Barenaked Ladies prep album, set tour plans
Canadian alt-pop outfit Barenaked Ladies, last heard from on the 2004 seasonal set "Barenaked for the Holidays," will offer up a new album next week, and are rolling out concert dates to support the set.
Dubbed "Barenaked Ladies Are Me," the new disc is due out Sept. 12, and is the inaugural release on the band's newly formed label, Desperation Records. The collection will be available as a 13-track, hard-copy CD, as well as in several different digital configurations.
Apple's iTunes Music Store will offer one version of the set that will include the original 13-song tracklist plus two bonus cuts, and a second, deluxe-edition configuration with 27 songs. The group also plans to sell the album in the form of a USB flash-memory stick that will house all of the new songs as well as "special bonus content," according to the band's MySpace webpage.
"Barenaked Ladies Are Me" features the lead-off single "Easy." That song, as well as three others--"Wind It up," "Bank Job" and "Rule the World with Love"--are currently available for purchase from the band's website in the form of multi-track digital files that fans can tinker with.
"It is our hope that you will remix, recreate, re-edit, re-configure and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions," the group wrote in a message posted at the site.
On Oct. 21, BNL will launch a US roadtrip that will run into late December. Only a handful of confirmed shows were available at press time. Details are included below.
October 2006
21 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Casino
23 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena
28 - Cleveland, OH - Wolstein Center
29 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center
November 2006
11 - Austin, TX - Backyard
14 - Omaha, NE - Qwest Center
December 2006
2 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
R.E.M. Plots One-Off Berry Reunion, New Album
R.E.M. will perform three songs with original drummer Bill Berry to celebrate its induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, to be held Sept. 16 in Atlanta. Berry has only played three times with his longtime colleagues since exiting the band in 1997, most prominently at the October 2005 wedding of R.E.M. guitar tech Dewitt Burton.
At that performance, the foursome played a seven-song set of classic early material, including "Sitting Still," "Radio Free Europe" and "Wolves, Lower." In April, Berry joined vocalist Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills to perform R.E.M.'s "Country Feedback" at an Athens, Ga., show by Buck's side band, the Minus 5.
While the group rehearses for the Hall of Fame ceremony, it is "considering recording something for a yet-to-be-announced charitable project," according to a post from manager Bertis Downs on R.E.M.'s Web site.
Following the induction, R.E.M. will end a year-long hiatus and hit the studio to begin work on the follow-up to 2004's critically maligned "Around the Sun." That album debuted at No. 13 on The Billboard 200.
In the meantime, the band's first five years will be celebrated with the CD/DVD package "And I Feel Fine," due Sept. 12 via I.R.S./Capitol. The collection includes the first authorized release of a number of long-bootlegged rare tracks.
Apple May Add Movies to iTunes Store Next Week
Techie blogs and other websites spread the word Monday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce on Sept. 12 that Apple's iTunes Music Store will begin selling a feature film download service, permitting users to pay $9.99 for a movie that can be viewed on a new wider-screen iPod or, via a new wireless video streaming device, on a television set. Several websites indicated that Apple is still testing its next-generation video iPods and "Airport Express" and that it may be several weeks or even months before they are ready to hit the market.
New Princess Di book coming out Sept. 12
NEW YORK - It was billed by its publisher as the "must-read" book for the fall — "a shattering, provocative and mesmerizing true story" so momentous that booksellers were urged to order copies without knowing what they would receive.
Now, the secret is out: Publisher William Morrow confirmed Tuesday to The Associated Press that the mystery work is Paul Burrell's "The Way We Were," the latest tell-all about Princess Diana by her former butler, who also wrote the 2003 best seller, "A Royal Duty."
Was it worth the suspense?
"I feel hoodwinked," says Mark LaFramboise, a buyer for Politics & Prose, an independent store based in Washington, D.C. LaFramboise said he ordered 10-12 copies. "This is Washington and we thought it might have been a relevant political book. But this is nothing but publicity gimmickry. They should be ashamed of themselves."
