Fraggle Rock film in development
New movie slated to begin filming in 2006 and will feature the main Fraggles traveling to "outer space".
The Jim Henson Company is in the early stages of creating an all new “Fraggle Rock” feature film. The idea of returning to Fraggle Rock has been floating around ever since the show ended in the ‘80s, but now the Henson Company feels that it the right time to bring the Fraggle’s universe back to life and reintroduce the world to the funny little creatures known as Fraggles. Henson responded saying that early work on a Fraggle Rock film is underway.
Henson says that the project will find the Fraggles having to come out into “outer space” (a.k.a. the human world). The group will have a wild adventure as they find themselves in this weird and wild new world, far away from Fraggle Rock. Henson has also stressed that the story will be aimed at both children and young adults (as they hope to appeal to new young fans, and also the fans that grew up on the show). The original Fraggle characters are planned to be the stars of the film. The early work on developing the project is underway within the Henson Company and they hope to start shooting sometime next year.
The company is working to bring back many of the original Fraggle Rock cast and crew for this project. There is no exact information on who is “on board” at this time, however some rumblings say that Jerry Juhl, Jocelyn Stevenson, Brian Henson, Cheryl Henson, Lisa Henson (among others) have met to discuss the project on several occasions. Henson states that they are aiming for a 2007 release, however at this point it could change. Henson is also hoping to make this a theatrically released film; however the project could be reduced to TV-movie or direct-to-video status. No director, writers, or cast have been announced yet.
The idea for a “Fraggle Rock” movie is not a new one; Jim Henson had talked several times with Jerry Juhl about producing a film. However the plans never materialized. Many of the Fraggle creators, cast and crew are excited about the idea of revisiting the world, the themes, and the magic of the show. Although the idea for a Fraggle film is not new, the idea has gained much more support in the last year.
Upon selling the Muppets characters to Disney, the Henson Company has been looking at ways to revive some of their other popular creations. In January 2005, Henson co-CEO, Brian Henson said that “the studio's now considering filming new "Fraggle" material”. Since January, internal support for the idea grew. Along with the large response for Fraggle products over the past year (including 6 new DVD releases, including the complete first season), Henson feels that now is a perfect time for a new production. Not only would it appeal to the fans (who are now able to rediscover the classic show on DVD), but a new production could be just the thing to really re-launch the Fraggles and draw in a new generation to the world of the Fraggles.
The company is already working strong to continue and revive many of their popular fantasy-world and sci-fi franchises; however they are also hoping to get back on top by reestablishing their power in family entertainment. They hope that a “Fraggle Rock” feature film will be a good step in the right direction – thoughts of even creating a new Fraggle Rock television show have been mentioned (however, Henson wants to see how the response to a new movie is before they start over committing themselves).
More information on this project as it comes; but fans should watch out for the return of the rock with an all new “Fraggle Rock” production.
Dr. Phil's Big-Screen "Scary Movie" Debut
Daytime TV's Dr. Phil is making his big-screen debut in "Scary Movie 4." According to ET Online, Dr. Phillip C. McGraw will appear in the opening sequence of the film, along with Shaq, for a parody take-off of the hit indy-horror film, "Saw." Dr. Phil explains, "It all takes place in this nasty, filthy bathroom [where] Shaq and I are chained up together and the way out is you've got to cut body parts off to get loose, so he and I are wondering which one of us will wind up doing it." The talk-show host joins stars such as Anna Faris, Regina King and Leslie Nielsen in the fourth chapter of the comedy/horror franchise that is currently filming in Vancouver. "I want people to know I don't take myself too seriously as it might seem when I am into a heavy issue," says the advice-giver. "I always try to work with humor as much as I can because it diffuses a lot of [people's] defensiveness. I think it's good to make fun of yourself."
Sir Paul Rides Again
New album, new tour, new life -- and nothing left to prove
Paul McCartney has just taken a seat at his piano, center-stage at a sports arena in downtown Miami. Before he touches the keys, he glances idly at his audience, which, this afternoon, comprises approximately a dozen people, mostly security guards and members of his crew. Directly opposite McCartney, on the arena floor, one of the crew members sits at a long table making notes on a sheet of paper. McCartney furrows his brow and says into the mike, "With that guy sitting over there, I feel like I'm on Pop Idol." He's referring to the British version of American Idol. The small crowd chuckles, as McCartney, imitating Simon Cowell, barks, "You're no good!" Then, in the voice of a cringing novice, he says, "W-w-well, we been t-t-told we were all right." Once the laughter dies down, McCartney turns back to the piano and plays "Hey Jude."
The last time McCartney toured North America, in 2002, the shows grossed $126 million, which made him the top touring artist of the year. McCartney has just worked out the set list this morning for his current tour, which will begin in less than a week. "I like to keep things a little loose," he says with a shrug. "You don't want it to become like a Broadway show."
Fans, of course, will come to see the hits, which McCartney happily delivers. During this afternoon's rehearsal, he and his touring band run through "Penny Lane," "Good Day Sunshine," "Back in the USSR," "Band on the Run" and "Live and Let Die." They also play "Too Many People," a rare angry-McCartney track from his 1971 solo masterpiece, Ram. (Beatles fans interpreted lyrics like "You took your lucky break and broke it in two/Now what can be done for you?" as references to John Lennon; they also read something into the back-cover photograph of what appears to be one beetle sodomizing another.)
But however bottomless the love for McCartney's past glories, the most exciting thing about his latest tour may be the fact that -- as with his peers in the Rolling Stones -- it's in support of a new album people actually like. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard has been hailed by critics as McCartney's strongest effort since Flowers in the Dirt, the 1989 album on which he co-wrote a number of songs with Elvis Costello. For Chaos and Creation, McCartney chose another younger collaborator, producer Nigel Godrich, best known for his work on the past four Radiohead albums and Beck's Sea Change. McCartney played nearly every instrument on the album -- not only guitar, bass, drums and piano but fluegelhorn, guiro, harpsichord, triangle, maracas, gong, toy glockenspiel, Moog organ and tubular bells -- with a result that's always sonically captivating and often thrillingly weird. Because this is a Paul McCartney album, there are love songs, but most have a haunted, slightly mournful air, a seeming reflection -- though McCartney insists none of his songs are directly autobiographical -- of the death of his wife of twenty-nine years, Linda McCartney, from breast cancer in 1998, and of his subsequent marriage, in 2002, to former model Heather Mills.
