Rob Thomas Goes It Alone
Carlos Santana didn't play a note on . . . Something to Be, the just-released solo debut from Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas -- but the album wouldn't exist without him. Six years ago, Santana rescued Thomas from radio-rock facelessness, enlisting him to co-write and sing on the slinky pop smash "Smooth."
"Carlos kind of fortified my belief that 'Hey, I'm a songwriter, and this is what I'm supposed to do,'" says Thomas, who launched his first solo tour on April 15th. "And it just gave me the confidence to be able to say, 'OK, I can step off for the next couple years and just be on my own.'"
It looks like that self-assurance was justified: "Lonely No More," the album's first single -- which borrows the Latin flavor of "Smooth" -- has gone Top Ten on Billboard's pop chart. But Thomas still worries that the heavily produced "Lonely" is too slick. "I don't know, man, this could fucking be career suicide," he says. "I wanted it to be an ultra-pop song, but that is definitely as far to that side as I will go."
The other tracks on the album range from the funk pop of "Fallin' to Pieces" to the John Mellencamp-does-soul tune "Streetcorner Symphony" -- but little of it could be considered rock. For Thomas, though, that's not much of a change. "Matchbox Twenty stopped rocking a long time ago," Thomas says of his on-hiatus band. "I don't think we changed; mainstream rock got heavier, and we stayed kind of the same. I want my next record to be a stripped-down, folky kind of thing -- so why shouldn't this be my pop period?"
Ultimately, however, Thomas wanted to combine his guitar-centric roots with the deeper grooves of urban music. "The thing that gets me off is having tracks that have Tom Petty's guitar player and Dr. Dre's bass player on them," says Thomas, who also recruited John Mayer to play guitar. "I wanted a record that bass players would listen to and go, 'Man, that's funky.'" Adds the album's producer, Matt Serletic, "Rob's always been sort of a soulful singer. This was an opportunity to highlight that."
Thomas is enjoying the solo life -- "You don't have to wait for five guys to get things done" -- but he swears that he is still committed to Matchbox Twenty, who have released three platinum albums since 1996. "We've broken up so many times that I don't imagine it ever sticking," he says. "But we were uninspired. If we had made a record now, we would become every bad thing critics have said about us."
Hiatt Teams With Allstars For New Album
Singer/songwriter John Hiatt is backed by North Mississippi Allstars sibling duo Cody and Luther Dickinson on his upcoming album, "Master of Disaster." Due June 21 via New West, the project was produced family patriarch Jim Dickinson and also features longtime Muscle Shoals studio bassist David Hood.
"Master of Disaster" will be released as a Super Audio CD with a standard stereo mix as well as a high-resolution mix playable only on SACD-compatible devices. Raves Jim Dickinson of the latter mix, "It's like being in the room with first generation audio."
Hiatt's tour in support of the album will find him backed by the Allstars, who will also play their own opening set at some shows. The outing begins June 23 in Albany, N.Y.
"Master of Disaster" is the follow-up to 2003's "Beneath This Gruff Exterior," which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.
