Hoser mania is back, eh?
HOLLYWOOD -- Coo Roo Coo Coo Coo Coo Coo Coo!
It's been quite a while since we've heard the immortal call of the "Great White North," but that's about to change as Bob and Doug McKenzie get ready to celebrate a significant anniversary.
True, their movie, Strange Brew was released in 1983, but why wait until 2008 to commemorate 25 years when there's a perfectly good two-four sitting in front of them right now.
Refusing to let that, uh, Golden opportunity slip away, Toronto-based producer Jane Welowszky has been in Hollywood doing interviews for Bob & Doug's Two-Four Anniversary, a one-hour special slated to air on CBC this summer in which Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas reunite to play the beloved McKenzie Brothers for what could be the very last time.
Among those Welowszky has filmed so far, sharing their fondest Bob & Doug memories, are Ben Stiller, Martin Short, Jason Priestly, Paul Dooley (who was one of the Strange Brew cast members), The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Dave Foley, Tom Green, Mad TV's Will Sasso and hockey great Mark Napier.
"Ben Stiller had lined up with his mother, Anne Meara, when he was just a kid, waiting three hours to get their autograph at Sam Goody Records at Rockefeller Center," says Welowszky, who heads up a production company called Me Jane Films.
"Everyone has a story or an anecdote since the McKenzies really touched a lot of lives."
She's hoping one of those willing to share will also include Demi Moore who had actually auditioned for Strange Brew but ended up losing the role (of Pam Elsinore) to Canadian actress Lynne Griffin.
In the course of her travels, Welowszky is also looking to snag some of the politicians who at the time felt that Bob and Doug were harmful to the Canadian image.
While a firm date has yet to be locked in, Welowszky anticipates CBC will agree to May 19, the kick-off to the Victoria Day long weekend, which also happens to be the unofficial start of two-four season.
A special edition Strange Brew DVD is slated to come out in the fall, which will also likely contain some of the recently shot footage.
As aficionados will tell you, "Great White North" took off back in 1980 when SCTV was mandated by the government to fill two minutes of each program with what would be considered strictly Canadian content.
The ensuing Hosermania had become a bit of a mixed blessing for Moranis and Thomas over the years, but absence has clearly made their hearts grow fonder. Their toques have been recreated for the occasion as has the memorable GWN set.
"When Bob and Doug left SCTV the original set was basically thrown out," says Welowszky.
"We found a guy who used to work for the show and he rescued it from the dumpster and now it's in his basement in Toronto so he and his buddies can sit around drinking beer in front of the "Great White North" set."
Among plans to promote the upcoming special is an on-line Canadian Hoser competition ("like Canadian Idol but really different, eh?").
Beyond the big Two-Four, development continues on the long-in-gestation The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug, a half-hour series that would air in the Simpsons/King of the Hill time slot.
"As Dave says, he looks better animated now," says Welowszky.
"He'll have a long shelf-life that way."
Beauty, eh?
Springsteen Steals The Show At Springsteen Tribute
Twenty artists paid tribute to the music of Bruce Springsteen at New York's Carnegie Hall Thursday night (April 5), but it was the man himself who stole the show with a surprise performance. The lineup for the third in a continuing series of fundraisers for Music For Youth featured Odetta, Steve Earle, Ronnie Spector and Patti Smith, who sang the Springsteen-penned number that earned her a top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Because the Night."
Prior to the Boss' appearance, the evening comprised several memorable performances, including stark acoustic readings of "Born in the U.S.A." and "Dancing in the Dark" by Joseph Arthur and Pete Yorn, respectively; a passionate "Streets of Fire" by Elysian Fields; and an infectiously charged "Atlantic City" by the Hold Steady.
When Springsteen, acoustic guitar and harmonica in hand, arrived on stage just after the anticipated last act had exited, the crowd leapt to its feet, remaining there for nearly 30 minutes. Springsteen opened with some thoughts on the evening up to that point, noting how it was both "lovely and harrowing" to see his songs performed, and making special mention of Odetta, who he said "just did the greatest version of '57 Channels' I ever heard."
He then launched into an inspired version of "The Promised Land," his gruff voice sounding closer than ever to Bob Dylan's.
From there it was into fan-favorite "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)." But Springsteen interrupted it barely halfway through to joke that the song "was too damn long." A humorous nutshell-summary of his career followed, culminating with, "And then people came to New York City from miles around -- well, from the tri-state area, at least -- to hear his songs," drawing jubilant applause.
