NEW CD RELEASES FOR APRIL 19, 2005
22-20s 22-20s (Astralwerks)
All Shall Perish Hate, Malice, Revenge (Nuclear Blast)
allfrumtha i Larger Than Life (Free Agency)
Amerie Touch (Columbia)
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Worn Copy (Paw Tracks)
Autechre Untilted (Warp)
Balanescu Quartet Marie T (Mute)
Steve Bedunah Hand Me Down Land (Dogtrot)
Bleed the Sky Paradigm in Entropy (Nuclear Blast)
Blue Eyed Sons West of Lincoln (Eenie Meenie)
Born from Pain In Love with the End (Metal Blade)
Todd Bowie Lucky Space People (Machine)
Jim Brickman Grace (guests Michael Bolton and more) (RCA Victor)
Burden of Grief Fields of Salvation (Cleopatra)
Cadillac Jones Junk in the Trunk (re-release of 2003 album) (Harmonized)
The Chapmans Simple Man (Pinecastle)
The Chemistry The Chemistry (Razor & Tie)
Chixdiggit! Pink Razors (Fat Wreck Chords)
Circa Survive Juturna (Equal Vision)
Cirque du Soleil Solarium/Delirium (two CDs; w/remixes by Thievery Corporation, Cottonbelly and more) (Cirque du Soleil Musique)
CLIT 45 Self-Hate Crimes (BYO)
Cobra Verde Copycat Killers (all-covers album w/tunes by the Rolling Stones, Donna Summer, New Order and more) (Scat)
Judy Collins Portrait of an American Girl (Wildflower)
Consafos Tilting at Windmills (Greyday Productions)
Da Beatminerz Fully Loaded with Static (w/KRS-One, Dilated Peoples and more) (Priority)
DJ Me DJ You Can You See the Music (re-release of 2003 album) (Eenie Meenie)
The Dudley Corporation In Love with... (w/guest members of the Delgados and Camera Obscura) (Absolutely Kosher)
Stace England Greetings from Cairo, Illinois (Gnashville Sounds)
Esham A.1. Yola (Psychopathic)
The Esoteric With the Sureness of Sleepwalking (Prosthetic)
Fallen from the Sky Tune Out the World (Victory)
The Faraway Places Unfocus on It (re-release of 2004 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Final Breath Let Me Be Your Tank (Cleopatra)
Ad Frank The World's Best Ex-Boyfriend (Stop, Pop & Roll)
From Bubblegum to Sky Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen (re-release of 2004 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Giles (frontman for Between the Buried and Me) Giles (Victory)
Great Lakes Myth Society Great Lakes Myth Society (Stop, Pop & Roll)
Anne Heaton Give In (Q Division)
Heavy Trash (John Spencer of Blues Explosion and Matt Verta-Ray of Speedball Baby) Heavy Trash (Yep Roc)
Hell Within Asylum of the Human Predator (Victory)
Johnny Hickman (Cracker guitarist) Palmhenge (Campstove)
The High Water Marks Songs About the Ocean (re-release of 2004 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Billie Holiday Remixed Hits (Cleopatra)
Il Divo Il Divo (Columbia)
Infradig Kinetic Transfer (Harmonized)
Irving I Hope You're Feeling Better Now (re-release of 2003 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Danko Jones We Sweat Blood (Razor & Tie)
Mike Jones Who Is (Warner Bros.)
