Monty Python remembers Monty Python

A new documentary is being created for air on the IFC and release on DVD and Blu-ray later this year looking back on the history of Britain's most successful comedy group in Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut). Forty years after the premier of Flying Circus, the living members of the group collaborate with interviews from comedians and celebrities on the impact of the long running nonsense. It's a figurative Holy Grail of information.

The disc will arrive in October with a suggested retail price to be set.

Global box office hits record $28 billion in '08

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The global movie box office rose 5 percent to a record $28.1 billion in 2008 as fans sought to escape tough economic times through the triumphs of superheroes in films like "The Dark Knight," and "Iron Man."

The Motion Picture Association of America on Tuesday said domestic ticket sales in the United States and Canada reached $9.8 billion, up 1.7 percent from 2007, and accounted for 35 percent of the worldwide total.

The box office in international markets, excluding Canada, climbed to a record $18.3 billion, up 7 percent from 2007, and accounted for 65 percent of the global total.

"Movies can still be counted on to boost people's spirits as well as the economy," said Dan Glickman, the chairman and chief executive of the movie trade group, in prepared comments for ShoWest, an annual convention held in Las Vegas.

Glickman said the domestic box office has remained strong in 2009, surging 11 percent in the first 10 weeks of the year.

David Miller, analyst with Caris & Co, said the lineup for the U.S. summer movie season looks exceptional with many big titles set for release, including "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Star Trek" and the newest "Harry Potter" installment.

"We believe the Street now has (a) little more comfort with the summer...lineup out of the studio system, which looks outstanding," Miller said in a report.

But strong ticket sales have not always helped Hollywood.

Citing strong box office trends, lawmakers recently stripped from the $900 billion U.S. economic stimulus plan a provision to provide $246 million in tax breaks for movie makers that would help fund production.

In his statement, Glickman said it was not only in Hollywood's interest, but in the U.S. interest, to have constructive policies that protect intellectual property and encourage the economic growth the industry can deliver.

"When folks talk about how well the box office is doing, it's nothing to apologize for," Glickman said in a statement.

"Whether we build cars or make movies shouldn't matter. What matters is getting folks back to work and reviving our economy," he said.

Unlike previous years, the MPAA did not provide data on the average cost to make and market films -- figures that mostly have been on the rise and have offset solid box office.

In last year's report, the MPAA said the average cost to make and market a film grew to $106.6 million in 2007 for the major studios, up 6.3 percent from $100.3 million in 2006.

An MPAA spokeswoman said the group did not track these figures in 2008 due to an evolving marketplace.

"The industry, the wide diversity of films produced, the labels used for distribution and a host of other factors are all changing so rapidly that year-to-year average cost comparisons are relatively useless and misleading," said the spokeswoman.

While domestic admissions fell slightly to 1.4 billion in all of 2008, they remained relatively equal to recent years, with the exception being 2002's high of 1.6 billion admissions.

Admissions rose 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and eight percent in the first 10 weeks of 2009, the MPAA said.

The rise underscores an old rule in Hollywood that in tough times, people go to the movies for escape.

Average ticket prices in 2008 rose by about 30 cents to $7.18, a 4.4 percent increase roughly comparable to the consumer price index increase, the MPAA said.

The number of films released domestically in 2008 rose slightly from the previous year to 610 compared to 599 in 2007, but films produced in the U.S. dropped 20.7 percent in large part due to economic and labor issues, the MPAA said.

The MPAA said its major studio members released 27 fewer films, while non-MPAA-affiliated independent companies released 38 more new films in 2008, making up the difference.

The MPAA represents major studios like General Electric Co's Universal Pictures, Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, Viacom Inc's Paramount, which distributes DreamWorks films, News Corp's Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co.

Another Ghostbusters Sequel Update

About a month ago, Dan Ackroyd gave an update on the next Ghostbusters movie. Now another star and co-writer from the original movies is offering his take on the new sequel, and when we can expect it.

Harold Ramis, Egon Spengler for those familiar with the jumpsuit-wearing Ghostbusters characters, talked with MTV’s Splash Page about that long-talked about sequel. His take is pretty similar to Ackroyd’s: the sequel is coming, the script is underway, and the original players will all be involved, albeit passing the torch to new characters.

"We're all going to be in it in different kinds of roles. We're going to be the sage mentors. There are going to be young Ghostbusters," Ramis declared. When he says “we” he means all of the originals, even the notoriously difficult Bill Murray. "Bill Murray is just waiting for the truckload of money to arrive to get him out of his office," Ramis jabbed, before turning a bit more serious. "I haven't talked to him about it. I want to talk to him about it eventually. I think we just need a script, because he's the thorniest of the group."

As for who those younger Ghostbusters will be, Ramis pointed out that rumors have been going on as far back as including Chris Farley in the cast (along with Ben Stiller, and Chris Rock). The truth is nobody’s been cast, and the movie is still in the script phase, with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky handling the script duties while Ramis, Ackroyd, and director Ivan Reitman serve as consultants.

The actors aren’t the only thing up in the air for the third movie in the series. Reitman is not planning on returning to direct, nor does Ramis want the task, leaving the director’s chair open. With Judd Apatow already signed on to produce, somehow I don’t think finding a director is going to be all that difficult.

Little Steven Ready To Hit The Road With Springsteen

With opening night on Wednesday in San Jose, the E Street Band is ready to rock with Bruce Springsteen. And Little Steven Van Zandt anticipates giving the crowds a healthy dose of the new "Working on a Dream" album.

"We usually want to get the new album in," the guitarist told Billboard.com while in Austin, Texas, to promote his "Underground Garage" radio show and Wicked Cool record label at this year's South By Southwest Music & Media Conference. "We usually play more of our new record than most groups do, and our audiences are used to it and they really like it, which is a wonderful thing. So we'll probably go out and do half the record, like we usually do."

Of the songs from the album, which came out in late January and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Van Zandt said that " 'Lucky Day' just kills, as you expect. 'Surprise Surprise' has been fun. '(Kingdom of) Days' was coming out really great...They're all sounding great. It's just a matter of seeing where (Springsteen) wants to go theme-wise...and we fit the rest of the show around it, more or less. That's all developing as we speak, literally."

After the highly spontaneous shows on the last North American leg of Springsteen's "Magic" tour in 2008, Van Zandt said he expects at least the early shows will "probably (be) coming back to more of an organized set for a minute." But, knowing Springsteen, he adds, "Who really knows?"

Van Zandt added that he does expect the group will play more shows than the currently announced North American and European dates. "I would think there's a bit more than that. I gotta believe we're gonna (tour) until at least Thanksgiving or Christmas, somehow, somewhere. I hope so. I hope we take a month off and then go back out."

He's also not fazed by the idea of not having drummer Max Weinberg out of some shows in order to help launch Conan O'Brien's run on "The Tonight Show," while his son Jay Weinberg takes over his stool.

"I think it's gonna be fine," said Van Zandt, who produced the new album by Norway's the Cocktail Slippers, "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," due out April 28. "And knowing Max, he's not going to miss much...He is the E Street Band. Conan has been absolutely terrific about this...I don't think we thank him often enough. Max is a big part of that show, and for (O'Brien) to just say, 'Go whenever you feel like it,' I mean, Jesus, how nice. So we'll see."

Comedian Dave Foley tapped as Genie Awards host

With less than a week to go, organizers of Canada's annual celebration of homegrown cinema have announced comedian Dave Foley as host of this year's Genie Awards.

The former Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio star will preside over a host of celebrity presenters on Saturday at the 29th Genie Awards gala, being held in Ottawa for the first time. The ceremony will take place at the Canada Aviation Museum.

Benôit Pilon's celebrated Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life), which was Canada's 2009 submission for a best foreign film Oscar, leads the race to the Genies with eight nominations.

Tout est Parfait (Everything is Fine), Passchendaele, Fugitive Pieces, Amal and Maman est Chez le Coiffeur (Mama is at the Hairdresser's) are also among the top condenders.

Special awards announced

Earlier this month, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which organizes the annual celebration of film, revealed a trio of special honours.

Passchendaele, Paul Gross' First World War epic and romance, was named the 2009 Golden Reel Award-winner for being the highest grossing domestic film ($4.4 million) at the Canadian box office over the past year.

Filmmaker Yves-Christian Fournier is this year's winner of the Claude Jutra Award for Tout Est Parfait (Everything is Fine), his feature directorial debut. The critically lauded film centres on a suburban teen who is left adrift after several of his friends follow through on a suicide pact.

Saturday's gala will also include the presentation of an outstanding achievement honour for makeup design to Adrien Morot, Bruno Gatien and Marie-France Guy for their work on Cruising Bar 2. Set nearly two decades after the original, the quirky Quebec comedy hit returns to the four male leads — all portrayed by Michel Côté — as they encounter various mid-life relationship crises.

U2 smashes ticket sale records, unveils new shows

Tickets for the first handful of North American dates on this fall's U2 360 tour hit the box office earlier today (3/30), and promoters claim the group posted record-breaking sellouts in all four cities, each of which will now host the band on back-to-back nights.

According to tour promoter Live Nation, "instantaneous" sellouts occurred for previously announced single performances in the New York City area, the Boston area and Chicago, with the group moving over 82,000 tickets in The Big Apple; 72,000 tickets in Beantown; and 65,000 tickets in the Windy City. The sales totals mark a single-day attendance record for each of the three cities, Live Nation said in a press release.

The record-setting sellouts prompted the group to add second-consecutive nights in all three cities, tickets for which will hit the box office next Monday (4/6).

Tickets sales were equally brisk outside of the US, as the group sold out two nights in Toronto; moved over 6,700 tickets in a single minute for its London engagement, marking the "highest sales rate ever in the UK"; and racked up sales of 160,000 tickets for its previously announced two-night stand on its home turf of Dublin, Ireland, prompting the band to tack on a third and final event in that city, according to Live Nation.

Tickets for the tour's opening night in Barcelona, Spain, meanwhile, sold out in 54 minutes, making it the "fastest ever sold out show in the history of pop music in Spain," according to a press release.

Along with the newly added second nights in the New York City area, Boston area and Chicago, the group has rolled out additional North American dates for September and October, including Washington, DC; Charlottesville, VA; Atlanta; Tampa, FL; Pasadena, CA; and Vancouver British Columbia. Tickets for all but the Charlottesville show will hit the box office next Monday (4/6), while those for Charlottesville go on sale this Friday (4/3), according to Live Nation. Details are included below.

On top of selling boatloads of tickets and confirming new shows, U2 has also announced a few of the opening acts that will share the bill with the Irish rock icons. Snow Patrol will open the Chicago and Boston-area shows; Muse will handle opening duties for the NYC-area engagements; and The Black Eyed Peas are on board for the just-confirmed Pasadena date.

The upcoming tour, which begins with a 14-city European leg this summer, supports U2's recently released 12th studio album, "No Line on the Horizon," which debuted at No. 1 in 30 countries, including the US, where it posted first-week sales of about 484,000 copies.

September 2009
12 - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field (sold out)
13 - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field (on sale 4/6)
16, 17 - Toronto, Ontario - Rogers Centre (sold out)
20 - Foxboro, MA - Gillette Stadium (sold out)
21 - Foxboro, MA - Gillette Stadium (on sale 4/6)
24 - East Rutherford, NJ - Giants Stadium (sold out)
25 - East Rutherford, NJ - (on sale 4/6)
29 - Washington, DC - FedEx Field (on sale 4/6)

October 2009
1 - Charlottesville, VA - Scott Stadium (on sale 4/3)
6 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia Dome (on sale 4/6)
9 - Tampa, FL - Raymond James Stadium (on sale 4/6)
25 - Pasadena, CA - Rose Bowl (on sale 4/6)
28 - Vancouver, British Columbia - BC Place Stadium (on sale 4/6)

AMERICA'S BEST COMICS TELL THE NEW YORK POST THE 50 FUNNIEST JOKES THEY KNOW

Hannibal Buress: "I can't believe that a plane got taken down by geese. That's got to be messed up -- to be taken down by the thing that inspired you."

Any comic who couldn't be funny this past year should just give up and become a funeral director. The well of material has been virtually bottomless. George Bush leaving office, Obama coming into office, economic woes, scandals galore, whatever came out of Paula Adbul's mouth -- it all lent itself to wisecracking. So The Post asked dozens of comedians, both big-time and local, to pick their favorite jokes -- whether they told it, or heard it from someone else -- from the past 365 days. The best 50 are compiled here.

LARRY MILLER

"Is it good when banks buy each other? They make it sound like the most natural thing in the world: 'Wachovia . . . now part of Wells Fargo! WaMu . . . now part of Chase!' But to me, that just sounds like, 'Poland . . . now part of Germany!' "

FRANK DeCARO

"I know that when someone who weighs what I do says that Aretha Franklin is enormous, it's a case of fat-on-fat crime. But that woman has gotten huge. Sister 'Re may still be riding on the Freeway of Love, but now it's in a high-occupancy vehicle."

PENN JILLETTE

"Well, Obama got his stimulus package through. He said we had to 'act now before it was too late' to save the economy. Last time I was told to 'act now before it was too late,' I ended up with five boxes of ShamWows!"

BOB NEWHART

"It's a shame that the '3 a.m. phone call' issue in the Democratic campaign was resolved after Obama's nomination, when John Edwards was caught by the paparazzi while visiting his mistress and love child.

"Thinking quickly, he ran down several flights of stairs and barricaded himself in a stall in the men's room until escorted back to his room by hotel security.

"It showed quick thinking, originality and inventiveness. I personally would want John Edwards there for that '3 a.m. phone call.' "

JONATHAN KATZ

"The economy is so bad that a picture is now only worth 830 words. It's so bad, we had to lay off one of our kids."

WENDY LIEBMAN

"My husband suffers from migraines. It sucks for him, but it works for me. I'm like, 'Not tonight, honey -- you have a headache.' "

JON STEWART

"If I'd just listened to CNBC, I'd have a million

dollars today -- provided I started

with 100 million dollars."

DICK GREGORY

"I'm bringing a civil rights case against Bernie Madoff. How are you gonna steal $100 billion, but not a dime from black people? That's just racist."

(Lee Camp's favorite)

JIM GAFFIGAN

"I love how New York is so multicultural. I wish I was ethnic. 'Cause if you're Hispanic and you get angry, people are like, 'He's got a Latin temper.' But if you're a white guy and you get angry, people are like, 'That guy's a jerk.' "

(Michael Ian Black's favorite)

ZACK GALIFIANAKIS

"You know it's time to do the laundry when you're drying yourself off with a sneaker."

(Michael Showalter's favorite)

MAC KING

"I checked into a hotel here in Vegas the other day and I asked the woman behind the counter if the porn channel was disabled, and she said, 'No, it's regular porn, you sick bastard.' "

(Penn Jillette's favorite)

JACKIE MASON

"Eighty percent of the married men cheat in America. The rest of them cheat in Europe."