After closing the abridged "Rosalita," Springsteen called all the performers back to the stage for a group sing-along, this time for the complete, seven-minute "Rosalita." The Boss instructed they "trash the hell out of the thing," but it proved a rousing finish.
Charles Feldman, Music For Youth's chairman, said the benefit raised "well over" $100,000 for MFY. Meanwhile, the event's producer, Michael Dorf, revealed that the next MFY benefit is slated for Oct. 10, though the honoree is still to be named.
'Personal Issues' Upend Fall Out Boy Tour
Fall Out Boy has postponed the start of its stint on the Honda Civic Tour due to undisclosed "personal issues." The trek was to begin April 18 in Charlotte, N.C., but has now been pushed back to May 11 in Denver. The lone date that has been canceled is May 1 in Sacramento, Calif.; refunds are available at points of purchase.
"Unfortunately, because of some personal issues we had to delay the tour a few weeks," Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz says in a statement. "We want to put on the best possible show we can and know that this extra couple of weeks will give us the time to put ourselves in the right place to put on the best show we can."
The tour, which will also feature rapper Paul Wall and rock outfits Cobra Starship, +44 and The Academy Is..., will now conclude July 2 in Anaheim, Calif.
Wentz told Billboard.com in an earlier interview that in addition to playing the hits and pumping its latest Island album, "Infinity on High," the quartet plans to play songs from its catalog that have never been performed live, as well as re-arranged versions of other tracks and covers. "It'll be right back to Michael Jackson, probably," he said of the latter. "I'd say expect Jackson 5 or 'Beat It' or something like that."
"Infinity on High" is the No. 4 top-selling release of the year so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan, having shifted 695,000 units.
HBO comedy 'Entourage' is one sweet treat
There's something to be said for a well-made trifle.
Indeed, a near total absence of profundity and pretension is one of the joys of Entourage. A meandering comic soap about life among Hollywood's idle rich and famous, Entourage doesn't push as hard to impress, or to break through TV's boundaries, as most HBO series do. And it is the better for it.
Just because the series isn't deep, however, doesn't mean it's vapid. In its own understated way, Entourage is a kind of comedy of bad manners, an anti-morality play in which victory almost always goes to the least deserving.
At the top of that list is Vince (Adrian Grenier), a star to whom more than his share of good things flow. At the temporary bottom is Ari (Jeremy Piven), a still-successful agent who has lost Vince as a client and fears he may be losing the sharpest part of his edge.
Ari's goal as the show launches into the second half of its season? Get Vince back and regain the evil joy he takes in firing people and insulting the staff.
The plus side of Ari's search for non-redemption, aside from the opportunities it provides Piven for a wider range of rants, is that it makes room for a new agent in Vince's life: Amanda, played by the always enticing Carla Gugino. There's obvious sexual tension between the two, and just as obviously, there's only one direction in which that tension is going to lead.
The crisis is built around Vince's search for a new film. Amanda wants him to do an Edith Wharton movie. But Vince and Eric (Kevin Connolly) still long to do the much-discussed Medellin. And Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Drama (Kevin Dillon) continue their hunt to bed every brain-free woman in Hollywood.
Plot matters less than the trappings of success. Yet underneath all that geniality is the strain that comes from knowing your hold on the trappings is tenuous.
Piven justifiably grabs much of the attention, but the entire cast is worthy of praise, starting with Grenier as the not-as-guileless-as-he-seems Vince. And has any sitcom ever put forth a more believable picture of a deluded hanger-on than Dillon's Drama?
So indulge. Entourage, after all, is all about Hollywood, and indulgence is what Hollywood is all about.
Ex-Kiss guitarist Mark St. John dies
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died Thursday from an apparent brain hemorrhage. He was 51.
Born Mark Norton in Hollywood, St. John was Kiss' third official guitarist, having replaced Vinnie Vincent -- the substitute for Ace Frehley -- in 1984.
By this point, Kiss had done away with its trademark makeup and costumes, but the group was enjoying a career renaissance. The lone Kiss album on which St. John appeared, "Animalize," re-established the group as one of the world's top arena metal bands. The album spawned the popular MTV video, "Heaven's on Fire" (the only Kiss video to feature St. John).
