SCTV reuniting for a good cause
Citizens of Melonville, SCTV is back!
Or at least, most of the players who made the late 1970s, early '80s TV comedy series so memorable, with characters like Guy Caballero, Bobby Bittman, Edith Prickley, Lola Hetherington, Ed Grimley, and Bob and Doug McKenzie.
The Star has learned that Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short and Dave Thomas will reunite as performers for the first time in 24 years on May 5 at The Second City's Toronto home on Mercer St.
Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis are trying to extricate themselves from previous engagements so they can join their colleagues.
"I only know one thing: it's going to be fun," said Short, in an interview from his home in Los Angeles.
He recalls his time on SCTV as "a miracle. It was the first time that I was tapping into the kind of work I would do for the rest of my career."
SCTV first went on the air as a half-hour show on Global TV in 1976 and wound up as a 90-minute program on CBC and NBC. Its final original year was on pay TV service Superchannel in 1984.
Short joined the series in 1982, near the end of its run, and says he found it "a daunting experience. I was being asked to join a show that was an Emmy-winning hit, the hippest thing in comedy.
"I really developed Ed Grimley there," he laughed, referring to the twitchy, cowlicked character that also appeared on Saturday Night Live and in his own animated series. "Up until then, Grimley had only been a character who would appear naked coming out of the shower to my wife."
The appearance in May is a fundraiser for The Alumni Fund, which raises money to help veteran artistic and support personnel from SCTV and The Second City comedy troupe who are facing health or financial hardship.
Also appearing that night are Colin Mochrie and the comedy group Women Fully Clothed (Kathryn Greenwood, Robin Duke, Debra McGrath, Jayne Eastwood and Teresa Pavlinek).
"I am thrilled to have this wonderful collection of Second City alums come home and support their colleagues and friends who may be experiencing some difficulties in their lives," said executive producer Andrew Alexander.
'Gilligan's Island' star busted for pot
DRIGGS, Idaho - A surprise birthday party for Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," ended with a nearly three-hour tour of the Teton County sheriff's office and jail when the 69-year-old was caught with marijuana in her vehicle while driving home.
Wells is now serving six months' unsupervised probation. She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving.
Prosecutors dropped misdemeanour counts of driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
According to a sheriff's, Wells was pulled over after she swerved across the fog lines and centre lines of State Highway 33 and repeatedly speeded up and slowed down.
The officer who stopped her said he smelled burning marijuana.
Wells reportedly told him that she'd just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something.
Police found three half-smoked joints in the ashtray, a fourth half-smoked joint and two small cases used to store marijuana.
Wells' lawyer Ron Swafford said a friend admitted he'd left a small amount of marijuana in the car after having used it that day and that Wells was unaware of it.
Wells is the founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute in Driggs and the organizer of the region's annual family movie festival called the Spud Fest.
New CD Releases, March 11: Randy Jackson, Presidents of the United States of America, Snoop Dogg
Randy Jackson "Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume 1"
America (as well as the rest of the world) will finally get a chance to vote on an "American Idol" judge, as Jackson--part of the TV show's three-headed popular-music tribunal, which also includes Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell--releases his first solo album.
Besides starring on "Idol," Jackson is also a Grammy-winning producer, professional songwriter, multi-talented musician and respected A&R man. He's got a ton of pull in the industry and he uses his connections to their fullest on this album.
"Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1" features such guest stars as fellow "Idol" judge Abdul, "Idol" vets Katherine McPhee and Elliot Yamin, blues-belter Joss Stone, country singer Travis Tritt, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora and, most impressively, R&B/pop queen Mariah Carey.
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Presidents of the United States of America "These are the Good Times People"
The Seattle modern-rockers return with "These are the Good Times People," their first studio effort in nearly four years. This follow-up to 2004's "Love Everybody" features the single "Mixed Up SOB," which was produced by Kurt Bloch (Robyn Hitchcock, Mudhoney), former frontman of defunct Seattle garage-rock legends The Fastbacks.