ANDY BOROWITZ

"I've started using Obama's catchphrases around the house. Like the other day, my wife said, 'We can't have sex tonight.' And I said, 'Yes, we can.' "

BRUCE CHERRY

"I never read books like, '1,000 Things You Must Do Before You Die,' or, '100 Films You Must See Before You Die.' I'm way too obsessive-compulsive. On the day I died, I would be clutching my chest saying, 'I'm having a heart attack! Quick -- somebody go rent "The Seven Samurai!" If I'm not here when you get back, I'll be climbing the Matterhorn.' "

LORD CARRETT

"I learned a lot from my

divorce. Did you know they won't sell you a gun if you're crying?"

(Bruce Cherry's favorite)

MYQ KAPLAN

"I'm Jewish, but I'm not uber-Jewish. I will use German to describe how Jewish I am."

JIM NORTON

"For the 'Miracle on the Hudson,' let's be honest -- if Sully wasn't a hero pilot, we'd all be looking at his creepy mustache and trying to get the FBI to investigate his hard drive."

GARY GULMAN

"Nice to have a literate president again. A president who says a word and you have to look it up to see what it means, not to see if it's a real word."

JOSELYN HUGHES

"I was interested in how celebrities get so extremely skinny, and I found out they all follow this really easy diet. You start out with a few baby carrots for breakfast, you skip lunch and then for dinner you have a reasonably sized amount -- like three to four ounces -- of pure Colombian cocaine."

MIKE BIRBIGLIA

"April Fool's Day is about saying the most preposterous thing you can to someone, and trying to get them to believe it. And that's getting harder. Like right now someone could say, 'The US government is taking over Citigroup, and they're going to charge $20 ATM fees, and those fees are going to be used to pay bonuses to AIG executives.' And you'd be like, 'That sounds about right.' "

OPHIRA EISENBERG

"My husband called me passive-aggressive and I told him to go screw himself. In an e-mail. Saved in drafts. But he'll find it. Because he's an enabler."

DOUG BENSON

"I get upset when people type in all caps. Because I'm case sensitive."

ROBERT KLEIN

"I'm an Obama man. But when Hillary Clinton said, 'Who would you rather be there when that crucial call to the White House comes at 3 a.m.?' I went with McCain on that one. He'd already be up

taking a leak."

DEMETRI MARTIN

"You know the expression, 'People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'? How about just, 'Nobody throw stones.' That is just crappy behavior."

(Jay Mohr's favorite)

NATE BARGATZE

"There are two kinds of chicken -- free-range and caged. I don't want to eat the happy chicken, the chicken with a dream. That chicken was thinking about going back to school."

(Helen Hong's favorite)

JESSE POPP

"If you buy a book on how to pick up women, check the copy-right date first.

"You don't want to make the same mistake I made and find yourself leaning next to

a lamppost, flipping a coin all night."

(Tom McCaffrey's

favorite)

STEVEN WRIGHT

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."(Richard Belzer's favorite)

SETH HERZOG

"Joe Biden says that offshore drilling is like 'raping the ocean.' Which Sarah Palin is fine with, as long as the ocean pays for its own rape kit."

PAUL SCHEER

"I just saw the poster for 'Fast and the Furious 3' and the tag line is 'New Model. Same Parts.' Isn't that just a crappy version of something? Who would want to buy a car like that? 'Yes, it's the 2009 Porsche, but under the hood all the parts are from 1986.' "

JERMAINE FOWLER

"The longer Magic Johnson doesn't die from AIDS, the more I start to think that he's an actual magician."

EUGENE MIRMAN

"I was thinking about truth or dare, and what the first dare was. I bet it was a cave man daring a cave woman to throw a burning stick at a monster. And I bet she was like, 'Fine, truth.' And I bet he was like, 'OK. What's your biggest fantasy?' And I bet she was like, 'Agriculture.' "

DAVID LETTERMAN

Letterman: "Why exactly are you here, honest to God?"

Gov. Rod Blagojevich: "Well, you know, I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way, for the longest time."

Letterman: "Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me."

(Justin and Eric Stangel's favorite)

JEFF KREISLER

"I went to the Inauguration in DC. I feel bad for Bush -- I've had bad days, done things I'm not proud of, but I've never performed so poorly that when I left, they threw a party with 2 million people and Bono."

LOUIS C.K.

"We live in an amazing, amazing world and it's wasted on the tackiest generation of spoiled idiots that don't care. I was on an airplane and there was high-speed Internet. It's the newest thing I know that exists. It's fast and I'm watching YouTube on an airplane! Then it breaks down and they apologize that it's not working. And the guy next to me goes, 'Pfft, this is bulls - - - .' Like, how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only 10 seconds ago!"

(Hannibal Burress' favorite)

VICTOR VARNADO

"When I am making out with a girl I used to think it spoiled the mood when she would whisper in my ear, 'Victor you're the first black albino I've ever kissed.' But then I realized that it's way better than hearing her say, 'Victor, you are the 43rd black albino I've ever kissed. I'm a collector -- you're getting sleepy because of the poison. Bye bye.' "

CHRISTIAN FINNEGAN

"Sometimes when you're out on a stormy night, you'll see a broken, mangled umbrella lying on the sidewalk. I find that very poignant. Because every umbrella corpse that you stumble across represents a truly sh - - - y moment in someone's life. If hell exists, it consists of eternally walking up 10th Avenue in the pouring rain, on the way to a dinner party, armed with nothing but a $4 Duane Reade umbrella.

GREG GIRALDO

"Rolling Stone magazine called George Bush the worst president ever. That's ridiculous. I'll give them worst American president, but there have definitely been worse presidents in the history of presidents. Like in Liberia, they've had some pretty sh - - - y presidents -- and do you remember the president of the Selena fan club?"

RALPHIE MAY

"Birds knocked that plane out of the sky. Birds. Now every terrorist is all training pigeons. 'You are my favorite pigeon. You are going to fly on the wings of jihad to the heart of the infidel, knocking him out of the sky!' "

CRAIG FERGUSON

"Here's how bad the economy is: Today 'Sesame Street' laid off 67 people, so tonight's episode is brought to you by the letters 'F' and 'U.' "

Compiled by Larry Getlen, Mandy Stadtmiller, Sara Stewart and Reed Tucker

D.C BENNY

A lady came up to me on the train and handed me a pencil with a note that said, 'I'm deaf.' I wrote, 'I'm broke,' and gave it back."

LIAM McENEANEY

"New York City has some of the friendliest homeless people on Earth. "They'll give you all kinds of advice without even being asked. I was walking down the street and this guy sitting in a gutter shouted, 'My man, you gotta walk tall! You gotta show some pride.' I said, 'Thanks -- you're not wearing any pants.'

JACKIE HOFFMAN

"True, we are in a depression, but I do love that the hedge fund - - - holes and the rich, Wall Street banker types now know how actors feel all of the time."

BO BURNHAM

"I'm an optimist. I don't think of strippers as pole dancers. I think of them as confused firemen."

MICHELLE COLLINS

"You ever sit on the train, and the conductor comes over the loudspeaker and says, 'This train is being held at the station.' And you just sit there, and you're like, 'God, I wonder what it's like to be held?' Because you're so lonely."

TOM McCAFFREY

"In fourth grade, I was voted class clown. Not because I was funny, but because I was an alcoholic and all the kids were afraid of me."

JON FRIEDMAN

"I was having breakfast with my dad recently, who started spraying I Can't Believe It's Not Butter all over his bagel. And I thought to myself, What more do they have to do before we don't believe that it's not butter?"

RYAN SHERMAN

"Michael Pelps lost the Wheaties endorsement. But he picked up Funions."

(Wendy Liebman's favorite)

BILL BRAUDIS

"There is a sign in my hotel that shows you how to use the stairs. In case of a fire, they show a stick figure very calmly walking down the stairs. I just don't think that in a fire, a guy made of sticks is going to be very calm."

(Dana Gould's favorite)

RACHEL FEINSTEIN

"I can't deal with the softening of the straight man. I don't want to see any more men with their hair tousled into these 'It's fun to be a boy' haircuts. No more ironic tops and shoulder totes. Soon men aren't even going to have bodies anymore. They'll take of their shirts, and there'll just be a calming smear left."

PETER KASSNOVE

On first-time parenting being like learning to drive: "First I'll learn how to do it -- and then I'll learn how to do it drunk."

TED ALEXANDRO

"Not only is Barack Obama our first black president -- it's the end of white presidents forever. Because you know what they say, 'Once you go black..' "

JORDAN CARLOS

"I live in a bad neighborhood and the little thugs -- the 'thuglets' -- used to make fun of me. They'd say, 'There goes Obama! There goes Obama!' And I'd let them have their laughs, because when the condos come in, they have to leave. They have to take that bandana out of their back pockets, put all their worldly possessions in it, tie that to a hobo stick, sling that across their shoulder, get on one of those see-saw trains and get the hell out of my neighborhood, 'cause I need room my yoga. The coffee shop and organic doggy-treat bake shop can't open til you're gone. Holler!

DOM IRRERA

"You know you're getting fat when you say that in front of your friends and no one corrects you."

(Jonathan Katz's favorite)

DANA GOULD

"There is a Dog Heaven. I'm not sure about a People Heaven. There is definitely no Cat Heaven, there is only Cat Hell -- it's called Dog Heaven."

JACKIE HOFFMAN

(To a predominantly gay crowd) "I just got married. Because I can."

(Frank DeCaro's favorite)

JOHN McCAIN

"I now introduce my choice for the next vice president of the United States: Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska."

(Andy Borowitz's favorite)

CATIE LAZARUS

"On The White House lawn, the Obamas put up a jungle gym, to inspire kids to play and exercise. Then they planted a vegetable garden, to symbolize the root of a healthy diet. Maybe the Obama's should set up a cubicle, to symbolize how one pays for gourmet food and playtime."

DUSTIN YBARRA

"I used to work at Long John Silvers. I got fired because I was too honest with people. This lady was like, 'Excuse me, sir, I found a hair in my fish.' 'Well, lady, you're at Long John Silvers. You're lucky you found fish in your fish.' She wanted to talk to my manager. 'I was like, 'OK, I hope you speak Spanish.'"

HEATHER LAWLESS

"My mom tells everyone that I am a lesbian, but I know that I am straight because of the way I feel around my nephews."

PETE CORREALE

"My wife's grandmother came to visit us here in New York last month. She's an 88-year-old Polish woman from Buffalo. I love this woman to death, but as you can imagine she walks like two miles per hour. She wanted to go see ground zero but I didn't want to go all the way down there. So I just took her to a construction site in my own neighborhood."

AMY SCHUMER

"Everyone is so hot in Miami -- even the homeless people are hot. I made out with a homeless guy by accident. We were kissing on a bench and I was like, 'Let's go back to your place.' He was like, 'This is my place.' "

HELEN HONG

"I get really angry when I see dogs and cats in commercials. Not because of animal rights but because I've been trying to book a commercial for 2 years and I can speak and read."

STEVE HOFSTETTER

"We tease the homeless constantly. We have canned-goods drives for the homeless. They don't have can openers."

PHIL MAZO

"Parents say, 'Eat this -- there are starving children in Africa.' What do they say to children in Africa? 'Eat this -- you're starving.'"

(Steve Hofstetter's favorite)

COLIN KANE

"They call New York City the city that never sleeps. I figured out why after I got my apartment, because the heaters keep you up all goddamn night! It's four in the morning and I got the Blue Man Group banging away on my pipes!"

MYKA FOX

"I've decided to start having one-night stands. It's not that I really enjoy sex -- it's just that I don't want the people I've already slept with to feel like they're so special."

(Myq Kaplan's favorite)

AMY SCHUMER

"You can guess, I never got attention from guys when I was younger. But then the old story -- I got the braces off..of my legs."

(Jim Norton's favorite)

JEFFREY ROSS

At the Friar's Club Roast of Matt Lauer: "Matt Lauer is so bland, his nickname in high school was Matthew Lauer."

(Barry Dougherty's favorite)

ROBERT KELLY

"You know you're fat when you drop something and in your head you're like, 'Do I need that?' 'Honey, if you want the baby, pick it up.' "

JANE KRAKOWSKI

Singing on "30 Rock" as Jenna, who scrambles the words to "Me and Bobby McGee" to avoid a lawsuit: "Synonym's just another word for the one you want to use."

(Judah Friedlander's favorite)

JAY MOHR

"I don't want to pick a favorite joke of mine because then I would hurt my other jokes feelings."

LEE CAMP

"I put a pole in my room because I thought it would attract hot girls. Instead, firemen kept showing up."

ABBI CRUTCHFIELD

"I like the ad on the subway: 'If you see something, say something.' It's a lot better than their old ad: 'If you see something, pee on it.'"

New CD Releases, March 31st: Keith Urban, Diana Krall, Leonard Cohen, Chris Botti, Queensryche and more

Keith Urban "Defying Gravity" (Capitol)

Mr. Urban cowboy is set to ride once again with the release of his first studio offering since 2006's chart-topping "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing." The country crooner was last heard on 2007's best-of collection, "Keith Urban Greatest Hits: 18 Kids."

The first single from "Defying Gravity" is the tune "Sweet Thing," which has already risen on the charts to become the singer's 18th Top 5 hit.

Currently in the process of wrapping up his Verizon-sponsored "No Frills" mini-tour of smaller clubs, Urban will soon turn his attention to his upcoming arena trek. The vocalist/guitarist kicks off that run with a two-night stand, May 7-8, in Uncasville, CT.

* * *
Diana Krall "Quiet Nights" (Verve)

The current queen of jazz is hoping to extend her reign with the release of "Quiet Nights," her 12th album and her first set of new recordings since 2006's "From This Moment On." The vocalist/pianist's previous release is 2007's "The Very Best of Diana Krall," which is her first career retrospective.

Krall co-produced the new album with Tommy LiPuma (Miles Davis, Al Jarreau) and worked with composer/arranger Claus Ogerman (Antonio Carlos Jobim). The set includes three covers of songs originally composed by Jobim, a bossa nova legend.

Krall, who's married to Elvis Costello, will support "Quiet Nights" with a month-long slate of dates in her home country of Canada, beginning April 15 in Calgary, Alberta. She'll then bring the show south to the US for dates in June, July and August.

* * *
Leonard Cohen "Live in London" (Sony)

Tickets to Leonard Cohen's tour, his first to hit the US in some 15 years, have been mighty hard to come by. The master songwriter has been posting sell-outs in most of the markets that he's playing.

Now, all of his fans--with or without tickets--can enjoy the master songwriter in action as Sony releases this new live set, available in both audio-only and DVD/CD formats. The offering features such Cohen classics as "Hallelujah," "I'm Your Man," "Everybody Knows" and "Suzanne," and was recorded in London.

Cohen's North American tour begins in earnest with an April 2 date in Austin, TX.

* * *
Chris Botti "Chris Botti in Boston" (Sony)

The trumpet star follows 2007's "Italia," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart and earned a Grammy nomination for best Pop Instrumental Album, by releasing a live set.

"Chris Botti in Boston" was recorded last fall during two concerts that featured Botti performing with the Boston Pops as well as guest stars Sting, John Mayer, Josh Groban, Steven Tyler and Yo-Yo Ma. Those gigs were filmed for broadcast this spring on PBS-TV's annual pledge drive.

The set is available in both CD and CD/DVD formats.

Botti, a regular road warrior, will again take to the highways in early April. His lengthy trek begins April 4 in Atlantic City, NJ, and is currently scheduled to last through early January of next year.