"How Kind of You," for example, is decidedly downbeat, with lyrics from the point of view of a grateful older man surprised to find romance in the twilight of his life. "I thought my faith had gone," McCartney sings, as a sinister melody twists in ways that keep the listener as off-balance as the song's weary protagonist. There's a similar vibe on "At the Mercy," which plays upon one of McCartney's most famous lyrics -- "The love you take is equal to the love you make," from "The End" -- in the far more ambivalent overtures of a man reluctant to choose between "the love I've got and the love I'd lose."
Chaos and Creation also finds McCartney far more comfortable with his own musical past. The standout track "Jenny Wren" is a lovely acoustic ballad in the vein of "Blackbird" that could be an outtake from the White Album. And "Anyway" spins a simple "People Get Ready" vamp into a soaring arrangement that recalls the final suite of Abbey Road.
"Early on, say, with Wings, it was a necessity to not sound like the Beatles," says McCartney, who, for rehearsal, is casually dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt that reads east hampton town dump. "I didn't want to write another 'Eleanor Rigby.'" He hums the melody, as if I may not be familiar with the tune. "And it's only more recently that I've realized I did establish my own identity and said, 'Well, OK, what's the battle about, then? There's no need to keep fighting. You're a part of the Beatles, you're a part of Wings and you're a part of your new stuff now, and it's all your style.' And so, yeah, on 'Blackbird,' I had done a kind of slightly folksy guitar part which had a top melody and an accompanying bass line, and the two going together gave it this certain character. And I've never done anything since along those lines. And so now, on this new album, I thought, 'Why not? What am I frightened of?' There could be two songs in the world like that. And I wrote the first one! So it's not like I'm nicking anyone's thing."
McCartney was interviewed in two sessions during rehearsals -- as he snacked on broccoli, green beans and a heavily buttered slice of bread -- and later after a photo shoot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The day of the shoot, McCartney drove in from the Hamptons, where he spent part of his summer with his wife and their two-year-old daughter, Beatrice. At sixty-three, he's trim (a thirty-three-inch waist) and a bit gray at the temples (British tabloids delighted in accusing Mills of pushing hair dye on Sir Paul, who retorted with a post on Mills' Web site insisting he'd been dyeing his hair for years).
He began by talking about Godrich, who was recommended to McCartney by Beatles producer George Martin.
Do you and George Martin still talk regularly?
Yeah, we meet up quite a bit, actually. Particularly because we used his studio for the London end of the recording. George always pops in, especially if he knows I'm there. He's one of the most important men in my life, and that's including my father, my brother, the Beatles -- George Martin is right up there in the top five. Really, I would like to work with him forever. That would be my dream.
Does he still produce?
No. He's got a hearing problem, like a lot of us from the Sixties. 'Cause we did listen to it too loud. He just got to the stage where he thinks, very nobly, that he shouldn't produce. I say to him, "George, the engineers need the ears. You're the ideas man." But I think it's very cool of him to know when not to do it. So I just rang him up and said, "If I can't have you, who's the man?" He chatted it around, thought about it, talked to his son, and a couple of days later he came back and said Nigel.
Had you been aware of Nigel's work?
Yeah, but without knowing he was the man behind it. I liked the last couple of Radiohead albums, particularly the sound. And Travis, The Invisible Band. And Beck. So we just met up, chatted and liked each other -- I think. I liked him. And then I sent him a couple of records that I thought might either turn him on or off, or might just be a direction to go.
Demos you'd made?
No, other people's records. I liked the idea of toying with a kind of Asian thing, a one-chord thing. There's an artist called Nitin Sawhney who I like -- he's a British-Asian guy. It was just a vibe I was into at the time, that sort of droniness. I didn't know what I'd do with it. It was just a mood thing. And Nigel said, "Mmm, no. I know what album I want to make if I'm going to work with you. I want to make an album that's you." And I thought, "That's the kind of producer I need now."
So we agreed to meet up for a test period -- two weeks in London. The first week was with my touring band, and we were quite excited to record together. But Nigel had this itching feeling, like he could do something else. He wanted to move in a bit more daring direction. He said, "I want to take you out of your safety zone, man." Kept saying that -- "It's just too easy."
Godrich eventually talked McCartney into saving his band for the tour and playing nearly every instrument himself, just as he'd done on his first solo effort, McCartney. The album was recorded in 1970 and released ten days after McCartney's official statement that the Beatles had broken up. McCartney's relationship with the group's manager, Allen Klein, had particularly soured. "I used to have dreams in which Allen Klein was an evil dentist," McCartney recalls. "That was a bad sign. I just wanted to be as far away from Apple [the Beatles' label and business office] as possible."
To that end, McCartney set up a Studer four-track recorder in his living room and, as he says, went from "everything to zero. It was liberating." McCartney made the entire album alone (save for some harmonies with his wife), using a single microphone, which he moved closer to the drum kit if he wanted a louder cymbal sound. Some tracks, like "The Lovely Linda," are mere fragments of a song, and background noises (giggling, doors opening, the clack of the tape) are audible throughout. McCartney called the album "kind of throwaway" in a 1974 Rolling Stone interview, but today its loose, offhand feel is charming, a precursor to the low-fi home taping of indie-rock bands.
In coaxing McCartney to play multiple instruments on Chaos and Creation, Godrich began with percussion. "I love kicking around on the drums," McCartney admits. "I'll do it at the drop of a hat. So I started kicking, and he said, 'Yeah! This is it, man. It just turns the track around. It's you!' Then he said, 'Look, I'd like to hear you on guitar. What have you got?' I brought my old Epiphone electric guitar out, which was like a cheap Gibson in the early days. It's the guitar that I played the opening riff of 'Paperback Writer' on, so it's a lovely guitar. It can be quite varied -- sort of horny and hard, like the 'Taxman' solo; that was the other thing I used it on. George let me have a go for the solo because I had an idea -- it was the early Jimi Hendrix days and I was trying to persuade George to do something like that, feedback-y and crazy. And I was showing him what I wanted, and he said, 'Well, you do it.' Even though it was his song, he was happy for me to do it. And this became Nigel's big favorite guitar."
Do you have a lot of old guitars you end up pulling out?
I've got a few guitars that I like. The trouble with fame and riches is that you have more than one guitar. When you're a kid, you've only got one guitar, and you love it, and you string it and you cherish it, and you put it to bed at night and all that shit. You relate to it. When you've got more than one, you've got two [laughs]. And then you don't know which one to choose. It's an embarrassment of riches. Then you've suddenly got three and four, and then at my stage in the game, people give you guitars. So you've suddenly got a cellarful.
