Erik the Viking is recut
The Terry Jones' satire Erik the Viking is making its way to DVD in a special Director's Son's Cut. Yes, the son of Terry Jones - with Jones' blessing - has recut the film for DVD and it is coming your way from MGM Home Entertainment.
An unusually principled young Viking becomes increasing uncomfortable with all the killing and plundering that goes with the job, and sets out on a magical journey in order to bring about world peace.
The new cut is nearly thirty minutes shorter than the original cut with rearranged and shortened scenes and a remixed soundtrack. No release for the theatrical cut is planned. In addition to the film, the disc contains a Commentary Track with Terry Jones, a Behind the scenes featurette on the new cut as well as a vintage Featurette from 1989, a Trailer and a Photo Gallery.
The new DVD is priced at $19.98 when it arrives on November 7th.
Canadian painter Ken Danby dies at 67
Renowned artist Ken Danby, one of Canada's foremost realist painters, has died at age 67.
Danby died Sunday while canoeing in Algonquin Park, according to Greg McKee, the manager of the Danby Studio in Guelph, Ont.
It's believed Danby died of a heart attack, but the cause of death will not be known until an autopsy is completed, McKee said.
Danby is best known for his 1972 painting At the Crease, showing a masked hockey player. The egg tempera work hangs in reproduction in countless homes of Canadian hockey lovers.
Danby's sports paintings are among his best-loved images, among them Lacing Up and Hockey Night in Canada, a tribute to 50 years of CBC coverage of the game.
His famous sports images include The Great Farewell, painted for Wayne Gretzky when he decided to retire from playing hockey.
In the 1980s, he prepared a series of watercolours on the Americas Cup and the Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
'Canada's soul and spirit'
While many Canadians connect Danby with hockey images, he points out they make up only a dozen images in a long painting career.
"I still love the game," he said in a 2002 interview. "I respond to it, so there's that appeal. That there has been such a focus on them in Canada shows that I've tapped into something that has to do with Canada's soul and spirit."
He also has done portraits of Canadian icons such as singer Gordon Lightfoot and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
And he is renowned for his landscapes, including the 1997 painting Niagara. A retrospective at the Joseph Carrier Gallery in 2004 featured 60 paintings, many capturing Canadian scenes such as Lake Louise.
"I didn't set out to try and do that," he said in a 2007 interview with the Guelph Mercury. "I am Canadian … but I just respond to things I experience."
Danby was born March 6, 1940, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and was interested in drawing from an early age.
He enrolled at the Ontario College of Art in 1958, but quit two years later because of the college's emphasis on abstract art and spent the next three years working in art-related jobs while exploring various directions in his painting and drawing.
In 1963, he approached gallery owner Walter Moos of Toronto to review his work, a meeting that resulted in his first one-man show at Gallery Moos in 1964.
The show sold out and began a long dealer-artist relationship between Moos and Danby, though Moos is no longer exclusive dealer for Danby's works.
Attention of collectors
Danby's realism drew the attention of collectors and he has had sustained commercial success throughout his 43-year career.
Living and working on a sprawling 20-hectare retreat just outside Guelph, a place he called his "sanctuary," Danby cared less about the sale of the work than the process of painting.
"The fulfilment of that painting is in its completion, not about where it goes. I don't worry about them selling, I don't worry about them finding a home," Danby said.
He took five years to complete a two-metre image called Stampede, based on the annual Calgary rodeo.
"The work has to be given its fullest opportunity to be right. I often set pieces aside for months at a time, come back and see them with fresh eyes," he said.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Governor General of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the City of Jerusalem are among the institutions that own Danby works.
He also has been much sought after for commissions, painting both Gordie Howe and Tim Horton, and designing an Olympic coin for the Royal Mint in 1975.
Both his 1968 painting of Trudeau and his 1973 painting of Robert Stanfield graced the covers of Time magazine.
As a painter who combined realism with an abstract edge, Danby has been compared with Christopher Pratt.
But his subject matter wasn't as rarefied. He painted a seedy room interior in 1971's Motel, a youngster staring into space in Guelph Carousel and himself, hockey stick in hand, in the 1996 painting Kissing Bridge.
In 2005, a collection of his landscape paintings entitled Earth, Sky & Water showed at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York City.
Success "is very gratifying," Danby said. "But that's not the reason I do it. I don't recycle a theme just because it has been popular. But it's gratifying to be able to reach out to an audience. To have an audience is important to every artist."
Danby was a member of the governing board of the Canada Council from 1985 to 1991, a trustee of the National Gallery of Canada from 1991 to 1995 and was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts from Laurentian University in 1997.
Danby was a member of both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada.
He is survived by his wife, Gillian, and three sons.
New CD Releases, September 25: Rascal Flatts, Foo Fighters, Melissa Etheridge
Rascal Flatts "Still Feels Good"
The hugely popular country trio releases its fifth studio album. "Still Feels Good" follows 2006's "Me and My Gang," which topped The Billboard 200 chart and became the biggest sales debut of the year.
"Still Feels Good" was recorded with award-winning producer Dan Huff and its lead single, "Take Me There," is already a hit on country radio.
The new album drops during what has already been a mighty big year for the band. In particular, Rascal Flatts has been stacking up the awards this year, so far scoring a pair of People's Choice honors, Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards and its fifth consecutive Vocal Group of the Year trophy from the Academy of Country Music. In November, Rascal Flatts will be vying for Vocal Group of the Year and Entertainer of the Year at the 41st Annual Country Music Association Awards.
The country-pop trio is touring in support of "Still Feels Good." The band, which has been criss-crossing the US since July, now has dates stretching into November.