* * *
Queensryche "American Soldier" (Atco)

The prog-metal band's latest offering is a "musical examination of the life of a soldier and the consequences of war," according to the group's record label. The album's theme reportedly was inspired by dozens of interviews singer Geoff Tate conducted with veterans ranging from World War II through Iraq.

Queensryche will support "American Soldier" with a tour that begins April 16 and 17 in Snoqualmie, WA.

* * *
More new releases:
Clay Aiken, "Playlist: The Very Best of Clay Aiken" (Sony)
Rodney Atkins, "It's America" (Curb)
Bruce Cockburn, "Slice O Life: Bruce Cockburn Live Solo" (Rounder)
Gavin DeGraw, "Free" (J-Records)
Bob Dylan, "New Morning (Original Recording Remastered)" (Sony)
Bob Dylan and The Band, "The Basement Tapes (Original Recordings Remastered)" (Sony)
Flo Rida, "R.O.O.T.S. (Route of Overcoming the Struggle)" (Atlantic)
Gomez, "A New Tide" (ATO)
PJ Harvey, John Parish, "A Woman a Man Walked By" (Island)
Gregg Karukas, "GK" (Trippin' and Rhythm)
Donnie McClurkin, "We All Are One (Live In Detroit)" (Verity)
Stevie Nicks, "The Soundstage Sessions" (Reprise)
Nightwish, "Made in Hong Kong (and in Various Other Places)" (Roadrunner)
Peter Bjorn and John, "Living Thing" (Almost Gold)
UGK, "UGK 4 Life" (Jive)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "It's Blitz!" (Interscope)

Batman Wins Big At Empire Awards

Batman was the big winner at the 2009 Jameson Empire Awards in London as Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan were honoured for their parts in making The Dark Knight.

The annual ceremony at the city's Grosvenor Hotel on Sunday celebrated the film industry's success stories of the year, with Empire magazine readers voting for the winners in all the major categories.

And Batman movie The Dark Knight continued its award season haul, taking home the Best Movie trophy, as well as gaining a Best Actor prize for its star Christian Bale and the Best Director statuette for filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

The event also paid homage to late actor Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his role as evil villain The Joker in the blockbuster, by honouring him with a special commemoration award for his life works.

Moviemaker Danny Boyle, whose Slumdog Millionaire garnered a massive eight Academy Awards at this year's ceremony, turned out to receive an Outstanding Contribution to Film honour in recognition of his 14 year directorial career.

Brit star Helena Bonham Carter walked away with the Best Actress award for her role in Tim Burton's sinister musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Guy Ritchie's latest gangster thriller RocknRolla won the Best British Movie prize, while Abba musical Mamma Mia took home the trophy for Best Soundtrack.

Bond film Quantum of Solace won two awards; one for Best Thriller and another for Best Newcomer for Brit actress Gemma Arterton.

And Hollywood tough guys were the toast of the night - Russell Crowe and Viggo Mortensen received special tributes in honour of their longrunning dedication to acting.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Film: The Dark Knight

Best Actor: Christian Bale

Best Actress: Helena Bonham Carter

Best British Film: RocknRolla

Best Director: Christopher Nolan

Icon Award: Viggo Mortensen

Best Thriller: Quantum of Solace

Best Comedy: Son of Rambow

Best Horror: Eden Lake

Best Newcomer: Gemma Arterton

Best Soundtrack: Mamma Mia

Outstanding Contribution to British Film: Danny Boyle

Actor of our Lifetime: Russell Crowe

Nickelback scores Juno hat trick

VANCOUVER — The Dark Horse turned out to be a sure thing.

Can-Rock icons and Juno frontrunners Nickelback won a triple crown at the Juno Awards last night, easily galloping to victory on the strength of their best-selling 2008 album Dark Horse.

The Hanna, Alta., quartet fronted by singer-guitarist Chad Kroeger took home trophies for Group of the Year and Album of the Year, in addition to winning the Juno Fan Choice Award.

Indeed, the band dominated the two-hour show virtually from beginning to end, opening the broadcast with a pyro-filled performance of Something in Your Mouth from Dark Horse — the best-selling Canadian album of 2008 — and taking home the final trophy of the night for Album of the Year.

"The press is going to hate this tomorrow," laughed Kroeger, referring to the band's reputation among critics. "The press is going to have a field day with this."

Later, he elaborated backstage on the band's relationship with the media.

"We're a very mainstream band. That's not very popular among the press," he said. "But that's OK; that's the kind of music our fans like.

"Actually, I'm terrified now because it seems you're almost letting up on us a bit. So if you wanna go back to beating us up, I'm fine with that. I want this roller coaster to go along just as it is."

He added he was surprised the band won the Fan Choice Award.

"I was hoping for Hedley," he admitted. "I really love those guys. I wanted them to win badly."

Kroeger, whose brother Mike is Nickelback's bassist, also thanked his mom onstage "for giving birth to half the band" and Dark Horse producer Mutt Lange for moving into his house for months to work on the disc.

Dark Horse surpassed two pop-punk discs (Hedley's Famous Last Words and Simple Plan's self-titled third album) and two popular Quebec releases (Sylvain Cossette's ’70s Volume 2 and gypsy-jazz trio The Lost Fingers' Lost in the ’80s) to take the album honours. Nickelback also defeated Great Big Sea, Simple Plan, The Trews and Tokyo Police Club in the Group of the Year category. The public voted to give Nickelback the Fan Choice prize over Celine Dion, Feist, Hedley and The Lost Fingers.

While Nickelback finished at the front of the pack, they weren't the only winners during Sunday night's ceremony held at General Motors Place. Sam Roberts won Artist of the Year, taking home his second trophy of the weekend — the Montreal pop-rocker's Love at the End of the World CD won Rock Album of the Year at Saturday night's non-televised event. Likewise, rapper Kardinal Offishall snared Rap Recording of the Year for his album Not 4 Sale, adding to the Single of the Year award he was given on Saturday for the hit Dangerous. Other award winners announced Sunday were Toronto synth-popster Lights (who won New Artist of the Year) and Dallas Green of City and Colour (who took Songwriter of the Year for tunes from his Bring Me Your Love CD).

The tattooed Green played one of those numbers — Sleeping Sickness — during the broadcast, accompanied by special guest vocalist Gord Downie of Tragically Hip. It was one of several collaborative performances peppered throughout the show. Hometown hero Bryan Adams was joined by roots-rocker Kathleen Edwards on fiddle for an acoustic version of his song Walk On By. Rising country star Crystal Shawanda, R&B diva Divine Brown and pop-rocker Serena Ryder — the latter two Juno winners on Saturday night — performed their hits back-to-back. Idiosyncratic pop-rocker Hawksley Workman and members of Eccodek took to the stage with Great Big Sea for a show-stopping (and show-closing) rendition of Led Zep's Gallows Pole. Other performers included Sam Roberts Band (who sprinted through a crackling version of Them Kids), Humanitarian Award winner Sarah McLachlan (backed by a full band on a lush rendition of U Want Me 2), double-winners The Stills (who justified their Best New Group and Alternative Album wins with a stylish performance of Being Here) and Simple Plan (who wooed the girls with the power ballady Your Love is a Lie).

Extra star power was supplied by a list of presenters that included Buffy Sainte-Marie and k.d. lang, Hedley, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, R&B singers Deborah Cox and Kreesha Turner, chanteuse Sarah Slean, last year's big winner Feist, superstar couple Elvis Costello and Diana Krall, and producer Bob Rock, who inducted Loverboy into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Standup comic Russell Peters tried to be funny for the second year in a row as host, taking the stage with a Bollywood-meets-B-Boy dance routine, venturing into the crowd to heckle celebrities ("Looks like somebody's been eating for the weekend," he said to rotund Loverboy singer Mike Reno) and poking fun at the bizarre set, which mixed high-tech video screens and moving lights with psychedelic vegetation.

"I know this is Vancouver, but what's with the grow-op onstage?" he cracked. "Do you know what the street value of this stage is?"

Last Night's Winners:

Group of the Year
Nickelback

Album of the year
Dark Horse, Nickelback

Juno Fan Choice
Nickelback

Artist of the Year
Sam Roberts

New Artist of the Year
Lights

Songwriter of the Year
Dallas Green (Waiting ..., Sleeping Sickness, The Girl from Bring Me Your Love by City & Colour)

Rap Recording of the Year
Not 4 Sale, Kardinal Offishall

*******************************

Juno Quips and Quotes

"Who knew I had boobs?" — Roots-rocker Kathleen Edwards on her revealing gown.

"I'm on Lipitor!" — Mike Reno

"Knock, knock. Who's there? Brown people. Now give me a million dollars." — Michael Bublé, summing up Russell Peters' act.

"It should be called Best Group We've Just Heard Of." — Dave Hamelin of the decade-old band The Stills on their Best New Group award.

"Get enough sleep, take a bath now and then, don't miss the airplane ... If you're a singer, learn how to dance. It keeps you skinny!" — Buffy Sainte-Marie's career advice to young artists.

"She made me fall in love with the thing I thought I would never fall in love with in my life — and that was the fanny pack." — Serena Ryder on Buffy Sainte-Marie.

"We always get excited at the Junos, and then we have to practise the happy-for-the-other-person face." — Chris Thorsteinson of country-pop trio Doc Walker, who won their first Juno on their fourth nomination.

*****************************

JUNOS IN BRIEF

SARAH'S SERENADE:

TV viewers weren't the only ones who got to see one of Sarah McLachlan's rare recent live performances. The singer-songwriter and recipient of this year's Allan Waters Humanitarian Award treated reporters backstage to a brief a cappella version of the chorus from her song Aida at the request of one scribe. McLachlan also explained why it's been six years since she released her last album. "I am writing; it's slow," she said, explaining that she spent the last six months promoting her Greatest Hits album, celebrating Christmas with her family and dealing with a three-month bout of laryngitis. "I just didn't feel like writing and working when I couldn't sing." Fair enough; but judging by her impromptu backstage performance, she's now officially out of excuses.

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK:

There's hope for you yet, nerds. Synth-pop starlet Lights — winner of this year's Best New Artist Juno — may look out of your league, but she's actually a comic-book geek at heart. "I'm definitely a fan of comic books," she confessed backstage after her win. "I actually have my own biographical comic … I read Wonder Woman." She also wears her: Lights' back is decorated with a tattoo of Wonder Woman battling a giant monster. And if that isn't cool enough for you, she also has a pet tarantula. You know what? On second thought, she really is out of your league after all.

Junos' early winners list

Here is the full list from Saturday night's gala ceremony at Vancouver's Westin Bayshore Hotel:

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Love at the End of the World, Sam Roberts

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Oceans Will Rise, The Stills

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

is it o.k, Serena Ryder

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR

The Stills

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

Dangerous, Kardinal Offishall

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Running For The Drum, Buffy Sainte-Marie

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Ramblin' Son, Julian Fauth

COUNTRY RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Beautiful Life, Doc Walker

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Random Album Title, Deadmau5

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

The Love Chronicles, Divine Brown

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Everything, Humble

CHILDREN'S ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Snacktime!, Barenaked Ladies

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Ending Is Beginning, Downhere

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Tous les sens, Ariane Moffatt

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Nostomania, DJ Brace presents The Electric Nosehair Orchestra

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Viva La Vida, Coldplay

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO)

Proof of Love, Old Man Luedecke

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (GROUP)

Chic Gamine, Chic Gamine

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Africa to Appalachia, Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Embracing Voices, Jane Bunnett

TRADITIONAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Second Time Around, Oliver Jones

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Lucky, Molly Johnson

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (LARGE ENSEMBLE)

Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution, Orchestre symphonique de Montreal and Kent Nagano

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE)

Homage, James Ehnes

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFRMANCE)

Gloria! Vivaldi's Angels, Ensemble Caprice

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

Flanders Fields Reflections, John Burge

JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Daniel Lanois, Here Is What Is and Not Fighting Anymore (Here is What Is, Daniel Lanois)

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR

Kevin Churko, Disappearing and The Big Bang (U-Catastrophe, Simon Collins)

CD/DVD ARTWORK DESIGN OF THE YEAR

Anouk Pennel and Stephane Poirer, En concert dans la foret des mal-aimes avec l'Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal, Pierre Lapointe

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Anthony Seck, Honey Honey (Feist)

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR

Blue Road (Blue Rodeo), Christopher Mills, Geoff McLean

WALT GREALIS SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Fred Sherrett

ALLAN WATERS HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Sarah McLachlan

Sam Raimi writing 'Evil Dead 4'

Sam Raimi, who created the low-budget "Evil Dead" series of horror films, has told Empire magazine he's working on a fourth movie. While Raimi has often said he'd like to reboot the series with a younger cast, his hope for Bruce Campbell to return as Ash indicates this one may be a true sequel.

The first two "Evil Dead" movies -- the second actually also covers all the events from the first -- follow Ash and some friends as they unleash demonic forces with the evil book Necronomicon Ex Mortis. The third movie finds Ash thrown back to medieval times and fighting the undead there.

"There's some dialogue," Raimi told the magazine. "Ash being an idiot. Ash taking some abuse. Some character stuff and then some structure of Act Two. Just other possibilities for things that could happen. It's ideas, jokes, things we'd like to see."

Raimi's latest, "Drag Me to Hell," premieres May 29.

Composer Maurice Jarre dies

PARIS (AFP) – Maurice Jarre, Oscar-winning composer of music for films including "Doctor Zhivago" and "Lawrence of Arabia", died overnight Sunday in Los Angeles aged 84.

The death of Jarre, who won a third Oscar for his score for "A Passage to India", was announced to AFP by the manager of his son, electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre.

The elder Jarre wrote the music for more than 150 films by great directors including John Frankenheimer, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Luchino Visconti.

In 1952 he wrote his first score, for the short "Hotel des Invalides," at the request of director Georges Franju.

Maurice Jarre, who settled in the United States in the mid-1860s, also wrote symphonic music and music for theatre and ballet.

'Monsters vs. Aliens' hurtles to $58.2M debut

LOS ANGELES – Movie beasts from old-time Hollywood got a makeover as heroes and conquered the weekend box office.

DreamWorks Animation's action comedy "Monsters vs. Aliens," which features creatures from 1950s flicks in a showdown with invading extraterrestrials, launched itself into the No. 1 spot with a $58.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It was the biggest debut so far in 2009, topping the $55.2 million first weekend of "Watchmen" in early March.

Opening in second place was Lionsgate's ghost story "The Haunting in Connecticut" with $23 million in ticket sales.

The previous weekend's top movie, Summit Entertainment's apocalyptic thriller "Knowing," slipped to third with $14.7 million, raising its 10-day total to $46.2 million.

The big opening for "Monsters vs. Aliens" boosted Hollywood revenues after a couple of down weekends. Movies overall pulled in about $148 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

For the year, revenues have reached $2.38 billion, up 12 percent from 2008's, according to Media By Numbers. Accounting for this year's higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 10.4 percent.

