'Family Guy' DVD for the fans
A new animated comedy DVD -- Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story -- is a big shout out and thank you to the fans of the show.
"Fans saved the show," says Family Guy writer-producer Chris Sheridan, who collaborated on the feature-length, 88-minute movie. It debuted on DVD this week under the banners: "All-new, outrageous, uncensored!" and "Pee-in-your-pants fun!"
Sheridan says: "We wanted to say thanks."
The adult-oriented, animated Family Guy series was revived in May after being cancelled by Fox. Two factors were crucial: DVD box sets of earlier seasons sold millions, and re-runs set records on the Cartoon Network. Fox could not ignore the millons in fresh revenues.
So that saga is savagely lampooned in The Untold Story, along with a fresh Stewie adventure in which he joins the talking dog Brian and the sex-crazed neighbour Quagmire on an epic trip to San Francisco.
The movie is actually three new episodes bound together by a framing device in which the members of the Griffin clan are stars going to their movie premiere. The Griffins are allowed to break the fourth wall and exist outside their own show, allowing for the Fox insults.
"The fans are just clamouring for it," Sheridan told The Toronto Sun about the revived show and now the new DVD during a Toronto visit with co-writers Steve Callaghan and Mike Henry (who is also the voice of Cleveland).
"Four years ago, the first time we were cancelled, we told Fox they were making a mistake, and the second time we were cancelled that they were making a bigger mistake. And it's sort of great to be here now. We were right and they were wrong."
Callaghan, known as the "voice of reason" in the writers room, does want to tone down the Fox criticism.
"As much fun as we had at the network's expense," he says, "they deserve a lot of credit for picking the show back up. Because it would have been very easy for pride or ego or whatever to get in the way of their making the decision they did. We're glad to have our jobs back and we're thankful to them and they're good sports about us giving them a hard time."
As for the caustic jokes, "we're calling it like it is," says Henry. "They basically made a mistake and we're calling them on it -- because that's what we tend to do."
The three Stewie episodes may eventually be broadcast separately, but they are joined here to create a full story in which the venomous baby searches for his roots.
"Bottom line," Sheridan says, "he is the most popular character (on Family Guy). It felt natural, in doing the movie, to make Stewie the central character of it. You feel that, if he wasn't the centre of it, people would be disappointed. And Stewie would be damn pissed! So that was a conscious effort."
The finding-himself story was more challenging than having Stewie once again try to kill Lois or take over the world, Sheridan says. "It's more emotional and more character-driven than if it became an action sequence. There are action sequences within it, but I don't think you could drive this movie if it wasn't emotionally based -- like any movie."
Smart folks writing smart jokes
Family Guy writer-producer Chris Sheridan figures he knows the secret to the show's phenomenal success.
"I think the mystery ingredient, to some extent, is that we have a lot of smart writers on the show," he tells the Sun during a recent Toronto visit.
"And there are a lot of smart people who watch Family Guy. The reality is that smart people who get a Benjamin Disraeli joke actually like fart jokes, too, and in other circles probably wouldn't admit it. But it's funny sometimes. It's funny to hear someone fart."
The classy trash factor has led to a bonanza in DVD box set sales. Family Guy: Volume 1 (which is comprised of seasons one and two) and Family Guy: Volume 2 (which is season three) are already in stores and selling millions. Volume 3 (the 2005 revived season, which launched May 1) is set for DVD release on Nov. 29.
The new DVD, Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, is a single DVD with the feature-length Stewie movie plus a group commentary headed up by creator Seth MacFarlane, as well as a risque "bonus uncensored audio track" and other less significant extras.
The writers get away with more extreme situations and saltier language than in the regular show. But even on the regular Family Guy, they push the limits.
"Look," says Sheridan, "you get away with a lot in animation. Stewie does horrible, horrible things but he's really cute and so you get away with it.
"On the DVD, he kills (I'm censoring this to avoid playing the spoiler). Yet he's a baby. He's screaming. He's cussing. But, you put a pacifier in his mouth and he suckles himself to sleep. And I think that's the beauty of that character, because he can be a monster and yet he's still a little baby and you've got to love him!"
Myers to play Keith Moon in biopic
Mike Myers is set to star as Keith Moon in an as-yet-untitled film about the renowned drummer of The Who, Variety reports.
The Canadian actor had shown interest in playing Moon a few years ago, but was too busy tackling the roles of four characters in "Austin Powers in Goldmember."
The Who singer Roger Daltrey is producing the movie, which he has been working on and off for almost 10 years.
The film is now being fast tracked, and the next step is the selection a director.
Back in 2002, Britain's Sun tabloid quoted Daltrey as saying Myers would be perfect to play the lead in a biopic on the life of Moon, who died in 1978 in what was at the time described as an accidental overdose.
"Mike is a genius," Daltry reportedly told the tabloid.
"I can really see him as Keith. He's amazing when you meet him, so clever."
During his short life (he was 32 when he died), Moon became famous for his chaotic drumming style, bizarre sense of humour and penchant for destroying hotel rooms.
Myers last appeared on screen in 2003's "The Cat in the Hat."
The odd couple
NEW YORK — Walking along 42nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue this past month, you could have turned in either direction and spotted Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.
At Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, the actors are represented as the characters who brought them together on stage: Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, the bumbling protagonists of Mel Brooks' The Producers.
Across the street, Broderick and Lane have been rehearsing in the flesh for a new production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. Previews begin next Tuesday at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where the show, directed by Joe Mantello, opens Nov. 4. If you haven't nabbed a ticket yet, as they say in Max and Leo's business, break a leg.
Like The Producers, Simon's 40-year-old comedy finds Lane and Broderick stepping into roles made famous by other performers. Art Carney and Walter Matthau introduced unlikely roommates Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison on Broadway, while Jack Lemmon and Matthau played them on screen. For millions of TV viewers, Tony Randall's fussy Felix and Jack Klugman's gruff Oscar became definitive incarnations.
But the stiffest competition for the new couple — Broderick as Felix; Lane as Oscar — may be themselves. Though their only joint project prior to The Producers was the animated Disney flick The Lion King, their rapport in Brooks' hit musical established them as a showbiz dream team.
"There's this mythology about Nathan and Matthew, though they've just done one play together," Mantello says. That mythology may take on new proportions in December, when The Producers: The Movie Musical arrives, with Broderick, Lane and Broadway co-stars Roger Bart and Gary Beach reprising their roles alongside Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell.
For now, Broderick, 43, and Lane, 49, seem content to be the hottest duo treading the boards this fall.
Q: I've heard you two described as an iconic team. Do you have a sense of being viewed that way?
Broderick: I feel like we've had this history in vaudeville, like we came up through the circuit together.
Lane: It's unusual. It doesn't happen much anymore. The last team you can really think of is (Jackie) Gleason and (Art) Carney on television. I guess you could say Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Well, Owen Wilson, he'll team with anyone.
Broderick: So will I. How about Chris Farley and -
Lane: David Spade? Were they an iconic team?
Broderick: They did four or five movies together.
Lane: That doesn't make them iconic. (Pause) You know, to us, it's just about being two actors who respect each other and enjoy working together. We became friends doing The Producers.
Broderick: That show was a perfect fit, right from the shoot for the poster. Maybe we won't have it here. Then we'll have the big breakup.
Q: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. How did the idea to work together again in The Odd Couple come about?
Broderick: I've always loved that play, and in the back of my mind, I knew that some day I wanted to do it. I like all of Neil's plays, and I hadn't worked with him in 20 years or something.
Lane: When I was a kid, I joined the Fireside Theater Play of the Month Club, and the first play they sent me was The Odd Couple. So it's always been in the back of my head as well. We mentioned it to Manny (Azenberg, Simon's longtime producer) while we were doing The Producers.
Broderick: We were just starting, still in previews.
Lane: Then (Simon) wrote this letter where he said, "I really want you to play Oscar and (Broderick) to play Felix. I'm not going to give the rights to anyone else; I want you guys, so let's work out the timing." What a great way to be able to honor him, with one of his best plays. We both have a history with him, obviously. (Broderick starred in Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues on Broadway, and the latter on film, while Lane's credits include the original Broadway production of the playwright's Laughter on the 23rd Floor and the national tour of his Broadway Bound.)
Q: What was it like working with him on an older piece?
Broderick: He changed a line here or there, but it was different from working with him on original plays. In those days, he would wander off and come back with a whole new scene.
Lane: Every once in a while, he would still come over with a new page and say, "What do you think?" He couldn't resist. But we all decided to just do the original play. Don't update it, don't give them cellphones, you know? It's a period piece, a comedy set in the '60s about divorce.
Q: A lot of people are most familiar with The Odd Couple through the television series. Do you think they'll find surprises in this production?
Lane: The TV show was wonderful but doesn't have much to do with the play. Especially Tony's take on Felix. The show incorporated Tony's love of opera, and it really became a much more flamboyant character through his performance, which was great. In the play, I mean, he is this obsessive-compulsive type, but he's also an extremely distraught man who has lost his marriage. It's gotten so bad that his wife says, "You have to leave, I can't take this anymore." And that kills him, because that was his whole life.
Broderick: Both characters have some distance from their divorces in the TV series. Both are more comfortable with it; they go on dates. This is more about taking that first step.
Lane: Yeah, even in my case. I don't think (Oscar) was a guy who cared that much about how the house was taken care of. But now that there isn't someone there to take care of things, it's really gone to seed. He gives this impression of, "Yeah, life's fine; I go on, I like playing poker and drinking and having a cigar with my friends, and I have a great job." But when his kid calls him, it hurts a little. And he gets into a little thing with his wife; he's $800 behind in alimony.
Broderick: That's a lot of money back in 1965. Our rent is $240.
Lane: How about that?
Q: So the comedy isn't as broad or consistently wacky as it was in The Producers?
Lane: Not at all. It's all about behavior. There's a very sweet quality to it.
Broderick: And a musical, by nature, is different. In The Producers, most of our scenes were short. There were a couple of quick jokes, and then something else happened or you sang. In this play, we're sitting around blathering.
Lane: I think it's more than blathering.
Broderick: It is — it's a lot more, which makes it challenging. You have to figure out how to keep it alive and interesting for long stretches. You're not thinking "one more minute and then a tank is going to roll on with a Nazi in it."
Q: Speaking of Nazis, are you pleased with how the new screen adaptation of The Producers turned out?
Lane: I haven't seen the entire movie put together, but I've seen bits and pieces and liked everything I saw. They had these test screenings recently that went extraordinarily well.
Broderick: It looks a lot like the (stage version), which I think is very smart. They didn't reinvent it too much.
Lane: We're not Chicago, if you consider that the template for a modern movie musical that works. We're not dark and sexy — well, Uma's sexy. But we're a comedy. You couldn't suddenly make it all dark and gritty.
Q: Then it's not structured so that the story takes place inside Leo Bloom's head, like Chicago shown through the perspective of Renee Zellweger's Roxie?
Broderick: Hmmm. Maybe I just could have gotten hit on the head on the way to the office, and suddenly I'd see people dancing around and singing -
Lane: And then you wake up in a hospital room in a coma at the end. The doctor says, "He'll never sing again." Good night, everybody!
Q: But we'll be seeing so much of you in the coming months, between the movie and the play.
Broderick: Are we overexposing ourselves?
Lane: I don't think we're overexposed. We're not J. Lo and ... whoever.
Broderick: I don't know. Two people on the street came over yesterday and said they had just paid $250 for tickets to the show, and they didn't seem too happy about it. "Well, I just spent $250 to get a ticket to see your show. That's a lot of money." You know, I don't think we're going to be that good.
Lane: Oh, don't say that. Try to be positive.
Weekend update: 'SNL' in 31st season
Saturday Night Live returns this weekend, kicking off its 31st season on NBC (11:30 p.m. ET/PT). But the show will be back minus one of its key players: Tina Fey, writer and Weekend Update co-anchor.
