Travolta eyes 'Get Shorty 2'

John Travolta is in final talks to reprise his role as Chili Palmer in "Be Cool," the sequel to "Get Shorty," Variety reports.

Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, is also being eyed to play a bodyguard-singer who develops an uneasy alliance with Palmer.

"Be Cool" moves the loan shark-turned movie producer Palmer away from the feature film business and into the music industry.

After witnessing the murder of his music industry friend by the mob, he agrees to manage an up-and-coming singer, but is threatened by her mob-connected manager.

The Rock would play the manager's bodyguard, who wants to be a singer and who happens to be gay. After beating him up in their first encounter, Palmer tries to help the tough guy become a film star.

"Be Cool" will begin production in January for a holiday 2004 release.

Apple Launches iTunes For Windows

As expected, Apple Computer Inc. launched the long-awaited Windows-compatible version of its iTunes online music service on Thursday, promising a wider library of songs and new features to maintain its lead in an increasingly competitive market.

"This isn't some baby version of iTunes. It's the whole thing," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a presentation in which he demonstrated the new software and service.

Apple's online music service will feature over 400,000 tracks by the end of the month. The Macintosh version of the download service has sold more than 13 million songs since launch about six months ago, Jobs said. Citing data from Nielsen SoundScan, Jobs said as of last week iTunes had accounted for about 70 percent of all legal downloads. "This has been the birth of legal downloading," he said.

The new version of iTunes will offer a library of some 5,000 audio books and allow parents to set a monthly allowance of up to $200 for children to download songs, an attempt to cut back on the illicit file-swapping that the record industry has challenged in court.

With the Windows version, Apple is looking to bring iTunes to a far wider audience: the 90%-plus of personal computers that use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. Today's launch also means that Apple will be ready for the crucial holiday shopping season.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson has said that the Windows launch of iTunes would be a Trojan horse for the company, spurring more sales of its popular iPod digital music players, which have also been popular with Windows users.

Apple said yesterday that it had shipped 336,000 iPod units in the September-ended quarter, a rise of 140% from the year earlier.

New, Live Songs Fill Matchbox's 'EP'

Five rare tracks join the previously unreleased "Suffer Me" on matchbox twenty's "EP," due Nov. 11 via Atlantic. The release also sports five live cuts ("You're So Real," "Hand Me Down," "Long Day," "Push" and "If You're Gone") taped April 16 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, as well as interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

The material on "EP" includes an acoustic version of "Disease," the lead single from matchbox's latest album "More Than You Think You Are"; a live version of the "More" track "All I Need"; a stripped-down live version of "If You're Gone"; an alternate arrangement of "Crutch" taped for but not aired on episode of "VH1 Storytellers"; and a live version of the group's early hit "Push."

And while ticket sales for matchbox twenty's spring tour fell short of expectations, the in-progress second leg is faring much better, thanks in part to the strong performance of the single "Unwell." The track is No. 15 this week on the Billboard Hot 100.

Frontman Rob Thomas recently told Billboard that some of the first-leg shows were not as packed as he would have liked. "Some nights you go into an 8,000-seat place and can't sell 5,000 tickets," he said. "[But] we're just happy out there playing. There's enough fans out there to justify playing."

Alanis Morissette Wants To Control 'Chaos'

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

Alanis Morissette relied on stability and serenity to create So-Called Chaos, a new album due in February. She began a leisurely writing process in June "with, for the first time, the intent of not going to any extremes in terms of workaholism," she says. "I'd write a song, take a month off, write a few more songs. As the fall began, I had a real sense of the 10 songs that I wanted to be on the record."

Those songs were "channeled" quickly, she says. Any song that required more than 30 minutes to write was discarded. "Instead of spending months at a time in a belabored process, I was interested in something non-precious with an immediate visceral response."

Chaos, her first studio album since 2002's Under Rug Swept, echoes the themes and genres of such past works as 1995 breakthrough Jagged Little Pill and 1998's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Autobiographical lyrics dwell on relationships, and the sound encompasses "my favorite hybrid of styles," she says. "It runs the gamut from ballads to very rock and extremely pop. It's hard to characterize, which is what I love about it."

Morissette plans limited touring, "but not the tyrannical cycle of killing myself for a year and then recovering for a year. I have no interest in that lifestyle anymore."

OLD SCHOOL

Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors reuniting for The Andy Griffith Reunion: Back to Mayberry airing November 11 on CBS and featuring the best moments from the long-running TV show.

NEW RULES: James Garner joining the cast of 8 Simple Rules... for four episodes as the father of newly widowed Cate Hennessy (played by Katey Sagal), who helps her cope with the death of John Ritter's character, report the trades.

RITTER ADD: Ritter's widow Amy Yasbeck being joined by 1,000 of John's friends and colleagues for a memorial service on Tuesday night at Hollywood's El Capitan theater.

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK

NBC and CBS changing their schedules to avoid a conflict with the baseball playoffs on Fox. Networks to air repeats of CSI and Friends on Thursday night. On Wednesday night, NBC replaced The West Wing with a Law & Order: Criminal Intent rerun.

CLUCK YOU

Pamela Anderson calling for an international boycott of KFC over what she claims is the restaurant chain's "cruelty to chickens." Anderson is a card-carrying member of animal-rights group PETA.

CONDITION CRITICAL

Doctors having to remove a quarter of Roy Horn's skull following October 3 tiger attack to relieve cranial pressure. Horn, who suffered a stroke and is partially paralyzed, remains in critical condition at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.