Screen Actors Guild sets January strike vote
LOS ANGELES – The Screen Actors Guild plans to send strike authorization ballots to more than 100,000 union members on Jan. 2, a date that leaves the Golden Globes safe but puts Oscar night within reach of a potential boycott.
Votes will be counted on Jan. 23, nearly two weeks after the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, but ahead of the Feb. 22 Academy Awards, the most important date on the Hollywood calendar.
Approval by 75 percent of voting members is required to pass the measure. If it is approved, the SAG national board can call a strike.
Guild President Alan Rosenberg has said a strike is the last resort to force a resolution in stalled contract talks with major movie studios, but that if it is necessary, it would be timed to have the most impact.
"SAG members understand that their futures as professional actors are at stake," Rosenberg said in a statement Wednesday.
The guild is at odds with the studios over the treatment of Internet productions and the benefits that actors can get when earthquakes or other unforeseen events, such as a strike by another union, shut down productions.
For instance, actors have an outstanding claim for payments they say they are due for work lost during the 100-day strike by writers last season. That strike reduced the Golden Globes this past January to a glorified press conference.
In the Internet debate, the guild wants union coverage of all shows made for the Web, regardless of budget, and residual payments for actors on made-for-Internet shows that are reused online. Currently, almost all provisions for made-for-Internet productions are negotiable or at the producer's discretion.
Major studios called the strike vote poorly timed.
"It's now official: SAG members are going to be asked to bail out a failed negotiating strategy by going on strike during one of the worst economic crises in history," said a statement by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
That group represents studios such as Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. The alliance has stuck to what it called its final offer made when the previous contract expired June 30.
Similar deals have already been accepted by other unions, including those representing directors, writers, stagehands and a smaller actors union. On its Web site, the movie and TV producers' group says the Screen Actors Guild has so far foregone more than $37 million in pay increases by continuing to work under the terms of the old deal.
On Monday, the guild held a closed-door town hall-style meeting at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood, and Rosenberg said he was ``encouraged by the response" by the 500 members in attendance.
But the guild, which had expected to send out ballots this month, pushed back the strike vote date after the producers' alliance accused it of using the holidays to ensure a low turnout and leave more working actors out of the process.
"We want SAG members to have time to focus on this critical referendum," Rosenberg said.
The guild plans another town hall meeting in New York on Monday and one in Hollywood on Dec. 17. As well, the guild is sending out e-mails and fact sheets to members, and will put up testimonials from prominent actors such as Hal Holbrook and Ed Asner on its website to urge actors to vote yes.
But actors are divided. In guild elections in September, an upstart group called Unite For Strength broke up the majority control of the national board that had been held by a faction that supports Rosenberg.
However, the Unite group has not clarified its position on the strike vote.
Last week, at a benefit performance at the University of California, Los Angeles, "Mad Men" actor Jon Hamm told The Associated Press that he hoped the labour strife would not affect next year's TV season.
"I wish it was not happening. I wish there were sound heads on both sides who were able to discuss this like adults," he said. ``If history is any judge, it's not looking good, but we'll see, especially given the financial climate.''
Eagles' 'Long Road' stretches through next spring
The Eagles are filling in their 2009 calendar with another run of North American shows and a trip through Europe.
The veteran rockers, who wrapped their 2008 "Long Road Out of Eden Tour" earlier this month, are set to return to the road in January for a dozen US performances around the East Coast and South. Since last check, the Eagles have added March dates in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as shows in Fargo, ND; the Missouri cities of Columbia and Kansas City; and the Ohio cities of Cleveland and Columbus. The band is also scheduled to launch a six-week tour of Europe in late May.
North American stops are listed below and overseas gigs can be found at the Eagles' website. The newly added March dates go on sale beginning this Saturday (12/13).
As part of a new "all-in ticketing" program through Ticketmaster (LiveDaily's parent company), many of the concerts will be sold at the advertised price with no additional convenience fees. The program was announced last month after Ticketmaster acquired a controlling stake in Irving Azoff's Front Line Management Group, which counts the Eagles among its list of clients. Azoff is the CEO of the new entity, dubbed Ticketmaster Entertainment.
"The Eagles' use of 'all-in ticketing' is the first step in Ticketmaster's transformation to an all-encompassing entertainment company to allow artists to connect to their fans in both new and innovative ways," Azoff said in a statement.
The Eagles' ongoing tour finds Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit performing classic Eagles songs, hits from their solo careers and tunes from last year's "Long Road Out of Eden," which marked the band's first collection of new material in 28 years.