Fey, 35, gave birth to baby Alice on Sept. 10. Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond, is a composer for SNL.
Creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels says Fey's absence is open-ended. "She knows that she should come back when she feels up to it. I don't have any idea when that will be."
It could be weeks and weeks, or "it could be months and months," he says. "I just hope it's not years and years."
So who will do the Weekend Update news sketch, which last season — after Jimmy Fallon left — was co-anchored by Fey and Amy Poehler?
"Amy and someone," Michaels says. "I don't know who."
He's also not sure about another key player: Maya Rudolph, 33, who is seven months pregnant. Lorne says he met with the comedian last week in Los Angeles, and she is awaiting her doctor's approval to travel to New York for the Saturday Night Live premiere.
"All I want is the audience to sort of get a glimpse of her so that everybody understands why when she disappears," he says. "She's such an essential part of the show that I can't imagine her not being there and Tina not being there. I'm just in denial about all of it."
After 30 years, Michaels doesn't seem too worried. But that blasé-sounding attitude doesn't mean he's bored. "I sort of feel, with having completed the 30th season, that it's a new beginning.
"I'm just setting out to do shows with people I think are really funny and we can sort of be — 'reinvention' is too strong a word. I think we're at the end of one cycle, and now there's a lot of new energy at the show. I'm hoping it'll spill onto the air."
Two new "featured players" are in the cast this season:
• Bill Hader, originally from Tulsa, was a member of the Second City Los Angeles comedy troupe and most recently was a "field agent" on MTV's Punk'd.
• Andy Samberg, a native of Berkeley, Calif., was one of three writer/performer/filmmakers dubbed "The Lonely Island," whose films were showcased on Channel101.com.
Michaels says he expects the two to "make their mark quickly."
The season premiere will be hosted by Daily Show alum Steve Carell, star of the feature film The 40-Year-Old Virgin and NBC's comedy The Office (Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. ET/PT). Carell co-starred with Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty.
Musical guest for the season premiere will be hip-hop artist Kanye West, who made headlines during a Hurricane Katrina benefit performance on nationwide TV when he accused President Bush of not caring about the plight of black people.
Michaels says that Robert Smigel has a new cartoon and that there will be the usual political satire, but he's not sure exactly what the topic will be. "God knows there has been a lot we could have done in the last six weeks. That tends to get written in the last two days."
Lohan Bares All for Vanity Fair
Lindsay Lohan is set to bare all for an upcoming Vanity Fair cover. The 19-year-old Mean Girls star, who has been the subject of weight loss shock stories in the US media for the past year, is keen to show off her healthy figure - and she has chosen to get naked for the style magazine. According to America's In Touch magazine, Lohan shot the top secret cover photo on a beach in Malibu, California last week - and it was actually her idea to pose naked. A source says, "It was Paris Hilton's recent Vanity Fair cover, where she's topless and covering her breasts with her arms, that inspired Lindsay to push the envelope even further." In some of the Vanity Fair photos, Lindsay mimics her idol, Marilyn Monroe.
Record industry sues hundreds for file-sharing
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A trade group representing the U.S. music industry said on Thursday it filed lawsuits against 757 people it claims used online file-sharing networks to illegally trade in copyrighted songs.
The latest round brings the total copyright infringement lawsuits filed against individuals to 14,800 filed by the U.S. music industry.
Of the 757 filed on Thursday, about 64 were filed against individuals using college networks, said the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents labels like Sony/BMg and Vivendi Universal's Universal.
Eddie Vedder goes 'Wild' with Stones
NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Rolling Stones got a lift from Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder during their performance of "Wild Horses" at Pittsburgh's PNC Stadium Wednesday.
Earlier in the evening, Pearl Jam played an hour-long opening set featuring such hits as "Alive," "Even Flow," "Daughter," "Black," "Jeremy" and "Better Man."
The band previously opened four Oakland, Calif., shows for the Stones on the 1997 Bridges to Babylon tour, the last of which saw Vedder join the band for "Waiting on a Friend." Pearl Jam's fall tour resumes Friday and Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J., while the Stones' A Bigger Bang trek moves on Saturday to Hershey, Pa., where Beck is the opening act.
Eisner leaves mixed legacy as Disney chief
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When Michael Eisner hands over the keys to Disney's Magic Kingdom on Friday after 21 years of running the media giant, he'll leave behind a stormy legacy -- brilliant early success mixed later with executive turmoil, an operational slump and a shareholder revolt.
But industry experts say that ironically, as Eisner says farewell as Disney's chief executive officer, the company has begun to return to the double-digit earnings growth that marked his first decade running Disney with late president Frank Wells.
Under new CEO Bob Iger, Disney will continue facing challenges settling issues at its movie studio -- including landing a new distribution deal with Pixar Animation Studios. But with a new park in Hong Kong open, and a turnaround at TV broadcaster ABC in progress, Eisner is leaving on a high note.
"His legacy is brilliance, mixed with turmoil," said Hal Vogel, a veteran Wall Street analyst and money manager who has tracked the media industry for years.
There is no doubt that Eisner's tenure has been successful. In the 21 years since he joined a then struggling Disney, the company has gone from $1.5 billion in annual revenues to nearly $31 billion today.
The stock price was $1.33 in 1984 and traded at around $24 a share on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Disney has split its shares since 1984, and Disney said $10,000 of its stock 21 years ago would now be worth more than $200,000.
When Eisner ran the company alongside No. 2 executive Frank Wells, it seemed Disney could do no wrong. Along with studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, they reinvigorated Disney's vaunted film animation group, cranking out movies like "The Lion King."
SUCCESS TO MISSTEPS
The early successes peaked in 1995 when Disney agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC, which owned the ABC and ESPN TV networks, in a $19 billion deal. A year earlier, Wells died in a helicopter crash.
Katzenberg left Disney after failing to ascend to Wells' job. Eisner instead hired Hollywood superagent Michael Ovitz to be president, but he departed in 1996 after clashing with other Disney executives and his former friend, Eisner.
Katzenberg later sued Disney for bonus money and settled for an amount reported to be around $250 million, and Ovitz got a severance package with an estimated value at $140 million.
"After Frank died, you can't say the company did much of anything that was all that brilliant," said one former Disney executive who asked to remain unidentified.
Although ESPN has proven highly valuable, ABC stumbled badly until this past year when hit comedy "Desperate Housewives" and drama "Lost" sparked a viewership rebound and higher advertising revenues.
Wall Street viewed Disney as paying too much in 2001 when it agreed to acquire Fox Family Channel from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd. for $5.2 billion, including debt.
The company had been an ambitious player on the Internet, but in 2001, it shuttered its uncompetitive GO.com Web portal and took over $800 million in quarterly charges.
Like others, Disney's theme parks suffered from a tourism slump after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, although they have since rebounded.
The missteps caused Roy Disney, nephew of company founder Walt Disney, to launch a campaign to oust Eisner. The board made many of the changes Roy Disney advocated, although Eisner leaves on his own terms.
Iger still faces issues ahead. ABC's recent hits need support from new shows like presidential drama "Commander in Chief" to keep ratings momentum going.
And the studio must rejuvenate its Miramax Films specialty division and its animated division, perhaps signing a new distribution agreement with Pixar Animation Studios Inc. after Eisner alienated Pixar CEO Steve Jobs.
Gervais Lurks in Background for 'Extras'
NEW YORK - Ricky Gervais is fascinated by how a camera can skew the flow of ordinary life.
On "The Office," his hilarious British "mockumentary" series, he explored the effect of a film crew on David Brent, the fame-lusting office manager who clowns it up as cameras occupy his dreary workplace for a TV reality show.
Now, on his new comedy "Extras," Gervais has turned his attention to actor manque Andy Millman and the show-biz obscurity of being an extra. Portrayed by Gervais (who also played Brent), Andy is what is called "background talent." His workdays are spent on London film shoots helping fill the frame with his unnoted presence — and laboring to justify his marginal status.
Extras, as Gervais explains, "are just bodies. They're pushed in and told where to stand. It's like hanging drapes." He chortles with delight. "We try to show how Andy is desperate for respect."
On the next episode (10:30 p.m. EDT Sunday on HBO) Andy's role is that of a nameless prisoner in a film about modern-day genocide directed by, of all people, Ben Stiller.
"If I find a little orphan child in a war zone, how do I help him?" poses Stiller, who's afflicted by severe high-pretension. His lofty solution: "Make this movie. Make people think. Change attitudes."
Meanwhile, Andy tries to wangle from Stiller a line or two of dialogue by approaching the bereaved war victim whose story Stiller is filming. Then he anxiously waits.
"I can't push it," Andy frets to Maggie, his chum and fellow extra. "I can't go up to him and remind him, `Sorry to interrupt you again while you're thinking about your slaughtered loved ones, but that line — you done anything about it?'"
"It might seem a wee bit insensitive, eh?" allows Maggie. Not that Andy can hold off bugging him very long.
Ashley Jensen is perfect as the dimwitted Maggie, while Stephen Merchant is a whiz as agent Darren Lamb who, after five years, has failed to score Andy a single speaking role. ("I'm as annoyed as you are," he assures Andy pleasantly.)
As it happens, Merchant is not only Gervais' co-star, but also his behind-the-scenes partner, having co-written and co-directed "The Office" and now "Extras."
They met eight years ago when Gervais, working at an alternative radio station in London, took him on as an assistant.
Gervais must have needed help. The Reading, England, native was already a self-confessed sloth and budding late bloomer. After graduating from college in philosophy, he had performed in one rock band, managed another, and been a talent booker for a student union. Once they got around to it, he and Merchant created "The Office."
Wildly successful in Britain, "The Office" turned Gervais (pronounced jer-VAZE) into an unsuspecting star.
And as a cult sensation in the United States, it spawned an Americanized version for NBC last season that currently airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. With Steve Carell playing a Yank equivalent of Brent, the U.S. edition operates independently of Gervais — who has been plenty busy with his new series.
At first glance, "Extras" may seem overly similar to "The Office." But first impressions can deceive.
"Brent was essentially an idiot who wasn't that bad but just wanted to be popular," says Gervais, "whereas Andy has a different theme: The world owes him a living."
David Brent was a doughy bloke with a goatee and a cajoling grin. Andy Millman shares that gift of glib, often loutish, gab. But he has lost the foppish goatee and gained a measure of unrealized ambition. He craves stardom, and thinks he's entitled. Comparing Robert De Niro to himself, he thinks: not better, just luckier.
In short, he's ripe to be taken down a few pegs, and is, with regularity.
"He was born smart, and he can't let it go," says Gervais. "He'd rather make a joke than listen. He's clever, but he hasn't applied it as well as some other people."
Making matters even worse, Andy has a conscience. For instance, he just can't bring himself to fire that pitiable agent.
Preparing to move Andy forward for a second season of six more episodes, Gervais remains fascinated by fame and how so many people chase it. But he disavows his own.
"It's the one thing I actively don't like: just being recognized," says Gervais, a 44-year-old chap who, casually dressed for this interview in slacks and sports shirt (shirttail out), gives the strong impression he is on no star trip.
"What I love is the work," he insists. "I get excited by the creativity, not because I think I have the best ideas in the world. I'm excited, because they're MY ideas."
But having said that, Gervais, who is often given to reflective comic riffs, confides his fear that the sum of creativity allotted him might fail to be in synch with his lifespan.
"It's like Keats: `When I have fears that I may cease to be, before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain...' You don't want to die before you've got out all your ideas. But you don't want to run out of ideas before you die.
"You've got to time it right," he goes on. "It's like the perfect meal: You don't want to have toast left over, with no bacon. You've got to time it JUST right: `The End,'" whereupon he plops his head on an imaginary writing desk. Then he cackles with laughter. No end in sight for his funny ideas.