Here are John Hiatt's tour dates:
June 23: Albany, N.Y. (Hart Theatre)
June 24: Northampton, Mass. (Calvin Theatre)
June 25: New York (Webster Hall)
June 27: Hampton Beach, N.J. (Hampton Beach Casino)
June 28: Vienna, Va. (Wolf Trap)
June 29: Knoxville, Tenn. (Tennessee Theatre)
June 30: Columbus, Ohio (Promowest Pavilion)
July 2: Bloomington, Ind. (Axis)
July 3: Detroit (Comerica TasteFest)
July 4: Chicago (Taste of Chicago)
July 5: Milwaukee (Summerfest)
July 6: Apple Valley, Wis. (Music in the Zoo)
July 8: Boise, Idaho (Eagle Park Pavilion)
July 9: Portland, Ore. (Oregon Zoo Amphitheatre)
July 10: Seattle (South Lake Union Park)
July 11: Vancouver (Commodore Ballroom)
July 13: Medford, Ore. (Britt Festivals)
July 14: San Jose, Calif. (Plaza de Cesar Chavez)
July 16: Los Angeles (House of Blues)
July 17: Phoenix (Celebrity Theatre)
July 18: Tucson, Ariz. (Rialto Theatre)
July 20: Denver (Botantical Gardens)
July 21: Boulder, Col. (Chautauqua Auditorium)
July 23: Austin, Texas (Stubb's BBQ)
July 24: Dallas (Gypsy Ballroom)
July 27: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Revolution)
July 28: Tampa, Fla. (Jannus Landing)
July 29: Asheville, N.C. (Bele Chere)
July 30: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
July 31: Atlanta (Botanical Garden)
Aug. 3: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)
Aug. 4: Oyster Bay, N.Y. (FOTA Pavilion)
Coldplay Album Is High Stakes Gamble for EMI
LONDON (Reuters) - British group Coldplay, whose much delayed album is finally hitting the airwaves, could be the band that makes or breaks music giant EMI.
"This is the high stakes album of the year for EMI," said Numis Securities analyst Paul Richards of the world's third largest music group.
EMI Group shares fell 16 percent in February after it blamed delays in releasing key albums for lower than expected profits.
So a great deal is riding on the success of "X & Y," the follow-up to Coldplay's breakthrough second album "Rush of Blood to the Head" which sold more than 10 million copies.
"All eyes will be on the performance of this new album," Richards said. "They are certainly flavor of the month."
"Speed of Sound," the first single from the new album, was played on BBC Radio Monday, Coldplay are staging an MTV live invite-only gig in London Tuesday, and yet the album is still not being released until June 6.
Coldplay's perfectionist lead singer Chris Martin, who is married to Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, admits the pressure of expectation is getting to him.
Fears of the "Tall Poppy Syndrome" -- critics cutting them down after acclaiming the last album -- abound.
"When you're playing new songs, you tread a fine line between arrogance and, well, fear. It's a line we tread quite badly," he confessed at a U.S. charity concert in Los Angeles last month.
Martin called the making of Coldplay's third album "one of the most difficult experiences of my life."
"Lighten Up" is the message from the music industry to Coldplay, which scrapped many of the songs for the new album last year and went back to the studio, much to the chagrin of record executives.
"Sometimes they put too much pressure on themselves to make the greatest album ever," said Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for the 200 HMV retail stores across Britain and Ireland.
"All the elements are in place for a successful long-term career. They have real staying power and have not only got a big and loyal following in Britain but have also been able to connect in America and the rest of the world," he told Reuters.
He too highlighted how big the stakes were -- and not just for the group.
"With share prices so sensitive and responsive to individual acts, all analysts become music experts. It seems the prospects of a whole company are riding on this album," Castaldo said.
Coldplay may never match the popularity of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but pop critics believe they are up there as one of the world's top rock groups.
"Coldplay follow a tradition of great British bands," said Julian Marshall, news editor of New Musical Express.
"I have heard the full record. It is easily as strong as their last album. I think they are now up there with U2."
Sting Teaches Star-Struck Music Students
CHICAGO (Reuters) - British singer Sting went back to the classroom this week, assuming the role of a musical mentor for a group of college students.
The one-time school teacher surprised students in a music composition class at the University of Illinois at Chicago, barging in with MTV cameras in tow to speak and jam with them on Monday.
The students, who had been told that their regular class was going to be filmed for a promotional video for the university, erupted in cheers as Sting and his band entered through a side door.
He started by playing "Message In A Bottle," a hit with the Police, the rock trio that he led to fame during the 1970s and '80s. Sting played an electric bass, accompanied by two acoustic guitars and a shaker.
He later took questions from the audience, discussing unusual time signatures, his music influences and his composition techniques.