Hollywood historically weathers recessions well given the relative low cost of movies compared with other entertainment such as concerts or sports events. But the declining revenues of the previous two weekends showed that audiences will not run out to just any old flick, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

"The recession offers a framework from which movies can do well for people looking to escape," Dergarabedian said. "But they have to want to escape to these movies. The appeal has to be there, and it clearly was for `Monsters vs. Aliens.'"

Reese Witherspoon leads the cast of "Monsters vs. Aliens," providing vocals for a woman who grows to nearly 50 feet after an encounter with a meteor. The voice cast also includes Seth Rogen, Kiefer Sutherland, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett and Stephen Colbert.

"Monsters vs. Aliens" was the latest success story for digital 3-D projection. While the 2,080 3-D screens accounted for just 28 percent of the roughly 7,300 on which the movie played, they made up 56 percent of its total box-office haul, said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.

Tickets for 3-D movies typically cost a few dollars more than the 2-D version.
"Audiences donned 3-D glasses in the biggest way ever," Globe said. "`Monsters vs. Aliens' serves as valuable proof of concept for the next generation of 3-D."
The company plans to offer 3-D versions of all of its future animated films, including next year's "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Shrek Goes Fourth," the third sequel to the blockbuster ogre franchise.

Other upcoming 3-D releases this year include Pixar Animation's "Up" and James Cameron's sci-fi adventure "Avatar."

Large-screen IMAX theaters showing "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3-D accounted for $5.2 million of the movie's overall grosses. Those 143 IMAX theaters represented only about 2 percent of the screens on which the movie played but contributed 9 percent of its total box office.

Here are 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. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $58.2 million.
2. "The Haunting in Connecticut," $23 million.
3. "Knowing," $14.7 million.
4. "I Love You, Man," $12.6 million.
5. "Duplicity," $7.6 million.
6. "Race to Witch Mountain," $5.6 million.
7. "12 Rounds," $5.3 million.
8. "Watchmen," $2.755 million.
9. "Taken," $2.75 million.
10. "The Last House on the Left," $2.6 million.

The Couch Potato Report - March 28th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels Bolt, Dog Bolt, Bond, James Bond, Big Stan and a not so noble, Nobel son.

What a great week I had watching movies this final full week of March!

Sure, there was one movie that was an absolutely awful piece of garbage...but for the most part, this was been a great movie week!!

That garbage is coming up, just to ensure you completely avoid it...but up first is this week's HOT POTATO...the Academy Award nominated, co-directed by a Canadian, animated film BOLT.

I loved this film, it was fun, had great action and characters, the animation was great and I loved it.

So, need I say more?

Well, I will say more, only because the it is worthy of the time, plus, it gives me a chance to mention that I met the directors of the film Byron Howard and Chris Williams on the Red Carpet at the Oscars last month!

And Chris Williams was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario!

BOLT is about a dog - voiced by John Travolta - who is the star of a television show where he has superpowers.

And, when the cameras are off, he still thinks he has superpowers.

When Bolt believes that his co-star and friend Penny - played by Miley Cyrus - is in trouble, he runs away from the trailer he is kept in to try and save her.

He is aided in his efforts by the films most entertaining character, a star-struck, running ball-enclosed hamster named Rhino.

BOLT is fun for the whole family, I loved it and when I have time I will definitely see it again.

Just as I will happily see this week's next five films again...and again...and again...and again...

The latest Bond, James bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE came out this week, so four other films in the series have also been re-released, and are available now for the first time on Blu-ray...just in case you want to upgrade to hi-definition.

I will get to the other four in just a moment, but first, I would like to rave about QUANTUM OF SOLACE

QUANTUM is Daniel Craig's second outing as Bond, and the film picks up right where CASINO ROYALE left off, and I mean literally right after, so if you didn't see Craig's first outing as Agent 007 you will be a little lost when watching this one as it begins with a spectacular car chase that is actually Bond taking a prisoner in for questioning.

The interrogation and subsequent events uncovers a global conspiracy named Quantum, that has members in positions of prominence and power who are all up to no good...but the film is only partially about them.

It is primarily about Bond seeking revenge toward those who killed the woman he loved.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE isn't the best Bond film ever made, but it is still a great movie, and I liked it, and Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko a lot. However, if you are going to see it, make sure you watch CASINO ROYALE first...unless you prefer the older Bond films instead...and if that is the case, well you are in luck!!

The space based MOONRAKER with Roger Moore, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH starring Pierce Brosnan, and two Sean Connery Bond films - NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and GOLDFINGER are now available once again!

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is the 1983 film that say Connery return to the role of Bond in a film that many don't even consider an official Bond film, and while it isn't one of my favourite films, I do like it. But I love GOLDFINGER!!

It was the very first Bond film I ever saw, and even if you think you don't like this series of films about the super-suave British secret agent, I can still highly recommend GOLDFINGER!!

From the long-lasting and legendary James Bond cinematic character, we now move on to a character who should be ignored and forgotten.

This next film is so bad, so awful and such a piece of garbage that I only mention it so you can make sure you avoid it...even if you have laughed at films by Rob Schneider in the past.

Those films may have included, The Benchwarmers, The Hot Chick, The Animal, or Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo...and Schneider has also been funny in almost all of Adam Sandler's films...but he is not funny in his latest release!!

It is called BIG STAN and it is garbage!! Absoulte garbage!!! Even if there is nothing else in the store to rent, do not rent BIG STAN...it is a complete waste of your time!!

And that is enough time wasted on this mess!

Let me tell you about a real comedy! One that may not be for everyone, due to the fact that it is absolutely NOT politically correct, and some of the humour and references are waaay out there, but still, WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER made me laugh.

And isn't that what a comedy is supposed to do?

WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER is a film set in a summer camp in 1981 and it stars Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live and Christopher Meloni from LAW & ORDER: SVU.

WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER is the type of film that not everyone will enjoy...but I did.

I also enjoyed NOBEL SON. It isn't a great movie, but it is very good.

This film is a very black comedy about a dysfunctional family who have to deal with a kidnapping following the father's winning of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Alan Rickman from DIE HARD plays the very arrogant prize-winning professor.

NOBEL SON has a great cast that also includes Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman, Eliza Dushku, Danny DeVito and Ted Danson, and it almost succeeds at being a hip and cool, fast, heavily edited flick, but there is very little suspense and that takes away from it in the end. Like I said, this one is not great, but it is very good.

Finally this week is the two disc set for SEASON TWO of the televison show THE RICHES.

Minnie Driver and the great star in this show about a family of crooks who assume the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban clan in the Deep South.

Personally, I never thought THE RICHES was as good as it could have been, but is still an above average sgow and I really enjoyed seeing how it played out in this second, and as it turns out final series, as the show has now been cancelled.

Cancelled or not, THE RICHES is a very good show and SEASON TWO of it is available now on DVD alongside NOBEL SON, WET-HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and the awful piece of garbage that is BIG STAN!!

The James Bond reissues NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, GOLDFINGER, MOONRAKER and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, the great newest Bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and the very entertaining animated film BOLT are available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

Oh, and the OUT & ABOUT feature from this year's Academy Awards featuring my interview with BOLT's director Chris Williams can be heard online at www.cbc.ca/saskweekend...just look under LINKS.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

I will tell you about a new Canadian made documentary called AIR INDIA 182 and the Academy Award winning film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

CBC comedy Sophie cancelled after two seasons

CBC has cancelled Sophie, the half-hour comedy about a single mother starring Natalie Brown.

The series has run two seasons on CBC-TV and was also picked up by U.S. network ABC for its family channel.

Brown plays Sophie, a talent agent who ended up a single mother in the first season after her boyfriend left her for her former best friend.

Created by Montreal studio Sphère Média Plus, the show is an adaptation of the successful francophone series Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin (The Highs and Lows of Sophie Paquin).

Jeff Keay, head of media relations for the English network, said the cancellation was unrelated to the programming and job cuts announced at CBC on Thursday.

The season finale of Sophie aired earlier this week.

CBC made the decision to cancel Sophie more than a month ago, he said. The show is running Monday evenings at 8.30 p.m.

On Thursday, CBC announced there would be fewer episodes of several other primetime shows, including This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Being Erica.

Metallica's Making Hall Of Fame Induction A "Family Reunion"

Metallica is using its upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction to stage what drummer Lars Ulrich calls "a sort of family reunion."

"I don't think there's a better time to come together than when it's about celebration," Ulrich tells Billboard.com. "I think everybody is proud of their association (with Metallica), so we're reaching out to everybody who's been a part of this, both inside the band on and on the periphery of the band over the years. And there's a big group of people coming to Cleveland for the weekend, so I look forward to seeing a lot of people I haven't seen for a long time."

The Metallica guest list for the April 4 induction includes staffers from the band's previous labels, Megaforce and Elektra, journalists and photographers who have been supportive over the group's career, producers and musician friends. Metallica also invited founding guitarist Dave Mustaine, who is unable to attend, and former bassists Ron McGovney and Jason Newsted, who will. Newsted is also planning to perform with Metallica during the ceremony. Ray Burton, father of the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, will accept on behalf of his son.

Guitarist Kirk Hammett says Metallica was inspired to be all-inclusive after it witness Blondie's acrimonious induction during the 2006 Rock Hall ceremony. "There was so much politics and so much drama," Hammett recalls, "that we collectively said to each other that if that ever happens and we get inducted...we don't want any of that, because it kind of really puts a whole bad, sour note on the celebration itself. We said to each other, 'Let's celebrate the fact and let's not turn it into something negative."

Hammett calls Metallica's induction "pretty huge," and both he and Ulrich say they're pleased the group is being honored while it's "still a vital band, still somewhat relevant and somewhat active in making records and touring," according to Hammett. "To be in a position where we are simultaneously being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and putting out a video game ("Guitar Hero: Metallica," coming out Tuesday), it's a very, very cool thing."

"Sometimes," Ulrich adds, "especially with younger people, one has a tendency to quickly, when accolades come your way, kinda go the cool way and say it doesn't mean that much, 'Try me again in 10 years, [i]dahling[/i]...I'd much rather be inducted into the Hall of Fame while I'm still conscious enough to experience and enjoy it and certainly more interested than it being 65 years from now or whenever."

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea will induct Metallica during the ceremony, which will be broadcast live by Fuse TV. Metallica is taking a break from the European leg of its Death Magnetic tour to attend the ceremony and recently announced a new set of North American dates, starting Sept. 14 in Nashville.

'Family Guy' reunites 'Trek' crew

Science fiction and animated parody seem to go together like, uh, Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher.

OK, clumsy analogy. But seriously, what is it about sci-fi that makes it so ripe for mockery by animated comedies such as Family Guy?

"I think it's easy to mock things that take themselves too seriously," said David Goodman, the show-runner and co-executive producer of Family Guy. "Star Trek is both wonderful and pompous at the same time."

Great point. And Goodman, by the way, is a self-confessed "hardcore Trekkie," as is Family Guy creator and voiceover star Seth MacFarlane.

Anyway, in a new Family Guy episode titled Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, which airs Sunday on Global and Fox, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reunites in animated form.

"They all were very game," Goodman said. "Many of them already had done the show (individually). Patrick Stewart (who played Captain Picard) is sort of in the family, because he has a recurring role on American Dad and he has done Family Guy more than once.

"It was not hard at all (to convince them). They were fans of the show. They couldn't have been nicer or more game to spoof themselves. As a group, they could not have had a better sense of humour, which you don't always find with actors. A lot of actors don't like to play themselves, don't like to spoof themselves, but this group is just the opposite."

Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons -- longer than any other Star Trek series -- from 1987 to 1994. But that's quite a long time ago.

So, Goodman was asked, why parody TNG now?

"You could ask, why did we do a Back to the Future reference last week, when the movie is (24) years old?" replied Goodman, whose show has another Star Wars parody and a Tootsie spoof in the works, too.

"Seth and I are huge fans of Star Trek and we realized that although there had been plenty of episodes in episodic television that brought back the cast of the original series -- in fact, I wrote one of them for Futurama -- nobody had reunited The Next Generation cast. And The Next Generation was a hugely popular show in its day. I think they got like 10 or 12 million viewers a week, and I think we only get like eight million.

"We aren't necessarily going to reference the most current show, although we do that (sometimes). Our stock in trade is our own memories of shows we watched when we were younger."

In Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, Stewie (voiced by MacFarlane) builds a transporter and beams the cast of The Next Generation to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog. The guest voices from TNG belong to Stewart, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes.

"They're all playing themselves (as opposed to their TNG characters), so we had fun playing with who they really are, and Stewie discovers what it's like to hang out with them," Goodman said. "It's the Family Guy twist on your expectations, so I'm very pleased with the surprises in the episode."

Goodman was asked what the funniest line of dialogue in the episode is. "To me the best line is what Stewie says to the (TNG) cast at the end of the episode," Goodman said.

"I'm not going to give it away. But (Stewie) didn't get to ask his question at the Star Trek convention, so he kidnaps all of them and has a little bit of a journey with them.

"His final words to them, I think, are very funny." Can't wait.

Kardashian defends curves

Reality TV pin-up Kim Kardashian has defended her curvy figure once again, after a website accidentally posted a picture of her sporting cellulite.

A snap of the star was uploaded onto Complex magazine's website on Thursday before it had been airbrushed and retouched.

It was quickly removed and replaced with a shot of Kardashian looking slimmer and with smoother skin, but not before eagle-eyed bloggers had grabbed the unauthorized photo and posted it elsewhere on the internet.

But the 28-year-old insists she isn't embarrassed about the mishap.

Kardashian writes on her own blog, "So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn't!?

"How many people do you think are photoshopped? It happens all the time. I'm proud of my body and my curves and this picture coming out is probably helpful for everyone to see that just because I am on the cover of a magazine doesn't mean I'm perfect."

But Kardashian admits she will be spending more time working out to avoid any more awkward exposés: "This all motivates me to stay in the gym because my goal this year has been to get in better shape and tone up! Hard work pays off!"

CBC cuts hit news, drama, sports, radio

CBC English Services plans to cut up to 80 positions from its news division and a further 313 from sports, entertainment, current affairs, sales and support across the country as part of its efforts to make up a $171-million shortfall in 2009-10.

Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of CBC's English Services, announced details of the cutbacks to radio and TV in a speech to employees on Thursday. The details came a day after CBC president and chief executive Hubert Lacroix announced the public broadcaster would have to cut about 800 full-time positions in total at the CBC/Radio-Canada, as well as selling about $125 million in assets.

The cuts to programming at CBC English Services will mean fewer episodes of many prime-time television shows and cuts to entire programs on both Radio One and Radio 2, Stursberg said.

Changes coming to Radio One and 2

Changes on Radio One include:

Cancellations of The Inside Track, Outfront and The Point.
Reduction of regional noon-hour programs to one hour.
Reductions in drama.
Changes on Radio 2 include:

Cancellations of In the Key of Charles and the weekend edition of The Signal.
Reductions in live music production and recordings.
More consolidations with Radio 3.
On CBC-TV, investigative programs such as The Fifth Estate and Marketplace will have reduced budgets, though it's not yet known whether that will mean fewer episodes.

Canadians can also expect to see more repeats of many prime-time programs, with shorter seasons ordered for ones including:

The Border.
This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Being Erica.
Little Mosque on the Prairie.
The CBC will also reduce spending on new children's programming and cancel the Living programs produced in each region.