Senators turning up heat on P2P pirates
WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - Lawmakers pushed federal authorities Wednesday to crack down on peer-to-peer services that pirate copyrighted works, while one P2P operator told them pressure from the recording industry was forcing him to change his ways.
Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told officials with the Justice Department and the U.S. Copyright Office that they wanted recommendations for government action on the issue.
They spoke at a Capitol Hill hearing on the services following the Supreme Court's June decision in MGM v. Grokster that file sharing networks could be liable when their users copy music, movies and other protected works without permission.
Feinstein, in particular, was upset over what she views as inaction by the Justice Department.
"We have a unanimous Supreme Court decision, and peer-to-peer use is increasing," she said. "To me, that's a signal we need a strong law to protect copyright companies."
Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. attorney for California's central district, defended the department's actions, pointing out several investigations DOJ has undertaken that have led to arrests and convictions.
"Our mind-set is to go after those who are distributing the bulk of the material," said Yang, who chairs the new Subcommittee on Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property of the department's Advisory Committee.
That failed to mollify Specter or Feinstein, who appeared to want her department to be much more active.
"Why not go after both levels?" Specter asked. "Why not get tough? That's what Sen. Feinstein wants to do, and I think it's a good idea."
Yang told the lawmakers that the department is concentrating on netting the big fish because it does not have the resources to go after every infringer.
"It's got to either be made legal or shut down," Feinstein said. "What bothers me is the information we're being given that the activity is increasing."
Despite the fact that some lawmakers view it as a lack of action, the Grokster decision claimed at least one victim as the developer of the eDonkey P2P application said he is planning to call it quits.
"I'm not an anarchist," said Sam Yagan, president of MetaMachine Inc., which created eDonkey and Overnet. "I'm throwing in the towel."
EDonkey was one of several that received "cease and desist" letters from the RIAA this month. Yagan said his company planned to convert to a "closed" P2P environment once it reaches a settlement deal with the Rceording Industry Assn. of America, the trade group that represents the major U.S. labels.
The decision to remake eDonkey was prompted by the cost it would take to litigate in the post-Grokster world, not that the company would fail on the merits. Yagan told the committee he thought the litigation after the Grokster case was misguided because "off-shore, underground, rogue P2P operators" will benefit the most because they have lost "a handful of their most legitimate competitors."
Kermit, Muppets stamp set unveiled
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Most frogs settle for lily pads. Kermit the Frog has hopped onto a U.S. postage stamp.
The green leader of the beloved Muppets troupe was on hand Wednesday for a first-day issue ceremony featuring 11 postage stamps honouring the Muppets and their late creator, Jim Henson, at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in suburban North Hollywood.
"On behalf of the Muppets, it is a great honour to be featured on our own set of stamps," Kermit said through a human intermediary.
Henson, Kermit, Miss Piggy, the Swedish Chef and Dr. Bunson Honeydew and his assistant Beaker are among the puppets honoured in the Postal Service set. The 37-cent stamps will be released Thursday.
Kermit and his friends aren't the first puppets to make it onto postage stamps. Charlie McCarthy managed the feat in 1991, along with ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
It's been 50 years since Kermit the Frog's television debut on Henson's 1955 show Sam and Friends. Birthday events include a 15-month, 50-stop world tour that begins next month and includes a run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
CBC TABLED A SETTLEMENT OFFER WITH SIGNIFICANT COMPROMISES IN EFFORT TO END LABOUR DISRUPTION
On Wednesday, CBC tabled a settlement offer on the outstanding issues to the CMG. It contains significant compromise on the key issues in an effort to end the current labour disruption and conclude a collective agreement.
We understand the impact that the current labour dispute has had on our audiences, our staff, our managers and our partners across the country. We want to get our services back on-air and online immediately.
To that end, we believe our offer is a significant compromise and addresses the concerns voiced by the CMG and our employees over the course of these negotiations. Our offer includes considerable movement on the key issues – Contract Employees and Workforce Adjustment. It also includes further standardization of hours of work and improved overtime provisions for some employees, continuation of the long service gratuity for current permanent employees, implementation of Job Evaluation and a generous monetary package for employees in addition to numerous positive developments that have been negotiated.
We have been bargaining now for 16 months. It’s time to resolve our differences at the bargaining table so we can get back to doing the work we do best - creating outstanding public broadcasting for Canadians.
Here are the highlights of the CBC's proposal:
SEPTEMBER 28 SETTLEMENT OFFER HIGHLIGHTS
Wages - Increases for employees will include:
Upon Ratification - 3.0% increase
Upon Ratification - A pensionable lump-sum payment equivalent to 3.5 percent of base earnings for all time worked between April 1, 2004 and date of ratification
January 9, 2006 - Implementation of new job evaluation pay scales and job evaluation retroactivity
April 1, 2006 - 2.0 percent general wage increase
April 1, 2007 - 2.5 percent general wage increase
April 1, 2008 - 2.5 percent general wage increase
Restriction of Total Number of Contract Employees
CBC has offered to restrict the total number of contract positions to a maximum of 90 additional contract positions per year. Our commitment that no current permanent employee will be required to revert to or accept contract status as a result of this proposal continues.
Full Pension Eligibility for Contract Employees
Full pension (after two years of service) for contract employees on par with permanent full time employees and the ability for existing contract employees to retroactively buy back eligible service if they opt to join the pension plan. For contract employees who choose not to join the pension plan, they will continue to receive payment in lieu so they can plan for their own retirement.
Full Severance Benefits and Greater Notice Period for Contract Employees
Employees on contract for a year or greater will receive severance benefits equal to current permanent employees and improved notification of renewal/non-renewal of their contract.
Same Benefits as Permanent Staff for Contract Employees and Temporary Employees
Contract and temporary employees will receive the same benefits as permanent full time employees.
Cross-Component Bumping in Some Situations
As in our previous offers, we reiterated that employees must possess the demonstrated occupational qualifications to do a job before they re-deploy into that position. However, the Corporation has agreed to allow cross component bumping (i.e between radio and television) when an employee has worked at least 6 of the last 12 months in an equivalent position in the other component. This is a significant improvement for employees in the current Unit 1 bargaining unit who cannot move between components today.
Other improvements for employees in the Corporation’s offers
More Standardized Hours of Work and Improved Overtime Provisions
The Corporation has proposed that the regular work week for all employees currently in the Unit 1 and Unit 2 bargaining units will be 38 ¾ hours per week (exluding self-assigned employees). In addition, overtime will now be paid after 7.75 hours for daily assigned employees and 38.75 hours for weekly assigned employees, which represents an improvement for many employees. Employees in the current Unit 3 bargaining unit will continue to work their 36.25 hour workweek.
Long-Service Gratuity
The Corporation has proposed that all current permanent employees who enjoy the benefit of the long-service gratuity will continue to do so under the same terms and conditions as they do today.
Over Seventeen Million Dollars In Job Evaluation Payments
After a considerable amount of time spent working in collaboration with the union formulating a job evaluation plan, defining and rating jobs to ensure "equal pay for work of equal value", CBC has committed to increase its CMG payroll by $2.4 million and to provide a total of $15 million in retroactive payments to employees in the bargaining unit upon implementation of Job Evaluation on January 9, 2006. Additionally, employees red-circled as a result of Job Evaluation will have their salary protected and will be entitled to a lump sum payment equal to the full amount of a general wage increase.
The payments for job evaluation retroactivity will be paid as follows:
All current employees in the bargaining unit will receive a lump sum payment in recognition of the rationalization of pay scales. A total of $4.5 million will be paid to these employees.
In addition, employees in the bargaining unit whose jobs have increased in value as a result of Job Evaluation will receive an additional lump sum payment.
A total of $10 million will be paid to these employees.
A total of $500,000 will be paid to bargaining unit employees who have retired since the commencement of Job Evaluation.
A commitment that CBC’s current permanent employees will continue to be permanent and will continue to have a wide range of career opportunities.
Rather than just communicate this to you, we will also include this as our commitment in collective agreement language.
Numerous work-life balance initiatives such as leaves of absence and alternative work arrangements, and deferred salary leave.
Other positive developments for CBC employees:
- including deferred salary leave,
- alternate work arrangements,
- a simplified dispute resolution and grievance process,
- a process to ensure Respect in the Workplace, streamlined probation arrangements and job evaluation implementation.
Fiona Apple's 'Machine' needed a push to get going
NEW YORK — Fiona Apple is curled up on a couch, fighting back tears. But it's not what you think.
When the diminutive, doe-eyed singer/songwriter rose to fame as a teenager in the late '90s, many perceived her as angry, troubled or at least colorfully neurotic. Her precocious lyrics reveled in baiting and scorning lovers, while in interviews, she regaled reporters with accounts of having been raped as a girl.
Apple, now 28, clearly hasn't lost her flair for drama. But these days, she is more likely to attract it than be consumed by it.
Consider the story behind Extraordinary Machine, Apple's first new CD in six years. Recording sessions began in 2002, with Apple and longtime producer Jon Brion working on and off. Apple says both she and her label were less than thrilled with the results.
"Sony didn't think there was a hit," says the singer, who is signed to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music. "And I wanted to redo some songs."
Producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, 50 Cent) came on board, and Apple says the label suggested "that I could maybe hand in one song at a time. But I thought that was an incredibly bad idea, because it implied that if they didn't like what I handed in, they could try to change it. Or they could say, 'You can't have any more money, and we're shelving it.' "
(Epic spokeswoman Lois Najarian says: "Things were definitely miscommunicated during the time when Fiona was switching producers, and unfortunately she was led to believe that the label was only allowing her to record one new version at a time. That was surely not the case.")
Recalls Apple: "At that point I said, 'I quit.' " But an anonymous admirer had other ideas. While on her new computer one day, Apple discovered that some of her early, Brion-produced tracks had been leaked online. "It was the weirdest feeling, like somebody had taken my diary and printed it."
The singer soon learned that fans had started a "Free Fiona" movement and sent letters, apples and drawings of apples to Sony's offices. "I remember thinking it was ridiculous and funny. Here I was, jobless, sitting around in my bathrobe watching TV. But then I started crying, because I thought, 'Oh, my God, these people care so much.' I feel so moved by that."
Apple's gift to the faithful, the finished version of Machine, arrives Tuesday, and the album — including the biting single Parting Gift—
confirms that she hasn't lost her flair for confessional candor. "I started writing songs and continue to write because it's how I deal with my life. I don't make up stories."
She prefers not to discuss in specific terms how ex-boyfriends such as filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson influenced her lyrics. "I've been in other relationships since Paul. He's been a big part of my life, and he's a very good friend now. But the songs are informed by all my relationships. There are certain lines that are directly about one person or situation, so directly that I'm sure those people recognize it. And that may be why I do this, to get my point across — though not in a mean way."
The singer won't say whether anyone special is keeping her company these days, other than her dog, Janet, a pit bull mix she took in "because no one claimed her or wanted her." She has resolved to forge ahead with her career for the time being.
"For a while I was looking forward to having to get another job," Apple says. "I had this fantasy about applying to this place in upstate New York, Green Chimneys. They do occupational therapy with kids, using farm animals. I thought that was something I could be passionate about. But music just kept on coming back."
BOND? JAMES BOND?
Per Daily Variety, final screen tests for the new James Bond taking place this week. Some of the names rumored to be in the running include Goran Visnjic and Daniel Craig.
Beastie Boys turn 24 with 'Solid Gold Hits' set
NEW YORK (Billboard) - On the occasion of the Beastie Boys' 24th birthday, Capitol will on November 8 release "Solid Gold Hits," a 15-track compilation that will also be available as a limited-edition CD/DVD featuring as-yet-unspecified music videos.
The Beasties were previously anthologized on the 1999 double-disc set "The Sounds of Science," which included all but five tracks here. "Triple Trouble," "Ch-Check It Out" and "An Open Letter to NYC" are drawn from last year's album "To the 5 Boroughs," while Fatboy Slim has remixed "Body Movin."'