Junior M.A.F.I.A. Riot Musik (Mega Media)
Audra Kubat Since I Fell in Love with the Music (Times Beach)
Langhorne Slim Dance on Home (Narnack)
Lil Sicko The Anger & the Pain (Thump)
Carter Little Dare to Be Small (Lobby Door Music)
Lovethugs Babylon Fading (Rainbow Quartz)
LUCE From the World of the Lonely (Joe's Music)
Matisyahu Live at Stubbs - Austin, TX 2/19/05 (Or Music)
Maria McKee Peddlin' Dreams (w/cover of Neil Young's "Barstool Blues") (Eleven Thirty)
MIDIval PunditZ MIDIval Times (guest Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi) (Six Degrees)
MODEREKO Solar Ignitor (w/Keller Williams; re-release of 2003 album) (Harmonized)
Murdocks Surrenderender (Surprise Truck)
Anna Nalick Wreck of the Day (Columbia)
Niyaz Niyaz (Six Degrees)
The Outlawz 4 Life 2005 A.P. (33rd Street)
Pantommind Shade of Fate (Sensory)
Paragon Revenge (Cleopatra)
Derryl Perry All Just to Get to You (Music City)
The Red Death External Frames of Reference (Metal Blade)
Jerry Reed Live Still (first live record; greatest hits plus two new songs) (R2K/Redeye)
Kyle Riabko Before I Speak (Columbia)
Adam Richman Patience and Science (Or Music)
Rift (Tony Williamson) Push on Through (Mandolin Central)
Ringside Ringside (Geffen)
Barbara Rosene All My Life (Azica)
Dino Saluzzi and Jon Christensen Senderos (ECM)
Dave Seaman Renaissance Presents The Therapy Sessions Vol. 2 (two CDs; mix CDs) (Thrive)
Seksu Roba Pleasure Vibrations (re-release of 2003 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Mem Shannon I'm From Phunkville (NorthernBlues)
Alina Simone Prettier in the Dark EP (Fractured Discs)
Sinai Beach Immersed (Victory)
Steel Train Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun (guests David Grisman and The Byrds' Gene Parsons; enhanced CD) (Drive-Thru)
Curtis Stigers I Think It's Going to Rain Today (Concord)
Alice Texas Sad Days (Frago)
Rob Thomas (matchbox twenty singer) ...Something to Be (guests John Mayer, Robert Randolph and Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers; available exclusively as DualDisc) (Atlantic)
Mary Timony (ex-Helium) Ex Hex (produced by Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty) (Lookout!)
The Track Record The Track Record EP (Drive-Thru)
Gianluigi Trovesi/Gianni Coscia Round About Weill (ECM)
Two Hoots and a Holler Rick Brossard (Stag)
Ulysses 010 (re-release of 2004 album) (Eenie Meenie)
Umbrellas Umbrellas (The Militia Group)
Variable Unit Mayhemystics Outbreaks (featuring members of Blackalicious) (Wide Hive)
Loudon Wainwright III Here Come the Choppers (w/Bill Frisell and Jim Keltner) (Sovereign Artists)
The Wingdale Community Singers (w/David Grubbs of Gastr del Sol and novelist Rick Moody) The Wingdale Community Singers (Plain)
Winter Blanket Prescription Perils (Fractured Discs)
XLOVER Pleasure and Romance (Gigolo)
Zion I True & Livin' (w/Talib Kweli, Del, Aesop Rock and Gift of Gab) (Live Up)
Saul Zonana 42 Days (production and guitar work by Adrian Belew) (20/20 Music)
VA Disco Dimensions Vol. 1 (dance compilation) (Smash Hit Music)
VA Disco Remixed (VI Music)
VA Global Indie Club Pop (re-release of 2003 album) (Eenie Meenie)
VA Is It Rolling Bob? Dub Versions: Visions of Jamaica (companion to 2004 Bob Dylan reggae tribute) (Sanctuary)
VA Preserve Volume 1 (Fractured Discs)
VA The Future of the Blues, Volume 2 (NorthernBlues)
OST Charmed: The Book of Shadows (WB TV show; w/Sarah McLaughlin, the Donnas, Liz Phair and more) (Treadstone)
OST XXX: State of the Union (w/Korn and Xzibit's cover of Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," plus previously unreleased tracks from Ice Cube, Chingy and more) (Jive)
DVD Scratch: All the Way Live (performances by Z-Trip, the X-ecutioners, Mix Master Mike and more; includes bonus commentary and footage) (Scratch Recordings)
DVD Elvis Costello & the Imposters Club Date: Live in Memphis (Eagle Rock)
DVD Dwarves F*ck You Up and Get Live (2004 concert w/bonus music videos) (Music Video Distributors)
DVD Hieroglyphics Full Circle (tour video; CD/DVD combo) (Hieroglyphics)
DVD Muse Manic Depression (Music Video Distributors)
INSIDE JOB
Variety is reporting that Jodie Foster is set to costar with Denzel Washington and Clive Owen in Universal's Inside Man, about a cop who winds up in a hostage situation when he goes up against a clever bank robber looking to pull off the perfect heist. Spike Lee directs.
