A BOOK FROM BILLY
Warner Books set to publish in November, 2005, 700 Sundays, a tome written by Billy Crystal inspired by his hit Broadway one-man play which offers up an entertaining look at his family history.
City of Halifax selected to host 2006 Juno Award celebrations
HALIFAX (CP) - The Juno Awards will continue their road trip next year with a jaunt to Halifax, the country's recording industry association announced Tuesday.
The 2006 showcase of Canadian musical talent will be held April 2 in the Nova Scotia capital. It will be the city's first time hosting the annual music bash, which always attracts the country's biggest stars. "It's great news," said Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly. "It will give us a chance to showcase our people and our talents and we look very much forward to showing Canada and the rest of the world a show they won't soon forget."
This year's ceremonies will be held in Winnipeg on April 3.
The move to Halifax follows a decision a few years ago to bring the awards show to cities across Canada.
"Halifax is home to many outstanding Canadian artists so we anticipate a warm Nova Scotia welcome next year," Melanie Berry, president of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said in a statement.
The show was staged in St. John's, Nfld., in 2002, Ottawa in 2003, and Edmonton last year.
"It provides a tremendous opportunity from an exposure point of view for our province," said Rodney MacDonald, Nova Scotia's tourism minister.
"These are the types of marketing opportunities you just can't go out and buy."
Kelly said negotiations to bring the show to Nova Scotia began more than a year ago.
The event is expected to bring $34 million in economic spinoffs to the city.
2004 CD shipments increase, first gain in six years for Canadian market
TORONTO (CP) - Calling it a "modest" improvement, stores stocked their shelves with more product last year indicating a return by consumers to buying music after six years of decline, the Canadian Recording Industry Association said.
The figures encompass CDs as well as music DVDs, singles and VHS tapes. The total dollar value of sales - what stores paid for the product - was up one per cent, according to numbers released Tuesday by the group. Meanwhile, the total, year-to-date number of shipped units rose five per cent.
The gap between shipments and sales values is attributed to a drop in CD prices last year.
Significant gains came from a 24-per-cent increase in the number of music DVDs shipped to stores. Not surprisingly, shipments of VHS tapes and singles suffered the most, dropping 45 and 40 per cent respectively.
The group, which represents 95 per cent all record labels in Canada, was quick to point out that the numbers are nowhere near levels in the pre-Napster days.
"All we've done is steady the ship," said Graham Henderson, who heads the industry association. "The future looks brighter than it's ever looked but we can't forget the cost."
A total retail market figure, which includes actual sales to consumers, won't be ready for a few weeks.
But Henderson is optimistic based on reports from stores which indicate people are steadily returning to the cash registers.
He said the increase is due to improved marketing campaigns and blockbuster releases by Usher, Shania Twain, Eminem, Gwen Stefani and U2.
"People are coming back into the stores because they want to support artists and want to buy music . . . but also that Canadians are slowly, but surely, getting the message that there needs to be some sort of sense of fair play," said Henderson.
Despite Tuesday's news, he said record labels aren't anywhere near ready to give people their jobs back or re-sign artists that were dropped because of poor sales.
The figures don't include online music sales from sites like ITunes and Puretracks. Those numbers haven't been made public in Canada.
Johnny Carson Writes Jokes for Letterman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman has a secret joke writer -- and it's none other than the retired king of all late-night television, Johnny Carson.
CBS senior vice president Peter Lassally, a onetime producer for both men, said on Tuesday that the 79-year-old former host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" occasionally sends Letterman new jokes he has written and that Letterman sometimes incorporates them into his nightly "Late Show" monologue.
Lassally, appearing at CBS's annual winter showcase for television critics, said that while Carson has remained out of the public eye since retiring, he keeps up with late-night TV, as well as with political news and other current events that were once fodder for his own "Tonight Show" monologue.
"I think the thing he misses the most is the monologue," Lassally said of his former boss. "He reads the newspaper every day and might think up five good jokes that he wishes he had an outlet for. Once in a while he sends jokes to Letterman and Letterman will use his jokes in the ('Late Show') monologue and he gets a big kick out of that."
Carson retired in 1992 after nearly 30 years as host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC and was replaced by Jay Leno. But Carson has always felt privately that Letterman, not Leno, was his rightful successor, Lassally said.
Letterman, who long hosted NBC's "Late Night" show immediately following Carson's program, jumped to CBS in 1993 in the flagship 11:30 p.m. time slot opposite Leno, setting up one of the most storied rivalries on U.S. television.
While Letterman's New York-based CBS show initially drew bigger audiences than Leno, NBC's "Tonight Show" shot in Burbank, California, eventually settled in as No. 1 in viewership, although Letterman has enjoyed improved ratings this season.
CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said "Late Show" ratings are up 7 percent over last year, marking Letterman's most competitive position against Leno since 1994 and narrowing his audience gap to just 1 million viewers fewer than "The Tonight Show" versus 2 million a year ago.
Carson, who has lived in relative seclusion in Malibu, California for the past decade, has battled emphysema in recent years, but is "still interested in literature and politics and all the worldly things that he was always interested in," Lassally said.