St. John's flashy playing reflected the era's Van Halen-influenced rock guitarists, but it certainly helped spark the material on "Animalize," which many fans consider one of Kiss' strongest non-makeup releases. However, right around the time Kiss was to launch a worldwide tour in support of the album, St. John was diagnosed with a form of arthritis called Reiter's Syndrome, which caused his hands and arms to swell, and prevented him from playing guitar.
Guitarist Bruce Kulick filled in (St. John did manage to play one full show with the group, and portions of a few others) and eventually replaced St. John as Kiss' permanent guitarist.
His medical condition improved after leaving Kiss, and St. John launched a pop/metal outfit, White Tiger, with ex-Black Sabbath singer David Donato. St. John briefly teamed up with original Kiss drummer Peter Criss in a group that didn't release any recordings, and appeared as a guest speaker at Kiss conventions. In 2001, he released an all-instrumental album, "Magic Bullet Theory."
"I wish to express my sympathy to Mark St. John's family and friends," Kulick said in a statement. "Though Mark was the guitarist I replaced, I respected his talent and contribution to Kiss."
'Blades' stays on top with $23 million
LOS ANGELES - Movie audiences were more interested in light comedy over Easter weekend than in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse," a double-feature ode to bloody exploitation flicks.
Paramount and DreamWorks' figure-skating romp "Blades of Glory" remained the No. 1 movie with $23 million, followed for the second weekend by Disney's animated comedy "Meet the Robinsons" with $17 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Grindhouse," a three-hour reinvention of the down-and-dirty B-movie double features Tarantino and Rodriguez grew up watching, debuted at No. 4 with $11.6 million.
It finished behind Sony's family comedy "Are We Done Yet?", starring Ice Cube in a sequel to "Are We There Yet?", which opened at No. 3 with $15 million.
Released by the Weinstein Co., "Grindhouse" fell well short of expectations. Box-office forecasters had figured the movie would premiere in the ballpark of Tarantino's two "Kill Bill" movies and Rodriguez's "Sin City," whose opening weekends ranged from $22 million to $29 million.
The weak debut for "Grindhouse" was a blow to the Weinstein Co., formed two years ago by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein after they departed their old outfit, Disney-owned Miramax. The "Grindhouse" directors were steady providers for the Weinsteins at Miramax, which released Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" films and Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" movies.
"Grindhouse" presents two full films. Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" features Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer who becomes a zombie fighter with a machine gun for a leg. Tarantino's "Death Proof" stars Kurt Russell as a serial killer who stalks women with his beefed-up car.
"With these two filmmakers' pedigree and the overall cool factor that this film had going for it, you would have figured it would have done a lot more business," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
The movie's running time was an impediment, limiting the number of screenings theaters could fit in.
Harvey Weinstein said disappointing returns for "Grindhouse" resulted from the "novelty in America of releasing a double bill and asking an audience to make a three-hour commitment."
"Grindhouse" played to big crowds on the East and West coasts but failed to click with audiences in the Midwest and South, Weinstein said.
With theatrical receipts, overseas sales, television and home-video revenues, "Grindhouse" will turn a profit on its $53 million budget, Weinstein said. The company hoped that word of mouth from those who did see it would sustain it at theaters in coming weeks, he said.
"If you go see it with any audience, walk into any theater, you'll see people screaming and applauding like a rock concert," Weinstein said. "Maybe we didn't educate the audience that it's such an experience."
Movie-goers clearly were in the mood for something lighter. "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as skating rivals who team up as the sport's first men's pair, raised its 10-day total to $68.4 million, its receipts dropping a slim 30 percent from opening weekend.
"There's a real hunger out there for something that you can go to and say, 'Hey, let me get away from the terrible things we have to watch and read every day,'" said Marvin Levy, spokesman for DreamWorks, one of the studios behind "Blades of Glory."
"Meet the Robinsons," the animated adventure of a time-traveling orphan boy, also held strongly in its second weekend, raising its 10-day total to $52.2 million.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Blades of Glory," $23 million.
2. "Meet the Robinsons," $17 million.
3. "Are We Done Yet?", $15 million.
4. "Grindhouse," $11.6 million.
5. "The Reaping," $10.1 million.
6. "300," $8.8 million.
7. "Wild Hogs," $6.8 million.
8. "Shooter," $5.8 million.
9. "TMNT," $4.9 million.
10. "Firehouse Dog," $4 million.