Taylor Dayne Looks for Career 'Remaking'
NEW YORK - Former 1980s dance-pop diva Taylor Dayne is looking for a career makeover from VH1's "Remaking" reality series.
Known for her 1987 hit "Tell It To My Heart," Dayne, 43, will undergo consulting from a team of experts, including two personal trainers, a choreographer and producer Rodney Jerkins, who has created hits for the likes of Destiny's Child and Jennifer Lopez.
"To me, it was about finding new opportunities," Dayne tells the New York Daily News in Monday's editions. "I know my voice touches people. It has for years. I can't give that up."
The "Remaking" episode begins with Dayne performing three nights a week to distracted audiences at Florida's Walt Disney World.
"What was I thinking?" Dayne asks defensively, the Daily News reports. "I was thinking my kids got to have a good week at Epcot Center. I was thinking, it's paying my bills. I've grinned and beared a lot of crap, trust me."
Dayne eschews plastic surgery, although the episode shows her getting Botox injections in her forehead as part of her comeback attempt. Already, the single mom has made an appearance on "The View," where she performed her Jerkins-produced song "Right Now."
"Remaking" previously featured Motley Crue's lead singer Vince Neil and its future lineup includes Jody Watley and Vanilla Ice.
"Remaking: Taylor Dayne" premieres 10 p.m. Thursday on VH1.
'Arrested Development' Finale May Be Final
LOS ANGELES - The angst of the Bluth family multiplied in Sunday's season finale of "Arrested Development." But it's nothing compared to what fans will suffer if Fox's unconventional sitcom isn't renewed for a third season.
Despite a best comedy series Emmy and lavish critical praise, the series about a wildly dysfunctional Southern California family has been unable to pull respectable ratings.
In fact, viewership in the second season eroded a bit. For the season to date, the show has drawn an average 5.9 million weekly viewers, compared to the 6.2 million it averaged for the 2003-04 season.
A Fox management change also could affect the future of "Arrested Development," which was developed and given a second chance under Fox entertainment chief Gail Berman.
Berman left for a Paramount Studios job and it's uncertain if her replacement, Peter Liguori, will have the same affection for the show. Its fate will be announced when Fox unveils its 2005-06 lineup in May.
In the finale, the Bluth family's very foundation is rocked: The model house for their star-crossed real estate development is falling apart because of shoddy plumbing.
Meanwhile, brother Gob (Will Arnett) has proudly produced a CD of his ventriloquism act with a black dummy. Maybe "it will heal this country a little bit," he says — although its racist lyrics send a black studio technician storming out.
The puns also fly, including one about Pop Secret popcorn and the possibility that one man's uncle may really be his dad.
The series features Jason Bateman, who won a Golden Globe for his role as atypically normal Bluth son Michael. Others in the powerhouse ensemble cast are Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi and Jessica Walter.
Sunday's half-hour ended with scenes from the next episode, the one that would open the fall season. Devotees can only hope the optimism isn't misguided.
'Monday Night Football' to Move to ESPN from ABC
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Monday Night Football," a landmark of U.S. broadcast television since 1970, will move next year from Walt Disney Co.'s ABC to sibling sports cable network ESPN in an eight-year deal industry sources said was worth nearly $9 billion.
The agreement, announced on Monday by the National Football League, ESPN and ABC, came as the league and rival broadcaster NBC said they had reached a separate six-season deal for NBC to acquire Sunday NFL games now aired on ESPN.
Individuals familiar with both packages said ESPN will pay the NFL $1.1 billion a year for the "Monday Night Football" franchise -- the league's weekly marquee matchup -- while NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. GE.N, has agreed to pay $600 million a year for 16 regular-season Sunday night games and the annual Thursday season opener.
