Adventures of Brisco County Jr., The - Poor Canadians - Missing a booklet?
It appears the dreaded booklet goblin has struck The Adventures of Brisco County Jr sets in Canada. We've received reports that ALL the sets are missing the booklets, and we've passed the information on to Warner Bros.
Unfortunately we don't expect to hear anything back until next week due to people being out of the office for Comic Con, but we'll post another news item when we have something to report.
Canadians release AIDS charity song
TORONTO (CP) - Canadian musicians have recorded a benefit single to generate awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Song for Africa features artists including Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent, Ian Thornley of Big Wreck, Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, Kyle Riabko, Titcomb and Damhnait Doyle.
It was released to radio earlier this week.
"With over 6,500 preventable deaths happening daily due to AIDS in Africa, and an entire generation of children being orphaned, it is time we shed some light on the matter," says Winnipeg music producer Darcy Ataman, who co-wrote the song with Rob Wells, Luke McMaster and Simon Wilcox.
Proceeds from the project will go towards helping Free the Children support a mobile health unit in Kenya.
A music video for the song will be played at the Aug. 13 opening ceremonies of the AIDS 2006 World Conference in Toronto.
Rolling Stones playing Regina on Oct. 8
It's a go!
The Rolling Stones, the world's greatest rock and roll band, will play Regina's Mosaic Stadium on Oct. 8, sources have confirmed with the Leader-Post.
After months of speculation and a rumour mill that would not stop, the worst-kept secret on the Prairies of Western Canada will come to fruition for not only the biggest concert event in our city's history, but perhaps the single greatest event Regina has ever hosted.
Yes, this could be bigger than the two Grey Cups played in our fair city.
At a combined age of 248 years, there is still no one in rock and roll that can do it better than Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood and when they set foot on their massive stage in Regina's football stadium, it will be an historic moment.
The official word will come down early next week, at a press conference in Germany, where the band is currently in the middle of the European leg of its A Bigger Bang stadium tour.
Tickets for the Regina concert go on sale at 10 a.m., on Monday, July 31, sources close to the show say. Tickets will range from about $100 (the cheap seats) and about $300 (the very best ducats). Our sources say many of the tickets will go for the average price of $200.
Following a six-week delay in which guitarist Keith Richards recovered from a tree fall in Fiji, while guitarist Ronnie Wood spent a one-month stint in a London rehab centre for alcohol abuse, the group resumed its tour on July 11 at Milan's San Siro Stadium in front of 60,000 rabid supporters.
To date, the group's current tour has played on three continents in front of 4.5 million fans. Set lists have been varied on the group's current European leg, but all dates thus far have opened with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "It's Only Rock And Roll" and ended with "Brown Sugar," "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Satisfaction."
The show at Mosaic Stadium will be the group's only Prairie appearance on a Canadian leg that will also include concerts in Windsor, Halifax and Vancouver.
The massive stadium production is the group's most ambitious to date and it requires about 80 tractor-trailers to transport.
Mosaic Stadium will be bursting at the seams, but it seems clear that the venue can accommodate 45,000 fans for this rock show of a lifetime.
Organizers are hopeful the show will sell out quickly. Because it's the only
Prairie date, folks in Regina will have to compete with fans from around the province as well as Manitoba, Alberta, Montana and North Dakota for tickets. We're told box offices here have already fielded calls from fans in the U.S. and Western Canada, some of whom have wanted to leave credit card numbers.
Only a Stones show, it seems, can create such hysteria.
If Oct. 8 seems a little late in the year for an outdoor concert, consider that the group played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Oct. 4, 1998 during its Bridges To Babylon stadium tour.
So the Regina show will go ahead rain or shine (and hopefully not snow). Of course, when the lights go down and the band hits the stage and launches into "Jumpin' Jack Flash," chances are things will get very hot, very quickly.
Time is finally on our side and this will be a Thanksgiving weekend like no other.
Believe it, Regina. Like we first told you in this space on June 10, it is going to happen!
A final spin for 'Spider-Man'?
SAN DIEGO — Is Spider-Man making his final swing through theaters?
As the superhero franchise, which has taken in more than $1.6 billion worldwide, returns to Comic-Con to promote next year's Spider-Man 3, some are wondering whether the series is making its final bow.
Including star Tobey Maguire.
"We've done an amazing job at keeping things fresh," Maguire tells USA TODAY. But, he adds, "it's hard to imagine continuously coming up with stories that deserve to be told. I'm not sure if there are more stories for this character that are interesting enough to be excited about doing more."
Sony Pictures, the distributor for the films, isn't saying either way. And superhero franchises, such as the Hulk, have been pronounced dead, only to resurface under a new director or production company.
But Spider-Man producers concede they haven't looked beyond this installment of the series, which they always viewed as a trilogy.
"We don't have a book we're adapting, like a Lord of the Rings," says Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin. "It's open-ended. But this could be the last. We've never started on the next movie while we were working on the current one."
More than a dozen big-studio movies will be featured at the nation's largest comic-book convention this weekend, but none come shouldering more excitement or expectations than Spider-Man. It's due in theaters May 4.
Producers — and perhaps, they say, a star from the movie — will unveil some hastily gathered footage from the film Saturday as a goodwill gesture to the convention, which has been a taproot of the franchise's loyal following.
"This is a going-home kind of thing," producer Avi Arad says. "We brought the first one here and the fans have supported us and (director) Sam Raimi from the start. We wanted to say thank you."
Filmmakers are closely guarding plot points to the film, though it will feature a new villain, Sandman, played by Thomas Haden Church.
And Ziskin promises one foe will be Spidey himself.
"He'll have to battle villains within," she says. "I love what we've done with this character."
So does Maguire.
"This one, to me, has more interesting twists and turns" than the first two, he says. "It's been a fun ride."
Paris Hilton set to release album next month
NEW YORK (Billboard) - With her single unexpectedly doing well on the Billboard charts, Paris Hilton will release her self-titled album on August 22.
Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" is currently No. 16 this week on the Billboard Pop 100 singles chart; its accompanying video is in rotation on MTV and VH1.
Among the tracks on the Warner Bros. album is a cover of Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy," as well as "Fightin' Over Me," featuring rappers Jadakiss and Fat Joe.
"She has a certain tone that's reminiscent of Cyndi Lauper and Blondie," said Scott Storch, one of the album's producers. "The album doesn't have one particular sound. It's just good music; a combination of R&B, hip-hop and pop. It will surprise a lot of people because there's real artistry coming from Paris."
A behind-the-scenes special on the creation of "Paris Hilton" will premiere August 8 on MTV.