Petty Gets Busy On New Album, Live Set

Although they are not planning to tour this year, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will instead be working on various projects, including a live album, a second "Greatest Hits" package and a new studio release. Due next year via Warner Bros., that set will be the follow-up to 2002's "The Last DJ," which debuted at No. 9 on The Billboard 200.

In an interview on the band's official Web site, Petty says he and touring sound engineer Robert Scovill are working on narrowing the live material to a double-disc release. "We did a live record in '84 ("Pack Up the Plantation: Live!") and I never thought it was the great live album that this band should put out," Petty said. "So that's kind of another project we have going, to get this live album recorded and out at some point. If it went really quick, maybe it would be out this year."

Petty is also planning to release "Greatest Hits, Part II," possibly augmented with new songs, in the months ahead. The group previously issued "Greatest Hits" in 1993 and "Anthology: Through the Years" in 2000.

As well, Petty has completed eight of 10 radio programs for a series titled "Tom Petty's Buried Treasures" for the XM satellite radio channel. "It's going to be hour-long shows of music put together by whoever," Petty said. "It's mostly old music with an eye to turn people onto stuff, especially younger people who might not have heard this stuff."

In hopes of making available even more material to his fans, Petty also is planning to create a members-only area on the Web site. "There are so many hundreds and hundreds of bootlegs," he said. "I would kind of like to make them authorized. Not all of my fans will want bootlegs, but for those who do, I want to have that musical outlet on the Web site."

Sophisticated 'Frasier' signs off

As smart and crisply written as Seinfeld, as warm and well-cast as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and as out-and-out funny as I Love Lucy, Frasier represents the American sitcom at its creative peak. No, it didn't remain at its peak for its entire 11-year run; neither did Cheers, the show that gave it birth. But the legacy of those first five or six blissful seasons is undiminished, and their shimmer has sustained the show through to tonight's unpreviewed two-hour NBC conclusion (8 ET/PT).

Indeed, on the list of desirable sitcom qualities, the only thing Frasier lacked was Friends' blockbuster level of popular appeal. But who should expect that from a show about an effete Seattle psychiatrist who shares his life with his even more effete brother and their elderly father? The wonder is that Frasier was as popular as it was.

Why did the show work? You can start with the superb cast led by Kelsey Grammer, whose Frasier Crane is not just TV's longest-lasting sitcom character, but one of its most indelible. So many sitcoms are constrained by the limited acting abilities of inexperienced or inadequate stars. The cast of Frasier — Peri Gilpin, Jane Leeves, John Mahoney (whose failure to share in Frasier's record-setting Emmy haul is deplorable) and the brilliant David Hyde Pierce — was talented enough to let the writers run free.

By and large, those writers rewarded the cast (and us) with scripts that assumed the audience was as smart as they were. The compliment extended beyond the references to opera, theater and literature. Those series-defining Frasierian farces rely on viewers who will wisely and patiently wait for the plots to fall into place, knowing the comic payoff will be well worth the investment.

Frasier could be witty, droll and sly, but the humor in this show about two snobs was never itself snobbish. Jokes about "the perils of refinement" and the proper vintage of wine could giddily collapse into a slapstick ironing accident that ignites a couch.

And yet for all its brains, Frasier never lost track of its heart. Under the comedy was a sensitive and sometimes painful exploration of the joys, disappointments and demands that flow among brothers, fathers and sons. In the end, love won out: A family that began the show estranged leaves united.

The younger members of that family were, of course, more sophisticated and persnickety than most, but Frasier and Niles read "gay" only if you assume the Survivor standard of beer-belching rubes is the only measure of manhood. Back when the standards were set by Fred Astaire and William Powell, Niles and Frasier wouldn't have been labeled as homosexuals or metrosexuals; they would have simply been called "men."

Sad to say, smart as Frasier was, it wasn't smart enough to know when the time had come to get off the stage. Stretched out past a decade, Frasier's string of bad dates became tiring. As the show matured, characters either went nowhere, or went in the wrong directions. (Try to expunge Frasier's bout with unemployment from your memory.) And while it's true that Niles couldn't go on pining for Daphne forever, bringing them together, while necessary, robbed the show of one of its funniest dynamics.

No doubt, had the show left after its seventh or eighth season — or found a way to avoid the drastic quality dip of the 10th — it would now be getting a more fervent farewell, instead of being treated as a Friends afterthought. Still, sometimes you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone. And my bet is that as time passes, Frasier will only look better.

Maybe even best.

Ock vs. Wolverine

Wolverine and Dr. Octopus are at it again...but it's not the same old comic book crossover. Hugh Jackman (X-MEN) and Alfred Molina (SPIDER-MAN 2) are both up for a Tony award.

Jackman is competing against Molina (SPIDER-MAN 2) for a Tony award against Hunter Foster in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Euan Morton in TABOO and John Tartaglia in AVENUE Q.

Industry pros have pegged Jackman as a shoe-in for the award, and in addition, Jackman will host the ceremony on June 6th at Radio City Music Hall.

