The end is near for 'The Sopranos'
"THE SOPRANOS" begins its final run of nine installments this Sunday on HBO with the sound of law enforcement banging at Tony Soprano's door. "Is this it?"
Carmela says, sitting up in bed. I took that line as a poke at the audience, mocking the otherworldly hype and expectation about the conclusion of the series, which is to say who gets to live and who gets to die.
Some of what makes "The Sopranos" great is unforeseen magic, inexorably tied to the freedom success on HBO has granted — the way Robert Iler, for instance, who plays AJ Soprano, has gone in real time from chubby kid to the sullen, direction-less twentysomething that perfectly embodies the questionable citizen Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco) have produced.
Perhaps, over the course of its eight years and 86 hours, the show's ultimate sleight-of-hand is the way in which the gruesome acts of violence these guys commit invites our repulsion even as these same crimes are quickly forgiven (and/or forgotten). Part of this, true, involves the romanticizing of the mob in popular culture, but all the buzzing about who will get bumped off as the series wraps up — Paulie? Syl? Christopher? — belies the fact that what makes "The Sopranos" meaningful is the way it observes (grouses about, really) the texture of contemporary life.
"The Sopranos" is a bitter comedy about family, the clash of the old world and the new, of parent and child, the violence and criminal behavior set off by the fact that the very same week Tony sits opposite a therapist whose job is to ask, "So, where are you?"
So where were we?
"The Sopranos" began last season with a plot event — Tony shot by his demented Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) — which set in motion a season that was, in retrospect, kind of baroque: A comatose mob boss has a near-death experience in which he's being hounded by Buddhist monks, who mistake him for a salesman of a faulty heating system.
There was also the outing of the gay mob lieutenant Vito, played as a tragedy of identity, and Tony's nephew Christopher's trip to Hollywood to woo Sir Ben Kingsley ("Sir Kingsley!" as Christopher saluted him) for his mob-themed slasher movie "Cleaver."
In the brief flush of action that propels us back into the series' final season, Tony is arrested on a gun charge, a flashback reminding us that he tossed the weapon in question into the snow back in 2004, while fleeing a raid on New York crime boss Johnny Sack's house. The gun arrest (a nuisance charge by the Essex County sheriff's office) turns out to be a palate teaser, for various bills will finally come due now, RICO cases being brought to fruition and the Cosa Nostra gasping into the 21st century without viable successors, white-haired men meting out justice and jockeying for position with other white hairs, the larger "war on terror" making them seem quaint by comparison.
The first two episodes feature ripples of the attrition: Johnny Sack is dying of cancer in prison (given counsel and comfort by an orderly played by director Sydney Pollack, in a pretty hilarious turn as an oncologist who shot his wife), while a wise guy is arrested at the after-party for the "Cleaver" screening, a movie on which Tony is the silent investor and other mobsters are the producers, including Christopher (Michael Imperioli).
This is all a continuation of last season's thematics of a changing world — Tony selling out a property in the old neighborhood to Jamba Juice, his lieutenants unable to shake down a Starbucks-like barista impervious to their muscle.
"My estimate? Historically?" Tony says Sunday of the fate awaiting mob bosses. "Eighty percent of the time it ends in the can like Johnny Sack, or on the embalming table at Cozarelli's."
He says this while sitting in a boat in upstate New York near the Canadian border with his doormat brother-in-law Bobby Bacala (Steven R. Schirripa), on a weekend getaway where Bobby and Tony's voluble sister Janice (Aida Turturro) have invited Tony and Carmela up to celebrate his birthday.
It comes as something of a shock that Tony's only turning 47: He's noticeably slower, weaker and more engrossed in his legacy. There is about this taut, superbly written lake episode (by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, series creator David Chase and Matthew Weiner) an idyllic quiet that slowly becomes unnerving. We're reminded, once again, that we're in the presence of nouveau riche conservatives — the offspring of immigrants relaxing as the Caribbean nanny watches the kid, everyone in agreement that they oughta build a wall around the country to keep the illegals out.
In a mob story, a secluded lake portends bad things; on "The Sopranos," that bad thing turns out to be family members in close proximity to each other over a long boozy night of karaoke and Monopoly. The Janice character arrived on the show at the beginning of Season 2 — a hippie returning from Seattle with a Rolling Stones tongue tattooed on her breast — and since then she's been nothing but a headache.
Janice only performs "acts of Janice," is how Tony described his big sister to his psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) last year, and at the lake the two begin laying into each other, hovering and jabbing until the replayed dynamic inevitably spills over into violence. The ensuing brawl, sumo in nature, upsets the order of things briefly; it reaffirms that Tony is ever-dependent on guile to emerge victorious.