"I think it's going to be a big book, although `shattering,' I don't know about that," says Edward Ash-Milby, biography buyer for Barnes & Noble Inc. "I think there's interest in anyone close to the inner circle, and he was as close to her as anyone."
Lisa Gallagher, Morrow's senior vice president, was not immediately available for comment.
According to a statement issued Tuesday by Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, "The Way We Were" takes "the reader into the lively day-to-day life at Kensington Palace and includes, for the first time ever, a uniquely personal record of that time."
"With previously unseen photographs of the interiors, Burrell takes the reader from room to room, and from memory to memory, in a remarkably candid narrative that only he could tell," the statement said.
Burrell's book, a "follow-up" to "A Royal Duty," goes on sale Sept. 12 with an announced first printing of 300,000.
The biggest news so far came out in an excerpt published last weekend in London's Daily Mail. Burrell writes that Princess Diana had no plans to marry her companion, Dodi Fayed, who also died in the 1997 Paris car crash along with their driver, Henri Paul. Just days before the fatal accident, Dodi had reportedly given Diana a gold Bulgari ring.
"She made it clear this was not an engagement ring. It was nothing more than an addition to her collection of costume jewelry," he writes. "She said how romantic he had been and giggled with relief that the ring had not been more significant. `Pheeeew!' She gave an exaggerated sigh, suggesting she was happy and that engagement was the furthest thing from her mind."
Burrell also wrote in "A Royal Duty" that Diana was not serious about Dodi, observing that "All the princess' closest friends know the identity of the only man with whom she had enjoyed a happy, long-term relationship since her divorce. And it was not Dodi al Fayed." The man's name was not revealed.
Hoping to build interest in a book, publishers occasionally ask sellers to "order blind," although usually at least some information is given. Stores, for instance, will be told that a new Oprah Winfrey pick is upcoming without knowing the actual selection.
"But Oprah is a known commodity," LaFramboise of Politics & Prose said. "You know you're going to sell a certain number of books."
Ed Conklin, a manager for Dutton's Brentwood Bookstore in Beverly Hills, Calif., said he had only ordered a few copies of the Burrell book and called the Morrow campaign "a ploy on the publisher's part to generate a buzz and artificially create a demand."
"You hope that if it does take off, you can get more books quickly enough to cover yourself," Conklin says. "But in this case, I don't think we're going to need to bother."
AFI Likes "Singin' in the Rain"
Those list-loving folks at the American Film Institute are hap-hap-happy again.
Singin' in the Rain, the 1952 MGM tuner codirected by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly and starring Kelly alongside Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, tops the list of 25 greatest movie musicals unveiled by the AFI Sunday.
Although it wasn't recognized as such at the time--it failed to snag an Oscar nomination for Best Picture or even the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy-- Singin' in the Rain has become one of Hollywood's most adored films. The behind-the-scenes story of the transition from silent pictures to talkies edged out the more-decorated West Side Story, which received the Oscar for Best Picture in 1961.
Rounding out the top 10: The Wizard of Oz (1939); The Sound of Music (1965); Cabaret (1972); Mary Poppins (1964); A Star Is Born (1954); My Fair Lady (1964); An American in Paris (1951); and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).
Judy Garland was the most represented female star on the list, landing a trio of musicals in the top 10 (The Wizard of Oz, A Star Is Born and Meet Me in St. Louis) to edge out Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins).
Kelly had three films make the cut (Singin', An American in Paris and On The Town), while hoofing rival Fred Astaire scored with Top Hat (1935) at 15 and The Band Wagon (1953) at 17. His Top Hat costar and frequent leading lady Ginger Rogers also had two films on the list--she was among the ensemble in 1933's 42nd Street, which ranked at 13.
The movie musical has regularly been pronounced dead since its heyday in the '50s and '60s, but a half-dozen of AFI's Top 25 were released after 1970.
