Dixie Chicks don't stick at country radio
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Disappointing airplay for the first two singles from the new album by the Dixie Chicks exposes a deep -- and seemingly growing -- rift between the trio and the country radio market that helped turn the group into superstars.
"Taking the Long Way," due out May 23, is the band's first album since singer Natalie Maines sparked a major controversy in 2003 by declaring that she was ashamed to hail from the same state as fellow Texan President George W. Bush. Radio boycotts ensued, and many fans abandoned the band.
The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," peaked at No. 36 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, beginning its descent after just seven weeks. The second single, "Everybody Knows," is now at No. 50, down two places in its fourth week.
"Not Ready to Make Nice" performed only slightly better at adult contemporary radio, peaking at No. 32 on the AC chart and falling off after six weeks.
From the beginning of the album rollout, the Dixie Chicks were eager that their songs be worked to radio formats beyond country. The album was produced by rock veteran Rick Rubin, whose credits include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down and Johnny Cash.
By picking the defiant "Not Ready" as the first single, they've reopened a wound that was particularly deep for country radio fans, and left many country programmers with the burning question: Why on earth would the band choose to do this?
After hearing the album, WKIS Miami program director Bob Barnett says he was "excited about the opportunity to introduce some great Chicks music to the listeners." But the group's decision to come with "Not Ready" as the lead single left him "stunned, especially in light of the fact that, when asked, programmers and consultants that listened to the project were virtually unanimous in saying we should put the politics behind us and concentrate on all this other great music we were hearing."
KUBL/KKAT Salt Lake City PD Ed Hill criticizes the song's "self-indulgent and selfish lyrics."
Barnett played the song for a week, but pulled it after listeners called to say it sounded like the Chicks were "gloating" or "rubbing our noses in it," he reports. "We didn't need to pick at the scab any longer."
He and other country programmers were upset that the group chose to launch its new album with a single that rehashed all the angst of three years ago.
The two singles have had a striking lack of impact at radio, considering the band's history. Between 1997 and 2003, it notched 14 top 10 country singles, including six No. 1 hits. In addition to eight Grammy Awards, the group has won 10 Country Music Assn. Awards and eight Academy of Country Music Awards. The trio has sold 23.4 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The Dixie Chicks and reps from their label, Columbia Records, declined to participate in this story. But -- at least as far as Maines is concerned -- the drop-off at country radio was part of its plan.
Maines was quoted in late January on entertainmentweekly.com, before the single went to country radio, saying: "For me to be in country music to begin with was not who I was ... I would be cheating myself ... to go back to something that I don't wholeheartedly believe in. So I'm pretty much done. They've shown their true colors. I like lots of country music, but as far as the industry and everything that happened ... I couldn't want to be farther away from that."
Maines also said, "I don't want people to think that me not wanting to be part of country music is any sort of revenge. It is not. It is totally me being who I am, and not wanting to compromise myself and hate my life."
At KNCI Sacramento, Calif., the Chicks' music weathered the 2003 controversy only to be pulled as a result of Maines' new Entertainment Weekly comments, coupled with poor scores in local music tests.
"When an artist says that they don't want to be a part of that industry, it made our decision a no-brainer," program director Mark Evans says. "There are too many talented new artists dying to have a song played on country radio, so I'd rather give one of them a shot."
Crowds, protests expected as "Da Vinci Code" opens
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Moviegoers, shrugging off a burst of negative reviews, were expected to flock to Friday's opening of the religious thriller "The Da Vinci Code" as some Catholics vowed coast-to-coast protests against the film.
The upbeat commercial outlook for the movie, adapted from Dan Brown's best-selling novel, hinged on advance ticket sales and an assumption that many of the more than 40 million people who bought the book are eager to see the film, regardless of what critics think.
Moreover, the film, directed by Ron Howard, has generated a level of publicity and media hype unseen since Mel Gibson's blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ" arrived in theaters two years ago.
Industry experts predicted that, like the controversy Gibson stirred with his graphic depiction of Christ's crucifixion in "The Passion," the debate over "The Da Vinci Code" has only heightened interest in Howard's film.
Opening in more than 3,700 U.S. theaters and about 8,700 overseas, "The Da Vinci Code" is expected to tower over its box-office competition, grossing $50 million to $80 million during its first weekend in the United States alone, according to industry analysts.
"The early matinees are very strong and extremely encouraging," said Steve Elzer, a spokesman for distributor Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.
The two biggest U.S. theater chains, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc., both reported brisk advance ticket sales, as did the movie ticketing service Fandango.
