...Carolyn Dawn Johnson leads CCMAs
EDMONTON -- Alberta girl Carolyn Dawn Johnson will come home in style at this year's Canadian Country Music Association awards as the singer-songwriter leads all others with seven nominations.
On the strength of her second album, Dress Rehearsal, Johnson will be up in nearly every award category she's eligible for during the Sept. 13 ceremony in Edmonton.
Johnson, 34, is on the short list for female artist of the year, single of the year, album of the year, song of the year, video of the year and, with Dann Huff, producer of the year. The native of Westlock, Alta., is also nominated for the fans' choice award.
The nominations were released Wednesday in Edmonton except for the fans' choice award. Those nominees were released in May.
The Manitoba band Doc Walker had the second-highest number of nominations with five. The band, whose single The Show Is Free from the 2003 album Everyone Aboard zoomed up the country charts, will be crossing its fingers in the fans' choice, single, album, song and group of the year categories.
Jason McCoy of Minesing, Ont., tied with Doc Walker for number of nominations. The 34-year-old McCoy with his 2003 album Sins, Lies and Angels is on the list for fans' choice, album, song, video and male artist.
Longtime favourite Terri Clark, also of Alberta, received four nominations, including two single nods for Girls Lie Too and I Wanna Do It All. She's up for fans' choice and female artist as well.
Two other artists also got four nominations: Ontario's Beverley Mahood and Aaron Pritchett, a rising star from British Columbia.
International stars Paul Brandt and Shania Twain each have three nominations, as does Edmonton singer-songwriter Corb Lund.
"It's good because a lot of people who've never heard the band before are becoming aware of us," said Lund, who was on hand for the nominations announcement.
"It really gets my stuff out to a whole bunch more people."
Lund said the exposure before international music industry representatives could help his band break into foreign markets from the United States to Australia.
"It's a good networking thing. I'm hoping to parlay it into some U.S. interest, finally."
The Good Brothers, who played their first show in 1974, are nominated for group of the year and roots group of the year. But the Richmond Hill, Ont., perennials will probably remember the 2004 ceremonies as the one in which they were inducted into the Canadian Country Music Association Hall of Fame.
Hosted by Brandt -- up for song, video and male vocalist of the year -- the awards show will air live on CBC-TV and will also be broadcast in the U.S. on Country Music Television.
The show will culminate five days of activity for country music lovers, including jam sessions, showcase performances, a gospel concert and chances to meet (and even golf with) the musicians.
Organizers will piggyback on a CFL football match between the Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos, with Brandt singing O Canada and the band Emerson Drive providing the halftime show.
Tickets for the awards show at Rexall Place are reported nearly sold out.
Music lovers can vote for the fans' choice award at www.cmtcanada.com
Other awards are voted on by members of the Canadian Country Music Association, with the exception of the top-selling album category.
'9/11' Won't Be Disqualified From Oscars
LOS ANGELES - Unauthorized Cuban television broadcasts of "Fahrenheit 9/11" will not keep the movie out of the Academy Awards race for best documentary.
The broadcasts in Cuba originated from pirated copies of Michael Moore's film, according to Lions Gate Films, one of the distributors of "Fahrenheit 9/11."
John Pavlik, spokesman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Wednesday that would not disqualify "Fahrenheit 9/11" for the best-documentary Oscar, which Moore won for his last film, 2002's "Bowling for Columbine."
Oscar rules prohibit television or Internet broadcast of documentary contenders anywhere in the world within nine months of their theatrical release. But "Fahrenheit 9/11" would not be affected by the Cuba broadcasts since they were not sanctioned by the distributors, Pavlik said.
"The rule was never intended to punish people for something like this," Pavlik said.
"Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore's scathing assault on President Bush's actions regarding the Sept. 11 attacks, has grossed $109.4 million domestically, the first documentary ever to top $100 million.
Along with best documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is eligible to compete in other Oscar categories.
Fiennes to Play Voldemort in Next 'Potter'
LOS ANGELES - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been named. Ralph Fiennes, who played memorable evil guys in "Red Dragon" and "Schindler's List," has signed on to portray the wicked warlock Voldemort in the next "Harry Potter" movie, Warner Bros. announced Wednesday.
Voldemort is so bad that the magical characters in author J.K. Rowling's stories do their best not to speak his name aloud.
In the first three installments of the saga, a deadly magic spell meant for a baby Harry Potter backfired and deprived him of a body. So only his spirit wrought havoc in "The Sorcerer's Stone," "The Chamber of Secrets" and the recent "Prisoner of Azkaban."
But Voldemort finally returns in the flesh in part four: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
Filming has been under way on "Goblet" since June 25, mainly with star Daniel Racliffe as the boy-wizard, and co-stars Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as his pals Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Fiennes has not yet filmed any scenes.
Other additions to the cast include Brendan Gleeson ("Troy," "The Village" and "Cold Mountain") as Potter's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the fearsome Mad-Eye Moody, and Miranda Richardson, ("The Crying Game," "Sleepy Hollow") as Rita Skeeter, a gossip columnist for a magical newspaper.
The cast also includes Robert Pattinson as Hogwarts student Cedric Diggory, Stanislav Ianevski as Quidditch star Viktor Krum, French actress Clemence Poesy as the heart-fluttering visiting student Fleur Delacour, and Katie Leung as Potter's love-interest and Quidditch rival Cho Chang.
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," directed by "Four Weddings and a Funeral" filmmaker Mike Newell, is scheduled for theatrical release in November 2005.
The Boss Takes on the Boss in U.S. Campaign Tour
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Boss is going up against the boss.
Bruce Springsteen, the U.S. rock icon known as The Boss, will join two dozen other stars in nine "battleground" states for a rock 'n' roll tour aimed at ousting President Bush, organizers said on Wednesday.
The "Vote for Change" tour -- 34 shows in 28 cities -- is scheduled for the first week of October, one month before the U.S. presidential election.
"The tour is aimed squarely at the radical right wing policies of Republican ideologues throughout the country," said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn PAC, the online liberal political action committee presenting the tour.
Six concert lineups will play simultaneous shows in a blitz of so-called swing states -- those that could go either Democrat or Republican in November: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin.
"I felt like I couldn't have written the music I've written, and been on stage singing about the things that I've sung about for the last 25 years and not take part in this particular election," said Springsteen, who has avoided direct political work in the past.
Dave Matthews, James Taylor, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., John Mellencamp, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt are among the performers donating their talent and time to get Democrat John Kerry into the White House.
Proceeds from the tour go to America Coming Together, another liberal political action group.
"A vote for change is a vote for a stronger, safer, healthier America," Matthews said. "A vote for Bush is a vote for a divided, unstable, paranoid America."