Cash Earns First No. 1 Album Since 1969
Even in death, Johnny Cash is still mighty enough to top The Billboard 200. "American V: A Hundred Highways" earns the Man in Black his first No. 1 album since 1969's "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" with 88,000 copies sold in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The American Recordings/Lost Highway effort also crowns the Top Country Albums tally, knocking the Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" (Columbia) to No. 2 after seven weeks on top.
Though the top debut is a great posthumous achievement, the Rick Rubin-produced "American V" sold the fewest copies of a No. 1 debut since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The previous low for a No. 1 debut belonged to Destiny's Child's "#1's" in 2005, which started with 113,000.
Nelly Furtado's "Loose" (Mosley Music/Geffen) climbs 3-2 on The Billboard 200 with 81,000 copies, despite a 18% slip in sales. After scoring her first No. 1 last week, India.Arie's Universal Motown release "Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship" falls to No. 3 with 69,000 copies after a 57% sales hit. The Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" holds tight at No. 4 with 57,000 (-27%).
Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere" (Downtown/Atlantic) continues a gradual ascent to a new peak position, moving 6-5, with 56,000 (-6%). Switching places with the effort is Rihanna's SRP/Def Jam album "A Girl Like Me," shifting 5-6 with an 11% sales slip to 55,000. Rascal Flatts' Lyric Street album "Me and My Gang" sells just a small percentage fewer, keeping the No. 7 spot warm (55,000; 6%).
The soundtrack to Disney's "High School Musical" continues to sell strongly in its 26th week on the chart, moving down 8-9 with 52,000 (-10%). Dashboard Confessional's "Dusk and Summer" (Vagrant) falls to No. 9 after debuting at No. 2 last week, with 50,000 units and a 63% sales dropoff.
Rise Against lands its best sales week and chart position ever with the Geffen album "The Sufferer & the Witness," which debuts at No. 10 with 48,000. The group's last release, "Siren Song of the Counter Culture," debuted and peaked at No. 136 in 2004.
In a slow week for new releases during the July 4 holiday, only two other albums debuted in the top 200: the soundtrack to Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" at No. 24 (30,000) and the Diana Reyes hits collection "Las No. 1 De La Reyes" (No. 143, 6,000).
At 9 million units, overall CD sales were down 6% from the previous week and down a whopping 15% compared to the same week a year ago. Sales for 2006 are down 5% compared to 2005 at 179.6 million units.
CTV owner to buy CHUM for $1.7B
TORONTO (CP) - Canada's broadcasting industry is set to undergo a seismic shift, with the owner of CTV Inc. preparing to buy CHUM Ltd. in a $1.7-billion deal that has the potential to reshape the country's media landscape.
The friendly takeover offer was announced Wednesday by Bell Globemedia, which in addition to the main CTV network also owns The Globe and Mail newspaper, local conventional television stations and national specialty TV channels.
The bid coincided with the release of CHUM's latest financial results and announcement of plans to cut 281 positions at TV stations across the country - part of an efficiency drive company management has been working on for months.
Critics of media concentration were quick to lament the loss of so many jobs and the impact the takeover would have on the diversity of news and information sources in Canada.
But Bell Globemedia president and chief executive, Ivan Fecan, said in an interview that news operations at CTV and CHUM will remain independent.
"We'll have two separate news organizations, one at CTV and one in Citytv, and they won't report to each other in any way," Fecan said. "I don't think there's any upside in having them being the same. You actually want them to be different because they have different approaches.
"As well, we're going to do everything we can to maintain the energy and irreverence of the Citytv brand."
But the repercussions of the buyout could represent another blow to local journalism, which has been eroded over the past decade by private-sector mergers in print and broadcasting and cuts to the CBC.
"It seems to me that no matter how you look at it, it's going to mean that there will be fewer journalists involved in television coverage at the local level in many of our major cities, and it's started already," said Peter Desbarats, former dean of the journalism program at the University of Western Ontario.
"That's a serious development because it comes on top of a real deterioration of the daily newspaper in many of those same cities."
A combination of CHUM with Bell Globemedia would face the scrutiny of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Fecan also suggested that the another media company could buy some of the CHUM A-channel and Access television stations that Bell Globemedia plans to sell and use them to create a third private-sector national network in addition to CTV and CanWest's Global Television.
"Because that will give a new player three big markets - Ontario, Vancouver-Victoria and Alberta. So I think there's a real opportunity for a new player to join into that was well as we divest those stations."