But my Epiphone, that's my electric guitar, that is the one. I like to play on it because it's oldish and a bit infirm. It won't stay in tune easily, like Jimi Hendrix's guitar didn't. Jimi was always, like, calling out to the audience, "Will you come tune this?" One night -- it's an old story of mine and I love it -- we released Sgt. Pepper's on a Friday, and on Sunday Jimi opened his show with it in London. He did this long solo like only Jimi could. And at the end of it, he had hopelessly gone out of tune. So he shambled over to the mike and said, "Is Eric [Clapton] in the house?" Eric shrunk down in his seat. Some girls said, "Yeah, he's here!" Jimi said, "Will you come and tune this for me?" Of course, Eric shrunk even lower and Jimi had to tune it himself.
Anyway, I was into that kind of thing, and that's why I bought my Epiphone. I went to the shop and said, "What have you got that feeds back great?" That was normally a disadvantage in the old days -- in the older old days. I use the Les Paul onstage, because it doesn't go out of tune as much, and it has a nice sound. But Nigel would wrinkle his nose and say, "It's a bit heavy rock."
I'd imagine it's hard to find people, especially in the studio, who aren't intimidated by you, and who won't just be yes-men.
I suppose it is. With Nigel, I pretty much knew the minute I met him he was gearing himself up to tell me no. From the word go. When I first brought him some songs, he just passed a few by and went to the next one, like he was shopping. I brought them back later and said, "Well, you didn't look at this one." He said, "I like the other one better."
Did you wrestle with that kind of bluntness initially?
Yeah, I was well pissed. "You don't like my songs. How dare you? Who are you? Punk." But I realized he was looking for a vibe. So if one of my songs was a bit perky, maybe he didn't think we should do it this time around. I might have thought, "Well, I've heard a lot of good perky songs on the radio. And I'm in a perky mood!" But he was just like, "Nah."
And it was good for me, because it was like working with a band member. It was like working with . . . I mean, it's too heavy a comparison to say it was like working with John. Because if I say that in Rolling Stone, it's a huge statement. But it was like working with a great band member. It was similar to me and John, back to when we were just kids, before we'd been discovered.
There was one key moment when it all rose to the surface. I was in the studio, raring to go. Got my Hofner [bass guitar] out, tuned her up, knew what I was going to play. I was in a good mood. I was just about to listen to the track and find my way through a bass part when Nigel said, "You know that song you played the other day? I really didn't like it. I think it was crap." I said, "Oh, yeah?" And I thought, "What will I do now? Fucking . . . punch him? Or just spit at him? Tell him to fuck off? Or what?"
(Excerpted from RS 985, October 20, 2005)
Original R.E.M. Members Rock Athens Wedding
A few hundred lucky wedding guests got the surprise of their life Saturday (Oct. 8) as R.E.M.'s original four members reunited to play a seven-song set at the wedding of R.E.M. guitar tech Dewitt Burton. The action went down at Kingpins Bowl & Brew in the group's Athens, Ga., home base and marks just the second time Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills have performed with drummer Bill Berry since his 1997 departure.
"Nobody really knew it was going to happen," Kingpins owner Ed Connolly told Billboard.com. "As a matter of fact, I think it was fairly hit and miss up until the time it happened. I heard they didn't know if Bill was even going to make it, and I don't know if they had a chance to rehearse."
Connolly, who has known Burton for years, said the actual wedding band was taking a break when he noticed Stipe and company setting up in the bowling alley's arcade. "I couldn't believe it," he says. "I was transfixed. I heard the count in and then 'Sitting Still,' and by the time they got to the first chorus, it was packed shoulder to shoulder."
The group went on to play some of its most beloved early tunes: "Don't Go Back to Rockville" (with Mills on vocals), "Wolves, Lower," "Begin the Begin," "The One I Love," "Permanent Vacation" and "Radio Free Europe."
"The beauty is that it was in Athens on a warm Saturday night, with the band on the floor with no production," Connolly says. "I had three old disco mirror balls and they hung them up -- that was the extent of the lighting show."
As for the possibility of the performance seeing commercial release, Connolly says with a laugh, "If it's cool with [R.E.M. manager] Bertis [Downs], it's cool with me."
Eminem Fuels Retirement Rumors With Best-Of
Adding further fuel to the rumor that he plans to retire or at the very least take an extended break from music, Eminem is eyeing a Dec. 6 release for his first retrospective, "Curtain Call." According to Aftermath/Interscope, the track list is not yet finalized but will feature "at least two" new songs in addition to such hits as "Stan," "The Way I Am," "My Name Is" and "Lose Yourself."
The label further says Eminem has been working on "Curtain Call" since early summer, presumably before he was forced to cancel the end of his Anger Management tour with 50 Cent and seek treatment for an addiction to sleep medication.
"I have some songs that a lot of people like," says Eminem, who has sold 29 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "I have some songs that only I like. This album is obviously for the 'lot' of people."
Earlier this summer, the Detroit Free Press published an article claiming Eminem would retire after the Anger Management tour and that his 2004 album, "Encore," would likely be his last.
Although the artist has made no definitive statements about his future, a source close to the situation told Billboard.com at the time, "'Encore' was the close of the first chapter in his career. Beyond that, who knows?"
Eminem continues to make appearances behind the scenes, including an unusual production job on Redman's upcoming album, "Red Gone Wild." As previously reported, the cut "I C Dead People" lives up to its name by utilizing rapping from late artists Big Pun, Big L and Notorious B.I.G.
NEW CD RELEASES FOR OCTOBER 11, 2005
31 Knots Talk Like Blood (Polyvinyl)
Abel Alegría Musica (Tommy Boy)
ADULT. Gimme Trouble (Thrill Jockey)
The Advantage Elf-Titled (Kill Rock Stars)
Agents of the Sun Monarchs of a Fallen Society (mixed by 311's Chad Sexton) (DCide)
Gary Allan Tough All Over (MCA Nashville)
Allister Before the Blackout (Drive-Thru)
Jasy Andrews Little Girl (Versailles)
Annihilation Time II (Six Weeks)
John Arnold Style and Pattern (Ubiquity)
Audioslave Live in Cuba (CD/DVD combo; 2005 performance plus documentary and TV special; DVD available separately same day)
Barr Beyond Reinforced Jewelcase (Kill Rock Stars)
Christopher Bissonette Periphery (Kranky)
Bloc Party Silent Alarm Remixed (two CDs; includes original album plus b-sides, rarities and remixes by Mogwai, Ladytron, Four Tet and more) (Vice/Dim Mak)
Broken Bones F.O.A.D. (Beer City)
Brotzmann/Bennink Schwartzwaldfahrt (Atavistic)
Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic - Volume 1 (Inside/ADA)
Oteil Burbridge and the Peacemakers (Allman Brothers bassist) Believer (Rattlesby)
The Capes Hello (Hard Soul)
The Castanets First Light's Freeze (Secretly Canadian)
Celebration Celebration (w/guest members of TV on the Radio) (4AD)
The Claudia Quintet Semi-Formal (Cuneiform)
The Clientele Strange Geometry (Merge)
Coffin Lids Round Midnight (Bomp!)