The lone oldie left off "Science" that has been revived for "Solid Gold Hits" is "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn" from 1986's breakthrough album "License To Ill."
Due to the fact that the Beasties have been off the radar since completing the tour in support of "To the 5 Boroughs" and that no new or rare material is featured on "Solid Gold Hits," there is renewed fan debate over the trio's future.
Here is the track list for "Solid Gold Hits":
"So What'cha Want"
"Brass Monkey"
"Ch-Check It Out"
"No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn"
"Hey Ladies"
"Pass the Mic"
"An Open Letter to NYC"
"Root Down"
"Shake Your Rump"
"Intergalactic"
"Sure Shot"
"Body Movin"' (Fatboy Slim remix)
"Triple Trouble"
"Sabotage"
"Fight for Your Right"
Flight attendants outraged over Jodie Foster film
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Labor unions representing most of the nation's 90,000 flight attendants have urged their members to boycott a new Jodie Foster film that portrays a flight attendant and a U.S. air marshal as terrorists.
They said that casting cabin crew members as villains in the movie "Flightplan" was irresponsible in light of heightened security concerns since the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which suicide hijackers used airliners as guided missiles.
The Walt Disney Co. film, which was the No. 1 release at the North American box office last weekend, stars Foster as an airline passenger who awakens from an in-flight nap to find her young daughter missing. It turns out that one of the flight attendants aboard is involved in a terrorist plot hatched by the plane's air marshal.
A union statement issued on Tuesday also complained that other flight attendants in the film are shown as being "rude, unhelpful and uncaring."
"This depiction of flight attendants is an outrage," said Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) International President Patricia Friend. "Flight attendants continue to be the first line of defense on an aircraft and put their lives on the line day after day for the safety of passengers."
An AFA spokeswoman in Washington said the unions worry that moviegoers will take away impressions that will make it more difficult for flight attendants to "earn the trust and respect of passengers."
"It's just so irresponsible," the spokeswoman, Corey Caldwell, told Reuters on Wednesday.
She said the portrayal of airline cabin crew members as evil-doers adds further insult to long-standing Hollywood stereotypes that have depicted flight attendants as sexualized bubble heads or as harsh, humorless disciplinarians.
A Disney spokesman said that in making "Flightplan," which grossed nearly $25 million last weekend, "there was absolutely no intention on the part of the studio or filmmakers to create anything but a great action thriller."
"We are confident the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job real-life flight attendants do on a daily basis," the spokesman said.
The AFA called for the boycott along with two sister unions -- the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represent cabin crew members from American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, respectively. The three unions together represent 80,000 of the 90,000 flight attendants who work for U.S. carriers.
Film with word "Muslim" in title stirs controversy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Albert Brooks says a very unfunny thing happened on his way to making a new film called "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" -- the studio panicked over the title.
Brooks says the studio -- Sony -- got so worried the comedy's title, with its use of the word Muslim, might bring reprisals that it decided not to release the picture. That forced the comedian to find a new distributor for a movie that pokes fun at American ignorance of the Muslim world.
"Fear is playing a major part in Hollywood production," Brooks said in an interview, adding he started getting bad vibes when the studio "jokingly" asked him if the movie could be called "Looking for Comedy."
He said the suggestion came after Newsweek triggered a storm in May by publishing a short item that a Koran was flushed down a toilet by guards at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The magazine later retracted the article, saying it could not substantiate the report.
Sony said doubts about the title were only part of much larger problems. Sources close to the company said executives did not find the movie funny and passed on it.
Sony, which is owned by Sony Corp., said in a statement, "To those looking for truth in this manufactured controversy, here it is: We made our decision to pass on Brooks' movie the same way we did to accept 'Fahrenheit 9/ll' -- on the merits, with neither fear nor favor."
Brooks is an old hand at making sweetly satiric comedies like "The Muse," "Modern Romance" and "Lost in America" that poke fun at himself, his anxieties and the narcissistic show-business world he inhabits.
In "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World," he plays a comedian sent by the State Department to India and Pakistan with a couple of minders to find out what makes Muslims laugh, so everyone can get along better in the post-9/11 world.
He says he got the idea before U.S. President George W. Bush appointed close adviser Karen Hughes to be undersecretary of state for public diplomacy charged with countering the negative U.S. image among Muslims.
Brooks says most of the jokes in the movie are aimed at Americans and there are no religious references at all, even though he was allowed to film in a mosque in India.
"I steered clear of religion in this movie. There's no mention of the Koran -- the whole point of the movie is looking for comedy, not looking for God. I was allowed to film in the biggest mosque in India and when I told the imam the plot of the movie he started to laugh."
Brooks added studio executives at Sony were not as supportive as the imam. "One told me that if a mullah in Iran saw a poster for the movie and took it the wrong way, I could be in deep trouble. I told him that I have trouble getting posters put up for my movies in Sherman Oaks," a Los Angeles suburb.
The film will now be distributed by Warner Independent, the art-house unit of Warner Brothers, with a January release date. It says it likes the title because it tells the story of the film and is funny.
Kevin Smith re-edits 'Mallrats' for DVD
For better or worse, Kevin Smith lets it all hang out. That's why he just restored the worst version of his biggest failure for the 10th Anniversary Extended Edition of Mallrats.
"It's not very good," the 35-year-old New Jersey filmmaker told The Toronto Sun with a mischievous chuckle in a telephone interview from his home in Red Bank.
The newly re-edited version of Mallrats restores the long, rambling prologue to the movie that was in his shooting script, Smith says. It also extends the overall running time by 37 minutes and turns the comedy into a shambling (if occasionally brilliant and funny) mess. For example, it now takes about half an hour for Jason Lee, as the lovable slacker, to drag his butt to the mall.
"If people didn't like this movie, this DVD is not going to make them like it any more," Smith says. "It'll make them go: 'See, we were right!'"
So why the paradoxical delight in presenting this version of his second movie, the controversial link between the hits Clerks and Chasing Amy?
First of all, Smith says, fans can, on the same DVD, opt for the original, 95-minute theatrical release, the one that became a cult favourite. Every possible extra has now been jammed in. This is it for Mallrats.
"What I've always liked about the collection format," Smith says of the appeal of video, laserdisc and now DVD, "is the idea that you can present all this stuff and nothing is wasted. Because, not for nothing did we spend two or three days shooting all that opening footage. And, even though it doesn't work, I would hate to see it sit on a shelf somewhere in a corner when you could put it out.
"There are movies like the first Spider-man that had a bunch of cut footage that they didn't wind up putting out on the DVD. I found that disappointing because I would like to see what they felt didn't work about that movie.
"I'm just not one of those people who say: 'Let's bury the mistake!' I think I'm more like, 'Let's show everybody how stupid we were!' "
Re-editing Mallrats also turned out to be an invaluable learning tool, as was making the movie in the first place.
"The thing I walked away with on this 10th anniversary DVD was how rankly amateurish we were going into Mallrats. It was weird being in the middle of that footage. Both Mosier (producer Scott Mosier) and I were just like: 'My God, we were terrible!'
"And it was especially nice to do it in advance of shooting the next movie. We're doing Clerks 2 next."
Smith & company matured as a filmmaking team, Smith says. "Clerks is a first movie. The movie is what it is because of its budget and us being nascent filmakers. Mallrats really was a film school to a large degree, the film school I dropped out of (in Vancouver). It was where I learned, oh, we need coverage (alternate angles and closeups in scenes); and we need to be a lot more visually interesting; and it's not about turning on a camera and letting things happen in front of it.
"Unfortunately, it cost them $6 million to teach me all that, which I could have done a lot cheaper by going to NYU (New York University) film school. But it would have taken me far more time. So, yeah, it was kind of invaluable. I used to pick on Mallrats as the $6-million casting call for Chasing Amy. But it was much, much more. It was us kind of learning what never to do again."
Too many movie stars made him do Clerks 2
Kevin Smith is doing Clerks 2 to get away from famous movie stars, including his pal Ben Affleck, who co-starred in his last movie Jersey Girl. It is also one of the reasons he walked away from a planned big-screen version of The Green Hornet, Smith tells the Sun.
Says Smith: "The cynical take on it is: 'Well, Jersey Girl didn't work so he's going back to the well.' And those people are not exactly wrong. It's just that they're missing the target but hitting the tree.
"Jersey Girl didn't work (it bombed at the box office after the latest twist in the Bennifer fuss hit the headlines) but it's not why I'm going back to Clerks. Coming off Jersey Girl, it's just that I don't want to work with famous people for a while. I don't like having a movie that is kind of at the mercy of the people that you've cast.
"Jersey Girl, I don't think it's the rule but it's not quite the exception. It was tough to watch that movie getting brought down by somebody's relationship, something that I have no (control) over. So Jersey Girl did have an influence on me doing Clerks 2 but it wasn't the obvious."
As for The Green Hormet, it was the famous people problem plus a lack of confidence that he could handle a $70-million production. "Green Hornet was a bit of that, but it was more than this movie is way too big for someone like me. I don't have enough talent to pull that off."
Garner Inadvertently Reveals Baby's Sex
BURBANK, Calif. - Jennifer Garner may have let the cat out of the bag.
The "Alias" star appeared on the "Tonight Show" Tuesday night and refused to answer Jay Leno when he asked if she was having a boy or a girl. But, later in the show, Garner talked about her expanding belly.
"You can just start to feel really pregnant, like you are the hugest person on the face of the planet," she said. "I felt bigger and bigger, like she _".
The audience cheered and Garner laughed as she stopped in mid-sentence.
A sense of humor has served the actress well, especially since her pregnancy has been written into the show. Her character, Sydney Bristow, discovers that she's pregnant with fellow agent Michael Vaughn's baby.
"My stand-in has a bump, and my stunt double has a bump," she revealed. "The other day, I walked in, and my stunt double looked a little different to me." It turned out they increased the size of her bump.
Garner married actor Ben Affleck in June. The baby is the first child for both.
Today in Entertainment History
On Sept. 28, 1958, Dore Records released "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears.
• In 1968, Janis Joplin's manager announced Joplin would leave Big Brother and the Holding Company in November after fulfilling current obligations. Joplin said she and the band "weren't growing together anymore."
• In 1975, 40,000 people got to see Jefferson Starship and Jerry Garcia and Friends perform for free in San Francisco. "Jerry Garcia and Friends" ended up being the Grateful Dead, who had not performed together in more than a year.
• In 1988, singer John Denver offered the Soviet Union $10 million dollars to put him on the Soyuz space shuttle.
• In 1991, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis died of pneumonia, respiratory failure and a stroke. He was 65.
• Also in 1991, Garth Brooks became the first country artist to have an album debut at number one on the album charts, with "Ropin' The Wind."
• In 1995, Bobby Brown was caught in gunfire outside a Boston bar. Brown was unhurt, but his brother-in-law-to-be was killed.
Today's birthdays:
• Actor William Windom ("Murder, She Wrote") is 82.
• Actor Arnold Stang is 81.
• Blues singer Koko Taylor is 77.
• Actress Brigitte Bardot is 71.
• Singer Ben E. King is 67.
• Actor Joel Higgins ("Silver Spoons") is 62.
• Actor Jeffrey Jones is 59.
• Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 55.
• Actress Sylvia Kristel ("Emmanuelle," "Private Lessons") is 53.
• Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 41.
• Country singer Matt King is 39.
• Actress Mira Sorvino is 38.
• TV personality Moon Zappa is 38.
• Singer Sean Levert of Levert is 37.
• Actress Naomi Watts is 37.
• Country singer Mandy Barnett is 30.
• Actress Hilary Duff is 18.
• Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak is 13.
CBC, union meet labour minister, continue talks in Ottawa area
The CBC and its largest union have agreed to continue talks to find a solution to their labour dispute after meeting with the federal labour minister.
Joe Fontana urged CBC management and leaders of the broadcaster's largest union to find a solution to the disruption now in its seventh week.
