New Janet Single Due In May, Album In Fall
The first single from Janet Jackson's as-yet-untitled new album is expected to hit U.S. radio outlets in May, Virgin Urban president Jermaine Dupri tells Billboard. The album will likely follow at the end of September. As previously reported, longtime Jackson collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have contributed to the new album.
"It's a milestone year for us and for the collaboration," Jam previously told Billboard.com. "It'll be 20 years since the release of [Jackson's 1986 album] 'Control,' so there's definitely a little bit of a nod to that on the new album."
Will Dupri be a featured guest on any of the new tracks? "You'll hear my voice on some songs," he says. "But I don't know if Jermaine Dupri the artist exists anymore. I'm not into that right now. It's far on the back burner. It's probably in the cards somewhere down the road. But it's the last thing I'm thinking about right now."
The new offering will be the follow-up to 2004's "Damita Jo," which was released amidst the aftermath of Jackson's controversial Super Bowl halftime show. The set debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 985,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Foo Fighters Still Planning Acoustic Tour
Although the Foo Fighters are taking it easy until frontman Dave Grohl's first baby is born, the band is still planning to follow through on a previously discussed acoustic tour. "We're going to start rehearsing very soon," drummer Taylor Hawkins tells Billboard.com of the trek, which will focus on the less aggressive songs on the 2005 double album "In Your Honor."
Hawkins expects rehearsals to begin right after the April 24 completion of a two-week solo tour with his band the Coattail Riders. The group's self-titled debut was released March 21 via Thrive Records.
The Foos are already slated to play several U.K. festivals in June, but no North American dates have been announced yet. "We might do some stuff before [June], but there is nothing on the books," says Hawkins, adding, "We're knockin' some stuff around, though."
For the acoustic dates, the Foos have signed up an auxiliary backing band featuring multi-instrumentalist Petra Haden, pianist Rami Jaffee and percussionist Drew Hester. Haden and Jaffee both guested on "In Your Honor"; Haden's Foo Fighters association dates back a decade, when her band, that dog, toured with the Foos in North America.
Despite his impending fatherhood, Grohl has found time to guest behind the drums on the new album from Juliette & the Licks, who are fronted by actress Juliette Lewis. The as-yet-untitled set is expected in early fall.
Fans get taste of "The Simpsons" movie
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - To learn some long-awaited news about "The Simpsons," television's most popular cartoon family, fans had to go to the movies on Friday.
Film studio 20th Century Fox released a 25-second promotional trailer at showings of its new computer-animated movie "Ice Age: The Meltdown" to announce the first big-screen version of "The Simpsons" would be coming to theaters on July 27, 2007.
The trailer begins with a giant superhero-sized letter "S" while an announcer declares, "Leaping his way onto the silver screen ... the greatest hero in American history!"
The scene cuts to Homer Simpson sitting on his couch in his underwear, saying, "I forgot what I was supposed to say."
Now in its 17th season, "The Simpsons" is the longest-running U.S. comedy series in prime time.
Beginning as a string of cartoon shorts on "The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987, "The Simpsons" made their debut as a half-hour series on the then-fledgling Fox network in December 1989.
At the outset, the series centered on the antics of the wisecracking, underachieving 10-year-old Bart Simpson, a spiky-haired misfit who darts around town on his skateboard and drives his fourth-grade teacher nuts.
But as the show evolved, the focus shifted to Bart's bone-headed father, Homer, who works at a nuclear power plant and punctuates his frequent mistakes with the anguished, half-syllable utterance "D'Oh!"
Rounding out the Simpsons brood are beehive-haired mother Marge, the sensible, good-natured anchor of the family, and Bart's two sisters -- pacifier-sucking baby Maggie, a silent observer of all, and second-grade prodigy Lisa, a baritone saxophone virtuoso and intellectual of the family.
Behind them is a huge cast of regulars who populate the fictional town of Springfield -- extended family members, neighbors, teachers, classmates, Homer's co-workers, his pals at Moe's Tavern, Apu the Kwik-E-Mart clerk, police chief Wiggum and even the Comic Book Guy.
The series averages 9.6 million viewers a week on Sunday nights, down from its peak ratings several years ago, but remains a critical favorite and worldwide pop culture phenomenon seen in dozens of countries.
It also is a cash cow for 20th Century Fox TV for the handsome revenues it generates in syndication.
Howard Stern Lashes Out at Some Fans
NEW YORK - Howard Stern is angry more fans haven't followed him to satellite radio. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 52-year-old shock jock lashes out at those of his fan base who haven't made the transition to Sirius Satellite Radio.
In January, Stern moved his popular and bawdy morning show to the subscription satellite radio provider.
"I was just at my psychiatrist and I said, `I just got great news: We hit the 4 million mark. And I'm angry. It should be 20 million,'" Stern says in the magazine, on newsstands Monday.
"It's insulting to me that everyone hasn't come with me. I take it personally," he says.
"I want to say to my audience ... `You haven't come with me yet? How dare you? We're up to wild, crazy stuff, the show has never sounded better. You cheap bastard!'"
In February, CBS Radio, formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting, filed a lawsuit against Stern for improperly using airtime to promote his new show on Sirius.
Stern has claimed the lawsuit is without merit.
Courtney & Nirvana: Smells Like a Sellout
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"--coming soon to a soap ad near you?
So far Courtney Love is ruling that out, but chances are we'll be hearing more of the seminal grunge band's music in unexpected places now that Kurt Cobain's cash-strapped widow has agreed to sell off a 25 percent stake in the Nirvana song catalog in a deal valued at $50 million, per Rolling Stone.
On the other end of the deal is Larry Mestel, the former COO of Virgin Records and current head of Primary Wave Music Publishing.
To preemptively squelch backlash from fans worried about the over-commercialization of a decidedly anticorporate band, Love sought to assure the Nirvana faithful that the music won't simply be licensed to the highest bidder.
"We're going to remain very tasteful, and we're going to [retain] the spirit of Nirvana and take Nirvana places it's never been before," Love told the magazine.
"I took on a strategic partner, Larry Mestel, to help me comanage the estate because it was overwhelming," Love said. "The affairs of Nirvana are so massive and so huge, and they've all fallen on my lap.
"I own almost all of [the publishing]...and it proved to be too much for me. I needed a partner to take Kurt Cobain's songs and bring them into the future and into the next generation. And this guy's the guy to do it," she said.
Following her husband's 1994 suicide, Love became the primary benefactor of Cobain's estate, which included ownership rights of more than 98 percent of Nirvana's song catalog. The other two former members, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, own the remainder--slightly less than 2 percent split between them. The new deal does not affect their portion.
Mestel, too, is quick to quell rumors that he's just another suit out to profit on Cobain's legacy.
"My goal is to keep the music very true to who the songwriter was and what his passions and tastes would be and to work through Courtney to figure out exactly the best way to go about exposing his music to a new youth culture to a new generation," Mestel said.
He also told Rolling Stone that he was thrilled to have been able to buy into the Nirvana catalog and become, with his three-year-old company, a part of music history.
"The appeal to me is that [Cobain was] one of the most important songwriters of his time," Mestel said. "Kurt was an incredible songwriter, and Courtney is an exceptionally talented person herself. So I felt the combination of Courtney's creativity and the things I can add can really help in creating more value for these copyrights."
Novoselic and Grohl, long-time adversaries of Love, have yet to comment on the new deal. But we're guessing they're none too pleased.
When rumors first swirled that Love was looking to unload a stake in the lucrative catalog, it was expected that the duo may have first dibs, but, based on their troubled history with Love, it's doubtful they were ever offered the chance.
In 2001, Love filed suit against Grohl and Novoselic in an attempt to gain sole custody of the Nirvana songbook, calling the duo merely "sidemen" in the band, which she equated as a one-man show--the man of course being her late husband. The same year, Grohl and Novoselic struck back, filing their own suit alleging Love was using Cobain's music to "further her own career goals," calling her a "greedy prima donna" with a "waning recording and acting career."
Love also filed suit against Grohl and Novoselic and Nirvana's label, Universal Music Group, to block the release of a Nirvana box set, The Heart-Shaped Box. The suit was eventually settled and the album released.
In an interview with Blender magazine last year, Love claimed that "$40 million has been stolen from me and Frances by a fiduciary institution." In July, she blamed former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl for her financial woes, telling Spin magazine that Grohl had been "taking money from my child for years."
Aside from the wrangling over Nirvana, Love's once considerable fortune has been sapped by lawsuits, liens and numerous drug-related charges. In January, a mortgage company took possession of a Seattle-area house owned by Love (and the former residence of Cobain's sister), after the singer-actress failed to make payments. Last August, a Manhattan financial firm moved to foreclose on her pricey New York condo, claiming she had not made a mortgage payment in months.
But things are looking up. Aside from the Mestel deal, Love was given a good report card in February by a Los Angeles judge in her last remaining drug case. For her part, Love told the judge she had put her "very gnarly drug problem" behind her.
She's also resuming her own music career. Love is in the studio recording a follow-up to her 2004 solo album, America's Sweetheart. Linda Perry, Moby and Billy Corgan are pitching in, with the latter joining Love for a track called, aptly enough, "How Dirty Girls Get Clean."
$6M first edition Shakespeare to be sold
A rare book of Shakespeare’s plays, deemed by Sotheby’s “the most important book in English literature,” will be put up for auction in London.
It is the first complete folio of the playwright’s work, printed in 1623, seven years after his death. It is one of a print run of 750, only a third of which have survived, most incomplete.
The book being auctioned is in remarkable condition and is expected to fetch more than £3 million ($6.1 million) at Sotheby’s in London on July 13.
“Shakespeare has had a more profound and widespread impact on the artistic imagination, on language, literature and all the performing arts, than any other writer who has ever lived," said Peter Selley, Sotheby’s English literature expert.
"Relatively complete copies of the Folio in contemporary or near contemporary bindings very rarely come to the market. This sale will be a truly exceptional event."
The folio was assembled by John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors who performed with William Shakespeare in the King’s Men, the company he wrote for. It contains 36 plays and it was the first time that 18 of them – including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It – had been printed.
At the time, the folio sold for 20 shillings, the equivalent of about $200 today.
The book has annotations and markings from its readers. Some parts are highlighted and other times, texts are corrected.
The book is being sold by Dr. Williams’s Theological Library in London, which bought it from the library of another preacher in the early 18th century. The library is selling the book to secure its finances.
The book will be displayed at Sotheby's offices in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong in April and May, ahead of the auction.
'Amazing Race' Gets Fresh Start
"The Amazing Race," which has been struggling a little in the last hour of primetime, is switching nights, bumping two underperforming comedies in the process.
Starting next week, "The Amazing Race" will air at 8 p.m. ET Wednesdays, a switch from its previous spot at 10 p.m. Tuesdays. The ninth edition of the Emmy-winning series has been averaging fewer than 10 million viewers since its Feb. 28 premiere, its lowest figures since the third "Race" in summer 2003.
The switch puts it into a fairly wide-open timeslot where no show has been dominant in recent weeks. NBC has had success there with "Deal or No Deal" the past couple of weeks, and FOX's "Bones" has performed solidly as well, but neither one dominates the hour on the level that "American Idol" or "CSI" does.
It also puts the family-friendly show in a timeslot where more kids are likely to be watching with their parents.
The move of "The Amazing Race" bumps the comedies "Out of Practice" and "Courting Alex" off the schedule; CBS offers only a vague "at a later date" as to when they might be back. Both shows have dropped precipitously since moving from their cozy Monday-night homes earlier in the season.
"Out of Practice," which drew 12.2 million viewers per week in the fall, when it was sandwiched between "Two and a Half Men" and "CSI: Miami," has averaged only 6.6 million since its Wednesday debut last week. "Courting Alex," which occupied the same Monday slot in January and February, has brought in 6.3 million viewers a week in its new home -- half what it was averaging previously.
