NHL, Players OK Agreement to End Lockout
NEW YORK - Open the arenas, break out the skates and fire up the Zamboni. The NHL is back. After losing an entire season to a lockout, players and owners ended an all-night bargaining session Wednesday by reaching their goal: a tentative deal, expected to include a salary cap, that virtually ensures hockey will return this fall.
The six-year pact still needs to be ratified by both sides. The players' association has scheduled a members meeting in Toronto next week, while the NHL board of governors plans to gather next Thursday in New York for a vote.
"It's a new day," Philadelphia Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It's pretty exciting."
And about time.
"At the end of the day everybody lost," said Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's career scoring leader and the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes. "We almost crippled our industry. It was very disappointing what happened."
The last round of negotiations began Tuesday at noon and culminated around noon Wednesday with a joint news release announcing the deal.
Though details won't be released until both sides approve it, a salary cap would be something players' union executive director Bob Goodenow never wanted.
Once everyone signs off on the deal, the league can begin the difficult task of gaining public support. No matter who won or lost, the fight cost the NHL a full season.
"To be totally honest, I really don't care what the deal is anymore. All I care about is getting the game back on the ice," Flyers star Jeremy Roenick said in a telephone interview during a celebrity golf event in Nevada.
"I think the deal is not great for the players. It is definitely an owner-friendly deal. For the last 10 years, the players have made a lot of money and now we are in a position where everybody is going to make money," he said. "Unfortunately, it had to take a whole year to get to a point where we could have been last year."
This lockout was worse than any in sports, dwarfing the one that cut the 1994-95 hockey season nearly in half and resulted in the agreement that expired last September.
In February, commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the season, making the NHL the first North American sports league to lose a year because of a labor dispute.
"I don't want to get to the relief point yet until everything's finalized," said Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford, a former goalie. "What we went through was necessary. We had to get some controls on our business and certainly I'm hoping that's what this new agreement does."
While the NHL seems to have gotten what it wanted, there is no way to measure the damage done to a sport that already was the least popular of the four major leagues in the United States.
"That's going to be our next big step — winning back the fans," said Nashville Predators forward Jim McKenzie, a 15-year NHL veteran. "We'll have our work cut out for us."
If all goes according to plan, a scaled-down draft is expected to be held later this month and training camps will open in September from Vancouver to Miami. NHL games will be back on the schedule in October.
"It'll be a great thing to get the game back up," Columbus Blue Jackets coach Gerard Gallant said.
Selling the sport might take a while longer.
During the lockout, disgruntled Buffalo fan Doug Sitler sold more than 15,000 magnetic car ribbons that read: "I need my hockey fix(ed)."
"I think it's going to take a little bit of time for people to get back in the swing of things," he said. "But sports fans are pretty fickle. They have short memories. They really do."
It took all night and then some for the final round of negotiations to produce an agreement.
The sides met for 10 straight days in New York, and it became clear Wednesday morning — the 301st day of the lockout — that they weren't going to leave the room without an agreement.
The expected salary cap likely will have a ceiling of $39 million and a minimum around $22 million.
Player salaries will not exceed 54 percent of league-wide revenues, expected to be around $1.8 billion. Players will also put money into escrow, and after each season that will be used to balance out the set percentage based on actual revenues.
Bettman warned in February that offers the union passed up were better than any it would see once a year of hockey was lost.
Just days before the season was wiped out, the players' association said for the first time it would accept a salary cap if the league dropped its desire to link player costs to revenues.
That started a wild week that included the cancellation of the season Feb. 16 and a false hope three days later that it would be saved. Even Gretzky and Mario Lemieux — superstars turned executives — couldn't resurrect it during an emergency bargaining session in New York.
Negotiations resumed in mid-March.
Bettman promised "cost certainty" in the form of a hard salary cap to the owners and he has gotten it.
The landscape of the NHL will be quite different than it was in June 2004 when the Tampa Bay Lightning skated off with the Stanley Cup in the league's last game before the lockout. For the first time since a flu epidemic in 1919, there was no Stanley Cup champion in 2005.
When the league relaunches in the fall, it will do so with a new salary structure that keeps high-spending teams such as Detroit, Toronto, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers in check.
The first order of business after ratification will be to get a majority of the players signed. The belief is that last season's contracts will be wiped from the books, leaving many players without deals.
Those who are still under contract will have their salaries reduced by 24 percent, a concept first proposed by the union last December. Some high-priced players will also be on the market as teams pare payrolls to get down to the cap.
Even with the salary rollback, nine teams would've been over the cap based on payrolls at the end of the 2003-04 season.
