The "Indestructible" technology shows its age
The Bar-Kays' "Greatest Hits," a soul CD on Michele Youket's desk at the Library of Congress, has seen better days. On its surface are dozens of tiny holes and rusted-out blotches, making it resemble a chrome bumper that's been left to rot in a junkyard. Youket has many CDs like that -- one, by the New Age artist Paul Winter, has shed its silvery surface, leaving only a transparent disc with a printed logo on top.
Youket's music collection, stored in her windowless subbasement office in Washington, D.C., has implications for every CD buyer and record company in the world. She is the lead scientist on the library's four-year-long project testing the life span of compact discs, a twenty-two-year-old technology once touted as indestructible. It's the first major public study of its kind; upon the release of its findings, the library will decide whether to shift its large CD-ROM collection to another medium.
And as the blotchy Bar-Kays album shows, CDs are, in fact, destructible. "Oh, definitely," says Youket, who works in the library's Preservation Research and Testing Division. "Everything organic degrades."
How soon CDs wear out is a much more complicated -- and controversial -- question. The discs on Youket's desk have undergone 150-plus-degree humidity "soaks" in the library's ovens to accelerate their age. Youket can't say how many years of aging these ovens simulate, but the library's scientists estimate poorly made CDs may deteriorate after as little as five or ten years, while better-made discs could last up to a century. The Bar-Kays CD came out in 1998 on K-Tel, and Winter's 1987 Earthbeat was on a small, low-budget label. Although some major-label releases similarly wore out after being soaked, a 1996 Sony disc by soul singer Puff Johnson showed only minimal damage.
Experts say today's music CDs are built for longevity -- but only as long as they're kept in cases, unscratched, at room temperature, away from extreme moisture. "If it's stored carefully, it'd probably come close to a human's lifetime," says Alan Sahakian, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern University. Adds Jerry Hartke, president of Media Sciences, a CD-quality testing facility, "The error correction in those things is so powerful you can actually drill a two-millimeter hole in the thing, and it'll still play."
The CD-deterioration issue resurfaced in early May, when Dan Koster, Web-content manager at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, told an Associated Press reporter he'd discovered a "constellation of pinpricks" in hundreds of his properly stored collection of more than 2,000 CDs. Youket contacted Koster -- her Bar-Kays album showed similar pinpricklike defects. Does that mean all CDs will develop deadly pricks over time? No, says Chandru Shahani, chief of Youket's division: "CDs are sturdy. We're not trying to scare people. We'd like to guide the industry into putting out a more stable product."
'Fahrenheit 9/11' Sets Documentary Record
LOS ANGELES - Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" took in a whopping $21.8 million in its first three days, becoming the first documentary ever to debut as Hollywood's top weekend film.
If Sunday's estimates hold when final numbers are released Monday, "Fahrenheit 9/11" would set a record in a single weekend as the top-grossing documentary ever outside of concert films and movies made for huge-screen IMAX theaters.
Adding the film's haul at two New York City theaters where it opened Wednesday, two days earlier than the rest of the country, boosted "Fahrenheit 9/11" to $21.96 million.
"Bowling for Columbine," Moore's 2002 Academy Award-winning documentary, previously held the documentary record with $21.6 million.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore's assault on President Bush's actions after the 2001 terrorist attacks, won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film Festival and has attracted attention from both sides in the presidential campaign.
The movie has been embraced by left-wing groups, which mobilized members to see it during the opening weekend. Conservative groups sought to discourage theaters from showing it and asked the Federal Election Commission to examine its ads for potential violations of campaign-finance law regulating when commercials may feature a presidential candidate.
"I want to thank all the right-wing organizations out there who tried to stop the film, either from their harassment campaign that didn't work on the theater owners, or going to the FEC to get our ads removed from television, to all the things that have been said on television," Moore said. "It's only encouraged more people to go and see it."
The Wayans brothers' comedy "White Chicks," about two black FBI agents who go undercover as white debutantes, opened in second place with $19.6 million for the weekend. That pushed the total for "White Chicks" to $27.1 million since opening Wednesday.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," slipped to third place, taking in $18.5 million and pushing its 10-day total to $67.2 million. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' "The Terminal" fell from second to fourth place with $13.9 million, raising its 10-day gross to $41.8 million.
