NEW CD RELEASES FOR MARCH 1, 2005
Jessi Alexander Honeysuckle Sweet (Columbia)
Solomon Burke Make Do with What You Got (produced by Don Was; songs written by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Dr. John and others) (Shout! Factory)
C-Universum C-Universum (54º40' or Fight!)
Jim Camacho Stalker Songs (TMG)
Clairdee Music Moves (DeClare)
Coralie Clement Bye Bye Beauté (guest members of Nada Surf) (Nettwerk)
Elvis Costello The Delivery Man (two CD deluxe edition w/enhanced CD) (Lost Highway/UMG)
Cradle of Filth Nymphetamine (Deluxe Edition) (two CDs; includes bonus tracks, video and artwork) (Roadrunner)
Bart Davenport (ex-Loved Ones singer) Maroon Cocoon (Antenna Farm)
Deveroa Chyba Do Stran (54º40' or Fight!)
Mark Dignam Box Heart Man (Times Beach)
Doves Some Cities (Capitol)
Kathleen Edwards Back to Me (Rounder)
El Pus Hoodlum Rock (Virgin)
Shelly Fairchild Ride (Columbia)
Richie Furay I Am Sure (w/guest members of Poco) (Friday Music)
Geography Life in Binary (Universal Warning)
Julie Gold The Girl I Found (guest Lesley Gore) (Gadfly)
Adam Green Gemstones (Sanctuary)
Half-Handed Cloud Thy Is a Word, and Feet Need Lamps (Asthmatic Kitty)
Jeff Hanson Jeff Hanson (Kill Rock Stars)
Heartless Bastards Stairs and Elevators (Fat Possum)
The Hermit Wonderment (Nettwerk)
Hip Hop Hoodios Agua Pa' La Gente (Jazzheads)
Lily Holbrook Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt (w/cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home") (Narada)
Ivy (members of Fountains of Wayne and Tahiti 80) In the Clear (w/guests James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins/A Perfect Circle and Girls Against Boys' Scott McCloud) (Nettwerk)
Shooter Jennings Put the ‘O' Back in Country (Universal South)
Jack Johnson In Between Dreams (Universal Motown)
Judas Priest Angel of Retribution (Epic)
Killswitch Engage The End of Heartache (Deluxe Edition) (two CDs w/six bonus tracks, 2 videos and new artwork) (Roadrunner)
Julie Larson Wakening (Artmuse)
Le Concorde Universe and Villa (W.A.R.?)
Amos Lee Amos Lee (produced by Lee Alexander (Norah Jones' bassist/songwriter) (Blue Note)
O'Donel Levy In the Name of Love (Room 302)
Little Wings Grow (K Records)
Jennifer Lopez Rebirth (Epic)
Maksim Maksim (Blue Note)
The Mars Volta Frances the Mute (Universal Motown)
James "Jimbo" Mathus Knockdown South (enhanced CD) (Knockdown South)
Matt Bianco featuring Basia Matt's Mood (first album w/original line-up in 20 years) (Decca)
Eric Matthews Six Kinds of Passion Looking for an Exit (Empyrean)
Montag Alone, Not Alone (Carpark)
Norma Jean O God the Aftermath (Solid State)
O'2L Doyle's Brunch (Peak/Concord)
Jamie O'Neal Brave (Capitol)
Oojami Urban Dervish (Ark 21)
Our Own Somewhere Wherever You Go EP (Has Anyone Ever Told You?)
Judith Owen Lost and Found (guests Cassandra Wilson and Keb' Mo') (Century of Progress)
Pentaphobe Sa'iyr: A Tribal Metamorphosis (Ark 21)
Populuxe deep in an american evening... (Volume & Tone)
Ragz Mo' Rocka Rising of the Phoenix (3:33 Records)
Kurt Rosenwinkel Deep Song (w/Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman) (Verve)
Tom Russell Hotwalker (original music set to spoken word recordings from Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Charles Bukowski and more) (HighTone)
Kate Ryan Stronger (Fuel)
David Singer and the Sweet Science The Stars Burn Out (Engine Studios)
Soel Memento (Warner Bros.)
Some Other Place To Be Continued (54º40' or Fight!)
Regina Spektor Soviet Kitsch (Warner Bros.)
Marvin Stamm & Ed Soph The Stamm/Soph Project Live at Birdland (Jazzed Media)
Ticonderoga Ticonderoga (54º40' or Fight!)
Transistor Transistor In Name and Likeness (Level-Plane)
Ronan Tynan Ronan (Universal Classics)
The Vacancy Heart Attack (A-F)
Waawe All Fabulous Things Turn Out to Happen (54º40' or Fight!)
