The Kids in the Hall are back
Men dressed as women. Jokes that skewer religion. A sex-crazed chicken lady.
About 1,600 Kids in the Hall fans roared their approval in Winnipeg on Sunday night as the envelope-pushing comedy troupe made the first Canadian stop on its reunion tour.
Scott Thompson, reprising the flamboyant Buddy Cole character he made famous on the Kids' TV series, got some of the biggest laughs of the night when he tried to make the case that Jesus was gay.
"He's a 33-year-old unmarried man who wanders the desert with 12 other bachelors. They're drinking a lot of wine and scrubbing each other's feet," Thompson said.
It's the type of joke to be expected from a troupe that once re-enacted Christ's crucifixion to a Dr. Seuss-style rhyming narrative.
The Kids – Thompson, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald and Mark McKinney – scored a big hit with their TV show that ran on the CBC from 1989 to 1995 and continues to air in reruns. Their first reunion tour ended in 2002.
They had always planned to reunite again, and the recent writers' strike in Hollywood gave them some free time by putting some of their current projects on hiatus.
Having already played several American cities, the Kids in the Hall bring their show to Coquitlam, B.C., Calgary and Edmonton next month, and have two dates scheduled for Toronto in June.
New Releases, April 29: Madonna, Def Leppard, Steve Winwood
Madonna "Hard Candy"
The legendary "Material Girl" will look to add to her already substantial wealth with the release of her 11th studio record. This follow-up to 2005's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" includes the hit single "4 Minutes," which features guest stars Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.
Madonna reportedly has stated in radio interviews that she intends to tour this year in support of "Hard Candy." Her last batch of road work came with 2006's "Confessions Tour," which was one of that year's top grossing tours.
The vocalist, who became one of the first of the new generation of MTV stars with 1984's "Like a Virgin," was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hall's class of 2008 also included John Mellencamp and Leonard Cohen.
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Def Leppard "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge"
The multi-platinum rock act, known for the '80s mega-hit albums "Pyromania" and "Hysteria," returns with its 14th studio record. "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge" follows 2006's all-covers release "Yeah!" and is the band's first set of newly written material since 2002's "X."
The 11-track offering includes the single "Nine Lives," which is a collaboration with country crooner Tim McGraw. The song has been selected as the featured track in a special opening segment recorded for NBA games airing on ABC television.
Def Leppard plans to support "Sparkle Lounge" on the road, yet it's had to cancel some shows recently while lead vocalist Joe Elliott recuperates from an upper respiratory tract infection, according to a statement on the band's website.
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Steve Winwood "Nine Lives"
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, inducted in 2004 as a member of Traffic, is set to release his first studio album in five years. "Nine Lives" follows 2003's "About Time" and, indeed, consists of nine tracks, including the first single, "Dirty City," which features a guest appearance from Eric Clapton.
"Nine Lives" is yet another milestone in what's already been a big year for Winwood. Most notably, the singer/songwriter made major headlines when he reunited with Clapton (his old bandmate in Blind Faith) for a three-show run at Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier this year.
He'll join up with another legendary rock act--Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers--for a massive tour that kicks off May 30 in Grand Rapids, MI. The trek will stop in roughly 40 cities and continues through August.
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Mudcrutch "Mudcrutch"
Before there were the Heartbreakers, there was Mudcrutch. This band--featuring Tom Petty on vocals and bass, Mike Campbell on guitar, Benmont Tench on keyboards, Tom Leadon on guitar and vocals, and Randall Marsh on drums--only recorded one single and dissolved in 1975.
Gone, but Mudcrutch was not forgotten--at least not by Petty aficionados, who always wanted to get the chance to hear Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band. With the release of this eponymous debut, those fans will finally get to hear Mudcrutch perform its swamp-flavored country-rock tunes.
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Portishead "Third"
The trip-hoppers are back with--you guessed it--their "Third" studio album. The new album follows the studio efforts "Dummy" and "Portishead" from, respectively, 1994 and 1997, as well as the 1998 concert disc "Roseland NYC Live." The band performed last weekend at Southern California's mammoth Coachella Valley music festival.
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More new releases:
Augustana, "Can't Love, Can't Hurt" (Sony)
Mark Chesnutt, "Rollin' with the Flow" (Lofton Creek)
Brian Culbertson, "Bringing Back the Funk" (GRP)
Estelle, "Shine" (Atlantic)
Lyfe Jennings, "Lyfe Change" (Sony)
Mana, "Arde el Cielo" (Warner Bros.)
Martina McBride, "Live in Concert" (RCA)
Sarah McLachlan, "Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff, Volume 2" (Arista)
The Roots, "Rising Down" (Def Jam)
Santogold, "Santogold" (Downtown)
Carly Simon, "This Kind of Love" (Hear Music)
Phil Stacey, "Phil Stacey" (Lyric Street)
Testament, "The Formation of Damnation" (Nuclear Blast)
Soundtracks and scores:
"Lost: Season 3" (Varese)
Yorke: Radiohead's 'Rainbows' Strategy Was A 'One-Off'
It was a pivotal moment for the music industry which many thought sounded the death knell for recorded music sales, but Radiohead won't be repeating their decision to let fans choose what to pay for their downloads, frontman Thom Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.