Bob Fosse was responsible for three of them: Cabaret, 2002's Oscar-winning Chicago (based on the Fosse-choreographed stage musical) and 1979's All That Jazz.
Meanwhile, 1978's Grease was the word at 20, while Beauty and the Beast was the only 'toon to make the rundown. The Disney classic, which was later adapted into a hit Broadway show, is the only animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award; it ranked 22nd on the AFI list.
Finally, Baz Luhrmann's epic 2001 tragicomedy Moulin Rouge! came in at 25. For better or worse, the musical, showcasing the vocal talents of Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, sparked a renewed interest in the musical genre, paving the way for the big-screen versions of Chicago, The Producers, Rent and the forthcoming Hairspray and Sweeney Todd, among others.
The latest AFI list was winnowed down by a jury of 500 directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, composers, critics and historians solicited by the prestigious nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and preserving cinema. Voters were asked to submit their choices from a ballot of 250 nominated films and were allowed to write in any movies they felt had been slighted.
The honorees were revealed in a special presentation Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl, during which director John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed excerpts of the winning musicals accompanied by projections of scenes of some of those films' most iconic moments.
The Greatest Movie Musicals list is considered a sidebar to AFI's 100 Years. . . series. Launched eight years ago, it has included such programs as AFI's 100 Stars, 100 Laughs, 100 Thrills, 100 Passions, and 100 Songs among others.
Here's the complete list of the AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals:
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952), MGM
2. West Side Story (1961), United Artists
3. The Wizard of Oz (1939), MGM
4. The Sound of Music (1965), 20th Century Fox
5. Cabaret (1972) Allied Artists
6. Mary Poppins (1964), Disney
7. A Star Is Born (1954), Warner Bros.
8. My Fair Lady (1964), Warner Bros.
9. An American In Paris (1951), MGM
10. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), MGM
11. The King and I (1956), 20th Century Fox
12. Chicago (2002), Miramax
13. 42nd Street (1933), Warner Bros.
14. All That Jazz (2002), Miramax
15. Top Hat (1935), RKO
16. Funny Girl (1968), Columbia
17. The Band Wagon (1953), MGM
18. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Warner Bros.
19. On the Town (1949), MiraMGM
20. Grease (1978), Paramount
21. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), MGM
22. Beauty and the Beast (1991), Disney
23. Guys and Dolls (1955), MGM
24. Show Boat (1936), Universal
25. Moulin Rouge! (2001), 20th Century Fox
Couric makes `CBS Evening News' debut
NEW YORK - After Katie Couric was introduced on her first night as "CBS Evening News" anchor by a Walter Cronkite voiceover, she delivered a fast-moving newscast that the legendary newsman might have found unrecognizable.
"Hi, everyone," she began. "I'm very happy to be with you tonight."
The rest of Tuesday's show featured outsiders delivering commentary, the first public pictures of Suri Cruise, a lengthy exclusive on the Taliban and Couric asking viewers for help in crafting a distinctive signoff.
At the end of her historic show as the first female face of network news, she was leaning up against the edge of her anchor desk, laughing at something said to her offscreen.
Couric's long-awaited debut capped a tumultuous period for the evening news. For more than two decades, the network news was dominated by Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather. Now, Couric will compete against Brian Williams at top-rated NBC and Charles Gibson at ABC.
She arrived at CBS after 15 years as NBC's "Today" show host, where she was accustomed to always being first in the ratings. The "CBS Evening News" is third, but Couric has said that could be liberating, offering a chance to try new things in a format she has called formulaic.
That willingness was apparent even before the first commercial break — this was not a stentorian reading off dozens of news headlines.
On a relatively slow news day, CBS opened with chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan being escorted by a Taliban commander to view soldiers displaying their weapons less than 10 miles from a U.S. base.
Logan, dressed in black with only part of her face visible, was heard asking one of her guides, "Am I allowed to smile?"
That story segued into a conventional report by White House correspondent Jim Axelrod on a speech given by President Bush on the terrorist threat.