Although Fecan said it's too soon to identify a potential buyer, he noted that Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. and Toronto-based Rogers Communications already have major print and broadcast assets in some parts of the country.
Union leader Peter Murdoch warned, however, that the layoffs announced Wednesday by CHUM hit the parts of its operations that cover hard news, such as local politics and crime.
"It's that kind of hard news which tends to be more challenging to administration and to the interests of the public than what your local hockey hero has done," Murdoch said.
Murdoch, a vice-president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union which has 2,000 members at Bell Globemedia and CHUM operations, said the proposed takeover should be stopped in the public interest.
He laughed when told of Fecan's suggestion that a third national TV network could emerge, saying: "We had another national network that was building and that was CHUM. I don't understand that logic. But I think it's going to be a serious question for both the regulator and for government."
The federal Liberal consumer affairs critic agreed.
"The absolute breadth of the dominance of this takeover would mean that there are very few players left, short of ones that fall under CBC-type establishments - CanWest would be the only effective rival," said Dan McTeague.
"Based on what is already a staggering level of concentration in old and new media in Canada to begin with. . . I think this particular proposal does little to give any measure of comfort to those of us who are already alarmed at the level of concentration in media in Canada."
Jay Switzer, CHUM's chief executive officer, told analysts in a conference call that joining Bell Globemedia will provide financial strength in "what is a rapidly changing media landscape."
Switzer said the job cuts are part of an initiative CHUM has been working on for months as it redeploys its resources "to areas where we can win."
Although CHUM remained profitable in its most recent quarter, albeit slightly less so than a year ago, the company maintains it faces tough market conditions for the later part of this year and in the longer term.
CHUM will increase local programming in certain areas, such as its Breakfast Television morning shows across the country, while reducing overhead in other parts of its news and information operations.
"We believe it's absolutely the right thing to do in terms of putting our resources where we can make a difference locally and it's where our advantage historically has been," Switzer said.
CHUM said it plans to cut 191 full-time and 90 part-time positions across the country as it undergoes a complete reorganization of its TV operations to "increase focus on service to local viewers."
The moves include switching Citytv stations in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg from one-hour evening newscasts to a daily half-hour local news magazine show.
In addition, a morning show at a CHUM-owned A-channel station in Victoria will be discontinued. Citytv Vancouver will cease its traditional newscasts and add resources to Breakfast Television.
Before trading was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange ahead of the announcement, CHUM had a market valuation of $904.3 million, with the non-voting shares worth $31.25 each and the voting stock at $35.
Bell Globemedia, currently majority owned by BCE Inc., is offering a premium of about 50 per cent above the pre-announcement market prices for the shares.
Apart from the conventional television stations, there is little direct overlap in the two companies' holdings.
CHUM owns 33 radio stations and 12 local television stations headed by the Citytv channels in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. It also has 21 specialty TV channels including MuchMusic, Space and Bravo, and runs the Muzak background-music operation in Canada.
Bell Globemedia is 68.5 per cent owned by BCE, parent company of Bell Canada, with the remainder held by the Thomson family's Woodbridge private holding company.
BCE said in December it would sell 8.5 per cent to Woodbridge, raising the Thomson ownership to 40 per cent, 20 per cent to Torstar Corp. and 20 per cent to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, with BCE retaining 20 per cent. This ownership shift awaits regulatory approval.
Under the deal, CHUM can accept a superior proposal if Bell Globemedia declines to match the offer, subject to break fee of $41 million.
Springsteen Heads To Europe, Expands New Album
Bruce Springsteen will bring his Seeger Sessions band with to Europe for a fall tour in support of their Columbia album "We Shall Overcome." At deadline, the trek is due to begin Oct. 1 in Bologna, Italy, and run through Nov. 21 in Belfast, Ireland.
Springsteen and company just completed an 18-show North American tour. Ten dates reported to Billboard Boxscore grossed $6.5 million and played to nearly 92,000 fans.
On the last three shos, a new song, "American Land," began appearing in the set list as the opener. Although details have yet to be announced, an expanded edition of "We Shall Overcome," subtitled "American Land," is due Sept. 5 via Columbia. Springsteen told CNN last month that the new version would include "Bring 'Em Home," which was a constant during the tour's encore.
In related news, Springsteen guests on three songs from longtime cohort Joe Grushecky's new album, "A Good Life," due Aug. 15. Among them is "Code of Silence," a Grushecky/Springsteen co-write that was first performed live during the E Street Band's 2000 tour.
