Bob Denver, TV's Gilligan, Dead at 70
LOS ANGELES - Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy castaway Gilligan on the 1960s TV show "Gilligan's Island" made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died. He was 70.
He died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer, his agent, Mike Eisenstadt, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
His wife, Dreama, and children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin were with Denver, who also had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year.
"He was my everything and I will love him forever," Dreama Denver said in a statement.
Denver's signature role was Gilligan, but when he took the role in 1964 he was already widely known to TV audiences for another iconic character, Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in the "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963.
Krebs, whose only desire was to play the bongos and hang out at coffee houses, would shriek every time the word "work" was mentioned in his presence.
Gilligan on the other hand was industrious but inept. And his character was as lovable as he was inept. Viewers embraced the skinny kid in the Buster Brown haircut and white sailor hat. So did the Minnow's skipper, Jonas Grumby, who was played by Alan Hale Jr., and who always referred to his first mate affectionately as "little buddy."
"As silly as it seems to all of us, it has made a difference in a lot of children's lives," Dawn Wells, who played castaway Mary Ann Summers, once said. "Gilligan is a buffoon that makes mistakes and I cannot tell you how many kids come up and say, `But you loved him anyway.'"
TV critics were less kind, dismissing the show as inane. But after it was canceled by CBS in 1967, it found new audiences over and over in syndicated reruns and reunion films, including 1981's "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island." (It also led to the recent TBS reality series "The Real Gilligan's Island.")
One of the most recent of those films was 2001's "Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History," in which other actors portrayed the original seven-member cast while three of the four surviving original members, including Denver, narrated and reminisced.
"Gilligan's Island" writer-creator Sherwood Schwartz insisted that the show had social meaning along with the laughs: "I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications."
Denver went on to star in other TV series, including "The Good Guys" and "Dusty's Trail," as well as to make numerous appearances in films and TV shows.
But he never escaped the role of Gilligan, so much so that in one of his top 10 lists — "the top 10 things that will make you stand up and cheer" — "Late Show" host David Letterman once simply shouted out Denver's name to raucous applause.
"It was the mid-'70s when I realized it wasn't going off the air," Denver told The Associated Press in 2001, noting then that he enjoyed checking eBay each day to keep up on the prices "Gilligan's Island" memorabilia were fetching.
"I certainly didn't set out to have a series rerun forever, but it's not a bad experience at all," he added.
The Couch Potato Report...
...will return soon!!
I promise!!
Dan
NEW CD RELEASES FOR SEPTEMBER 6, 2005
2 Leaves Welcome to the Fall (Double Blind Music)
50 Cent The Massacre (CD/DVD combo; re-release w/videos for each song; includes previously unreleased track) (Interscope)
The Absence From Your Grave (Metal Blade)
Against Me! Searching for a Former Clarity (produced by ex-Jawbox's J. Robbins) (Fat Wreck Chords)
Doug Alan Sun, Surf and Sand (Big Daddy)
Angel Where Have You Been? (Azica)
Sam Ashworth Gonna Get It Wrong Before I Get It Right (Runway Network)
Augustana All the Stars and Boulevards (produced by Brendan O'Brien) (Epic)
Autumn's Child featuring Mark Holland Visions & Dreams (Cedar n Sage)
AZ Awol (Koch)
Joan Baez Bowery Songs (Koch)
Baleen Follow Me Blind and Reversed (b-sides and instrumentals) (LiquiLab)
Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan Happy Hour (No Guru)
Bebo de Cuba Suite Cubana - El Solar de Bebo - NY Notebook (Calle 54)
Bellini Small Stones (Secretly Canadian)
Between the Buried and Me Alaska (Victory)
Black Dice Broken Ear Record (DFA/Astralwerks)
The Bled Found in the Flood (Vagrant)
Blood on the Wall Awesomer (Secretly Canadian)
Terry Bozzio and Metropole Orkest Chamber Works (Favored Nations)