Company Parallel Time (Secretly Canadian)
Constantines Tournament of Hearts (Sub Pop)
Daniel Crommie Sargasso Manuscript (New Weave)
Crucial Unit Everything Went Strunk (Six Weeks)
Jamie Cullum Catching Tales (Deluxe Edition CD/DVD combo available same day) (Verve)
DANGERDOOM (Danger Mouse and MF Doom) The Mouse & the Mask (Epitaph)
Chris Daniels & the Kings 10 (includes originals and covers of Howlin' Wolf, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Average White Band and more) (Burnside)
Diana Darby The Magdalene Diaries (Delmore)
Deerhoof The Runners Four (Kill Rock Stars)
dios (malos) dios (malos) (StarTime International)
The Dirty Three Cinder (Touch and Go)
DJ Beyond Krash Presents: Beyond Hip-Hop (Tommy Boy)
DJ Clue The Professional: Part 3 (Def Jam)
Early Man Closing In (produced by Matt Sweeney of Chavez/Zwan) (4AD)
Kyle Eastwood Paris Blue (Rendezvous)
Harris Eisenstadt The Soul and Gone (482 Music)
Explosions in the Sky How Strange, Innocence (Secretly Canadian)
F-Minus Failed Society/Won't Bleed Me (w/bonus tracks) (Alternative Tentacles)
Fingers Cut Megamachine Pipe Dreams EP (Thick)
The Fire Still Burns Keeping Hope Alive EP (Blackout!)
Gamma Ray Majestic (Sanctuary/Mayan)
Gang of Four Dollar Bill (limited edition of 10,000 copies) (V2) and Return the Gift (newly recorded versions of old songs; limited two-CD edition includes bonus disc of remixes by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dandy Warhols, the Futureheads, Ladytron and more) (V2)
Mark Gardener (ex-Ride) These Beautiful Ghosts (United for Opportunity)
Great Lake Swimmers Bodies and Minds (Secretly Canadian)
Hanson The Best of Live and Electric (live album w/hits, previously unreleased tracks and covers of Radiohead's "Optimistic" and U2's "In a Little While") (3CG)
Richie Hart Greasy Street (Zoho)
Hudson Bell When the Sun Is the Moon (Secretly Canadian)
Hypatia Lake ...and we shall call him Joseph (Sad Robot)
The Jacob Fred Odyssey The Sameness of Difference (Hyena)
Jahcoozi Pure Breed Mongrel (Kitty Yo)
Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim (Sudanese hip-hop) Ceasefire (Riverboat/World Music Network)
Jonathan Kane February (Table of the Elements)
Alicia Keys Unplugged (DVD and limited-edition CD/DVD combo available same day; guests Mos Def, Common, Damian Marley and Maroon 5's Adam Levine on a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses") (J Records)
Kiss Kiss Kiss Kiss EP (Eyeball/Astro Magnetics)
Lambchop and Hands Off Cuba CoLab EP (Merge)
John Legend Get Lifted (reissue of 2004 album) (Columbia)
Lilac Time Astronauts (Sanctuary)
The Long Winters Ultimatum EP (Barsuk)
Magnolia Electric Co. Hard to Love a Man EP (Secretly Canadian)
Malkovich Skeletons (Kajmere Music)
Fran Mark Biology (Vagrant)
Ricky Martin Life (guests Fat Joe, Amerie, the Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am and more) (Columbia)
Matt Pond PA Several Arrows Later (Altitude)
Joe McPhee & John Snyder Pieces of Light (Atavistic)
Miguel Mendez My Girlfriend Is Melting (I and Ear)
Minus Story No Rest for Ghosts (Secretly Canadian)
Mizar The King of the Stars (Mia Mind)
Modeselektor Hello Mom! (BPitch Control)
Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News (DualDisc; w/bonus b-side, music videos, short film, interviews and more) (Epic)
Ninja High School Young Adults Against Suicide (Tomlab)
Hilary Noble and Rebecca Cline Enclave (Zoho)
OSO 48507 (Team Av/Lumberjack)
Dolly Parton Those Were the Days (Sugar Hill)
Luciano Pavarotti O Holy Night (Decca)
The Rakes Retreat EP (Dim Mak)
Donna Regina Slow Killer (Karaoke Kalk)
Resident Genius/Howard Zinn You Can't Blow Up a Social Relationship (split CD w/music and spoken word) (Thick)
Reverend Horton Heat We Three Kings (Christmas album) (Yep Roc)
Roadrunner United The All-Star Sessions (CD/DVD combo; the label's 25th Anniversary Album featuring collaborations between members of Slipknot, Fear Factory, Sepultura and many more) (Roadrunner)
Amanda Rogers Something Borrowed, Something Blue EP (includes covers of Radiohead and At the Drive In) (Immigrant Sun)
Kate Rusby The Girl Who Couldn't Fly (guest Roddy Woomble of Idlewild; w/artwork by ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon) (Compass)
Spider Saloff and Steve Ramsdell Like Glass (Kopaesthetics)
Saving Jane Girl Next Door (Toucan Cove)
Sevendust Next (WineDark/Fontana)
Dawn Smithson Safer Here (Kranky)
Stereo Fuse All That Remains (produced by Mark Slaughter) (Toucan Cove)
Kelley Stoltz The Sun Comes Through EP (Sub Pop)
Story of the Year In the Wake of Determination (Maverick)
T.A.T.U. Dangerous and Moving (guests Sting on bass and the Carpenters' Steven Carpenter on string arrangements) (Interscope)
Susan Tedeschi Hope and Desire (produced by Joe Henry) (Verve Forecast)
TG Mauss Mechanical Eye (Quartermass)
Tokyo Electron Tokyo Electron (Empty)
Jason Vieaux Images of Metheny (solo acoustic guitar renditions of Pat Metheny tunes) (Azica)
Rick Wakeman Out There (Reality/AAO)
Warren G. In the Mid-Nite Hour (guests Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, B-Real, Raphael Saadiq and more) (Lightyear Entertainment)
Paul Weller As Is Now (deluxe edition w/DVD same day) (Yep Roc)
With Resistance Real Hardcore Kids Have Day Jobs (Immigrant Sun)
The Woolly Bandits Say Hello to My Little Friend (Dionysus)
Xiu Xiu Life and Live (Xeng)
Young Buck T.I.P. (guest Willie D of the Geto Boys and more) (John Galt Ent.)
