unlike any musical seen in recent time. With complex characters and situations for the actors to explore, amazing costumes and choreography, and Porter's terrific music to drive the narrative forward -- the result is moving and exciting."

The film's soundtrack to the film will be released by Sony Music. Projected release dates for the film and soundtrack have not been announced.

Elvis Box Full Of Unreleased Goodies

BMG Heritage has set a July 1 release for "Elvis: Close Up," a four-disc box set featuring a bounty of unreleased Elvis Presley material. "Close Up" follows last year's RCA release of the box set "Elvis Today, Tomorrow, and Forever" and the single-disc collection "ELV1S 30 #1 Hits," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2.8 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Elvis: Close Up" collects 89 tracks in all, and each of its four remastered discs represent different aspects of Presley's career. Disc one concentrates on stereo master tapes from the 1950s, marking the first such releases for "Blueberry Hill," "Loving You," "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)," "Don't Leave Me Now," and more. Disc two culls tracks from four of Presley's films: "G.I. Blues," "Blue Hawaii," "Flaming Star," and "Wild in the Country." The disc features 25 previously unreleased outtakes.

The third disc covers Presley's 1960s sessions at RCA's Studio B in Nashville. Twenty-one outtakes from a number of different sessions are featured, including "Make Me Know It," "U.S. Male," "Surrender," "His Latest Flame," "The Girl of My Best Friend," and "Singing Tree."

The final disc is taken up by a complete unreleased concert recorded April 18, 1972 in San Antonio. The 23-track show features "Burning Love," "Proud Mary," "Suspicious Minds," "Never Been to Spain," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "Polk Salad Annie."

SURVIVING POLITICS

TV Guide is reporting that CBS execs have nixed plans by Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Moraska to star in a new anti-fur ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The network cited "contractual obligations." No other reason was given.

Shania, Neil Young May Join SARS Concert

TORONTO (AP) — According to Canadian reports, Shania Twain and Neil Young are both rumored to be considering participating in a concert billed as "the music event of a lifetime."

It's all part of countering the problem of SARS. Toronto officials are hoping the star-studded June 21 show will restore the city's reputation as a fun, safe place to visit and bring much-needed tourism dollars to the city.

Pop artists Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and the Barenaked Ladies are already onboard for six hours of music spread across two venues to accommodate 70,0000 people. The two venues will be linked by video feed, so that fans can watch live performances from one stage and video from the other. This project is a separate one from the push to bring the Rolling Stones there for a free show to bring tourists to the city.

Officials say that while the SARS outbreak is far from over, a high-profile event is needed to demonstrate that Toronto is open for business.

Disney Uses Night Goggles to Guard 'Nemo'

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated computer animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in theaters on Friday, The Walt Disney Co. has found a novel way to guard against people illegally taping the film in advance showings.

Disney has hired security firm Burns Pinkerton, a unit of Sweden's Securitas AB, to screen audiences using metal detectors and night-vision goggles. The aim is to catch people using video cameras to make bootleg copies of the movie for resale on the black market.

"Most people think the extra security is just for terrorism reasons," said Robert Kendrick, a Burns security guard at a recent screening for "Finding Nemo" in Albany.

The practice is relatively new. Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd.'s Fox Entertainment Group also used night-vision goggles in early screenings of May's "X2: X-Men United" and more recently with "Down With Love," starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.

The heightened measures point to increased scrutiny the studios are taking in early screenings to prevent black market tapes from ending up for sale on city streets around the world.

"It's estimated we lose between $3 billion to $4 billion a year to this problem despite strong anti-piracy actions by the movie industry," said Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America which represents Hollywood's major motion picture studios including Disney and Fox.

A warning about unauthorized recording has been printed on preview tickets for the last nine months telling violators that if they enter with their video equipment they will be denied admission. If the devices are used, they will be confiscated.

In April, a 33-year-old California man was arrested and charged with illegally videotaping movies in sneak previews. If convicted, he faces up to 26 years in federal prison.

Kendrick and his partner first check movie patrons using the metal-detecting wands because digital cameras are small and compact but they do contain metal parts.

Once inside, the guards sit 25-minute shifts monitoring the projection room's camera and the entire theater. The night-vision goggles are used to span the audience to see if there are any strong lights coming from a video recorder.

"These goggles magnify the light and make the image glow," Kendrick said.

A New PS2!

At E3, Sony unveiled a new Playstation 2 that will be debuting in Japan this year and early next year in America and Europe. Dubbed, the PSX, the new PS2 comes with a hard drive (a la the XBox) and a DVD burner. "We want an extreme product to represent a new platform out of Sony," said Sony executive deputy president Ken Kutaragi. Industry analysts think that the move may be a bad one for Sony, because of the lack of overlap between those who want a DVD burner and those who play video games; it may add to the $945 million loss that Sony experienced January through March 2003. Kutaragi refused to name a price for the new system.

U2 album, tour in '04

U2 apparently hasn't left all of its songwriting talent behind.

Guitarist The Edge this week said the band has been hard at work in a Dublin studio recording the followup to 2000's smash All That You Can't Leave Behind. He said the Irish rockers will tour to support the CD's expected 2004 release.

BEST SONGS

According to the British online music site nme.com, The Edge told XFM: "It's going really well. And we're writing some of the best songs we've ever written ... It's encouraging to kick even harder and make sure that the next batch of songs are as good as anything we've ever done.

"It's hard to describe (the new CD), other than it's just a very raw rock 'n' roll. A band in its primary colours of guitar, bass, drums, voice and a lot of vitality and energy ... so far, anyway. By the time it comes out it could be a country and western album."

The Edge said U2 likely would spend the rest of 2003 finishing the record, ostensibly for an early '04 release.

"Will we tour the album? I'm sure we will," he told XFM.

'Bruce Almighty' Phone Number Annoys Many

TAMPA, Fla. - A lot of mortals who happen to share God's telephone number — or at least the one He uses in the new movie "Bruce Almighty" — have spent days now taking calls from curious dialers, snickering cranks and desperate souls.

In the hit movie, a TV newsman played by Jim Carrey is endowed by God with divine powers, allowing him to perform such feats as parting a bowl of tomato soup like the Red Sea. God's phone number is repeatedly displayed on the newsman's pager whenever the Lord tries to summon him.

Usually, movies and TV shows use the telephone exchange 555, which is not used for homes and businesses. But "Bruce Almighty" used a seven-digit number valid in many parts of the country.

Many moviegoers have remembered the number and put it to work in their own area codes.

A woman in Pinellas Park, Fla., has threatened to sue the movie studio because of the 20 calls per hour clogging her cell phone. A Colorado radio network was getting dozens a day Wednesday, five days after the movie hit theaters, and is planning to build a contest around the phenomenon.

In Sanford, N.C., the listing belongs to a church whose minister is actually named Bruce. And he is not amused.

"It's a movie that mocks God and makes a mockery of religion," said the Rev. Bruce MacInnes, pastor of Turner's Chapel Church. "I'm not too thrilled with it at all. But the Lord God is one that could use something that's meant for evil and turn it around for good. So this may very well be the reason that that number showed up."

Universal Pictures, which produced the film, said in a statement Wednesday that the phone number was chosen because it does not exist in the Buffalo, N.Y., area, where the movie is set. The studio offered no further comment.

A database search turned up more than 30 listings nationwide for the number in the movie.

In Cornelia, Ga., the number belongs to the Rev. Patrick Collington, an evangelist who runs Souls for Christ Ministries. His wife, Tracy, said they have gotten about 100 calls since Friday — mostly people asking for God and hanging up — but they are not bothered.

The family went to see the movie Tuesday night and loved it.

"It was funny, and knowing God's phone number was our number was really something to be excited about," she said.

Donna Augustin of Parrish, Fla., said her family has gotten about 200 God calls since Friday. Her three children think it is hilarious. A new message on their answering machine informs callers that they have reached "God's messenger" and should "call Jim Carrey" instead.

Some callers of the Augustin home leave messages ranging from sweet to obscene. Most try to come up with something funny. One guy wanted to know when God would answer his prayers and make him a porn star.

In Longmont, Colo., the Colorado Radio Network's nine lines started lighting up Monday with God callers, a good number of whom actually seemed to think they found a direct line to the Lord, according to Ron Nickel, the network's senior vice president.

"God, I really need to talk to you," one woman said in a message. "I need to repent because I've cheated on my husband five times, but I guess all of us people who are prostitutes eventually cheat on our husbands."

Nickel said the network of five stations plans to turn the whole thing into a contest. Listeners will be asked what they would say to God if they could call Him. The host of the stations' only religious show will pick the winner.

"This just dropped right out of the sky into our lap," Nickel said. "We would have to be stupid to get angry."

David Lee Roth Pressing Forward With Lawsuit Against Van Halen

Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth is continuing to move forward with his lawsuit against the band over unpaid royalties. Roth filed his suit on December 11 in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the group didn't include him in a 1996 renegotiation of its contract with Warner Brothers Records.

Roth said the result is a financial inequity. "If you buy Van Halen I now, if I make 10 cents, the bass player (Michael Anthony) makes 30 cents. And if I make a hundred dollars, the drummer (Alex Van Halen) will make close to three hundred dollars. And I've always maintained since I wrote all the words, and all the lyrics, and all of the harmonies, and structured the tunes, designed most of the album covers--and when MTV happened for everybody, I wrote and directed the videos--with all of that, I should make 25 percent. What do you think?"

Roth's suit is still pending while both sides file legal briefs. Neither Van Halen Music LLC nor Warner Bros., who are co-defendants, would comment on the suit.

Roth left Van Halen in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Roth sang on the two new songs from the group's 1996 Best Of Volume 1, but the reunion didn't last.

Van Halen left Warner Bros. in 2001 and is currently without a label.

Roth's new album, Diamond Dave, comes out July 8. It features cover versions of songs by the Beatles, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Savoy Brown, and Steve Miller.

Roth next performs Thursday (May 29) at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York.

Stars come out to aid T.O.

TORONTO -- Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and the Barenaked Ladies will lend their popularity to a concert billed as "the music event of a lifetime," as part of the ongoing effort to counter the taint of SARS.

Officials are hoping the star-studded show next month will restore the city's reputation as a fun, safe place to visit and bring much-needed tourism dollars to the city.

"We want summer to start with a real bang, something that's going to bring a lot of livelihood, rockin' and poppin' and all that," Brian Coburn, Ontario's minister of tourism, said Wednesday as he announced the June 21 show.