The Presidents of the United States of America will back "These are the Good Times People" with a brief headlining tour, which kicks off March 14 in Portland and will hit 11 cities in March, with the bulk of the trek located on the West Coast.
The band's current lineup consists of "basitarist"/vocalist Chris Ballew, drummer Jason Finn and "guitbass" player Andrew McKeag, who has taken over for founding member Dave Dederer.
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Snoop Dogg "Ego Trippin'"
The rap legend returns with his ninth CD, "Ego Trippin'," which features the single "Sexual Eruption." Featured guest stars/producers include Nelly, Raphael Saadiq and--get this--The Gap Band.
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Shawn Mullins "Honeydew"
The Atlanta folk-rocker, best known for the late-'90s hit "Lullaby," is back with a follow-up to 2006's "9th Ward Pickin Parlor." The lead track from the 12-song "Honeydew" CD, "All In My Head," was originally written as a prospective theme song for "Scrubs" and is featured on that TV show's soundtrack.
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Mike Patton "A Perfect Place"
The San Francisco Bay Area-based singer, who became a star as the lead vocalist for Faith No More, releases a soundtrack on his own Ipecac label. It's the score to a 20-minute film noir project, which is also titled "A Perfect Place." The effort follows the voice-over work that Patton did for the recent big-screen blockbuster "I Am Legend," where the singer gave "voice" to the zombie-like creatures that star Will Smith battled.
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More new releases:
Jil Aigrot, "Words of Love: The Voice of Edith Piaf in the Award-winning Film 'La Vie En Rose'" (LML)
DJ BC, Big D & the Kids Table, "Strictly Mixed and Mashed" (For in Hand)
Ill Nino, "Enigma" (Cement Shoes)
Jaymay, "Autumn Fallin'" (Blue Note0
Jonas Kaufmann, "Romantic Arias" (Decca)
Kaki King, "Dreaming of Revenge" (Velour)
Greg Laswell, "How the Day Sounds" (Vanguard)
Charle Lloyd, "Rabo de Nube" (ECM)
Shawn McDonald, "Roots" (Sparrow)
Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and Chris Hillman, "Capitol Collection" (Capitol)
Meshuggah, "Obzen" (Nuclear Blast)
Rick Ross, "Trilla" (Def Jam)
Various Artists, "Now That's What I Call the '80s" (Sony)
Why?, "Alopecia" (Anticon)
Madonna, Mellencamp head to rock hall
NEW YORK - Madonna, pop music's quick-change artist, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday and paid tribute to people who encouraged her and even critics who panned her for helping drive her career.
Heartland hitmaker John Mellencamp, with his son Speck playing guitar and his parents watching from a balcony above the Waldorf Astoria Hotel ballroom, joined the rock-kicking with a rumbling version of "Authority Song."
"I wrote this song, and I still feel the same way today as I did when I wrote it 25 years ago," Mellencamp said.
Philly soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, literate songwriter Leonard Cohen, British rockers the Dave Clark Five, and surf instrumentalists the Ventures were among the other inductees.
Madonna recalled key moments of her career, from playing her demo tape for record company president Seymour Stein when he was in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV, to her shock at looking out from the stage at thousands of girls dressed like her. "It freaked me out," she said.
She fondly remembered a teacher who encouraged her to follow her dreams when she was only 14, and said she's lucky to have people around her that are still doing that.
Even the people who "said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn't sing, that I was a one-hit wonder, they helped me, too," she said. "They inspired me because they made me question myself repeatedly and pushed me to be better."
Singer Justin Timberlake, who helped produce Madonna's upcoming album, inducted her with an innuendo-laden speech.
"The world is full of Madonna wannabes. I might have even dated a couple," said Britney Spears' ex. "But there is truly only one Madonna."
Timberlake told of how he felt ill one day while working on Madonna's new album and she asked whether he wanted a B-12 shot. He said sure, expecting a doctor to show up, but Madonna pulled out a syringe and said, "drop 'em."