There will also be rules changes, some that could include the size of goaltender equipment to a shootout to eliminate tie games.
"Our focus right now, from the coaches standpoint, is we're waiting to see what our roster is going to look like and what the playing rules are going to look like," Hitchcock said.
The draft was supposed to be held last month in Ottawa, and the Canadian capital might get to host the event soon.
Junior hockey phenom Sidney Crosby is the consensus choice to be the No. 1 pick. Where he goes will be determined by a weighted draft lottery that will give each team some opportunity to snag him.
NBC will start its two-year television deal a year late, but the NHL still needs to find a cable partner.
"We are thrilled for the fans that hockey is returning to the ice, and we're delighted to be the network television partner of the NHL as it moves into what I believe will be an exciting new era," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.
The deal finally came down during sport's biggest lull of the year — the baseball All-Star break.
The NHL probably won't hold such an event until 2007 as next year's All-Star game is expected to be replaced by an Olympic break, allowing for players to represent their countries in Turin, Italy.
Another Re-Issue I will Have To Buy
In news today, Universal has officially announced the Mallrats: 10th Anniversary Extended Edition for release on 9/20 (SRP $26.98).
The DVD will feature two versions of the film via seamless branching - the original theatrical version and a new extended version that includes 30 minutes of new footage. Extras will include new cast interviews, a 'multi-angle' commentary, the A Look Back at Mallrats, The Making of Mallrats and A Cast Reunion featurettes and more.
Beatles breakup film due on DVD
Could the end of the long, long winding road to the release on DVD of the Beatles' 1970 breakup flick, Let It Be, actually be in sight?
According to Beatles Anthology director Bob Smeaton, the Let It Be DVD, punched up with "remarkable bonus material," will be released in September. Smeaton told a Denver, Colo., radio station that the DVD release had been delayed due to the sheer volume of film stock shot, and colour restoration issues.
Although Smeaton did not identify any of the extra material, Beatles fans are clamoring for a 5.1 surround sound mix, and the inclusion of what's known as the complete rooftop gig. That's the Jan. 30, 1969, 35-minute show played by the Fab Four on the roof of their London headquarters, but which was only partially shown in the film.
Good quality audio-only bootlegs of the complete show are in circulation, but film of the mini concert has remained secure in Apple Corps vaults.
The original 80-minute Let It Be film, unavailable on home video for over 20 years, is expected on DVD to be fleshed out with original Nagra audio recordings that went missing from Apple in the early '70s, but which were recovered in a police raid on bootleggers in the Netherlands in January 2003.
The recovered tapes would allow some film footage that was without original sound to be used for the DVD, including many Beatles takes of old time rock 'n' roll and jam sessions.
Also on the reissue front, George Harrison's 1971 Concert For Bangladesh on both remastered CD and DVD will be released Oct. 25.
Early reports say that the reissued Concert For Bangladesh, perhaps the first all-star rock benefit of its time, will also contain extra material, including a song by Bob Dylan left off the original three-album deluxe box set.
Details are sketchy, but some Internet Beatles news sites suggest that the reissued Bangladesh could contain unissued material from both the matinee and evening performances of the show, held at Madison Square Garden, Aug. 1, 1971, and featuring the likes of Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Leon Russell.
Reportedly, Harrison had been searching unsuccessfully for the master tapes of the concert just prior to his death, but they were eventually located, and the reissue may contain a heretofore unissued Dylan song from the concert.
Finally, Sir Paul McCartney will be touring this fall behind a new release, his first since 2001. Chaos And Creation In The Back Yard, said to be "a return to basics" for McCartney, will debut Sept. 13.
Springfield's New "Day"
Eighties heartthrob Rick Springfield has decided to revisit the past on his new album. But on The Day After Yesterday, released Tuesday on his own Gomer label, the fifty-five-year-old rocker is indulging his nostalgia through the songs of others.
A covers collection of tunes Springfield says "I wish I'd written," the new outing is a ballad-heavy affair that may surprise fans familiar with the power-pop of "Jessie's Girl" and "Don't Talk to Strangers."
"I had the phrase 'moody and atmospheric' in mind for this album," explains Springfield. "The last record [2004's Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance] was pretty pedal-to-the-metal, and I wanted this one to be the exact opposite."
There are mainstream selections such as Foreigner's "Waiting For a Girl Like You" and Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings," a duet with Mr. Mister singer Richard Page, who provided background vocals on Springfield's biggest hits. But Yesterday also includes Springfield's takes on Eighties alternative cuts including the Church's "Under the Milky Way," the Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town" and the Blue Nile's "Let's Go Out Tonight," as well as "Blue Rose," by current jazz singer Lizz Wright.