"A blank page terrifies me, that's why I tour so much," Sting said of his own songwriting experience. "The more I figure out about music, the more I realize I haven't a clue."
He advised the students not to sweat the details and to keep playing music as a way to nourish the soul.
"We're not building cathedrals of sound here, we're building sheds," he said.
He finished the class inviting the students to join him and his band in an extended jam of his biggest hit, "Every Breath You Take."
"It was amazing," said junior Jenne Lennon after Sting asked her to play a solo on her Native American flute during the jam session. "Opportunities like that come only once in a lifetime, and I'm completely shocked."
The class was filmed for a program called "Stand In," which will air on mtvU next Monday. MTV's 24-hour college network, mtvU is available to about 6.4 million students on 700 campuses nationwide.
Sting is currently touring college campuses and other venues backed by only two guitarists and a drummer, a configuration reminiscent of his days with the Police.
Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany Is New Pope
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a hard-line guardian of conservative doctrine, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI and called himself "a simple, humble worker."
2 Cdn. films to compete at Cannes
PARIS (CP) - Canada's premier film directors, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg, will be going head to head for the top prize, the Golden Palm, at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next month.
Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies, said to be his most commercially accessible film to date, will compete for the top honour with David Cronenberg's A History of Violence at the 12-day festival which opens May 11.
The two Canadian titles will be among 20 from 13 countries in competition at the 58th festival, organizers announced Tuesday. The Golden Palm winner will be announced May 21.
A third Canuck entry will screen out of competition. Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a documentary by Toronto-based newcomer Stuart Samuels. All three will be world premieres.
Egoyan and Cronenberg had films at Cannes in 2002. Cronenberg's Spider was in competition, however, while Egoyan's Ararat was not. Cronenberg also entered Crash in competition in 1996 while Egoyan entered Exotica in '94, The Sweet Hereafter in '97 and Felicia's Journey in '99. The last time two Canadian filmmakers were in competition was 33 years ago, in 1972, says Stephen Lan, a spokesman for Telefilm Canada.
This year's festival is headed by the Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica. The festival opens with one of three French films, Dominik Moll's Lemming.
Other selections include Last Days by American director Gus Van Sant, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada by actor Tommy-Lee Jones, Don't Come Knockin' by Germany's Wim Wenders, Manderlay by Denmark's Lars Von Trier, and L'enfant by Belgium's Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.
Movies by two legendary American directors beloved to the French will be among those presented out of competition: Woody Allen's Match Point and George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
A British movie, Chromophobia by director Martha Fiennes, will close the night of honours on May 21, although a rerun of the winning movie be shown on the final day, May 22.
A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and William Hurt and is based on the graphic book by John Wagner. It is the story of a quiet small-town man whose act of heroism plunges him into the media spotlight and the kind of exposure he doesn't want.
Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies stars Colin Firth, Kevin Bacon, Alison Lohman and Maury Chaykin in a noirish story set in the 1950s about the decadent side of fame and fortune and how two decades later a writer decides to unearth a buried scandal.
Egoyan was reported to be rushing to have the film completed in time for its Cannes screening.
Here are the 20 films competing in the 58th Cannes Film Festival, starting May 11. Films are shown according to country and in alphabetical order:
Canada
-David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
-Atom Egoyan, Where the Truth Lies
China
-Johnny To, Election
-Xiaoshuai Wang, Shanghai Dreams
Belgium
-Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenner, L'Enfant (The Child)
Denmark
-Lars Von Trier, Manderlay
France
-Dominik Moll, Lemming (festival opener)
-Michael Haneke, Austrian, Cache (Hidden)
-Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Peindre ou Faire l'Amour (Paint Or Make Love)
Germany
-Wim Wenders, Don't Come Knockin'
Israel
-Amos Gitai, Free Zone
Iraq (Kurdistan)
-Hiner Saleem, Kilometer Zero
Italy
-Marco Tullio Giordana, Quando Sei Nato Non Puoi Piu Nasconderti (Once You Are Born)
Japan
-Masahiro Kobayashi, Bashing
Mexico
-Carlos Reygadas, Batalla en el Cielo (Battle in Heaven)
Taiwan
-Hsiao-Hsien Hou, The Best of our Times
United States
-Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers
-Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
-Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, Sin City
-Gus Van Sant, Last Days
Out of Competition
Great Britain
-Martha Fiennes, Chromophobia (festival closer)
CUT IT OUT ALREADY
How much "Meet the Fockers" do we really need?