Brownside 13 Reasons (PR Records)
Bush Chemists Raw Raw Dub (ROIR)
Shirley Caesar I Know the Truth (Artemis)
Kate Campbell Blues and Lamentations (Large River)
Johnny Casino's Easy Action We've Forgotten More Than You'll Ever Know (Steel Cage)
Casual Presents Smash Rockwell (guests Too Short, E40 and more) (Hieroglyphics)
George Clinton How Late Do U Have 2 B B 4 U R Absent? (two CDs) (The C Kunspyruhzy)
Danielia Cotton Small White Town (Hip Shake)
daKAH Unfinished Symphony/Remixes (KUFALA)
Deaf Pedestrians Deaf Pedestrians (Dotpointperiod)
Dirty on Purpose Sleep Late for a Better Tomorrow (North Street)
The Divorce The Gifted Program (Made in Mexico)
Floyd Dixon Fine! Fine! Thing! (Highjohn)
Alan Doug Sun, Surf and Sand (Amerimusic)
The Dreamside Spin Moon Magic (guest Rogue of the Cruxshadows) (Dancing Ferret)
Drums & Tuba Battles Olé (Righteous Babe)
Jace Everett Jace Everett (Epic)
Enzo Favata Ajo (Dunya)
Fine China The Jaws of Life (Common Wall Media)
Frontier Index Frontier Index (Rainbow Quartz)
Ghosty Grow Up or Sleep In (Future Farmer)
Jose Gonzalez Veneer (Parasol/Hidden Agenda)
Beth Hart Live (Koch)
Richard Hawley Coles Corner (Mute)
Heatmakerz Crack: V.1 (Koch)
Heaven 17 Before/After (Ninthwave)
Nachito Herrera Bembé en Mi Casa (FS)
Idlewild Warnings Promises (Capitol)
Immaculate Machine One and Zeros (Mint)
The Immortal Lee County Killers These Bones Will Rise to Love You Again (Tee Pee)
Indukti S.U.S.A.R. (Laser's Edge)
Jacknife Moment of Reckoning (Zero Sum)
Michael Jackson Innocent (limited edition audio account of recent trial) (Chrome Dreams)
Howard Jones Revolution of the Heart (Koch)
Kelsey Something's Starting to Happen (Destiny Row)
Lil' Al The Self Made LP (PR)
Corb Lund Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer (Stony Plain)
Lye By Mistake Arrangements for Fulminating Vective (United Edge)
Mad Science Fair For a Better Tomorrow (Parasol)
Maida Renaissance in Reverse (Fiddler)
Marat Again (MoRisen)
Sarah McLachlan Bloom (Remix 2) (previously unreleased remixes by Junkie XL, Sly & Robbie, Thievery Corporation and more; includes collaboration with Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am and Run-D.M.C.'s DMC) (Arista)
James McMurtry Childish Things (Compadre)
The Morning After Girls The Morning After Girls (Rainbow Quartz)
Alison Moyet Voice (Sanctuary)
Mr. Shadow Drama (PR)
Mt. Eerie Singers and The Drums from No Flashlight (Secretly Canadian)
Johnny Napp Cowboy Up and Party Down (Johnny Napp Records)
Jimmy "T99" Nelson The Legend (Nettie Marie)
New Model Army Carnival (Attack, Attack)
New Monsoon The Sound (produced by ex-Santana's Michael Shrieve and ex-Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble) (Harmonized)
North Mississippi Allstars Electric Blue Watermelon (ATO)
Hope Partlow Who We Are (Virgin)
Duane Peters and the Hunns Beyond Warped (DualDisc) (Immergent)
Pistol Star (w/ex-Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble) Crawl (Wax Orchard/Koch)
The Proclaimers Restless Soul (Persevere)
Amy Rigby Little Fugitive (Signature Sounds)
River City Tanlines River City Tanlines (Dirtnap)
The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang (produced by Don Was) (Virgin)
Bobby Rush Night Fishin' (Deep Rush)
Scarling So Long Scarecrow (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
Secret Oyster Vidunderlige Kaelling (Laser's Edge)
Sexsmith & Kerr (Ron and Don) Destination Unknown (Ronboy Rhymes, Inc.)
Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand Dream Big (Capitol Nashville)
Robert Skoro That These Things Could Be Ours (Yep Roc)
Socratic Lunch for the Sky (Drive-Thru)
Space Mtn A Drawing of a Memory of a Photograph of You (Aeronaut)
Angela Strehli Blue Highway (w/Maria Muldaur and Stevie Ray Vaughan) (MC)
Richard Swift The Collection Vol. 1 (two CDs; includes two albums from 2003 and 2005) (Secretly Canadian)
Symphorce Godspeed (Metal Blade)
Ben Taylor Another Run Around the Sun (Iris/Red)
Lewis Taylor Stoned (expanded edition of UK-only release w/five bonus tracks and new packaging) (HackTone/Shout! Factory)
Test Shot Starfish Test Shot Starfish (Kanpai)
Richard Thompson Grizzly Man (documentary soundtrack) (Cooking Vinyl)
Twilight Twilight (Southern Lord)
Kathy Valentine (of the Go-Go's) Light Years (w/ex-KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, Blondie's Clem Burke and more) (All for One)
Valina Epode EP (54º40' or Fight!)
