Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg dies
NEW YORK - Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56.
His death was announced Sunday in a statement by Anna Loynes of the Solters & Digney public relations agency, and was also posted on the singer's Web site.
"Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side," it read. "His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."
Fogelberg discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. In a statement then, he thanked fans for their support: "It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years. ... I thank you from the very depths of my heart."
Fogelberg's music was powerful in its simplicity. He didn't rely on the volume of his voice to convey his emotions; instead, they came through in the soft, tender delivery and his poignant lyrics. Songs like "Same Old Lang Syne" — in which a man reminisces after meeting an old girlfriend by chance during the holidays — became classics not only because of his performance, but for the engaging storyline, as well.
Fogelberg's heydey was in the 1970s and early 80s, when he scored several platinum and multiplatinum records fueled by such hits as "The Power of Gold" and "Leader of the Band," a touching tribute he wrote to his father, a bandleader. Fogelberg put out his first album in 1972.
Fogelberg's songs tended to have a weighty tone, reflecting on emotional issues in a serious way. But in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1997, he said it did not represent his personality.
"That came from my singles in the early '80s," he reflects. "I think it probably really started on the radio. I'm not a dour person in the least. I'm actually kind of a happy person. Music doesn't really reflect the whole person.
"One of my dearest friends is Jimmy Buffett. From his music, people have this perception that he's up all the time, and, of course, he's not. Jimmy has a serious side, too."
Later in his career, he would write material that focused on the state of the environment, an issue close to his heart. Fogelberg's last album was 2003's "Full Circle," his first album of original material in a decade. A year later he would receive his cancer diagnosis, forcing him to forgo a planned fall tour.
THAT WAS AWESOME!
IN SIX SHORT YEARS AS A STAR, CHRIS FARLEY DEFINED ENERGY, EXCITEMENT AND EXCESS. A DECADE LATER, HIS STORY IS TOLD BY THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST.
December 16, 2007 -- Chris Farley came into this world on Feb. 15, 1964, weighing 12 pounds, 11 ounces. By age 33, he was gone, 296 pounds and dead of a drug overdose on Dec. 18, 1997.
In between, he played some of comedy's funniest, most eager and energetic characters. On "Saturday Night Live," he was Matt Foley, the huffing, pants-adjusting motivational speaker who lived in a van down by the river. On his "talk show," his sole interviewing technique consisted of awkwardly asking guests to "remember when" they did whatever it was they were famous for. And, of course, he co-starred in "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep" with his good friend David Spade.
In all, his time in the public eye lasted just six years. On the 10th anniversary of his death, friends, family and colleagues tell The Post what he was like when the lights weren't on - and how brilliant he was when they were.
Nick Burrows, director of guidance, Edgewood HS of the Sacred Heart, Madison, Wis.: His family is very humble, loving, caring. They own Scotch Oil Co. here in Madison. If you ever met his family, you'd see where Chris got the gifts he did - particularly from his mother. She's a stitch.
Kevin Farley, brother: Chris was always a really great athlete, but where he really shined was the camp play. He was always the lead and always had the big singing number. He sang Elvis' "Teddy Bear." All the parents would come up for the play and they'd be buzzing about how well he did that.
Burrows: He was known around school as the funny guy, but ironically, he wasn't in any theater or drama here.
Kevin Farley: Growing up, sports were a big thing for us. You didn't really think of theater. Chris always wanted to be an NFL player. He played football and hockey and he wrestled. We were four boys and my mom had us in sports, partly to get us out of the house, because we'd have destroyed it.
Chris Farley to David Letterman: I got in a lot of trouble at school. One time the nuns were all around me and my mom was in the middle, and they said, "Mrs. Farley, the other students are laughing at Christopher, not with him."
Burrows: The dean of discipline would call me up and say, "Hey, you need to meet with me about Farley." So we'd have a meeting with him, me, Chris and Mrs. Farley. She would walk in and go, "What'd my boy do now?" She'd start laughing. The dean of discipline would start the meeting real serious, and by the end of the meeting he'd be cracking up laughing. That's part of the gift Chris had.
I remember on the senior retreat, we were out in the woods for two days. There was an activity called the Hot Seat, about sharing what you're good at and what you need to work on. So he says, "I sometimes have this weird feeling that I'm a frog." Everyone's laughing. He says, "All of sudden out of the clear blue, I start moving my shoulders and words like 'ribbit' start to come out." Then he's on his chair and ends up on the table jumping around the room going "ribbit!" like a frog. We were all on the floor just roaring. The priest is looking at me sternly like, "You let this thing get out of control."