The Young Playthings Pick Up with... (Dionysus)
VA A Dark Cabaret (Projekt)
VA Gospel Music (Hyena)
VA Guitar Women (two CDs) (Ruf)
VA Numbers from the Beast: An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden (w/members of KISS, AC/DC, Motörhead and more) (Restless)
VA One Million Strong Vol. 2 (enhanced CD) (Bungalo)
OST Elizabethtown: Score by Nancy Wilson (original music to Cameron Crowe film by Heart guitarist) (RCA Victor)
OST North Country (score by Gustavo Santaolalla) (Columbia)
OST Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (score by Julian Mott) (Varése Sarabande)
DVD Cuba Mia: Portrait of an All Woman Orchestra (documentary of Cuban group Camerata Romeu) (Arkadia)
DVD Latin Nights (documentary w/Tito Puente, Memo Acevedo and more) (Arkadia)
DVD Terry Callier Live in Berlin (Verve)
DVD Chris Daniels & the Kings Live at the Gothic (Burnside)
DVD The Dresden Dolls Paradise (live concert w/documentary and music videos) (Roadrunner)
DVD Charlie Hunter Solo Inventions (Shanachie)
DVD Machine Head Elegies (concert w/music videos and documentary) (Roadrunner)
DVD Bobby McFerrin Live in Montreal (Verve)
Yoko Pans Paul at Q Awards
So much for giving peace a chance.
In the latest chapter of their ongoing feud, Yoko Ono dissed Paul McCartney's songwriting prowess Monday at Britain's Q Awards.
On hand to collect the Q Special Award honoring late husband John Lennon (on the day after what would have been his 65th birthday) at the annual ceremony in London, analogous to the American Music Awards, Ono took the opportunity to disparage his former Beatle mate.
Ono, 72, recalled how insecure Lennon was as an artist. "'Why do they cover Paul's songs but never mine?' " she told the audience of U.K. music stars and record company execs.
"I said, 'You're a good songwriter. It's not just 'June with spoon' that you write. You're a good singer, and most musicians are probably a little bit nervous about covering your songs.' "
The Ono-McCartney feuding goes back to the late 1960s, when he suggested that she was behind the Beatles breakup. Over the years their relationship has remained dysfunctional. Ono said she was "hurt" when McCartney failed to invite her to the memorial service of his late wife, Linda. Most recently, Ono threatened legal action after McCartney reversed the traditional "Lennon-McCartney" songwriting credit on his 2002 Back in the U.S.
But Ono's player-hating only seemed to extend to McCartney. When it came to the Q Awards big winner, Oasis, she congratulated the Beatles-inspired band. "I wish [John] was here today, he would have loved it," she said.
Oasis won Best Album for Don't Believe The Truth and the People's Choice prize.
Upon accepting the award for Best Album, Noel Gallagher said, "It was a change to not get the token Live Act award for being able to play the guitar...Best Album, nice one."
The band that did win Best Live Act was U2.
Meanwhile, two of Oasis' archrivals also picked up trophies. Coldplay was named Best Act in the World and Blur frontman Damon Albarn received Best Producer props for his work with Danger Mouse on the Gorillaz's Demon Days. Gorillaz also won Best Video for "Feel Good Inc."
Other top winners included U.K. folk rocker James Blunt (Best New Act), Scottish singer K.T. Tunstall (Best Track for "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree") the Bee Gees (Lifetime Achievement), Jimmy Page (Icon), Joy Division (Legend), Björk (Inspiration), Nick Cave (Classic Songwriter) and the Kinks, whose "Waterloo Sunset" received the prize for Classic Song.
Hollywood movies misfire with core audience--study
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Males under 25 years-old, a core movie audience, saw fewer films this past summer but watched more DVDs, played more video games and surfed the Web more often than previously, according to a study released on Monday.
The research by Online Testing eXchange, or OTX, could help explain the recent slump at box offices. The summer movie season, which runs from the first of May through the U.S. Labor Day holiday in September, is a key period that generates up to 40 percent of its total annual box office.
This past summer, ticket revenues fell to $3.62 billion, their lowest level since 2001 and the estimated number of tickets sold -- 541 million -- was the lowest level since 1997, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Two hits were director Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" and Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Flops included action films "Stealth" and "The Island."
In its study, OTX found that males aged 13 to 24 saw 24 percent fewer films in summer of 2005 than in summer of 2003, a year for which similar data was available.
"This (group), more acutely than any other, is weighing the value of the in-theater experience compared to many other lower cost, more immediate and convenient entertainment options," Shelley Zalis, co-founder of OTX, said in a statement.
The OTX study found that in 2003, 60 percent of the males under 25 said the movie choice that summer was "excellent," whereas only 35 percent believed 2005's summer films were in the same league.
OTX's research found that the young men watched 47 movies on DVD or video this past summer compared to 30 in summer 2003. The group also learned that videogame playing and Web surfing is increasing.
Rising costs also factored into the decreased attendance, as did people preferring to wait to see a movie on DVD rather than going to see a film in theaters, according to the study.
Blaze destroys Wallace and Gromit's history
LONDON (Reuters) - All the props and sets from the Wallace and Gromit movies were feared destroyed in a fire on Monday, the day after the plasticine pals' debut feature film went straight to the top of the North American box office.
Production house Aardman Animations said a blaze at a warehouse in Bristol, western England, was thought to have wiped out its entire history, including models, memorabilia and awards from the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit short films.
"We woke up to the most fantastic news this morning that 'Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' had debuted in the United States at number one," said company spokesman Arthur Sheriff.
"But this has really thrown us," he added. "It's our entire history."
Sixty firefighters battled flames 100 feet high that engulfed the warehouse at around 5.30 a.m. on Monday, causing the roof to collapse, a fire service spokeswoman said.
"It looks like most of the contents of the building have been destroyed," she said, adding the cause of the blaze was under investigation.
Wallace and Gromit are the creations of animator Nick Park, who was also the brains behind the 2000 animated feature film "Chicken Run."
He was said to be philosophical about the fire, saying it was put into context by the massive earthquake in Pakistan.
"Nick has been on the phone and while this is devastating, in light of the other news he has been hearing on the radio, it is immaterial," Sheriff said.
Park's latest chart-topping film revolves around intrepid inventor Wallace and his faithful canine sidekick Gromit. The adventure sees the pair using a complex vacuum system to protect vegetables from a rabbit problem in their village.
The film took $16 million in its first three days of release in North America, more than movies featuring the likes of Cameron Diaz and Jodie Foster.
Aardman Productions, established in 1976, was also behind "Morph" -- another plasticine figure whose adventures on BBC TV won an army of young fans -- and helped make the celebrated video "Sledgehammer" for singer Peter Gabriel.