Incorporating her "Today" interviewing experience, Couric then brought New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman into the studio for a brief discussion on the terrorist threat.
"Things seemed to be going well in Afghanistan," she said. "What happened? Why is it unraveling now?"
In almost breathless fashion, she zipped through a handful of headlines: a corporate turnover at Ford, mourning over the killed "crocodile hunter" — all before the first commercial.
Couric also introduced "Free Speech," a segment that will periodically feature outsiders giving a brief commentary. Morgan Spurlock, who subsisted on McDonald's for 30 days in his documentary "Supersize Me," was first up, talking about how the nation's political divide is exaggerated by the media. Couric promised that Rush Limbaugh would be featured Thursday.
The rest of the broadcast was dominated by longer features on drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and high school students who draw portraits of poor orphans across the world. Couric also showed the first pictures of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' new baby, Suri.
She made only one slip, mispronouncing "soil" as "sole" at one point but quickly correcting herself.
Couric's only real nod to her newbie status came at the end, with a joking report on her difficulties coming up with a signoff. She showed clips of Cronkite, Chet Huntley, Dan Rather, Ted Baxter and even fictitious movie anchorman Ron Burgundy giving their final words, then invited viewers to submit suggestions via the CBS News web site.
"Thank you so much for watching," she said, "and I hope to see you tomorrow night."
As the end credits rolled, Couric, wearing a white jacket over a black shirt and skirt, was leaning against the edge of her desk, showing her famous legs.
She's the first woman hired to anchor one of the three network nightly newscasts on her own. Predecessors Barbara Walters, Connie Chung and Elizabeth Vargas only got their jobs in partnership with men.
Couric also made her initial posting Tuesday on her new blog, "Couric & Co.," run by CBS News. She promised to swap stories, offer opinions and ask questions of viewers. "In the little village that is CBS News, you might consider `Couric & Co.' the coffee house on the corner, where something is always brewing," she wrote.
When she was considering leaving the familiar environs of NBC, Couric wrote that a friend told her: "A boat is always safe in the harbor. But it's not what it was built for."
"Hopefully," she wrote, "we won't all end up like Gilligan."
'Crocodile Hunter' took out barb on tape
BEERWAH, Australia - Steve Irwin pulled a poisonous stingray barb from his chest in his dying moments, his longtime manager said Tuesday, after watching videotape of the attack that killed the popular "Crocodile Hunter."
Irwin's body was returned home to Beerwah, a hamlet in southeastern Queensland on the fringe of the Outback where he lived with his wife and two young children. Irwin turned a modest reptile park opened by his parents into Australia Zoo, a wildlife reserve that has become an international tourist attraction.
Terri Irwin, in her first public comment since her husband's death, thanked the staff of his zoo in a brief message late Tuesday, said spokesman Michael Hornby.
"She was very choked up. It was a very frail comment," Hornby told The Associated Press Wednesday. "But she wanted to say to the staff how grateful she was for their support and how much it meant to her." Details weren't made public.
Hundreds placed bouquets and handwritten notes at an ad hoc shrine to the popular 44-year-old naturalist outside the park, and other tributes flowed in from Canberra to Hollywood.
The dramatic details of Irwin's death Monday as he was shooting a program on the Great Barrier Reef were disclosed by John Stainton, his manager and close friend. He said he had viewed the videotape showing the TV star pulling the poisonous stingray barb from his chest.
"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out, and the next minute he's gone," Stainton told reporters in Cairns, the nearest city to tiny Batt Reef off Australia's far northeast coast where the accident happened.
Stainton said the video was "shocking."
"It's a very hard thing to watch, because you are actually witnessing somebody die, and it's terrible," he said.
The tape was not released to the public. Queensland state police took possession of a copy for a coroner's investigation.
Stainton said the tape should be destroyed when the coroner is finished.
"I would never want that tape shown. I mean, it should be destroyed," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Stainton estimated Irwin's distance from the stingray when the attack happened at about three feet.