Six hours of music will be spread across two venues -- SkyDome and the Air Canada Centre -- to accommodate 70,000 people. Tickets, $29.50 and $19.50, go on sale Thursday at noon through Ticketmaster.

Other acts on the bill for the Concert For Toronto include the Tragically Hip, Swollen Members, Remy Shand, Glenn Lewis, Sum 41 and Our Lady Peace.

Officials said more performers will be added in the coming weeks. Neil Young and Shania Twain are among those rumoured to be considering participating in the show.

The two venues will be linked by video feed so that fans at one place can watch performances at the other. Performers will be spread out so no one is on the stage at the same time.

"It's going to be a historic event. We've never presented two shows like this simultaneously," said Shane Bourbonnais, senior vice-president of ClearChannel Entertainment, which is producing the show. "It's going to be one long six-hour show that goes back and forth between both venues."

The announcement comes after weeks of speculation that the Rolling Stones would headline a free "everybody loves Toronto" show at a large park north of the city.

Coburn said the Lavigne-McLachlan show was not the same project.

"There's ongoing discussions (for the Stones show)," he said. "If something like that happens it's one more big plus for us."

Liberal MP Dennis Mills, who has been trying to organize the Stones show, has said private-sector backers are willing to offer up half of the $10 million cost to stage the event, but that government support was needed for the rest.

The concert announcement was made amid the ongoing battle to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome, which escalated late last week in the form of several clusters emanating from North York General Hospital. Thousands of people have been quarantined.

While officials recognize that the SARS outbreak is far from over, Coburn said a high-profile event is needed to demonstrate that Toronto is open for business.

"It's to get people back up on top again, get the juices flowing," Coburn said. "We believe it's time to get on with some of these events, these celebrations to showcase Toronto."

The province is pitching in $5.2 million for the show, and as previously announced, lifting the provincial sales tax on entertainment attractions and hotel accommodations, which lasts through to Sept. 30. The federal government has yet to contribute financially, Coburn said.

The concert will run from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. Officials hope the crowd will then spread across the downtown core and spend money at restaurants and bars that have taken a huge financial hit ever since the SARS outbreak began in mid-March.

The concert industry has also suffered with many high-profile acts, including Elton John, Billy Joel and Lisa Marie Presley, cancelling trips and shows.

"We've lost over $600,000 during this period," Bourbonnais said. "It's our duty and our job to make sure we tell the artists of the world that Toronto is a safe place to come."

To help promote the city and the event, Roots Canada will create a Concert For Toronto T-shirt, with a portion of proceeds going to SARS research.

"This concert has the possibility of being the single, greatest musical event in the history of Toronto," said Don Green, one of the founders of the clothing company.

"It's really going to show the world that Torontonians are not hibernating and they're not hiding at home . . .they're really coming out and enjoying this fine city that we live in."

Lavigne's SK8ER BOI Goes to Film

Paramount Pictures and MTV Films have acquired the film adaption rights to Avril Lavigne's song "Sk8er Boi." David Zabel (ER) is set to adapt the song into a film about a teenage girl that rejects a potential boyfriend because her friends disapprove of him. Later in life, he becomes a rock star and she begins feeling regret. Music production team The Matrix will consult on the screenplay and will create an event album for the film with new songs.

'Idol' Movie Slows Its Rush to DVD

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The profits from the "American Idol" franchise are coming so fast and furious that Fox Studios can be forgiven for almost putting the cart before the horse in its latest run for the money. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox was prepared to blitz the first "Idol" -related film, "From Justin to Kelly" onto video and DVD within six weeks of its theatrical release, scheduled for Friday, June 13.

Not surprisingly, nationwide exhibitors balked at this possibility. Exhibitors typically receive a miniscule percentage of the box office proceeds from early in their run, relying on longevity and shelf-life (as well as popcorn and beverages) to make money.

Longevity and shelf-life haven't necessarily been the watchwords of the "American Idol" franchise. With twice-weekly airings, regular specials, CDs by the winners, CDs by the finalists, concert tours, a spin-off ("American Juniors," starting Tuesday, June 3), and now a film, Fox has realized the importance of capitalizing as quickly as possible on a product that has very little second-run syndicated value.

"From Justin to Kelly," starring the show's first two finalists, Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, has already been moved from a proposed spring release to its current early summer slot in order to cash in on the show's sustained popularity and to maintain the show's buzz. An additional dose of aural methadone comes courtesy of Guarini's new album, which is schedule to drop just days before the film. Citing anonymous sources, the HR says that Fox intended to get the film into theaters as quickly as possible and then have the DVDs on shelves before the end of the summer.

Any dead air around that time would be filled by the "American Idol" tour and with the release of singles by this season's winner, Ruben Studdard, and Clay Aiken, the popular runner-up. The DVD momentum then might carry into hypothetical Christmas releases for their full albums, which would flow into the new season of "American Idol" starting next winter. That could gush into the inevitable feature film starring Ruben and Clay, which could be swiftly followed by its own release on DVD.

Exhibitor concerns have reportedly slowed this "Idol" circle of life somewhat and the DVDs of "From Justin to Kelly" won't hit shelves until September.

A Fox spokesperson denies the whole fracas, saying, "As with all of our films, no home entertainment release date has been set prior to the opening in theaters."

...THE NEXT INDY?

Nicolas Cage signing on to star in director Jon Turteltaub's National Treasure, playing an archaelogist-historian who believes a treasure map is hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing.

Funnyman Bill Murray to play fat cat "Garfield" in new movie

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US comedian Bill Murray will incarnate the dry-witted and prickly comic book cat "Garfield" in a new live-action Hollywood movie, the entertainment press said.

Murray, 52, will give the fat cat feline his voice in the upcoming feature film that -- like last year's "Scooby-Doo" movie -- will use a combination of live actors and a computer-generated cat, Daily Variety said.

Production on the 20th Century Fox movie coincides with next month's 25th anniversary of the comic strip written by Jim Davis.

The film, to be directed by Peter Hewitt, will recount the adventures of the smart-alec feline who suffers living with a geeky owner and dim-witted dog.

"Toy Story" authors Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow have written the screenplay of the new "Garfield" movie that hopes to cash in on the success of the cartoon that is one of the most widely syndicated strips in the world, appearing in 2,570 newspapers in 111 countries.

Liz Phair Turns to Pop With Latest Album

NEW YORK - Hailed a decade ago as the queen of indie rock, Liz Phair now says she just wants to be a pop star.

Her new album, "Liz Phair," due out June 24, is more mainstream than her critically acclaimed 1993 debut "Exile in Guyville." And it's a very calculated change.

"I didn't want to be some '90s act that was great in my 20s and never did anything else," the 36-year-old musician told Entertainment Weekly for its May 30 issue.

"People are like, 'Don't be commercial, then,'" she said. "And that's one way to live. But even when I made 'Guyville,' I was hating indie then. The whole album was about how much I hated indie."

So she turned to the Matrix — the trio of producers behind Avril Lavigne — for help with her new album, although she knows the poppier sound may alienate some longtime fans.

"Should I pretend to be cool so that you will approve of me? After I had my kid, the revelation I had was, life is incredibly short," Phair said. "I like who I am. And I'm just gonna like what I like and go for what I want go for. It's simple."

McCartney, Mills Expecting a Baby

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Beatle Paul McCartney, 60, and his second wife, Heather Mills, said on Wednesday that the couple are expecting a baby later this year.

"We are delighted with this happy news," the couple said in a statement.

McCartney and Mills married in June 2002. McCartney has three children from his 29-year marriage to Linda McCartney, who died of breast cancer in 1998. He also adopted Linda's child from an earlier marriage.

Mills, a former model who lost her left leg below the knee in an accident, met McCartney at a charity event three years ago.

McCartney helped revolutionize popular music in the 1960s as a member of the Beatles. After they split in 1970, he continued as a solo artist and with the band Wings, which he formed with Linda.

Led Zeppelin Flying High with New Concert Discs

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the words of one of their songs, Dancing Days are here again for fans of Led Zeppelin.

Defunct for almost 23 years, the pioneering English band behind such hard rock classics as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Kashmir" has cleaned out its vaults to issue eight hours of previously unreleased live material on DVD and CD.

The "Led Zeppelin DVD" contains footage from four tours spanning 1970 to 1979; the CD "How The West Was Won" combines two Los Angeles shows from 1972 to replicate a single concert.

Remarkably, the band's leader and guitarist, Jimmy Page, who compiled the releases, says he remembers all the concerts as if they were yesterday.

"To actually go through it bit by bit and hear sections of it, you go, 'Yeah, yeah, that's really good' or 'I played really well there' or 'My God, that's embarrassing, that bit I played then,"' Page, 58, said in an interview.

Both the DVD and CD were released this week with Page, singer Robert Plant, 53, and keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones, 56, embarking on a publicity blitz. Ironically, Led Zeppelin shunned such chores during its 12-year reign, preferring to let the music speak for itself.

But rumors that the trio would play together came to naught. The band has reunited only twice since breaking up after the 1980 alcohol-related death of drummer John Bonham. Page and Plant toured and recorded together in the 1990s, to Jones' initial chagrin. These days, the threesome's relationship is more business than social, Page says.

"MAGICAL ELEMENT"

"There were four very different personalities anyway in Led Zeppelin, very different personalities," Page said. "But when they bonded musically, the four elements joined together, took on a fifth element -- a thing which is totally intangible and it can't be charted, which was that magical element."

Led Zeppelin's members fused folk and blues influences to create a genre known as heavy metal. The group's catalog, highlighted by their untitled 1971 album and 1975's "Physical Graffiti" has sold about 200 million copies worldwide.

But their strength was arguably live performances. They toured incessantly, setting new standards for ticket sales. Songs from the albums were radically reworked on stage.

The new CD boasts a 25-minute version of "Dazed and Confused," while Bonham drums relentlessly during the 19-minute "Moby Dick." Spontaneity was the key, which is why the band decided to call it a day rather than try to feign improvisation with a new drummer.

"You had to be totally, totally involved. It's like a sacrifice you were there for," Page said.

The DVD features songs from London's Royal Albert Hall (1970) and Earl's Court (1975), New York's Madison Square Garden (1973) and England's Knebworth Festival (1979). And that's it as far as live footage is concerned, Page says.

"We didn't have a documentary crew going round with us all the time. What would we do it for? We weren't a television band," Page said.