But they are his pyrrhic victories. The years have helped make Tony Soprano a tragic figure — he's aged in his eight TV years like a president, so that the guy you see getting out his SUV at the close of the opening credits is a shadow.
Gandolfini, in his performance, has by increments become more lumbering — slower, softer and wiser, but still, if he can summon the energy, that brute.
Interviewed several years ago on National Public Radio, Chase said that he had an ending for the character in mind.
"The gangster movie is a long American tradition," he said. "But they've all been, except for 'The Godfather' trilogy … it's usually the rise and fall. It's been that way since the beginning. The criminal rises from the gutter, has his moment of glory, and then goes down and pays for his crime in a hail of bullets. That's usually the template.
"As Tony has his rise," Chase added of his protagonist, "he's always having his fall every day. His rise and his fall seem to be happening all the time together." You feel in the two episodes HBO sent out the bitter comedy unable to keep pace with what is mournful and sad — the show's final parlor trick toward absolute empathy with a sociopath examining his inner life.
The full circle arrives, glaringly, in the one place that Tony has been a constant — the therapy room. So that, as the curtain begins to close, you get the scene in which the mob guy, teary-eyed over a betrayal, is going deeper than the therapist.
"Without invalidating your feelings," she says, "is it possible that on some level you're reading into all this?"
"I've been coming here for years," Tony Soprano responds. "I know too much about the subconscious now."
New CD Releases, April 3: Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Alison Krauss
Martina McBride "Waking Up Laughing"
The platinum-selling vocalist follows 2005's chart-topping "Timeless," a collection of classic country standards, with her self-produced ninth studio album.
McBride has had much success singing other songwriters' tunes over the years. To date, she's sold more than 16 million records and charted 22 Top 10 singles. With "Waking Up Laughing," however, she's taking a different path, and has written some of her own songs, including the set's first hit single, "Anyway."
The four-time Country Music Association Vocalist of the Year will support "Waking Up Laughing" with a lengthy tour that kicks off April 12 in Kansas City, MO.
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Alan Jackson, George Strait and Jimmy Buffett "Live at Texas Stadium"
The three musical legends team up for what many expect to be one of the top-selling live albums of 2007. The 15-track set documents a concert that was held in 2004 at Texas Stadium in Dallas and includes both solo performances and collaborations.
The set list was drawn from all three of the performers' catalogs. Included in the mix are Strait's "All My Ex's Live in Texas," Jackson's "Where I Come From" and, of course, Buffett's signature "Margaritaville."
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Alison Krauss "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection"
Don't be fooled: This 16-track set is not a best-of collection. Instead, it delivers an assortment of Krauss' work on soundtracks and side projects.
On the soundtrack side, "A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection" features the songs "The Scarlet Tide" and "You Will Be My Ain True Love" (both from "Cold Mountain") as well as "Down to the River to Pray" (from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"). It also includes a number of collaborations, notably Krauss' duet with John Waite on "Missing You."
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Kings of Leon "Because of the Times"
The Southern rockers return with their third full-length studio release, which follows 2003's "Youth and Young Manhood" and 2005's "Aha Shake Heartbreak."
The three Followill brothers (Caleb, Nathan and Jared) and their cousin (Matthew Followill) will support "Because of the Times" with a North American tour that begins with an April 28 date at the Coachella Valley Music Festival in Indio, CA.
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Hilary Duff "Dignity"
The former tween dream, beloved by millions of youngsters for her role as TV's Lizzie McGuire, is going for a more mature look and sound with this new album. That's clear from the cover, a very sophisticated and refined headshot, to the title track, which takes potshots at the immature party antics of other young celebs.
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Other new releases:
Andiamo, "Love, From Italy" (Denon)
Black Sabbath, "The Dio Years" (Rhino)
Brandi Carlile, "The Story" (Sony)
Chevelle, "Vena Sera" (Sony)
Kurt Elling, "Nightmoves" (Concord)
Fountains of Wayne, "Traffic and Weather" (Virgin)
Jeff Lorber, "He Had a Hat" (Blue Note)
Ozomatli, "Don't Mess With the Dragon" (Concord)
Panda Bear, "Person Pitch" (Paw Tracks)
Martin Sexton, "Seeds" (Kitchen Table)
Shadows Fall, "Threads of Life" (Atlantic)
Static-X, "Cannibal" (Warner Bros.)
