Black Snake Moan.. already?
Despite just hitting theaters, Black Snake Moan is getting ready to hit DVD in June from Paramount Home Entertainment.
When a weathered, God-fearing ex-blues musician finds the town nymphomaniac severely beaten and left for dead on the side of the road, he vows to cure her of her wicked ways in Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer's raw and unflinching follow-up. Lazarus is a hard-living ex-blues guitarist for whom the troubled days are beginning to outnumber the good. Rae is a 22-year-old sex addict whose wild ways are finally about to catch up with her.
When Lazarus discovers Rae covered in dust and clinging to life on the side of the road, he takes her in and nurses her back to health; but Lazarus isn't your typical caregiver, he's more concerned for Rae's immortal soul than he is for her physical well-being. Now, after chaining Rae down and employing the power of the Good Book to curb the salacious seductress' hedonistic ways, Lazarus will be forced to confront his own darkest demons in order to save the soul of a woman whose one-way ticket to hell has already been paid in full. Now, as Lazarus wages a righteous struggle to redeem the soul of the fallen Rae while simultaneously ensuring that his own life hasn't been lived in vein, the situation threatens to explode as Rae's possessive boyfriend, Ronnie — a roughneck Guardsman currently preparing for a tour of duty in Iraq — comes searching for his missing lover.
The DVD will be as no frills as the small Tennessee town in which it takes place.
The film will come in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1, and aside from Sam Jackson's general badassery, will come with no supplements.
Ain't no cure for the blues like Black Snake Moan. The DVD arrives June 26th for $29.99.
Strong seasons for 'Corner Gas' and 'Mosque'
TORONTO (CP) - "Little Mosque on the Prairie" joined CTV's "Corner Gas" this year as a Canadian television rarity - a homegrown situation comedy that attracts a million-plus viewers every week, a feat once routinely achieved only by big American shows.
"Corner Gas" has been a ratings juggernaut since its debut three years ago, with not a single show pulling in fewer than a million viewers. This year, an average 1.7 million Canadians tuned in each week, making it the most-watched sitcom on Canadian airwaves.
Nipping at its heels has been CBC's "Little Mosque," the show about devout Muslims living in a small town in the West that became a bona fide prime-time saviour for the struggling network this year.
The show attracted an average 1.2 million viewers for its eight-episode season - quite an accomplishment given that "Little Mosque" was rushed to air in January after CBC brass decided to capitalize on the worldwide buzz about the sitcom and premiere it this winter instead of waiting till next fall.
The gamble paid off: the show's debut in early January pulled in almost 2.2 million viewers, a record for a series premiere for the CBC.
The finale for "Little Mosque" aired last Wednesday, with the playful romantic tension between Rayyan and Amaar ending the season. The "Corner Gas" finale aired Monday night and featured a visit from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Dog River (spoiler alert: despite the coy promos, Brent didn't sell Corner Gas after all).
But even though both shows are off the air for months, it appears the stage has been set for a battle royal between the two Canadian sitcom giants. "Corner Gas" recently lost two members of its writing team to "Little Mosque" - supervising producer Paul Mather and story editor Rob Sheridan. Mather will become "Mosque"'s head writer while Sheridan is executive story editor.
"We didn't go after 'Corner Gas,"' Mary Darling, executive producer of "Little Mosque," said with a laugh on Monday. "What we did is we put out our feelers on who would be a really good head writer, show-runner type and four different names came forward, all of which we were interested and intrigued by, and Paul was one of them."
Mather's experience at the helm of "Corner Gas" simply couldn't be beat, Darling says.
"The edge that Paul had over the people who we looked at is that he'd worked on half-hour episodic comedy on the show which laid the groundwork in Canada, in my opinion," Darling said. " 'Corner Gas' did it first."
Next year's season of "Little Mosque" promises to be sharper and better than season 1, Darling adds, because the writers now have more time to fine-tune the show.
"What we really recognize from our eight episodes, because we made them on such a compressed schedule, is that they were good, but . . . we think that the potential there is great, and what we want is someone to come in and make it great," she added.