Even its director admits that the new, extended cut of the Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller hit comedy, out today on DVD, is "very indulgent."
"It was long for a comedy in the first place," says Jay Roach of the original 115-minute theatrical cut.
Extended versions are a burgeoning trend in DVDs, with virtually every youth-oriented comedy "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" among them being offered in a longer, "unrated" version.
"I have always called this the indulgent cut," Roach says of the new, eight-minute-longer version. "It's very presumptive to think people will want to watch more."
Nevertheless, he says, there were "literally hours and hours" of extra material, because co-stars Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand "can improv like crazy."
Unfortunately, those aren't the scenes that made it into the longer cut though some of them are included in 12 or so additional minutes of deleted scenes not included in the extended version.
Restored instead is a scene where Stiller presents Hoffman with a "World's Best Dad" trophy and Hoffman responds by saying "I'm sorry if I'm been a little smothering for the first 36 years of your life."
Other additions expand the role of Tim Blake Nelson, briefly seen in the theatrical cut as a state trooper who arrests the elder Fockers.
Nelson is now seen interrogating the Fockers and finding a cache of sex-instruction tapes in their car trunk. (Streisand's Roz Focker is a sex therapist.)
"It made me howl, but we needed to pick up the pace a bit," Roach says of deleting the scene originally.
With a few exceptions like the longer, DVD release of "Ray" that some critics thought was superior to the theatrical cut most extended versions aren't worth the extra time you spending watching them.
"Really, what I saw of 'Meet the Fockers' was plenty," says Time magazine critic and film historian Richard Schickel. "I wonder if many of these so-called director's cuts are just a way to market a video twice."
Schickel supervised an extended version of Sam Fuller's 1980 World War II drama "The Big Red One," which will be released next month by Warner Home Video. "It's pretty rare when you can find and restore 50 minutes of a film, which was butchered by the studio," he said.
But DVDs give studios huge incentives to scour their vaults.
The recent DVD release of the 1944 thriller "Laura" included a lengthy fashion- oriented montage cut from the original release because studio bosses thought it was too "decadent" during World War II.
Later this year, Sony Home Video will offer a new version of Sam Peckinpah's 1966 Charlton Heston Western "Major Dundee" that not only adds 12 minutes of cut footage, but also a new score more in keeping with the late director's wishes.
KERMIT OF OZ
THe Muppets are invading the Land of Oz.
The famous story of a Kansas girl who finds out the hard way that there's no place like home has been adapted for the Muppets.
Kermit is the Scarecrow, Fozzie Bear the Cowardly Lion and Gonzo the Tin Man (or "Tin Thing," as they say here).
Miss Piggy? Why she is the Wicked Witch of the West, of course.
Queen Latifah plays Auntie Em to singer Ashanti's Dorothy in this contemporary retelling of the original L. Frank Baum book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
ABC takes great pains to emphasize the movie is based on the 1900 book, not the 1939 Judy Garland film, which strayed broadly from the book.
"The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" airs May 20 on ABC, but the movie is unusual enough to get a live, sneak preview next week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The Couch Potato Report - April 23rd, 2005
This week The Couch Potato Report features some parents we haven't met yet, some flying daggers and a birth.
Expectations.
I talk a lot about expectations here on The Couch Potato Report. Specifically I speak about my expectations toward some films and how my expectations usually aren't met.
Yes, on several occasions, I have spoken about how my expectations were met or surpassed, but I must admit, you will usually hear me talking about how one movie or another was less than I expected.