Sheriff said although all archive material could be lost, the fire should not affect the company's future productions.
Jays announcer Tom Cheek passes away
Tom Cheek never used gimmicks or catchphrases and never tried to make himself part of the show.
All he did was tell listeners, plain and simple, how he saw the game, putting his trusted stamp on every milestone moment in Toronto Blue Jays history.
And - day in day out during his astonishing streak of 4,306 consecutive regular-season games called - it was perfect every time.
This season Cheek's voice was missing from airwaves, as brain cancer forced him out of the broadcast booth for good and on Sunday, the disease got the better of him.
Mr. Cheek died at his home in Oldsmar, Fla. He was 66.
"It's difficult to put into words the overwhelming sense of grief and loss shared today by the Blue Jays family, the city of Toronto, the extended community of Major League Baseball and its many fans," Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said in a statement. "Tom Cheek has provided the soundtrack for the most important moments in this team's history, with his choice of words and intonation always perfectly suited for the occasion.
"He was far more than just an outstanding announcer though. He was a great goodwill ambassador for baseball in Canada. His love for the game, which radiated through his words on the radio, captivated fans across this country and helped to grow the sport from one coast to the other."
Cheek was first diagnosed with a brain tumour last summer and had surgery to remove it on June 13, 2004, his 65th birthday. The procedure was partially successful and a round of chemotherapy that hampered his short-term memory followed.
He returned to the booth late in the summer, bringing his charm and smile back to the Rogers Centre, and was set to return to work in 2005 when doctors recommended additional brain surgery.
The operation took place in March, but it could only add some brief time to Cheek's life, not save it.
"It sure does hit you hard," said Jerry Howarth, Cheek's longtime broadcast partner. "He will be missed. His voice was the signature voice of this ball club."
The second round with cancer came as a shock, as Cheek had planned to call some road games this season, as well as all home contests. That optimism faded quickly as his health deteriorated much faster this time.
"I don't want to sit and wait for something to come get me," Cheek said during the spring, weeks before the second diagnosis. "That's the way I feel. With everybody, everything is different. There have been guys that have gone on for years."
Cheek made it to the broadcast booth once this season, calling a half-inning of Toronto's opening day 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in St. Petersburg. He had planned just to sit quietly in the booth but asked Howarth if he could call the top of the fourth, with the Blue Jays down 1-0.
"I said of course and then Frank Catalanotto led off the inning with a double, Toronto's first hit of the game," Howarth recalled. "Orlando Hudson was the next batter and he homered and Vernon Wells followed with another home run to make it 3-1. a After the inning Tom signed off and said, `I'm tired now, but I just wanted to say thank you.' I thought that was a nice bit of divine intervention and magic right there."
Cheek later made one visit to Toronto, a sort of last hurrah, taking in a couple of games from a private box. When he was shown on the videoboard, fans stood and cheered him in the type of gesture the humble Cheek never took for granted.
Cheek's popularity with fans was never more evident than during his absence last season, when cards and e-mails poured in by the thousands wishing him well. A crowd of 44,072 feted him Aug. 29 when the Blue Jays added him to their Level of Excellence with the number 4,306 by his name, signifying his streak.
"Until last summer, I don't think he knew how much he meant to people," said broadcaster Mike Wilner, who joined Cheek and Howarth as the third man in the booth in 2002. "It really overwhelmed him."
During that Blue Jays ceremony, Cheek kept shaking his head in disbelief that he was being honoured so elaborately.
"You're going to make me cry," he told the crowd. "This is more than I'm going to be able to handle."
The next day he thanked each reporter who had written about him for, "saying such nice things about me."
Born in Pensacola, Fla., in 1939, the beloved broadcaster became the voice of baseball in Canada during his streak, which began on April 7, 1977 when Bill Singer threw the first pitch in club history and ended on June 3, 2004 in Oakland because of his father's death.
"That streak was phenomenal because of all the sacrifices he had to make," said Howarth. "His family was so supportive, they told him `You go broadcast games, we'll be here.' He did it not for himself, but for the fans."
Cheek attended the Cambridge School of Broadcasting in Boston and began his radio career in Plattsburg, N.Y. He then moved to Burlington, Vt., where for nine years was corporate sales manager and sports director for a group of three radio stations, doing play-by-play for baseball, basketball, football and hockey at the University of Vermont.
He moved up to Canada in 1974, where for three years he served as swing man on Montreal Expos radio broadcasts on television nights before landing the Blue Jays job in 1977.
It was in Toronto he became an institution, never taking a night off until his father's death. Along the way, he called Doug Ault's two homers in the franchise opening 9-5 win over Chicago in 1977, the record 10-homer barrage against Baltimore in 1987, George Bell's three opening day homers in 1988, Dave Steib's no-hitter in 1990, Carlos Delgado's four home run game in 2003, five AL East titles, a pair of pennants and two World Series titles, capped by Joe Carter's walkoff homer in 1993.
His call on that homer - "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life," - was his calling card and the best example of how perfectly he captured each moment, without getting in its way.
"Nothing about Tom is pre-packaged," said Wilner. "He's never setting up to get to a specific call or a specific story.
"He lets the game dictate what he says - and that's the way it should be."
Even in the bedlam that followed Carter's homer, Cheek was able to cover all the bases.
"It's a strange kind of thing," Cheek said recalling the moment. "I was looking for something to say and Joe gave it to me because he was jumping up and down.
"I didn't know if he was hitting all the bases out there and I was just making the point that you have to do that. I was merely mentioning - to him, through the airwaves - that you've got to touch all the bases.
"That's where that came from."
Cheek was nominated for the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award this year, which is given for major contributions to baseball broadcasting.
Longtime San Diego Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman was chosen instead, something Cheek handled with his usual grace.
"There are some things that the guys on that list have done that just blow me away. Just having my name there is pretty nice," Cheek said of Coleman and the other nominees. "I'm an old guy myself and I watched a lot of those guys do what they did."
This summer Canada's Sports Hall of Fame established the Tom Cheek Media Leadership Award to honour those who play a key role in promoting Canadian sports. Cheek was the first recipient and it was presented to him by a large delegation of Blue Jay dignitaries at his home a few weeks ago.
"Those of us that worked with him and of course the listeners and fans of Blue Jays baseball desperately miss hearing him," said Nelson Millman, vice-president and program director of The Fan 590, the Toronto all-sports radio station that carries Blue Jays games. "He was the voice of the Jays to all of us."
Cheek is survived by his wife Shirley, a native of Hemmingford, Que., their three children and seven grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
Good DVD News!
Universal has announced the DVD release of Steve Carrell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, for 12/13 (SRP $29.98).