Fontana told negotiating teams in Gatineau, Que. - just across the Ottawa River from Ottawa - that the "current situation is unacceptable."
Senior representatives present at the meeting included Arnold Amber, president of the Canada Media Guild branch representing CBC workers and CBC president Robert Rabinovitch.
The Guild represents 5,500 employees - including journalists, technicians and other staff - that the CBC locked out on Aug. 15, after more than a year of negotiations.
Since then, managers have provided reduced coverage on the CBC's radio, TV and web services. The lockout affects all CBC centres except those in the province of Quebec and Moncton, N.B.
In a communiqué Friday, Amber said, "We need some assistance to get the contract done and we need the right people in the room. If the main decision-makers from CBC senior management are there, this thing could be settled within five days after Monday." Following Monday's meeting, CBC released a statement that it "welcomes efforts to move negotiations with CMG to a conclusion."
Fontana commented that "Both parties have demonstrated a willingness to resolve this dispute. They have agreed, at my invitation, to remain in the building and resume negotiations on the remaining issues - I will be meeting jointly with the parties later today to get a status of their talks."
Mediator Elizabeth MacPherson, the head of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service, will assist the union and the CBC in their deliberations.
While the talks were going on, about 500 CBC workers from Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa rallied outside Parliament as MPs returned from summer break.
Dunst Confirms 'Spidey 3' Villain Identities
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Although the Internet has been abuzz with the supposed identities of the two "Spider-Man 3" villains to be played by Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace, Sony and Marvel have kept the names under wraps.
Now Mary Jane herself has confirmed Spidey's latest nemeses.
"We have really great people though as the villains in this film, Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace -- Venom and Sandman," says Kirsten Dunst while promoting her film "Elizabethtown."
"Maybe I wasn't supposed to say that," she says, checking with her rep, who assures her the information has already been released.
The "Interview with a Vampire" actress is a little shaky on the information at first, saying that Church would play Venom and Grace would take on Sandman, before reversing her claim when a journalist expresses disbelief. "It's the other way around. You're right," she concedes.
Dunst can be forgiven since she has yet to receive a script for the film that will begin shooting in January.
"But I know the general story," she adds. "There's a lot that they're trying to fit into this one."
For those like Dunst who are unfamiliar with the universe of Marvel miscreants, Sandman is a career criminal whose irradiated body can turn into a sand-like substance.
In the case of Venom, an alien symbiote that once masqueraded as Spider-Man's costume takes over ex-reporter Eddie Brock -- who has a beef with Spider-Man over a journalism-related embarrassment. The symbiote gives his body and hatred strength, creating a supervillain that looks like a black-and-white version of Spider-Man with a wicked smile.
After years of playing Lowell Mather on the aviation sitcom "Wings," Church returned to the spotlight with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Jack in 2004's "Sideways." Grace is best known as the scrawny Eric Forman on "That '70s Show." He's received acclaim for his film roles in "Traffic," "P.S." and "In Good Company."
Dunst, who plays redheaded actress Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker's love interest in the first two "Spider-Man" films, will return for the third installment, which is scheduled for a Spring 2007 release. She recently wrapped shooting Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" and next stars opposite Orlando Bloom in Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown," which opens nationwide on Friday, Oct. 14.
New Wonder Album Finally Hitting Stores
After numerous delays, Stevie Wonder's first new album in 10 years, "A Time 2 Love," will finally arrive Oct. 18 via Motown. The set was most recently due for release June 14; first single "So What the Fuss" featuring Prince has been at radio since May and a second single, "From the Bottom of My Heart" has been garnering airplay for nearly as long.
Among the guests on the 15-track set are India.Arie and Paul McCartney on the title cut, Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar on "Tell Your Heart I Love You," gospel star Kim Burrell and rapper Doug E. Fresh on opener "If Your Love Cannot Be Moved" and Wonder's daughter Aisha on "How Will I Know" and "Positivity."
Another track, "Shelter in the Rain," will be available Oct. 11 from digital downloads retailers, with proceeds earmarked for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
"As an artist, you get anxious and excited -- you want to show what you can do," Wonder told Billboard late last year. "But for me, I had to make a real decision not to rush. I wasn't feeling that the timing is right. A lot of what I do when I do an album is based on whether the timing is right."
"A Time 2 Love" is Wonder's first new album since 1995's "Conversation Peace."
Here is the track list for "A Time 2 Love":
"If Your Love Cannot Be Moved"
"Sweetest Somebody I Know"
"Moon Blue"
"From the Bottom of My Heart"
"Please Don't Hurt My Baby"
"How Will I Know"
"My Love Is on Fire"
"Passionate Raindrops"
"Tell Your Heart I Love You"
"True Love"
"Shelter in the Rain"
"So What the Fuss"
"Can't Imagine Love Without You"
"Positivity"
"A Time To Love"
Hoppy 50th, Kermit
Hard to believe, but Kermit has been green for 50 years now. And while it hasn't always been easy, the Muppets' famous frog is celebrating the milestone by leaping from place to place.
"Kermit is iconic, a global character who transcends time and generational taste," says Chris Curtin of Disney, which now owns the Muppets. "It's rare to find a character who survives that kind of test of time."
The original Kermit — cut from an old coat belonging to Jim Henson's mom — appeared on his creator's first TV show, a 1955 comedy called Sam and Friends.
Among the birthday activities:
• A 15-month world tour begins Oct. 14 in Kermit, Texas, taking in 50 stops, including a USO appearance and a run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
• The U.S. Postal Service today issues a commemorative stamp collection in honor of the late Henson and his Muppets.
• The 1976 first season of The Muppet Show is out on DVD (Buena Vista, $39.99). Bonus features include the original Muppet Show pitch reel, plus a rare Miss Piggy-less pilot.
• New this month from Hyperion is It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider ($16.95), filled with commentary from Henson and his characters, friends and family.
Springsteen Celebrates 'Born to Run' Album
NEW YORK - Bruce Springsteen is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the "Born to Run" album, which landed him simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek, with a special box set this fall.
The "Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition" will include a DVD of Springsteen and the E Street Band's 1975 performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, a 16-song set that featured much of the album.
A second DVD, "Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run," is a 90-minute documentary about the album that features fresh interviews from Springsteen, band members and others involved. It also features footage of Springsteen performing some of the songs solo with guitar or piano.
The package features a newly-remastered "Born to Run" disc. There's no additional music — outtakes or the like — that are often featured in box sets.
Columbia Records will put the package on sale November 15th.
Coldplay and Gorillaz lead MTV award nominations
LONDON (Reuters) - Rock band Coldplay go head to head with cartoon quartet Gorillaz at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, after the British acts garnered five nominations each when they were announced on Tuesday.
Coldplay, fronted by actress Gwyneth Paltrow's husband Chris Martin, shot to No. 1 in the United States and over 20 other countries this year with new album "X&Y" and are competing for best group, song, album, rock and UK and Ireland act categories.
Gorillaz, the band whose public face is four cartoon characters, are vying for best group, best song, best video for "Feel Good Inc," best pop and best UK and Ireland act.
Music fans across Europe and Africa can choose the winners via MTV's websites with the exception of the best video category, which is selected by MTV Europe.
Coldplay will perform at the ceremony in Lisbon on November 3, and will be joined by the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Robbie Williams and The Black Eyed Peas.
The annual event will be hosted by irreverent British comic Sacha Baron Cohen playing his alter ego Borat Sagdiyev, the hapless Kazakh journalist.
"The emphasis of the 12th annual MTV Europe Music Awards is on spectacular live performance," said Brent Hansen, editor-in-chief of MTV Networks International.
Millions of fans are expected to tune into one of Europe's biggest pop award ceremonies.
Just behind Coldplay and Gorillaz in the nomination list was U.S. star Gwen Stefani, who is vying for best female and pop act, best album for "Love. Angel. Music. Baby," and best video for "What You Waiting For?"
Five artists were nominated for three awards apiece. Rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg as well as punk band Green Day represent the United States. They are joined by Irish rockers U2 and British newcomer James Blunt.
In both the best male and best female categories, four of the five nominees are from the United States.
For the first time, the MTV awards will include a category for best African act, with 2 Face, Kaysha, Kleptomaniax, 02 and Zamajobe in the running.
Viacom's MTV Networks went live earlier this year with its new African music video channel.
Morissette Looks Back With 'The Collection'
Alanis Morissette's cover of Seal's "Crazy" will precede the November 15th release of the retrospective "The Collection."
The 19-track album will be available as an enhanced single-disc set and a double-disc package with an hour-long documentary DVD.
Aside from such hits as "You Oughta Know," "Hand in My Pocket," "Ironic," "Hands Clean" and "Thank U," the album features Morissette's contributions to soundtracks for "Dogma," "De-Lovely" and "City of Angels," plus a track she recorded for the compilation "The Prayer Cycle."
Morissette was first heard reinterpreting "Crazy" earlier this summer as part of Gap's "Favorites" campaign. The track was available on a CD distributed only in Gap stores this month.
"Ultimately, I put this collection record together to have something to show my great-grandkids one day, and to reflect with objectivity on my own evolution as a writer and singer," Morissette says.
Here is the track list for "The Collection":
"Thank U"
"Head Over Feet"
"Eight Easy Steps"
"Everything"
"Crazy"
"Ironic"
"Princes Familiar"
"You Learn"
"Simple Together"
"You Oughta Know"
"That I Would Be Good"
"Sister Blister"
"So Unsexy"
"Hands Clean"
"Mercy"
"Still"
"Uninvited"
"Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"
"Hand In My Pocket"
The Couch Potato Report - September 27th
This week The Couch Potato Report is still only doing a summary.
BUT, this is the last week for that! Starting next week the full Couch Potato Report will return!!!
I know what you are thinking, "didn't Dan write that last week?" Well, the answer is yes. Soon I will need to get back into my regular routine, but this week I spent the time I would normally writing reading books and playing PSP.
Am I slacking off? Perhaps. Am I still locked out and making the best of a bad situation? Definitely!
For now, please bare with me, bear with me even, and enjoy these summaries:
Up first is FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY. This is a direct-to-DVD release and is being promoted as a FAMILY GUY movie. In actuality it is three unaired episodes of the hilarious TV show edited together.
That said, since it is a direct-to-DVD release, the "film" includes words, phrases and things that they can't do on TV.
PLUS, as I mentioned, they are unaired episodes!!!!!!
Creator Seth MacFarlane has said that FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY is sort of a gift to the fans who helped get his show back on the air.
So those fans will enjoy it, in fact they will love it.
Especially the segment that features Stewie as Saddam Hussein in a worm hole. It is priceless!
Anyone who is a non-convert to the show won't become a fan because of FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY, but if you are already a fan, enjoy Seth's gift!
A few years ago the good people at Blue Sky Studios gave us the gift of a great film called ICE AGE.
This year they follow that wonderful piece of animation with another one. This one is called ROBOTS and while it isn't as good at it's predecessor, it is still pretty darn entertaining!
The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and weird world. A world you won't mind visiting!
Rodney (voiced by Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Big Weld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his arrival, Rodney discovers that Big Weld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny Ratchet (Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets) is phasing out the spare parts that lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with "upgrades"--expensive and glistening new exoskeletons.
ROBOTS also featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more.
And it is very, very fun!!
So is the hilarious, direct-to-DVD release FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY!
That film, and ROBOTS, are both available now at a store near you.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report is the return of full reviews (I really, really hope) including my comments on:
Nicole Kidman's work in THE INTERPRETER. She has been terrible in the many remakes she has done and I will tell you if she is any better in this film about a UN translator who overhears assassination plot. Sean Penn also stars.
The names of the people who starred in the 1950 Disney film CINDERELLA are Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, and Verna Felton.
Their work has helped the film stand the test of time and now there is the CINDERELLA SPECIAL PLATINUM EDITION available for you to share with your family.
