THIS WEEK'S CDS
Avril Lavigne - "Under My Skin"
One reason Avril Lavigne's debut disc, "Let Go" sold over 15 million copies worldwide was that it was simple. The album was plain old rock 'n' roll by a 16-year old girl.
Lavigne's second disc is similar in that respect. Listen to the frantic Blondie referenced on
"He Wasn't" and you hear an uncomplicated melody. Where the disc breaks away is with emotional, adult lyrics.
In a way, this is a very risky disc for Lavigne, since most of her audience still isn't old enough to have experienced love or heartache. This kind of content may head-surf right over the kids at the mall, but it also has the potential to expand her fans. And who knows? The catchy melodies may hold the kids' attention long enough for them to grow into these songs.
Everlast - "White Trash Beautiful"
Even though Everlast doesn't break out the banjos and yodel on his latest album, "White Trash Beautiful," the disc heads the rapper further into the hills of hick-hop. On his third solo record, the one-time frontman for Boston's House of Pain raps and rolls his distinctive bass-bottom vocals through melodies that range from straight-ahead rap ("The Warning") to blues and country. With 15 tracks, the disc covers a lot of stylistic ground, but its theme stays focused on living life without love. The best of these dumpster love tracks is "This Kind of Lonely," which opens with the sound of rain, acoustic guitar chords supporting Everlast's guttural gravel, and ultimately bows to Saint Hank in a chorus of "I'm so lonesome I could die."
Felix da Housecat- "Devlin Dazzle and the Neon Fever"
Amid cheesy keyboard swirls, beat-box thumps and his sexy club-girl vocalists (who lapse into French), Chicago's Felix da Housecat has made dance music cool again. Felix has a way with party music that he says makes men want to dance and women want to strip. That formula was the essence of his work on Britney's "Toxic" and it riddles this disc, from "Short Shirts" to "Everyone Is Someone in L.A." The sound is '80s new-wave retro with loads of guitars and layered vocals, yet the music of "Devlin Dazzle" isn't intended for live performance. This is an intricate record that will be best appreciated through quality headphones that will give the listener total stereo separation.
Wilson Phillips - "California"
What better synchronicity to celebrate classic California rock than having Brian Wilson's daughters, Carnie and Wendy, and the late Papa John Phillips' girl Chynna perform them. On this album of cover songs - which includes Joni Mitchell's "California," of course, as well as "Dr. My Eyes," "Monday, Monday" and "Get Together" - the trio, collectively know as Wilson Phillips, is on the comeback. This album reminds you that these three women have a gift for harmony. Their voices, especially on Brian Wilson's "In My Room" and Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," make it clear that they sound better together than when they appear as solo artists. Some songs have lite-FM arrangements, but most never veer far from the original charts.
Skinny Puppy - "The Greater Wrong of the Right"
Artistically paralyzed since the overdose death of bandmate Dwayne Goettel eight years ago, industrial/alternative act Skinny Puppy picks up where its 1996 "The Process" left off. The electronic music projects a familiar sense of foreboding, even on musically up-tempo tracks such as "I'mmortal" and "DaddyuWarbash." This is a dark, propulsive album with politically aware lyrics. Listen for Tool's Danny Carey's drumming and vocals by Static-X frontman Wayne Static on "Use Less," the disc's top track. The music here is aggressive, with vocals that talk their way through the melodies. They aren't perfect, but they're never bland. Listen to it loudly for a full appreciation of Skinny Puppy's biting storm-to-calm dynamic.
'Shrek 2' Rakes in $104.3M at Box Office
LOS ANGELES - It's a humongous "happily ever after" for "Shrek 2." The computer-animated fairy tale satire collected an estimated $104.3 million at the weekend box office, the second-biggest three-day tally in movie history behind 2002's "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million.
"Shrek 2" also scored the biggest opening ever for an animated film, easily topping "Finding Nemo's" $70.2 million. "Shrek," which opened in 2001, earned $42.3 million in its first weekend — but went on to collect $267.6 million and win the first Oscar for an animated feature film.
For the sequel, the grumpy green ogre collected $28.4 million on Friday, and then jumped a remarkable 58 percent Saturday to earn $44.8 million, according to Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks.
Saturday's earnings broke Hollywood's overall record for highest one-day earnings, also held by "Spider-Man" with $43.6 million.
DreamWorks estimated the movie would earn an additional $31 million on Sunday — but even rival studios suggested the take would be higher than that. Final figures will be released Monday.
Last week's No. 1 film, the Brad Pitt epic "Troy," fell to second place in its second weekend, earning $23.8 million for a total of $85.8 million. The movie cost a reported $200 million to make.
Meanwhile, third-place "Van Helsing" crossed the $100 million mark with weekend earnings of $10.1 million, and "Mean Girls" ranked fourth with $6.9 million.
"'Shrek 2' was cutting into everybody else's audience," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co.
In the sequel, the title ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), his bride, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and their pal Donkey (Eddie Murphy) visit Fiona's royal parents in the kingdom of Far, Far Away.
Critics loved the movie, which appealed to young kids with colorful characters, teenagers with comedy, couples with romance, and older audiences with a subplot about parents accepting the decisions of their grown-up children.