Kevin Farley: After he graduated high school, he got involved with the theater program [at Marquette University] and started to take seriously the comedians he liked. He liked [John] Belushi and Bill Murray and the "Saturday Night Live" crowd.
Chris was always trying to lose weight. The reason I think he liked Belushi growing up was because Belushi was a big guy, too, and he was cool. And he could dance. Chris saw that and thought, hey, man, maybe there's a way out of this.
He wanted to drop out of college and go into Second City, because he didn't think college was doing anything for him. But my dad said, "Stick it out and get a degree."
Burrows: Once he was doing antics in the dormitory, people started saying he should be doing that in comedy clubs. One of his friends at Marquette would say that walking to class in the morning, Chris would jump into a snow bank headfirst and start kicking his legs up in the air.
John Pudner, Marquette classmate: I've joked with a few people that Chris got there a year before me and graduated two years after me. He was on the seven-year plan. "Tommy Boy" does tell a lot of his true life, I think.
After Marquette, Farley moved to Chicago and became a star in the improv scene, first at Improv Olympic then at Second City.
Charna Halpern, co-founder, Improv Olympic: Farley came to my workshop. He wanted to get onstage so badly that he was really overdoing it, trying too hard. He was doing the ass crack and all these things. I really didn't like him at first. One night, Chris came up to me and said, "Let me play tonight!" He was in his third week and driving me crazy in class. I said he wasn't ready. He was hitting the wall over my head going, "Come on!" Finally, I got so mad, I said, "You can go on my stage, but if you screw up, you'll never go onstage again." He got up on stage and he was hilarious.
Tim Meadows, Second City and "SNL" castmate: At Second City, he was supposed to go into a scene and change into this sport jacket. I told him to lay his jacket out so it's ready, but he'd just throw it in a ball on the floor. He put on the jacket, and both his arms got caught in the lining of the jacket and he couldn't push his arms out. I started laughing. He was going, "Timmy, help me!" Then with one thrust of energy, he punched both his fists through the jacket lining and walked out onstage and did the scene - classic Farley.
Amy Poehler, Second City alum and current "SNL" cast member: He was ahead of me in Chicago, but when he would come back, I would get to perform with him. The minute he stepped onstage, the audience fell madly in love with him. I've never seen anyone commit to
anything harder than he would.
Halpern: He started taking classes with [improv teacher] Del Close, and Del said, "That's the next Belushi." He had incredible commitment and would just attack the stage.
Kevin Farley: Lorne Michaels came in and sat in the audience and watched who shined. There was a summer where Chris was sitting on pins and needles. He had gotten the word that Lorne was interested in him, but he didn't know what was going to happen. Then Lorne called him and said, "Welcome to the show." Everything changed from there.
In 1990, Farley was one of two new cast members added to "Saturday Night Live."
Chris Farley to Leno: New York was scary, coming from the Midwest. At first I thought I'd come in all cocky like, "I'm gonna bring this town to its knees!" After about a month, I was like, "I wanna go home."
Halpern: When he got "SNL," Del and I took him out for dinner to teach him manners. He was such a slob, a child, an innocent. He'd drink, and beer would go down the side of his face. I'd say, "You don't have to drink so fast. No one is going to take it away. And don't pick up Lorne Michaels and hug him."
Kevin Farley: Once Chris got on "SNL," I honestly knew that once the public saw what he could do, he wasn't going to be one of those guys that left "SNL" and went into obscurity. I knew it was gonna get weird.
Meadows: The perfect example of his personality is "The Chris Farley Show." That's so much about how he was with famous people. That's why they wrote that sketch. That's what he was like with the host or when he first got to New York and met Phil Hartman and Dana [Carvey].
Halpern: He called me from "SNL," crying before the first show. They were going to make him dance with Patrick Swayze. "They were making fun of the fat boy," - that was his quote.
Meadows: I don't know how many shows into it was the Chippendale's audition sketch, but I'm sure that was early on in his run. He scored really quickly getting in there.
Ellen Cleghorne, "SNL" castmate: I'd never seen a performer like that before. I was very impressed with his ability to access the character and stay in the moment. I actually asked him, "How do you do that?" He didn't know what the f--- I was talking about.
Molly Shannon, "SNL" castmate: He was kind of shy. Sometimes I'd peek into his dressing room, and he'd always kneel down and pray before he performed.
Kevin Farley: He had Victoria's Secret models that were after him. He had a bigger-than-life personality that these models would flock to. He was a little bit dangerous, too, so they liked that.
Farley quickly won film work - cameos first, followed by starring roles.
Penelope Spheeris, director, "Black Sheep": I was doing "Wayne's World" and Lorne said, "I got this new guy on the show, and I got a really good feeling about him. We need to put him in 'Wayne's World.' " Then he said, "But he's really shy." And Chris was shy - shy to the point of putting his tail in the dust. He felt intimidated by the movie set.