There will be three versions available on DVD - an anamorphic widescreen unrated edition with 17 minutes of additional footage, and full frame versions of the theatrical cut and the unrated version (For the record, the theatrical cut will not be available in widescreen).
Extras will include a gag reel, additional footage from the You Know How I Know You're Gay? scene, Line-o-Rama (featuring a look at the cast saying their lines in different ways) and more.
The unrated edition will add additional deleted footage (under the label Andy's Fantasies) and My Dinner with Stormy (a featurette in which actor/co-producer Seth Rogen has dinner with porn star Stormy Daniels).
CBC employees accept tentative deal
TORONTO (CP) - After seven acrimonious weeks of negotiations and feuding, the CBC labour dispute is officially over. But the fighting may not be.
The Canadian Media Guild said Sunday that 88.4 per cent of the 3,514 members who voted chose to accept the proposed contract.
But it will take a few days before programming is back to normal and the union warns workers may not be all smiles when the cameras and microphones are off.
Most of the CBC's 5,500 unionized workers are expected back at work Tuesday but it'll take days, in some cases even weeks, to get everything back up to speed.
"The National will be back by Tuesday or Wednesday," said Jason MacDonald, spokesman for the CBC.
"From a radio point of view, Tuesday we'll have the morning show broadcast nationally out of Montreal, and the drive-home show will be out of Toronto. By Wednesday, some of the regional shows will be back and by Thursday, everybody will be back."
Don Cherry, Ron MacLean and other familiar CBC faces already made their return to TV on Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada and the network was to air a CFL doubleheader on Monday.
Union spokesman Arnold Amber said workers are happy to be back on the job but haven't necessarily gotten over their built-up anger.
"Personally, I think CBC management has a very, very large task to get people back onside. This was a very, very difficult issue," he said.
"It's going to take some time to get everything right side up. They were really offended by being locked out, they regarded it as a great injustice," Amber said.
MacDonald acknowledged the mood might be icy at times but said he thinks everyone will pull together to get the CBC back up and running.
"Nobody would deny (there may be) strain between employees and managers but everyone's a professional, I think. And most people just want to get back to work," he said.
"It may be a bit uncomfortable at first but I think people just want to get back."
Suanne Kelman, associate chair of journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, said the worst thing the CBC can do is dwell on the lockout in any way.
"They have to remember their problems are not the public's problems, there should be nothing about the lockout when they get back, they should just get back to programming as soon as possible," she said.
MacDonald said there is no specific directive from management to not mention the lockout on the air.
"If an individual host comes back on the air this week and mentions it, that's up to their discretion and their producers. Nobody's being given an order to say or not say anything about it," he said.
Amber also said he can't imagine CBC workers trying to bring too much attention to the lockout.
"Quite obviously, people are going to say, 'Well, we're back,' and make note of the fact that the labour dispute is over. However, I don't think anybody is going to break our professional approach to broadcasting and go into a personal song and dance about what this all meant."
It's still unclear exactly where public sympathy lies and the CBC will have to figure out if their audiences left for the competition or became fed up with the prolonged labour dispute, which began Aug. 15.
Kelman said other broadcasters made great use of the CBC's programming lag to boost their profile among the CBC's audience.
"For news, they may have some problems because I think some people may have discovered CTV news is better than they remembered," she said. "It depends on how betrayed viewers and listeners feel."
She said some may be completely unsympathetic to the CBC cause and hold a grudge long into the future.
"Because people feel it's their own tax dollars involved, I think it's going to take a while before this one fades." The official tally in the ratification vote was 3,106 votes for, 394 against and 14 ballots were either spoiled, or challenged and not accepted.
The labour dispute centred on a CBC plan to hire more contract workers, which the union opposed. The deal caps contract workers at 9.5 per cent of the full-time work force.
CBC wages are to rise by 12.6 per cent over the life of the contract, which runs through March 31, 2009, including full retroactivity and a $1,000 signing bonus.
Rodriguez Puts Films on Hold for 'Lost'
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Less than six years after exploding into the independent film world as the star of "Girlfight," sultry actress Michelle Rodriguez found herself wading through a dispiriting pile of scripts that cast her as either "the girlfriend" or "the girl who gets captured."
She decided to get "Lost" instead.
Rodriguez, who joined ABC's Emmy-winning Wednesday drama last week, says it wasn't hard for producers to convince her this was a high-quality TV series but she did have misgivings about whether joining a high-profile TV series might send the wrong message to Hollywood.
"TV makes you so easily accessible," says Rodriguez, 27. "You don't want to overexpose yourself in the wrong way, and that's what I was scared about. I didn't want people seeing me every week and not getting the right idea about my career and where it's going -- directors especially. I worried about that, because for an independent film career especially, they don't want someone who is as well-known as a TV star. But I just really trust these guys, and I'm like, 'OK, I'm holding on. Take me for a ride.' "
So far, she's still acting largely on faith. Her character, Ana-Lucia Cortez, was introduced last May in a three-minute flashback scene in the airport lounge, where she chatted with Jack (Matthew Fox), and we learned, among other things, that she held a seat in the rear of the doomed flight.
Ana-Lucia seemed very feminine and flirtatious in that flashback scene, but "Lost" fans are seeing a whole different side of the character this season.
"She's a cornered animal, a total warrior: a fighter, take it down, matter-of-fact, all about survival," Rodriguez says of her character, who is living with another group of people on the island. "These people don't have a lot of the amenities that the people [in Jack's group] do, so they are constantly fighting for their survival."
The actress insists she has very little idea what lies in store for her character, but she looks forward to what may be an inevitable reunion with Fox's character.
"I think that connection [between the 'old' and the 'new' Ana-Lucia] is going to come whenever my character finally meets Jack, because that's the only person she will recognize from the plane," Rodriguez says "That will call into question the whole issue of what kind of person she is really, because this whole barbarian side of her is definitely a self-defense mechanism. How will she feel when she sees Jack, who is someone she trusts? I have no idea what that will be like -- and having said all that, at this point, I don't even know if they are going to meet at all."
In fact, the actress claims to be unsure of whether she even qualifies as a new "series regular" on "Lost."
"It's still kind of up in the air, if only because the show itself is very unpredictable as far as how long anyone is going to last," she says, laughing. "I'm not comfortable suggesting that my character is more important than another one, because 'Lost' isn't that kind of show. Every week you focus on a different character, so it's like there is no 'lead.' Different characters take charge in different situations, but it's everybody's story."
While she waits to see how things play out for Ana-Lucia, Rodriguez is more than content to recharge her personal batteries on the North Shore of Hawaii, where she had spent four happy months while filming her 2002 movie "Blue Crush."