Another Day, Another Name

TheForce.net has heard BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE is one of many possible names for STAR WARS EPISODE III. The site said the official name should be announced soon.

TRIBE IS SPEAKING

CBS reports that Survivor fans have cast over 35 million Internet votes on CBS.com, including more than 8 million votes for which Survivor should win a million dollars. Other categories include "Best Fight," "Greatest Villain," and "Top Moment." Results will be announced Thursday night.

Howdy, Pardner!

Grab your 10-gallon hat and head for southfork, where power, wealth, sex and J.R. Ewing await you in Dallas: The Complete First & Second Seasons.

At last making its DVD debut on August 24th from Warner Home Video, this five-disc set will included remastered 4:3 full screen transfers and Dolby 2.0 tracks, audio commentary on the series pilot and other select episodes by Larry Hagman, Charlene Tilton, and creator David Jacobs, and a new retrospective featurette "Soaptalk Dallas Reunion" featuring Hagman, Tilton, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray.

La Toya London Voted Off 'American Idol'

NEW YORK - Another diva bit the dust on "American Idol" with the shocking ejection of La Toya London Wednesday night.

The two singers who received the lowest viewer-vote totals — London and Fantasia Barrino — were considered the favorites to go head-to-head in the finals. They, along with the recently booted Jennifer Hudson, had become known as "The Three Divas."

London kept smiling even as the crowd booed in reaction to her removal from the Fox TV singing competition.

"I just want to thank you so much, thank you for believing in me," the 25-year-old said before belting out one of her best songs from the series, "Don't Rain on My Parade" from "Funny Girl."

The show's judges were more candid in their reactions.

"I think America got this one wrong this week," Paula Abdul said.

"I think it's a travesty," echoed Randy Jackson.

The judges play an advisory role after helping winnow the field of 70,000 applicants to 32 semifinalists and then, with viewers, to 12 finalists. The audience takes charge from there until the winner is picked.

London's departure leaves three women in the competition: Besides Barrino, there's Diana DeGarmo and Jasmine Trias.

It looked as if Trias was a goner, and she seemed to suspect as much during Tuesday's episode. Tears replaced the Hawaiian songstress' perpetually sunny smile after judge Simon Cowell made some brutally honest remarks about her singing during the show's disco week.

"I think, Jasmine, you have a lot of thank-you letters to write to Hawaii," Cowell said Wednesday.

It was just as shocking that Barrino — considered one of the top singers all along — had the second-lowest vote total. The judges had criticized one of the songs she chose: Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" from the "Footloose" soundtrack — which, technically, isn't a disco song because it came out in 1984.

But Cowell also had some kind words this week. Having previously said he thought the 16-year-old DeGarmo was too young for the competition, he made a rare reversal: "I'm gonna take that back," he said.

"This was your week," Abdul told DeGarmo.

As for the always-polished London, Abdul had gushed Tuesday: "I'm looking at an American idol."

Among the filler to prolong the tension during Wednesday night's hour-and-six minute broadcast: observations from "psychic channeler" Kimberly Berg, who reassured the four finalists, "You're being supported not only by the fans but by the universe."

The women also sang a medley of Donna Summer tunes, including "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls." The disco diva, who served as a celebrity judge this week, took the stage to sing "Last Dance" and "MacArthur Park."
 
Wednesday night's episode also marked the triumphant return of Clay Aiken, the runner-up in last season's "Idol" competition who has enjoyed as much fame and success as the winner, Ruben Studdard. Aiken, famous for his geek-to-chic transformation, sang "Fantasy" by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Pam Anderson Sworn in as American Citizen in L.A.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - America: Land of the free, home of the Baywatch Babe.

Film and TV star Pamela Anderson, a native of Canada who broke into show business as a spokeswoman for Labatt beer, became an American citizen on Wednesday during a brief ceremony in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

"I felt it was important to become a U.S. citizen in order to vote in the United States," Anderson said in a written statement.

"U.S. Citizenship will allow me, in the future, to petition to bring my children's grandparents down to the United States to care for them once they become older. I have no intention of giving up my citizenship in Canada and am very proud to be a Canadian."

Anderson's lawyer, Barbara Federman, said the actress passed a brief immigration interview in downtown Los Angeles before the ceremony in a courtroom across the street.

Anderson, who shot to international superstardom as beautiful lifeguard C.J. Parker on the hit series "Baywatch," was approved for citizenship eight months after applying, Federman said.

"She was terrific and she was very excited to study the civics and passed with flying colors," Federman said. "She enjoyed every minute of it."

Anderson lends her voice to the Spike TV animated series "Stripperella" and had a small comic role in the 2003 film "Scary Movie 3."

She was discovered when she attended a British Columbia Lions football game in a Labatt beer T-shirt and was shown on the stadium's big screen, drawing a roar of approval from the crowd and the attention of Labatt, which signed her as a spokeswoman.