Hatcher and Seacrest Caught Kissing
Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest have been photographed kissing after a cozy lunch in Malibu, California. The pair engaged in very public displays of affection as they took a stroll on the beach following lunch at a local restaurant last Saturday. Seated at a beach-view table, the couple ordered lobster, two orders of oysters, crab cakes, bottled water and wine. Hatcher was also seen giving Seacrest a neck massage and frequently laughing out loud at his jokes. After their lunch, they were photographed with their arms around each other, holding hands and kissing numerous times on the beach. The couple were initially introduced by a mutual friend and went on a group date at Los Angeles restaurant L'Orangerie on March 10. A source tells American publication Us Weekly, "It's not super-serious. They're not on the road to marriage or anything." Hatcher was most recently linked to George Clooney and Seacrest split from his girlfriend of two years, actress Shana Wall in July. The source adds, "They're taking it slow."
"Ice Age" sequel set to heat up box office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The early spring thaw that drove the chill off the box office last weekend could escalate into genuine global warming this go-round as the animated sequel "Ice Age: The Meltdown" launches in North America and a number of foreign territories.
Although three other wide releases, including "Basic Instinct 2," will bid for moviegoers' attention, "Meltdown" is guaranteed to dominate the North American box office, possibly hitting the $50 million mark.
20th Century Fox's PG sequel continues the adventures of the prehistoric pack consisting of Ray Romano's woolly mammoth, John Leguizamo's sloth and Denis Leary's saber-toothed tiger along with such new additions as a mammoth love interest voiced by Queen Latifah. The original "Ice Age" opened in mid-March 2002 with $46.3 million, and ended up with $176.4 million.
Universal Pictures' reigning champ "Inside Man" -- which made off with $29 million when it opened last weekend -- should check in at No. 2.
Warner Bros. Pictures is making a pitch for the hip-hop crowd with "ATL," a coming-of-age drama about four high school students in Atlanta. With a cast headed by Tip Harris (also known as rapper T.I.) and Lauren London, along with older actors like Mykelti Williamson, it should receive a receptive hearing from its core urban audience, which could add up to something approaching $10 million.
Sony Pictures' release of the R-rated "Basic Instinct 2" revisits the murderous Catherine Tramell ( Sharon Stone) as she resurfaces in London, where she gets caught up in another sexually charged investigation being conducted by Scotland Yard and a psychiatrist played by David Morrissey.
The first "Instinct" opened to $15.1 million in 1992, but despite ticket-price inflation, its successor could be hard-pressed to climb into the double-digit millions. And it also will have to fend off such other adult-oriented R-rated fare as "Inside Man" and Warner Bros. Pictures' "V for Vendetta," which is entering its third weekend, to do so.
Universal's "Slither," an R-rated horror movie about alien plague, zombies and all manner of creepy creatures, isn't afraid to stoop for laughs. But while the turnout among horror aficionados always is unpredictable, "Slither" could find this weekend a tough slog.
Canceled CBS series 'Love Monkey' finds new life on VH1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The short-lived CBS series Love Monkey has found new life on VH1. At least temporarily.
The cable channel will air all eight hourlong episodes of the show beginning next month, a network spokeswoman said Wednesday.
No new episodes have been ordered.
The dramatic comedy, which looks at life and love through the eyes of a cynical, single, 30-something music scout, premiered on CBS in January. The network ordered eight episodes, but the series was scrapped after three.
VH1 will air the three previously seen shows back-to-back on April 11, starting at 7 p.m. ET. The remaining five installments will air weekly on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. beginning April 18.
Love Monkey, based on Kyle Smith's 2004 book of the same name, stars Tom Cavanagh as protagonist Tom Farrell. Jason Priestly, Larenz Tate and Christopher Wiehl also star.
Paula Abdul agrees to three more years of "Idol"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bubbly "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul has signed on for three more years as the counterpoint to brutally honest Simon Cowell on TV's hottest show, the Fox network said on Wednesday.
Abdul, a Grammy-winning singer and dancer and the show's lone female judge, has become a fan favorite for her effusive, sometimes fawning praise of show's aspiring stars in the face of bad boy Cowell's punishing critiques.
"Paula's warm and nurturing nature is vital to the balance of the show," Fox spokesman Mike Darnell said of Abdul, who is expected to join Cowell and judge Randy Jackson for the duration of her new contract.
"We are thrilled to have her alongside -- or actually in between -- Randy and Simon," Darnell said in a written statement.
The announcement comes less than a year after an internal investigation by Fox found no evidence to support claims by a former "Idol" contestant Corey Clark that he had a sexual affair with Abdul, 43, and that she coached him privately.
"It is truly an honor to be a part of the American Idol phenomenon," Abdul said in a written statement. "As an artist myself it is a pleasure to have a connection with each of the contestants and be able to fully support their dreams and aspirations.
"Of course, I also look forward to putting Simon in his place for years to come."
"Idol," airing two or three nights a week this year, has grown into a ratings juggernaut for Fox and dominated U.S. television in prime time, overshadowing the hottest series of rival networks and even big-event broadcasts like the Grammy Awards and Winter Olympics.
Nickelback, Buble vie for Juno glory
TORONTO (CP) - Neil Young is set to face off against Arcade Fire. Simple Plan will duke it out with Celine Dion. And it'll be Divine Brown against Jully Black.
But with a leading six nominations, Alberta rockers Nickelback will be the act to beat on Sunday when the country's music elite gather in Halifax for the Juno Awards. "They've got a really good shot to sweep the whole thing," said Cameron Carpenter, director of talent development for satellite radio service XM Canada.
"With each successive album, they gain more and more respect . . . and keep winning people over."
Perennial favourites who have taken home Juno hardware seven times, Nickelback had a phenomenal year in 2005 with their multimillion-selling album, All the Right Reasons, featuring the No.1 hit Photograph.
Close on Nickelback's heels is torch singer Michael Buble, whose ballad-filled It's Time was the country's top-selling CD last year by a Canadian artist.
Buble, of Vancouver, had a major hit with Home, a sentimental track about feeling homesick.
He said the song has inspired many fans to write him personal stories, including U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.
"It's amazing that something I wrote that, for me, was autobiographical means so much to so many," Buble said during a conference call with Canadian media earlier this week.
"I would be lying if I said it wasn't a trip almost every day to hear that it's affected people."
The balladeer's five Juno nominations follow a Grammy nod earlier this year. Buble lost out to legend Tony Bennett at those awards.
"It's really great to be recognized," said the crooner, who will be bringing his British actor girlfriend Emily Blunt to Sunday's awards. "It's a kick, man."
Jazz siren Diana Krall tied Buble's five nominations. Young is up for three awards, as is buzz act Arcade Fire and Canadian Idol champ Kalan Porter.
But some think the real winners of the night will be the little known acts who get to share a national, prime-time stage with the megastars.
Francophone singer Boom Desjardins is a huge celebrity in Quebec, but his name barely registers in the other provinces. That'll change when viewers hear his name called among the nominees in two major categories - artist of the year and best pop album, which are typically dominated by English acts.
Bedouin Soundclash, a three-piece outfit formed in a dorm room at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., should also benefit from the Juno exposure.
Nominated for two awards, the group found success with its catchy single, When The Night Feels My Song, which was first used in a Zellers commercial.
The reggae-rock trio, however, are still not recognizable stars, said Carpenter.
"They crossed over quite a bit but not everyone knows who they are yet," he said.
Bedouin is up for best single as well as best new group - a category they should easily win, mused fellow nominees Pocket Dwellers, a seven-piece jazz-tinged, hip hop group from Toronto's suburbs.
But they aren't complaining. Drummer Marco Raposo said he's just happy the Junos have finally noticed his group, which has been together a decade and released three albums.
"We've never been a high profile band," he said. "We've always been simmering in the underground. I guess it goes to show that there are industry people that do know what we're doing."
Other interesting races include the songwriter's category, where Arcade Fire, Ron Sexsmith, Kathleen Edwards, Joel Plaskett and Young will compete.
There's also a real dogfight in the alternative album category where hipster acts Broken Social Scene, Metric, Hot Hot Heat, Tegan & Sara and the New Pornographers are nominated.
Sunday night's TV show, hosted by bombshell actress Pam Anderson, will only feature seven of the 39 awards.
The remainder of glass statues will be distributed at an industry-only gala dinner on Saturday night.
Some key Juno categories:
Fan Choice: Celine Dion; Diana Krall; Michael Buble; Nickelback; Simple Plan.
Single of the year: When the Night Feels My Song, Bedouin Soundclash; Inside and Out, Feist; Man I Used To Be, k-os; Home, Michael Buble; Photograph, Nickelback.
Album of the year: Christmas Songs, Diana Krall; 219 Days, Kalan Porter; It's Time, Michael Buble; All The Right Reasons, Nickelback; Under The Lights, Rex Goudie.
Artist of the year: Boom Desjardins; Diana Krall; Kalan Porter; Michael Buble; Rex Goudie.
New artist of the year: Daniel Powter; Divine Brown; Jonas; Martha Wainwright; Skye Sweetnam.
New group of the year: Bedouin Soundclash; Boys Night Out; Hedley; Pocket Dwellers; Silverstein.
Songwriter of the year: Arcade Fire for Wake Up, Rebellion (Lies), Neighborhood 3 (Power Out), co-writer Josh Deu, from Funeral by Arcade Fire; Joel Plaskett for Happen Now, Natural Disaster, Lying on a Beach from La De Da by Joel Plaskett; Kathleen Edwards for In State, Copied Keys, Back to Me, co-writer Colin Cripps from Back To Me by Kathleen Edwards; Neil Young for The Painter, When God Made Me, Prairie Wind from Prairie Wind by Neil Young; Ron Sexsmith for Listen, One Less Shadow, Lemonade Stand from Destination Unknown by Sexsmith & Kerr.
Country recording of the year: Waitin' On The Wonderful, Aaron Lines; Amanda Wilkinson, Amanda Wilkinson; Hey, Do You Know Me, Lisa Brokop; Life Goes On, Terri Clark; The Road Hammers, The Road Hammers.
Rap recording of the year: Boy-Cott-In The Industry, Classified; It's Called Life, Eternia; Fire & Glory, Kardinal Offishall; The Dusty Foot Philosopher, K'Naan; United We Fall, Sweatshop Union.
Alternative album of the year: Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene; Elevator, Hot Hot Heat; Live It Out, Metric; So Jealous, Tegan & Sara; Twin Cinema, The New Pornographers.
Vocal jazz album of the year: Twenty For One, Cadence; Christmas Songs, Diana Krall; Rock Swings, Paul Anka; Just You, Just Me, Ranee Lee; Sophie Milman, Sophie Milman.
Kidman Moves Into Action Mode for Fox
Fox hopes to develop a female version of the 'Bourne' franchise for Nicole Kidman
Regency Entertainment and 20th Century Fox have their eyes on a spy thriller being developed to star Nicole Kidman.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Kinberg ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith") will write the untitled project, which is described as being Kidman's equivalent of the "Bourne" franchise.
Kidman will produce through her Blueprint Films banner. Laurence Mark and Jonathan King are also on board as producers.
Film fans with good memories will recall that Kidman was originally supposed to star in "Smith," but had to depart the smash hit due to scheduling conflicts. Kinberg then had to rewrite his female protagonist for new leading lady Angelina Jolie.
Kidman, an Oscar winner for "The Hours," has completed work on the sci-fi/horror thriller "The Visiting" and on the biopic "Fur." She's already lined up leads in the next dramedy from Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale") and in an untitled drama from Baz Luhrmann set to co-star Russell Crowe.
Other credits for Kinberg include Fox's upcoming "X-Men: The Last Stand."
Simon Ready To 'Surprise' With Eno
After several years of work, Paul Simon is finally ready to share his long-awaited collaboration with producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) with the listening public. The 11-track project, dubbed "Surprise," will be released May 9 in North America via Warner Bros. and a day earlier internationally.
Among the songs set to appear on "Surprise" are "Sons and Daughters," "How Can You Live in the Northeast," "Outrageous" and "Father and Daughter," Simon's contribution to 2002's "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" which was nominated for the best original song Academy Award.
Guest appearances include guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Steve Gadd and pianist Herbie Hancock, whose 2005 album, "Possibilities," featured a new recording with Simon of the latter's "I Do It for Your Love."