Here are Bruce Springsteen's European tour dates:
Oct. 1: Bologna, Italy (Palamalaguti)
Oct. 2: Torino, Italy (Palaisozaki)
Oct. 4: Udine, Italy (Villa Manin)
Oct. 5: Verona, Italy (Arena)
Oct. 7: Perugia, Italy (Arena Santa Giuliana)
Oct. 8: Caserta, Italy (Giardini della Reggia)
Oct. 10: Rome (Palalottomatica)
Oct. 12: Hamburg (Color Line Arena)
Oct. 13: Rotterdam, Holland (Ahoy)
Oct. 19: Madrid (Plaza de toros Las Ventas)
Oct. 21: Valencia, Spain (Estadi Ciutat de Valencia)
Oct. 22: Granada, Spain (Plaza de Toros)
Oct. 24: Barcelona (Palau Sant Jordi)
Oct. 25: Santander, Spain (Palacia de Deportes)
Oct. 28: Copenhagen (Parken)
Oct. 29: Oslo (Spektrum)
Oct. 30: Stockholm (Globe Arena)
Nov. 5: Cologne, Germany (Kolnarena)
Nov. 7: Antwerp (Sportpaleis)
Nov. 17-19: Dublin (the Point)
Nov. 21: Belfast (Odyssey)
Hello, 'Angels'! Producers' 'wings crossed' for special
ABC wants to reopen the doors of Townsend Investigations and bring TV's Charlie's Angels out of retirement for a 30th anniversary retrospective special that would air during November sweeps.
Henry Winkler, of Fonzie fame, and his producing partner, Michael Levitt, who have gathered the casts of Happy Days, Dallas, Knots Landing and Dynasty for recent reunion specials, are wooing the original Angels: Farrah Fawcett (Jill Munroe), Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Garrett) and Kate Jackson (Sabrina Duncan).
ABC spokeswoman Hope Hartman says the network "is thrilled about the project and hopes Michael and Henry can pull all the pieces together."
Though producers have been in touch with Fawcett, 59, the actress has yet to commit, says her lawyer. Tom Burke, who is the agent for Smith, 60, says, "Jaclyn cares about the project and, assuming all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, would be happy to participate."
Producers are waiting to hear from the third Angel, Jackson, 57, who left the series after three seasons. "We're keeping our Angel wings crossed. We would love nothing more than to celebrate her monumental contribution to this show," Levitt says.
Jackson's manager, Brian Pinella, says the actress, who is a breast cancer survivor, is "in good health and continues to work." But, he adds, "Kate has some issues about (the project)."
Producer Levitt says John Forsythe, 88, has agreed to voice never-seen agency owner Charlie Townsend, as he did through the series' 1976-81 run.
Cheryl Ladd, who turns 55 today, has accepted an invitation to appear. Her publicist, Jay D. Schwartz, says, "Cheryl's looking forward to having a blast." Ladd joined the show as Jill Munroe's kid sister, Kris, when Fawcett left in 1977. David Doyle, who played Bosley, died in 1997.
Axe To Fall at Disney
Despite the back-to-back success of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Cars, the Walt Disney Co. plans to announce within the next 10 days that it will slash the number of films it makes to eight per year from the current 18 and reduce its workforce accordingly, Daily Variety reported today (Wednesday). The trade publication also observed that in the future, all films will bear the Disney brand. Variety indicated that despite the recent successes of Pirates and Cars, they may not have offset some of the studio's "major misfires" this year, including Stick It, Annapolis, Stay Alive, and The Wild.
Bob Seger releases single on iTunes
DETROIT - Bob Seger's newest single is now available on Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, ending his long holdout from the world of digital music downloads.
"Wait For Me," Seger's first single off his upcoming album "Face The Promise," debuted Tuesday on the popular online service.
Seger's manager, Ed "Punch" Andrews, said Wednesday that he is working with Capitol Records on a licensing agreement to release more of Seger's catalog online.
Andrews said they've long avoided iTunes and the singles market because they believe Seger's songs are meant to be listened to as part of complete albums.
Other holdouts include the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Radiohead. The Red Hot Chili Peppers finally said they would release their catalog to iTunes in March.
Seger's first studio album in 11 years is due in stores Sept. 12.
The Detroit native has sold nearly 50 million albums in his career. The classic rocker is known for his hits "Night Moves," "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "Like a Rock," among others. He won a Grammy in 1980 for "Against the Wind" and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Airwaves Again Safe for "South Park" Scientology Spoof
Comedy Central is finally respecting Cartman's authoritay.