"A BIT OF A LAUGH"

Similarly, the only other audio footage in the vaults was from a university gig, which was done "for a bit of a laugh." Page vows it will never see the light of day because the band made so many mistakes. (Page did use some computer tricks to fix a few wrong chords on the newly released material.)

These days, Page divides his time between a historic London townhouse and a mansion in nearby Windsor. His post-Zeppelin career has been patchy, with highlights including a tour with the Black Crowes and recording a rap version of "Kashmir" with rapper Sean Combs. He says he's working on something "quite surprising" but declined to go into detail.

D'Oh Canada: Homer Simpson Named Honorary Citizen

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The debate over just where the cartoon Simpson family lives has raged for years. A forthcoming act by the Canadian city of Winnipeg won't settle it, but it will give Homer another place to hang his hat.

The city will issue a proclamation naming Homer an honorary citizen of the capital of Manitoba on Friday (May 31), the Winnipeg Sun reports. It's not because of the "Simpsons" episode where the family travels to Canada or the recent show in which the characters join together to sing "O Canada."

Instead, it's because creator Matt Groening's father, on whom Homer is loosely based, is a native of Winnipeg.

"We're giving him a giant certificate, and there's going to be an eight-foot-tall Homer Simpson there to receive it," Winnipeg Councilwoman Jenny Gerbasi says.

"I think we'll find there are lots of people in Winnipeg whose father has characteristics like Homer."

BACK TO SCHOOL

Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn are expected to reunite for a sequel to their laffer Old School, which grossed $75 million in domestic box-office receipts, reports Variety. The project is still in early development.

Jewel Pleasing Fans Online, on Tour

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Atlantic Records is offering something extra to Jewel fans who buy her forthcoming album "0304," due June 3, during its first week of release. Each copy in the first run of "0304" will include a download card with a unique PIN number allowing access to a secure site from which users can download solo live MP3 versions of "The New Wild West" and "Life Uncommon."

The promotion runs through June 9.

The bonus site will also allow access to streaming in-studio footage of the artist, tour clips, and live performance videos culled from her last tour, all of which will be available past June 9.

Jewel has scheduled a handful of tour dates in support of the new record, with a full tour expected later in the year. She performed a free show May 27 at New York's GM Plaza for CBS, which plans to broadcast portions of the show Wednesday morning on "The Early Show."

The artist will participate in a few radio-station festivals over the coming weeks: WIOQ Philadelphia's Q Concert in Camden, N.J. Friday (May 30); WXKS Boston's KISS Concert Saturday (May 31) in Mansfield, Mass.; WHTZ New York's Zootopia festival at East Rutherford, N.J. Sunday (June 1); and WITH Washington, D.C.'s Hot 99.5 Anniversary Show in Columbia, Md. June 7.

Jewel is holding a contest to determine two up-and-coming bands to open for her fall tour, and will perform June 19 at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., with a host of regional finalists.

Jewel dips into dance music and jazz on the new album, evidenced by first single "Intuition," which is No. 43 this week on Billboard's Hot 100. "0304" is the follow-up to 2001's "This Way," which debuted at No. 9 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 1.49 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Here are Jewel's tour dates:
May 30: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Center)
May 31: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)
June 1: East Rutherford, N.J. (Giants Stadium)
June 7: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post)
June 19: San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (the Coach House)
Sept. 20: Atlanta (Chastain Amphitheater)
Sept. 30: Providence, R.I. (Providence Performing Arts Center).

Norah Jones Recording New CD, Performs On Willie Nelson TV Tribute

Grammy winner Norah Jones spent time in a New York studio during the month of April to track new tunes for her second solo CD.

According to her label's website Jones was joined in the studio by her band, which includes guitarists Kevin Breit and Adam Levy, bassist Lee Alexander, drummer Andy Borger on drums, and Daru Oda on background vocals. The CD project is due sometime in early 2004.

Jones and her band are currently on tour, with upcoming stops in the Southeast early next month and a three-night stand at New York's Beacon Theatre from June 23 through 25.

Meanwhile, we can catch Jones performing on the 70th birthday TV tribute to country star Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson & Friends: Kickin' It Live will also feature performances by Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Wyclef Jean, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Shelby Lynne, Steven Tyler, and others. The special airs on the USA Network on Monday (May 26) at 9 and 11 p.m., ET, and again on Saturday (May 31) at 2 a.m. ET.

Jones' debut CD, Come Away With Me, earned a total of eight Grammy Awards this year. The album has been certified six times platinum for sales of more than six million copies, and remains in the Number One position on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart after 64 weeks.

Dixie Chicks Backlash Continues

The Dixie Chicks were a last minute addition to the roster of performers on Wednesday (May 21) 38th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards show, live from Las Vegas. During the three-hour event, which was steeped in patriotism, the Chicks still seemed to be suffering from the backlash of resentment over Natalie Maines' remarks about President Bush.

The group performed on the CBS telecast via satellite from a concert in their adopted hometown of Austin, Texas. The band was greeted by applause from the audience in Austin, but when Vince Gill announced the Chicks as one of the nominees in the Entertainer Of The Year category--the crowd in Las Vegas booed loudly. Gill tried to calm the angry crowd, saying, "Stop it, stop it. You know who gets blessed when you forgive--you."

After the broadcast, Reba McEntire was asked if she thought the Dixie Chicks' performance on Wednesday night's show might have helped them win back the support of the fans or fellow performers who were miffed by Maines' seemingly unpatriotic comment. Reba candidly replied, "Didn't sound like it. I announced it, and it was a pretty big negative response. It was very, very bad. I don't think it's over." When McEntire was asked what advice she would give the Chicks, she replied, "When they ask for it, I'll give it. I don't think that will happen, though."

The incident that sparked the backlash happened in March when the Dixie Chicks were performing in London and at a time when the United States was making plans to go to war with Iraq. During the concert, Natalie Maines told the British crowd, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Since then, the Chicks, have repeatedly apologized for Natalie's ill-timed remark which set off a tidal wave of resentment directed at all three singers.

The Dixie Chicks lost in all three categories they were nominated in--Top Vocal Group, Entertainer Of The Year, and Album Of The Year.

New Items For Your Viewing Pleasure

Its time once again to look at the new video and DVD releases that are hitting shelves today. Many of them are "Should Have Beens", meaning they should have been good, but they just aren't.

Oh sure, they're entertaining enough in their own right, but the sum of the parts involved should have been enough to guarantee the audience that they would be good movies that are worth our time and money.

They just aren't. But they should have been!

Happily, there is one exception. The Oscar winning THE PIANIST also bows today. Take the time to watch this mater work. It is a perfect example of how a great film can move you, entertain you, and educate us all. It shouldn't have been, but it is!

Here are the new titles bowing on DVD and video on Tuesday, May 27th, 2003:

THE PIANIST - A supeb account of man hiding from Nazi's in German ghetto. It is not quite as powerful as SCHINDLER'S LIST, but it stands on it's own as a master work of filmmaking. (Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay)

THE RECRUIT - A CIA protege discovers that nothing is as it seems in this would be thriller that doesn't thrill or leave you guessing. Moynahan is super sexy, though, if you are into that sort of thing. (Colin Farrell [James Clayton], Al Pacino [Walter Burke], Bridget Moynahan [Layla])

NATIONAL SECURITY - Two police rejects turned security guards unearth smugglers in this would be comedy. (Martin Lawrence, Steve Zahn, Eric Roberts)

A GUY THING - A guy thinks he committed the ultimate bachelor party sin in this horrible movie that wastes a great concept and cast and offers no laughs whatsoever! (Julia Stiles, Jason Lee, Selma Blair)

These films were released with little to no expectations and you may enjoy them, as I did, or you may not. Good luck!

Talk To Her - Two men meet while visiting their comatose wives. (Rosario Flores, Javier Camara, Dario Grandinetti)

Love Liza - Man becomes addict after his wife's unexplained suicide. (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Stephen Tobolowsky)

And this release is from the "Take It Or Leave It" file

The Best Of Charlie's Angels - The best moments from the TV series Charlie's Angels. (Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith)

Charlie's Angels: The Complete First Season - The complete first season of the TV series Charlie's Angels. (Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith)

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: Season One - The complete first season of the TV series Dr. Quinn. (Jane Seymour, Joe Lando, Chad Allen)

Today's New Releases

Next week, Tuesday June 3rd, will see new music releases from Jewel (who I love), Lou Reed (Who will always rock), Gordon Downey (From The Tragically Hip) PLUS discs from Train, Sugar Ray and Luther Vandross.

Needless to say I am looking past today to next week.

Should you need a music fix before next week, here are the New Music Releases for Tuesday, May 27, 2003:

CHICAGO Chicago (DVD Audio) (Rhino)
DE LA SOUL Singles Collection (Rhino)
FLAMING LIPS Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (DVD Audio) (Warner)
HIGH SOCIETY OST High Society OST (DVD Audio) (Rhino)
LED ZEPPELIN How the West Was Won (Atlantic)
LED ZEPPELIN Led Zeppelin DVD (DVD Video) (Atlantic)
PAT METHENY One Quiet Night (Warner)
RAY MATERICK Life & Times (Linus Entertainment)
SARAH BRIGHTMAN Harem (EMI)

Staind cancels concert over SARS

TORONTO (CP) -- Citing a "health concern" in Toronto, heavy metal rock band Staind cancelled its visit to the city.

An autograph session Tuesday at a local record shop and a concert Wednesday night were each postponed until further notice "due to SARS concerns," according to a statement.

Promoters were refunding tickets for the Kool Haus concert.

Formed in 1994, Staind is touring to promote their latest album 14 Shades of Grey.

Toronto returned to the World Health Organization's list of SARS-affected areas on Monday. However, no travel advisory was issued against the city.

Idol auditions attract 10,000

TORONTO (CP) -- For weeks, they've flocked to cities like Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver by the thousands, belting out songs in the hope of becoming the next Kelly Clarkson or Ruben Studdard.

And as the Canadian Idol auditions came to a close in Toronto on Monday, the CTV show got it's largest crowd yet.

About 10,000 people were queued in a dusty, gravel parking lot across from the downtown Metro Toronto Convention Centre hoping to become the first Canadian Idol.

Many of the popstar wannabes and their parents had been in line, huddling under tarps and umbrellas to ward off rain, wind and the sun, since the start of the weekend.