"Surprise" is Simon's first studio album since 2000's "You're the One," which debuted at No. 19 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 505,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The lone live date on Simon's schedule at present is a May 7 appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. A small-venue show in London is in the works to coincide with the new album's release date but details have yet to be announced.
According to a spokesperson, tours are in the works for both summer and fall. Simon will also perform on the May 13 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
Here is the track list for "Surprise":
"How Can You Live in the Northeast"
"Everything About It Is a Love Song"
"Outrageous"
"Sure Don't Feel Like Love"
"Wartime Prayers"
"Beautiful"
"I Don't Believe"
"Another Galaxy"
"Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean"
"That's Me"
"Father and Daughter"
Friends Reunion Latest
We've all wished they'd just get on and do it but a Friends reunion is no closer to happening right now.
And apparently it's all down to one of the three lads.
Rumours of a reunion were fired up after Kathleen Turner - who played the transvestite dad of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) - revealed she had been approached about appearing in more episodes.
American TV network NBC later nixed the stories of a one-off reunion show.
However, Lisa Kudrow has now revealed it was all true - but sadly, still not on the cards.
And it's Matthew, Matt Le Blanc or David Schwimmer who's to blame, she reckons - not Jennifer Aniston, as had been rumoured.
"There is an opportunity for the rest of us to do a reunion show but one member has said no," Lisa said.
"It's one of the guys. I'm gutted."
Lisa's new venture, The Comeback, a satire of reality shows, has not been as successful as she had hoped.
There's been a Friends-shaped hole in our TV schedules for almost two years now.
The series ran for 10 years and 240 episodes and made gazillion-dollar fortunes for its six stars.
No sour grapes for Romijn
CALABASAS, Calif. — If Rebecca Romijn seems generously candid, chalk it up to her deep personal happiness and fun new role as a super-snoopy investigative reporter in WB's Pepper Dennis (premieres Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET/PT).
"I do have more sympathy for reporters than I ever had before," acknowledges Romijn, 33, a former supermodel who was host and reporter for MTV's House of Style in the 1990s. "You've got to get the story, and I totally get that."
Fresh from a 13-hour catch-up sleep marathon, Romijn is having a breakfast of huevos rancheros. She has arrived at a cafe near the ranch house she shares with 32-year-old fiancé Jerry O'Connell (Crossing Jordan) and is bursting with bright colors.
The 5-foot-11 fashion queen is dressed in a striped peach rugby shirt, gold headband and necklace, a turquoise ring, a mammoth 6-carat yellow diamond engagement ring, a bright orange wallet, and toenails painted with a pink hue called "I Need a Vacation." Because her reporter character is single, she takes off her ring during scenes and replaces it with a set of yellow diamond earrings also given to her by O'Connell.
The 1999 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover girl, who posed on the sand alongside other top cover models for the 2006 cover, will hit the beach again soon for a vacation in the Bahamas with O'Connell. The previous evening, she fell asleep in his arms "around 8" — somewhere between watching rentals of A History of Violence and The Squid and the Whale.
She calls O'Connell "the most solid guy. I don't know what I would do without him."
On their grounds are the beginnings of a winery: O'Connell followed up a romantic getaway to California wine country by planting 800 Merlot and Cabernet grapevines. She calls the gesture "the most romantic gift."
It's now a favorite spot. Romijn spends weekends in the vineyard with her rocking chair, two poodles and two German shepherds to read scripts, while O'Connell shoots off golf balls or tends to the vines. As a nod to the history of their home — it was a 1930s brothel called The Wagon Wheel Ranch — they plan to eventually bottle Wagon Wheel Wine.
But also sitting behind their home is a giant letter "D" — part of the Disneyland sign that ex-husband John Stamos (Jake in Progress, ER) purchased after he and Romijn had their first date at Disneyland. She says Stamos eventually will come and collect the "D" and the other nine letters she has in storage, but in the meantime, she prefers to think the "D" stands for her character, Dennis.
News of her split from Stamos after six years of marriage broke the day before she walked the red carpet at the April 2004 premiere of her film The Punisher. "We just got outed" by the tabloids, Romijn says. "We had split up quite a while before, but John and I had decided we were just going to keep it between us because we had work to do and I didn't want to be dealing with all that.
"But we were forced to come clean, so I put on a brave face."
Of Stamos, she says, "We don't have a regular relationship anymore." She's hurt by media reports that the couple split because he wanted to start a family and she didn't. Romijn says vehemently that those accounts are wrong. She adds, "Whether or not I wanted to have kids had nothing to do with it. We were together for 10 years, and the reasons (for the divorce) are complicated. I can't wait to have kids. I'm at a point in my life where when I see a pregnant woman, I get tears in my eyes."
She and O'Connell, who she says shares her desire to start a family, plan to wed this summer after she wraps up promoting her third stint as the blue-hued Mystique in X-Men 3: The Last Stand, in theaters May 26. (She has two other films in the can: June's The Alibi, with her X-Men co-star James Marsden, and the upcoming Man About Town, in which she plays the wife of Ben Affleck.)
Her wedding will "not be a big event. I did that a long time ago. We might do it on a vacation and include just our close family."
Oh — and unlike what she did with her name for her previous marriage, she won't be changing her name to Rebecca Romijn-O'Connell.
"I'm probably just going to take the O," the actress jokes. "Rebecca O'Romijn."
Series Two Date, Titles and More News
The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, reaching subscribers today, has confirmed rumors that Series Two will debut on Saturday, April 15 at 7:00pm.
Widely rumored as the target date by fans and even the press as early as last November, this is the first official confirmation anywhere of the date of transmission of the first new episode, "New Earth".
Also revealed in the issue are the final three titles for the season. The Impossible Planet is the name of episode 8, the first half of the two-part story taking place on an alien world which is followed up by episode 9, "The Satan Pit". Fear Her is the title for episode 11, written by "Life on Mars" writer Matthew Graham. Finally, the magazine confirms the title Love & Monsters (using the ampersand, in fact, not the word "and"), which was reported last week in various newspapers during the episode's filming.
Additionally, DWM has revealed that, following each broadcast, Doctor Who Confidential - the documentary series about the making of the program - will air on BBC with writer Mark Gatiss ("The Unquiet Dead," "The Idiot's Lantern") narrating the documentary series, replacing last year's narrator Simon Pegg.
Finally, a few miscellaneous items of note about series two: writer Marc Platt, who wrote the Big Finish audio "Spare Parts" which inspired the Cyberman two-parter being seen this year, will receive a fee but the producers stress the story is not a rewrite. Also, "In the interview with Julie Gardner and Phill Collinson, they state that they are in their busiest period now, and that the script for the final episode is awesome. There is also a quote in the news section that allays the fears of the Barbara Windsor and Trisha Goddard cameos stating they are 'clever.'"
Sirius' hefty talent deals are "scary": CEO
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. CEO Mel Karmazin said Tuesday it was "scary" paying huge amounts to secure Howard Stern, the NFL, NASCAR and other high-profile programming, but still well worth it.
"It's scary how much they cost, but I would rather have them and find a way to make money with them rather than compete against them," Karmazin said at the Sports Business Journal's annual World Congress of Sports event.
Stern's deal is worth $500 million over five years. Despite the big bucks, Karmazin said he met with Stern on Monday to try to get him to extend his term with similar pay structure.
"He wasn't interested," Karmazin said. "He'll take his chances when the contract is up."
Karmazin joined Sirius in 2004 after a long career in traditional radio that culminated in a turn as president and chief operating officer of Viacom Inc. In that time, he has seen Sirius' subscriber base grow and snagged Stern from Viacom's CBS unit.
Stern's old employer recently sued the shock-jock, his agent Don Buchwald and Sirius for alleged breach of contract and fraud stemming from his much-ballyhooed move to satellite in January. The suit, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, was described by Stern as "a personal vendetta" launched by CBS chief Leslie Moonves in response to the network's sagging radio fortunes since Stern left.
Karmazin said the lawsuit only served to put Stern back on the front page.
"The last thing I would want to talk about today is Howard Stern," Karmazin said. "But I'm sure CBS had its reasons."
Karmazin was interviewed onstage at the Pierre Hotel event by noted media journalist-analyst Jack Myers.
He said that sports, along with Stern, are a major driver of subscriptions to satellite radio.
While Sirius and its bigger competitor, XM Satellite Radio, are locked in a battle for subscribers, Karmazin said the more important battle is for the entire field of satellite radio.
"This is not about us vs. them," he said. "It's about satellite radio."
He said terrestrial radio would be good for free cash flow. "It's just not going to grow much," he added.
Sirius, based in New York, reported a widened net loss of $311.4 million in the fourth quarter, due to a surge in promotional costs for the holiday season in the weeks before Stern's arrival. Revenue tripled to $80.0 million.
Unfortunate Development for "Arrested"
A new development may keep Arrested Development off the air for good.
Series creator Mitch Hurwitz announced his decision to quit the Emmy-winning comedy Monday, dealing a blow to fans still holding out hope that the canceled Fox show might be revived on another network, Daily Variety reports.
The move by Hurwitz was not entirely unexpected. E! Online's TV columnist Kristin Veitch reported last month that the executive producer was "hesitant" about sticking with the series, despite a tentative deal in place to move it to Showtime.
Though series producers 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine Television had hammered out an agreement with the cable network, it was forged on the understanding that Hurwitz would be continuing to script the various misadventures of the Bluth family.
However, the writer told Variety he had reached the end of the line as far as Arrested Development was concerned.
"I've given everything I can to the show in order to try to live up to [the fans'] expectations," Hurwitz told the trade. "I finally reached a point where I felt I couldn't continue to deliver that on a weekly basis."
He said he held off on making a final decision to give 20th Century Fox and Showtime time to reach a potential deal but ultimately had to move on due to a combination of creative and financial concerns.
"Of course, if there was enough money in it, I would have happily abandoned the fans' need for quality. But as it turns out, there wasn't," he said.
Hurwitz said he had briefed most of the show's cast and writers about his decision. He said executive producer Ron Howard asked him to consider serving as a consultant on the show if 20th Century Fox and Imagine figured out a way to continue it without him.
"I said I'd be happy to do that, but that as showrunner, I've gone as far as I can go," he told Variety.
The tragically underrated series about a dysfunctional Orange County, California, family debuted in 2003 to critical acclaim but never registered with viewers, despite winning the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004.
Last month, only 3.3 million viewers tuned in for what Fox billed as a season finale, but what was most likely the series finale for Arrested Development.
Despite his defection from the show, Hurwitz left fans with one final straw to grasp, hinting to Variety that he may still be interested in adapting the series to the big screen.
It's Apple Vs. Apple in British Court
LONDON - Two legendary companies in the music industry are to meet Wednesday in a London courtroom to fight it out over what might be the world's most recognizable logo: A simple piece of fruit.
Apple Corps Ltd., the Beatles' record company and guardian of the band's musical heritage and business interests, is suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming the company violated a 1991 agreement by entering the music business with its iTunes online music store.
The case will be heard by Judge Martin Mann, who said during pretrial hearings that he was the owner of an iPod digital music player, which is used with the iTunes music store.
At issue is a 1991 pact that ended a long-running trademark fight between the two Apples in which each agreed not to tread on the other's toes by entering into a "field of use" agreement over the trademark.
Apple Computer said in a statement that "unfortunately, Apple and Apple Corps now have differing interpretations of this agreement and will need to ask a court to resolve this dispute."
Apple Corps — founded in 1968 and owned by surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the widow of John Lennon and the estate of George Harrison — is seeking both an injunction to enforce the 1991 agreement and monetary damages for the alleged contract breach.
The computer company's logo is a cartoonish apple with a neat bite out of the side; the record company is represented by a perfect, shiny green Granny Smith apple.
Apple Computer had asked to have the case heard in California, where it is based, but Mann rejected that application in 2004 and ordered the case be heard at the stately Royal Courts of Justice in central London.
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computer was formed in 1976, when two college dropouts — Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak — filed partnership papers on April Fools' Day. Their goal was to build and sell personal computers, and their first product was a build-it-yourself computer kit. In 1984, the Apple Macintosh was introduced. Their ubiquitous iPods first came out in October 2001.