State police Superintendent Michael Keating said Irwin was "interacting" with the stingray when it flicked its tail and speared his chest with the bone-hard serrated spine it bore — the normally placid animal's main defense mechanism.
"There is no evidence Mr. Irwin was threatening or intimidating the stingray," Keating said, addressing speculation that a man who became famous by leaping on crocodiles and snatching up snakes must have been too close for the animal's comfort.
Irwin's boundless energy and daredevil antics around deadly beasts made him a household name as the Discovery Channel's "The Crocodile Hunter," with a reported audience of more than 200 million.
Australia's leaders interrupted Parliament's normal business to eulogize Irwin.
"He was a genuine, one-off, remarkable Australian individual and I am distressed at his death," Prime Minister John Howard said.
His opposition counterpart, Kim Beazley, said: "He was not only a great Aussie bloke, he was determined to instill his passion for the environment and its inhabitants in everybody he met."
Friend and Oscar-winner Russell Crowe said from New York: "He was and remains the ultimate wildlife warrior."
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement saying Irwin was an unofficial Australian ambassador to the United States.
"With his humor and irrepressible sense of adventure, he represented those things our citizens find most appealing about Australia and its wonderful way of life," it said.
Hundreds of people journeyed Tuesday to Australia Zoo to remember Irwin.
Tia Koivisto drove her daughter Ella, 3, for more than an hour from the Queensland capital of Brisbane to lay a floral tribute.
"I was quite moved by what happened, I felt I had to come up and pay my respects," Koivisto said.
People thronged around the entrance of the park, near a billboard featuring Irwin holding a crocodile in his arms and his catch phrase, "Crikey!"
"We're all devastated," said Gail Gipp, the park's hospital wildlife manager. "It is very surreal at the moment. We're determined to carry on what he would have wanted."
There was no condolence book, but mourners lined up to sign messages onto khaki work shirts — another Irwin trademark — that were draped outside the gate. Someone placed flowers in the mouth of a wooden crocodile nearby.
"Mate, you made the world a better place," read one poster left at the gate. "Steve, our hero, our legend, our wildlife warrior," read another.
"I thought you were immortal. How I wish that was true," said a third.
Zoo spokesman Peter Lang said Irwin's wife, Terri, of Eugene, Ore., daughter Bindi, 8, and son Bob, 2, arrived Monday night from the island state of Tasmania, where they had been vacationing when Irwin was killed.
The family hasn't spoken about Irwin's funeral plans, although Queensland Premier Peter Beattie offered a state funeral.
"We'll never replace Steve," said Hornby, head of the Wildlife Warriors, one of the Irwin family's conservation charities. "He was part of the family, like he came out of the television set and into your living room. That's why there's been such an outpouring of emotion here and around the world. Everybody thought they knew him."
Meanwhile, Animal Planet said it had given no thought to taking "The Crocodile Hunter" off the air, said Maureen Smith, the network's executive vice president and general manager.
"Steve's whole mission in life was to educate and inspire the public to take care of animals in the world that we share," she said. "To continue is the best way to get that message out."
Irwin was filming a new series, "Ocean's Deadliest Predators," for Animal Planet. Smith said she wasn't aware whether enough filming had been done for anything to make it on the air.
Klosterman hailed as top pop critic
NEW YORK (AP) - Chuck Klosterman is flabbergasted that some consider him - like many of his subjects - a celebrity.
"I haven't sold that many books! I'm living in a very normal apartment! I don't own a helicopter!" exclaims the writer during an interview at said apartment. The spare Manhattan space, highlighted by a big-screen TV tuned to ESPN Classic and a large, framed poster of Radiohead's Kid A, does indeed meet the standards of "normal."
But by delving into The Real World and Britney Spears with as much intellectual gusto as a philosophy professor examining Wittgenstein, Klosterman has emerged as one of the country's most distinctive pop critics.
Though he has his detractors (like Gawker.com, which has made him a target), Klosterman has inspired over-the-top praise that often includes "voice of a generation" superlatives.