The similarities between "Corner Gas" and "Little Mosque" are plentiful: both are set in rural western communities populated by lovable misfits, both feature humour that is gentle rather than edgy, and both shows have garnered international attention.
While "Corner Gas" has inked huge syndication deals with networks around the world, the same is likely ahead for "Little Mosque on the Prairie" once enough episodes have been made.
Networks from around the world are already interested in licensing the show, says Darling, who's travelling to Cannes in April for the annual MIPTV television trade show.
"I'm literally, for five days straight from 9 to 7 at night, every half hour, talking to the world. And they're not appointments that I've had to initiate, which is the best part of all. There's interest from all over the world in both picking up the show and picking up the format in some countries where the Muslim experience is different."
Networks from the U.S., France, Italy, Taiwan, China, to name just a few, are intrigued, she said.
"The most interesting is the Middle East - some channel that broadcasts through Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and all these different Middle East countries - they're interested in picking up the show. That's the one I'm most intrigued by. You just have to wonder how well the comedy will travel in Arabic."
The success and the interest in "Little Mosque," Darling adds, has gone beyond her wildest dreams.
"It's fun to see the show out there doing something while people are laughing. It's creating a lot of dialogue and that's more than we could have hoped for."
Borat DVD a top seller in Kazakhstan
Though they often bear the brunt of his jokes, Kazakh citizens have apparently rushed online to buy Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat film, released on DVD worldwide last week.
According to the British arm of online retail giant Amazon, the DVD of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was the most-ordered product from Kazakhstan.
"With the controversy the film caused around the world, it seems residents of Kazakhstan are now desperate to see what all the fuss is about," Rakhi Parekh, head of media at Amazon.co.uk, told the Hollywood Reporter trade newspaper.
No specific sales figures were released.
At the time of its release last November, a growing chorus of Kazakh movie critics and cultural commentators praised Cohen and the film, saying it drew attention to the former Soviet Republic.
Other sought after items by Kazakhs included the album The Very Best of Sting and the Police, the second season of TV's Stargate Atlantis on DVD and books like Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on How to Be a High Performing Leader and The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual: Spas, Pools, Hot Tubs, Rockscapes and Other Water Features.
Last week, the U.S State Department criticized Kazakhstan for its past action against British comedian and actor Cohen.
In 2005, the Kazakh government shut down Cohen's Kazakhstan-based website because of his continued performances as his fictional character Borat — a crass and offensive reporter who spouts anti-Semitic, sexist and generally ridiculous comments about his home country and other subjects.
Cohen first introduced the character on his cable TV program Da Ali G Show. The hit film, for which Cohen won a Golden Globe Award, depicts Borat wandering through the U.S. purportedly making a documentary and portraying Kazahks as well as Americans in an unflattering light. As with his show, the film has drawn controversy and even sparked several lawsuits against Cohen.
New Releases, March 13: Amy Winehouse, Neil Young, Type O Negative
Amy Winehouse "Back to Black"
The buzzed-about U.K. soul singer, who has scored nominations for both the Mercury Music Prize and the Brit Awards, returns with her sophomore album. The record's first single is "Rehab."
Winehouse will support "Back to Black," the follow-up to 2003's successful "Frank," with a short North American tour that includes a pair of performances at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX.
* * *
Neil Young "Live at Massey Hall"
This CD/DVD combo chronicles the legendary singer/songwriter's famous gig on Jan. 19, 1971 at the landmark Toronto venue.
Included in the set are such fan favorites as "Old Man," "Helpless," "Heart Of Gold," "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Ohio." The DVD portion of "Live at Massey Hall" also features commentary from the artist.
* * *
Type O Negative "Dead Again"
The popular goth-rock act returns with its first new studio set since 2003's "Life is Killing Me Again." The 10-song album is the band's seventh studio release.
The New York-based group, led by vocalist Peter Steele, will hit the road for a North American swing that kicks off March 28 in Providence, RI.
* * *
Jorma Kaukonen "Stars in My Crown"
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a founding member of both Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, once again draws upon blues, country, bluegrass and folk in this rootsy collection.