"Living on an island as beautiful as Oahu, I wouldn't want to live anywhere there is clutter or city life," Rodriguez says. "It's so beautiful out here. It's just peace. Even if I have to drive two hours to the studio, when it comes time to film flashback stuff, it's just paradise out here the rest of the time. Strip it all away and this is what you get.
"I love looking at an ocean that's alive, not stagnant. The waves in the winter are just amazing, and they give me energy. This is a place where you can just stop: stop partying, stop living crazy, stop answering your phone, focus on your work and just, like, regenerate. Some people can't stand it for more than two weeks, but they're also paranoid about social interaction."
That sounds a whole lot more laid-back than how she describes herself when she made her explosive big-screen starring debut in "Girlfight," playing driven female boxer Diana Guzman.
"At that time in my life, I actually was way more aggressive than that character," she says. "I had to downtone myself. I was in a very angry stage, didn't like anyone telling me what to do. I hated that I had been spat out into a system where I had to follow rules and guidelines. My teenage years, my misery of existence, lasted a lot longer than it does for most teens. Growing up, I was, 'Why am I here, and why are all these people trying to tell me what to do?' It was anger all the time, like one of those punk-rock kids you see on TV."
She pauses, then laughs.
"Oh, honey, that's gone now. It was all part of growing up."
In her downtime, Rodriguez continues working on what she calls her passion project, a film for kids called "Dreamfighter."
"I have been working on it for about two years," she explains. "Think of it as 'Goonies' meets 'The Neverending Story' meets 'Constantine.' In this industry, most adult stuff just bores me. It always comes down to sex, jealousy, power, and it's just so boring. That's why I've been focusing on kids and wondering why so many kids have gotten so absorbed into this reality of today.
"It seems as if every kid I talk to has forgotten how to use his imagination. That's sad, and it's scary to me that there's only one movie out there for the kids to really lose themselves in a fantasia-land, and that's 'Harry Potter.' That's kind of pathetic. Where is our future going? I'd like to go around the world and talk to kids everywhere."
'Garfield' Movie Sequel Slated for Summer 2006
NEW YORK A sequel to last year's "Garfield" movie is scheduled to be released next summer.
Bill Murray is in negotiations to reprise his role as the voice of the cartoon cat, according to The Hollywood Reporter and other sources.
Breckin Meyer (as Jon) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (as Liz) have signed on to return in "Garfield 2." Also slated to appear in the sequel will be Lucy Davis and Billy Connolly.
Murray is currently starring in Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" film.
The "Garfield" comic strip is by Jim Davis of Universal Press Syndicate.
'Wallace & Gromit' Tops Live-Action Rivals
LOS ANGELES - Clay paid off at the box office for "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." The clay-animated family film debuted as the top weekend movie with $16.1 million.
The airplane thriller "Flightplan," which had held the top box-office slot the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $10.8 million, lifting its total to $60.9 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
A rush of new wide releases filled out the top five, led by Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine's tale of squabbling sisters, "In Her Shoes," which opened at No. 3 with $10 million.
Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey's sports-gambling flick "Two for the Money" debuted in fourth place with $8.4 million.
"The Gospel" — starring Boris Kodjoe as an R&B singer making peace with his faith and his estranged father, a church bishop — had a surprisingly strong opening of $8 million, placing fifth for the weekend. The movie played in just 969 theaters, barely one-fourth of the cinema count for "Wallace & Gromit."
The restaurant comedy "Waiting," with Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Luis Guzman, premiered at No. 7 with $5.7 million.
Overall revenues slipped, with the top 12 movies taking in $87.8 million, down 10 percent from the same weekend last year.
Two acclaimed movies opened strongly in limited release. Actor-director George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck," featuring David Strathairn as legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, took in $420,000 in 11 theaters.
"The Squid and the Whale," starring Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney in a comic drama of a family's bitter divorce, grossed $124,000 in four theaters.
"Audiences are evidently paying attention to critical raves and really showing up in big numbers for these independent movies that have been very well-reviewed and kind of get a must-see vibe going for them," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"Wallace & Gromit" was based on three short films made for British television about the adventures of a cheese-loving inventor and his long-suffering canine pal.
Featuring the voices of Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes, the big-screen "Wallace & Gromit" pits the duo against a monster rabbit ravaging the town's vegetable gardens.
"Wallace & Gromit" follows " Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" as the fall's second film created through stop-motion animation, which involves photographing inanimate objects a frame at a time. The last big stop-motion film was "Chicken Run," from the makers of "Wallace & Gromit," which debuted with $17.5 million and went on to become a $100 million hit.
Distributor DreamWorks is counting on the film's stellar reviews and strong word of mouth to give "Wallace & Gromit" a long run in theaters. Though popular in the United States through the TV shorts, the characters have been far better known in their native Britain.
"In the U.S., they weren't as well-known as people might imagine," said Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks. "I think they certainly will be after this weekend."
"The Gospel" was a late addition to the schedule of distributor Sony, whose strategy of marketing the movie heavily to black church groups paid off. Blacks accounted for 85 percent of the movie's audience, said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," $16.1 million.
2. "Flightplan," $10.8 million.
3. "In Her Shoes," $10 million.
4. "Two for the Money," $8.4 million.
5. "The Gospel," $8 million.
6. "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride," $6.5 million.
7. "Waiting," $5.7 million.
8. "A History of Violence," $5.1 million.
9. "Serenity," $4.9 million.
10. "Into the Blue," $4.8 million.
Ashlee Simpson Really Does Sing on 'SNL'
NEW YORK - Ashlee Simpson sang — really, she did — without incident on "Saturday Night Live" in her return to the scene of last year's lip-synch fiasco.
"I wrote this song after my last `Saturday Night Live" appearance," she said, introducing the mournful "Catch Me When I Fall."
She belted out the song with gusto, the only boost seeming to come with a brief echo effect on her vocal in the chorus. When she was done, Simpson smiled and hopped in relief.
It was nearly a year after Simpson's embarrassing appearance on the same stage, where her voice was heard singing the wrong song when she held her microphone at her waist. She danced an awkward jig and then walked off the stage.
The fakery made her a laughingstock and Simpson was booed lustily when she appeared at the Orange Bowl a few months later.
Leading up to this week's appearance, "Saturday Night Live" executive producer Lorne Michaels promised it would be her singing — not some tapes — when she went on the air.
"Who will be the one to save me from myself?" Simpson sang in the ballad. "Who's going to catch me when I fall?"
Later in the show she came back for a peppier number, "Boyfriend," where her vocal was augmented by a backup singer.
"Thank you so much!" she said at the end, blowing a kiss to the audience.