The two-disc set topped The Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart, and remains on those charts more than a year later. "Long Road Out of Eden" has gone seven-times platinum with the help of hit singles "Busy Being Fabulous" and "How Long," the latter of which scored the Eagles a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, earning five No. 1 singles and five Grammy Awards, according to a press release. The Eagles' "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" has reached 29-times platinum and is the best-selling album of all time in the US.
January 2009
12 - Hampton, VA - Hampton Coliseum
14 - Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena
16 - North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Coliseum
17 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum Complex
19 - Greenville, SC - Bi-Lo Center
20 - Knoxville, TN - Thompson Boling Arena
23 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena
24 - Birmingham, AL - Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Arena
26 - Sunrise, FL - BankAtlantic Center
28 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
29 - Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
31 - Orlando, FL - Amway Arena
March 2009
7 - Edmonton, Alberta - Rexall Place
10, 11 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Credit Union Centre
13 - Winnipeg, Manitoba - MTS Centre
15 - Fargo, ND - Fargodome
17 - Columbia, MO - Mizzou Arena
24 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
28 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
29 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center
Fogerty Revisits 'Blue Ridge' On New Album
A pair of returns will mark a creative outburst from John Fogerty in 2009.
The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman is finishing work on "John Fogerty: The Return of the Blue Ridge Rangers," a sequel of sorts to his 1973 solo set of vintage country and roots covers, "Blue Ridge Rangers." He'll also be putting out "John Fogerty -- Comin' Down the Road," a DVD chronicling his first concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, which took place earlier this year, as well as a documentary about his life and career. Release dates for both are still pending.
Fogerty tells Billboard that he's long hoped to return to the Blue Ridge Rangers concept, but not as the one-man band he was on the original. "I've known for years that if I ever did a Blue Ridge Rangers album again I sure didn't want to play all the instruments," Fogerty explains. "I had long felt that was probably something that was wrong with the first album."
Fogerty recorded "The Return of the Blue Ridge Rangers" during a 10-day session at Village Recorders in Santa Monica, Calif., with T-Bone Burnett and Lenny Waronker co-producing. Among the players were Buddy Miller, Greg Leisz, Dennis Crouch, Jay Bellerose and Kenny Aronoff. Fifteen songs were recorded from a list of about 40 that Fogerty, Burnett and Waronker assembled, and while Fogerty is keeping mum on specific titles, he acknowledges that there would be at least one Merle Haggard tune on the album.
"My pre-requisite was that I didn't want to get into the realm of trying to be really hip and obscure," Fogerty says. "I've seen people get really out there, and it's stuff nobody's heard of or maybe it's stuff nobody wants to hear of. For me it just had to be a good song, a great song, 'cause great songs will carry you a long way."
Fogerty does some more looking back on the "Comin' Down the Road" DVD. In addition to the concert -- a 12-camera HD affair which traverses his CCR and solo career and features guest appearances by his teenage songs Shane and Tyler -- the documentary features extensive interviews with Fogerty as well as visits to El Cerrito, Calif., where he grew up, CCR's Cosmos Factory rehearsal hall/studio and Fantasy Records' headquarters in Berkeley.
Fogerty freely discusses painful past issues such as his legal drama after CCR's break-up and subsequent writer's block, but he says those topics are "kind of academic to me now. It's not a real red-hot emotional button anymore. I'm not still trying to work it out, you know?"
The two solo projects come on the heels of Fantasy's reissues of the CCR catalog, six titles with extensive bonus tracks from the vaults. Fogerty calls them "pretty cool" but acknowledges mixed feelings about the extra material.
"The bonus tracks were some stuff I really never wanted to have released," he explains. "But their job as a record company is to try and renew interest in things that have been around awhile, and that's tricky. As long as everybody understands it's more historic than it is artistic, that's OK. That's the way I have to think about it."
Pearl Jam Raids Vaults For 'Ten' Reissue
Pearl Jam has unearthed a host of unreleased tracks and special surprises from its vaults for a deluxe reissue of its fabled 1991 debut album, "Ten." Four different editions will be available March 24 from Epic; pre-orders begin today (Dec. 10) at PearlJam.com.
Each version includes a digitally remastered version of the original album as well as a completely new remix of the set by longtime producer Brendan O'Brien, who did not work on "Ten" but produced Pearl Jam's subsequent four albums. Bassist Jeff Ament and designer Andy Fischer teamed to revamp the artwork.
The O'Brien disc also includes six previously unreleased songs from the era: early versions of "Breath" and "State of Love and Trust," "Brother" (with vocals, not the instrumental version from the 2003 rarities collection "Lost Dogs"), "Just a Girl," "Evil Little Goat" and "2,000 Mile Blues," a Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired jam with improvised vocals from frontman Eddie Vedder.