"If a track stood out, it didn't matter what style it was in," says Springfield, who adds that the album's arrangements "stay faithful to the originals, but just try to take advantage of the newer technology."
The lone original, "Cry," was chosen because its melancholy theme seemed to fit the aesthetic. Composed in the late Eighties, when Springfield's career was on the wane and he was going through his "darkest period," the song is "definitely about me, and about letting go and feeling the pain, instead of doing things like drinking."
The disc also features Springfield's take on the Beatles' "For No One" and John Lennon's "Imagine" -- appropriate choices for the Aussie-born, English-raised singer, who covered the Fabs' "Eleanor Rigby" in one of his early Down Under bands, Zoot.
That track, in fact, leads off Written in Rock, a recently released Springfield anthology (which also concludes with "For No One") on Sony/BMG. Springfield picked tracks and wrote liner notes for the double-disc set, the first career retrospective in which he's been personally involved. That, he says, addresses a longtime sore spot.
"I always felt a little used," he says. "I'd put out a new album, and someone would put out a greatest hits album. But when Sony and BMG merged, things changed."
Springfield, who was on the Philadelphia bill for 1985's historic Live Aid concert, is touring extensively this year, even if it means leaving behind Gomer, the twelve-year-old pit bull after whom he named his label.
"Gomer is kicking ass," says Springfield with a laugh. "But he's a studio dog."
Rick Springfield tour dates:
7/15: Manchester, IA, Delaware County Fair
7/23: Minot, ND, State Fair
7/28: St. Paul, MN, Rib America Festival
7/29: St. Louis, Roberts Orpheum Theatre
7/30: Ames, IA, Stephens Auditorium
8/17: Hampton Beach, NH, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
8/19: Red Bank, NJ, Count Basie Theater
8/20: Baltimore, Rams Head Live
8/26: Kansas City, Crown Center
8/27: Florence, IN, Belterra Casino and Resort
9/1: Oshkosh, WI, Waterfront Series
9/2: Indianapolis, Ribfest
9/3: Pontiac, MI, Arts Beats and Eats
9/5: Cleveland, Tower City Amphitheater
9/9: Westlake, LA, Isle of Capri Casino
9/10: Westlake, LA, Isle of Capri Casino
9/16: Robinsonville, MS, Gold Strike Casino
9/17: Biloxi, MS, Isle of Capri Casino
9/23: Waukegan, IL, Genesee Theatre
9/24: Merrillville, IN, Star Plaza Theatre
9/25, Taylorville, IL, Nashville North
9/30: Burgettstown, PA, Pepsi Cola Roadhouse
10/1: Atlantic City, Borgata Hotel and Casino
10/2: Plymouth, MA, Memorial Hall
Grim Weezer: Band's Leather-And-Wolfman 'Drugs' Video Not Their Video At All
Weezer's new video for the song "We Are All on Drugs" features a whole lot of leather, a good amount of medieval chicanery, gratuitous torches, a sweet hovercraft, a bunch of enslaved humans, a really fierce-looking werewolf and absolutely no Weezer.
Or any drugs, for that matter.
In fact, it's not even a real Weezer video — it's the 1985 clip for "Fear No Evil," a tune by British theatrical metal act Grim Reaper, in which the leather-clad rockers storm the stronghold of an evil wolfman and liberate his human slaves with the power of Reaper guitarist Nick Bowcott's axe and pug-faced frontman Steve Grimmett's pipes.
But why did Weez decide to join forces with the Reaper? Well, according to a post on Weezer.com, the whole thing kind of started as a joke, and spiraled out of control from there.
"This video (let's call it 'We Are All on Drugs V1.0') is a cleverly re-edited version of the 'Fear No Evil' video by Grim Reaper," the post reads. "The video was prepared as an experiment and was immediately embraced as funny and strange — not a bad match for Weezer. Mucho thanks and props to Grim Reaper for letting Weezer use the footage."
The video is actually just "We Are All on Drugs" played over the Reaper clip, with a few edits made (Cuomo's vocals now pseudo-sync up with Grimmett's mouth and his guitar solo now matches up with Bowcott's, etc.). According to Weezer's label, Geffen Records, the Grim Reaper version of "Drugs" will only see the light of day in "international" markets (i.e. the U.K. and Canada), and the band fully intends on shooting a proper video for the U.S.
Exactly when that video will be shot remains a bit of a mystery, especially since frontman Rivers Cuomo has wavered back and forth on treatments for the better part of a month. But according to Weezer.com, it'll happen soon enough, and when it does, fans will have two versions of "We Are All on Drugs" to choose from (though one will definitely be heavier on the medieval imagery).