The iTunes music store first opened for business in the United States in April 2003; it is now available across Europe, in Australia, Japan, and Canada. About 3 million songs are downloaded every day from the service. In the United States, a song costs 99 cents; in the U.K, they fetch 79 pence ($1.38). Not available on the service are Beatles' songs, which haven't been licensed for downloading.
The Couch Potato Report - March 28th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on one of 2005’s biggest movies and one of the year’s smallest.
Some movie fans like all types of films, while others are more discriminating.
The big blockbuster releases don’t interest the discriminating, they only want smaller, character driven films.
However, the opposite is also true. Some movie fans have no interest in character driven films, they only want blockbusters.
This week, each group should be happy as I have one of both.
KING KONG is the blockbuster, and THE SQUID AND THE WHALE is the character piece.
Each one has it’s own merits, and in the end, I will recommend both of them.
The merits of Peter Jackson’s remake of KING KONG are extensive: The story itself is a classic; the special effects are seamless; Naomi Watts acting is superb, especially when you bear in mind that her co-star is computer generated; and it was generated using the body movements of Andy Serkis, who was also Gollum in THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY.
Peter Jackson used his clout and success from THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY to remake the 1933 classic KING KONG and this update takes place in New York in 1933.
Jack Black from SCHOOL OF ROCK is an ambitious filmmaker who finds a map to a mysterious Island.
He then fools cast and crew to go with him, and it is there where they encounter Kong, a twenty-five foot tall Silver Back Gorilla.
Naomi Watts from THE RING is the film, and the film within a film’s leading lady.
After the Island’s residents offer her up as a sacrifice, Kong seems instantly smitten.
In the original 1933 version of the film, and the last remake in 1976, the action in KING KONG came after the human’s rescued the woman from Kong. That is true in this version as well, but due to the fact that the movie runs over three hours, there is also plenty of other action as well.
I want to make specific reference to the scenes where Kong fights with dinosaurs. If you thought the creatures in JURASSIC PARK looked real, get ready to be blown away!! From now on this is the standard for computer-generated battles between creatures that are extinct.
There is also plenty of action once the humans capture KONG and take him back to New York, and there are plenty of stories there too.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, I loved this version of KING KONG, just as I have loved the other versions.
At over three hours, I will also admit that – even though I loved it – the movie was too long. It would have benefited from having a good editor working alongside Jackson on it.
That said, when the rumoured three-hour and forty-five minute director’s cut comes out on DVD in November, I will be one of the first people in line to buy it.
KING KONG is what it is, a blockbuster, and it is a very good one at that!
The rumoured budget to make KING KONG was $207 million and it grossed over $500 million in theatres around the world.
By comparison, the budget for Noah Baumbach’s film THE SQUID AND THE WHALE was $1.5 million, and it has grossed a little over $7.3 million.
It was no blockbuster.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE is a wonderfully made, smart and loving film about two brothers dealing with their parents divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980's.
Jeff Daniels from THE HOURS is their father and the always-superb Laura Linney from KINSEY is their mother.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE may be the best film of 2005 that only a few people saw.
It is superbly acted and well written, and it is also very touching and heartbreaking, especially when the film’s title is explained.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE was no blockbuster, and I loved it!
KING KONG was a blockbuster, but I loved that movie too!
And now both of them are available now at a store near you.
Coming up in three weeks on the next Couch Potato Report
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA – THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE brings the beloved literary classics to cinematic life; THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED is based on the true story of the 1913 US Open; Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni star in the remake of FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, and it is no fun at all; and then there is BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, a small film about a love story that has hardly received any press at all since it’s release last December.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in twenty-one days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
The Who to release EP in June
While the Who might not have its full-length album ready this summer, the group is releasing "The Glass Household" EP this June, a "Mini-Opera" inspired in part from guitarist Pete Townshend's online novella "The Boy Who Heard Music."
"I decided I would like to release a record prior to the European shows, even if only on the Internet," Townshend wrote on his Web site Mar. 18. "However, Polydor has agreed in principle to release something plastic prior to the main album."
The approximately 11-minute release will contain six songs and is being delivered to Polydor at the end of March. No song titles have been revealed.
Singer Roger Daltrey began recording vocals on Mar. 20 on the project, engineered by Bob Pridden and Myles Clarke. The songs originated from an idea Townshend had in early January and were to be "the backbone for some kind of large theatrical music event."
Daltrey, however, declined to be a part of that particular project. "So the principle focus of my creative output seemed closed to me when it came to writing music for the Who album," Townshend writes. "I managed a few songs that stood alone, but even those seemed to have sprung from whatever was going on in my heart as I worked on TBWHM."
A meeting with Eel Pie manager Nick Goderson changed the idea from a "Magnum-Opus" into a "Mini-Opera" with Townshend creating roughly seven or eight lyrical poems. "I did a couple of quick demos and by January 17th I knew I had about 30 minutes of music that would create a vigorous backbone for the Who album, but allow me to continue to draw on the bloodline of 'The Boy Who Heard Music,'" Towshend says.
After completing ten songs, including two full-length numbers and the remainder being "shorter, punchier or simple and ballad-like," Townshend began working with musicians at his Oceanic studio in late February. The musicians include bassist Pino Palladino, John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards and Simon Townshend and Billy Nicholls on backing vocals. Drummer Peter Huntington, from Townshend's girlfriend Rachel Fuller's band, stood in for Zak Starkey who was wrapping up dates with Oasis.
The release will be the first of entirely new material since the band's last studio album "It's Hard" in 1982. The group will mount a series of European festival shows June 25 at the Wireless Festival in Leeds, England.
New CD Releases - March 28, 2006
Gerald Albright New Beginnings (Peak/Concord)
Monty Alexander Concrete Jungle (Bob Marley tribute; guests Luciano and Delfeayo Marsalis) (Telarc)
Linda Arnold Splash Zone (Rounder)
Atreyu A Death-grip on Yesterday (Victory)
Bangkok 5 Who's Gonna Take Us Alive? (Universal)
Steve Brodsky and Ramona Cordova Split EP (ECA)
Ray Cash C.O.D. (Cash on Delivery) (Columbia)
Charanga Cakewalk Chicano Zen (Artemis)
Ramona Cordova The Boy Who Floated Freely (ECA)
Matt Costa Songs We Sing (Universal)
J DiMenna Awkward Buildings (Exotic)
Disaster Strikes Liberty Toast (Alternative Tentacles)
DJ Boris Believe (mix CD) (Moist Music)
Taylor Eigsti Lucky to Be Me (Concord)
Freeheat (w/ex-Jesus and Mary Chain's Jim Reid) Back on the Water (includes live and studio tracks) (Planting Seeds)
Ghostface Killah Fishscale (Def Jam)
House on a Hill Ladyslipper (ButterMilk)
Jagged Edge Jagged Edge (w/John Legend, Jermaine Dupri and more) (Columbia)
Jonas Brothers It's About Time (DualDisc same day) (Columbia)
Knights of the New Crusade Knight Beat (Alternative Tentacles)
György Kurtág Kafka-Fragmente (ECM)
Lokbra Army of Soundwaves (Lucid)
Claire Lynch New Day (Rounder)
Michelle Makarski Tartini/Crockett - To Be Sung on the Water (ECM)
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's The Dust of Retreat (Artemis)
Teena Marie Sapphire (Universal)
Natasha Miller Don't Move (Poignant)
Morrissey Who Put the 'M' in Manchester? (UMD) (Sanctuary)
Moth Immune to Gravity (Hey Domingo!)
Movies with Heroes Nothing Here Is Perfect (COI)
Orthrelm/Behold...the Arctopus Split EP (Crucial Blast)
The Jaco Pastorius Big Band The Word Is Out! (SACD same day) (Heads Up)
People in Planes As Far as The Eye Can See (Wind-Up)
Rammstein Rosenrot (Universal)
Rosesdead Stages (One Day Savior)
Junior Sanchez Last Night's Party (Moist Music)
Christian Scott Rewind That (Concord)
Shattered Realm From the Dead End Blocks Where Life Means Nothing (Spook City)
Janis Siegel (of Manhattan Transfer) A Thousand Beautiful Things (Telarc)
The Spirit That Guides Us North & South (Goodfellow)
T.I. King (Atlantic)
Theo and the Skyscrapers Theo and the Skyscrapers (CD/DVD combo) (Ozit Morpheus)
Yazoo The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of (Shanachie)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones (Interscope)
Rob Zombie Educated Horses (w/Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee) (Geffen)
VA Club Mix 2006 (Water Music)
VA Palace Lounge Presents Café d'Afrique (Savoy)
VA St. Moritz Vibes Vol. 4: Les Fleurs du Mal (Milan)
VA The Glory of Byzantium (Milan)
VA Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars (songs by the Beatles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and more sung by actors Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Irons and others) (Rhino)
OST Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (score by John Powell) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Take the Lead (drama about dance instructor w/Antonio Banderas) (Universal)
DVD Bastards of Young (punk documentary) (Image)
DVD Destiny's Child Live in Atlanta (July 15, 2005 show w/behind-the-scenes footage) (Columbia)
BLOND BOND SPEAKS
Daniel Craig defending his casting as James Bond to detractors who have threatened to boycott the upcoming Casino Royale because they think he was a poor choice for the part. "I'm a Bond fan," Craig told the BBC. "If I go and see a Bond movie, there are certain things I think should be in it. And they're there."
Clooney, Pitt, Damon a Go for 'Ocean's 13'
LOS ANGELES - Now that George Clooney's an Academy Award winner, he and his crew are returning to their thieving ways.
Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon will star in "Ocean's 13," the third flick in their franchise about a gang of lovable crooks, distributor Warner Bros. announced Monday.
A supporting-actor Oscar winner for the oil-industry thriller "Syriana," Clooney will reprise his role as leader of the pack Danny Ocean, with the group pulling off a new heist in Las Vegas.
Clooney's producing partner Steven Soderbergh, who made the 2001 hit "Ocean's Eleven" and its 2004 sequel "Ocean's Twelve," will direct again.
Julia Roberts, Clooney's love interest in the first two movies, and "Ocean's Twelve" co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones will not be back for the third movie, according to Warner Bros.
"It was a script issue. We didn't have a place to really use talent like theirs, two big stars like that," said Jerry Weintraub, the franchise's producer. "They're very good friends of ours, and neither Soderbergh nor I would prevail on them to come back and do nothing just to do it."
Weintraub said if the filmmakers hit on a good idea to include the actresses, there was a chance Roberts and Zeta-Jones could return.
The studio expects the rest of the cast, including Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould, will return. Joining the cast will be Ellen Barkin.
Production is scheduled to start in July, with "Ocean's 13" due in theaters in summer 2007.
Scarlett Johansson ranks No. 1 on FHM's 'Sexiest Women' poll
NEW YORK (AP) - Scarlett Johansson tops a lovely list of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World," in a poll of readers by FHM magazine.
"One of the best things for a woman to hear is that she is sexy," the 21-year-old actress, star of Match Point and Lost in Translation, said in a statement. "I'd like to thank FHM's readers for the huge compliment."
Angelina Jolie is No. 2 on the list, followed by Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Keira Knightley, Halle Berry, Jenny McCarthy, Maria Sharapova, Carmen Electra and Teri Hatcher.
Johansson ranked ninth on last year's list. Jolie was No. 1.
"It's remarkable how Scarlett Johansson has caught the attention of our readers," said Scott Gramling, the magazine's U.S. editor in chief, in a statement. "Her sultry voice and striking beauty certainly have a lot to do with that, but so does the confidence she exudes."
"She seems to be one of those women who would be equally at ease on the red carpet as she would just hanging out with the guys."
The magazine's May issue goes on sale April 4.
'SIMPSONS' GOES LIVE WITH 'OFFICE' PARTY
Funnyman Ricky Gervais helped "The Simpsons" lampoon reality TV and skewer its own network in the process.
The putty-faced comic - best-known as the creator of the British comedy series "The Office" - wrote and starred in last night's episode of "The Simpsons" on Fox. The show also featured a novel, "live-action" sequence that replaced the show's animated characters with real-life actors for the show's famous opening.
In the episode, Gervais, 44, supplied the voice (and likeness) of Charlie Heathbar, the husband of a stern professor from Yale, who agreed to participate in a reality-TV show with the Simpsons.