Band members have been asking O'Brien to take a crack at a complete remix for years, and he gave the idea a trial run when he remixed the "Ten" tracks "Once," "Black" and "Alive" for Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album "Rearviewmirror."
"The original 'Ten' sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that," says O'Brien of the album, which has sold 9.58 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and vaulted Pearl Jam to global superstardom. The Recording Industry Association of America has certified it for U.S. shipments of 12 million copies. "After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original -- giving a fresh take on it, a more direct sound."
The "Legacy" edition of "Ten" adds a DVD of Pearl Jam's previously unreleased 1992 performance on "MTV Unplugged," including a never-aired version of "Oceans." The audio has been remixed in 5.1 surround sound. Fans can also opt for a double-vinyl version featuring the original "Ten" on one LP and O'Brien's remix on the other.
But the package sure to send hardcore fans into a tizzy is the "Super Deluxe Edition," which features two CDs, a DVD and four vinyl records. It is housed in a linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box with a replica of an item second to none in Pearl Jam lore.
In 1990, when bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard and Mike McCready were getting the nascent Pearl Jam going in Seattle, they recorded three instrumentals to send to the then-unknown Eddie Vedder, who'd been recommended by Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons.
Vedder, then living in San Diego, overdubbed vocals onto the tape, in the process creating the songs "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps" (he was invited to join the band within weeks). Poor quality bootlegs of the demo, dubbed "Momma-Son," have circulated for years, but the "Super Deluxe Edition" will include a crystal-clear dub of the tape on a replica cassette.
In addition, fans will receive Pearl Jam's previously unreleased Sept. 20, 1992, concert at Seattle's Magnuson Park (dubbed Drop in the Park) on two vinyl LPs and a replica of Vedder's composition notebook packed with notes, photos and memorabilia from the "Ten" era. This version will sell for $140.
The "Ten" reissue is the first piece of a two-year campaign culminating with the band's 20th anniversary in 2011. Additional details have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, Pearl Jam is recording its ninth studio album (its first with O'Brien producing since 1998's "Yield"), which is expected for release next year.
Cruise Loses His Blackberry
Hollywood star Tom Cruise is searching for his missing cellphone, after reportedly losing it during a movie junket in Canada.
The actor misplaced his trusted BlackBerry between interviews in Toronto to promote his new movie Valkyrie - and he is desperate to track it down, before all his emails, text messages, and the phone numbers of all his celebrity pals, are leaked online.
According to the National Post, Cruise's assistants have scoured TV studios across the city but failed to find the missing accessory.
'Milk' named best film by New York Film Critics
NEW YORK – Sean Penn and "Milk," Gus Van Sant's biopic about gay rights leader Harvey Milk, continued to gain awards momentum Wednesday, winning best film from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Penn was chosen as best actor for his performance in the lauded film about Milk, the openly gay San Francisco politician who was assassinated in 1978. Josh Brolin won best supporting actor for his performance in the film.
On Tuesday, Penn was chosen as best actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. "Milk" also leads the Broadcast Film Critics Association with eight nominations, tied for the most with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
Like their West Coast brethren, the New York critics picked Sally Hawkins for best actress for her performance in Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky." Best director went to Leigh.
The New York circle, which last year chose "No Country for Old Men" as best film, is a group of 33 New York-based critics. Their picks are one of the early film honors in Hollywood's long awards season, which continues Thursday with nominations for the Golden Globes.
Best supporting actress went to Penelope Cruz for her role in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Jenny Lumet, daughter of Sidney Lumet, won for her screenplay of "Rachel Getting Married."
"Man on Wire" won best documentary, "WALL-E" won best animated film and "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" won best foreign film. Anthony Dod Mantle won for his cinematography in "Slumdog Millionaire." Courtney Hunt ("Frozen River") won for best first film.
The awards ceremony will be held Jan. 5 in New York.
Jerry Lewis to receive Oscar's humanitarian award
LOS ANGELES – Jerry Lewis has never been nominated for an Oscar, but he's going to get one anyway. The 82-year-old will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscar ceremony in February.
The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their selection Wednesday. The Hersholt Award — an actual Oscar statuette — recognizes humanitarian efforts that have brought credit to the film industry.
An actor, director, writer and producer, Lewis made his big-screen debut in 1949's "My Friend Irma." He has been national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association since 1952 and has raised more than $2 billion for the cause through his annual Labor Day telethon.
The Oscars will be presented Feb. 22.