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Foo Fighters "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace"
The Grammy-winning Foos are back and ready to rock with "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace." The album was produced by Gil Norton, who also was at the controls for 1997's double-platinum seller "The Colour and the Shape." ("Colour," by the way, was recently remastered and reissued as a 10th anniversary deluxe edition with six bonus tracks.)
The album's lead single, "The Pretender," premiered on ESPN last month and was featured throughout the network's coverage of the Summer X-Games. The song is currently making waves on Billboard's rock and pop charts.
The Foos will support "Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace" with a series of dates. Currently, the band is scheduled to perform a half-dozen club and arena dates along the East Coast next month.
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Melissa Etheridge "The Awakening"
The rock vocalist/guitarist has already had quite the 2007. The big year began when her song "I Need to Wake Up," a cut featured in former Vice President Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in February. She followed that up in the summer with a high-profile set during the Live 8 concerts.
Now, Etheridge returns with her ninth studio album. "The Awakening" was co-produced with David Cole and features Etheridge's rocking band mates, guitarist Philip Sayce, bassist Mark Browne and drummer Mauricio ‘Fritz' Lewak.
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Herbie Hancock "River: The Joni Letters"
The genre-shifting keyboardist/composer, who first came to fame as a sideman for Miles Davis, is ready to follow-up 2005's "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities." That previous set was a collection of all-star collaborations, which included work by Phish's Trey Anastastio, Sting, Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Paul Simon and Carlos Santana.
This time around, Hancock delivers another star-studded affair, which pays tribute to great lyricist Joni Mitchell. This 13-song tribute features appearances by Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza, Leonard Cohen and Mitchell herself.
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Joni Mitchell "Shine"
The Mitchell mania continues with this 10-track set. The collection features many of the great singer/songwriter/guitarist's best cuts, including "Night of the Iguana," "Bad Dreams" and, of course, "Big Yellow Taxi."
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More new releases:
Tony Bennett, "Tony Bennett Sings The Ultimate American Songbook, Vol. 1" (Sony)
Chris Botti, "Italia" (Sony)
David Crowder Band, "Remedy" (Six Step)
Dethklok, "Dethalbum" (Williams Street)
Steve Earle, "Washington Square Serenade" (New West)
Iron & Wine, "The Shepherd's Dog" (Sub Pop)
Chaka Khan, "Funk This" (Strategic Marketing)
Bettye LaVette, "Scene of the Crime" (Anti)
Raul Malo, "Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites" (New Door)
Meshell Ndegeocello, "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams" (Emarcy)
Queen Latifah, "Trav'lin' Light" (Verve)
Jill Scott, "The Real Thing: Words And Sounds Vol. 3" (Hidden Beach)
Stars, "In Our Bedroom After the War" (Arts and Crafts)
Various Artists, "Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino" (Vanguard)
Springsteen gives fans preview of tour
ASBURY PARK, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen was back in familiar territory with a rehearsal show Monday night in the city that has become known worldwide through his songs.
The show at the oceanfront Convention Hall was the first of two benefit rehearsals for Springsteen and the E Street Band, who are about to embark on their first tour together in four years. They will also play Tuesday night, and a third rehearsal concert has been added for Friday at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford.
Springsteen and the band opened up with "Radio Nowhere," a song from their new album.
"We're going to run through some things, some new things, some old things. There may be some mistakes — but I doubt it," Springsteen told the crowd.
Asbury Park and the boardwalk where the Convention Hall is located have been featured prominently in the New Jersey native's work. His first album was titled "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.," and the boardwalk Casino was the scene of the title track video for his 1987 "Tunnel of Love" album. Blocks away is the Stone Pony nightclub where Springsteen has performed numerous times.
Fans young and old gathered for hours before the show in warm sunshine on the boardwalk outside the hall.
"I think it's rare that you get any musician who appeals to so many generations," said Dara Webster, 34, of Westport, Conn. She was there with her 63-year-old mother, Maida Webster.
The elder Webster, a retired social worker from New Canaan, Conn., was attending her 20th Springsteen show. "I think he speaks from the heart," Maida Webster said. "He's down to earth."
Those without tickets, which cost $100, hoped to be included in the group of 100 people traditionally given last-minute admission. Standing among 300 hopefuls, Kevin Statesir, 52, a nightclub owner from Burlington, Vt., said he wasn't optimistic.
The hall isn't far from the clubs — many now closed — where Springsteen and the E Street Band rose to fame in the 1970s. Springsteen has used Convention Hall for other pre-tour rehearsals.
A native of nearby Freehold, the 58-year-old rocker still lives in Monmouth County.
Springsteen and the band are to begin a tour in support of their new album, "Magic," which is due out Oct. 2. The tour opens with a show in Hartford, Conn., that night.
Springsteen will be back at the Continental Airlines Arena Oct. 9-10, and is scheduled to perform Oct. 17-18 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"Magic" is the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's first album with his longtime New Jersey mates since the Sept. 11-inspired "The Rising" in 2002. Their 15-month tour in support of the album has sold out stadiums and arenas around the globe.
Aside from the atmospheric title track, "Magic" returns Springsteen to rock 'n' roll, and all 11 songs are new. He released a solo acoustic effort, "Devils & Dust," in 2005 and the folk-inspired "The Seeger Sessions" last year.
"Magic" features guitarists Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren, bassist Garry Tallent, drummer Max Weinberg, keyboardists Danny Federici and Roy Bittan, "Big Man" Clarence Clemons on saxophone, violinist Soozie Tyrell and vocalist Patti Scialfa, Springsteen's wife.