Bruce Springsteen Details
Bruce Springsteen's new album leads off with one of his longest studio songs in decades. "Outlaw Pete" is eight minutes long, setting the table for "Working on a Dream," due Jan. 27 from Columbia.
Other tracks from the project get in and out much quicker, including "Tomorrow Never Knows" (2:14) and "What Love Can Do" (2:57). Late E Street Band member Danny Federici, who died in April, plays on the album, as does his son Jason.
"Working on a Dream" will be available on vinyl and in a deluxe edition featuring a DVD with 38-minutes of behind-the-scenes studio footage.
Jon Stewart lampoons Canada's parliamentary crisis
Canada's parliamentary crisis is now fodder for jokes south of the border.
On Monday night, comedian Jon Stewart addressed our current problems in Ottawa on his satirical news show, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, saying Canadians are facing the biggest political challenge since the "controversial decision to reshape bacon."
Stewart appeared incredulous that a coalition of opposition politicians tried to oust Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"Force him from office? You can do that?" he asked. "Because we've had no confidence in our guy for quite some time now, and he's taking forever to leave."
He also seemed puzzled by the crisis in light of Harper's numbers in political polls.
"I mean, this guy — his approval rating is 46 per cent and they're trying to kick him out," he said. "You know what we call a 46 per cent approval rating down here? President Clinton."
Canadian voters were also the butts of Stewart's jokes. He showed video footage of a protester shouting, "What are you afraid of, sir?" at Harper.
"Sir?" Stewart said. "You're heckling him. It's not a job interview! Do you Canadians save all your obnoxiousness for hockey games?"
And he wondered aloud why Americans should care about Canadian politics, noting that Canada isn't a nuclear state and our chief export is "jokes that they are the butt of."
Stewart has hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central since 1999.
Death Cab, Snoop, Ryan Adams To Rock Langerado
Death Cab For Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Dashboard Confessional, Broken Social Scene and Girl Talk lead the bill for the seventh Langerado Music Festival, to be held March 6-8 at Bicentennial Park in Miami.
Thievery Corporation, Slightly Stoopid, Flogging Molly, Chromeo, Mute Math, Black Kids, Gym Class Heroes, the Faint, the Pogues, Zac Brown Band, Matisyahu, Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGree, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Michael Franti and Spearhead and the Virgins are also confirmed.
Tickets go on sale Friday (Dec. 12) from Langerado.com. The event will also encompass late night shows in and around Miami, with details to be announced.
Last year's Langerado Festival, held at Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in the Florida Everglades, featured R.E.M., Built To Spill, Of Montreal, the Beastie Boys, the Roots, Gov't Mule, 311, the National, Phil Lesh and Matisyahu, among others. The four-day festival drew about 25,000 people per day and grossed $4.3 million, according to festival co-producer Evan Schwartz.
Schwartz told Billboard in September he and Langerado Festival co-producer Mark Brown have diversified the event's lineup over the past four years. "We started out as a jam-oriented festival," he said. "It's more exciting for us to put together these lineups every year, because there is so much great music out there."
Ledger Honoured With Another Posthumous Award
Heath Ledger has been honoured with a posthumous acting award from the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association.
Ledger has been named Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight by the critics.
Slumdog Millionaire claimed its second major U.S. Best Film prize, while Oscar favourites Mickey Rourke and Meryl Streep won the Best Actor and Best Actress honours for The Wrestler and Doubt, respectively.
The cast of Doubt also walked away with Best Acting Ensemble, while Rosemarie DeWitt won Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Getting Married.
The full list of Washington DC Area Film Critics Association honourees are:
Best Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor: Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Best Ensemble: Doubt
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Breakthrough Performance: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Original Screenplay: Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Animated Feature: Wall-e
Best Foreign Language Film: Let The Right One In
Best Documentary: Man On Wire
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Jay Leno staying on NBC in prime time
NEW YORK – Jay Leno is staying at NBC, and he's moving to prime time.
The network announced Tuesday that Leno will host a show five nights a week at 10 p.m. Eastern, after he leaves the "Tonight" show next year. The network had announced nearly five years ago that Conan O'Brien would move to "Tonight" and succeed Leno.
The deal not only prevents Leno from moving to another network and competing with O'Brien, it also has the potential to be a big cost savings for NBC. A talk show is considerably cheaper to produce than the dramas that usually air at 10 p.m. Eastern.
Leno could now deliver his nightly monologue and sketches to more viewers. Generally about 50 percent more people are watching TV at 10 p.m. than at 11:30 p.m.
Dramas used to be a mainstay of network schedules, and NBC's own history at the time slot includes "ER," "Hill Street Blues," "Law & Order" and "L.A. Law."
Yet dramas have been fading in recent years. One reason is digital video recorders; more people are watching shows they taped earlier than the live 10 p.m. shows.
Ten years ago, "ER" was the top-rated show in television, with an average of 25.4 million viewers. This season, its last, "ER" is averaging 9.9 million viewers and is ranked No. 33 in prime time.
Besides "ER," NBC this season airs "Law & Order" and its "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" spinoff in the 10 p.m. time slot — both shows that could easily move to an earlier hour. "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Lipstick Jungle," shows in the 10 p.m. hour on Monday and Friday, have already been canceled.
NBC had said last summer that Leno's last "Tonight" show would be on Friday, May 29, and that O'Brien would take over the following Monday, June 1.
Jimmy Fallon is taking over the 12:30 a.m. time slot that O'Brien is vacating.