Watchers The Dunes Phase EP (Gern Blandsten)
Kanye West College Dropout: Video Anthology (CD/DVD combo) (Island Def Jam)
Phil Woods Groovin' to Marty Paich (Jazzed Media)
Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings Just for a Thrill (guests Mark Knopfler and Procul Harem's Gary Brooker on classic blues and rock covers) (Fuel)
Savina Yannatou Sumiglia (ECM)
VA Connections 2 (w/rare tracks from Tom Waits, Charlie Musselwhite, Camper Van Beethoven and more) (Jackalope)
VA Innocent Words Records Compilation Vol. 3 (charity compilation for the Riley's Hospital for Children Project) (Innocent Words)
OST Be Cool (John Travolta/Uma Thurman sequel to "Get Shorty" w/songs by Black Eyed Peas, Christina Milian, Commodores, James Brown and more) (TVT Soundtrax)
OST Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood film) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Robots (animated film w/new songs by Fountains of Wayne, Earth, Wind and Fire, Ricky Fante and Blue Man Group) (Virgin)
What's in Store for Next Year's Oscars?
LOS ANGELES - "Million Dollar Baby?" Old news. Jamie Foxx? Ancient history. It's time to set odds on which films will dominate next year's Academy Awards, based on what's visible in Hollywood's ever-changeable lineup for 2005.
Granted, no one's seen these movies, and some haven't even started shooting, so who knows which might have that touch of Oscar gold, or which won't manage to be ready in time to qualify?
But there are keys to early Oscar handicapping. Does it have Gwyneth Paltrow in it? Does it feature a woman pretending to be a man? Does it have Gwyneth Paltrow pretending to be a man?
Beyond that, the best signposts are a film's heavyweight-drama quotient and pedigree of talent. How many past Oscar winners are involved? Does a cover-girl performer efface her looks for a stark and sober story? Is it a "master" filmmaker tackling a "momentous" subject?
These are subjective criteria, but as a studio mogul noted in "Barton Fink": "I guess we all have that Barton Fink feeling. But since you're Barton Fink, I'm assuming you have it in spades."
For this crystal-ball exercise, we're looking for that Oscar feeling, and we figure people such as these — Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Ron Howard, Roman Polanski — must have it in spades.
And the Oscar could go to:
"Cinderella Man" — Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger star in the story of Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock, who gets a second chance in the ring. The academy loves underdog stories, Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind") directs and Crowe punches people out.
"Memoirs of a Geisha" — Rob Marshall ("Chicago") directs this adaptation of the novel about an orphan girl (Zhang Ziyi) who becomes a queen-bee madame kept in style by powerful men. Sex, sumptuous sets, exotic locales, a beautiful leading lady poised for a breakout role. Sex.
"Kingdom of Heaven" — Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") directs the saga of a battling knight (Orlando Bloom) in Jerusalem during the Crusades. Scott revived the moribund Roman epic. If anyone can make a Crusades story palatable in this politically correct age, he's the man.
"War of the Worlds" — Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise spin the spectacle of sci-fi spectacles, a new take on H.G. Wells' invaders-from-Mars classic. Everyone secretly loves to see the world toasted, and it co-stars that adorable Dakota Fanning.
"All the King's Men" — Sean Penn stars in this update of Robert Penn Warren's novel loosely based on political kingfish Huey Long. Penn in the meatiest role since his Oscar win for "Mystic River," backed by Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson, Jude Law and James Gandolfini. Can you say dream cast?
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" — Johnny Depp has scored Oscar nominations as a sashaying pirate and a repressed Edwardian playwright. Can he earn another as Willy Wonka? Tim Burton's remake offers endless visual possibilities, and the story of candyman Willy playing tour guide to children is a beloved one for academy boomers.
"Jarhead" — Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") aims for another mix of drama and macabre humor with this tale of an elite sniper unit in the Gulf War. British theater vet Mendes has a keen outsider's eye for stories about Americans. And enlisting Jamie Foxx to co-star doesn't hurt.
"King Kong" — "Lord of the Rings" maestro Peter Jackson directs a remake of the great ape biopic, with Naomi Watts as the new Fay Wray. After elevating the fantasy genre to Oscar glory by treating hobbits with dead earnestness, Jackson's madman enough to do the same for a giant gorilla.
"The New World" — Colin Farrell tries to put "Alexander" behind him in this colonial tale of John Smith and Pocahontas, from director Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line"). Malick hardly ever makes movies, but when he does, they're awesome.
