Live 8: Moscow Joins Roster, Young To Play Canada
Live 8 has added a concert in Moscow's Red Square, ensuring that all of the G8 industrialized nations will be represented at Saturday's (July 2) event. At deadline, the only act confirmed for the show was the Pet Shop Boys. Last week, a concert was added in Tokyo, featuring Bjork, Good Charlotte and McFly.
Live 8 will now encompass 10 shows in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Philadelphia, Barrie, Ont., Johannesburg and Eden Project in southwest England. AOL Music will cybercast each show live.
It was also confirmed today that the Barrie show will be closed by Neil Young, making one of his first live appearances since suffering a brain aneurysm in March. He will be accompanied for select songs by the Fisk University Jubilee Choir.
Meanwhile, Sheryl Crow has dropped off the Paris bill due to "substantial logistical and personal challenges," according to her official Web site.
Simpson, Southern Rock Lead 'Hazzard' Soundtrack
Led by Jessica Simpson's rendition of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walkin'," Columbia will on July 19 release the soundtrack to the upcoming film "The Dukes of Hazzard." Fans can sample the song and view the accompanying Brett Ratner-directed video on Simpson's official Web site.
The soundtrack opens and closes with a joke from Uncle Jesse, played in the film by Willie Nelson. In between are a bevy of southern/blues rock favorites, including Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's "Pride and Joy," the James Gang's "Funk #49," Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster" and a live version of the Allman Brothers Band's "One Way Out."
In addition, Nelson has recorded a new version of "Good Ol' Boys," the Waylon Jennings-voiced theme song for the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show. As previously reported, Volcano/Legacy today (June 28) reissues the original 1981 soundtrack from the show.
Simpson stars in "The Dukes of Hazzard" as Daisy Duke, sister to Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville). Burt Reynolds stars as Boss Hogg. The film opens Aug. 5 in U.S. theaters.
Here is the track list for "The Dukes of Hazzard":
"Uncle Jesse Tells a Joke," Willie Nelson
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," Jessica Simpson
"One Way Out" (live), Allman Brothers Band
"Pride and Joy," Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
"Call Me the Breeze," Lynyrd Skynyrd
"The South's Gonna Do It Again," the Charlie Daniels Band
"Flirtin' With Disaster," Molly Hatchet
"Hillbilly Shoes," Montgomery Gentry
"Black Betty," Ram Jam
"Soul City," Southern Culture On The Skids
"Change My Mind," the Blueskins
"Burn It Off," Blues Explosion
"Funk #49," James Gang
"Good Ol' Boys," Willie Nelson
"Uncle Jesse Tells Another Joke," Willie Nelson
De Palma To Retouch The Untouchables
Movie mogul Brian De Palma is revisiting his epic gangster film The Untouchables almost 20 years after it became a huge hit. The filmmaker is keen to make prequel The Untouchables: Capone Rising in time for the 20th anniversary of the 1987 original. The story will focus upon the young Al Capone as he rises to become a Chicago, Illinois criminal kingpin. The original film centered upon lawmaker Elliot Ness' efforts to arrest the infamous gangster, played by Robert De Niro.
ABC to broadcast Live 8 concert special
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ABC television has locked up U.S. broadcast rights for the upcoming worldwide series of Live 8 concerts for African debt relief, with plans to air two hours of highlights from the shows in prime time, the network said on Tuesday.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned network licensed TV rights to the Live 8 performances from America Online, a unit of Time Warner Inc., which also owns North American and European Internet rights to the shows, an AOL spokesman said.
AOL plans to stream six of the eight concerts simultaneously on the Web, free of charge, making the event one of the most ambitious tests of live online entertainment, organizers said.
The shows also will be archived and made available on demand for about six weeks after the concerts in Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Toronto, Tokyo and South Africa.
The concerts, organized by Irish rocker Bob Geldof, are intended to raise awareness of poverty in Africa and to press world leaders at the Group of Eight summit of the world's richest nations to increase humanitarian aid and ease Third World debt.
Highlights for ABC's two-hour special, airing July 2, will include performances by Paul McCartney, U2 and the chart-topping British rock band Coldplay, the network said.
The Live 8 extravaganza will be aired in about 160 countries in all, reaching an estimated 5.9 billion potential television viewers, organizers said.
"It's the biggest entertainment event in television history," said Kevin Wall, an executive producer of the Live 8 broadcast.