Kevin Farley: I think the movies obviously affected him. The pressures of show business are very hard, and he's a very sensitive guy. He had trouble separating it all. He wanted to make every single scene funny. When things didn't go well, it took a piece of him.
Halpern: I felt like people were making him a caricature. I personally didn't like that he was with David Spade, and David was the smart guy and Chris was dumb. Chris could play smart.
Kevin Farley: He was happy with some [movies] more than others. He thought "Tommy Boy" was probably his best. I think "Black Sheep" was a bit of a disappointment.
Farley left "SNL" in 1995. A year later, his substance abuse was out of control. Filming on "Almost Heroes" had to be halted several times so he could go to rehab.
Shannon: From what I know, he really missed the show. I think it was hard for him after he left.
Spheeris: I've worked with so many comedians over the years, starting with Richard Pryor in 1969. I could see in Chris that he had all the goods that it takes to be that brilliant comedian. It's a hyper mix of genius and insanity. If the public never sees the dark side, good for them. But it's there.
Shannon: When I knew him, he was sober and very involved in AA. I remember one day he had a cold, and I said, "Here, take these Chinese herbs." And he said, "No, no, no! I can't take anything!" Just in case it wasn't part of the program. It was sweet.
When he did come back to host [on Oct. 25, 1997], he was not in as good of shape. It was really evident that he was actively partying. It was really sad.
Kevin Farley: Especially towards the end of his life, he was scared about everything. Obviously, the drugs - he was trying to control those, and trying to keep his life together.
Spheeris: One thing that Chris did say to me, and I scolded him for it very harshly, he was talking about Belushi and how much he loved and admired him as a comedian. He made the statement that he wanted live and die like John. I couldn't tell if he was being funny or prophetic or what. I said, "Chris, don't talk like that!"
Halpern: I was with him two weeks before he died. We had a big fight in his apartment. There were always these dregs of the earth following him around giving him drugs. I was hanging out at his apartment and some guys walked in and pulled out something I never saw before. I asked, "Is that crack?" They said, "Yeah."
On Dec. 18, 1997, Farley was found dead in his Chicago apartment by his brother John. The medical examiner determined he died accidentally from an overdose of cocaine and morphine, with atherosclerosis (a narrowing of the arteries) as a "significant contributing factor."
Burrows: The evils got him. I know he tried to get it under control, but it got the best of him in the end.
Spheeris: I was surprised Spade didn't go to Chris's funeral. [But] here's the thing. The way Lorne works is that he makes people compete with each other. David and Chris were good friends, especially on "Tommy Boy." But when they got to "Black Sheep," Chris had some sort of position in the comedy world that was elevated from David. David was bickering with me because Chris was getting more attention. He never took that out on Chris, but I could see after Chris died, there was a lot of unfinished business there for David. He had had certain competitive feelings toward him, and you feel bad when someone goes. You go, "Oh, man. I wish I wouldn't have thought that way."
Halpern: He was just the greatest person, and I can't tell you how pissed I am.
Poehler: They still tell stories about him at "SNL." They'll bring a chair into a scene and someone will say, "I think Farley broke this one."
Letterman may return as writers shift tactics
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Talk show host David Letterman has been pursuing a deal with Hollywood's striking writers that would allow his late-night television show to restart production, his company said on Saturday.
The company, WorldWide Pants, announced its intention one day after the Writers Guild of America, which represents film and TV writers, told its members it would negotiate separately with member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to restart stalled contract talks.
Independent producer WorldWide Pants hopes to reach a deal as soon as next week, a spokesman said. He declined to say when production might restart or new shows return to airwaves.
"Since the beginning of the strike, we have expressed our willingness to sign an interim agreement with the Guild consistent with its positions in this dispute," WorldWide Pants chief executive Rob Burnett said in a statement.
For six weeks, WGA members who write many TV shows have been striking against the AMPTP, which represents film and TV studios. Talks have been stalled since last Friday, and a chief disagreement centers on fees writers want when their programs are put on the Internet.
The strike has ended production of many talk shows like the "Late Show with David Letterman," which airs on CBS, and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on NBC.
Production on scripted prime time and daytime shows has ground to a near halt, and starting in January many of those programs will be forced into re-runs or taken off air in favor of reality TV shows that are not subject to a WGA agreement.
But if Worldwide Pants can reach an interim agreement with the WGA, new versions of "Late Show with David Letterman" could return in January, according to The New York Times.
Generally speaking in labor talks, an interim agreement provides that both sides will abide by terms of a contract to which the contract's negotiating parties eventually agree.