"I think it was a one-off response to a particular situation," Yorke said of the band's decision last October to let viewers pay what they wanted for digital downloads of their album "In Rainbows."
"Yes. It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don't think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time."
Radiohead's decision to allow fans to pay into the online equivalent of an honesty box for the album came shortly after they walked away from troubled record label EMI, sparking acres of comment about the future direction of the music industry and the dwindling revenue pot from CD sales.
The band has remained quiet about whether the experiment was a success, with many fans thought to have downloaded the album without paying anything at all. "In Rainbows" was later released conventionally as a CD.
But the groundbreaking move towards potentially free music has been adopted by a number of artists including Prince and Nine Inch Nails. Most recently Coldplay said Monday (April 28) that they would give away their new single "Violet Hill" free of charge, resulting in the site crashing due to demand.
Speaking as Radiohead were promoting their pro-social anti sex and labor trafficking initiative with MTV, Yorke said that successful bands had new ways to communicate directly with fans.
"We are about that direct relationship (now) because we are big enough to establish that."
Under the music broadcaster's EXIT (end exploitation and trafficking) campaign, MTV and Radiohead have jointly produced a video for "In Rainbows" track "All I Need" which will premiere on all MTV's channels and sites globally on May 1.
Yorke said the band had linked with MTV to highlight such issues as child slavery, enforced servitude and sex trafficking because it was "about exploiting a situation while you have the chance."
"All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers," he said. "If you talk about slave labour, then the issue of cheap goods from the East is all about that.
With the [All I Need] video their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white [sneaker] with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there," he concluded.
"If [MTV] are able to break the taboo of enslavement and put it onto the agenda then its a good thing. If they get people to think in terms of the profits we make in the West because of cheap labor, then that's a good thing."
MTV vice chairman Bill Roedy said the initiative would raise awareness.
"Trafficking is a crime which violates the basic rights of its victims ... we endeavor to support and advocate these rights -- and empower our audience -- through initiatives like MTV EXIT and other MTV projects."
Label: Winehouse's 'Bond' Theme 'Speculation'
Amy Winehouse might well be working on the theme song to the next installment of the James Bond series, but her record company is downplaying the move.
Winehouse has been in the studio working with Mark Ronson, producer of her hit sophomore album "Back To Black," an Island Records spokesman confirms.
"She has been doing some work in the studio, but [the Bond theme] is speculation, basically."
Ronson told BBC 6Music that the pair had been working on a track for the upcoming Bond film "Quantum Of Solace." He told the digital station that there was no official guarantee that the fruits of their recording efforts would be included in the action movie, which is due for a theatrical release in November.
"It would be lovely," adds the Island spokesman, "but there's nothing to confirm at this stage."
'Scrubs' is sewn up -- quietly
Like a tipsy party guest, it's going to be pretty tough for "Scrubs" to gracefully exit NBC.
The network's final "Scrubs" episode airs next week, concluding its run with the network after seven seasons. But you'd never know it from watching NBC or perusing the entertainment media.
At the conclusion of what was the comedy's third-to-last episode on NBC on Thursday, viewers were simply urged to check out the show's interactive features on NBC.com. The usual array of creator and cast interviews that usually accompany the final episodes of a concluding series are likewise largely absent.
The super low-key exit for "Scrubs" is tied to what's become the worst-kept secret in Hollywood: that the veteran comedy is moving to ABC. The long-pending deal for ABC to pick up 18 episodes of "Scrubs" for next season is effectively, pretty much, essentially, done.
Production has been under way for weeks, while cast and crew have been encouraged to keep quiet. A television studio producing a comedy costing north of $1 million per episode without anybody saying who the episodes are for is considered highly unusual, if not a little weird.
ABC plans to confirm the acquisition at next month's upfront presentation.
Holding series pickup news until the upfronts is a typical network strategy this time of year. In the case of "Scrubs," ABC also is waiting for the show to end its Peacock run. NBC came out swinging when news of the series' move to ABC first leaked, accusing producer ABC Studios of violating NBC's right of first negotiation. The parties have since patched things up, but a premature celebration by ABC could inflame the situation.
That leaves NBC in the similarly odd position of promoting a farewell to a longtime series that's headed across the dial.
A network spokesperson said NBC will run promos for the final "Scrubs" episode and gamely bill it as "a season finale" rather than "a series finale." Back in 2001, WB Network called its last episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the "WB series finale" rather than acknowledge the show had scored a second life on UPN.
In an interesting twist, "Scrubs' " stock has shown some life on NBC recently.
When paired with NBC's hit "The Office" since the conclusion of the strike, the medical comedy has outperformed its average last year by 17% with a 3.5 average rating among adults 18-49. But the show's real test will come when it moves to ABC, where it will likely have to help jump-start a freshman comedy.