Timbaland, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value" (Interscope)
Various artists, "Mississippi Blues: Rare Cuts 19" (JSP)
Chris Whitley, Jeff Lang, "Dislocation Blues" (Rounder)
Soundtracks and scores:
"The Road Mix: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Vol. 3" (Maverick)
'Knight Rider' Trans Am up for sale
DUBLIN, Calif. - KITT, the flame-throwing, river-jumping, talking muscle car from the `80s TV show "Knight Rider," is up for sale. Restored to its debut-season glory, the modified black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am is offered at $149,995 at a Dublin auto dealership. Johnny "Vette" Verhoek of Kassabian Motors has had the car, officially called Knight Industries Two Thousand, on display for about a month.
It is one of four documented "camera cars" used for close-up shots and scenes where David Hasselhoff, who played Michael Knight in the series, was behind the wheel.
Although it cannot achieve the 300 mph speeds that KITT reached, soar 50 feet in the air or throw smoke bombs, key features of the star car are intact. Perhaps most important, the red scanner light on the nose glows and makes a humming noise.
The car has two working video screens on the dashboard, and the cockpit features buttons that light up in green, yellow and red: ski mode, rocket boost, micro jam, silent mode, oil slick and eject.
Most of the buttons don't do anything, Verhoek said. Nor can the car hold a conversation or drive itself.
KITT isn't even street legal because of missing smog equipment and other modifications. Whoever buys the car will probably keep it in a private collection, or it may be purchased by a museum, Verhoek said.
The car belongs to Tim Russo of Livermore, a Kassabian customer who figured now was a good time to test the market, with the 25th anniversary of the show's debut coming up.
Russo purchased the car 10 years ago at an auction in San Diego, and has spent the last decade finding parts to restore it.
EMI, Apple to sell DRM-free songs online
LONDON - Breaking from the rest of the recording industry, EMI Group said Monday it will begin selling songs online that are free of copy-protection technology through Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store. The deal, however, doesn't include music from the label's biggest act, The Beatles.
ITunes customers will soon be able to buy songs by the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay and other top-selling artists for $1.29, or 30 cents more than the copy-protected version. The premium tunes also will be offered in a higher quality than the 99-cent tracks.
EMI Chief Executive Eric Nicoli said The Beatles music catalog is excluded from the deal, but said the company was "working on it." He declined to set a time frame for negotiations over the catalog.
The announcement followed calls by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs earlier this year for the world's four major record companies, including EMI Group PLC, to start selling songs online without copy-protection software.
The technology, known as digital rights management, or DRM, is designed to combat piracy by preventing unauthorized copying or sharing, but it also can be a consumer headache. Some music players, for instance, support one type of DRM software but not others.
The DRM used by Apple does not work with competing services or devices, meaning that consumers can only download songs from iTunes to work on their computers or iPod music players. The lock between the download services and players has drawn criticism from European industry regulators, who argue that it limits buyer choice.
"Doing the right thing for the customer going forward is to tear down the walls that impede interoperability," Jobs told a London news conference.
He has previously argued there was little benefit to record companies selling more than 90 percent of their music without DRM on compact discs, then selling the remaining percentage online with DRM.
Some analysts suggest that lifting the software restrictions could boost sales of online music, which currently account for around 10 percent of global music sales.
Jobs said that he planned to offer around half of all music in the iTunes store under the premium package by the end of the year, but declined to say whether the company was in discussions with other leading record companies.
"Consumers tell us overwhelmingly that they would be prepared to pay a higher price for digital music that they could use on any player," Nicoli said. "It is key to unlocking and energizing the digital music business."
The iTunes music store will begin offering EMI's entire catalog — apart from The Beatles — without DRM software starting next month, he said.
EMI has acted as the distributor for The Beatles since the early 1960s, but The Beatles' music holding company, Apple Corps Ltd., has so far declined to allow the Fab Four's music on any Internet music services, including iTunes.
The situation was exacerbated by a long-running trademark dispute between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps. That legal feud was resolved in February when the two companies agreed on joint use of the apple logo and name, a deal many saw as paving the way for an agreement for online access to the Fab Four's songs.
Apple Corps was founded by the Beatles in 1968 and is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the widow of John Lennon and the estate of George Harrison.
Shares of Apple Inc. jumped 72 cents, to $93.63, in Monday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Nelly reigns at the Junos
SASKATOON (CP) - It proved to be Nelly's night at the Juno Awards on Sunday, with pop diva Nelly Furtado displaying a wacky sense of humour as she took the glitzy gala's top prizes for a club-thumping album that dominated charts worldwide.