The show, called "Mother Flippers," was a send-up of TV's tacky spouse-swapping reality shows, "Wife Swap" on ABC and "Trading Spouses" on Fox.
The Simpsons signed up to appear on "Mother Flippers" while on a tour of Fox Studios in Hollywood, where they were exposed to fictional Fox reality shows such as "Dwarf or Midget?" and "Million Dollar Fart-off."
In addition to writing and starring in the show, Gervais contributed two original songs.
Throughout the episode, Homer was on a quest to obtain a new high-definition, flat-screen TV.
It was a stellar episode.
Halifax latest to benefit from Junos
The streets are lined with banners. Fans have been dishing out upwards of $500 US on Ebay for a pair of tickets to the main event. Downtown retailers have turned window fronts into shrines. And hotels are booked solid. "Everybody's scurrying around like laboratory mice," said Victor Syperek, who owns several restaurants in Halifax, the site of this weekend's Juno Awards.
"It's quite interesting to see."
Added concert organizer and former MuchMusic personality Mike Campbell: "You can't really have a conversation with anybody (in Halifax) about anything without it eventually getting back to the Junos."
It's a scene that's been played out in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa and St. John's, N.L.
Once a stodgy, industry-only affair, the Juno Awards have transformed themselves into a hip, must-attend public bash by taking the show on the road.
The festivities in Halifax, which include A-list celebrities Pamela Anderson and Coldplay, mark the fifth anniversary of the roving gala.
Previously, it had been held outside Toronto only twice - Vancouver in 1991 and 1998 - since its inception 35 years ago.
"It really seemed like a crazy concept in the beginning. We thought it might just be a one-off like it had been to Vancouver a couple of times," said Melanie Berry, president of The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
"Then we realized the impact."
The 2002 Juno festivities held in Newfoundland and Labrador generated some $29 million in revenue.
But perhaps the greater impact of the travelling show is the effect on fans, who have a chance to celeb spot on home turf and check out bands that seldom visit their neck of the woods.
In Edmonton, for instance, more than 12,000 people turned out to an autograph signing session at the West Edmonton Mall featuring stars such as Nelly Furtado, Nickelback and Sam Roberts. In Ottawa, fans camped out in front of hotels hoping to catch a glimpse of country vixen Shania Twain, who hosted the awards that year.
"Having this kind of concentration of musical talent in the city over one weekend is completely unheard of," said Campbell, who organized this weekend's JunoFest concert series, which will have 116 music acts performing over two nights in 15 venues.
It's a real coup since superstar acts rarely include Halifax on tour routes, he added.
"It just doesn't compute with most of the (concert booking) agents so this is really a serious feast for music fans," he said.
One local newspaper is hoping to take advantage of the Junos by launching an online petition - called More Peas Please - to get the Black Eyed Peas to do a full-on concert in the city.
The travelling show has also translated into a TV ratings windfall with more people than ever before tuning into the show.
Comedian Brent Butt, who hosted last year's show out of Winnipeg, has suggested TV viewers get caught up in the local frenzy.
"There's inherent excitement because it's a new thing that's coming to town that isn't going to be there next year. They get jacked up and, as a viewer, as a fan, as a guy watching TV, you can't not pick up on that excitement," he said at the time.
"It just wasn't there before when it was in the same location."
But bringing the show to a new city each year isn't exactly easy.
Local crews aren't always accustomed to the requirements of a large-scale awards show that has multiple stages and airs live.
Older hockey arenas, like Halifax's, don't have much loading space for the oodles of band and TV equipment required. Worse yet, for the St. John's show, the equipment - including more than 600 kilometres of cable and a broadcast truck - had to come over on the ferry, say producers.
Still, the headaches are well worth it.
"No slight to Toronto but it's been great for all the other cities to have that momentum," said singer Joel Plaskett, recalling the energy at the Edmonton awards.
"It's important to celebrate a national music scene in the smaller (cities) . . . the places that aren't just central."
Next year's Junos are to be held in Saskatoon.
Cavanagh Not 'Monkey'-ing Around
Tom Cavanagh apparently doesn't have any hard feelings toward CBS.
Cavanagh, who starred in the very short-lived "Love Monkey" on the network earlier this season, is back in business at CBS. He's signed on to star in a comedy pilot called "My Ex-Life," the showbiz trade papers report.
The latest round of pilot casting also includes Jeri Ryan, recently seen on "The O.C.," Illeana Douglas ("Action"), Xander Berkeley ("24") and Oscar-nominated screenwriter/actor Dan Futterman.
"My Ex-Life" is a comedy about a divorced couple who remain friends and share custody of their kids. Cavanagh, whose credits also include "Ed" and a recurring part on "Scrubs," will play the lead role of Nick. It's a quick bounce-back for the actor after "Love Monkey," which debuted in January and was yanked after just three episodes.
Also at CBS, Ryan will star opposite James Woods in "Shark," about a famous lawyer who becomes a prosecutor. The former "Boston Public" and "Star Trek: Voyager" star will play Woods' boss in the district attorney's office. Lynn Whitfield ("Madea's Family Reunion") will guest-star in the pilot in what could become a recurring part.
Over at ABC, Douglas has joined Heather Locklear in the comedy "Women of a Certain Age." The show centers on Locklear's character, a widow who embarks on a new life with the help of her friends. Douglas' recent TV credits include "Six Feet Under" and "Law & Order: SVU."
Berkeley, recently seen in "North Country," will co-star in the ABC drama "Women in Law." Futterman, who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated script for "Capote," will guest in the network's "Brothers & Sisters," playing Calista Flockhart's boyfriend -- which he also did in "The Birdcage." The role could be a recurring one if the show is picked up.
'Inside Man' Tops at Box Office With $29M
LOS ANGELES - Denzel Washington's reunion with Spike Lee put them on the inside track at the box office.
Their bank-hostage thriller "Inside Man," an unusually commercial project for director Lee, debuted as the No. 1 weekend film with $29 million — the best opening ever for both the filmmaker and his star, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal's "Inside Man" knocked off the previous weekend's top movie, the Warner Bros. action tale "V for Vendetta," which slipped to second with $12.3 million. "V for Vendetta" raised its 10-day total to $46.2 million.
Disney's fright flick "Stay Alive," featuring Frankie Muniz in a tale about a video game that brings death to its players, premiered in third place with $11.2 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," a gross-out romp starring comic Dan Whitney investigating a food-poisoning outbreak, opened at No. 7 with $7.05 million.
Stung by declining revenues over the last year, Hollywood broke out of its latest slump, with the top-12 movies grossing $98.9 million, up 10.6 percent from the same weekend a year ago. The upswing followed a month of declines.
The solid weekend was a prelude to this Friday's debut of the animated sequel "Ice Age: The Meltdown," considered an early lead-in to a summer season that launches with Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible 3" on May 5.
"This was a good kickoff to what I think will be a pretty good run leading up to summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"Inside Man," starring Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen in a story of cops against robbers during a Manhattan bank heist, exceeded box-office expectations for distributor Universal, which had figured on a $20 million weekend at best.
Lee and Washington's earlier collaborations include "Malcolm X" and "He Got Game."
At $29 million, "Inside Man" topped Washington's previous best opening weekend of $22.8 million for "Man on Fire" and Lee's previous best of $11.1 million for "The Original Kings of Comedy."
Two-thirds of viewers for "Inside Man" were older than 30, a promising sign for Hollywood, whose key audience of young males has been less inclined to go to the movies with so many other entertainment distractions such as video games and DVDs.
"They were motivated to go. They love the material, they love the actor," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's head of distribution. "It's the motivation to get them to go to the movies, and I hope that we as an industry keep that up. If we want the business to survive, we have to continue to find ways to motivate them."
"Inside Man" also took in $9.6 million over its opening weekend in 18 other countries.
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. "Inside Man," $29 million.
2. "V for Vendetta," $12.3 million.
3. "Stay Alive," $11.2 million.
4. "Failure to Launch," $10.8 million.
5. "The Shaggy Dog," $9.1 million.
6. "She's the Man," $7.4 million.
7. "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," $7.05 million.
8. "The Hills Have Eyes," $4.25 million.
9. "Eight Below," $2.7 million.
10. "16 Blocks," $2.2 million.
Country Music Star Buck Owens Dies at 76
LOS ANGELES - Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.
Owens died at his home in Bakersfield, said family spokesman Jim Shaw. The cause of death was not immediately known. Owens had undergone throat cancer surgery in 1993 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1997.
His career was one of the most phenomenal in country music, with a string of more than 20 No. 1 records, most released from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
They were recorded with a honky-tonk twang that came to be known throughout California as the "Bakersfield Sound," named for the town 100 miles north of Los Angeles that Owens called home.
"I think the reason he was so well known and respected by a younger generation of country musicians was because he was an innovator and rebel," said Shaw, who played keyboards in Owens' band, the Buckaroos. "He did it out of the Nashville establishment. He had a raw edge."
Owens, elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, was modest when describing his aspirations.
"I'd like to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs and had a hell of a time," he said in 1992.
An indefatigable performer, Owens played a red, white and blue guitar with fireball fervor. He and the Buckaroos wore flashy rhinestone suits in an era when flash was as important to country music as fiddles.
"When people start looking back on his career, they are going to be surprised by the number of things he did first," said guitarist Roy Clark, who worked with Owens on "Hee Haw." "He left a great legacy in country music."
Among his biggest hits were "Together Again" (also recorded by Emmylou Harris), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."
And he was the answer to this music trivia question: What country star had a hit record that was later done by the Beatles?
"Those guys were phenomenal," Owens once said.
Ringo Starr recorded "Act Naturally" twice, singing lead on the Beatles' 1965 version and recording it as a duet with Owens in 1989. The song, by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, tells of a poor soul who foresees a movie career playing "a man who's sad and lonely, and all I gotta do is act naturally. ... Might win an Oscar, you can never tell."
In addition to music, Owens had a highly visible TV career as co-host of "Hee Haw" from 1969 to 1986. With Clark, he led viewers through a potpourri of country music and hayseed humor.
"It's an honest show," Owens told The Associated Press in 1995. "There's no social message — no crusade. It's fun and simple."
Owens himself could be rebellious, choosing among other things to label what he did "American music" rather than country.
"I took a little heat," he once said. "People asked me, `Isn't country music good enough for you?' "
He also criticized the syrupy arrangements of some country singers, saying "assembly-line, robot music turns me off."
After his string of hits, Owens stayed away from the recording scene for a decade, returning in 1988 to record another No. 1 record, "Streets of Bakersfield," with Dwight Yoakam.
Yoakam said he saw Owens just days before his death.
"Even though he seemed in a somewhat fragile physical state, he was emotionally exuberant and still living life in a forward motion, discussing a variety of plans for his future," Yoakam said in a statement. "I will cherish, forever, the musical moments he graciously shared with me during his life. I will be eternally grateful for his fatherly chastisements, encouragement and, ultimately, his friendship and love."
He spent much of his time away concentrating on his business interests, which included a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix.
"I never wanted to hang around like the punch-drunk fighter," he told The Associated Press in 1992.
He had moved to Bakersfield in 1951, hoping to find work in the thriving juke joints of what in the years before suburban sprawl was a truck-stop town on Highway 99, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.
"We played rhumbas and tangos and sambas, and we played Bob Wills music, lots of Bob Wills music," he said, referring to the bandleader who was the king of Western swing.
"And lots of rock 'n' roll," he added.
Owens started recording in the mid-1950s, but gained little success until 1963 with "Act Naturally," his first No. 1 single.
Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. was born in 1929 outside Sherman, Texas, the son of a sharecropper. With opportunities scarce during the Depression, the family moved to Arizona when he was 8.
He dropped out of school at age 13 to haul produce and harvest crops, and by 16 he was playing music in taverns.
He once told an audience, "When I was a little bitty kid, I used to dream about playing the guitar and singing like some of those great people that we had the old, thick records of."
Owens' first wife, Bonnie Owens, sometimes performed with him and went on to become a leading backup singer after their divorce in 1955. She had occasional solo hits in the '60s, as well as successful duets with her second husband, Merle Haggard.