Coolers, sleeping bags and other camping gear were scattered across the make-shift shelter area. Portable toilets lined a street and litter was piled high. Traffic on adjoining streets crawled during the Monday rush hour as drivers gawked at the scene.

One Idol hopeful was Kristina Monk, a 16-year-old from Napanee, Ont. (Avril Lavigne's home-town) who, like the others, will have to compete through three rounds of judging to make the cut.

"I lived through the cold," said the bubbly teen, while waiting in line in a holding room inside the Convention Centre where a team from L'Oreal was styling hair and painting nails. "My voice isn't up to par. I have a sore throat and I'm nervous."

When asked why she thought she'd have a shot at the title she gushed: "Oh my god, I'm so into music. Music is my thing. I write, I sing, I used to be in plays. It's just what I want to do. It's my dream."

The auditions began at 10:30 a.m. Monday. Approximately 1,600 competitors, aged 16 to 26, were to be processed each day through Wednesday. Those finalists will be reduced to 100 by Wednesday night by a four-judge panel. They will then compete alongside 13,000 others from eight cities across Canada for a chance to be one of 30 semi-finalists.

First in line was a group of four from Windsor, Ont., who pitched a tent outside the Convention Centre's doors early Thursday morning.

Police officers moved them across the street where they then alternated between the chilly tent and a hotel suite.

"We thought that thousands of people would already be lined up on Thursday. That's why we came," said Monique Regnier, an 18-year-old student who travelled with her two sisters.

"I wanted to do this my whole life," added her friend Tara Mandler, also from Windsor. "In Canada there's never any opportunities to things like this. You either have to have money or position or some connection. It's the first opportunity so that's why I'm doing it now." The 25-year-old waitress performed I Want To Love You Forever by Jessica Simpson.

No doubt some contestants will provide great ammunition for the Canadian judges who will likely try to replicate the razor tongue of Simon Cowell, the popular judge on American Idol.

"I'm not gonna look down that's for sure", said Jazz Torralba, 17. The Toronto student says he watched the American series and picked up several pointers for his audition.

The show will air Wednesday nights on CTV beginning June 11. And if the U.S. version is any indication, millions will tune in to watch the spectacle unfold. The second season of American Idol attracted an average of 2.1 million Canadian viewers, with 3.4 million tuning in for the season finale.

The show is based on the 2001 smash hit from Britain, Pop Idols. The franchise has created national Idols in six countries including Poland, South Africa and Germany.

Winning the competition has proved fruitful. Last year's winner Kelly Clarkson saw her album Thankful debut at No. 1 (it outsold Madonna's latest disc by nearly 20 per cent in the U.S.). Runner-up Justin Guarini will put out an album next month and have his big screen debut opposite Clarkson in From Justin to Kelly, a romantic musical comedy that looks like Grease on the beach.

'Idol' voting strained nerves, nation's telephone systems

A week after Fox received a record 24 million calls from American Idol viewers choosing the fate of Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, fans are still debating the accuracy of the final vote. Studdard's margin of victory was only 134,400 votes.

The confusion over the voting totals in Wednesday's live broadcast was fueled by conflicting figures read by Idol host Ryan Seacrest. A spokesman for the show says Seacrest is not to blame. The first incorrect figure — 13,000 — was displayed on the teleprompter. The second — 1,335 — was written on a card given to Seacrest.

Many people received busy signals during the final three hours of voting on Tuesday, causing some to suspect that, in shades of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore presidential contest, the lost votes might have produced a different result.

But like a radio call-in contest, phone networks can handle only so many calls at one time. The Idol finale was like a local radio contest magnified many times, featuring two popular contestants, millions of fans and two phone numbers with equal capacity. All this adds up to a virtual deadlock.

"My daughter dialed more than a hundred times and couldn't get through," says Cynthia McGinnes of Chestertown, Md. "This is a show we all watch as a family, and I guarantee you we will never watch again. My daughter was in tears."

But many opted for different technology. Dana Goldstein, 15, turned to her cell phone's text-messaging option instead.

The Manhattan Beach, Calif., teen couldn't get through by phone, so she switched to text voting. "It's a lot easier, because you get through every time."

AT&T, which supplied the text-messaging option for its 21 million subscribers at 10 cents a pop, supplied 2.5 million votes, or about 10% of the total. "And not a single message got rejected," AT&T's Andre Dahan says. AT&T did not provide a breakdown of votes, but text messaging could have made the difference.

Verizon, the nation's largest phone company, says call volume was up on Tuesday by 116 million calls. "So many called, the network was flooded," Verizon's Daniel Diaz Zapata says. "It doesn't mean the network was faulty, just everybody was trying to dial in at the same time."

SBC, which operates in 13 states, says it received 115 million additional calls. "Our network engineers found that if people waited a half-hour after the voting started, they had a much better chance of getting through," SBC's Suzy Henderson says.

For all the griping about people not being able to connect with their potential votes, "24 million did get through," Fox's Scott Grogin says. "The system worked like it was supposed to."

Last summer's Idol produced 18 million votes, and Grogin says Fox talked about new voting procedures this time, such as using the Internet, but nothing came of it.

The Internet was used for CBS' Star Search, which made its debut in January. That show used a similar system of celebrity judges and viewer votes. Instead of phone calls, CBS opted for online votes, but the show was live, so only viewers in the Eastern time zone could vote. CBS hasn't said how many votes have been counted.

Will Fox try the Net, or alternative methods, in January for the next Idol? Fox isn't saying. "We have seven months for that," Grogin says. "It's a long ways away."

Still, "getting 24 million phone calls into one narrow, short period of time is not an insignificant number," AT&T's Dahan says. Text messaging, however, can handle bigger volumes more easily, because the messages are queued up and stamped with the time, he says. "It will be delayed momentarily, but it gets through and still counts."

Christopher Saunders of the Instant Messaging Planet newsletter says that although Fox should look into instant messaging and the Internet as alternatives, its best bet is continuing with text messaging, because it can pay for itself.

"In Europe, where text messaging is more widespread, many shows charge 50 cents to use the system, and they get a lot of calls. And they always get through."

'Bruce Almighty' Topples 'The Matrix'

LOS ANGELES - The Jim Carrey comedy "Bruce Almighty" reigned at the box office in its opening weekend, taking in $86.4 million and easily surpassing "The Matrix Reloaded" as the No. 1 movie of the Memorial Day weekend.

"The Matrix" sequel earned $45.6 million to place a distant No. 2 in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Monday.

Attendance for "The Matrix Reloaded," which has collected $209.5 million since its powerhouse debut May 14, shrunk by 60 percent — suggesting "The Matrix" is unloading quickly.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co., characterized the performance of "Bruce Almighty" as a "definite surprise."

The comedy stars Carrey as a regular guy who receives the powers of God (played by Morgan Freeman) after complaining too much about life. Before getting his comeuppance, Bruce uses the abilities to look up women's dresses, torment his work rival and teach his dog to use the toilet.

"We all thought this would be a big weekend, but the question was — would "Bruce Almighty' top 'The Matrix?'" Dergarabedian said. "Jim Carrey in a broad comedy like this is pretty much unstoppable."

The only other new film in wide release was the Michael Douglas-Albert Brooks remake of "The In-Laws," about a wild secret agent and meek doctor whose children are marrying. The comedy, based on a 1979 film starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, collected $9.1 million.

"The Matrix Reloaded," a sequel to the 1999 film about a computer hacker trying to unravel a parallel reality devised by machines, faced high expectations after its huge debut — but early success may have shortened its long-term prospects.

"So many people saw that movie so quickly that it's very difficult to maintain for a second weekend," Dergarabedian said.

But the 60 percent plunge in attendance was steeper than other blockbusters, including last year's "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," which saw second-weekend ticket sales fall by only 38 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

But "Spider-Man" was rated PG-13 and "Clones" was PG. The R-rating for "Reloaded," Warner Bros. executives said, curtailed its audience by restricting most unchaperoned moviegoers under 17-years-old.

"You can't compare an R-rated movie over a holiday period with movies that appeal to a broad family audience. We have a different kind of movie," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of U.S. distribution.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

1. "Bruce Almighty," $86.4 million.
2. "The Matrix Reloaded," $45.6 million.
3. "Daddy Day Care," $18 million.
4. "X2: X-Men United," $13 million.
5. "The In-Laws," $9.1 million
6. "Down With Love." $5.1 million.
7. "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," $4 million.
8. "Holes," $3 million.
9. "Identity," $2.6 million.
10. "Anger Management," $2.4 million.

McCartney Serenades Putin, Rocks Red Square

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Paul McCartney has become the first Beatle to sing inside the Kremlin walls, treating President Vladimir Putin to an impromptu version of "Let it Be" before singing to thousands of Russians on Red Square.

Putin, who confessed to being a Beatles fan in his youth, told McCartney Saturday the band had been an inspiration during Soviet times, despite Kremlin efforts to discourage Western music.

"It was very popular, more than popular," Putin said when asked whether he had listened to the Beatles when contacts with foreign music were discouraged. "It was like a breath of fresh air, like a window on the outside world."

McCartney met Putin in the Kremlin for tea and a guided tour, hours before the first Russian show in the musician's 40-year career.

Putin told McCartney he knew of his plans to play in Russia in the 1980s -- ultimately quashed by Soviet authorities.

"It was considered propaganda of an alien ideology," Putin, a former KGB officer, said of Beatles' hits.

Although not banned in Soviet times, Beatles music was hard to obtain. Some albums were locally manufactured and many fans heard songs on the Voice of America and BBC radio.

"The Beatles did make a lot of changes. We didn't set out to make changes, but we did," McCartney said later.

McCartney, on a 14-month world tour, is not the first Beatle to sing in Russia; Ringo Starr traveled to Moscow in 1998. But he is the only member of the band and one of a handful of artists to be given permission to perform in Red Square.

"(Putin) seemed to be a really nice guy," McCartney told hundreds of reporters in the square. "I sang him a song -- he couldn't come to the concert tonight."

He said later he had sung "Let It Be."

Ahead of Saturday's open-air show a group of nationalist Russian deputies objected to plans to stage a pop concert meters from the graves of Soviet leaders Lenin, Stalin and dozens of other communist-era heavyweights.

Thousands flocked to the concert. Tickets sold for hundreds of dollars in a country where monthly wages are below $100.

McCartney, thronged by fans since arriving in Russia, said he would treat 20,000 spectators to three hours of hits, including "Back in the USSR."

Strolling through the Kremlin grounds, McCartney said his trip to Russia had dispelled many notions he had held, including what he might have thought when he wrote that song.