One week after South Park's controversial "Trapped in the Closet" episode garnered an Emmy nomination, and nearly four months after it was abruptly pulled from rotation on the cable net, Comedy Central has finally acquiesced and will allow the Scientology-skewering episode back on the air.
And clearly not a moment too soon.
"If they hadn't put this episode back on the air, we'd have had serious issues, and we wouldn't be doing anything else with them," cocreator Matt Stone tells Variety.
The episode reportedly ruffled some high-powered feathers upon its first airing. In addition to an accurate, if cartoon-depicted, primer on Scientology, the show featured a literally closeted Tom Cruise who refuses to come out, only to be joined in his hiding by fellow Scientologist John Travolta and R&B man R. Kelly, whose operatic ballad provided the show's title.
While Comedy Central failed to publicly disclose its reasons for yanking the program (which is also credited for leading Scientologist Isaac Hayes to jump ship as the longtime voice of Chef), creators Stone and Trey Parker didn't shy away from broadcasting what they claimed was the network-sanctioned reason.
As the conspiracy theory goes, the Cruise's camp had a hand in deep-sixing the episode, with the litigious actor reportedly threatening threatened to pull out of promotional duties for Mission: Impossible III. (Viacom is the parent company for both Comedy Central and Paramount, the studio that was releasing Cruise's film.)
Cruise's reps vehemently denied such allegations, but the South Park brain trust stuck by its guns.
"I only know what we were told, that people involved with M:I:III wanted the episode off the air and that is why Comedy Central had to do it," Stone says in Variety. "I don't know why else it would have been pulled."
Now, Cruise's saturation-level publicity tour is over (and proved fairly ineffective, with the sequel grossing a disappointing $133 million domestically) and he is apparently in hiding with his new baby.
As it is, Comedy Central's decision to reintroduce the episode to its rerun schedule seems as arbitrary an action as yanking it in the first place. But the move is putting the network back into the good graces of Stone and Parker, who have said that their relationship with the network has been tenuous since the spring.
"It's true we are not as big as Tom Cruise, but we've done two movies for Viacom and 10 years of South Park episodes, and this has been our home," Stone tells Variety.
Stone explains that the episode's removal was nearly the final straw for the duo, who had been censored by the network on three separate occasions.
"We've been through a trifecta of annoyances," Stone says. "The 'Bloody Mary' episode angered Catholics. And we had a big fight when we wanted to show Muhammad."
Last year, the network declined to rerun the "Bloody Mary" episode after the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights attacked Parker and Stone and protested the program that featured a menstruating statue of the Virgin Mary.
In April, Comedy Central intervened on another episode before another religious group could take umbrage.
"Cartoon Wars," an episode dealing with the worldwide violence ensuing from a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet, was broadcast with a title card reading "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network."
At the time, the network defended the decision to censor the show to ward off the possibility of violent reactions.
"The mantra has always been everything is fair game," Stone tells Variety. "I love [network president] Doug Herzog, but I think he's dead wrong and made a totally cowardly decision."
South Park's "Trapped in the Closet" returns to Comedy Central's airwaves July 19.
Young lifts AL over NL in All-Star game
PITTSBURGH - The All-Star game was all set up for the National League this time. Trevor Hoffman on the mound, one strike to go, fans on their feet at Pittsburgh's enchanting ballpark. But no matter the setting or the season, the Nationals can't find a way to close out the AL.
Down to a final strike, Michael Young hit a two-run triple off Hoffman for a 3-2 victory Tuesday night that kept the Americans unbeaten for the past decade.
"You're never going to forget these things on this kind of stage," said Hoffman, who has 460 saves. "You feel like you let a lot of people down."
Young took home the MVP award — and the AL won home-field advantage in the World Series for the fourth straight year.
"Nobody wants to make the last out of anything, whether it's a regular season, World Series or an All-Star game," said Troy Glaus, whose double set the stage for Young.
Behind David Wright's homer and some daring, old-style baserunning, the NL took a 2-1 lead into the ninth.
Houston manager Phil Garner went to Hoffman, who is closing in on Lee Smith's career saves record (478) and has converted 24 of 25 chances this season.
After getting two soft comebackers, Hoffman gave up a single to Paul Konerko, who was replaced by pinch-runner Jose Lopez.
Then the NL nearly caught a break — it hasn't had many since its last victory in Philadelphia in 1996.
Glaus' smash bounded over the left-field fence for a ground-rule double, perhaps preventing Lopez from scoring. He was held at third, until Young made that moot.