I'm Dan Reynish, enjoy whatever you choose to watch and I'll meet you back here next week on The Couch!
And here's a list of notable TV-on-DVD titles coming your way this fall:
27 September:
Gilmore Girls – The Complete Fourth Season
Hogan's Heroes – The Complete Second Season
Star Trek Enterprise – The Complete Third Season
Law & Order Special Victims Unit 2
SpongeBob SquarePants – Season Three
Creature Comforts – The Complete First Season
The Amazing Race – The Complete First Season
4 October:
Stargate SG-1: Season Eight
The Bob Newhart Show: Season Two
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One
11 October:
Veronica Mars: Season One
South Park: Season Six
Arrested Development: Season Two
18 October:
CSI New York: Season One
25 October:
Alias: Season Four
The L Word: Season Two
Point Pleasant: The Complete Series
Hart to Hart: Season One
In Living Color: Season Four
Tales from the Crypt: Season Two
Bewitched: Season Two
1 November:
Sex and the City: The Complete Series
Star Trek Enterprise: Season Four
8 November:
The White Shadow: Season One
Beavis & Butt-head Vol. 1: The Mike Judge Collection
15 November:
Friends: Season Ten
The Oprah Winfrey Show: 20 th Anniversary DVD Collection
Fantasy Island: Season One
Stargate Atlantis: Season One
Charmed: Season Three
That ‘70s Show: Season Three
Scrubs: Season Two
22 November:
Seinfeld: Seasons Five and Six
The Golden Girls: Season Three
Home Improvement: Season Three
Leave it to Beaver: Season One
The Andy Griffith Show: Season Four
29 November:
Family Guy: Season Three
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season Five
6 December:
24: Season Four
M*A*S*H: Season Nine
Full House: Season Two The West Wing: Season Five
13 December:
The Dukes of Hazzard: Season Five
Gilmore Girls: Season Five
20 December:
ER: Season Four
The Amazing Race: Season Seven
27 December:
The Shield: Season Four
Bizkit, Blink 182 Look Back With Retrospectives
Rock radio mainstays Limp Bizkit and Blink 182 will look back on their careers with upcoming Geffen "best of" retrospectives, each of which will be issued in tandem with a separate DVD of music videos. Bizkit's "Greatest Hits" is due Nov. 8 and features three previously unreleased songs, while a similarly titled Blink 182 album will arrive a week earlier.
In addition to hits like "Nookie," "Rollin'," "Break Stuff" and "N 2 Gether Now," the Bizkit collection includes the unheard tracks "Lean on Me" and "Why," plus an as-yet-untitled "mash-up" of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" and the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony."
No tracks are featured from Bizkit's recent EP, "The Unquestionable Truth," which failed to make much of a dent on the Billboard charts. The seven-song release debuted at No. 24 on The Billboard 200 and fell of the chart after just four weeks. It has sold 83,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
As for Blink 182, its "Greatest Hits" sports two bonus items: "Not Now" (an outtake from its 2003 self-titled album) and "Another Girl Another Planet," which serves as the theme to the MTV reality show "Meet the Barkers," starring Blink drummer Travis Barker.
The pop/punk trio announced in February that it was going on an "indefinite hiatus" and has yet to reveal any plans to begin working together again.
Larger Than Life: Biggie, Marley Duet On New Song
Even in death, rapper Notorious B.I.G. continues to surprise. The artist, who died in a March 1997 shooting, "duets" with fellow deceased music legend Bob Marley on a new single, "Hold Ya Hand," which is available today (Sept. 26) from AOL Music. It will also appear on "The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter," due Nov. 29 via Bad Boy.
"Hold Ya Hand" was produced by Clinton Sparks and includes a sample of Marley's "Johnny Was." The rest of the album is still coming together, although Bad Boy promises participation from "some of music's greatest vocalists and MCs" and "the industry's top producers."
The project will also include a DVD with previously unreleased Biggie performance footage, interviews and music videos.
Like fellow gunned-down rapper Tupac Shakur, Biggie remains the subject of fascination. As previously reported, director Antoine Fuqua is planning a big-budget biopic about the rapper, which is expected to begin production early next year.
Last year, Bad Boy released an expanded, 10th anniversary edition of Biggie's debut, "Ready To Die," which featured the evergreen singles "Juicy," "One More Chance" and "Big Poppa."
Coming back for seconds, thirds...
After three smash American Pie movies, the film's producers figure fans are up for a fourth slice.
But American Pie: Band Camp won't arrive in theaters; it's going direct to DVD. And only Eugene Levy remains from the original cast of the hit comedy franchise.
For movies that have developed fan bases through several theatrical sequels, direct-to-DVD versions can be a cost-effective way to wring more dollars out of an established movie franchise.
Producer Martin Bregman, whose Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, the prequel to 1993 Carlito's Way, arrives on DVD Tuesday, says that with rising production costs and star salaries, "in many cases a film will go directly to DVD because it's simply a more profitable situation for a studio."
Carlito's Way had a budget of $30 million, vs. $9 million for Carlito's Way: Rise to Power.
Direct-to-DVD sequels — which generally don't have the stars who carried the original films or the budgets — were once limited to animated films, horror and sci-fi franchises. Now, thrillers, dramas and comedies are getting the treatment.
"It's all about the story," says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, which is distributing Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. "The quality is higher, and the films we are choosing are ones that really found their audience in a massive way through DVD."
The American Pie trilogy took in $351.2 million in theaters and sold millions of DVDs, Kornblau notes, while a special-edition DVD of Scarface - like Carlito's Way, a modern gangster film produced by Martin Bregman — generated more than $100 million in consumer spending, twice its theatrical gross.
Some films don't warrant a full-blown theatrical release; the cost for making prints of a movie, plus advertising it, now average $34.4 million, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Home video "is a $24 billion (a year) business," Kornblau says. "And yet there is very little content made only for this business."
Bregman says many adults prefer watching movies on DVD to going to theaters. "A good movie is a good movie, regardless of where it's shown."
Luis Guzman, who was in the original theatrical Carlito's Way and stars in the prequel, agrees.
"As an actor, sure, there's nothing like walking into a theater and sitting in the back and seeing how the audience reacts to a movie you've done.
"But at the same time, for me, there's nothing like being able to sit home with my family and watch an awesome movie right there on DVD. Technology has made it possible to have a home theater system in your living room that's just as good as going to the movies."
------ Familiar titles, different faces
Direct-to-DVD sequels often don't have the same stars as the originals. Details of some upcoming releases:
Out Tuesday, Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (Universal, $27), actually a prequel, finds Jay Hernandez (Ladder 49, Friday Night Lights) portraying a young Carlito Brigante, played by Al Pacino in the 1993 original. Luis Guzman plays hit man Nacho Reyes.
On Oct. 25, Single White Female 2: The Psycho (Columbia TriStar, $25), a sequel to the 1992 movie about roomates gone bad, stars Brooke Burns (TV's North Shore) and Kristen Miller (Team America: World Police).
On Nov. 11, 8mm2 (Sony, $25), a sequel to the 1999 snuff-movie thriller that starred Nicolas Cage, arrives.
On Dec. 27, American Pie: Band Camp (Universal, price not set) focuses on Steve Stifler's little brother, Matt, played by newcomer Tad Hilgenbrinck. Eugene Levy, the only major cast member from the three previous movies returning for this, plays a camp counselor.
In 2006, a sequel to the 1994 bull-riding movie 8 Seconds is due, as is a sequel to the 2004 thriller The Butterfly Effect, and a fifth House Party, the second sequel to the urban comedy to go direct to DVD.
NEW CD RELEASES FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2005
The 69 Eyes Devils (456 Enterprises)
Abandoned Pools Armed to the Teeth (Universal)
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals Jacksonville City Nights (Mercury Nashville)
Ashton Allen Dewdrops (High Wire Music)
Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney guitarist) Undressing Underwater (guests Paul McCartney, Stewart Copeland and more) (Surf Dog)
B-Legit Block Movement (two CDs) (SMC)
Jello Biafra and the Melvins Sieg Howdy (Alternative Tentacles)
Eric Bibb A Ship Called Love (Telarc)
Big Star In Space (new album) (Rykodisc)
Biology Making Moves (Vagrant)
Bizzy Bone Speaking in Tongues (845 Entertainment)
Black My Heart Before the Devil and The Fuck Hearts EP (Eulogy)
Blackalicious The Craft (guests George Clinton, Floetry, Lateef and Lyrics Born) (Epitaph)
Bloodhound Gang Hefty Fine (Geffen)
Bone a Fide Soul Lounge (Heads Up)
Toni Braxton Libra (Universal Motown)
Junior Brown The Austin Experience (Telarc)
Bump J Nothing to Lose (w/songs produced by Kanye West and one featuring Rick James) (Atlantic)
Calla Collisions (Beggars Banquet)
Bruce Campbell Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (Rykodisc)
Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard guitarist) Two Sides of If (Sanctuary)
James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Reginald Veal and Ali Jackson Gold Sounds (Brown Brothers)
The Casanovas The Casanovas (IRock Entertainment)
Ray Cash C.O.D. (Cash on Delivery) (Columbia)
Tom Chapin Some Assembly Required (Razor & Tie)
Craig Chaquico Holiday (Higher Octave)
Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart Love Is Here to Stay (duet album of standards from mother/son team) (Blue Note)
Cher The Farewell Tour (UMD format) (Image)
Cherish the Ladies Woman of the House (Rounder)
Cherryholmes Cherryholmes (Skaggs Family)
Bruce Cockburn Speechless (instrumental album) (Rounder)
Code Red All Aboard (Toucan Cove)
Milton Creagh Spoken (Thump)
Criteria En Garde (reissue of 2003 debut album) (Saddle Creek)
Sheryl Crow Wildflower (Deluxe Edition available same day) (Interscope)
Carlene Davis Rock Me Jesus (VP)
Default One Thing Remains (TVT)
The Detroit Cobras Baby (enhanced CD; includes import-only EP plus new R&B covers album; w/songs by Isaac Hayes, Bobby Womack and more) (Bloodshot)
Dion Bronx in Blue (Orchard)
DJ Jazzy Jeff The Soul Mixtape (Groovin)
The East Village Opera Company (performs rock versions of classic opera) The East Village Opera Company (Decca)
Michael Feinstein with George Shearing Hopeless Romantics (Concord)
Renée Fleming Sacred Songs (Decca)
Freeway Free at Last (Def Jam)
Lafayette Gilchrist Toward the Shining Path (Hyena)
Grace Gale A Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel Safety (Blackout!)
Grandaddy Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP (V2)
Gryphon Crossing the Styles (two CDs) (Sanctuary)
H.I.M. Dark Light (Sire)
Zac Harmon The Blues According to Zachariah (Bluestone)
The High Strung Moxie Bravo (Future Farmer)
HIM Dark Light (Sire)
Hinder Extreme Behavior (Universal)
Hogg Boss It's All Boss (Avatar)
I Am the Avalanche I Am the Avalanche (Drive-Thru)
I Nine Live EP (J Records)
The Ike Reilly Assassination Junkie Faithful (Rock Ridge)
Ill Niño One Nation Underground (Roadrunner)
Index Case Index Case (Platform Group)
India.Arie Music in High Places: Live in Brazil (UMD format) (Image)
Jo Jo Gunne Big Chain (first album since 1972 w/all original members; includes new songs plus re-recorded versions of songs from their first album) (Blue Hand/Select-O-Hits)
The Joggers With a Cape and a Cane (StarTime International)
Jonas Brothers Jonas Brothers (Columbia)
King Britt Late Night with (mix CD of originals and remixes) (Swank)
Curt Kirkwood (of Meat Puppets) Snow (Little Dog)
KTU 8 Armed Monkey (w/members of King Crimson) (Thirsty Ear)
Last Target One Shot, One Kill (BYO)
Bettye LaVette I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Epitaph)
Ramsey Lewis With One Voice (Narada)
Lil' Kim Naked Truth (Atlantic)
LMS London to Paris (VP)
Logh A Sunset Panorama (Hydra Head)
Mack 10 Hustla's Handbook (Capitol)
Tiger Mansurian String Quartets (ECM)
Kathy Mattea Right Out of Nowhere (Narada)
Joe McBride Texas Hold 'Em (Heads Up)
Brian McDade Love Bayou (OTN)
Brad Mehldau Trio Day Is Done (Nonesuch)
Idina Menzel Still I Can't Be Still (Hollywood)
Mercy Me The Christmas Sessions (Epic/INO)
Mommy and Daddy Duel at Dawn (Kanine)
Morcheeba The Antidote (Echo)
Alanis Morissette Music in High Places: Live in the Navajo Nation (UMD format) (Image)
Mr. Criminal Sounds of Crime (Thump)
Mark Murphy Once to Every Heart (Verve)
My Ruin The Brutal Language (Rovena/33rd Street/Bayside)
Neuraxis Trilateral Progression (Willowtip)
New Black Time Attack (Thick)
Jon Nicholson A Lil Sump'm Sump'm (Warner Bros.)