"I didn't know anything about it then," he said. "It was a mystical land then. It's nice to see the reality. I always suspected that people had big hearts. Now I know that's true."

'Simpsons' Creator Wins Best Cartoonist

SAN FRANCISCO - Matt Groening, creator of North America's favorite animated family, "The Simpsons," was named Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year at the 2003 Reuben Awards.

Darby Conley won best newspaper comic for his strip, "Get Fuzzy," which details the adventures of Rob Wilco, a single ad executive, and his temperamental cat Buckeye and gentle dog Satchel.

The 57th annual award ceremony was held Saturday at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It featured presenters and past Reuben winners such as "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams, "Doonesbury" creator Gary Trudeau, and Cathy Guisewite, creator of "Cathy".

The National Cartoonists Society was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in New York City. Today it includes more than 600 members.

Van Sant Wins Top Cannes Award for 'Elephant'

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Gus Van Sant won the Cannes film festival's coveted Palme d'Or award Sunday for "Elephant," a film that tracks the lives of actual U.S. students to see how they cope with shootings and violence at school.

The prize was a long-awaited triumph for the U.S. director who has won plaudits in Hollywood with films like "Good Will Hunting" and "To Die For," but had yet to win over the arthouse-loving critics of the French Riviera.

Van Sant was also awarded the prize for best direction.

"I thought I was finished," an emotional Van Sant told the star-studded awards ceremony, as he was called back up to the stage for the top prize. "I've been trying to get my films to Cannes for years. To win is miraculous and fortunate and lucky."

"Elephant" uses non-actor children from Van Sant's home town of Portland, Oregon, and improvised lines to paint an impressionistic picture of everyday high school life that turns to tragedy when two students go on a shooting spree.

It comes a year after Michael Moore was lauded at Cannes for his probing documentary "Bowling for Columbine," which also examines America's gun culture and high-school shootings.

"I don't think of it as an anti-American movie. It's made from the viewpoint of my life in the U.S.," Van Sant said.

Festival watchers, who had their money on Lars von Trier's film "Dogville" winning the top award, were surprised when the maverick Dane and his leading lady Nicole Kidman won nothing.

The news will be a blow to Von Trier's production team which reportedly spent half a million dollars on Kidman's trip to Cannes, where she stayed in the priciest hotel around.

CANADA, TURKEY HONORED

Another film touted as a top winner was French-Canadian "The Barbarian Invasions," which ended up winning best screenplay and best actress for Marie-Josee Croze, who plays a drug addict who supplies the dying hero with heroin to ease his pain.

"It's always nice to get a prize," said the grinning writer, Denys Arcand, whose moving tale of a middle-aged professor's estranged wife, son and mistresses gathering around his deathbed provoked roars of laughter and sobs in Cannes -- as well as during shooting.

With so many awards going to north America, Cannes retained its reputation for favoring intellectual world cinema by giving two awards to Turkish film "Uzak" (Distant), a moving study of how a man's home life is upset when a jobless cousin moves in.

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the runner-up Grand Prix and amateur players Muzaffer Ozdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak jointly won best actor, an honor that goes posthumously to Toprak, Ceylan's cousin, after he died in a car accident the day after learning "Uzak" was shortlisted for Cannes.

World cinema gets invaluable exposure at Cannes, primarily a showcase for arty films that otherwise risk being overlooked.

That said, critics this year complained that the line-up of 20 feature films was the shoddiest in years.

Jury head Patrice Chereau said the nine-member panel managed to remain on good terms during 10 days of lengthy discussion, and actress Isabelle Huppert said it was important to keep things in perspective given "all the unhappiness in the world."

Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, just 23, received her second Jury Award in three years for "Five in the Afternoon," her portrayal of life in Afghanistan since the Taliban fell.

BOWLING FOR DVD

MGM planning to release Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary, Bowling for Columbine, on DVD on August 19. Among the extras, the filmmaker gives an interview in which he discusses his controversial Academy Award acceptance speech.

'Casablanca' DVD set for release

BURBANK, Calif. (CP) -- Warner Home Video is planning an Aug. 5 release of a two-disc special edition of the classic film Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

The film is already available in a special-edition DVD (on the MGM label) but the new one promises not only "a breathtaking new digital transfer" but also four hours of bonus material, including 10 minutes of newly discovered deleted scenes and outtakes.

Warner is also planning a gala tribute screening at New York's Lincoln Center on Aug. 11 to be attended by Bogie's widow Lauren Bacall and their son Stephen and Bergman's daughter Pia Lindstrom.

Other disc extras include optional commentaries by movie critic Roger Ebert and film historian Rudy Behlmer, a radio drama recording with original cast members, the premiere episode of the short-lived 1955 TV series that starred Charles McGraw, music scoring outtakes, a Looney Tunes cartoon takeoff, vintage trailers and new interviews.

"Recent advances in digital technology allowed us to revisit the early restoration work and create a new digital re-master directly from nitrate picture and sound elements," says Ned Price, vice-president of technical operations mastering for Warner.

Sting releasing new album

Sting is set to release his first studio album in four years, according to his official web site.

"Sacred Love," produced by Sting and his keyboardist Kipper, will hit North American retail outlets on September 23.

The first single, "Send Your Love," is due to hit radio in late June with a commercial release scheduled for September.

The album includes a guest appearance by Mary J. Blige who contributes vocals on the track "Whenever I Say Your Name."

After completing "Sacred Love" in Paris last month, Sting and his band flew to Los Angeles to record a performance DVD of the new material at the Mayan Theatre.

The DVD, which will also include some old material as well as the new songs, will be released in early October.

Sting is also planning a world tour in early 2004.

'American Idol' Winner to Release Single

NEW YORK - "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard won't have time to rest on his laurels — he's spending this weekend in the studio to work on his debut album, which is slated to come out by September.

Studdard, who edged Clay Aiken to win the second "American Idol" competition on Wednesday, has already been signed to J Records, founded by music mogul Clive Davis. And his first single, "Flying Without Wings," which Studdard sang during the competition, will be released next week.

Davis, who will be the executive producer of Studdard's disc, has shaped the careers of artists like Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. He said Studdard "could very well be a major recording artist for many years to come."

"We're going to make a real state-of-the-art, strong musical album, and take a long term approach," Davis, who is chief executive officer and chairman of RCA Music Group, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Approximately 33.7 million people watched the "American Idol" finale, more than 10 million more than last year's competition.

Kelly Clarkson was crowned the first "American Idol" last September, and has since had a No. 1 single and album.

Studdard, whose sensual tenor is reminiscent of fellow J Records artist Luther Vandross, will record a mix of pop, R&B, and hip-hop-influenced tunes; there's even talk of a collaboration with rapper Fat Joe, one of Studdard's favorites, said Davis.

Already, Davis said he has fielded calls from top producers who want to work with the 24-year-old Birmingham, Ala., native.

Is Davis trying to mold Studdard, who sang mostly love songs on "Idol," into the next Vandross or Barry White? "We're not putting blinders on," Davis said. "We want to make it as exciting (as possible)."

Although Aiken, 24, lost the competition, he is also going to start work on his own album, to be released by RCA Records. His first single, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," is also expected to be released within a few days.

The margin of votes between Aiken and Studdard was so close, it apparently confused host Ryan Seacrest. He announced the number of votes that separated them as about 13,000 at one point and about 1,300 at another.

The actual spread was about 130,000 votes, said Fox spokesman Scott Grogin on Thursday.

"It's simply a case of someone misspeaking on live television," Grogin said.

The tally announced by Fox never changed, Grogin said. Out of more than 24 million votes cast, Studdard received a total of 50.28 percent while Aiken got 49.72 percent, the network said.

Shortly after Seacrest gave the first inaccurate figure, a publicist for the show told reporters at the Universal Amphitheatre about the error and said that the correct figure, about 130,000, would be announced later.

Seacrest, however, announced a second wrong figure on air.

Documents Reveal Some 'Matrix' Profits

LOS ANGELES - New divorce documents freezing some assets of "The Matrix Reloaded" co-director Larry Wachowski shed light on how much the mysterious filmmaker and his brother, Andy, were paid for the sci-fi sequels.

The court papers, which a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge signed May 14, restrained the brothers' company, Anarchos Productions, from disbursing "monies, property or anything of value" to Larry Wachowski.

Attorneys for Wachowski's wife, Thea Bloom, made the request. She's divorcing the 37-year-old filmmaker after about nine years of marriage.

The documents include letters between the couple's attorneys in which Wachowski's business representative, Peter Grossman, said the brothers were to be paid about $16 million for their work on sequels to 1999's "The Matrix" and a video game, not counting profit participation deals set to be paid in 2005.

Grossman's letter said Warner Bros. paid $5 million for the scripts, $2.2 million for preproduction services and $6.6 million during the shoot. The brothers were to receive an additional $2.2 million on completion of "The Matrix Reloaded" and the November sequel "The Matrix Revolutions," the letter said.

Grossman didn't immediately return a call for comment. Bloom's attorney, Dena Kleeman, declined to be interviewed.

The Chicago-raised siblings are notoriously secretive and have hidden from the press since the success of the original "Matrix." Since it debuted last week, "Reloaded" has earned about $152 million.

Fox: 'Idol' Host Given Faulty Numbers

LOS ANGELES - Turns out "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest can read.

On the Fox talent-search show's finale Wednesday, Seacrest twice announced incorrect numbers in describing how close the final vote was between winner Ruben Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken.

"It wasn't his fault," Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said Friday. The first incorrect figure — 13,000 — was displayed on the TelePrompTer; the second — 1,300 — was written on a card given Seacrest.

The actual spread between the two contestants, out of nearly 24 million votes counted, was about 130,000, according to the network.

Grogin did not detail how Seacrest was given wrong information or by whom.

Atari Sells 1 Million Matrix Games in Week

PARIS - Atari Inc. Friday said it had sold more than 1 million copies of "Enter the Matrix" one week after the computer and video game hit shelves in the United States and Europe.

New York-based Atari shares closed Friday up 73 cents, or 17 percent, at $4.96 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The heavily indebted company, a subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA of France, is counting on blockbuster games such as "Enter the Matrix" to revive its fortunes.

The game was released May 15, the same day as the movie it is tied to, "The Matrix Reloaded." The game includes additional footage and is one of the most expensive ever made.