And I am going to do that once again this week.
In October of 2000 a film was released called MEET THE PARENTS. It starred Ben Stiller of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and Oscar winner Robert De Niro of THE GODFATHER II and RAGING BULL.
Stiller played a male nurse named Greg Focker who wants to meet his girlfriend's parents before he proposes marriage.
De Niro was the woman's suspicious father.
Through actual interrogation and mind games he tormented his potential future son-in-law to make sure he was worthy of entry into his family's "circle of trust."
Stiller's exceptional comedic abilities, and the serious nature of De Niro made MEET THE PARENTS one of the funniest films of the last decade.
Even 5 years later, after repeated viewings, it still makes me laugh.
So, with that glowing recap of MEET THE PARENTS, you can imagine my expectations for its sequel!
MEET THE FOCKERS was released in theaters last December and has since gone on to become the top-grossing live-action comedy in history with almost $280 million in Box Office dollars to its credit.
I too spent my money to see it, and yes, my expectations were high.
And yes, my expectations were - once again - not justly rewarded.
In MEET THE FOCKERS De Niro and his family climb into their new bulletproof motor home with Stiller, and De Niro's infant grandson from his other daughter, for a trip to Florida to meet Stiller's parents.
Barbra Streisand plays Stiller's mother, and I was disappointed when I heard she had been cast because she hadn't made a comedy in twenty-four years.
But I have to admit that she is great in the film and the world of comedies has missed her!
Welcome back, Babs!
Dustin Hoffman plays Stiller's stay at home lawyer father and he is the best part about the film. He is warm and caring and very funny!
Unfortunately, once you get past the film's incredible cast the movie isn't any better than average.
If you want to watch a movie that is a side-splittingly funny comedy, that an abundance clever writing and witty repartee, then MEET THE FOCKERS just isn't the movie for you.
Instead, it is just a mildly amusing follow-up to the very funny - and far superior - MEET THE PARENTS.
But, MEET THE FOCKERS is worth your time, expectations or no expectations!
The Hoffman-Streisand-Stiller family are so good in this movie that I recommend it just for them. The movie lets them down, but their performances won't let you down.
The Fockers are great, even if MEET THE FOCKERS isn't.
So no, my expectations weren't met when I watched MEET THE FOCKERS, but they were met, and exceeded, when I saw HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS.
HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS has a great deal in common with the Oscar winning film CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and it shares the director and star of last year's superb martial arts epic HERO.
All three films use unique martial arts choreography with incredible wire and stunt work to create fight scenes that have to be seen to be believed.
But no matter how much it is like the other two films, HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS manages to differentiate itself due to the amount of plot twists and double crossings.
In the movie two government officers set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers.
Their only chance to find the rebels is blind women who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own.
In addition to the superb actions scenes and great acting in HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS, the film is a treat for the eyes! That is due to the movie's use of colours.
This is a visually stunning film that exceeded my expectations!
I have often used the words "visually stunning" to describe Nicole Kidman. Even when she appears in bad films like THE STEPFORD WIVES, COLD MOUNTAIN or THE HUMAN STAIN she is still visually stunning.
But even her looks can't save her new to video and DVD film BIRTH.
BIRTH is an interesting, yet failed movie about a young boy who claims to be the reincarnated husband of a widow. You might remember this film as the one that received some attention last year as Kidman appears naked in a bathtub with a ten-year-old boy.
Even if she is still visually stunning, Nicole Kidman can't save BIRTH.
That is too bad as the film was very interesting at the start, but the filmmakers didn't seem to know how to end their movie.
The ending was plausible, but it took away the leap of faith that the rest of the movie asked you to take.
As a result, BIRTH is ultimately unsatisfying. BUT, Nicole Kidman is still visually stunning.
BIRTH, HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS and MEET THE FOCKERS are all available now on video and DVD.
COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS is the film based on the popular series of kids books by Daniel Handler. Jim Carrey plays Count Olaf in this hilarious story about three orphans who are shuttled from one relative to the next. Meryl Streep and Jude Law also star.
In THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON a man plans an assassination attempt on President Nixon in 1974. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle from HOTEL RWANDA lead the cast.
SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL: THE JOURNEY OF ROMEO DALLAIRE is the real life story of Canadian Lt. Gen. Romιo Dallaire, and his controversial command of the United Nations mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
Finally next week there is the BEACHES * SPECIAL EDITION. Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey star in the 1988 drama about a 30-year friendship between two women.
I'm Dan Reynish and I will have more on BEACHES, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON and LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, and some other releases in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next week on The Couch!
Isle to Aisle
Did Mariano and Brkich tie the knot?
Between their Survivor appearances and their current travels on The Amazing Race 7, Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich have traveled the globe for CBS, but their latest port of call, on CBS' dime, was reportedly a Bahamas wedding on Saturday. So far, CBS has kept mum, but Brkich's hometown paper, the Beaver County Times in Beaver, Pa., reports that the pair's secret nuptials were to take place on Saturday at a Caribbean resort, and that CBS filmed the ceremony for broadcast on May 24, the second-to-last night of May ratings sweeps, opposite the final performance episode of Fox's American Idol.
Despite the confidentiality agreements that the couple and their guests signed with the network, the Times reports that locals in the small town spotted CBS camera crews with Brkich at her bridal shower at a local country club and at an area bridal shop. The Times also reported that much of the wedding party departed on Wednesday for the Bahamas for the weekend ceremony.
Mariano and Brkich became an item during the filming of 2004's Survivor: All-Stars, where she won the $1 million jackpot and he was the runner-up. Their winning ways have continued on Amazing Race, whose finale is May 10.
Already, they've won trips to Monaco, London, and conveniently enough, the Bahamas. So it looks like CBS will be footing the bill for the million-dollar couple's honeymoon as well.
Paul McCartney gears up for new album, U.S. tour
Paul McCartney--who last toured the U.S. in 2002--returns to the country for a fall roadtrip that will back his next album.
The run kicks off Sept. 16 in Miami and is currently slated to touch down in 26 cities, including a Nov. 29 finale in Los Angeles; a lone Canadian stop is also planned. Tickets will begin hitting box offices Saturday (4/23) for some shows, according to McCartney's website.
The itinerary finds McCartney returning to some cities--such as Miami and Seattle--for the first time in almost 15 years, and making his first-ever stops in Des Moines, IA; and Omaha, NE, according to organizers.
Fans can expect to hear material from McCartney's Beatles, Wings and solo careers, as well as songs that "have yet to be or haven't been performed on American soil in nearly 15 years," according to a press release. Among the new numbers will likely be cuts from McCartney's follow-up to 2001's "Driving Rain"; neither a title nor a release date for the new set has been announced.
"We are looking forward to playing again in America," McCartney said in a statement. "They know how to have a good time and we're there to give it to them. It'll be fun to visit some new places, to see some old faces and to do things a bit differently this time. We're ready to rock."
Backing McCartney on stage will be drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray and keyboardist Paul "Wix" Wickens.
Tour Itinerary
September 2005
16 - Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena
17 - Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
20 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
22 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center
26 - Boston, MA - BankNorth Garden
October 2005
4, 5 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
8 - Washington, DC - MCI Center
10 - Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
14 - Auburn Hills, MI - Palace Of Auburn Hills
18 - Chicago, IL - United Center
22 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center
23 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center
26 - Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
27 - Des Moines, IA - Wells Fargo Arena
30 - Omaha, NE - Qwest Center Omaha
November 2005
1 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
3 - Seattle, WA - KeyArena at Seattle Center
4 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden Arena
7 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion At San Jose
11 - Anaheim, CA - Arrowhead Pond
16 - Sacramento, CA - ARCO Arena
19 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
20 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
23 - Glendale, AZ - Glendale Arena
25, 26 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
29 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
BBC Confirms New 'Doctor Who'
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Although Christopher Eccleston's first season as the star of "Dr. Who" is drumming up huge audiences on The BCC, the popular sci fi franchise has already moved forward. The BCC has confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in fandom, announcing that David Tennant will be the 10th actor to star in "Doctor Who."