And Daily Variety reported "The Da Vinci Code" generated respectable business in a handful of overseas markets where it debuted earlier this week, including France and Australia.
"There's just so much awareness and interest in this film," Regal spokesman Dick Westerling told Reuters. "I think people want to go see it and make up their own minds what they think of the movie."
PANNED IN CANNES
The film was generally panned by critics at the Cannes film festival this week who said the picture was somewhat miscast and lacked the suspense and thrill of the book.
The movie stars Tom Hanks as a Harvard scholar who teams up with a French cryptologist (played by Audrey Tautou) to solve a murder mystery entwined in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and a supposed alternate history of Christianity.
A central premise of the story is that Jesus fathered a child by Mary Magdalene, and that a clandestine society has for centuries protected the identity of Christ's living descendants from agents of the Christian Church.
The Vatican has labeled the story blasphemous and launched its own public relations offensive against the film.
A Catholic lay organization, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, took out full-page ads in USA Today calling for worshipers to stage prayer vigils outside at least 1,000 theaters nationwide on Friday.
"In all 50 states, we have organizers," said Francis Slobodnik, who is coordinating the campaign for the Pennsylvania-based group and called the film "an insult directed toward God."
Asked whether protests might backfire by helping to draw more attention to the film, Slobodnik said: "Go ask any businessman if they would like people with signs standing outside their of business, and they would say 'no.' We are generating publicity, but it is negative publicity."
The biggest commercial challenge facing "The Da Vinci Code" this weekend comes from DreamWorks' computer-animated wildlife-in-suburbia adventure "Over the Hedge," which also opens on Friday.
According to Variety, "The Da Vinci Code" is accounting for more than 80 percent of Fandango's advance ticket sales, compared with just 4 percent for "Hedge."
Parents go where few have gone before in naming son
KENAI, Alaska (AP) -- Like all parents, Marcus Weldy and his wife Rebecca McInnes Weldy of Nikiski are hoping their newborn baby will live long and prosper, but they went a step further to ensure their son's future.
"We decided to name him James Tiberius Kirk Weldy," said Rebecca in regard to the newest family member who, according to the Captain's Log, was added to the family fleet at 4:31 a.m. on Friday, April 21, 2006.
For those not in the know, James T. Kirk - played by William Shatner - was the commander of the starship Enterprise in the 1960s science fiction series "Star Trek."
Rebecca said she is not a convention-going "trekkie,"as "Star Trek" fans are called, but is a longtime fan of the show.
"I really, really liked the first 'Star Trek' and William Shatner. He's the only captain in my opinion," she said.
Rebecca said she is too busy to keep watch much television these days, but she remembers tuning in regularly to watch "Star Trek" as a girl.
"I'd watch the original series after school and watch 'The Next Generation' too," she said.
"My whole family - my mom, brother, sister and my dad by forfeit - we're all 'Star Trek' fans," she said.
As Rebecca tells it, it was her mother who pushed to go where no one - or at least few - have gone before with regard to baby naming.
"We originally just liked the name James, then Tiberius was going to be his middle name. My mom loved the idea and said, 'You've got to put Kirk on there too,'" she said.
James joins siblings Roy, Rosabella, Vincent and Nicolaus.
"James will be our last baby and with four older brothers and sisters we thought he might need some of the captain's qualities. The original Kirk was bold, determined and brave, so hopefully he will be, too," she said.
So far, James seems to be off to a good start, according to Rebecca. Like his namesake, who frequently ignored the rules when it suited him, young James wasn't born when and where he was supposed to be.
Rebecca went into labor in the early morning and realized she couldn't make it to the hospital even if her husband drove at warp speed. Dr. "Bones" McCoy, the doctor on the starship Enterprise, was unavailable to make a house call, so the couple did the next best thing.
"We called the Nikiski Fire Department and EMS, and, to their credit, they were here within three minutes, but James was already born. His dad delivered him here at home, which wasn't the plan or anything, so I guess he's already charting his own course," she said.
Despite his early arrival, Rebecca said James is healthy and eating well, though he's nursing rather than eating from a food replicator.
"He's getting big, is bright-eyed and doing good," she said.
Marcus, James' father, said he also is a "Star Trek" fan and is happy with his new son's name.
"It's unique, that's for sure. Not everyone catches on right away, but those that do get it have really liked it. Everyone calls him 'Little Captain,'" Marcus said.
As to whether James will attend public school or Star Fleet Academy, his parents said it's too soon to say.