In early May, the company said it expected to sell 4 million units of the game for a total of $160 million in revenue. Infogrames had total sales of $770 million for the year ended in June and does about 65 percent of its sales in the United States.

Atari sales expectations, if reached, would put "Enter the Matrix" on track to be one of the best-selling games of all time.

Atari said the game will be released in Japan June 19.

Lawsuit: Michael Jackson Near Bankruptcy

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson, the King of Pop who amassed a half-billion-dollar fortune over the past 20 years, is saddled with debt and teetering near bankruptcy, his former financial advisers say in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, set for trial June 18, claims Jackson's extravagant spending has created "a ticking financial time bomb waiting to explode at any moment."

Union Finance and Investment Corp. of South Korea filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming Jackson owes the firm $12 million in fees and expenses, plus interest. Jackson previously paid the firm $3 million, the firm said. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.

Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he does not believe the 44-year-old singer is near bankruptcy.

"I see no signs of this impending disaster," Oxman said. "I cannot say it for 100 percent sure because nobody knows his financial statements. But I can say it for a reasonable certainty."

Oxman also said that Union Finance has been paid for its work.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2002 by Union Finance, described as one of South Korea's leading financial advisory firms. Jackson hired Union Finance in 1998 to help straighten out his finances, according to the lawsuit.

"When they were retained, plaintiffs believed that Jackson was incredibly wealthy," the lawsuit states. "At the time plaintiffs agreed to work for Jackson, there was no clue that Jackson's extravagant lifestyle had all but bankrupted him."

The firm said it soon discovered that Jackson had only two months' worth of available funds.

Union Finance's lawyer said that he stands by the allegations in the year-old lawsuit and that he took Jackson's deposition last week in Beverly Hills.

"For whatever reason, Michael Jackson is not paying his debts," said Pierce O'Donnell, a leading entertainment finance lawyer. "He has little or no means of income. He lives off a line of credit."

He added: "The day of reckoning is near."

Forbes magazine last year estimated that Jackson was earning $50 million a year at the height of his popularity in the 1980s and '90s and had amassed $500 million over his career. Forbes estimated Jackson has $200 million in debts but a net worth of $350 million.

Jackson's 1982 album "Thriller," which has sold 26 million copies, is second behind the Eagles' first greatest hits album in all-time sales in the United States. But sales of recent Jackson albums have sagged.

Jackson's assets include his Neverland ranch in the hills above Santa Barbara and homes in Southern California and Las Vegas. Most of Jackson's assets are in musical holdings worth an estimated $450 million, including 200 Beatles titles and songs recorded by Elvis Presley, Forbes reported.

He is a voracious spender. In 2002, he racked up a $100,000 hotel bill on a brief trip to New York, according to Forbes.

Union Finance said it helped Jackson obtain $200 million in loans through Bank of America between 1998 and 2000. In his deposition last week, Jackson said he didn't know how much he owed on the loans, O'Donnell said.

Tim Burton in Talks to Direct 'Chocolate Factory'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Filmmaker Tim Burton, whose quirky credits range from "Beetlejuice" to "Batman," is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct a new movie adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

The studio confirmed a report in Daily Variety on Thursday that Burton will meet in London in the next few days with surviving members of the Dahl family to discuss the project.

The Dahl estate, which holds rights to the late author's works, has the final say over a director for the film, and Burton is the family's leading candidate for the job, one source close to the situation told Reuters.

The studio, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., is hoping to begin pre-production on the film by the end of this year, the studio said.

The 1964 novel was first made into a movie in 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," starring Gene Wilder as the eccentric chocolatier who tempts children all over London with the possibility of finding a golden ticket hidden in one of his candy bars. He then leads the young winners, including meek little Charlie Bucket, on a tour of his mysterious candy factory.

Dahl, who died in 1990, wrote the original screenplay from his own book, though by some accounts was unhappy with the final product. The movie was a box office disappointment and initially drew lackluster reviews, as many critics found it to be too dark. But the film has become somewhat of a cult classic over the years.

"Willy Wonka" was released by Paramount Pictures, which reportedly is developing an adaptation of another Dahl book, "The BFG."

According to Variety, a screenwriter who worked on the "BFG" project, Gwyn Lurie, was tapped by Warner Bros. to pen a rewrite of the initial script for its "Chocolate Factory" adaptation.

Burton is best known in Hollywood for his creative renderings of such fantasy films as "Batman," "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands," "Sleepy Hollow" and a remake of "Planet of the Apes."

Springsteen Covers Set to Fight Disease

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Elvis Costello, Joe Ely, Graham Parker, Pete Yorn, and Billy Bragg are among the artists who have contributed tracks to "Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen."

The two-disc covers collection was released this week in Spain; a U.S. version with extra tracks will be issued in August. Proceeds will benefit the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Kristen Ann Carr Fund, which raises money for research and treatment of sarcoma.

While several cuts have been previously released -- Costello's "Brilliant Disguise," Yorn's "New York City Serenade," and Bragg's "Mansion on the Hill," among them -- many artists have contributed new recordings. Joe Grushecky and his band the Houserockers added a new version of "Light of Day," Elliot Murphy offered a take on "Better Days," and Joe Ely has covered "Workin' on the Highway."

Others who have offered tracks include Cowboy Mouth, Patty Griffin, E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren, Willie Nile, Dion, Steve Wynn, and Rosie Flores.

Spanish Springsteen fanzine editor Sal Trepat and Grushecky manager Bob Benjamin organized the collection. Benjamin, a Parkinson's sufferer and former Billboard employee, tells Billboard.com that the set is "a labor of love. It's helping out two of my favorite causes, and the music is my favorite."

Benjamin is also the organizer of the Light of Day benefit concerts held annually in New Jersey. Grushecky has traditionally headlined the shows, which have been graced yearly by unannounced Springsteen appearances. He's been working with the Parkinson's Disease Foundation "...since a couple months after being diagnosed," and staged the first benefit concert in 1998.

Springsteen's co-manager Barbara Carr and her husband, music journalist Dave Marsh, founded the Kristin Ann Carr Fund as part of the TJ Martell Foundation in memory of their daughter, who died a decade ago from sarcoma, a little understood form of cancer. Springsteen has often donated his time and memorabilia to the organization's fundraising efforts.

Benjamin says that since word got out about the "Light of Day" project, he's fielded offers from more artists than can be included. Although the U.S. version will add bonus cuts, "we want to keep it to two discs," he stresses.

One song on the Spanish release, Cracker's cover of "Sinoloa Cowboys" from Springsteen's 1995 "The Ghost of Tom Joad" album, will not be on the U.S. version of "Light of Day," but is due to appear on the band's next studio album. In its place, Cracker guitarist Johnny Hickman recorded "Candy's Room" under the name Crazysloth, and keyboardist/accordionist Kenny Margolis covered "Valentine's Day" as Lucky 7 for the compilation.

Although he hasn't yet spoken with Springsteen about the project, Benjamin believes it's something to which the Boss would give his blessing. He'll find out for sure when he catches up with Springsteen next month on his ongoing European tour with the E Street Band during a planned trip to Italy.

Here is the tentative list of artists and songs for the U.S. release of "Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen":

Dan Bern, "Thunder Road"
Billy Bragg and the Blokes, "Mansion on the Hill"
Marc Broussard, "Back in Your Arms Again"
Cindy Bullens, "If I Should Fall Behind"
John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, "E Street Shuffle"
The Clarks, TBD
Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Disguise"
Cowboy Mouth, TBD
Crazysloth, "Candy's Room"
Dion, "Book of Dreams"
Joe D'Urso and Stone Caravan, "Badlands"
Joe Ely, "Workin' on the Highway"
Rosie Flores, "Lucky Town"
Patty Griffin, "Stolen Car"
Sid Griffin, "Highway Patrolman"
Joe Grushecky, "Light of Day"
Garland Jeffreys, "Streets of Philadelphia"
Kirk Kelly, "Downbound Train"
Nils Lofgren, "Man at the Top"
Gary Lucas' Gods and Monsters, "Ain't Got You"
Lucky 7, "Valentine's Day"
Elliott Murphy, "Better Days"
The Mystic Knights of the Sea, "Johnny 99"
Willie Nile, "I'm on Fire"
Paradise Brothers, "Souls of the Departed"
Graham Parker, "Pink Cadillac"
Mike Rimbaud, "Atlantic City"
Jason Ringenberg, "My Hometown"
Graziano Romani, "The Promise"
Matthew Ryan, "Something in the Night"
Mark Wright, "Two Hearts"
Steve Wynn, "State Trooper"
Pete Yorn, "New York City Serenade"

Mariah Ditching 'Bells and Whistles' on Tour

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Although Mariah Carey is downsizing her North American tour plans from arenas to theaters, her agent tells Billboard the move had nothing to do with lower-than-expected ticket sales.

"Mariah had been speaking to people, monitoring her Web site, and listening to her fans, and the resounding note she heard was her fans wanted to see her in a more intimate environment and were less concerned about the big production aspects of an arena tour," says John Marx, senior VP of contemporary music at the William Morris Agency.

Beginning June 21 in Seoul, South Korea, the 47-date Charmbracelet world tour, Carey's first in more than three years, was to be her most extensive yet. The North American leg was initially scheduled to begin July 18 at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska, and conclude Sept. 23 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.; international dates appear to be unchanged.

Marx maintains the tour would have been fine as booked. "Ticket counts were not that bad, and our average capacity on this tour was about 11,000," he says. "She'll have the same band, minus the bells and whistles. She's going to bring it back to what Mariah's all about: the music."

According to Marx, Carey could wind up playing as many as 27 dates, beginning July 26 at Celine Dion's Colosseum showroom at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Island/Monarc is planning to reissue Carey's latest album, "Charmbracelet," on July 29 with four new tracks.

Only four North American shows had gone on sale when plans began to change: Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (July 26), United Center in Chicago (July 29), Air Canada Center in Toronto (Aug. 7), and the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. Carey's official Web site advised her fans in cities where the shows had gone on sale to hang on to tickets and receipts, presumably for a refund or exchange. But some building officials were out of the loop.

Brian Miller, director of event development for the Xcel Energy Center, says he sold about 2,000 tickets out of the box. But when Billboard contacted him earlier this week, he had yet to be informed that the tour was being scaled back and that his date would be scratched. "Sounds like I need to call the promoter," Miller says. "We're still up and on sale."

Carey was not only supposed to perform July 26 at Xcel, she also had the building booked for rehearsals July 24-25.