Ric Ocasek Nexterday (guests Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains and ex-Cars' Greg Hawkes) (Sanctuary)
PJ Olsson Beautifully Insane (Brash Music)
Orange Sky Upstairs (CD/DVD combo) (Granite)
Ozzy Osbourne Under Covers (covers album; part of box set) (Epic)
Sean Paul The Trinity (Atlantic)
Houston Person All Soul (HighNote)
Regis Philbin The Christmas Album (Hollywood)
Plastic Noise Experience Noised (Van Richter)
Robert Pollard Music for Bubble EP (Fading Captain)
Praxis Profanation: Preparation for a Coming Darkness (Sanctuary)
Ramallah Kill a Celebrity (Thorp)
Reatards Not Fucked Enough (Empty)
Diane Reeves Good Night, and Good Luck (soundtrack) (Concord)
Revelation Theory Truth Is Currency (Idol Roc Entertainment)
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys Dominos (Rounder)
Carmen Rizzo The Lost Art of the Idle Moment (w/guests Esthero, Grant Lee Phillips and Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets) (The LAB)
Wallace Roney Mystikal (HighNote)
Boz Scaggs Fade Into Light (DualDisc; previously released in Japan only; includes acoustic versions of hits plus new songs) (Virgin)
Señor Coconut Presents Coconut FM (Essay)
Anoushka Shankar (daughter of Ravi) Rise (Angel)
Sharissa Every Beat of My Heart (guests R. Kelly, Wyclef Jean, the Game and more) (Virgin)
Shimmer Shimmer (Cake)
Si*Sé More Shine (MOB)
Smile Empty Soul Anxiety (Lava/Atlantic)
Spin Doctors Nice Talking to Me (first new studio album in 11 years w/original lineup) (Ruff Nation/Universal)
Supergrass Road to Rouen (Capitol)
Three 6 Mafia The Known Unknowns (Columbia)
Trio Mediaeval Stella Maris (ECM)
Twelve Girls Band Romantic Energy (Domo)
U-God (of Wu-Tang Clan) Mr. Xcitement (Free Agency)
Weather Calling Up My Bad Side (Cake)
David Wilcox Out Beyond Ideas (W.A.R.?)
Gerald Wilson In My Time (Mack Avenue)
Gretchen Wilson All Jacked Up (guest Merle Haggard and others) (Epic)
Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop)
Yo Gotti Back to the Basics (TVT)
Neil Young Prairie Wind (CD/DVD combo) (Reprise)
VA Back Against the Wall (two CDs; Pink Floyd tribute w/members of Yes, Jethro Tull and more) (Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra)
VA Christmas Classics Remixed (Capitol/EMI)
VA Da-Nang (w/Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, Wax Poetic and more) (Quango)
VA ESPN Arena Anthems (Hollywood)
VA Indy 500 Sampler (Indianola)
VA Suicide Girls: A Black Heart Retrospective (Epitaph)
VA Taste of Chaos (DVD same day; live performances from the Used, My Chemical Romance, Killswitch Engage and more) (Image)
OST An Unfinished Life (Robert Redford/Jennifer Lopez movie; score by Christopher Young w/13 bonus tracks not included in the film) (Shout! Factory)
OST An Unfinished Life (score by Deborah Lurie) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Grey's Anatomy (ABC TV show) (Hollywood)
OST Las Vegas (soundtrack to NBC TV show; w/songs by Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Stereophonics, Fatboy Slim and more) (Treadstone)
OST Serenity (score by David Newman) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (live-action adaptation of C.S. Lewis classic; w/Christian artists) (EMI CMG)
OST The Greatest Game Ever Played (score by Brian Tyler) (Hollywood)
OST Veronica Mars (UPN TV show; w/songs by the Dandy Warhols, Stereophonics, Mike Doughty and more) (Nettwerk)
DVD Bouncing Souls Live at the Glasshouse (Kung Fu)
DVD The Sun Blame It on the Youth (full-length album released as DVD only; includes video for each song and links to audio downloads) (Warner Bros.)
DVD Keith Urban Livin' Right Now (live 2004 Los Angeles performances) (Capitol Nashville)
SACD Roger Waters Ca Ira (two SACDs w/bonus DVD; opera about the French Revolution) (Sony BMG Masterworks/Columbia)
YOU BASTARDS!
Comedy Central releasing the sixth season of South Park on DVD Oct. 11.
Foster Fights Cinema Battle
Jodie Foster almost lost her famous cool in a cinema recently when she stood up to a woman who was upset about her young son's questions.
The actress took her kids to see nature documentary The March Of The Penguins and ended up confronting the bitter woman in front of her, who turned on her kid for quietly asking questions in the dark.
Foster recalls, "This woman went berserk. She started with the shushing from the get go... and then she starts yelling at me.
Finally, I just turn into the most perfect police officer where I was whispering, 'You know, you're really disturbing everybody, and I think it would be a good idea if you moved if you're not happy.'
It almost came to blows. I'm pretty sure I did say something offensive at some point, something like, 'You're awfully young to be that bitter.' She really lost her mind. But I was insulted. I understand. I go to a movie, I don't want to be disturbed. But don't go to a noon Sunday matinee of a family movie. I mean, what do you expect?"
Crucial Blue Jays-Red Sox Game Washed Out
BOSTON - The scheduled game between Boston and Toronto was postponed by rain Monday night, forcing the Red Sox to play a day-night doubleheader and alter their pitching rotation in the middle of a tight pennant race.
The game will be made up Tuesday at 1:05 p.m., and the teams will play again at 7:05 p.m. as scheduled.
With Curt Schilling's start washed out Monday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to go with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (15-11) in the opener Tuesday, a move made easier by Wakefield's ability to come back on short rest. Schilling (7-8) is scheduled to pitch the night game.
"We're doing it now for obvious reasons, rest," Francona said. "We're trying to take whatever happens and make it to our advantage."
The Red Sox, who entered Monday tied with New York atop the AL East with seven games to go, subsequently changed plans for a potential showdown series at Fenway Park this weekend against the Yankees. Schilling was pushed back from Saturday to Sunday to allow for his normal four days of rest. Wakefield is scheduled for Saturday.
Toronto manager John Gibbons will go with the same order of starters Tuesday that were scheduled for the first two games of the series: David Bush (5-10) in the opener and Gustavo Chacin (12-9) in the nightcap. Bush is 0-2 with an 11.70 ERA in three starts against the Red Sox this season.
Francona was happy the game was called early and Schilling wasn't forced to warm up a few times. The tarp was never taken off the field, and the postponement was announced by team officials approximately 35 minutes after the scheduled starting time.
"Oh yeah, that's huge," Francona said. "That was something we wanted to stay away from. That gets you in a tough situation — up and down, pitch, don't pitch. He'll pitch tomorrow and it's fairly normal, just like having an extra day."
Toronto has been one of Boston's toughest opponents this season, winning nine of 14 meetings. The Red Sox play the Blue Jays on Wednesday and Thursday before the highly anticipated three-game series against the Yankees opens Friday night.
"I've never been involved in a pennant race, but I think it increases the pressure on them," Blue Jays first baseman Shea Hillenbrand said. "It's tough to win two games in one day. We're feeling good and we're ready to take on the Red Sox."
After Francona met the media and explained the change in plans, most of the players were gone from the clubhouse.
"I don't think it affects us in any way," Red Sox reliever Mike Myers said. "We've still got the same guys going in Game 1 and Game 2. I know history says it's harder to win a doubleheader, but with what we're going for I don't think it'll affect anything."
Tickets from Monday's rainout will be honored for the day game Tuesday.
Schilling, Boston's postseason star after pitching Game 6 of the AL championship series and Game 2 of the World Series following surgical procedures that sutured a tendon to skin in his right ankle, could be going with a playoff berth on the line Sunday.
"For Curt to have the opportunity, it's great to have him out there," Myers said.
CBC, union meet labour minister, continue talks in Ottawa area
The CBC and its largest union have agreed to continue talks to find a solution to their labour dispute after meeting with the federal labour minister.
Joe Fontana urged CBC management and leaders of the broadcaster's largest union to find a solution to the disruption now in its seventh week.
Fontana told negotiating teams in Gatineau, Que. - just across the Ottawa River from Ottawa - that the "current situation is unacceptable."
Senior representatives present at the meeting included Arnold Amber, president of the Canada Media Guild branch representing CBC workers and CBC president Robert Rabinovitch.
The Guild represents 5,500 employees - including journalists, technicians and other staff - that the CBC locked out on Aug. 15, after more than a year of negotiations.
Since then, managers have provided reduced coverage on the CBC's radio, TV and web services. The lockout affects all CBC centres except those in the province of Quebec and Moncton, N.B.
In a communiqué Friday, Amber said, "We need some assistance to get the contract done and we need the right people in the room. If the main decision-makers from CBC senior management are there, this thing could be settled within five days after Monday." Following Monday's meeting, CBC released a statement that it "welcomes efforts to move negotiations with CMG to a conclusion."
Fontana commented that "Both parties have demonstrated a willingness to resolve this dispute. They have agreed, at my invitation, to remain in the building and resume negotiations on the remaining issues - I will be meeting jointly with the parties later today to get a status of their talks."
Mediator Elizabeth MacPherson, the head of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service, will assist the union and the CBC in their deliberations.
While the talks were going on, about 500 CBC workers from Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa rallied outside Parliament as MPs returned from summer break.
AFI Scores With "Star Wars"
The Force is strong with John Williams.
Not only was his score for 1977's Star Wars named the number one Greatest Film Score of all time by the list-happy folks at the American Film Institute, but the music he wrote for 1975's Jaws and 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also made the cut, coming in at number six and 14 respectively.
A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians were tapped to determine which of the most memorable scores would be chosen for The Big Picture—AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, a new list commissioned by the famed institute in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
Of the movie music rounding out the top 10, a number predictably belong to some of the most beloved films ever made. Coming in at number two was Max Steiner's majestic score for 1939's Gone with the Wind. That was followed in third place by Maurice Jarre's sweeping orchestrations for 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, Bernard Herrmann's heart-piercing composition for 1960's Psycho in fourth, and Nino Rota's epic score for 1972's The Godfather in fifth.
The rest of the AFI's top ten were respectively: Jaws, John Williams; Laura (1944), David Raskin; The Magnificent Seven (1960), Elmer Bernstein; Chinatown (1974), Jerry Goldsmith; and High Noon (1952), Dimitri Tiomkin.
A who's who of the cinema's best tunesmiths were represented on the list: giants like Hermann, Steiner, Bernstein, Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, John Barry and Alfred Newman.