WGA SHIFTS TACTICS
Worldwide Pants released Burnett's statement in response to a letter sent on Friday by the WGA's negotiating committee to union members saying they would "reach out to major AMPTP companies and begin to negotiate with them individually" instead of dealing with the AMPTP only.
"We will make this demand on Monday, December 17th and hope that each company responds promptly," said the WGA's letter.
Saturday, the AMPTP issued in its own statement saying the WGA is "grasping for straws" and the union has "never had a coherent strategy for engaging in serious negotiations."
WorldWide Pants is an independent producer and can sign an interim deal outside the WGA and AMPTP talks. The company also produces "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," on CBS.
In a separate statement, a CBS spokesman said the network respected the intent of WorldWide Pants to serve its own interests and those of its employees.
"However, this development should not confuse the fact that CBS remains unified with the AMPTP, and committed to working with the member companies to reach a fair and reasonable agreement," said CBS spokesman Chris Ender.
Earlier this week, show business newspaper Daily Variety reported that NBC's "Tonight Show" and "Leno's program and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" also may be back on air by January. An NBC spokeswoman could not be reached on Saturday.
Smith's 'Legend' grows with $76.5M debut
LOS ANGELES - For the last man on Earth, Will Smith sure has a lot of friends. The Warner Bros. tale "I Am Legend," starring Smith as a plague survivor who may be the last living human, debuted with $76.5 million, the biggest December opening ever and a personal best for one of Hollywood's top box-office champs, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"It's no wonder Will Smith feels so lonely. Everyone else on Earth is in the movie theater," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
The 20th Century Fox family flick "Alvin and the Chipmunks," starring Jason Lee in a big-screen take on the cartoon critters, opened a strong No. 2 with $45 million. The two films combined to give Hollywood a year-end surge after a drowsy fall season.
"Forty-five million acorns," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "Chipmunks are diurnal animals and they do hibernate, but not right now."
Overall business soared, with the top 12 movies taking in $153.6 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year earlier, when Smith also was No. 1 with a $26.5 million debut for "The Pursuit of Happyness."
The previous No. 1 movie, New Line Cinema's fantasy "The Golden Compass," nose-dived in its second weekend, coming in third with $9 million, down a dismal 65 percent from its less-than-expected $25.8 million debut a week earlier.
"The Golden Compass," which cost $180 million to produce, has done $90 million so far overseas but has proven a dud domestically with just $41 million.
On the other hand, "I Am Legend" smashed Smith's personal debut record, easily exceeding the $52.1 million opening weekends of "I, Robot" and "Men in Black II," his previous bests. "I Am Legend" outdid the $72.6 million premiere of 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the previous best December opening.
"It's nice to be in the Will Smith business," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "He is just the No. 1 box-office star in the world today."
Based on the Richard Matheson novel filmed twice before as Vincent Price's "The Last Man on Earth" and Charlton Heston's "The Omega Man," "I Am Legend" casts Smith as a scientist trying to find a cure and fighting off the vestiges of humanity, people transformed by the plague into vampire-like creatures.
Two Golden Globe nominees just hitting theaters did well in their second weekends.
Focus Features' "Atonement" — a tragic romance that led the Globes with seven nominations, including best drama and acting honors for Keira Knightley and James McAvoy — pulled in $1.85 million in 117 theaters. That gave "Atonement" a strong average of $15,835 a theater, compared to $21,224 in 3,606 cinemas for "I Am Legend."
Fox Searchlight's "Juno," a teen-pregnancy comedy whose three nominations included best comedy or musical and an acting honor for Ellen Page, grossed $1.44 million in 40 theaters for a $36,018 average.
"Atonement" and "Juno" expand into nationwide release over the next three weekends.
Another Golden Globe nominee, the Paramount Classics-DreamWorks foreign-language contender "The Kite Runner," debuted strongly with $450,970 in 35 theaters for a $12,885 average. Spanning the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to modern times, the film follows an emigrant to America who returns home to rescue the son of a childhood friend.
Francis Ford Coppola's first film in 10 years, "Youth Without Youth" from Sony Pictures Classics, had a so-so debut of $27,815 in six theaters, averaging $4,636. The film stars Tim Roth as an elderly language scholar whose youth is restored by a lightning strike.
Here is 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. "I Am Legend," $76.5 million.
2. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $45 million.
3. "The Golden Compass," $9 million.
4. "Enchanted," $6 million.
5. "No Country for Old Men," $3 million.
6. "The Perfect Holiday," $2.97 million.
7. "Fred Claus," $2.3 million.
8. "This Christmas," $2.3 million.
9. "Atonement," $1.85 million.
10. "August Rush," $1.8 million.