One of her two sons with Owens also became a singer, using the name Buddy Alan. He had a Top 10 hit in 1968, "Let the World Keep on a-Turnin'," and recorded a number of duets with his father.
In addition to Buddy, he is survived by two other sons, Michael and John.
Mixed reviews for 'Lord of the Rings' musical
The $28-million Lord of the Rings musical, which opened in Toronto Thursday night, earned praise from one important audience member – the granddaughter of author J.R.R. Tolkien.
"It’s very beautifully done," said Rachel Tolkien, 35, who ventured from France to attend the show’s debut at the Princess of Wales theatre. "Everything that, to me, is the most important and most moving in the books is on the stage."
The three-and-a-half hour show, with two short intermissions, got a long standing ovation as the cast of almost 60, the producers, composers and British director Matthew Warchus took their bows.
The show’s technical wizardry — with 17 movable elevators — got a big thumbs up from many critics but many of them gave the show a tepid review.
"Why we’re left bored of the Rings" was the headline in Friday’s Toronto Star. While reviewer Richard Ouzounian praised the "endless visuals" and special effects, he said the actors wind up like "pawns in a giant rapid-fire chess game."
Ouzounian criticized the show’s director for leaving the audience with a show that was neither a play nor a musical. So much is packed into it, that character development suffers, he said.
Like many critics, he praised actor Michael Therriault — who recently played Tommy Douglas on CBC’s biopic and also starred in The Producers as Leo Bloom — for his gripping scenes as Gollum.
Charles Spencer of The Telegraph in Britain characterized the show as "weary" and concluded there was "nothing here to rival the imaginative visual coups and heart-tugging emotion of such great family shows as Billy Elliot, The Lion King and Mary Poppins."
The music, a mixture of folk, mystic sounds and eastern chants composed by Finland’s Värttinä and India’s A.R. Rahman, was engaging, Spencer said. But key moments, such as fight scenes, were lacklustre, he wrote, saying "jaw-dropping coups de théâtre are in short supply."
Spencer also wondered why Canadian stage and film veteran Brent Carver seemed to lack the charisma needed to bring the wizard Gandalf to life.
The Associated Press critic called Carver’s Gandalf a "washed-out wizard" and concluded the musical was a flattened adaptation of the trilogy with "moments of satisfying spectacle and elegant design."
Brent Brantley of the New York Times said he felt lost while watching the show, deeming it "incomprehensible." It felt like a very long high school drill team competition, he said. He was less than engaged with the music which he termed "Enya meets ashram."
Brantley extolled the talents of the "scenery-chewing" Therriault as Gollum and Evan Buliung as Aragorn.
The Lord of the Rings is playing at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre.
Heist thriller has "Inside" track at box office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen should pull an "Inside" job at the weekend box office with their new thriller.
"Inside Man," a heist film that turns into a cat-and-mouse game between a bank robber and a veteran police detective, will enter the fray Friday, along with two films that were not screened in advance for critics, the comedy "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" and the horror "Stay Alive."
"V for Vendetta" captured the top spot last weekend with a debut of $25.6 million and has reaped respectable midweek grosses. Warner Bros.' R-rated sci-fi actioner looks likely to fall to second place this weekend.
Universal's R-rated "Inside Man" has garnered mostly positive reviews, and is tracking best with the over-25 crowd and is extremely strong with black audiences, particularly females.
Washington was most recently in theaters with "The Manchurian Candidate," which opened with $20 million in the summer of 2004, while Foster's "Flightplan" took off with $25 million last August.
The opening haul for "Inside Man" should set a new high for its director, Spike Lee, whose best debut to date is "The Original Kings of Comedy" with $11.1 million in 2000.
Lionsgate's "Larry the Cable Guy" most likely will vie for the No. 3 spot with Paramount's former champ "Failure to Launch" and Disney's "The Shaggy Dog," both entering their third weekends.
Based on the blue-collar comedy of Larry the Cable Guy, the PG-13 comedy revolves around a veteran health inspector saddled with a rookie. Its appeal is tracking largely to young males and fans of the comedian.
"Failure to Launch" was off a moderate 36% last weekend, and has been generating solid midweek business; it had picked up $52.8 million through Wednesday. "Shaggy" shed a mere 18% of its audience, and had gleaned $38 million through Wednesday.
Disney's "Stay Alive," a PG-13 tale about a group of young friends in New Orleans who find a killer video game, is aimed at teens and fans of the genre. It stars Frankie Muniz, Samaire Armstrong, Sophia Bush, Jon Foster and Adam Goldberg. According to prerelease tracking, it won't make the top five.
In the limited-release arena, IFC Films' "Lonesome Jim" opens in New York. The R-rated comedy-drama, starring Liv Tyler and Casey Affleck, was directed by Steve Buscemi.
Sony Pictures Classics' "The Child" (L'Enfant) debuts in Los Angeles and New York. The drama, winner of the 2005 Palme d'Or at Cannes, was directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The R-rated French-language film centers on a young man who sells his newborn son because he needs the money but realizes the horrendous mistake and tries to get him back.
"South Park" Roasts Chef, Literally
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have buried the hatchet with--sorry, into-- Isaac Hayes.
On Wednesday's South Park 10th season premiere, Hayes' Chef character was struck by lightning, impaled, shot, mauled by a mountain lion, eaten by a grizzly bear, and, oh, yes, accused of being a child molester.
An estimated 3.5 million people--the most for a season premiere since 2002--were witness to the carnage, the Associated Press reported.
The episode was the capper to Hayes' Mar. 13 resignation. South Park chieftains Parker and Stone cranked out the inaptly named "The Return of Chef!" as an answer to the defection.
In an off-screen twist, doubt has been cast as to whether Hayes really meant to depart the animated series. FoxNews.com columnist Roger Friedman reported Monday the 63-year-old "Shaft" soul great suffered a stroke on Jan. 17 and "is in no condition to quit anything."
"My sources say that someone quit [the show] for him," Friedman wrote.
Previous reports had Hayes hospitalized Jan. 17 in Memphis for what was said to be exhaustion. The reputed stroke diagnosis was said to be news to Comedy Central.
In his headline-making, episode-inspiring statement, Hayes, a Scientologist, said he could no longer support a show that disrespected religion. The move was widely seen as a response to a Scientology-specific South Park episode that first aired last November. (A rerun of the show, "Trapped in the Closet," was abruptly pulled from Comedy Central's schedule last week. Tom Cruise, a Scientologist, and a "Closet" parody target, denied flexing his superstar muscle to keep the episode off the air.)
Thanks to some manipulation of old sound bites ("suck on my chocolate salty balls") and song snippets ("make love..."), Hayes was heard in Wednesday's opener. But Parker and Stone got in the last words.
And for the record, not one of Parker and Stone's words was "Scientology."
In the completely made-up story, Chef is brainwashed by an organization of child molesters called the "Super Adventure Club." In order to cure Chef, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny take their friend to a psychiatrist, a frowned-upon profession among Scientologists.
In the end, Chef dies a million Kenny deaths, only to live on, sort of, as a Darth Vader version of himself.
At his funeral, Kyle urges South Park residents to remember Chef as he was, before the brainwashing. If there is to be anger, he says, don't direct it at the beloved cafeteria worker.
Rather, says Kyle, "we should be mad at the fruity little club for scrambling his brain."
'The Simpsons' Going Live-Action
NEW YORK - Ever wonder what Bart Simpson would look like in human form? The longrunning animated Fox series "The Simpsons" is about to show you. The series will unveil a live-action opening sequence Sunday, 8 p.m. EST, a Fox spokeswoman announced Thursday.
In it, the dysfunctional cartoon family — Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie — will be seen as they would appear in real life, played by lookalike actors.
"I'm just amazed there are people who want to be known for looking like the Simpsons," said Al Jean, the show's executive producer, in a statement.
A team from British network Sky One created and commissioned the live sequence, which apes the long-running series' memorable opening shots: Bart writing on the chalkboard, Homer pulling the nuclear rod out of his shirt and Maggie and Marge at the supermarket, a Fox spokeswoman said.
"The Simpsons" was recently renewed for two more seasons, its 18th and 19th.
Beasties put new edge on concert film
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - They were the first white rappers to hit it big, and they blazed musical trails on the Web and DVD. So leave it to the Beastie Boys to take the concert film in a radical direction by letting fans call the shots.
For "Awesome; I F*****' Shot That!," which previews for one night in the United States on Thursday in digitally equipped theaters, the New York band gave 50 video cameras to fans at a 2004 Madison Square Garden concert who shot the show from their points of view. (The official title does not hide the profanity behind asterisks).
Band member Adam Yauch, who directs Beastie videos under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower, spent a year editing the tapes together. He said the aim was to capture the energy of die-hard fans and avoid run-of-the-mill concert footage that he believes seems manufactured and "plasticky."
"Using the cameras and having the audience shooting -- the fact they are dancing and jumping around or spazzing out with the camera -- captures the feel in the room," Yauch said.
For more than two decades, the Beasties -- MCA (Yauch), Adrock (Adam Horovitz) and Mike D (Michael Diamond) -- blazed trails in music. They became a sensation with 1986's hit album "License to Ill," and built a huge following with single such as "Fight for Your Right (To Party)" and "Sabotage."
The Beasties formed a record label, published a magazine, and, while others fretted about music theft on the Web, offered songs that fans could download and remix themselves.
Under his Hornblower name, Yauch created 2000's "Beastie Boys Video Anthology" DVD that gave viewers the ability to change camera angles on videos as they watched and/or mix the music in a way that created multiple new songs and new videos.
CELL PHONES TO CINEMA
Yauch got the idea for "Awesome" after watching a short film clip from a Beastie concert that was recorded by a fan using a cell phone. "The energy that was in it more sincerely captured a concert than most things I'd seen, and I thought, wow, imagine multiplying this," Yauch said.
"Awesome" begins with the cameras being given out before the Garden concert and the Beasties heading onto the stage. For the next 90 minutes, movie audiences see the band perform songs like "Hello Brooklyn" and "Shake Your Rump."
They also watch concert-goers dancing in the aisles -- one fan directs his entire section. Another fan runs to the toilet and a pair sneak backstage. When the band enters the audience for the finale, the cameras capture the pandemonium up close.
The movie premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival to good reviews and enthusiastic crowds. Yauch remembers seeing people jump up from their seats and start to dance, and he added that some people have told him theater owners should install a small dance floor for fans.
Doing so may not be far-fetched. Theater owners are trying to stem declining admissions, which fell nearly 9 percent in 2005. One way to do so has been to install new digital projectors and feature new types of entertainment.
Keeping with their trail-blazing ways, the Beasties are previewing "Awesome" only at 200 digital venues. Preceding it is a 30-minute short, "A Day in the Life of Nathanial Hornblower," which will never be screened again.
"Nothing about the way 'Awesome' was made was conventional, so we are trying to be as imaginative in our release strategy as Adam was in making the film," said Mark Urman, president of the film's distributor, THINKFilm.
Following the one-night preview, the film begins playing in regular theaters on Friday, March 31.
Beavis and Butt-head - More details for Volume 2
When Beavis and Butt-Head first appeared on MTV more than a decade ago, critics dismissed them as brainless couch potatoes who did nothing but watch TV and make lewd jokes about bodily functions. Today we know they were ahead of their time. Beavis and Butt-Head's unique idiocy profoundly changed television, movies, pop culture and the world. This historic box set, personally edited by creator Mike Judge, includes their finest episodes, specials, promos and guest appearances that so enriched a grateful and stupid nation. Creator, Mike Judge has chosen his next set of favorite episodes & music videos for this collector's edition box set.