"I'm always interested in the question of why does something become big," he says.
So, why has Klosterman (in a relative sense) become big? What generational vein has he tapped?
"That's the thing!" he responds. "Everyone knows that - no one knows what it is!"
Now releasing his fourth book, a collection entitled Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, the author of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs is still more accustomed to being on the other side of a reporter's tape recorder.
Klosterman, 34, grew up in Wyndmere, N.D. and cut his teeth for eight years as a journalist in Fargo and in Akron, Ohio before moving to New York in 2002 after the success of his first book, Fargo Rock City.
Subtitled A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, the memoir chronicled what it was like growing up in the Midwest with a love for Guns N' Roses. It found rave reviews and was aided by a thumbs-up from David Byrne of the Talking Heads, who said the book was "about how music feels, how media-saturated culture feels, and how it's all in the details."
In New York, Klosterman soon became ubiquitous in magazines. Until earlier this year he was a senior writer at Spin, he maintains a column at Esquire, and regularly contributes to the New York Times Magazine and ESPN.com.
It was his second book, though, that made his name. Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, a collection of essays and a self-described "low-culture manifesto" has spent seven weeks on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list - including this week, two years after the book's release.
Cocoa Puffs even made a cameo as a book Seth Cohen is seen reading on The O.C. - Klosterman's thoughts on pop culture had officially become part of pop culture.
A sampling of those musings includes how John Cusack has ruined the romantic perspective of a generation of women, why Billy Joel rocks, and the reality of Saved By the Bell.
The book's introduction offered Klosterman's overarching, sociological approach: "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.' "
"If you're reading Ulysses or watching Saved by the Bell, you're trying to find meaning," says Klosterman. "I don't know why you can't do that in the present tense."
Klosterman says Cocoa Puffs will be a much more interesting book 25 years from now, when it will be a period piece, a view of what people were actually thinking about in the present tense at the turn of the 21st century.
Klosterman took to the road for his next book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, where he chronicled his trip to the places many rock stars died. His goal: to figure out "why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing."
Chuck Klosterman IV is a collection of mostly magazine profiles and opinionated columns. His populist approach is reflected in a column he wrote in 2002 after the deaths of Dee Dee Ramone (of the Ramones) and Robbin Crosby (of Ratt).
Klosterman sees an unfair balance to how Ramone's death received far more attention than Crosby's ("the first major hair-metal artist from the Reagan years to die from AIDS"). He concludes that the "concept of good taste" is nothing more than "a subjective device used to create gaps in the intellectual class structure."
"My view has always been there are lots of people in America that want to think critically about the art that engages their life," he says. "Now, there are places that definitely do that, like the New Yorker, NPR, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's.
"The problem is that a lot of the subjects those publications cover, a lot of society has no relationship to. They've never listened to Yo La Tengo records. They haven't seen the films that are supposed to be important."
In profiling pop stars and rock bands, Klosterman's general approach is to seek out what someone "represents." Britney Spears, for example, "is not so much a person as she is an idea, and the idea is this: You can want everything, so long as you get nothing."
On Steve Nash, the Phoenix Suns point guard, he writes: "Nash plays basketball in a deftly metaphoric manner."
Of course, Spears and Nash both appear to have little idea what Klosterman is talking about when he asks them about their metaphoric meaning. And ironically enough, Klosterman can't figure it out, either, when it comes to himself.
"I do feel like in a very big way, I've totally lost control of my life," he says. "It doesn't matter what I write, because people seem to be addressing either this idea of me . . . or they're just writing about the perceived success of my career."
IV also contains Klosterman's first published fiction, a short story he wrote several years ago about a man who is driving when a woman falls out of the sky and lands on his car.
He's now working on a novel that he describes as about "small town mythology," and which is clearly a new challenge for him.
"I'm predisposed to see meaning in things that might seem meaningless," Klosterman says, "but that doesn't mean I can make meaning clear to people in a narrative sense."