"Shrek 2," which opened Wednesday, screened in the largest number of opening theaters ever — 4,163 locations. It also brought in $125.3 million over its first five days, breaking the record set by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which grossed $124.1 million.
The sequel is a great victory for DreamWorks, which has occasionally struggled to find its footing in the animated movie market. The first "Shrek" was a success and the studio had a modest hit with 1998's computer-animated "Antz," but traditionally animated fare like "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," "The Road to El Dorado" and "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" were all money-losers.
"For us, this is really more about proving that we have a creative rhythm as a company," said Ann Daly, head of animation for DreamWorks. "We found our tone and style."
About 60 percent of the audience was comprised of parents and their children, Tharp said. Studio exit polling found that 70 percent of respondents wanted to see the movie again, which bodes well for the movie's future in the competitive summer blockbuster season.
The weekend's total box-office earnings were up about 2 percent from last year, when "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Daddy Day Care" topped the list.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Shrek 2," $104.3 million.
2. "Troy," $23.8 million.
3. "Van Helsing," $10.1 million.
4. "Mean Girls," $6.9 million.
5. "Man on Fire," $3.5 million.
6. "Breakin' All the Rules," $2.8 million.
7. "13 Going on 30," $2.5 million.
8. "New York Minute," $1.1 million.
9. "Kill Bill — Vol. 2," $1 million.
10. "Super Size Me," $953,455.
Cat Stevens Releases First DVD
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, hopes that the performance captured on his first DVD brings back the "energy, passion and beautiful messages" of the 1970s.
"Cat Stevens: Majikat: Earth Tour 1976" from Eagle Rock Entertainment features the artist's last concert, which took place in February 1976 in Williamsburg, Va. Among the DVD's 21 songs are "Peace Train" and "Where Do the Children Play?"
Islam says his last performance was also his first to be filmed. "I wasn't used to having cameras onstage," he recalls. "Once I got over that, it created an intensity which can be seen in the performance."
In a three-part interview featured on the DVD, the artist discusses his childhood, his rise to stardom and his life after converting to Islam and leaving the music industry.
"These interviews will help explain a lot of things about my life to people," he says.
In addition to launching the DVD, Islam this month announced the expansion of his U.K.-based charity Small Kindness. The organization, which will open a Los Angeles office, helps families in countries affected by war. Small Kindness currently runs a job-training center for Iraqi girls.
Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Has Hollywood Buzzing
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House calls the film "outrageously false," but Hollywood is hot for "Fahrenheit 9/11," documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's caustic broadside at President Bush.
A day after the film won the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France, industry observers on Sunday predicted the controversial movie would be a box office hit, even if some early reviews have hardly been favorable.
"I think it will be hugely successful," said D.A. Pennebaker, veteran documentary director whose films include the Oscar-nominated 1992 election campaign saga "The War Room." "It's going to get a lot of publicity."
In "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore takes aim at Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror and traces links between the Bush family and prominent Saudis including the family of Osama bin Laden. It was greeted with a rapturous standing ovation at its Cannes world premiere, but not everyone was impressed.
Dan Barlett, the White House communications director, was quoted by the New York Times last week as saying of the film "it is so outrageously false, it's not even worth comment."
Also critical was the review in the entertainment industry journal Daily Variety which called the film a "blatant cinematic 2004 campaign pamphlet" and said it "fails to provide any hard facts or make any incriminating connections that a reasonably informed person doesn't already know about."
That may not matter to the fans of the man behind "Roger & Me," and the anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine." Moore, in fact, laid the groundwork for "Fahrenheit 9/11" a year ago when he accepted the Oscar for "Columbine," and launched into a tirade against Bush on worldwide television.
A few weeks ago he was back in the news again, complaining that Walt Disney Co. had prevented its Miramax Films unit from releasing "Fahrenheit 9/11." Disney said it did not want to be associated with a political hot potato in an election year, and noted that Moore had known this for a year.
Miramax co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein are in the process of buying the movie with their own money and lining up a distributor, which is not expected to be a big problem.
Thanks to Moore's knack for self-promotion, "everybody in America is going to know about this movie, if they don't know about it already," said Michael Silberman, president of distribution at IDP Distribution, which recently released "Super Size Me," a documentary about the perils of fast food.
"Bowling for Columbine" is the most successful documentary in North America with ticket sales of $21.5 million. His new one should at least match that, industry executives say.
"Whether you like Harvey or not, he's a die-hard Democrat and he's going to see to it this film gets exposed. It's going to make a lot of money," said T.C. Rice, president of distribution at New York-based independent studio Manhattan Pictures.
Moore has said he wants "Fahrenheit 9/11" to come out as soon as possible so that it will influence the November presidential election and send Bush back to Texas.
That could be a tall order, according to Kim Serafin, a politically moderate radio talk show host in Los Angeles.
"He'll have lots of applause from the people he's already preaching to, the people that already like him and believe in him and think he's a great filmmaker," she said. "And the people who don't ... they weren't going to see this movie anyway."
On the other hand, the Cannes win has given the film some legitimacy, and the film could bring out Moore-haters if only so that they can "know thy enemy," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.
"When people are talking about a movie like this, they want to see what all the fuss is about. In an election year it's all the more appealing to people because everybody's in this political mode," he said.