The committee based its selections on criteria such as its creative impact—i.e. "scores that enrich the moviegoing experience by bringing the emotional elements of a film's story to life;" its historical significance, or scores that help advance the art form; and the scores' legacy in cinema history. The works chosen also had to be from American films.
Steiner, Herrmann, Bernstein, and Goldsmith each had two films on the list.
Aside from Gone with the Wind's second place finish, Steiner also placed 13th with the score for 1933's King Kong. Herrmann followed up Psycho's fourth place victory with his thrilling orchestrations for 1958's Vertigo, which came in at number 12. While outdoing himself with the music for The Magnificent Seven, Bernstein also etched himself in cinema lore with his stirring score for 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird, which was ranked 17th. And last but not least, Goldsmith shifted from Chinatown's murder-mystery vibe to sci-fi with his score for 1968's Planet of the Apes.
Some of the other notable composers on the list were Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose swashbuckling score for the The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) ranked eleventh and helped make Errol Flynn the object of every girl's desire; Franz Waxman, whose evocative music for noir classic Sunset Boulevard (1950) came in at 16 and revealed the darker side of Tinseltown; Alex North, who made his mark at number 19 with his score for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); and Miklos Rozsa, who roused the masses with his work on Ben-Hur, which placed 21.
Mancini's beloved theme from The Pink Panther (1964) landed in the 20 spot, Leonard Bernstein's music for On the Waterfront at 22; and Morricone's classic score from 1986's The Mission at 23. Wrapping up the list was Dave Grusin's score for On Golden Pond (1981) and Afred Newman's for How the West Was Won (1962) at 24 and 25 respectively.
Here's the complete list of AFI's 25 Greatest Film Scores:
Star Wars (1977); John Williams
Gone with the Wind (1939); Max Steiner
Lawrence of Arabia (1962); Maurice Jarre
Psycho (1960); Bernard Herrmann
The Godfather (1972); Nino Rota
Jaws (1975); John Williams
Laura (1944); David Raskin
The Magnificent Seven (1960); Elmer Bernstein
Chinatown (1975); Jerry Goldsmith
High Noon (1952); Dimitri Tiomkin
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Vertigo (1958); Bernard Herrmann
King Kong (1933); Max Steiner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); John Williams
Out of Africa (1985); John Barry
Sunset Boulevard (1950); Franz Waxman
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962); Elmer Bernstein
Planet of the Aples (1968); Jerry Goldsmith
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Alex North
The Pink Panther (1964); Henry Mancini
Ben-Hur (1959); Miklos Rozsa
On the Waterfront (1954); Leonard Bernstein
The Mission (1986); Ennio Morricone
On Golden Pond (1981); David Grusin
How the West Was Won (1962); Alfred Newman
Don Adams of 'Get Smart' Dies at 82
LOS ANGELES - Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.
Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding that the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.
As the inept Agent 86 of the super-secret federal agency CONTROL, Adams captured TV viewers with his antics in combatting the evil agents of KAOS. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack:
"Would you believe ... ?"
It became a national catchphrase.
Smart was also prone to spilling things on the desk or person of his boss — the Chief (actor Edward Platt). Smart's apologetic "Sorry about that, chief" also entered the American lexicon.
The spy gadgets, which aped those of the Bond movies, were a popular feature, especially the pre-cellphone telephone in a shoe.
Smart's beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon, was as brainy as he was dense, and a plot romance led to marriage and the birth of twins later in the series.
"He had this prodigious energy, so as an actor working with him it was like being plugged into an electric current," Feldon said from New York. "He would start and a scene would just take off and you were there for the ride. It was great fun acting with him."
Adams was very intelligent, she said, a quality that suited the satiric show that had comedy geniuses Mel Brooks and Buck Henry behind it.
"He wrote poetry, he had an interest in history ... He had that other side to him that does not come through Maxwell Smart," she said. "Don in person was anything but bumbling."
Adams had an "amazing memory" that allowed him to take an unusual approach to filming, Feldon said.
Instead of learning his lines ahead of time he would have a script assistant read his part to him just once or twice. He invariably got it right but that didn't stop people from placing bets on it, she recounted.
Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Brooks and Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately. "Get Smart" debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season's most-watched series and No. 22 in its second season.
"Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.
CBS picked up the show but the ratings fell off as the jokes seemed repetitive, and it was canceled after four seasons. The show lived on in syndication and a cartoon series. In 1995 the Fox network revived the series with Smart as chief and 99 as a congresswoman. It lasted seven episodes.
Adams never had another showcase to display his comic talent.
"It was a special show that became a cult classic of sorts, and I made a lot of money for it," he remarked of "Get Smart" in a 1995 interview. "But it also hindered me career-wise because I was typed. The character was so strong, particularly because of that distinctive voice, that nobody could picture me in any other type of role."
He was born Donald James Yarmy in New York City on April 13, 1923, Tufeld said, although some sources say 1926 or '27. The actor's father was a Hungarian Jew who ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx.
In a 1959 interview Adams said he never cared about being funny as a kid: "Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star impressions as a kid in high school. Somehow they just got out of hand."
In 1941, he dropped out of school to join the Marines. In Guadalcanal he survived the deadly blackwater fever and was returned to the States to become a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian.
After the war he worked in New York as a commercial artist by day, doing standup comedy in clubs at night, taking the surname of his first wife, Adelaide Adams. His following grew, and soon he was appearing on the Ed Sullivan and late-night TV shows. Bill Dana, who had helped him develop comedy routines, cast him as his sidekick on Dana's show. That led to the NBC contract and "Get Smart."
Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, "Inspector Gadget" as well as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo. In 1980, he appeared as Maxwell Smart in a feature film, "The Nude Bomb," about a madman whose bomb destroyed people's clothing.
Tufeld said funeral arrangements were incomplete.
McEntire Gathers Old And New For "#1s"
Reba McEntire has included two new songs on her upcoming two-disc hits collection "Reba #1s." Due Nov. 22 via MCA Nashville, the set is the country superstar's 30th release through the label.
Its first disc is led by the new track "You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)," which is No. 47 in its third week on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Accordingly, the second disc starts off with the other new cut, "Love Needs a Holiday."
The rest of the set is filled with 33 familiar McEntire hits, spanning more than three decades, although not all reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Songs chart. Among those that did are "Can't Even Get the Blues," "How Blue" (1985), "Little Rock" (1986), "One Promise Too Late" (1987), "Love Will Find Its Way To You" (1988), "New Fool at an Old Game" (1989), "For My Broken Heart" (1991), "The Heart Won't Lie" (1993), "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" (1995) and "How Was I To Know" (1997).
McEntire is among the artists who performed in May in Las Vegas for the Academy of Country Music's (ACM) 40th anniversary concert, which will air on CBS in December. At deadline, the only show on the artist's itinerary is a Dec. 4 performance in Friant, Calif.
Here is the "Reba's #1s" track list:
Disc one:
"You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)"
"Can't Even Get the Blues"
"You're the First Time I've Thought About Leaving"
"How Blue"
"Somebody Should Leave"
"Whoever's in New England"
"Little Rock"
"What Am I Gonna Do About You"
"One Promise Too Late"
"The Last One To Know"
"Love Will Find Its Way to You"
"I Know How He Feels"
"New Fool in an Old Game"
"Cathy's Clown"
"Walk On"
"You Lie"
"Rumor Has It"
Disc two:
"Love Needs a Holiday"
"For My Broken Heart"
"Is There Life Out There"
"The Greatest Man I Never Knew"
"It's Your Call"
"The Heart Won't Lie"
"Does He Love You"
"Till You Love Me"
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"
"And Still"
"Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands"
"The Fear of Being Alone"
"How Was I To Know"
"If You See Him/If You See Her"
"Forever Love"
"What Do You Say"
"I'm a Survivor"
"Somebody"
Sheryl Crow talks love & war
Sheryl Crow's new album Wildflower, due in stores Tuesday, is a return to form for the 43-year-old singer-songwriter, says The Toronto Sun.
Following 2002's overly commercial C'mon, C'mon and 2003's greatest hits collection, Crow has delivered one of her best records yet: Intimate, stripped-down, melodic songs with upfront vocals and string accompaniment.
"I definitely featured my voice more," said Crow, down the line from London, England, recently in a Canadian newspaper exclusive with the Sun.
"I think the thing that's always gotten my attention is that people will come up to me after seeing me play live and say, 'Wow, you are so much better of a singer than you are on your records.' Part of that is just, as producer, I haven't really been that concerned with my own vocals because for me I've always more gotten off on the musicianship and the arrangements and the songwriting. And this record, although it sounds big because of the string arrangements, it's pretty based on sparse production. My original intent was to do a very acoustic-feeling record like (Neil Young's) Harvest, but put strings on it."
Crow, who has spent most of the last year and a half living in Europe, co-produced Wildflower with longtime collaborators John Shanks and Jeff Trott.
The new songs detail both her great love affair with 34-year-old cyclist Lance Armstrong -- the two got engaged earlier this month and a spring wedding is expected -- and her relationship with the increasingly troubled world at large.
But the so-called "Lance Factor" is obvious.
"I've never had anybody be so completely positive that I'm the person they want to be with," Crow told the television news program 20/20 in an interview with Armstrong that aired last week. "That's helped me to express who I am, and who I can be."
More universal themes explored on Wildflower can be heard on new songs like Sending A Letter To God or Where Has All The Love Gone.
"Sending A Letter To God speaks to the move toward the religious right in our country," Crow said, "and how, in my mind, even though I consider myself a Christian, the radical religious conservatism ... has started to inform how our government makes its decisions, which was not what the country was based on. And also that there's a judgmental attitude, a very moralistic attitude in our country that's based in that sort of fanaticism. And on the flipside of that, with regard to Where Has All The Love Gone, you have such a strong belief in God all over the world that we're in a war now where we're sort of fighting over whose God is the right God. And you know you have the jihad and the religious right movement in America and to me if you define God as love, then it's kind of difficult to figure out what we're all fighting about."
In recent years, Crow wore a T-shirt that said "War Is Not The Answer" at the American Music Awards and a guitar strap with the word "Peace" on it at the Grammys.
Both moves were considered risky given the backlash that the Dixie Chicks had to endure when they spoke out against U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. But Crow says she was well ahead of the Chicks on that curve.
"I had worn a T-shirt, before we went to war, well before the Dixie Chicks, on Good Morning America, that said, 'I don't believe in your war, Mr. Bush' and that really got me in trouble -- big time," Crow said. "Just people expressing their disagreement with that, and death threats and stuff like that. It's funny because after the Dixie Chicks thing our whole country really suffered a campaign that said if you spoke out, you were considered anti-American. It was kind of a dark time in our history. I think more people are coming around to the viewpoint that this war is not completely definable and we're not really sure how we got into it. People (are) trying to figure out, do we really have a plan ... and when are our kids coming home?"
In fact, Crow was so prolific as a songwriter recently there had been reports of her releasing two albums this year.
"I had decided, originally, it would be really cool to release a double record," she said. "And have one record be what we were calling 'the art' record, or record that was more stripped down and more genuine and more introspective. And then have a record that was based on the 31/2-minute pop song. But it didn't make sense in the end to release both at the same time because it kind of undermined the power of both records. So I think toward the end of next summer or fall, we'll have the other record come out."
At the time of this interview, Crow was about to rejoin Armstrong just before he would go on to win his seventh straight Tour de France.
"It's very nervewracking," said Crow of her experience last year on the road with Armstrong. "And clearly for him, it starts well before the tour. He does a lot of races up to that point to sort of assess where he is in his conditioning. So I've definitely been involved in the lifestyle of the training and eating right and getting good sleep and, also, for me the tour is a great outlet. It's likely finally getting to do the gig after you've rehearsed for weeks and weeks and weeks."
Some fans questioned Crow putting her own career aside for the past couple of years to follow Armstrong around.
"There are people who still think I'm nuts," Crow told 20/20. "I mean, I have a massive feminist following and a lot o