Paper clip turns into film role for Sask. resident
A series of trade ups over the internet involving a red paper clip and the town of Kipling, Sask. has resulted in a Hollywood movie role for one of the town's residents.
It all began with Kyle MacDonald of Montreal, who placed the paper clip on eBay last summer, hoping to trade up to a home. After 14 trades — which involved a keg of beer, a cube van, a recording contract, a snowmobile and a snow globe from rock star Alice Cooper — MacDonald got his wish.
He traded a KISS snow globe for a speaking part in a Corbin Bernsen film. Bernsen — the former star of L.A. Law — is a snow globe collector. Then the town of Kipling stepped in, trading the house for the movie role.
Over the weekend, Kipling held a giant welcoming party for MacDonald and his girlfriend, who arrived to take over possession of the house. The story has received worldwide attention and the weekend festivities included visitors from as far away as Australia.
Bernsen auditioned about 150 people, and announced late Sunday he was awarding the film role to Kipling resident Nolan Hubard, 19.
"This has been my dream since I was like 10-years-old. I can't stop shaking. I'm going to pass out," said Hubard, who will have a speaking part in Bernsen's Donna On Demand.
"He obviously just has a raw talent and capability," Bernsen said. "I am going to take him to L.A. and try to introduce him to people and get him going."
Bernsen is also considering shooting a Christmas comedy in Kipling.
However, MacDonald was the star attraction over the Labour Day weekend. He was named honorary mayor on Sunday and given the keys to the town.
The festivities also marked the first time 12 of the 14 paper clip traders had met each other. Corrina Haight from Vancouver, who offered a fish pen for the paper clip, gave it back to MacDonald on Sunday.
He said that once he's settled in, he's going to concentrate writing a book about his experiences as well as creating "the biggest paper clip the world has ever seen" to commemorate the experience.
New Releases, Sept. 5: Beyonce, Audioslave, Iron Maiden
Beyonce "B'Day"
It's a big week for Beyonce Knowles. Not only is she celebrating her 25th birthday (Sept. 4), but she is also releasing the follow-up to her 2003 debut, "Dangerously in Love."
To top "Dangerously in Love," the former leader of Destiny's Child will have her work cut out for her. That smash set has reportedly sold more than 11 million copies to date worldwide. It also earned her five trophies at the 2004 Grammy Awards, tying the record for Grammy wins by a female artist in a single year.
So far, she's off to a good start with "B'Day." The CD's first single, "Deja Vu"--which features a guest appearance from Beyonce's boyfriend, rap-mogul Jay-Z--is already a hit on radio.
In other Beyonce news, the vocalist held a nationwide search in June to find musicians to form an all-female band. Later that same month, the collective made its first public appearance backing Knowles at the BET Awards ceremony.
* * *
Audioslave "Revelations"
Rock supergroup Audioslave--featuring former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and former Rage Against the Machine power trio Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass) and Brad Wilk (drums)--returns with its third album.
The new CD follows 2005's "Out of Exile," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart. The album's first single is titled "Original Fire" and the disc also features the track "Wide Awake," which is reportedly a song about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Having worked with producer Rick Rubin on both its 2002 self-titled debut and "Out of Exile," the Grammy-nominated quartet has now turned to veteran producer/mixer Brendan O'Brien, whose resume includes albums with Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Bruce Springsteen, as well as Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine.
Last October, Audioslave offered up a live DVD/CD set titled "Live in Cuba," which captured the band's May 6, 2005 performance at Anti-Imperialist Plaza in Havana. The group is the first American rock band to perform on Cuban soil.
* * *
Iron Maiden "A Matter of Life and Death"
The metal monsters return with their 14th studio record and their first since 2003's "Dance of Death." The first video/single from the album is "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg."
In a break of band tradition, Iron Maiden will kick off its tour in support of "A Matter of Life and Death" in North America before hitting Europe. The tour, which features UK metal outfit Bullet for My Valentine in the opening slot, begins Oct. 4 in Hartford, CT.