In CBC Sports, there will be reductions or cutbacks in coverage of:

International figure skating.
CONCACAF Champions League soccer.
World aquatics.
World athletics.
Skiing.
The CBC will also drop its Blue Jays baseball telecasts.

CBC Radio loses 121 jobs

About $14.4 million must come out of radio, leading to a reduction of 121 jobs, including 20 in Toronto.

There will also be job losses in the Ontario cities of Windsor, Thunder Bay and Sudbury, in Quebec City, in the New Brunswick cities of Moncton and Saint John, in Sydney, N.S., and in Corner Brook, Gander and Grand Falls in Newfoundland and Labrador. There will be budget reductions at CBC North.

One-person bureaus in La Ronge, Sask., and Thompson, Man., will be closed.

About 109 positions will come out of television entertainment, including the previously announced cancellations of Fashion File and the placing of Steven & Chris on hiatus. A further three jobs will be cut from CBC-TV Sports.

A total of $7 million must be cut from the news division, including 80 jobs in radio news, current affairs and TV current affairs.

The number of people who lose their jobs could be reduced if a number of employees opt for a retirement package to be announced in April.

Stursberg also said there would be further details released about cuts in news on April 16.

He called the cuts "painful" and said he was worried about the future of news, TV drama and children's programming. He noted that the cuts in drama would also have an impact on dozens of independent producers and their employees.

"We want to maintain as much as we can and stay on strategy as much as possible as we make these cuts," Stursberg said.

He emphasized that radio morning and afternoon drive shows have been spared and radio remains ad-free. On television, the CBC will keep 80 per cent Canadian content in prime time and increase it during the day, with shows such as Martha Stewart and The Simpsons expected to be cancelled.

Cuts needed despite high ratings

He said the CBC tried to make cuts that would maintain the strong position it has now with high ratings in radio and television.

"The irony is, we are in financial difficulty when we're doing better than we've ever done before," he said. More than 20 million Canadians tune in to CBC Radio, CBC-TV and CBC.ca every week, he said.

Stursberg said he didn't know whether further cuts would be necessary, perhaps a year from now.

Ad revenue by all conventional broadcasters has been falling and private broadcasters, like the CBC, have experienced a steep decline in revenue.

"It depends in very large measure on what happens to earnings. If ad markets recover, we will be in much better shape," Stursberg said.

"We can't really see where the bottom is. No one has any sense of when the economy is going to come back."

At a speech in Montreal on Thursday, Lacroix warned there would be deeper cuts if the CBC is unable to sell assets.

He announced on Wednesday that the CBC was hoping to sell $125 million in assets — but those sales must be approved by the federal government.

Lacroix criticized the Conservatives for leaving the CBC in limbo over its budgetary allocation for 2009-10, saying the government has not yet let the CBC know whether it approved the special $60 million for programming it has received since 2001. The CBC's new fiscal year begins in five days.

In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, Heritage Minister James Moore said the CBC will be receiving its full allocation, including the $60 million for programming.

But he said the bridge loans for which Lacroix had asked as a way of carrying CBC over the recession would not "be in the interest of the CBC."

"If the CBC is in a position where there's not a return of ad revenue and then there are increasing demands on the CBC in order to fulfill its mandate and on top of that they're in a position where they have to now repay a loan, you'll see a real cannibalization of the CBC services across the country and that's not in the best interest of the broadcaster or taxpayers," Moore said.

Supper hour newscasts cut in Quebec

Lacroix said no part of Radio-Canada will be untouched by the cuts.

Among the large cuts on the French side are the elimination of noon hour news shows in Quebec City, Ottawa, Moncton and Sherbrooke and reduction of the supper hour newscasts in those markets to half an hour from an hour.

The programs Vous êtes Ici and Macadam tribus have also been cancelled.

Lacroix also announced Radio Canada International will eliminate its Ukrainian and Cantonese services.

Marc-Philippe Laurin, president of the Canadian Media Guild's CBC branch, said employees face a hard six months.

"It's sad that we've come to expect layoffs as a way of life at CBC," he said in memo to CMG members, saying these decisions "cut to the very heart of what we do and who we are."

"It is also very disappointing that the Conservative government has let this happen at a time when our members and the public broadcaster are doing better than ever in every market across the country in providing valuable and informative programming to Canadians," he added.

Pop, country singer Dan Seals dies of cancer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dan Seals, who was England Dan in the pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and later had a successful country career, has died of complications from cancer. He was 61.

Longtime manager Tony Gottlieb said Seals, diagnosed with lymphoma two years ago, died Wednesday night at his daughter's home in Nashville.

With England Dan and John Ford Coley, Seals had hits including "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" and "Nights Are Forever," both in 1976. His country hits in the '80s and '90s included "Bop," "You Still Move Me," "Love on Arrival," and a duet with Marie Osmond, "Meet Me in Montana."

"I've loved to play and sing from the moment I knew what it was," he told The Associated Press in 1992.

Seals, who is survived by his wife, four children and seven grandchildren, was in hospice care when he died.

"He was very positive," said Gottlieb, Seals' manager for about 30 years. "He participated in several clinical trials to assist with research on this type of lymphoma."

Gottlieb said a major misconception about Seals is that he was a pop singer who came to country music. In reality, he said, Seals grew up singing country music and crossed into pop.

"He was raised in a very rural part of West Texas. His father was an amateur country singer, and he used to play with his dad. They were Hank Williams, Grand Ole Opry people. He was much more of a country singer than a pop singer."

Seals' older brother, Jimmy, was the Seals in Seals & Crofts, who recorded the hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl" in the 1970s.

Until Dan Seals got sick, the brothers were working as a duo, Seals & Seals. They performed some shows and were recording an album but never finished it. The songs they did complete, about eight in all, will be released.

"In the last two years he only did like three shows," Gottlieb said. "He just didn't have the energy."

Seals, whose father was a pipefitter, was born in McCamey, Texas, and grew up in Iraan, Texas, and Dallas.

His well-crafted songs tended to be insightful and graphic with lofty themes. In 1989, his music video for the song "Rage On" addressed a topic rare in country music: an interracial relationship. It showed angry youths smashing the windows of the car of a young man dating a girl of a different race. One boy hurled a beer bottle at the girl's father. The song itself was about small town values.

"When we record songs, we take chances," Seals said at the time. "We feel we are on the cutting edge of what we can do."

Studio: Sean Penn to play Larry in `Stooges' movie

NEW YORK – Sean Penn is going slapstick.

The studio MGM says the double Oscar winner has signed on to play Larry in the Farrelly brothers' big-screen update of "The Three Stooges."

Jim Carrey was "in negotiations" for the role of Curly, said MGM spokesman Grey Munford. The studio first featured the stooges in a series of shorts and features beginning in 1933.

Munford would not confirm reports that Benicio Del Toro will play Moe.

He said said filming begins this fall on the comedy, which is expected to be released in 2010.

The casting of a serious actor like Penn in the assuredly goofy comedy isn't such a stretch: The actor launched his storied career as goofball Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

Aniston named 'Sexiest Woman'

Jennifer Aniston has topped a new list of Hollywood's Sexiest Women in men's magazine Details.

The newly-single former Friends star, 40, beat Transformers actress Megan Fox and newlywed Gisele Bundchen to land the top spot in the new poll.

The top five is:

5. Kim Kardashian

4. Frieda Pinto

3. Gisele Bundchen

2. Megan Fox

1. Jennifer Aniston

What the deuce? Stewie Griffin on 'Bones'?

You read that headline correctly -- FOX will do a rather unusual crossover in May when Stewie, the hell-raising, hyper-intelligent infant from "Family Guy," makes an appearance on "Bones."

Stewie completed his shooting recently and had this to say: "Oh, have you seen it? Was I good? Because I heard they said I was amazing and they want me to replace Emily [Deschanel], but that's just a rumor."

His scene partner, David Boreanaz, adds: "The guy was good during the actual scenes, which is the important thing. But between takes he literally vanished -- nowhere to be seen. I guess it's true that Brits and cartoons tend to be standoffish. Or maybe it was a method thing. I don't know."

In the episode, scheduled for May 7, Booth (Boreanaz) will have babies on the brain after Brennan (Deschanel) decides she wants to have a child -- and asks Booth to be the father. The idea consumes Booth -- as does an unrelated (and undiagnosed) health problem that lays him out and causes him to hallucinate. Stewie will "assess the situation" and offer his advice. (But will there be dancing?)

I'm thinking Stewie might tell Booth to take Brennan up on her offer, since my intrepid colleague Korbi has written at length about a Bones-Booth coupling (finally) in the season finale, which airs the following week.

The May 7 episode, by the way, is called "The Critic in the Cabernet." Body in a wine barrel, maybe? Jokes about the wine having a good nose?

More Artists Added To Bonnaroo

Public Enemy, Ani Di Franco, Amadou and Mariam, White Rabbits and Janelle Monae are among the artists who have been added to the lineup of this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

They join previously announced 2009 headliners Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, Phish, MGMT and Wilco at the annual festival, set to take place June 11-14 in Manchester, TN.

For further information, visit Bonnaroo.com.

Bob Barker returns to 'The Price is Right'

LOS ANGELES – Bob Barker returned to "The Price Is Right" — and this time he was the showcase.

After nearly two years in retirement, the 85-year-old former game show host was invited to come on down to "The Price Is Right" to promote his upcoming memoir, "Priceless Memories," due out April 6.

Barker on Wednesday once again stood on the set where he had worked for 35 years. As he walked the halls of the studio, old co-workers greeted Barker with broad smiles, seemingly as happy to have him back as he was to be there.

Dressed in a black suit with a hot pink shirt and matching tie, the silver-haired host appeared alongside successor Drew Carey near the finale of the show, which airs April 16, to present two prize showcases that were somewhat stretched to promote Barker's memoir.

One showcase, for example, featured a computer to order the book, a trip to New York City to buy a bundle of the books from the publisher, and a truck to haul them all back in.

"That general idea was in their script, but I shamelessly overacted on a lot of it," Barker said, laughing mischievously in his dressing room after the show.

All 300 members of the show's live studio audience also received a copy of the tome.

Most days, Barker said his retirement has been filled with various projects helping animals. He also keeps in shape by exercising with light weights and an elliptical machine.

"I have remarked that I better go back and start doing the show again to get a little rest," Barker said.

But despite his busy lifestyle, the veteran performer said he misses the excitement of "The Price is Right."

"I could never have done this show if I hadn't enjoyed it, and one of the things I enjoyed was the excitement with the audience, the fun with the audience, the responses of the audience," Barker said. "I'd done audience participation my entire adult life."

Barker taped his last regular episode — his 6,586th — of the popular CBS game show in June 2007, retiring after five decades on national television.

Always the animal lover, Barker spends his free time with his dog, Jesse, and two rabbits, Mr. Rabbit and Honey Bunny. Proceeds from Barker's book will go to the DJ&T Foundation, which he founded in 1994 to subsidize the cost of spaying and neutering animals.

Asked at the end of the interview if there was anything else he'd like to add, Barker chuckled and said, just as he had for 35 years on network television: "Help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered."

Oscars: 82nd annual awards show to air March 7

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The Oscars will be presented a little later next year.
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on March 7 to avoid coinciding with the Winter Olympics, said Leslie Unger, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The 2010 Winter Games are scheduled Feb. 12-28.

This year's Oscars telecast, hosted by Hugh Jackman, aired Feb. 22.

For many years, until 2004, the awards ceremony was held at the end of March.

"It has been in February since then, except for one year, in 2006, where the circumstances were the same as next year, to not coincide with the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics," Unger said Wednesday.

Nominations ballots will be mailed to members Dec. 28 and nominations polls will close Jan. 23.

Nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

"In terms of the nominating process, that puts another week in the schedule for members to see movies," Unger said.

CBC plans to cut 800 jobs

Even after selling off assets valued at $125 million, the CBC will have to eliminate 800 jobs from the start of summer through September to make its target of $171 million in budget cutbacks, the national broadcaster’s president Hubert Lacroix told employees at a town hall meeting in Montreal this morning.
“These are tough times for the public broadcaster,” Lacroix said. “The changes are significant and it will take time to talk them through.

“We need $171 million to balance our budget, which will mean 800 positions.”

Assuming the federal government approves the sales of assets and allows the CBC to keep the proceeds, balancing the budget “still results in (the loss of) 800 positions,” Lacroix said.

In addition, senior managers’ take-home pay will be cut by 20 per cent, through reduced bonuses, and corporate salaries will be rolled back by 5 per cent.

At least half the job cuts will be made in English-language departments, said Richard Stursberg, vice-president of English services. Twenty per cent of them will be borne by regional services, and the remainder by the network, he added.

Television will feel the cuts more acutely than radio, which will continue broadcasting without commercials, Stursberg said.

But “the beef of the (television) schedule remains largely intact.”

CBC management has offered a voluntary retirement package and, until the results are known, the number of layoffs and the areas most affected remain unclear.

Another town hall meeting for CBC English services is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Hagar, Anthony, Smith and Satriani unveil Chickenfoot

Former Van Halen bandmates Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani are poised to release the debut album from their new group, Chickenfoot, and are rehearsing for a tour in support of the set.

The quartet has completed work on the as-yet-untitled release, which is expected to surface next month. The set features the cuts "Soap on a Rope" and "Down the Drain," both of which are streaming at Chickenfoot's website.

Photos at the group's Facebook page show the band rehearsing and performing a private show in Southern California last week.

"When people hear the music, it's Led Zeppelin," Hagar told MusicRadar.com last year. "I know that's a bold statement, but it's as good as that.

"It's 10 times Van Halen because it's functional," he added. "We all like each other."

Neither a specific release date for the album nor details for the impending tour have been revealed.

Pearl Jam getting nostalgic over debut album

NEW YORK (Billboard) – As Pearl Jam's blockbuster 1991 debut, "Ten," received a re-release on Tuesday so deluxe that it would be fairer to call it a complete reimagining, the veteran Seattle band's bassist and co-founder Jeff Ament sat down with Billboard magazine to talk about what went into the four extras-laden editions of the 12-times platinum album.

He also took a trip down memory lane to the days when the quintet's "Alive," "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" dominated radio and singer Eddie Vedder swung Tarzan-like from the rafters of clubs and amphitheaters from Los Angeles to London.

"I don't think any of us had thought much about what happened 18 years ago since," Ament said.

"This is one of the first times I've really looked back on the band, because typically we've been so busy moving forward. It felt like a good time. It felt like there was enough separation between what had happened then. We all have a sense of humor about it, which 10 years ago I don't think we would have had as much of."

Each of the four versions of the "Ten" reissue 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. The version that has sent hardcore fans into a tizzy is the two-CD, one DVD, four LP "Super Deluxe Edition." The linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box includes a replica of "Momma-Son," the audition demo tape Vedder sent to Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard in 1990 to land the job in Pearl Jam, the previously unreleased September 20, 1992, concert at Seattle's Magnuson Park on two vinyl LPs, a replica of Vedder's composition notebook packed with notes and photos and assorted stickers and other memorabilia from the "Ten" era.