Paramount and MTV have released more information on the second volume of Beavis and Butt-Head, featuring 40 cartoons (226 mins) selected by Mike Judge. Here's what we can expect:
Music Videos:
Beastie Boys: Sabotage
Seaweed: Kid Candy
Pantera: I'm Broken
Mercyful Fate: The Bellwitch
Compulsion: Delivery
Madonna: Secret
Six Finger Satellite: Parlour Games
Pizzicato 5: Twiggy, Twiggy
Rush: Stick It Out
Radiohead: Fake Plastic Trees
Extreme: Hole-Hearted
Helium: Pat's Trick
MC 900 Ft. Jesus: If I Only Had A Brain
Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis & Butt-Head, Part 2
Butt-Bowl '94
Butt-Bowl '95
Butt-Bowl '96
MTV 20th Anniversary Special
Calvin Klein Ad Parodies
Moron-a-thon Clips
Unaired I Love the 90's Segment
Beavis and Butt-Head Promos
Montages
Previews
The set goes on sale June 6.
Electronic Arts rolls out The Godfather game
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc. on Tuesday said its highly anticipated, but much delayed, video game based on the popular "Godfather" films is now in U.S. stores, and will debut in Europe on March 24.
The company saw its stock rise by 3.95 percent in early market trading to $54.75.
Last July it pushed back the launch of "The Godfather The Game," sending its shares lower, when it said the game would not make the crucial Christmas retail delivery window.
The game, created via a licensing relationship with Viacom Inc. affiliates Paramount Pictures and Viacom Consumer Products, is available for Sony Corp.'s. PlayStation 2, Microsoft Corp.'s. Xbox and also for personal computers. It is based on the Mario Puzo book and Paramount Pictures movie and features some of the voices of the original actors.
The Godfather game was developed by EA Redwood Shores which created other game franchises including Lord of the Rings and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
Jewel Trips Through "Wonderland"
For the follow-up to 2003's 0304, Jewel first ducked into the studio with a group of Nashville pros to self-produce a new, folky, Pieces of You-style album. But she didn't like the results, so she rerecorded the entire thing with Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, who gave her introspective songs a slick sheen.
In a matter of weeks, the pair reworked every cut live, overdubbing only percussion, for what would become Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, her new album out May 2nd.
"It tells the story of my life from Alaska to being homeless to that little bottle that said 'Drink me,' which was my career," she says.
The record finds the singer-songwriter exploring a number of musical styles -- from the country tinge of "Stephenville, TX" and upbeat pop of "Satellite," to the folksy opening one-two punch, "Again and Again" and "Long Slow Slide." "I'm a Gemini," Jewel says to explain her range. "I have a lot of moods."
To give her moods a flow, she programmed Alice's thirteen songs -- all recorded live -- as if the album were a concert. "I start in a certain place," she says, "bring it up into sort of a rock set, and then I come back down."
Though a downloader herself, Jewel says she still wants people to listen to Alice as a whole entity. "I'm old-fashioned about records," she confesses. "I want people to hear the whole record in the order I put it in."
Thinking of taking her new material on the road, Jewel adds, "If I can, I'd love to play the record from top to bottom."
Shrek 3 News
DreamWorks Animation has updated their official site and with it they've unveiled the title and storyline for the next Shrek movie.
Titled Shrek the Third the movie finds Shrek and Fiona reluctantly reigning over Far, Far Away. But if they can find the heir to the throne and bring him back, they can return to their swamp. While Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots are in search of the heir, Fiona holds off a coup d'etat by Prince Charming.
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Bandera will all be returning to provide voice work. Also joining the cast will by Justin Timberlake as Artie, the aforementioned "heir to the throne".
Shrek the Third is due for release in May 2007.
"SNL" skit puts YouTube on map
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It took a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring a rap about cupcakes and "The Chronicles of Narnia" to put YouTube on Hollywood's radar.
Not long after "SNL" aired the segment December 17, the clever lyrics to what was known as "Lazy Sunday" made its way to the Internet. YouTube in particular saw its traffic shoot up, with 5 million streams over 45 days -- making it the most-watched clip on the site for a time.
Nearly two months went by before NBC Universal's legal department began reaching out to viral video sites including http://www.YouTube.com requesting that the clip be removed, along with hundreds of other clips culled from its airwaves. NBC had already posted "Sunday" on http://www.NBC.com at no charge; the skit also is available for $1.99 on Apple's iTunes along with other NBC programs.
Since then, NBC has made a steady stream of "SNL" product available on new platforms, but YouTube hasn't left the picture. A skit featuring Natalie Portman this month drew another demand of removal from NBC.
And what would an Internet phenomenon be without spawning countless parodies. "Sunday" has generated more than a few versions of "Lazy Monday," picking up on the theme of hopelessly white kids trying to rap. Two standouts are "Lazy Muncie," in which two denizens of the titular Indiana town give shout-outs to Midwest franchises like Bob Evans, and "Lazy Monday: Middle East Coast," which runs subtitles under Al-Jazeera footage featuring Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri ("Let's go down to the village/and mac on some goat milk").
The Couch Potato Report - March 25th, 2006
This week The Couch Potato Report shines the spotlight on an author, a
little chicken, Usher, and a prizewinner, from Defiance, Ohio.
Let me get right to the point: Philip Seymour Hoffman's work in CAPOTE is a must see!
In real life Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories and novels have become classics in the literary world.
Capote is best known for his 1966 book "In Cold Blood" and the 1958 novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor who has appeared in SCENT OF A WOMAN, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, BOOGIE NIGHTS, ALONG CAME POLLY, TWISTER
and ALMOST FAMOUS.
Hoffman has been good in all of those films, but in CAPOTE his work is brilliant!
The film CAPOTE is about the author's work researching the details of the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Kansas for what would become the book "In Cold Blood."
During that time Capote develops a close relationship with one of the killers.
CAPOTE is not a loving biography of the man, instead it is an honest look at what Capote was willing to do to finish his book.
And if I haven't mentioned it yet, Philip Seymour Hoffman is superb in the film.
He not only master's Capote's unique voice and mannerisms, but he also lets us see the man who is both unsure that what he is doing is right, and completely sure his work will change the literary world forever.
CAPOTE is a great film with an incredible performance at its core.
Hoffman's Oscar win as Best Actor was completely justified, and if you spend time with CAPOTE, your time will be justified as well.
On the other hand, if you spend time with the animated film CHICKEN LITTLE, your time will be wasted. Your kids time might not be, but yours will!
In CHICKEN LITTLE, after ruining his reputation with the town by warning "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" a courageous little chicken must come to the rescue of his fellow citizens when aliens start an invasion.
The story is basically the classic, age-old tale, but the film about it is no classic.
But, if you have a young child, they might find some of the film entertaining.
As for me, I love animated films, and CHICKEN LITTLE just isn't any fun.
Well, okay, one scene featuring the voice of the late, great Don Knotts as Mayor Turkey Lurkey is fun, but as a whole, CHICKEN LITTLE isn't worth your time.
And neither is IN THE MIX, the film featuring singer Usher. I wouldn't say that IN THE MIX is the worst film of last year, but it definitely deserves a place near the bottom of any such list.
The Grammy Award winning Usher plays a nightclub disc jockey who wants to start his own record label.
He is asked to play at a party for the welcome home party of a Mafia princess.
And as things go in movies like this, he saves the life of a very important mobster.
He then becomes the bodyguard for the young lady, they fall in love, and you never hear of his dream for a record label again!
Sure, Usher has on screen presence, and the princess is played by the beautiful Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, but unless you love Usher, or Chriqui, IN THE MIX is a useless movie.
It makes THE BODYGUARD with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner look like CITIZEN KANE by comparison.
Anyway, enough about IN THE MIX, let me move on to THE PRIZE WINNER OF
DEFIANCE, OHIO.
Julianne Moore from THE HOURS and FAR FROM HEAVEN stars in this based on
a true story film as a woman who enters as many commercial jingle-writing contests as she can to support her ten children and husband.
Moore is an optimistic homemaker with a husband who drinks the family's extra money away and swears at the radio all night.
Now, I like Julianne Moore, I like her work, and I thought that this true to life story would be inspirational and wonderful
Instead it is a bad movie that wastes a wonderful performance from Moore.
That said, I have never seen such a beautiful ending in a movie I didn't care for.
THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO might not be a great film, but it has inspired me to read the book the film is based on just to see if I can find the inspirational and wonderful story within that we don't get in the movie.
IN case you'd like to save yourself some time, and do the same, the name of the book is "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" and the author's name is Terry Ryan.
As for the film they made from the book, THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO is available now at a store near you, along with IN THE MIX, CHICKEN LITTLE and the spectacular CAPOTE, starring Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Peter Jackson used his clout and success from THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY to remake KING KONG; THE SQUID AND THE WHALE was another one of 2005's best films; and in DREAMER a trainer and his daughter nurse an injured horse back to health
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
Spade Warns 'Joe Dirt 2' May Be Coming
David Spade's 2001 redneck comedy may get sequel treatment, but only if audiences are lucky
It's news that somebody's bound to have been waiting for: David Spade may be preparing a sequel to his 2001 opus "Joe Dirt."
That pseudo-comic eventuality may come to pass sooner than you might think, Spade revealed over the weekend talking up his latest venture, "The Benchwarmers," with reporters. The revelation came amidst discussion of the upcoming return of "The Showbiz Show with David Spade," the "SNL" vet's Comedy Central show.
"I'm just doing the show for a while, might do another 'Joe Dirt' movie in the summer," Spade says. "That's about it. The show is really starting and that's what I have to do, like my day-to-day job."
But wait. Does that mean that a "Joe Dirt" sequel is just something that Spade and the Happy Madison production team could just throw together at the last second? Probably. But the script has been in the works for some time, at the urging of Happy Madison's patron saint.
"We wrote it, because Sandler thinks it's funny," Spade explains.
Spade adds, "I like the new 'Joe Dirt.' We read it. It's funny and Adam likes it. If it falls into place it will and it'll be fun to do... 'Electric Dirtaloo.'"
If "Electric Dirtaloo" actually makes it into production this summer, it will be an impressive comeback for a vehicle that attracted minimal critical (91 percent rotten on RottenTomatoes) or audience ($27 million) support when it was released.
Like so many true classics, "Joe Dirt" has only found its niche in secondary markets.
"I go on the road and I hear more about that than anything," Spade explains. "That's how you get feedback... Not everybody's asking about 'Lost and Found.'"
The secret to the success of "Joe Dirt," it seems, is Wal-Mart. Spade says that a Sony DVD rep told him that "Dirt" has been one of the studio's most prolific sellers at the ubiquitous retailer.
"I asked the DVD guy, 'What does that mean?' He goes, 'Well, it came out and sold a lot the first month and then it never dropped. It just sold the same for the year.' So that makes everyone think..." Spade says. "But maybe they just don't believe it the first time, so you got to get them in theaters. That's the tough part, because they seem to do well on video, which is a big market, but you want them to do well in the theater, because that's all people know."
"The Benchwarmers," which co-stars Jon Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite") and Rob Schneider, opens on Friday, April 7.
New CD Releases For Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
57 State Bang Streets (Captiva)
Rabih Abou-Khalil Journey to the Centre of an Egg (Justin Time)
Aereogramme Seclusion (enhanced CD; includes short film scored by the band) (Sonic Unyon)
Mina Agossi Well You Needn't (Candid)
Rahim Alhaj Friendship (Fast Horse)
Ambulette The Lottery EP (Astralwerks)
Amorphis Eclipse (Nuclear Blast)
Anti-Flag For Blood and Empire (RCA)
Apathy Eastern Philosophy (Babygrande)
The Appleseed Cast Peregrine (The Militia Group)
Richard Ashcroft Keys to the World (Virgin)
Avant Director (Geffen)
Band of Horses Everything All the Time (Sub Pop)
The Bangkok Five Who's Gonna Take Us Alive (Execution Style/Universal)
Dave Barnes Chasing Mississippi (Ripley)
Jeff Bates Leave the Light on (RCA Nashville)
BG Heart of tha Streetz Vol. 2 (w/Mannie Fresh, Paul Wall, Young Buck and more) (Kela/Koch)
Big Silver The Afterlife (Max)
Gus Black Autumn Days (w/members of Nickel Creek and Brian Jonestown Massacre) (Cheap Lullaby)
BlueGround UnderGrass Faces (guests Col. Bruce Hampton and Jimmy Herring) (Landslide)
Bola Abimbola Ara Kenge (Fast Horse)
Claude Bolling Plays Brassens, Bechet, Vian, Becaud (Fremeaux & Associates)
Chris Botti Live with Orchestra and Special Guests (CD/DVD combo) (Columbia)
Cory Branan Um... (Madjack)
Brian Bromberg Wood II (Artistry)
Brown Boy Represent the Brown (enhanced CD) (Thump)
Cadence Songs of Vice and Virture (Paperweight)
Shawn Camp Fireball (Skeeterbit)
Cannibal Corpse Kill (Metal Blade)
Dee Carstensen Patch of Blue (Exit Nine/NYC)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone Etiquette (Tomlab)
Chicago XXX (produced by Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus) (Rhino/Warner Bros.)