The Rangers' underrated shortstop lined an 0-2 pitch into right-center and slid into third with what was probably the biggest All-Star game hit since Texas teammate Hank Blalock's go-ahead homer off a normally dominant Eric Gagne in the eighth inning in 2003.
"I'm not going to lie. This is a pretty big highlight in my career," Young said. "No one's really giving huge rallying calls to getting home-field advantage in the World Series, but we're all aware of how important this game is."
Mariano Rivera worked around Lopez's error at third base for the save, retiring Milwaukee slugger Carlos Lee on a popup with a runner on second to make the AL 9-0-1 in the Midsummer Classic over the past 10 years.
The NL's best result was a tie in 2002 in Milwaukee.
Call it a decade of dominance for the American League, which got an early homer from Vladimir Guerrero.
In fact, the AL has owned the NL year round lately, sweeping the last two World Series and winning a whopping 61 percent of interleague games this season.
"I wouldn't necessarily say domination. We got the breaks tonight," Derek Jeter said. "It's one of those things right now. We're on a roll. The NL was on a roll a few years back."
Once the AL was ahead, manager Ozzie Guillen brought in ol' reliable for the New York Yankees. Rivera's third All-Star save tied him with Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for the career mark since the stat became official in 1969.
"I was honored. We have a lot of great guys and he chose me, the old one," Rivera said.
Toronto lefty B.J. Ryan got the win with a hitless eighth.
An exhibition played with a crisp, competitive feel, the game was halted before the fifth inning for a ceremony at home plate for a tribute to the late Pirates great Roberto Clemente.
Bud Selig presented the commissioner's historic achievement award to Clemente's widow, Vera, who was escorted to the podium by Pirates Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski.
Guillen, wearing a Clemente T-shirt under his gray Chicago White Sox road jersey, appeared to wipe tears from his eyes, and highlights of Clemente's stellar career were shown on the video board high above left field.
The Hall of Fame right fielder was killed in a plane crash while delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua on New Year's Eve 1972.
"Roberto was a hero in every sense of the term," Selig said.
With several National Leaguers admittedly tired of losing, they certainly came out to play.
Garner smartly worked his pitcher-batter matchups — as he said he would — and the NL employed a drastic overshift against Boston slugger David Ortiz.
The AL's 41-year-old starting pitcher, Kenny Rogers of Detroit, made a hard dive for Chase Utley's infield single in the second.
NL starter Brad Penny of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Monday his nerves would be "flowing," and maybe that helped him at the outset.
Popping the mitt of Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca — the two were traded for each other nearly two years ago — Penny struck out Ichiro Suzuki, Jeter and Ortiz in succession with a series of 98 mph fastballs.
The only other pitcher to start an All-Star game with three straight Ks was Boston's Pedro Martinez at Fenway Park in 1999, when he set down former MVPs Barry Larkin, Larry Walker and Sammy Sosa.
Guerrero hit his first All-Star homer in the second off Penny, over the short porch in right field. Wright, who hit 16 homers in the first round of the Home Run Derby before losing to Philadelphia's Ryan Howard in the finals Monday night, connected in the bottom half against Rogers.
"I got a lot of practice last night," Wright said.
Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran each stole a base in the third against strong-armed catcher Ivan Rodriguez, an 11-time Gold Glove winner and 13-time All-Star.
Soriano was on second when Beltran singled, but Toronto's Gold Glove center fielder, Vernon Wells, cut down the speedy Soriano with a perfect throw to the plate.
Beltran reached second on the throw and stole third with two outs — with Albert Pujols at the plate. The Mets' center fielder then scored on a wild pitch by Roy Halladay that glanced off Rodriguez, giving the NL its first lead since that eighth inning in 2003.
"I was prepared to close the game out. I prepared like it was a regular-season game, and came out and threw strikes, but sometimes it happens," Hoffman said.
Notes:@ Some players and umpires wore yellow wristbands with the initials RCW for Roberto Clemente Walker. Even pitchers were allowed to wear them, on their glove hands. Young's special wristband is headed to the Hall of Fame. ... The NL lost for the first time in five All-Star games in Pittsburgh. ... Wright became the 13th player to homer in his first All-Star game at-bat. ... Beltran played all nine innings, the first All-Star to do it since Ken Griffey Jr. and Ray Lankford in 1997. ... At 2:33, this was the fastest All-Star game since it took 2:26 in 1988. ... A third baseman for most of his career, Glaus shifted to first base for the ninth inning. He's never played the position in a regular-season game. "That made me nervous," he said.