Sammy Hagar plots shows with Wabos, Montrose
Sammy Hagar, who spent last summer on a reunion tour with Van Halen, will head up another revival this summer when he joins his former Montrose bandmates on stage during a handful of shows he'll headline with his current group, The Wabos.
So far, Hagar has lined up five August concerts, three of which will feature Montrose. Details are included in the itinerary below.
During a recent interview with Norway's Metal Express, Hagar outlined what fans can expect if they're attending one of the Montrose dates.
"I'll go out and play an hour and a half, two hours with the Wabos, and then, for the encore, we'll bring Montrose, the original Montrose--you know, [drummer] Denny [Carmassi], [bassist] Bill [Church], myself and [guitarist] Ronnie [Montrose]--and we'll play about 40 minutes of Montrose stuff," he said.
Hagar fronted Montrose in the early '70s, but went solo after a falling out with the group's namesake guitarist. The band's self-titled 1973 debut spawned the cuts "Space Station No. 5," "Bad Motor Scooter" and "Rock Candy."
The Wabos, a backing band that Hagar formed following his 1996 split with Van Halen, features his pre-VH solo-band drummer David Lauser, bassist Mona and former Bus Boys guitarist Victor Johnson. The group was on hiatus for much of 2004 while Hagar mounted an 80-date reunion run with Van Halen, an occurrence that The Wabos won't have to worry about again any time soon, according to Hagar's recent comments to Metal Express.
"I'm not saying that we would never do it again, but some people would have to change, including maybe myself," Hagar said. "Maybe I'm the first guy that should change. But we would have to change. We couldn't just do it the way it was being done. It was falling apart."
Hagar went on to say that the last show on the 2004 Van Halen tour was a "disaster."
"It was a horrible experience," he said. "We had to be pushed off the stage separately, [with] me taken this way and Eddie [Van Halen] taken this way, and Alex [Van Halen] and Michael [Anthony] down the middle, because we were ready to go to blows. It was that bad. So that was horrible. The rest of the tour wasn't that bad, but at the end ... I don't know. Something got crazy."
Before heading out on tour with Van Halen, Hagar and the group recorded three new songs--"It's About Time," "Up for Breakfast" and "Learning to See"--which appeared on last year's two-disc hits collection, "Best of Both Worlds."
Hagar and The Wabos, meanwhile, issued their most recent studio album, "Not 4 Sale," in 2002. The concert set "Live - Hallelujah" followed in 2003.
Last month, Hagar and the Wabos released a cover of the classic Staple Singers hit "I'll Take You There." The cut is available exclusively via Apple's iTunes Music Store.
In October, Hagar and The Wabos will make their annual pilgrimage to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the site of Hagar's Cabo Wabo nightclub. There, they'll celebrate Hagar's 58th birthday with several live performances. Details for the multi-night event--known as the Birthday Bash--have not yet been announced.
Hagar and The Wabos hope to put out a new record soon, but nothing definite is lined up, according to a spokesperson.
August 2005 Shows
6 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre (w/ Montrose)
9 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
11 - San Diego, CA - Harrah's Rincon
13 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Harrah's Tahoe (w/ Montrose)
14 - Concord, CA - Chronicle Pavilion @ Concord (w/ Montrose)
Odds Favor Head-Scratching Emmy Nominations
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) The Primetime Emmy nominations are almost upon us, and there is much speculation that this will be the year that some previously unrecognized series will break through.
With stalwarts like "Friends" and "Frasier" no longer on the air, and "The Sopranos" ineligible on account of its extra-long hiatus, the thinking goes, shows like "Scrubs," "Gilmore Girls" and "Nip/Tuck" might be able to break into the Emmy party. Then there are last season's big hits, "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," which seem all but certain to gobble up a pile of nominations.
Of course, we've been saying that this looks like the year "Scrubs" or "Gilmore Girls" could break through for, what, four years now? And while "Nip/Tuck" wrangled five nominations last year, none went to its actors or writers.
With that in mind, we offer up the following, highly unscientific odds on what will happen at Thursday morning's (July 14) nominations press conference. And remember, odds are for entertainment purposes only.
Odds an FX show will make the outstanding drama series field: 4 to 1.
With "The Sopranos" not competing and last year's surprise, the now-cancelled "Joan of Arcadia," unlikely to make the cut, the field is more open to the likes of "Nip/Tuck," "The Shield" and "Rescue Me." Denis Leary's firefighting drama has received more ink recently, but we wouldn't be surprised if "The Shield," which had the added attraction of Glenn Close this season, makes the cut.