Premiering in fifth place with $13 million was the tearjerker romance "The Notebook," featuring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner and Gena Rowlands.
Despite good reviews, the family film "Two Brothers," about tiger siblings separated in youth and reunited as opponents in the ring as grown cats, opened weakly at No. 9 with $6.2 million.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" opened in 868 theaters, a wide release for a documentary but narrow compared to big Hollywood flicks. The film averaged $25,115 a theater, compared to $7,190 in 2,726 cinemas for "White Chicks."
Distributors Lions Gate and IFC Films plan to put "Fahrenheit 9/11" into a couple of hundred more theaters this Wednesday, when competition heats up with the release of "Spider-Man 2," summer's most-anticipated movie.
Lions Gate and IFC came on board after Disney refused to let subsidiary Miramax release "Fahrenheit 9/11" because of its political content. Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein bought back the film and went looking for independent distributors.
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. "Fahrenheit 9/11," $21.8 million.
2. "White Chicks," $19.6 million.
3. "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," $18.5 million.
4. "The Terminal," $13.9 million.
5. "The Notebook," $13 million.
6. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," $11.4 million.
7. "Shrek 2," $10.5 million.
8. "Garfield: The Movie," $7 million.
9. "Two Brothers," $6.2 million.
10. "The Stepford Wives," $5.2 million.
Long in the Works, Charles Biopic Nears Release
NEW YORK (Billboard) - When Ray Charles passed away June 10, he left more than his music as testament to his talent and influence.
The Universal Pictures movie "Ray" (formerly titled "Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story") is a tribute to Charles' life and legacy. Jamie Foxx portrays Charles in the film, which opens Oct. 29 in U.S. theaters.
Curt Sobel, music supervisor and music editor for "Ray," gave Billboard an exclusive insider's story about the film.
"Ray Charles OK'ed the script, and he was 100% supportive of what we were doing in telling his life story," Sobel said.
Although Foxx did much of his own singing, Charles' vocals are a huge part of the movie. Sobel worked with the singer to re-record many of his classic songs.
"If there were that were unavailable, or if they didn't match the script, we had Ray come in and do the songs," says Sobel. "Jamie only sang on the set, not in the studio. We felt that many of the older songs needed to have Ray's vocals."
Rhino/Atlantic/Warner Strategic Marketing will release the soundtrack Aug. 24.
Taylor Hackford directed "Ray," which covers Charles' life from 1935 to 1979. James L. White and Hackford wrote the screenplay.
"The way the script was written, they told Ray's life through the songs," Sobel says. "You'll hear a song like 'Hit the Road Jack' in a scene when Ray has a fight with his wife Margie."
Sobel elaborates on his musical responsibilities for the film. "I was more like a musical director than anything else. Taylor decided that nothing on the film would happen musically unless it went through me first.
"So that meant everything from choosing the pianos to coordinating the dance routines with the Raelettes to working with Jamie Foxx on the musical numbers."
Making the film was a labor of love, Sobel adds. The picture was an independent production until Universal signed on in March for distribution, long after filming wrapped last year. Prior to that, the movie had been in development for 16 years.
"We had budgetary constraints," Sobel says. "Everyone took a paycheck cut for this picture."
Sobel says his favorite memories of working on the film include his initial meetings with Charles.
"I was there the first time Jamie met Ray. Jamie was tongue-tied at first, but Ray was so warm and giving of himself. They ended up sitting at pianos side by side and playing music and telling stories.
"I happened to bring a digital video camera with me to record those meetings. We made a 'making of' documentary, which will probably end up on the 'Ray' DVD. I deeply regret Ray's passing; it's an incredible loss to the world."
As a music editor, Sobel's credits include "X-Men," "I Am Sam," "La Bamba" and "Risky Business." He previously worked with Hackford on the films "Proof of Life," "Dolores Claiborne," "Bound by Honor," "Chuck Berry: Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' roll," "White Nights," "Against All Odds" and "An Officer and a Gentleman."
Sobel says, "Everything Taylor and I worked on before was like practice for 'Ray.' This movie is definitely a highlight of my film career. I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked on this movie."