* * *
Jars of Clay "Good Monsters"
Christian alt-rockers Jars of Clay are set to unleash "Good Monsters," the follow-up to 2005's "Redemption Songs." The multi-platinum band, which has won a trio of Grammy Awards, currently is on a North American tour in support of the new album. Jars of Clay are next scheduled to perform on Sept. 10 in Nashville.
* * *
Hem "Funnel Cloud"
The eclectic New York-based group, which combines elements of folk, country and pop, returns with a proper studio follow-up to 2004's "Eveningland." Earlier this year, the band released a collection of covers, rarities, outtakes, demos and live recordings titled "No Word from Tom."
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More new releases:
Alice in Chains, "The Essential Alice in Chains" (Legacy)
Joshua Bell, "Voice of the Violin" (Sony)
Blind Guardian, "Twist in the Myth" (Nuclear Blast)
Dru Down, "Cash Me Out" (City Hall)
Missy Elliott, "Respect M.E. (Best Of)" (Warner)
Kinky Friedman, "The Best Of Kinky Friedman" (Shout! Factory)
Billy Gilman, "Billy Gilman" (Image)
Goatwhore, "A Haunting Curse" (Metal Blade)
Heaven Shall Burn, "Deaf To Our Prayers" (Century Media)
J-Diggs, "Bay Commission" (Thizz)
Kinky, "Reina" (Nettwerk)
Outerspace, "Blood Brothers" (Babygrand)
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, "Sing Their Best" (Country Roads)
Katie Couric debuts Tuesday on CBS
NEW YORK - With a rebuilt newsroom behind her and new theme music from an Academy Award-winning composer, Katie Couric is set to make the most talked-about debut of the fall television season Tuesday on the "CBS Evening News."
CBS hopes that many of the viewers who watched Couric in the morning during her 15 years at NBC's "Today" show will stay with her in the evening, lifting a broadcast that has spent several years in the ratings basement.
Tuesday caps a tumultuous two years for network evening newscasts. For more than two decades, the networks had been the TV homes of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather. Now, Couric will compete against Brian Williams at the top-rated NBC "Nightly News" and Charles Gibson at ABC's "World News."
It's part of a season of changes for TV. Rosie O'Donnell makes her debut on the daytime talk show "The View" Tuesday, Meredith Vieira replaces Couric on "Today" next week, and a brand new network — the CW — will shortly put the WB and UPN out of business.
CBS cleared out the newsroom at its headquarters on Manhattan's West Side this summer and built a new one that will be used for Couric's set. James Horner, who composed the music for "Titanic," wrote new music for the evening news theme. Couric even went on a six-city "listening tour" to hear what viewers want on the news.
Legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite recorded an introduction for Tuesday's show, but it still wasn't clear Monday whether it would be used, spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said.
Anticipating the debut of the first woman hired to solely anchor a network evening newscast, folks in the TV news industry have obsessed over everything from what Couric will wear to how serious a demeanor she will present coming from the often silly world of morning TV.
Expect a few new wrinkles in the newscast, like a regular commentary segment featuring outsiders called "Free Speech."
Couric may also have hinted at a new style during a brief appearance Thursday on Bob Schieffer's final broadcast as anchor after a year and a half. Evening newscasts have infrequently featured one-on-one interviews, but Couric briefly chatted with Schieffer on camera while the two sat in director's chairs in front of the new set.
She appeared later that night at a cocktail party at a midtown Manhattan restaurant to honor Schieffer, who will contribute commentary to the newscast and continue as "Face the Nation" host.
"I can't imagine following in the footsteps of a kinder, more gracious person," Couric said.
Besides Tuesday's newscast, CBS is setting up a flashy launch for Couric. She's scheduled to interview President Bush at the White House on Wednesday for a prime-time special, and her first "60 Minutes" report about the toxic fallout from the World Trade Center collapse is set for Sunday.