Odds at least one "Will & Grace" cast member will be nominated:
Even. Emmy voters are notoriously set in their ways, and it would be a pretty big upset if none of the long-running NBC show's stars receives yet another nomination -- despite the show's ratings downturn last year.
Odds "Arrested Development" will again be nominated for outstanding comedy series: 3 to 2.
"Desperate Housewives" will likely grab one of the spots in the category and may be favored to win, even if it's not exactly a comedy. But it would be pretty hard to pick four other shows ahead of "Arrested," particularly since the show won the award last year.
Odds ABC will receive more nominations than it did last year: 1 to 5.
ABC had 33 nominations last year. "Desperate Housewives," which could rack up multiple acting and writing nods, and "Lost," which should be a shoo-in for a number of technical categories, to say nothing of the above-the-line people, could get that many just among the two of them.
Odds your favorite WB or UPN show will once again be ignored: Even.
If critics and anythingbut.com readers ran the Emmys, "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars" would be locks in their respective fields. We don't, though, and despite the quality of both shows (to say nothing of "Everwood" or "America's Next Top Model"), the TV Academy's capacity to ignore both networks seems limitless.
Odds you'll say "What the $&#@??" at least one time after seeing the nominees: Even.
Odds Kelsey Grammer will be nominated for outstanding actor in a comedy, just for old time's sake: 50 to 1. But we wouldn't be all that surprised.
Brad Pitt Diagnosed With Viral Meningitis 31 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Actor Brad Pitt has been diagnosed with a mild case of viral meningitis and was released from the hospital Wednesday, his publicist said.
Pitt, 41, checked himself into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Monday night complaining of flu-like symptoms. He went home Wednesday afternoon, publicist Cindy Guagenti said.
"The actor is at home and doing well," she said in a statement.
Most patients recover from viral meningitis in a week. Severe illness and death is uncommon, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Pitt was in Ethiopia last week with his "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star Angelina Jolie to pick up the actress' newly adopted baby girl, the second child she has adopted.
Guagenti declined Wednesday to say if Pitt contracted the illness while in Africa.
The "Troy" and "Fight Club" star separated from "Friends" actress Jennifer Aniston in January after 4 1/2 years of marriage. She filed for divorce in March citing irreconcilable differences.
'Cooter' Urges Fans to Skip 'Dukes' Movie
ATLANTA - If television's "Crazy Cooter" has his way, fans of the "Dukes of Hazzard" may be speeding away from a new movie version of the cornpone classic faster than the Duke boys running from Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane.
Ben Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the wisecracking mechanic on the popular series from 1979-85, said profanity and sexual content in the film make a mockery of the family friendly show.
"Basically, they trashed our show," said Jones, who now lives in the mountains of Washington, Va. "It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking "I Love Lucy" and making her a crackhead or something."
Jones said he read a script of the movie, which is scheduled to be released next month, and that it contained profanity, "constant sexual innuendo and some very clear sexual situations."
On Wednesday, Jones wrote an open letter to fans on his web site, cootersplace.com, urging them to stay away.
"From all I have seen and heard, the "Dukes" movie is a sleazy insult to all of us who have cared about the "Dukes of Hazzard" for so long ... ," Jones wrote. "Unless they clean it up before the August 5th release date I would strongly recommend that true blue Dukes fans hold their noses and pass this one up."
A spokeswoman at Warner Brothers pictures, which is releasing the movie, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment on Wednesday.
"The Dukes of Hazzard" was a surprise hit for CBS, combining with "Dallas" to earn some of the highest Friday-night ratings in television history.
The show pitted "good-ol' boys" Bo and Luke Duke and their moonshine-running Uncle Jesse against the crooked politician Boss Hogg and his bumbling henchman, Sheriff Coltrane, in fictional Hazzard County.
Reruns of the show began airing on the CMT network this year, earning some of the best ratings ever on the country music cable channel.
In the movie, Johnny Knoxville, who made his name on MTV's controversial stuntfest "Jackass," and Seann William Scott, who starred in the raunchy "American Pie" movies, play the main characters.
Pop star turned reality TV icon Jessica Simpson plays Daisy Duke.
Jones was elected to Congress in 1988 as a Democrat. He lost his bid for a third term in 1992 after his district was redrawn, then lost two other bids for House seats, one in Georgia and another in Virginia.
He owns Cooter's Place, a "Dukes" memorabilia shop in Gatlinburg, Tenn. and plans to open another in Nashville. He also is an organizer of "Dukesfest," an annual outdoor concert and convention celebrating the show in Bristol, Tenn.