LET'S TALK ABOUT BRENDAN'S REMIX. HE HAD A CRACK AT A FEW
SONGS ON THE "GREATEST HITS" ALBUM THAT CAME OUT IN 2004. WHAT
IS IT ABOUT THE SOUND OF "TEN" THAT HAS BUGGED YOU?

It goes back to making our first record with Brendan, which was (the 1993 sophomore effort) "Vs." When we heard how powerful that sounded in the way that he treated it, which was basically not treating it very much, other than making things punchier and doing some EQ and compression ... There's really not a lot of reverb on things.

"Ten," you can hear when you listen that there is so much going on. You can hear the tool of the time, the Lexicon Reverb, on almost everything. Somewhere in the late '90s, I found a rough mix tape of "Ten." I played it on cassette and that's when I started saying, "We have to remix 'Ten'." It would usually happen after we'd been in a club or something and we'd hear a song from it. It was like, "Ugh! This is killing me!"

At one point I told Brendan that I'd pay him to just do a version for me, just so if I had to listen to a song to re-learn it or whatever, I'd hear the proper version. He was always like, "It's a classic and I don't want to touch it." He was very respectful. That's the reason the original is still part of this package, because it's the version that 10 million or however many people bought.

When you hear his version though, it's just twice as powerful to me. It's so much more distinctive. You can really hear the texture of Ed's voice and of the instruments. It also reminded me what a great drummer Dave Krusen was. The other mixes, there's so much room and reverb that you don't hear the attack on the drums, but on this version you really hear him playing hard.

AND THIS BRINGS THE REPRESENTATION OF THOSE SONGS MORE IN
LINE WITH WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE LIVE.

Yeah. I think those songs changed so much the first couple months we were out touring. That's what was hardest about listening to the record. Not only were the songs slower on "Ten," they had a really soft sound to them. We felt like it didn't represent us, so here it is, represented.

THERE WAS THAT TOTALLY DIFFERENT "JEREMY" THAT WAS PLAYED
LIVE IN 1995, BUT IT'S NOWHERE TO BE FOUND HERE.

I don't know that we ever got it to a place where it would have been a really proper alternate version. I think we only played it five or six times.

WERE THERE THINGS YOU JUST COULDN'T DO FOR THE MOST DELUXE
VERSION?

The things that ended up in the journal, that's probably a tenth of what we had laying out on the table. We put the stuff that we thought best told the story. It gives you an inside glimpse into what we were going through and doing with our pens in the downtime. There's a page from something I did about how we wanted to do this very idealistic approach to merchandising. It's kind of funny, but it's pretty right on. It's kind of what we've done, and it was funny to see that. I didn't remember us even thinking that way back then, but we were. It's interesting to think we were a very idealistic band at that time, and we actually pulled a lot of it off.

DO YOU STILL FIND YOURSELF EXPERIENCING THE MATERIAL IN
DIFFERENT WAYS AS TIME GOES ON?

I don't think I've really sat down and listened to anything off of "Ten" unless we were deciding to play "Deep" one night for the first time in three years. The combination of listening to the remix and digging through those boxes brought a bunch of things to the surface that I think I'd buried. I think I felt from my side that I wasn't as good as I wanted to be, so I was looking forward and trying to be a better bandmate and bass player. I always kind of cringed when people would talkke about it, but because it was so huge, it added this weirdness to it.

BUT BY THE SAME TOKEN, ALMOST ALL OF THOSE SONGS ARE STILL
IN LIVE ROTATION. THEY STILL HAVE A LIFE.

Yeah. Especially the fact that we've had three drummers since we made "Ten" -- each one has been able to play different songs better or differently, in ways that got us excited.

Top 10 Reasons Dave Got Hitched

David Letterman's news that he married longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko - with whom he has a son, Harry, 5 - definitely called for something special. And what could be more appropriate than a Top 10 list? USA TODAY came up with The Top 10 Reasons Dave Got Hitched. Here they are:

10. Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts were taken.

9. Needed second income after disastrous Bernie Madoff investment.

8. Felt the timing was right after sitting through repeated showings of I Love You, Man.

7. Was hoping Anoop 'Dogg' Desai would sing On The Wings Of Love during the ceremony.

6. Refused to be outdone by "antiques" Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis.

5. Got tired of signing permission slips "Baby Daddy."

4. Oprah agreed to officiate.

3. Was sick of kissing bandleader Paul Shaffer at the office Christmas party.

2. Wanted to be able to blame "the wife" for staying in Friday nights to watch Ghost Whisperer.

And the No. 1 reason Dave got married?

1. Was convinced that Spencer Pratt would throw a rad bachelor party.

Peter Dinklage Joins Death At A Funeral Remake

When I reported the cast list a few weeks ago for Chris Rock's planned remake of the British farce Death at a Funeral, I wondered who would be taking over the role that Peter Dinklage memorably, hilariously played in the first film. Based on the cast list I thought it might be James Marsden, but Production Weekly seems to have told us who will be taking over for Dinklage: Peter Dinklage.

The actor's name was added to the cast list in the most recent issue, and if they've got it right, that means they agree that no one can top Dinklage's performance in the previous film. The only American character in the film, Dinklage's role was the man who showed up at the funeral threatening to reveal a secret about the dearly departed father and throwing the entire funeral into turmoil. Well, the whole thing was crazy to begin with, what with one relative accidentally high on Ecstasy and everyone else bickering their way through the day.

I'll be very, very thrilled if this news turns out to be true; given that the filming supposedly starts at the end of this month, we won't have long to wait and find out.

New CD Releases, March 24th: Pearl Jam, Hannah Montana, The Decemberists, Indigo Girls, Martina McBride and more.

Pearl Jam "Ten" (Sony)

The alt-rock champs celebrate the legacy of their mighty debut, 1991's "Ten," by re-releasing the album in four different formats. Each offering will include two versions of "Ten": a remastered version of the original album, plus a re-mixed rendition done up by the group's long-time producer, Brendan O'Brien.

Big PJ fans will want to buy the deluxe edition, which includes a DVD of the band's previously unreleased performance on MTV's "Unplugged" from 1992.

The "Ten" reissues mark the beginning of a two-year catalogue re-release effort that will double as a countdown to the band's 20th anniversary in 2011.

* * *
Hannah Montana "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (Disney)

Are you ready for another round of Hannah Montana mania? The Disney character, portrayed by real-life star Miley Cyrus, will be the subject of a new feature film, "Hannah Montana: The Movie."

The flick, which also stars hot country act Rascal Flatts, is set to hit theaters April 10, and tweens are probably already lining up around the block in anticipation. You can get ready for the big event by purchasing the soundtrack to "Hannah Montana: The Movie."

The 18-track collection features plenty of Montana cuts, as well as offerings by Rascal Flatts, Billy Ray Cyrus (Miley's dad) and the hottest singer on the planet, Taylor Swift.

* * *
The Decemberists "The Hazards of Love" (Capitol)

The Pacific Northwest indie-rock troupe is set to drop its fifth studio album, which follows 2006's "The Crane Wife." Like that previous outing, which was inspired by both a Japanese folk tale and William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," "The Hazards of Love" is a concept, or thematic, work. This time around, the Decemberists tell "the tale of a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William; a forest queen; and a cold-blooded, lascivious rake," according to a press release.

The 17-track set features several notable guest stars, including My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark, My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden and Robyn Hitchcock, all of whom appear as "characters" in the album's storyline.

Having recently appeared at opening night of the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, TX, the band will really get behind "The Hazards of Love" during a late-spring swing through North America. The tour begins May 19 at Los Angeles' Hollywood Palladium and includes a stop in mid-June at Tennessee's mammoth Bonnaroo festival.

* * *
Indigo Girls "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug" (IG)

The famed folk-rockers are back with their 11th studio offering, "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug," which marks the first release on the duo's own IG Recordings label. The new album reunites the Indigo Girls with veteran producer Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney), who turned the knobs for their previous release, 2006's "Despite Our Differences."

The duo--Emily Saliers and Amy Ray--will support "Poseidon" during a 35-city North American tour. The journey begins April 4 in Palm Springs, CA, and is currently scheduled to last through a July 17 stop at the California World Fest in Grass Valley, CA.

* * *
Martina McBride "Shine" (RCA)

The versatile country vocalist, who's known to toss a classic-rock cover or two into her live sets, returns with a new 11-track collection. "Shine" is McBride's 10th studio release and her first since 2007's gold-certified "Waking Up Laughing."

The forthcoming album has already produced one smash radio hit, "Ride," which was a Top 20 country single. The album was co-produced by McBride and Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts).

* * *
More new releases:
Amadou & Mariam, "Welcome to Mali" (Nonesuch)
Blue October, "Approaching Normal" (Universal)
Eric Church, "Carolina" (Capitol)
Coheed & Cambria, "Neverender: Children of the Fence Edition" (Caroline)
Doom, "Born Like This" (Lex)
Keri Hilson, "In a Perfect World..." (Interscope)
Israel Houghton and New Breed, "Power of One" (Sony)
Stephen Lynch, "3 Balloons" (What Are Records)
Mastodon, "Crack the Skye" (Reprise)
Papa Roach, "Metamorphosis" (Geffen)
John Rich, "Son of a Preacher Man" (Warner Bros)
Various Artists, "NOW That's What I Call Music! 30" (Universal)
Various Artists, "Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair" (Disney)
Yanni, "Yanni Voices" (Disney)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Shrek: The Musical" (Decca)

Bruce Springsteen adds another Weinberg to lineup

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will see a second generation make its bow on the road this spring when drummer Max Weinberg's son, Jay, fills in for his dad on a number of occasions.

The younger Weinberg will sit in with the band during the "small number of shows" that father Max will be forced to miss owing to his new obligations as bandleader of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," according to a press release from Springsteen's camp.

"Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O'Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him," the Boss said in a press statement. "We promise to return him in one piece."

O'Brien takes over the "Tonight Show" reins from Jay Leno in June. Weinberg previously served as the leader of The Max Weinberg 7, O'Brien's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" house band, since the show's inception in 1993.

Springsteen and the E Street Band kick off the tour--which supports Springsteen's new album, "Working on a Dream"--April 1 in San Jose, CA. Tickets for the all dates on the 24-city trek are currently on sale.

The rock band began rehearsals for the upcoming tour earlier this month at Asbury Park, NJ's Paramount Theatre, according to fansite Backstreets.com, working through "Outlaw Pete," "My Lucky Day," "What Love Can Do," "This Life" and the latest album's title track. Springsteen's wife and bandmate, Patti Scialfa, joined in the following day, when the group played "Good Eye," "Life Itself," "Kingdom of Days" and three other tracks from the album. The band will play two pre-tour rehearsal shows at Asbury Park's Convention Hall Monday night (3/23) and Tuesday night (3/24).

The group started three previous tours--in 1999, 2002 and 2007--with public rehearsal performances in its hometown.

"Working on a Dream," the follow up to 2007's platinum-certified "Magic," is Springsteen's 24th album. Produced by longtime Springsteen associate Brendan O'Brien, the set features 12 new compositions and two bonus tracks.

April 2009
1 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion at San Jose
3 - Glendale, AZ - Jobing.com Arena
5 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
7 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
8 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
10 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
15-16 - Los Angeles, CA - LA Memorial Sports Arena
21-22 - Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Garden
24 - Hartford, CT - XL Center
26 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
28-29 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum

May 2009
2 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum
4 - Uniondale, NY - Nassau Veterans Mem. Coliseum
5 - Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena
7 - Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
8 - University Park, PA - Bryce Jordan Center
11 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
12 - Chicago, IL - United Center
14 - Albany, NY - Times Union Center
15 - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium
18 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center
19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mellon Arena
21, 23 - East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
30 - Landgraaf, Holland - Pink Pop Festival

June 2009
2 - Tampere, Finland - Ratinan Stadion
4, 5, 7 - Stockholm, Sweden - Stockholm Stadium
9, 10 - Bergen, Norway - Koengen

July 2009
2 - Munich, Germany - Olympiastadion
3 - Frankfurt, Germany - Commerzbank Arena
5 - Vienna, Austria - Ernst Happel Stadion
8 - Herning, Denmark - Herning MCH
11 - Dublin, Ireland - RDS
16 - Carhaix, France - Festival des Vielles Charrues
19 - Rome, Italy - Stadio Olimpico
21 - Turino, Italy - Olimpico di Torino
23 - Udine, Italy - Stadio Friuli
26 - Bilbao, Spain - San Mames Stadium
28 - Benidorm, Spain - Estadio Municipal de Foietes
30 - Sevilla, Spain - La Cartuja Olympic Stadium

August 2009
1 - Valladolid, Spain - Estadio Jose Zorrilla
2 - Santiago, Spain - Monte Del Gozo

Elvis Costello Teams With T Bone Burnett For New Acoustic Record

Elvis Costello's newest album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," sees the prolific singer-songwriter-composer returning to acoustic American roots music for the first time since his 1986 album "King of America." "Sugarcane" will be released June 2 on Hear Music.

"Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio. Costello and Burnett have previously collaborated on "King of America" and "Spike."

Costello's band for the project includes such Bluegrass and traditional country musicians as erry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylo (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass). Emmylou Harris sings on one song, and Burnett adds his Kay electric guitar sound to several songs, the only amplified instrument on the album.

Ten of the album's tracks are new Costello compositions, including two written with Burnett. One song, " I Felt The Chill," was written by Costello and Loretta Lynn, while two of the album's tracks -- "Hidden Same" and "Boom Chicka Boom -- were originally written by Costello for Johnny Cash.

The vinyl version of the album will feature two additional songs: an acoustic a arrangement of Lou Reed's "Femme Fatale" and Costello's sequel to an old Appalachian murder ballad entitled, "What Lewis Did Last".

Costello will do select tour dates with "The Sugarcanes," a band featuring musicians who played on the album, in June and August.

Here is the "Secret, Profane Sugarcane" track list:

1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
9. She Was No Good
10. Sulfur to Sugarcane
11. Red Cotton
12. The Crooked Line
13. Changing Partners

David Letterman marries longtime girlfriend

LOS ANGELES – David Letterman said he and longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko had a bumpy trip to matrimony last week.

During a taping Monday of CBS' "Late Show," Letterman said he and Lasko married March 19 at the Teton County Courthouse in Choteau, Mont., but only after their truck got stuck on a muddy road.

Letterman and Lasko, whose son, Harry, was born in November 2003, didn't take an immediate honeymoon. The late-night host was back at work in New York on Monday to deliver the news — and a few jokes about the marriage.

"Regina and I began dating in February of 1986, and I said, `Well, things are going pretty good, let's just see what happens in about 10 years,'" Letterman, who turns 62 next month, said at the taping, according to a transcript.

After avoiding marriage for more than two decades, Letterman said, "I secretly felt that men who were married admired me ... like I was the last of the real gunslingers, you know what I'm saying?"

The road to the ceremony wasn't smooth, he told the audience. He, Lasko and their son were on their way to the courthouse Thursday when their pickup truck got stuck in the mud.

"So now we think, `Well, somebody'll come.' No, nobody comes along. Nobody comes along — it's Thursday afternoon; who's coming along? Zorro? No, nobody. So I get out of the truck and I walk 2 miles back to the house into a 50-mile-an-hour wind," Letterman said.