Viva K Viva K (Stinky)
Robin and Linda Williams The First Christmas Gift (holiday standards plus covers of John Prine and Steve Earle) (Red House)
Wobbler Hinterland (Laser's Edge)
Wayne Wonder Inna Bashment Stylee (Trojan)
Richard Youngs The Naive Shaman (Secretly Canadian)
Zero Hour A Fragile Mind (Laser's Edge)
VA American Rag Cie (w/Truby Trio, Chicks on Speed, Moloko and more) (Quango)
VA Chicano Thugz (PR Records)
VA Loungegrooves Volume 1: The Sophisticated Soundtrack of Nightlife (two CDs; house music compilation) (Koch)
VA Oliver Peoples 4 (w/Tosca, 4Hero, Martina Topley-Bird) (Quango)
VA Summoning of the Muse: A Tribute to Dead Can Dance (w/Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Autumn's Grey Solace and more) (Projekt)
VA The Next Level: Independence Day - The Album (indie hip-hop compilation w/Jae Millz, Joe Budden, Treach and more) (Warlock)
VA Tone Poets (produced by and featuring David Grisman; w/Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Del McCoury and more) (Acoustic Disc)
VA Ultimate Pickin' - The Best of Instrumental Bluegrass (Pinecastle)
OST Cry Wolf (w/songs from Bloc Party, Cake, Low, Sage Francis and more) (Lakeshore)
OST Everything Is Illuminated (TVT)
OST Transporter 2 (TVT)
DVD Epitaph Presents (footage of 2005 tour w/Scatter the Ashes, From First to Last, Motion City Soundtrack and Matchbook Romance; includes interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and more) (Immergent)
DVD Punk: Attitude (two DVDs; includes performance footage of the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Clash; interviews w/Henry Rollins, Tommy Ramone, Jello Biafra and more) (Capital Entertainment)
DVD Lindsey Buckingham Soundstage Presents (w/Stevie Nicks on two songs) (Koch)
DVD Beth Hart Live at Paradiso (2004 Amsterdam concert) (Koch)
DVD Bruce Springsteen Storytellers (expanded edition of VH1 broadcast) (Columbia)
DVD VA Rockin' the Corps (performances for U.S. troops w/Destiny's Child, KISS, Hootie & the Blowfish, Ted Nugent and more) (Image)
PS - The answer is six!
CRIA wants tougher internet piracy law in Canada
The Canadian Recording Industry Association said Canada has become a music piracy haven.
The CRIA -- representing companies that produce more than 95 per cent of all recorded music sold in Canada -- wants the federal government to toughen internet piracy laws.
This follows a federal court decision in Australia on Monday that found six defendants guilty of copyright infringement and ordered them to pay back 90 per cent of the recording industry's costs in the case.
The defendants included Kazaa's owner, Sharman Networks Ltd., and its Sydney-based chief executive officer, Nikki Hemming, as well as Altnet, a company that provided some of the software for the Kazaa website.
Software for Kazaa, which until recently was the largest unauthorized file-sharing service with a peak of 4.7 million users worldwide, will no longer be available to download in Australia.
CRIA President Graham Henderson said: "The law that is currently on the books -- that's enforced -- is so antiquated that the net result has been, despite all of our best efforts, Canada's become a piracy haven."
According to a June report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada has the highest per capita rate of unauthorized file-swapping in the world.
It has also been reported to have the second highest level of broadband penetration, making it vulnerable to piracy.
Kazaa's lawyers had argued that the software was no different from a tape recorder or photocopier, and that Kazaa could therefore not control copyright infringement by users of the network.
It's an argument that CRIA lawyer Richard Pfohl said could be interpreted in the wording of Canada's existing draft legislation, and one that may protect internet pirates.
Henderson said: "Kazaa might well take a good look up here and (say) 'Canada looks pretty good.' And we can't have that."
The CRIA president said he hopes the government will make the amendments necessary to give Canada a robust copyright law when the legislation is debated in September, so that the record industry can get its fair share of the digital marketplace.
"The opportunity is here. The world -- legislators, courts, people around the world -- are speaking very clearly about what the new social norm is. And it's not free copyright," he said.