"Oliver Twist" — For his first film since winning the best-director Oscar for "The Pianist," Roman Polanski has a go at Charles Dickens' classic of an orphan among pickpockets. Oscar winner Ben Kingsley as the nefarious Fagin. Doesn't everyone prefer Sir Ben in "Sexy Beast" demeanor rather than "Gandhi" mode?
"The Producers" — Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reunite for a movie based on a stage hit based on a movie, about con men bilking investors on a Nazi musical. A best-picture trophy for producer Mel Brooks would make a nice companion bookend for his screenplay Oscar on the 1968 original.
"Walk the Line" — Joaquin Phoenix is the man in black, Johnny Cash, with Reese Witherspoon as wife June Carter. In the same way people went, "Huh? Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles? ... Oh, yeah. I see it," Phoenix bears a curious resemblance to Cash. But can he lip-synch?
"Untitled Steven Spielberg Project" — The director goes for another twofer in one year, this one featuring Eric Bana in a drama chronicling events at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Palestinian militants. It's his most "important" film since "Saving Private Ryan."
Record Industry Sues 753 for Song Swaps
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A recording industry trade group on Monday said it has filed another wave of copyright infringement lawsuits against 753 people it suspects of distributing songs over the Internet without permission.
To date, the Recording Industry Association of America has sued over 9,000 people for distributing songs over "peer to peer" networks like eDonkey and Kazaa, in an effort to discourage the online song copying that it believe has cut into CD sales.
The trade group represents big record labels like Warner Music, EMI Group Plc, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group.
'Million Dollar Baby' Oscars No Ratings Knockout
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. television audience of more than 41 million people watched the Oscar show capped by the triumph of boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby" -- a respectable showing but hardly the ratings knockout ABC had hoped for, first figures showed on Monday.
The three-hour, 10 minute Oscar broadcast averaged 41.5 million viewers, down 5 percent or 2 million viewers from last year, when box-office powerhouse "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," was the big winner, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research.
Sunday's Academy Awards also registered a 3 percent decline from last year in ratings for the network's target audience of young adults -- those aged 18 to 49 -- the group most coveted by advertisers.
The latest Oscar ratings might be considered lackluster in light of the intense hype surrounding the Oscar producers' choice of provocative comedian Chris Rock to host the proceedings, one of several moves aimed at attracting a larger, younger audience.
On the other hand, Sunday night's best-picture champion, "Million Dollar Baby," had nowhere near the popular following that "Return of the King" brought to the Oscar ceremony last year.
Last year's average viewer tally of 43.5 million was the largest Oscar viewership in four years.
The highest-rated Academy Awards ceremony in recent history remains the 1998 show, when blockbuster "Titanic" dominated the awards.
A record low of just 33.1 million tuned in for the 2003 ceremony, which coincided with the start of the U.S.-led military campaign to topple Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein.
The Oscars are television's single most watched entertainment broadcast of the year.
By comparison, NBC's Golden Globe Awards in January averaged 16.8 million viewers, the Grammy Awards show on CBS last month drew 18.8 million and ABC's Emmy telecast last September eked out a mere 14 million.
Rock, making his first appearance as Oscar host, received mixed reviews for a performance that many critics said failed to live up to its hype.
While some critics credited Rock with raising the show's energy level, others thought his humor fell flat. The Washington Post's Tom Shales called Rock's performance "strangely lame and mean-spirited" and predicted he would not be back.
Rock and Penn Clash Over Law
Oscars host Chris Rock infuriated 2004 winner Sean Penn at Sunday night's Academy Awards, when he doubted the acting ability of Penn's latest co-star Jude Law. The comedian placed Law as a 'second choice' for casting agents after Tom Cruise in between award presentations at the ceremony in Hollywood's Kodak Theater. Rock said, "You want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law? Wait. You want Russell Crowe and all you can get is Colin Farrell? Wait. Alexander is not Gladiator. You want Denzel Washington and all you can get is me? Wait. Denzel's a fine actor. He would have never made Pootie Tang." When Penn arrived on stage to present the Best Actress trophy to Hilary Swank, he took time to defend Law, his co-star in All The King's Men, which is currently filming in New Orleans, Louisiana. Penn says, "Jude is one of our finest actors. What Jude and all other talented actors know is that for every great, talented actor, there are five actresses who are nothing short of magic." Backstage, Rock said he had spoken to Penn about their disagreement. He explains, "Sean said because he's working with Jude on a movie right now he felt the need to... I don't know. It's kind of funny."