"It's not Beverly Hills, it's Montana, for God's sakes. And the whole way, I'm thinking, 'See, smart ass, see, see, you try to get married, this is what happens,'" he said.

When he returned, Letterman said, Harry asked if they were still going to town and was assured they were.

"And he gets very upset because mom had told him if I wasn't back in an hour, the deal was off," Letterman said

Billie's back on Doctor Who

Billie Piper will return to Doctor Who with ALL the Time Lord’s former companions as part of David Tennant’s final episode.

Billie, 26, will again play Rose Tyler and teams up with other sidekicks Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman).

The trio will join forces to take on the Doctor’s revived arch-enemy The Master, played again by John Simm.

The episode sees the Timelord regenerate into the new Doctor (Matt Smith).

An insider said: “This will be the most exciting episode Doctor Who have ever done. We really wanted to get all the companions back on board as a fitting send-off to David.

“And of all the enemies for him to face in his final episode it makes sense for The Master to be the main one. Getting Billie to agree is a real coup, but she loved working on the show so much it didn’t take much convincing.”

Rose — who left after series two — formed the strongest bond with the Doctor out of the female companions. She returned for a few episodes in the last series where she was reunited with the Doctor.

Rose then returned to Earth with a separate half-human version of the Time Lord.

Since she left Doctor Who, Billie has gone on to star in the raunchy ITV2 drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl. She plays a high-class hooker in the risque show, which is currently on its third series.

David, 37, will quit the show after the last of the four specials.

Meanwhile the red London bus set to feature in the first special has been damaged in Dubai by schoolkids.

The double decker, which was smashed up shortly after arriving in Arab state for filming, was stripped for “souvenirs” after producers parked it outside a school.

A show source said: “This really is the unluckiest bus in the universe.”

Warner Bros. launches 'on demand' DVD sales

One of Hollywood's biggest movie vaults is about to be opened wide.

Warner Bros. is launching an innovative "on demand" DVD initiative in which fans eventually will be able to order any of the 6,800 theatrical features in the studio's library not available on disc and receive a custom-made DVD within a week for $20.

Only about 1,200 films in the Warner library have been released on DVD, large part because of space constraints at retail. "This news is going to make a lot of people really happy," says George Feltenstein, senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home Video.

The Warner Archive Collection launches today (warnerarchive.com) with an initial slate of 150 films that have never been on DVD, such as 1943's Mr. Lucky, with Cary Grant and Laraine Day, and 1962's All Fall Down with Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint. The oldest film in this first wave is the 1923 silent scorcher Souls for Sale; the newest is 1986's Wisdom, with Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez.

Plans call for 20 or more classic films and TV shows to be added each month, Feltenstein says. To order films, consumers go to the website, select titles and place orders, which are manufactured and shipped in shrink-wrapped plastic cases identical to those of commercial DVDs. Consumers also will be able to order films digitally, downloaded directly to their computers, for $15.

"Our goal is to eventually open up our entire vault," Feltenstein says. "We've been working on this for three years. I've always said it would be great if people could buy anything in our library, and now the time has come, because the technology finally exists."

As a general rule, films considered for release are evaluated by how well they did in the VHS era, which saw about 4,100 movies from Warner's library released on videocassette over a span of more than 20 years. Other factors include the availability of good-quality prints, consumer requests and interest on the black market.

"Some films that are not available on DVD have gotten a lot of bootlegging," Feltenstein says. "We track that on the Internet."

Initially, special features will be limited to original theatrical trailers, but down the road additional extras might be added, Feltenstein says. "Right now, our focus is to get some of these movies that have been sitting in the vaults for years out there to the public, so that by Christmas we'll have at least 350 films available," Feltenstein says.

That's music to the ears of film aficionados such as Mike Weldon, 64, of Costa Mesa, Calif. "I think it's great, because there are a lot of movies out there we just don't get exposure to anymore," he says. "There are films I'd like to own and see every few months, but I just can't find them anywhere."

Scanning the initial list of titles, Weldon points to Homecoming, a 1948 romantic drama from MGM starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner. "Here's one right now," he says. "I've been looking for that everywhere."

Neil Young set to rock the free world with Archives anthology

Canadian rock icon Neil Young will release his highly anticipated Archives collection on June 2, according to Young's manager Elliot Roberts.

Roberts made the announcement Saturday during the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Tex.

Roberts was taking part in a panel discussion along with Larry Johnson, head of Young's production company, Shakey Films.

They played samples from the coming anthology, which has often been delayed.

Young has 60 albums under his belt, with hit singles including Old Man, Heart of Gold and Rockin' in the Free World.

The set will be available in a 10-DVD box for $199 US and a CD version for $99 US. There is also a 10-disc Blu-Ray edition, which will cost $299 US.

The Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972 will include 128 audio tracks — 43 unreleased and 13 never-before-heard songs — as well as thousands of images, including photos, lyrics, letters and memorabilia, and hours of new, previously released or rare videos.

That same day, director Jonathan Demme unspooled his second Young concert film, Neil Young's Trunk Show, which he described as "a home movie, in a way." It was shot during two performances at Philadelphia's Tower Theater in December 2007.

The film featured onstage and backstage footage, including performances of Harvest Moon, Cinammon Girl, Southern Man and Like a Hurricane.

The 63-year-old singer-songwriter is still rocking hard — touring and appearing in festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Spain and England.

PUMPING UP THE JAM

Nineteen years ago, Eddie Vedder unleashed an emotional tirade on a harmless cassette tape, singing over instrumental tracks and melodic samples played by Seattle musicians he didn't even know. A short time later, that piece of plastic evolved into a landmark album, Pearl Jam's debut "Ten," which is being celebrated with a three-disc reissue on Tuesday.

In 1990, the musicians who would form Pearl Jam were in disarray. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament had seen their previous band, Mother Love Bone, flame out after lead singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose. Guitarist Mike McCready's previous band, Shadow, had just broken up. And down in San Diego, Vedder was pumping gas, surfing and playing in a going-nowhere band called Bad Radio.

In search of a singer and percussionist, the Seattle trio gave a copy of their rough demo tape to ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons, who passed it on to his basketball buddy Vedder. Once they heard Vedder's snarl over their arrangements, they quickly flew him to Washington, where they proceeded to hit the studio seconds after the plane touched down.

"It was special right away," recalls Ament of the sessions. "We knew [Eddie] was the missing piece."

The songs that began forming contained dark meanings that were mostly hidden behind driving guitars and thunderous drums. "Even Flow" unveiled the morbid life of a homeless man. "Jeremy" was real-life tale of a schoolboy blowing his head off in front of his classmates. And "Alive" included lyrics focused on incest, betrayal and a broken-home life.

Amazingly, "Ten" which went on to sell more than 12 million copies never boasted a No.1 hit. But along with Nirvana's "Nevermind," it became one of modern rock's most influential albums and a touchstone of what would become known as alternative rock.

Despite its revered status, Pearl Jam asked producer Brendan O'Brien to tinker with their first creation. His remix and six related tracks from the "Ten" sessions are part of the reissue package.

"The band loved the original mix of 'Ten' but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it," says O'Brien, who produced the follow-up albums "Vs.," "Vitalogy," "No Code" and "Yield."

"The original 'Ten' sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that," O'Brien adds. "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."

Several package options, ranging from $15.99 to $140, are available. Depending on which "goodie bag" is chosen, fans can finally possess Pearl Jam's wild and unreleased 1992 performance on "MTV Unplugged," an LP of the band's 1992 "Drop in the Park" concert in Seattle, a replica of Pearl Jam's three-song demo cassette with Vedder's original vocal dubs or a recreation of the frontman's composition notebook with abstract photos.

"['Ten'] has definitely withstood the test of time," says current drummer Matt Cameron, who contributed to the original demo tape while still a member of Soundgarden. "I couldn't have predicted what the album would become."

Nirvana catalogue to be released on vinyl

The full music catalogue of Seattle grunge band Nirvana, headed by the late Kurt Cobain, will be released on vinyl this year for the first time.

The band — whose hits include Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are and All Apologies — released only four CD albums before Cobain killed himself in 1994. Band members included Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.

Their first album was 1989's Bleach and it is being re-produced for vinyl release by the band's first label, Seattle-based independent label Sub Pop.

Nirvana's second effort, Nevermind (1991), which contained the breakthrough hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, and their last album, In Utero (1993), as well as Unplugged in New York, will be released by another company — Original Recordings Group, which produces and sells vinyl records for a niche audience of record turntable users.

Unplugged was recorded live for an MTV show.

"To our knowledge this is the first time Unplugged has ever come out on vinyl," Monti Olson, founder of ORG, told Billboard magazine. "They might have done a limited promotional thing, but I doubt it."

In 1992, Nirvana did release Incesticide — a collection of unreleased early recordings, some previously-released singles and material from the band's sessions for the BBC. These will not be part of the vinyl re-release.

More vinyl plans

Olson also indicated several other iconic rock albums will be getting the same remastered vinyl treatment.

"We're going to be releasing a lot of classic alternative music from the '80s and '90s on 180-gram vinyl. Stuff that's more obscure and more popular. We're in negotiation with quite a few of those artists," he said.

Nirvana is widely regarded as the band that made the early '90s Seattle grunge scene a mainstream commodity.

In their wake, other Seattle acts, including Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, also gained fame and fans.

Nirvana remains popular to this day and has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

Grohl formed his own band, the Foo Fighters, in 1994 and has participated in other acts, including Queens of the Stone Age.

Novoselic has played with other bands, most recently Flipper, and has been writing a regular music and politics online column for Seattle Weekly.

Sci-fi thriller "Knowing" tops weekend box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The science-fiction adventure "Knowing," starring Nicolas Cage, grossed an estimated $24.8 million in its first three days in theaters to top the North American box office this weekend, according to studio figures on Sunday.

"Knowing," which features Cage as an astrophysicist racing to save the world from impending doom, easily beat out two other movies opening in wide release -- the male-bonding comedy "I Love You, Man" and the spy thriller "Duplicity," co-starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.

"I Love You, Man," featuring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, opened at No. 2 with just over $18 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales estimated for Friday through Sunday.

"Duplicity" was No. 3 with $14.4 million in receipts, according to numbers compiled by box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

Last weekend's top movie, "Race to Witch Mountain," fell to fourth place with receipts of $13 million, while the superhero film "Watchmen" rounded out the top five at $6.7 million.

The Couch Potato Report - March 21st, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels heaven on earth, two vampire movies, and a flying bat man's anthology.

There are 11 DVDs and over 25 hours of movies and television shows for me to cover this week, so without any further delay, let me tell you about this week's HOT POTATO, the latest film from Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, it is a movie called HEAVEN ON EARTH.

This Toronto-based director has earned worldwide acclaim for her films, including the trilogy of Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).

HEAVEN ON EARTH is about a young Indian Punjabi woman named Chand who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage with an Indo-Canadian man.

While her new family, including her sister-in-law, justify the abuse and tell Chand that she must accept it, some of the women's co-workers give her other advice.

HEAVEN ON EARTH is an interesting film, the costumes and outfits are beautiful, and the mythological aspect of it peaked my curiosity, but this is a film that I just couldn't recommend to anyone, and not just because of the abuse and violence in it.

There are scenes in Black & White that seem to represent a dream world that Chand retreats to...but then there are Black & White scenes that feature what the abusive husband is doing, and these aren't her dreams.

I am sure there is an audience for HEAVEN ON EARTH, but I am not a part of it...although I do continue to admire and respect Deepa Mehta and her work.

Our next release is primarily for all the Twilighters out there. That is the term used by fans of the Twilight series of books.

For the uninitiated, this series is made up of four fantasy/romance novels that feature Vampires.

They were all written by Stephenie Meyer and the books follow the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington, from Phoenix, and finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen.

Twilighters rejoyced last November when the first book was released in theatres as a film, and today they are all over the moon ecstatic as TWILIGHT is now available on DVD and Blu-ray!

When the movie debuted, my friend's-15-year-old-daughter Chloe saw it, and she sent me a message that reads - all in capital letters, and followed by several exclamation marks - THAT WAS THE GREATEST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! IT WAS SO GOOD! YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!!!!

Now prior to seeing the film, Chloe - like many teenagers - loved the books.

As for me, while I consider myself someone who is up-to-date on all relevant things in pop culture, I must admit that I had never even heard of these books until Breaking Dawn - the fourth one in the series - was released on August 2nd of last year...and I still haven't read them.

And I admit, the reason is because stories about teenage vampires just dosn't interest me, even in the slightest.

So - that said - you can imagine my excitement when I sat down this week to watch TWILIGHT.

And you know what? I have to admit that I liked it. I actually liked it!!

This film, is smartly written, the Vampire Baseball stuff is pretty cool, and I like the performances given by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - the actors who play Bella and Edward.

Now, don't get me wrong...TWILIGHT isn't a cinematic masterpiece! Some of it is very poorly directed and parts of it are just cheesy teen melodrama...but that said, I still liked it! Not enough to read the books...but enough to recommend it.

However, no matter how much I liked TWILIGHT...it isn't the best vampire movie out this week! That title goes to the Swedish film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.

Now this is a vampire movie for us grown-ups!!

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is also based on a bestselling book, but fans of this one don't have a nickname yet.

This film is about Oskar, a bullied 12-year-old boy who becomes friends with the new kid in the neighbourhood, a pale, androgynous-looking 12-year-old girl....who we eventually find out is a vampire.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN features some great scenes, and is just plain creepy!

Some may find it a bit slow, but I completely enjoyed this movie...just make sure "you" LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.

The classic 1953 film THE ROBE is up next.

This new SPECIAL EDITION of the Biblical epic about the Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus stars Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature and it looks and sounds great!!

I have seen THE ROBE about a dozen times over the years, and it remains a true classic.

If you are looking for a film to give someone for Easter this year...I easily suggest this one.

If a classic Biblical epic isn't to your liking...how about a classic TV show?

BARNEY MILLER - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON is now available as a 3-DVD set.

I remain a huge fan of this show, and I loved sitting through the THIRD SEASON again this week as it features all of my favourite characters from the show, characters who not long after would die in real life, or leave for their own show.

I am talking about Abe Vigoda as Detective Phil Fish.

Jack Soo as Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana.

And the great Steve Landesberg as Detective Arthur Dietrich!!

If you love this show too, I hope you can find THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON of BARNEY MILLER as it is full of laughs!

I also hope you can find this week's final release, as most stores that I have gone in to this week are sold out of it.

So good luck, when you are looking for the BATMAN: MOTION PICTURE ANTHOLOGY 1989-1997 on Blu-ray!

This five disc Box Set includes Tim Burton's classic 1989 film simply titled BATMAN and 1992's BATMAN RETURNS.

And it also includes Joel Shumacher's BATMAN FOREVER from 1995 and 1997's BATMAN & ROBIN.

PLUS, in the bonus features for BATMAN & ROBIN, a film which is almost universally despised, Schumacher apologizes for it...sort of.

BATMAN: THE MOTION PICTURE ANTHOLOGY 1989-1997, THE ROBE, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and TWILIGHT are all available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Deepa Mehta's Canadian film HEAVEN ON EARTH and BARNEY MILLER - THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON are both available now just on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

I'll tell you how much I enjoyed the Academy Award nominated, co-directed by a Canadian, aninated film BOLT.