"Christopher Eccleston has given an exceptional performance as the ninth Doctor," Julie Gardner, BBC head of drama, Wales says. "David Tennant is a great actor who will build on the excellent work already done by Christopher in establishing 'Doctor Who' for a new generation."
Tennant and Eccleston appeared together in Michael Winterbottom's 1996 adaptation of "Jude." The Scottish actor is a British television veteran, but he's probably an unknown to American viewers who haven't caught his performances in features including "Bright Young Things."
"I am delighted, excited and honored to be the tenth Doctor," Tennant says. "I grew up loving 'Doctor Who' and it has been a lifelong dream to get my very own Tardis. Russell T. Davies is one of the best writers television has ever had, and I'm chuffed to bits to get the opportunity to work with him again. I'm also really looking forward to working with Billie Piper who is so great as Rose."
Clearly, many parts of that statement make more sense if you're British or a "Doctor Who" fan. Davies, writer and executive producer on the most recent "Who" is also, um, chuffed.
"Christopher Eccelston's wonderful Doctor has reinvented the role, so that it now appeals to the best actors in the land," Davies says. "I'm already writing David's first new adventure on board the Tardis. Regeneration is a huge part of the program's mythology, and I'm delighted that new, young viewers can now have the complete 'Doctor Who' experience, as they witness their hero change his face."
Alanis Going Acoustic On Summer Tour
As exclusively revealed here last month, Alanis Morissette will embark on her first acoustic tour this summer in support of a newly recorded acoustic edition of her landmark 1995 debut album, "Jagged Little Pill." The tour will begin June 7 in Toronto, to be followed by the Maverick album six days later. The set will be sold exclusively by Starbucks for the first six weeks.
"We'll play the album from start to finish," the artist told Billboard recently of the summer jaunt, "although we'll probably play around some with the order. We'll also throw in some other songs from the last 10 years." Morissette added she is in no way saying goodbye to these songs: "I'll be playing them until I'm dead."
The six-week jaunt will play theatres through a July 17 finale in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Here are Alanis Morissette's tour dates:
June 7: Toronto (Hummingbird Centre)
June 8: Detroit (Masonic Temple)
June 10: Minneapolis (Orpheum Theatre)
June 11: Chicago (Auditorium Theatre)
June 14: Philadelphia (venue TBA)
June 15: New York (Radio City Music Hall)
June 17: Boston (Wang Theatre)
June 18: Baltimore (Meyerhoff Symphony Hall)
June 20: Cincinnati (Aronoff Center)
June 21: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
June 22: Atlanta (Fox Theatre)
June 24: Miami (Jackie Gleason Theatre)
June 25: Clearwater, Fla. (Ruth Eckerd Hall)
June 26: Orlando, Fla. (Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre)
June 28: New Orleans (Saenger Theatre)
June 29: Houston (Jones Hall)
June 30: Ft. Worth, Texas (Bass Hall)
July 2: St. Louis (Fox Theatre)
July 3: Kansas City, Mo. (Midland Theatre)
July 5: Denver (Paramount Theatre)
July 8: Portland, Ore. (Schnitzer Hall)
July 9: Vancouver (Orpheum Theatre)
July 10: Seattle (Paramount Theatre)
July 12: Oakland, Calif. (Paramount Theatre)
July 13: Los Angeles (Walt Disney Concert Hall)
July 15: San Diego (Copley Symphony Hall)
July 16: Phoenix (Dodge Theatre)
July 17: Costa Mesa, Calif. (Orange County Performing Arts Center)