The triumphant turn came as the bubbly singer juggled hosting duties and a live televised performance that threw her into a variety of slapstick bits and outrageous costumes.
Furtado swept all five categories she was nominated in, taking the annual event's biggest accolades including best artist, best single and best album in two award ceremonies held over the weekend.
"Thank you, Canada, I love you for accepting me," Furtado said in Sunday's telecast, in which she took the winner's podium three times. "I love you!"
Toronto-based rock band Billy Talent was the only other multiple winner of the weekend, taking trophies for group of the year and rock album of the year.
Front man Ben Kowalewicz said they wanted to share the award with their friends and co-nominees Alexisonfire. Backstage, he said they had a very simple plan for their Juno celebration: "Get drunk. Get very, very drunk."
Kowalewicz also offered a special thanks to the band's hometown of Mississauga, Ont., crediting the community with supporting them through a decade-long climb to the top.
But it was a disappointing night for critics' favourite k-os, a genre-mashing performer who had tied with Furtado and rockers Billy Talent for most nominations for his acclaimed disc "Atlantis: Hymns for Disco."
K-os lost four trophies at a private ceremony Saturday and lost the fifth award, a best-single nomination for his infectious party song "Sunday Morning," to Furtado's "Promiscuous" on Sunday.
He appeared early in the broadcast with a performance of his hit "Sunday Morning," changing the lyric to at one point declare: "This show is not me, this show is propaganda."
Furtado set an off-kilter tone early in the show by arriving onstage suspended from cables high above Saskatoon's Credit Union Centre. The Victoria beauty wore an all-black outfit adorned with feathers in a nod to her 2000 debut hit "I'm Like A Bird," and later poked more fun at herself by appearing in a black latex bodysuit and a matronly nightgown in pre-taped comedy bits.
She ended the evening with five trophies including the two accolades she picked up at Saturday's private industry event. That ceremony crowned her artist of the year and her blockbuster disc "Loose" the best pop album.
Backstage, Furtado said she was shocked by her multiple wins, especially best album.
"I've sat in the audience at the Junos and lost for best album twice and I always wondered, 'Oh, maybe one day I'll get that,' you know?" said Furtado, adding she was indebted to her producer Timbaland, the U.S. beat guru also behind hits from Justin Timberlake and The Pussycat Dolls.
"I didn't think it would come so soon and with this album."
Onstage, Furtado took pains in her acceptance speeches to extend kudos to fellow nominees.
"I just hand it to all the Canadian artists. This is for everybody - old, new, up and coming, the legends," Furtado said as she took the trophy for fan choice dressed in a silky blue gown, the third of several Canadian-designed outfits for the evening. "I'm just happy to be here and humbled."
Later, she threw props to best single rivals k-os and Jim Cuddy when she took the podium for the second time in 20 minutes.
Other winners Sunday included Hamilton's Tomi Swick, who was named new artist of the year over Canadian Idol champs Eva Avila and Melissa O'Neil and indie darling Patrick Watson.
"Holy crap," Swick exclaimed upon reaching the microphone and launching into a laundry list of friends and family to thank.
The R&B/soul recording of the year went to jacksoul's disc "mySOUL."
With just seven awards to hand out, Sunday's broadcast was largely about the performances.
Artists including The Tragically Hip, Patrick Watson, City and Colour, Billy Talent and Three Days Grace took the stage in front of an audience of roughly 13,000 fans, some of whom started lining up outside Saskatoon's Credit Union Centre as early as 7 a.m. to catch a glimpse of their favourite artists.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg-born producer Bob Rock was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in recognition of his work producing and engineering albums for superstars including Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Cher, Motley Crue, and Bryan Adams.
Other Juno winners Saturday included sultry siren Diana Krall, whose disc "From This Moment On" snagged best vocal jazz album and veteran Jim Cuddy, who took best adult alternative album for "The Light That Guides You Home," beating out Neil Young, Sarah Harmer, Matt Mays and Ron Sexsmith.
City and Colour took best alternative album with "Sometimes" and country star George Canyon was awarded best country recording for "Somebody Wrote Love."
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The winners:
Juno Fan Choice Award: Nelly Furtado.
Group of the Year: Billy Talent.
New Artist of the Year: Tomi Swick.
Single of the Year: "Promiscuous," Nelly Furtado.
R&B Soul/Recording of the Year: "mySOUL," jacksoul.
Rock Album of the Year: "Billy Talent II," Billy Talent.
Album of the Year: "Loose," Nelly Furtado.