The NBC package will also include two playoff games and three prime-time preseason games each year, as well as the 2009 and 2012 Super Bowl championship contests, the NFL said.
Both deals go into effect starting with the 2006 football season.
"Monday Night Football" was hosted in its early years by Howard Cosell and also gave second careers in the announcer booth to such retired NFL greats as Frank Gifford, O.J. Simpson, Joe Namath and John Madden.
The show has been a keystone of ABC's prime-time schedule and the most watched weekly sports event on American television since its launch in 1970.
The program, a Monday evening tradition for pro-football fans, is billed as the most anticipated NFL contest each week, and the telecast still ranks ninth in household ratings among all prime-time programs for the 2004-05 TV season, drawing 16.3 million viewers.
Although ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson had said months ago that he expected his network to renew its "MNF" contract, the new ESPN deal was not entirely a surprise.
Despite its ratings success, advertising revenues have never covered the show's costs. ABC, which pays $550 million a year for the games under its current contract with the NFL, has been losing roughly $150 million a year on the franchise, according to a person familiar with the contract.
By contrast, ESPN has managed to turn a profit while paying $600 million a year for the NFL package by sharing the financial burden with cable companies that carry the Sunday games.
George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports, said the cable network would continue "to deliver double-digit growth to Disney over the next five years, and we couldn't do that without a sound economic deal with the NFL."
He also said ABC, rebounding from a ratings slump thanks to such new hits as "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," remained on target with its improved financial projections.
Money-losing ABC has dragged down Disney earnings for years, but the company says the broadcaster may return to profit this year.
"It's tough for ABC to say goodbye to a landmark institution like this, but with the progress we're making on our entertainment programing, we're not looking back. It's been a wonderful 36-year run," Bodenheimer told reporters in a conference call.
NBC executives suggested they got a better deal than ESPN, casting the reshuffling of NFL broadcast rights as setting the stage for Sunday evenings to become the new premier night for televised football.
"It's really ABC's broadcast package on Monday night going to Sunday night," said NBC Television Network Group President Randy Falco said, noting that NBC would pay about 9 percent more per year for Sunday games than ABC paid for Monday night.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue seemed to concur, saying in a statement, "Sunday is now the better night for our prime-time broadcast package." NBC added that it expected to draw a bigger audience to its new Sunday night football lineup than ESPN has in the past, because the broadcaster has a wider reach.
But Bodenheimer insisted that "Monday Night Football," while filling the last big hole in ESPN's schedule, would remain the weekly NFL game that "the fans, the players and viewers look forward to" most.
News of Bond role bewilders Orlando Bloom
HOLLYWOOD -- There are plenty of pirates in Orlando Bloom's life but no spies. British papers recently reported the Pirates of the Caribbean star was in negotiations to play a young James Bond in a series of films about the early years before Bond became 007.
"They even had me quoted as saying I was in negotiations. My cousin called to say how distraught everyone was to have to read it in the papers," says Bloom who stars as a Crusader in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, which opens May 6.
Bloom has been bombarded with phone calls from friends and family members over this story.
"I can assure you that I have never heard anything about such a project or an offer of any kind to play Bond from any member of my management team.
"It's just something someone somewhere made up and posted it on the Internet."
Bloom, 28, insists the same is true of rumours that he and longtime squeeze Kate Bosworth, 22, are once again an item.
The couple dated for two years but announced last fall they were no longer together.
In March, the two went to Brazil, fuelling speculation the affair was back on.
Some British websites have even posted stories the couple plan to wed later this year and that Bloom gave Bosworth a diamond engagement ring.
"I'm a long way from marriage at this point in my life. My career is so hectic, it's difficult to sustain a relationship. I'm happily single at the moment," insists Bloom.
Bosworth, who played Sandra Dee to Kevin Spacey's Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea, is currently filming Superman Returns, in which she plays Lois Lane to Brandon Routh's Clark Kent.