The Concretes In Colour (Astralwerks)
Barbara Cook and Special Guests (two CDs) (DRG/Koch)
D-Block Mix Tape (CD/DVD combo) (Kela/Koch)
Da Backwudz Wood Work Album (Universal)
The Josh Davis Band The White Whale (Authentic)
Joey DeFrancesco Organic Vibes (Concord)
Sugar Pie DeSanto Refined Sugar (Jasman)
Arthur Dodge and the Horsefeathers Room #4 (Remedy)
The Ecclesia Birdsong Over the Interior Castle (Arena Rock)
The Essex Green Cannibal Sea (Merge)
Faktion Faktion (Roadrunner)
From First to Last Heroine (Epitaph)
Greta Gaines Can't Kill the Flavor EP (Big Air)
Jimmy Gaudreau In Good Company (guest Bela Fleck) (CMH)
Teddy Geiger Underage Thinking (DualDisc same day) (Columbia)
Howe Gelb 'SNo Angel Like You (Thrill Jockey)
Victor Goines Quartet New Adventures (Criss Cross)
Gram Rabbit Cultivate (Stink)
Guajiro Guajiro EP (Achala/Long Beach)
Ben Harper Both Sides of the Gun (two CDs) (Virgin)
Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders (Foo Fighters drummer) Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders (w/ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney) (Thrive)
David Hazeltine Trio Perambulation (Criss Cross)
Hurt Vol. 1 (Capitol)
Sherman Irby Black Warrior (Black Warrior)
Nya Jade My Denial (Katako)
Denise James Promises (Rainbow Quartz)
Jim Jones Presents Purple City The Purple Album (Kela/Koch)
Karsh Kale Broken English (Six Degrees)
Robbie Lee Sleep, Memory (I and Ear)
Frank Lenz Vilelenz and Thieves (A Hidden Agenda)
Sondre Lerche Duper Sessions (Astralwerks)
Liars Drum's Not Dead (Mute)
Lifetime Somewhere in the Swamps of Jersey (Jade Tree)
Ligeia Your Ghost Is a Gift (Ferret)
LL Cool J Todd Smith (limited-edition CD/DVD combo available same day) (Def Jam)
Loose Fur (Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Jim O'Rourke) Born Again in the U.S.A. (Drag City)
Love Equals Death Nightmerica (Fat Wreck Chords)
M1 (of dead prez) Confidential (DualDisc; guests Q-Tip, Styles P, Cassandra Wilson and more) (Kela/Koch)
Machinemade God The Infinity Complex (Metal Blade)
Ashley MacIsaac Pride (Kela/Koch)
Bill Madden Gone (madmuse)
Michy Mano The Other Side of the Pillow (Enja)
Mates of State Bring It Back (Barsuk)
Virginia Mayhew Sandan Shuffle (Renma)
MC Lars The Graduate (w/members of Bowling for Soup and Non-Phixion) (Horris/Nettwerk)
Donny McCaslin Quartet/Quintet Give 'N' Go (Criss Cross)
Sophie Milman Sophie Milman (Kela/Koch)
Gerry Mitchell and Little Sparta Scalpel Slice (Fire)
Mobb Deep Blood Money (Interscope)
Ms. John Soda (members of the Notwist) Notes and the Like (Morr Music)
Murs Murray's Revenge (w/9th Wonder) (Record Collection)
The New Amsterdams Story Like a Scar (Vagrant)
Nobody and Mystic Chords of Memory Tree Colored See (Mush)
Norma Jean O God the Aftermath - Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD combo) (Solid State)
Tom Novy DJ Sessions (two CDs) (Kosmo)
Okai Dekonstruktion of the Mind (Nomadic Wax)
Steve Oliver Radiant (Koch)
Opus Däi Tïerra Trágame (Double Blind)
Mario Pavone Deez to Blues (Playscape)
Wayne Perkins Ramblin' Heart (Bandwidth)
Gilles Peterson and Jazzanova Kings of Jazz (two mix CDs) (Rapster/BBE)
Placebo Meds (mixed by Flood; guest VV of the Kills) (Astralwerks)
Danny Pound Surfer Days (Remedy)
Prince 3121 (Universal)
Quasi When the Going Gets Dark (Touch and Go)
Megan Reilly Let Your Ghost Go (w/members of the Mekons, Pere Ubu and more) (Carrot Top)
Returnables Returnables EP (Dirtnap)
Kenny Rogers Water and Bridges (Capitol Nashville)
Henry Rollins Big Ugly Mouth/Short Walk on a Long Pier (two CDs) (Touch and Go)
Jim Rotondi Quartet Iron Man (Criss Cross)
Josh Rouse Subtitulo (Nettwerk)
Röyksopp Röyksopp's Night Out EP (live 2005 show from Oslo, Norway; includes cover of Queens of the Stone Age's "Go with the Flow") (Astralwerks)
Tom Russell Love & Fear (HighTone)
The Sainte Catherines Dancing for Decadence (Fat Wreck Chords)
Kokanko Sata Kokanko Sata (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
The Seconds (w/the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Brian Chase) Kratitude (Kill Rock Stars)
Harry Shearer Dropping Anchors (satirical album about news anchors) (Courgette)
Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra Port Chicago (Noir)
Shoplifting Body Stories (Kill Rock Stars)
David Sills Down the Line (Origin)
The Sounds Dying to Say This to You (co-produced by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and Smashing Pumpkins/Perfect Circle's James Iha) (Scratchie/New Line)
Southern Culture on the Skids Live and Doublewide (also available as enhanced CD w/limited-edition deluxe packaging) (Yep Roc)
Sparks Hello Young Lovers (guest members of Redd Kross and Faith No More) (In the Red)
Storsveit Nix Noltes Orkideur Hawai (w/members of múm) (Bubblecore)
Swayzak Route de la Slack (rarities and remixes) (!K7)
The Sweet Sweet Life (Friday Music)
Swollen Members Black Magic (Nettwerk)
Take 6 Feels Good (33rd Street/Bayside)
Talkdemonic Beat Romantic (Arena Rock)
Tamar Beautiful, Loved & Blessed (Universal)
Tenebrous Tenebrous (Fire)
Texas Harmonica Rumble Texas Harmonica Rumble (DualTone)
Teye & Belen FlamenoObsessionArte (Corazong)
Robin Thicke The Evolution of (guest Pharrell) (Interscope)
Lobi Traore The Lobi Traore Group (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
TriPod TriPod (Moonjune)
Aki Tsuyoko Hokane (includes book of artwork) (Thrill Jockey)
Jesse Van Ruller Quartet Views (Criss Cross)
Vienna Boys Choir 500th Anniversary (Koch)
Dale Watson Whiskey or God (Palo Duro)
Andrew Lloyd Webber The Likes of Us (two CDs) (Decca)
Randy Weston Zep Tepi - The African Rhythms Trio (Random Chance)
Pamela Williams Elixir (Shanachie)
Young People All at Once (Too Pure)
Zero Crossing My Kinda Funk (guest Kool Keith) (Perfect Toy)
VA Breakfast Club: Milan (Water Music)
VA Idol Tryouts 2: The Ghostly International Company Vol. Two (two CDs; exclusive tracks from Matthew Dear, Dabrye, Mobius Band and more) (Ghostly International)
VA Miami Music Week (Immergent)
VA NOW Latino (BMG Heritage)
VA See You on the Moon! (kids' album w/Broken Social Scene, Sufjan Stevens, Low's Alan Sparhawk and more) (Paper Bag)
VA Songs for Sixty-Five Roses (??)
VA Soul Lounge (Shanachie)
OCR Songs from an Unmade Bed (Ghostlight)
OST Brick (score by Nathan Johnson; songs by the Velvet Underground and more) (Lakeshore)
OST Crypt of the Living Dead (score by Phillip Lambro) (Perseverance)
OST Inside Man (score by Terence Blanchard) (Varése Sarabande)
OST Lost (score by Michael Giacchino) (Varése Sarabande)
OST The Hills Have Eyes (remake of '70s horror movie; original score and new songs) (Lakeshore)
DVD Classic Albums: Queen - A Night at the Opera (UMD same day) (Eagle Rock)
DVD The Black Crowes Freak 'N' Roll...Into the Fog (2005 five-night stand at San Francisco's Fillmore) (Eagle Rock)
DVD Willy DeVille Live in the Lowlands (Eagle Rock)
DVD Oliver Jones Serenade (w/Oscar Peterson) (Justin Time)
DVD Rodney Jones Live at Smoke (Mel Bay)
DVD Bryan Lee Live and Dangerous (Justin Time)
DVD Pamela Williams A Night with (Shanachie)
Same old Courtney - still sponging off Kurt
Courtney Love said she plans to sell part of her stake in Nirvana's catalog, according to NME.com. Love, in London last week for meetings about a new record deal, a TV documentary and a role in a stage production, said she's not sure exactly how she will proceed, explaining, "I have decided that I need some co-management and a strategic partner (to help me) as it's such a huge responsibility. This is the right thing to do for my family...whoever I do this deal with, I really have to like."
Love was quoted in this past weekend's (March 12) edition of the Sunday Mirror as saying she was possibly going to sell "25 percent of the catalog for quite a lot of money."
Love is the widow of Nirvana singer, guitarist and principal songwriter Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in April of 1994. In recent years, Love has battled with the other surviving members of Nirvana over the use of the band's material in various box sets and reissues.
The former Hole frontperson has been in all sorts of legal and financial trouble herself in recent years, including various drug arrests and lawsuits. She recently sold a condo in New York City after failing to pay off her mortgage.
"South Park" Chef back after Scientology skirmish
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul singer Isaac Hayes may have quit his job as the voice of Chef on "South Park" after a disagreement over religion, but his character will live on when the satiric cable TV cartoon returns to Comedy Central this week, the network said on Monday.
Hayes and his "South Park" alter ego are at the center of an ongoing flap over an episode last November that poked fun at the Church of Scientology and its celebrity adherents, including actor Tom Cruise.
The tenth season of "South Park" will launch on Wednesday with a new episode titled "The Return of Chef!," marking the "triumphant homecoming" of lusty school cafeteria cook James "Chef" McElroy to the show, the network said in a statement.
Hayes, 63, himself a follower of Scientology, surprised producers a week ago by announcing he was leaving the series because he objected to its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion, though he made no reference to the show's spoof of Scientology last fall.
Two days later, Comedy Central abruptly pulled a scheduled repeat of that episode, titled "Trapped in the Closet." Sources close to the show said the rerun was canceled after Cruise threatened to boycott promotion of his upcoming film, "Mission: Impossible III," for sister studio Paramount Pictures.
Representatives for Cruise and the studio denied this. But "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone fed the furor by issuing a statement suggesting the Church of Scientology was behind the decision to scrap the rerun.
The network has also noted that various religions including Christianity, Judaism and Islam have been targets of the show's satire since its inception.
The network statement announcing Chef's return for the "South Park" season premiere this Wednesday was a clear sign that Parker and Stone planned to use the Hayes imbroglio as further grist for their comedy.
"Knowing these guys as I do, I can't imagine that they're not going to do just that," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox told Reuters. He added that the producers routinely "turn around" new episodes in just six days, leaving them ample time to incorporate last week's dust-up into their season debut.
Fox said he assumed someone besides Hayes would supply Chef's voice. Details of the new episode were vague.
But a network synopsis said the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, is "jolted out of a case of the doldrums when Chef suddenly reappears," leading to new antics by the group of foul-mouthed fourth graders who are the show's stars.
"While Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are thrilled to have their old friend back, they notice that something about Chef seems different. When Chef's strange behavior starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him."