The Grammy-nominated vocalist/guitarist is joined on "Stars in My Crown" by an all-star Americana cast that includes Sally Van Meter, Barry Mitterhoff, Reese Wynans and Greg Leisz.
* * *
The Fratellis "Costello Music"
The much-talked-about Scottish trio releases its debut album. The group will cross the Atlantic to support "Costello Music" with a few high-profile North American gigs, including appearances at SXSW (March 15) and the Coachella Valley Music Festival in Indio, CA (April 28).
* * *
Other new releases:
Ken Andrews, "Secrets of the Lost Satellite" (Dinosaur Fight)
Aqualung, "Memory Man" (Sony)
Blue Six, "Aquarian Angel" (Naked)
Marc Ford, "Weary and Wired" (Blues Bureau)
Judy Garland, "The Letter" (DRG)
Innocence Mission, "We Walked in Song" (Badman)
Lucy Kaplansky, "Over the Hills" (Red House)
James Morrison, "Undiscovered" (Interscope)
Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, "Quartet" (Nonesuch)
Graham Parker, "Don't Tell Columbus" (Bloodshot)
The Roches, "Moonswept" (429)
Musiq Soulchild, "Luvanmusiq" (Atlantic)
Various Artists, "Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of The Beatles" (Baby Rock)
The View, "Hats Off to the Buskers" (Sony)
Hayley Westenra, "Celtic Treasure" (Decca)
Soundtracks and scores:
"The Lost City" (Univision)
Police: Fiancée Discovered Delp's Body
After trying several times to reach Brad Delp by telephone, fiancée Pamela Sullivan returned to their south New Hampshire home Friday morning and found the Boston frontman dead, the Atkinson Police Department said Monday.
The cause of the 55-year-old rocker's death is still under investigation although authorities have said that they do not suspect foul play. No autopsy is scheduled, but the state medical examiner is awaiting toxicology test results.
Sullivan, who had been planning to tie the knot with Delp this summer, spent Thursday night away from the house, according to a police spokesman.
"She had last heard from him the night before…because she stayed out after work with some colleagues," said Lt. William Baldwin. "She tried that morning three times to get a hold of him, and could not, so she went home and [found] him."
A 911 call summoned Atkinson police to Delp and Sullivan's house on Academy Avenue at about 1:20 p.m. The singer appeared to have been alone at the time of his death, police said.
Baldwin said the police are looking to wrap up their investigation and get those toxicology results by the end of this week.
"He was only 55, and I know he's been a vegetarian for about 30 years," WKNE-FM radio host Parker Springfield, who had met with Delp just last weekend, told the New Hampshire Union Leader. "It's hard to understand what could have happened."
"It's a shock," Springfield said Friday. "Three minutes before he was supposed to go on stage last week we were still chatting—he was just that kind of regular guy, so down-to-earth. The kind of guy who, after a show, would sit at the end of the stage and just talk with people. He really had his ego in check."
During the weekend, friends, family and fans mourned the passing of "the nicest guy in rock and roll," with some leaving flowers on Delp's mailbox and on the front steps of his home.
"What an inspiration," musician Gardner Berry, who fronts the Manchester-based cover band Mama Kicks, told the Union Leader. "I played [Boston] to death, played the grooves right off the vinyl. It's hard to believe he's gone."
Boston hit the big time in 1976 with their multiplatinum self-titled debut, with Delp providing lead vocals on '70s-era classics such as "More Than a Feeling" and "Don't Look Back."
The Danvers, Massachusetts, native parted ways with Boston in 1991 to pursue other projects, but hooked up with his fellow "Amanda" purveyors again in 1997. They released their fifth studio album, Corporate America, in 2002 and played a national arena tour the following year.
Plans had been in the works for a summer tour, during which Delp had been planning to take a moment to swap vows with Sullivan. The musician also had two children from a previous marriage.
"His soaring, seemingly effortless vocals graced millions of Boston records as well as the numerous musical projects that we did together," former Boston member Barry Goudreau, who also played with Delp in the bands Return to Zero and Orion the Hunter, said in a posting on his Website.
"He will be sorely missed by his many friends and his family. Anyone who met Brad knows he was the sweetest, kindest person you could have known. I hope he can rest in peace."