Bloom is filming the two sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley.
TOM SNYDER DIAGNOSED WITH LEUKEMIA
April 18, 2005 -- TALK-SHOW legend Tom Snyder, who successfully battled heart disease four years ago, now has leukemia.
The onetime WNBC and WABC news anchor and host of NBC's "Tomorrow" — predecessor of David Letterman's late night show — got the bad news after bouts of "uncontrollable sweating" and "general lack of stamina."
"I have been diagnosed with something called chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Jesus H. Christ!" the 68-year-old wrote on his Web site.
"My doctors say its treatable.
"They say . . . people can live with it for 30 years," said Snyder, whose outspokenness and brusque style made him one of the nation's top-rated interviewers in the 1970s.
"Notice, they don't say people will live 30 years but they can live up to 30 years . . . I will be 69 next month; I ain't looking for 30 years — but 15 more would be nice!"
Snyder's younger brother, John, has been diagnosed with the same disease.
Off the topic, he remains as acerbic as ever.
"Early-morning network TV is not news anymore; it's a joke!" he offered. "I miss Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw. And I pray, in my own stupid way, for Peter Jennings to get well soon."
'Amityville' Tops 'Sahara' at Box Office
LOS ANGELES - "The Amityville Horror" returned from the dead with a vengeance, with the gory update of the 1970s fright flick taking in $23.3 million to top the weekend box office.
The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, the African desert adventure "Sahara," slipped to second place with $13.1 million, lifting its 10-day total to $36.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"The Amityville Horror" stars Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George as a couple tormented by visions and voices in their new home, the scene of a grisly mass murder a year earlier.
The movie is the latest in a parade of successful horror remakes. With a built-in audience looking for scares and a string of hits such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "The Grudge" and "Dawn of the Dead," horror movies have become almost a sure-thing in Hollywood.
Horror movies also typically cost far less than other big studio films, whose average budgets top $60 million. "The Amityville Horror" grossed more than its $19 million budget in just the first weekend.
"The Amityville Horror" received mostly bad reviews, yet the under-25 crowd that makes up the genre's core audience rarely heeds the critics.
"The only reviews that count are the public's reviews," said Erik Lomis, head of distribution for MGM, which released "The Amityville Horror."
In limited release, David Duchovny's directing debut, "House of D," opened strongly with $30,000 in two theaters. The coming-of-age tale features Duchovny, wife Tea Leoni, Robin Williams and Erykah Badu.
Todd Solondz's "Palindromes," featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh and seven others playing the same character in a series of vignettes, debuted well with $61,434 in seven theaters.
With overall revenues down for the eighth-straight weekend, Hollywood is limping into its busy summer season. The top 12 movies took in $73.9 million, off 13 percent from the same weekend last year.
"This is a major slump," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "I think the industry is holding its collective breath for the turnaround. What is going to be the movie that reverses this down trend? Thankfully, summer looks really good."
Sydney Pollack's United Nations thriller "The Interpreter," starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, and the Ashton Kutcher-Amanda Peet romantic comedy "A Lot Like Love," open Friday as summer lead-ins.
Next week brings the action follow-up "XXX: State of the Union," starring Ice Cube, and the science-fiction romp "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
May could get Hollywood back on track, with "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" as the industry's centerpiece for early summer.
Other big May releases include Adam Sandler's football tale "The Longest Yard," Will Ferrell's soccer comedy "Kicking & Screaming," Ridley Scott's Crusades epic "Kingdom of Heaven," the animated adventure "Madagascar," the horror remake "House of Wax" and Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda's comedy "Monster-in-Law."
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. "The Amityville Horror," $23.3 million.
2. "Sahara," $13.1 million.
3. "Fever Pitch," $8.8 million.
4. "Sin City," $6.7 million.
5. "Guess Who," $4.9 million.
6. "Beauty Shop," $3.8 million.
7. "Robots," $3.55 million.
8. "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous," $2.9 million.
9. "The Pacifier," $2.4 million.
10. "The Upside of Anger," $1.9 million.