Robert Hunter, senior VP/GM of the 20,000-seat Air Canada Center, says sales were at about 4,500 for his show, and the date was still on. It will likely take place in the building's 8,500-seat configuration concert bowl.

Enjoy!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/freddy_vs_jason/fvj_medium.html

What's on TV: Tuesday

--'24' wraps up season: As the clock ticks away on real-time espionage drama 24, which caps its second season on Fox (9 ET/PT), things are looking grim. Having survived torture and repeatedly cheated death, super-agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has one hour to stop a world war and reinstate a president.

--Buffy the Vampire Slayer (UPN, tonight, 8 ET/PT) ends its seven-season run with a rousing hour that accomplishes most everything you could ask of a finale. Joss Whedon, Buffy's ingenious creator, has wrapped up his series in a way that brings the story to a satisfying conclusion without closing off future options. There are tears and laughs, a lesson in choices and empowerment, and a sense that a personal journey has reached completion. Buffy may not have changed the world, but it made one small, electronic part of it a much better place.

--Still, the demons Buffy has faced are nothing compared to the power aligned against her tonight: The finals of American Idol (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/PT). My advice? Watch Buffy live and tape Idol, which is always far better when you can fast-forward to the singing center.

--Get your recording devices ready, because it's a tough night. WB offers the season finale of Gilmore Girls (WB, 8 ET/PT). Rory thinks her college plans are set, but a surprise is in store.

--NYPD Blue (ABC, 10 ET/PT) ends its 10th season with Andy and Connie's wedding. Or does it? You'll have to watch.

Enjoy whatever you watch and don't tell me a thing!

STONED TEMPLE PILOT?

Burbank police arresting Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland Sunday on investigation of drug possession after allegedly finding narcotics in his car during an early morning traffic stop. Weiland's out on $10,000 bail.

MUTANT HOST

X2 star Hugh Jackman tapped to emcee the 57th Annual Tony Awards, airing live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS on June 8.

MORE HARPO

As expected, Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey signing a new deal with King World Productions to continue as host and producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show through 2008.

'Matrix' Has Best-Ever Opening for R Film

LOS ANGELES - Hordes of fans took another trip down the rabbit hole with Neo, Trinity and the other characters of "The Matrix Reloaded," giving the sequel the highest opening weekend gross of any R-rated film on record.

The Warner Bros. sequel to 1999's "The Matrix" took in an estimated $93.3 million from Friday through Sunday, capturing 59.8 percent of the total gross of the weekend's top 12 films, according to studio estimates.

"Matrix Reloaded" made mincemeat out of the previous R-rated weekend record holder, 2001's "Hannibal," which brought in $58 million. "Matrix Reloaded" opened in limited previews Wednesday night, and its total for all five days was estimated at $135.8 million.

"Matrix Reloaded" becomes the second-highest first weekend grossing film of all time, behind last year's PG-13-rated "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million its opening weekend. "Matrix Reloaded" was rated R for violence and some sexuality.

Overall, however, Hollywood revenues were down, with the top 12 movies grossing $162.6 million, off 4 percent compared to the same weekend last year.

"Matrix Reloaded" audiences were split almost evenly between those under and over 25, and many theater owners reported a large number of families seeing the film, according to Warner Bros. research.

"You had a whole legion of fans under 17 whose parents were obviously willing to take them to see this movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. "You can almost call this an R-rated family film."

"This just shows that ratings matter to a point, but if people want to see the movie, they're going to see the movie," Dergarabedian said.

The film is the second of a trilogy, which will wrap up in November with "The Matrix Revolutions."

Warner Bros. held back on a major television ad campaign for the film, relying instead on word of mouth from the releases of the DVD of "The Matrix," of a video game based on the films and of a series of animated shorts.

"The Matrix Reloaded" easily knocked its sci-fi rival, "X2: X-Men United," into third place. "X2" took in $17.1 million for a total three-week take of $174 million.

A surprise was the resilience of the Eddie Murphy family comedy "Daddy Day Care," which only slipped 30 percent at the box office in its second week and retained its second-place showing with a three-day gross of $19.2 million, for a three-week total of $51.4 million.

"To be wedged between these two monsters and hold as well as we did makes it that much better," said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution.

Here are the ticket sale totals for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc..

1. "The Matrix Reloaded," $93.3 million.
2. "Daddy Day Care," $19.2 million.
3. "X2: X-Men United," $17.1 million.
4. "Down With Love." $7.6 million.
5. "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," $4.5 million.
6. "Anger Management," $3.6 million.
7. "Identity," $3.4 million.
8. "Holes," $3 million.
9. "A Mighty Wind," $1.7 million.
10. "Bend It Like Beckham," $1.5 million

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Bites the Dust

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Apocalypse? Like, that is so 1997. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has thwarted the end of the world so many times since then, it's no longer cool.

The comedy-horror series, about a petite young woman with a penchant for Valley Girl-speech and the supernatural power to karate-kick demons back into the netherworld, will finally rest in peace.

The finale (8 p.m. EDT Tuesday on UPN) pits Buffy against a shape-shifting evil known as The First. Some will live, some will die, perhaps evil will be foiled once more, but then again ... this is the end, right? And Buffy has died before — twice.

Although it was her decision to leave, star Sarah Michelle Gellar said it was hard to say goodbye to the role that made her famous.

"The whole time I kept thinking, 'When am I going to cry?'" she recalled about filming her last scene in the desert outside Los Angeles. "I remember when it finally came it was like getting hit with a brick wall."

Series creator Joss Whedon developed the show from his script for a 1992 movie that starred Kristy Swanson as the perky vampire hunter. The idea for a feminist warrior came to him in 1987 after witnessing a few too many horror-flick cliches.

"It's an old story, but it's true one," Whedon said in April, during a break on his second-to-last day of directing the finale. "I was watching a bunch of horror movies and there was the petite ditzy blonde who got cornered in the alley and killed, and I got tired of it. I felt sorry for her and wanted her to have a champion."

The "Buffy" series became a surprise hit for the WB network when it debuted midseason in 1997 with Gellar, then 18, wielding the wooden stakes. The show jumped to the UPN network two years ago.

Set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, "Buffy" depicted high school as a literal Hell: the building sat over a gateway to the satanic inferno, attracting monsters like truckers to a highway rest stop.

Far from being the popular girl in school, Buffy's mysterious night-prowling made her seem like a weirdo to classmates.

Her only friends were the wallflower Willow (Alyson Hannigan), who eventually discoverd her lesbian sexuality; the handsome geek Xander (Nicholas Brendon), and the tweed-jacketed British librarian Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who doubled as her Watcher, an occult-researcher and fight trainer.

Head said he and Whedon still plan to do a TV movie called "Ripper" based on his character's past as a demon conjurer, although neither is sure when that will happen.

Buffy's romances with the bad-boy bloodsucker Spike (James Marsters) and Angel (David Boreanaz), the vampire cursed with a soul to make him regret his monstrous past, were explorations of how otherwise smart, strong women become embroiled in bad relationships, Whedon said.

When Buffy and Angel made love in the second season, that moment of "perfect happiness" released his curse, eradicated his soul and turned him evil again. "That's the ultimate metaphor," Gellar said. "You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."

Her tangles with Spike ventured into abusive territory, according to Marsters, who said the finale may help reconcile his character's light and dark sides. "It's at least the chance to show that he cares to try to redeem himself. I don't know if you CAN redeem yourself after doing what he did all of those hundreds of years," Marsters said.

Over the years, Buffy has encountered a song-and-dance demon in the musical episode "Once More With Feeling," and ghostly voice-stealers in the acclaimed silent installment "Hush."

One demon even became a show regular: Anya (Emma Caulfield) was a ghoul who specializes in punishing unfaithful men — until she lost her power, became human and swooned for Xander only to be dumped by him on their wedding day.

In the fifth season, Buffy was implanted with the memory that she has a little sister, Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), who was created by magical monks to house a mystical ball of energy that opened the world to evil gods and ... well, the show was full of breathlessly complex lore like that.

Comedy has been key to humanizing gothic cataclysms. One example: Buffy locked in battle with the vampire archvillain, The Master, looks curiously at his menacing, bloodstained lips and observes: "You have fruit-punch mouth."

While rumors abounded about discord between Gellar and others on the show over her decision to leave, Whedon said he had long planned this season as the last.

When Gellar made her announcement in a March issue of Entertainment Weekly, she said there was still the possibility that "Buffy" could continue without her under a new title. That plan was eventually scrapped, and if there were hard feelings about Gellar's public resignation most of her co-stars now agree it's time to move on.

"I'm happy. It's a good time for it to end. It's going to be sad, but it would be sad no matter what," said Hannigan, who met her fiance, Alexis Denisof, on "Buffy" when he costarred as a fussy Watcher overseeing Giles. Denisof currently stars with Boreanaz on the WB's "Angel" spin-off, which Marsters will join next season.

Now the phony graveyard in the "Buffy" studio parking lot has been plowed under, the ornate goat-faced seal to the Hellmouth has been rolled away, and the last slain vampire has been dusted by the special-effects department.

Whedon said in coming years he'd like to make a "Buffy" movie, although Gellar said she's not interested — at least for now.

"Never say never," she added — proof that nothing in the Buffy realm is ever dead for sure.

Kidman Says She'd Drop Acting if She Met Mr. Right

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman may be the current darling of Hollywood but she would be happy to give up the showbiz lifestyle to settle down with the right man. "I probably won't do this for the rest of my life," Kidman told a news conference on her new film "Dogville," a favorite to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes festival this year.

"There are other things to do that interest me and I think that when I fall in love, that's when I will stop and settle down," said Kidman, 35, glowing in a black evening gown.

She made no reference to her divorce from celluloid pin-up Tom Cruise, who now dates Spanish actress Penelope Cruz.

Cruz, without Cruise, was in Cannes last week ago to promote "Fanfan la Tulipe," a fluffy costume drama that couldn't be more different from Dogville and was slated by critics.

Dogville, on the other hand, the latest epic from maverick Danish director Lars von Trier, is set to win more plaudits for the alabaster-skinned Kidman, who has gone from an actress best known as being Mrs Tom Cruise to an acclaimed artist.

Asked how she dealt with fame, Kidman said: "It's very important to remember where you're at and where you've come from. It's surreal, but it's important to still jump on the hotel bed and go 'oh my God, I'm in the Hotel du Cap."'