The Australian judgment comes 10 weeks after an unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the file-swapping operator Grokster, and three years after the shutdown of the original Napster.
McCartney Still Inspired by John Lennon
NEW YORK - Paul McCartney sometimes gets a little help from a friend. "When I write, there are times — not always — when I hear John (Lennon) in my head," McCartney told the latest issue of Time magazine. "I'll think, OK, what would we have done here?, and I can hear him gripe or approve."
The former Beatles' newest work will be released Sept. 13 on his 20th solo album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard." Three days later, he starts a U.S. tour in Miami.
"Since the Beatles, I've approached making records every which way. A lot of times it's a really casual thing. Do a few tracks a day, have a bit of fun," McCartney said. "Normally I kind of say, 'I'd like to make a good album.' This time there was motivation, determination. 'I'm going to make a good album. I'm going to, and that's that.'"
The album took two years to record, with McCartney playing many of the instruments himself.
Court rules against Kazaa
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court ruled on Monday that users of the popular Internet file-sharing network Kazaa were breaching copyright, and ordered its owners to modify the software to prevent online music piracy.
Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox ruled that Kazaa's Australian owner and developer, Sharman Networks, had not itself breached copyright but had encouraged millions of Kazaa users worldwide to do so.
"The respondents have long known that the Kazaa system is widely used for the sharing of copyright files," said Wilcox in his ruling in a Sydney court.
The decision follows a similar judgment in June in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that file-sharing networks such as Grokster can be held liable if their intent is to promote copyright infringement of music or movies.
"The message is very clear for P2P services: It's time to go legal," said John Malcolm, chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). "Today's judgment shows that Kazaa -- one of the biggest engines of copyright theft and the biggest brand name in music piracy worldwide -- is illegal."
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks distribute data between users instead of relying on a central server.
Sharman Networks said it was disappointed with the judge's decision, and that it planned to appeal.
The consequences of the Kazaa ruling on illicit file-sharing are uncertain. Previous legal crackdowns on P2P services have usually only served to send users to other networks.
"Inevitably, when you have successes it drives people elsewhere," IFPI boss Malcolm said. "We know we're never going to completely eradicate this kind of piracy, but the progress has been remarkable."
VICTORY FOR MUSIC INDUSTRY
Australian record companies -- including units of Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group, Warner Music, and several independents -- will now seek damages for hundreds of millions of illicit music downloads at a later hearing.
"The court has ruled the current Kazaa system illegal," Michael Speck, a spokesman for the Australian music industry, told reporters outside the court. "It is a great day for artists, it is a great day for anyone who wants to make a living from music."
Sharman Networks had defended the use of the Internet to download music tracks, telling the court that file sharing represented a revolution in the way music was distributed and sold.
It said it could not control the actions of an estimated 100 million worldwide users.
Judge Wilcox said Kazaa failed to use available technology such as key word filters to prevent copyright infringement because it would have been against its financial interest.
He said that Kazaa's "Join the Revolution" Web site campaign did not directly advocate sharing copyright files, but criticized record companies for opposing file sharing.
"It seems that Kazaa users are predominately young people, the effect of this web page would be to encourage visitors to think it 'cool' to defy the record companies by ignoring constraints," Wilcox said.
Wilcox ordered Sharman Networks to modify the Kazaa software with filters to protect copyright.
"If Kazaa cleans up its act and does what the court has ordered it to do, stop its illegal business, then they have an opportunity to be part of the music industry," said music industry spokesman Speck.
A growing number of legal online music services such as Apple's iTunes, Napster, and RealNetworks' Rhapsody have grown in popularity over the past year. And a new generation of P2P services like Mashboxx are hoping to hoping to offer the advantages of file-sharing without infringing on copyright.
Lewis Raises $55.9M for MDA, Storm Victims
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised $54.9 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and more than $1 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Lewis, 79, decided to devote the two-day telethon to both children with muscular dystrophy and Katrina victims after seeing reports from the Gulf Coast.
The Katrina donations will go to the Salvation Army in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Tens of thousands of people are out of their homes, and many of those homes have been destroyed.
"I'm overjoyed we were able to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and at the same time continue our 40-year tradition of helping my kids," Lewis said.
The telethon's total to fight muscular dystrophy was $4.5 million less than last year, but lower figures were expected due to the outpouring of donations for the hurricane victims. It was only the third time in 40 years that the telethon failed to surpass the previous year's total.