After he pulled his pants back up, "she looked at me and said, 'That's top shelf,' and that was one of the greatest days of my life," he said.
"Everything he said is basically true," Madonna confirmed, "but I didn't say 'drop 'em,' I said, 'pull your pants down."
Madonna didn't perform but asked punk rockers Iggy Pop and the Stooges to sing "Burning Up" and "Ray of Light." At the end, a shirtless Pop said, "you make me feel shiny and new, like a virgin touched for the very first time," and tossed his microphone to the floor.
Mellencamp talked of having surgery for spina bifida when he was 6 weeks old, saying doctors were worried he would be paralyzed below the neck. The 56-year-old rocker said he never knew of the surgery until his teen years, when a classmate asked him about the scar behind his neck.
His grandmother always whispered in his ear, "Buddy, you're the luckiest boy alive."
"I'm lucky to be standing here for any number of reasons," said Mellencamp, a heart patient who snuffed out a cigarette as he took the stage.
Fellow Hall of Fame member Billy Joel, who inducted Mellencamp, said, "You scared us a couple of times when we thought we might have lost you a couple of times, even though it might have been a good career move."
The world needed Mellencamp's voice, he said.
"They need to hear somebody out there feels like they do, in the small towns or the big cities," Joel said. "And it doesn't matter if they hear it on a jukebox in a gin mill or on a ... truck commercial."
Gamble, taking the stage with his longtime partner, invited the audience to answer back his wish for "peace."
"Thank you so much, because that's exactly what our music represented," Gamble told the people gathered at the famed hotel for the annual ceremony, televised on VH1 Classic.
Patti LaBelle performed a chandelier-shaking rendition of "If You Don't Know Me By Now" to introduce Gamble and Huff. The songwriters and producers created a lush, melodic brand of soul known for their hometown and performed by a variety of artists.
Gamble cited one: Billy Paul's tale of the adulterous affair in "Me and Mrs. Jones."
"There's a little 'Me and Mrs. Jones' going on here in New York," he said to laughter, hours after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was accused of hiring a prostitute.
He dispelled one rumor. The song "MFSB" stood for mother, father, sister, brother, he insisted. For years, others let their imaginations run wild with the initials.
One odd sign of the times: among the favors distributed to guests at Monday's dinner was a box of 30 blank CDs, presumably so people wouldn't have to worry about buying CDs anymore.
The Ventures excelled at what is almost a forgotten art in rock music — the instrumental. Nokie Edwards' twangy guitar gave the band its distinctive sound. They performed their first hit, "Walk, Don't Run," and "Hawaii Five-O."
John Fogerty recalled how he and fellow members of Creedence Clearwater Revival used to hang out in a garage learning the Ventures' songs.
"When the Ventures first hit the radio, I would say I was gone," Fogerty said. "The Ventures went on to record 250 albums. Think about that. These days, some of us would be happy to sell 250 albums."
Cohen, a Canadian, is one of music's most highly regarded, if not best-known, songwriters, through pieces like "Suzanne" and the much-covered "Hallelujah." Damien Rice sang the latter song in tribute.
Lou Reed, who was inducting Cohen, carried a sheaf of papers to the stage and read several examples of Cohen's lyrics.
"We're so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is," Reed said.
Cohen, dressed in a black tux, recited the lyrics to his song "Tower of Song" in a hushed voice.
"This is a very unlikely occasion for me," he said. "It is not a distinction that I coveted or even dared dream about."
The Dave Clark Five followed the Beatles in the original British Invasion, with catchy hits including "Glad All Over." Led by drummer and songwriter Clark, the band enters the hall at a tragic time: singer Mike Smith died at age 64 of pneumonia less than two weeks ago.
"Mike tried desperately to be here with us tonight," Clark said. "At least he knows he's a hall of famer. Mike, you're with us in spirit, my friend, and always will be."
Little Walter, who died in 1968, joins the hall in its sidemen category. He recorded frequently with Muddy Waters in the 1950s.