Fresh from her Oscar win for her portrayal of suicidal author Virginia Woolfe, Kidman shines in Dogville as a fragile woman hiding from gangsters in a tiny, Rocky Mountain town.

The role involves her at one point wearing an iron dog collar attached to a chain, a bell and a heavy iron wheel, and bearing the brunt of the lust of every man in the town.

"The collar was not discussed on the phone," Kidman joked. "I saw it when I arrived, and I had a pretty strong reaction."

Praised for her high kicks and trapeze stunts in "Moulin Rouge," Kidman is now planning a remake of "The Stepford Wives" followed by two more films with Von Trier.

But she has no intention of letting the job burn her out.

"I love being an actor. But I would hope that I have many other things than this life ahead of me," Kidman said.

"This kind of life is a burn-out. You find yourself saying 'I can't do this for ever'. It will finish in its own time."

Liverpool Gears Up for McCartney Homecoming

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - Paul McCartney fans said on Monday they were itching to welcome him home next month for his first major solo concert in his northern England home town since 1990.

The Liverpool-born musician, who made his name as one quarter of 1960s rock and roll phenomenon the Beatles, will play the 90th and final gig of his "Back in the World" tour to 30,000 fans on the banks of the city's River Mersey on June 1.

One fan who is well aware of the value of his concert ticket is Eddie Porter, who for 24 years has been a guide on the "Magical Mystery Tour" bus that shuttles tourists to Liverpool's many sites of Beatles interest.

"Put it this way: you can buy me love, but you can't buy my ticket," he said over a beer near the Cavern Club, where the Beatles performed nearly 300 times.

McCartney had 17 number one hits in Britain with the group.

"They were a unique band, they were teenagers talking to teenagers. When they played, your whole body could feel the heat of the music," Porter said.

Since the band split in 1970, McCartney has had further success with the group Wings and as a solo artist.

In all, some two million people will have seen his latest tour, which started in California in April 2002. It has made McCartney the world's highest earning celebrity and will have taken him through more than 15 countries including concerts in Rome's Colosseum and Moscow's Red Square.

Liverpool city council said tickets for the final date sold out in four hours.

Bob Scott, head of Liverpool's bid to become a European city of culture, said: "It's probably the biggest concert to come to Liverpool in a generation and will be one of the most memorable in Britain this year."

McCartney's tour crew will erect a 70-foot (20-meter) stage in an open-air arena that will buzz to the sound of more than 30 solo hits and Beatles classics like "Hey Jude," "Yesterday" and "Let it Be."

'Matrix' Actor Marcus Chong Sues Over Tank Role

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Marcus Chong has sued the makers of "The Matrix" for allegedly reneging on a promise to recast him as a freedom fighter in the 1999 sci-fi thriller's two sequels.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Warner Bros. and parent company AOL Time Warner and the film's producers of breaching their 1998 oral agreement and a 2000 contract to revive his character, Tank, in the two sequels, and of slandering him.

Chong, 35, also accused the filmmakers of "intentionally publishing numerous false statements ... that he was a terrorist," and of conspiring to blackball him in Hollywood.

A bail receipt document posted on a fan Web site shows that Chong was arrested on Oct. 18, 2000 for allegedly making threats -- five days after his salary negotiations with the studio collapsed.

Film industry sources said the actor made repeated phone calls of a harassing nature to the filmmakers after his salary demands were not met. Tank was subsequently written out of the sequels and replaced with a character named Link.

A Warner Bros. spokesman and a spokeswoman for writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Chong's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Released last week, "The Matrix Reloaded" enjoyed first weekend box office sales of $93.3 million -- higher than any R-rated film in U.S. history and No. 2 among all releases.

"The Matrix Reloaded" stars Keanu Reeves as a resistance fighter who battles an army of machines that seek to take control of the last human city, Zion. It will be followed in November by a third movie, "The Matrix Revolutions."

'The Bachelor' Beats Hitler in TV Ratings

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a ratings battle between love and hate, love conquered all. Even Hitler.

The two-hour finale of ABC's reality romance hit "The Bachelor" was the big winner Sunday in the ratings race for young adult viewers, while the first half of a CBS miniseries about Hitler finished third, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research.

"The Bachelor" finale, in which winery executive Andrew Firestone, great-grandson of the tire tycoon, proposed to account executive Jennifer Schefft, scored a 7.7 rating for adults under 50, the viewer group most coveted by advertisers.

That was enough to help ABC to a first-place finish in the 18-to-49 demographic for the final Sunday of the TV season.

The show averaged 15 million viewers overall, nearly tied for its two-hour time period with back-to-back telecasts of the season's last two episodes of NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," which ranked No. 2 in adults 18 to 49.

Part one of the CBS miniseries "Hitler: the Rise of Evil," starring Scottish actor Robert Carlyle as the Fuehrer, landed in third place for the 9-to-11 p.m. slot in both total viewers and young adults (13.6 million, l3.9 rating).

If the one-hour season swan song of Fox sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle" were counted in the mix (Fox lacks a network program for the 10 o'clock hour), the Hitler miniseries would fall to fourth place.

'Matrix' Producer Dismisses Violent Links

LONDON (Reuters) - The producer of the "Matrix" films reminded fans on Monday that the movies were just fantasy, following a spate of stories in the United States linking it with violent behavior.

"I only can comment that 15 million people have seen the movie and I don't know what the links are," producer Joel Silver told a news conference in London alongside its lead actors Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne.

"The Matrix Reloaded," one of the most-anticipated sequels in film history, opened to record numbers in North America over the weekend and is expected to whip up equal excitement when it his British screens nationwide on Friday.

But a handful of fans in the United States have apparently taken their fascination with the sci-fi smash a step too far by acting out real-life crimes to escape the Matrix -- a computer-generated world controlled by machines.

"It's a wonderful fantasy story that doesn't take place in the real world, so I can't comment on what makes people do what they do," he said.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the movie was recently invoked by an Ohio woman and a man in San Francisco who each killed their landlord but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

It quoted producers Warner Bros. as saying in a statement: "Any attempt to link these crimes with a motion picture or any other art form is disturbing and irresponsible."

The first "Matrix" became a cult classic in 1999, grossing almost $460 million worldwide and winning four Oscars.

The sequel continues the kung-fu battle against machines that have taken over a post-apocalyptic earth and harvest humans in a computer-generated world known as "The Matrix."

Beyond its wild action scenes and dazzling special effects, the movies have captivated fans by twisting reality in circles until it disappears altogether.

But Fishburne, who plays sunglasses-wearing Morpheus, one of the film's heroes, told fans to make the ultimate distinction:

"There is no matrix, there is only what is real," he said.

Jewel Bares Herself!

For almost a decade pundits have wondered how long it would be before the gorgeous Jewel used her sexuality in a video to promote a song.

My friends, that day has arrived!

In her video for the song "Intuition" she can be seen in a bikini top, dancing, and moving like an exotic dancer to "show her goods" to the camera. Or as it is described on her website, "See what all the controversy is about as Jewel struts through one commercial scenario after another in this parody of sex-driven advertising and music videos. This is Jewel like you've never seen her before."

Whatever the reason for this video finally being made, Jewel is one of this planet's most beautiful women and if she is comfortable objectifying herself just to sell CD's, so am I.

Thank you Jewel!

See the results for yourself! Jewel's new video, "Intuition," is available here for your viewing pleasure. Just click on "Multimedia."

2004 Golden Globes to air Jan. 25

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Golden Globe Awards, often considered a crystal ball for the Oscars, will air a week later than usual next year.

The 61st annual awards will be presented Jan. 25, the last weekend of the month, rather than on the traditional third weekend, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Tuesday.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Dagmar Dunlevy said neither the change in date for the Oscars -- which moved up from March to late February -- nor televised conference championship games to determine who plays in the Super Bowl was a consideration.

The awards usually wind up being held around Jan. 21 anyway, she said.

"Nothing's really changed," she said. "The philosophy was: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it."'

The new date comes just two days before Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 27. The Academy Awards show is set for Feb. 29.

A move had been expected because the date to return Oscar nomination ballots was changed to Jan. 17. If the Golden Globes had kept its traditional schedule, the awards would have been handed out Jan. 18, a day after the Oscar ballot deadline.

Organizations that have adjusted their 2004 dates for awards shows to early February include the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The Golden Globes are selected by the nearly 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who have a record of choosing Oscar winners. But their awards have received increasing attention mainly because of timing and television.

The live broadcast traditionally has exposed winners to a national audience before the Oscar balloting deadline. That has led to a view that the Golden Globes were at least the harbingers of the Oscar, if not directly influencing academy voters.

"I always think it's very flattering to say that we have any influence on an awards show," Dunlevy said.

Bad Start for THE HULK

Studio executives are reportedly not too happy with Ang Lee's upcoming THE HULK.

E! Online's Anderson Jones had the word:

He's Mean, Green...and Slow? I hear execs at Universal are turning green this week after a not so incredible screening of Hulk. The studio's top brass was practically speechless. Apparently, director Ang Lee has turned in a melodramatic take on the comic book with an emphasison drama--as in, really long and boring. Uh-oh. The suits concerns are way beyond the fanboy fears that the CGI big guy will look cheesy.

Still, isn't this what Lee promised from the get-go? He has always said Hulk would be an examination of our repressed selves and the release of unchecked rage--an emotion Bruce Banner expresses by turning into a 15-foot mighty green giant. I always expected the story to be a psychological journey--it's about the Hulk inside all of us. Still, one exec says, "It's like he combined The Ice Storm with Shrek."

JERRY SAYS 'FRIENDS' IS 'SEINFELD' RIP-OFF

Five years after his own legendary sitcom had its historic finale on NBC, Jerry Seinfeld is still competitive when it comes to today's hit sitcoms.

In separate TV interviews this week, he expressed amazement about Ray Romano's new contract and implied that the creators of "Friends" stole their concept of a group of friends in New York City from his old show.

He raised the subject of Romano's new deal during a chat with Jay Leno Wednesday night on "The Tonight Show."

The "Everybody Loves Raymond" star just reupped with CBS for $1.8 million per episode. Seinfeld earned $1 million an episode in his sitcom's final season (although he's earned tens of millions since then from the sale of "Seinfeld" reruns).

"I heard in your monologue - it was very interesting - you were talking about Ray Romano setting a world record, the highest-paid actor . . ." Seinfeld said to Leno. "I thought that was very interesting, very interesting, very, very interesting," Seinfeld said wonde