And I will also have some thoughts on the latest James Bond film QUANTUM OF SOLACE and some re-issues of classic Bond films on Blu-ray.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Nirvana's music a flop for firm

Nirvana's music has proven to be a dud among advertisers and Hollywood studio executives - because few want to pay to use it in commercials and TV shows.

A company called Primary Wave Music Publishing bought a 50 per cent stake in Kurt Cobain's music publiching rights from widow Courtney Love in 2006 - for a reported $50 million - but bosses have had little luck making their investment pay off.

Business website Portfolio.com reports plans to place Nirvana songs in TV commercials, video games, ad campaigns and movies have backfired, and, as the 15th anniversary of the rock star's death approaches, Primary Wave chiefs have earned just over $2 million on their investment.

A source tells the website that one deal to license a number of Nirvana songs to TV bosses at CBS for an episode of CSI: Miami fell through when Love, Primary Wave bosses and Cobain's former bandmates asked for "twice the industry standard" in licensing fees.

Cobain committed suicide at his home in Seattle, Washington on 8 April, 1994.

Rock Hall presenters to include Eminem, Jimmy Page

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rapper Eminem, guitar legend Jimmy Page and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones are among the presenters for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland.

The ceremony will be held April 4 at Public Auditorium.

Inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible 25 years after their first recording is released.

Run-DMC will be inducted by Eminem. Jeff Beck will be inducted by Page, best known for his work with The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. Wood will induct Bobby Womack.

Metallica will be inducted by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Bond 4

The fourth wave of Bond titles has been announced just days before the release of wave three.

License to Kill and The Man with the Golden Gun will arrive in May.

Licence to Kill marks Timothy Dalton's first release on Blu-ray. The disc comes with two audio commentaries; one by director John Glen and cast and the second with Michael G. Wilson and crew. Several deleted scenes are included along with the featurettes Bond '89, On the Set with John Glen, On Location with Peter Lamont, Ground Check with Corky Fornoff, 007 Mission Control - Interactive Guid into the World of License to Kill, Exotic Locations Montage, Inside License to Kill and a production featurette along with a stunt film music video, trailers and photo galleries.

The Man With The Golden Gun will come with a commentary featuring Sir Roger Moore, and a second commentary with director Guy Hamilton and cast and crew. The featurettes include The Russell Harry Show, On Location with The Man With The Golden Gun, Dirls Fighting, American Thrill Show Stunt Film, The Road to Bond: Stund Coordinator W. J. Milliagan (audio only), Guy Hamilton: The Director Speaks, 007 Mission Control - Interactive Guide into the Wold of The Man With The Golden Gun, Exotic Location Montage, Insite The Man with The Golden Gun and Double-I Stuntmen. Trailers, tv broacasts, radio spots and an image gallery round out the features.

Another two loaded discs brings the total number of Bond titles to 13 on May 12th.

Vulcans 'deserve their day in the sun,' says Spock

CALGARY–Mr. Spock would never admit to any emotion, but the actor who portrayed the very logical character is peeved about a decision not to show the premiere of the new Star Trek movie in a southern Alberta town.

Leonard Nimoy thinks Star Trek XI should go where no film has gone before.

A mission by the town of Vulcan, southeast of Calgary, to beam in the movie on opening day May 8 appeared to have failed this week when Paramount Pictures said it couldn't work out details.

The community with the same name as Spock's birthplace has used that connection to develop itself as a tourist attraction.

And now Spock has returned to help his people.

"It seems to me that someone at Paramount should show some interest and not take this lightly. This is a serious issue," Nimoy said in a phone interview from Los Angeles with The Canadian Press.

"The people of my home planet of Vulcan are not happy about this. I won't say they're sad or upset because that would express emotion but they think it's illogical that somehow Paramount could not arrange to get a screening of the movie up there in Vulcan," he said, laughing.

Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original series as well as several Star Trek movies, only learned of Vulcan, Alta.'s existence when he saw the story about its failed bid Thursday on the Internet.

He said he's been sending emails to Paramount every couple of hours in an attempt to force the movie giant to do something for the town.

"I got the word out to Paramount that there's an issue here that should be dealt with," he said. "The Paramount press people are aware of it and hopefully the word will filter into the proper offices and somebody will do something about it."

"My position is if they can produce this gigantic movie and get it done with all the physical requirements that are involved in making this film, they can find some way to show it in Alberta, Canada," Nimoy added.

"The people of Vulcan deserve their day in the sun."

Nimoy has a small part in Star Trek XI, which focuses on Mr. Spock and Capt. James T. Kirk's early years, and is scheduled to premiere on stardate 05-08-09, otherwise known as May 8.

Vulcan pulled out all the stops to try to gain the premiere or even a sneak peak of the movie. It even launched a Facebook site which now boasts over 1,500 members.

"This is the voyage of a small town's quest for the Star Trek XI movie premiere," begins a video on the Facebook site with the Star Trek theme playing in the background.

"Our Mission – to showcase our Star Trek spirit, to help Hollywood showcase the new Star Trek movie and to host a spectacular event that brings Spock home to Vulcan, Alta."

Dayna Dickens, tourism co-ordinator for Vulcan, was nearly speechless over Mr. Spock's endorsement and had an embarrassing admission.

"I got a call from Leonard Nimoy this morning but I ... seriously thought it was a prank call," she sighed.

"We get calls from people pretending to be Montgomery Scott (Scotty) and Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. I always respond professionally and I will play along to a certain extent. But I can't believe this. Wow."

Nimoy laughed when told that Dickens questioned the authenticity of his call and noted she did appear a "bit guarded". He said he will not be beaming in any reinforcements from the old Star Trek cast including Canadian-born William Shatner.

"No, I think this is strictly a Vulcan project but Zachary Quinto, who plays the young Spock, he might be interested. I'll have to talk to him," said Nimoy.

Vulcan held its first Vul-con convention in 1993. Two years later, the town unveiled its own Star Ship FX6-1995-A to welcome visitors. A plaque includes greetings written in English, Vulcan and Klingon.

Another sign welcomes visitors with the Vulcan motto "Live Long and Prosper." There's also a space-themed visitors centre and, in an odd combination of Prairie tradition and outer space zeal, there's also the annual Spock Days Rodeo.

Nimoy, who also starred in the popular series, In Search Of, said he has a soft spot for the Star Trek series and his alter ego.

"I care a lot. It's been very good to me and I have to be good in return," he said.

"It has given me a great life, creative opportunities. I have no disappointment, no anger, no frustration and I am very grateful."

Natasha Richardson mourned as a 'wonderful woman'

NEW YORK – Tributes have begun to pour in from across the show business generations for Natasha Richardson, the Tony Award-winning actress who died after suffering a head injury on a ski slope.

"She was a wonderful woman and actress and treated me like I was her own," said Lindsay Lohan, who as a preteen starred with Richardson in a remake of "The Parent Trap" in 1998. "My heart goes out to her family. This is a tragic loss."

Actress Judi Dench told the BBC that Richardson was "a really great actress" who had "an incredibly luminous quality, that you seldom see, and a great sense of humor."

"It's just so shocking, really shocking, and I hope that everybody leaves the family quietly to somehow pick up the pieces," Dench said.

Sam Mendes, who produced the Broadway musical "Cabaret" for which Richardson won a Tony, said, "It defies belief that this gifted, brave, tenacious, wonderful woman is gone."

Richardson fell during a private lesson Monday at a ski resort in Quebec. She was not wearing a helmet. The 45-year-old actress was seemingly fine afterward, but about an hour later, she complained that she didn't feel well. She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to a hospital in New York.

Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson's husband, Liam Neeson, confirmed her death Wednesday without giving details on the cause.

There were no details on funeral arrangements.

Neeson and Richardson's sister, actress Joely Richardson, were seen leaving Lenox Hill hospital Wednesday. Actress Lauren Bacall also visited the hospital.

Yves Coderre, director of operations at the emergency services company that sent paramedics to the Mont Tremblant resort where Richardson suffered her fall, told The Globe and Mail newspaper Wednesday the paramedics who responded were told they were not needed.

"They never saw the patient," Coderre told The Globe and Mail. "So they turned around."

Coderre said another ambulance was called later to Richardson's luxury hotel. By that point, her condition had gotten worse and she was rushed to a hospital.

Richardson's career highlights included the film "Patty Hearst" and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of "Cabaret."

Richardson was a proper Londoner who came to love the noise of New York, an elegant blonde with large, lively eyes, a bright smile and a hearty laugh.

Jane Fonda on Wednesday recalled meeting a young Richardson on the set of "Julia," the 1977 film Fonda starred in opposite Richardson's mother, Vanessa Redgrave.

"She was a little girl but already beautiful and graceful. It didn't surprise me that she became such a talented actor," Fonda recalled on her blog. "It is hard to even imagine what it must be like for her family. My heart is heavy."

As an actress, Richardson was equally adept at passion and restraint, able to portray besieged women both confessional (Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois) and confined (the concubine in the futuristic horror of "The Handmaid's Tale").

Like other family members, she divided her time between stage and screen. On Broadway, she portrayed Sally Bowles in the 1998 revival of "Cabaret." She also appeared in New York in a production of Patrick Marber's "Closer" (1999) as well as the 2005 revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," in which she played Blanche opposite John C. Reilly's Stanley Kowalski.

She met Neeson when they made their Broadway debuts in 1993, co-starring in "Anna Christie," Eugene O'Neill's drama about a former prostitute and the sailor who falls in love with her.

The New York Times critic Frank Rich called her "astonishing" and said she "gives what may prove to be the performance of the season."

Her most notable film roles came earlier in her career. Richardson played the title character in Paul Schrader's "Patty Hearst," a 1988 biopic about the kidnapped heiress for which the actress became so immersed that even between scenes she wore a blindfold, the better to identify with her real-life counterpart.

Richardson was directed again by Schrader in a 1990 adaptation of Ian McEwan's "The Comfort of Strangers" and, also in 1990, starred in the screen version of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale."

She later co-starred with Neeson in "Nell" and with Mia Farrow in "Widows' Peak." More recent movies, none of them widely seen, included "Wild Child," "Evening" and "Asylum."

Richardson was born in London in 1963, the performing gene inherited not just from her parents (Redgrave and director Tony Richardson), but from her maternal grandparents (Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson), an aunt (Lynn Redgrave) and an uncle (Corin Redgrave). Her younger sister, Joely Richardson, also joined the family business.

She also is survived by two sons, Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12.

Friends and family members remembered Natasha as an unusually poised child, perhaps forced to grow up early when her father left her mother in the late '60s for Jeanne Moreau. (Tony Richardson died in 1991).

Interviewed by The Associated Press in 2001, Natasha Richardson said she related well to her family if only because, "We've all been through it in one way or another and so we've had to be strong. Also we embrace life. We are not cynical about life."

Her screen debut came at 4, when she appeared as a flower girl in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," directed by her father, whose movies included "Tom Jones" and "The Entertainer." The show business wand had already tapped her the year before, when she saw her mother in the 1967 film version of the Broadway show "Camelot."

"She was so beautiful. I still look at that movie and I can't believe it. It still makes me cry, the beauty of it," Richardson said.

She studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and was an experienced stage actress by her early 20s, appearing in "On the Razzle," "Charley's Aunt" and "The Seagull," for which the London Drama Critics awarded her most promising newcomer.

She and her mother acted together, most recently on Broadway to play the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical.

Before meeting up with Neeson, Richardson was married to producer Robert Fox, whose credits include the 1985 staging of "The Seagull" in which his future wife appeared.

She sometimes remarked on the differences between her and her second husband — she from a theatrical dynasty and he from a working-class background in Northern Ireland.

"He's more laid back, happy to see what happens, whereas I'm a doer and I plan ahead," Richardson told The Independent on Sunday newspaper in 2003. "The differences sometimes get in the way but they can be the very things that feed a marriage, too."

She once said that Neeson's serious injury in a 2000 motorcycle accident — he suffered a crushed pelvis after colliding with a deer in upstate New York — had made her really appreciate life.

"I wake up every morning feeling lucky — which is driven by fear, no doubt, since I know it could all go away," she told The Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2003.

Natasha Richardson dies after fall on ski slope

NEW YORK – Natasha Richardson, a gifted and precocious heiress to acting royalty whose career highlights included the film "Patty Hearst" and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of "Cabaret," died Wednesday at age 45 after suffering a head injury during a beginners' ski lesson.

Alan Nierob, the Los Angeles-based publicist for Richardson's husband Liam Neeson, confirmed her death in a written statement.

"Liam Neeson, his sons (Micheal, 13, and 12-year-old Daniel), and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha," the statement said. "They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."

The statement did not give details on the cause of death for Richardson, who suffered a head injury and fell on a beginner's trail during a private ski lesson at the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec. Seemingly fine after the fall, about an hour later she complained that she didn't feel well.

She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal and later flown to a hospital in New York, where family members had been seen coming and going.

Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson's mother, arrived in a car with darkened windows and was taken through a garage when she arrived at the Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side about 5 p.m. Wednesday. An hour earlier, Richardson's sister, Joely, arrived alone and was swarmed by the media as she entered through the back of the hospital.

It was a sudden and horrifying loss for her family and friends, for the film and theater communities, for her many fans and for both her native and adoptive countries. Descended from at least three generations of actors, Richardson was a proper Londoner who came to love the noise of New York, an elegant blonde with large, lively eyes, a bright smile and a hearty laugh.

If she never quite attained the acting heights of her Academy Award-winning mother, she still had enjoyed a long and worthy career. As an actress, Richardson was equally adept at passion and restraint, able to portray besieged women both confessional (Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois) and confined (the concubine in the futuristic horror of "The Handmaid's Tale").

Like other family members, she divided her time between stage and screen. On Broadway, she won a Tony for her performance as Sally Bowles in a 1998 revival of "Cabaret." She also appeared in New York in a production of Patrick Marber's "Closer" (1999) as well as 2005 revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," in which she played Blanche opposite John C. Reilly's Stanley Kowalski.

She met Neeson when they made their Broadway debuts in 1993, co-starring in "Anna Christie," Eugene O'Neill's drama about a former prostitute and the sailor who falls in love with her.

"The astonishing Natasha Richardson ... gives what may prove to be the performance of the season as Anna, turning a heroine who has long been portrayed (and reviled) as a whore with a heart of gold into a tough, ruthlessly unsentimental apostle of O'Neill's tragic understanding of life," The New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote. "Miss Richardson, seeming more like a youthful incarnation of her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, than she has before, is riveting from her first entrance through a saloon doorway's ethereal shaft of golden light."

Her most notable film roles came earlier in her career. Richardson played the title character in Paul Schrader's "Patty Hearst," a 1988 biopic about the kidnapped heiress for which the actress became so immersed that even between scenes she wore a blindfold, the better to identify with her real-life counterpart.

"Natasha Richardson ... has been handed a big unwritten role; she feels her way into it, and she fills it," wrote The New Yorker's Pauline Kael. "We feel how alone and paralyzed Patty is — she retreats into being a hidden observer."

Richardson was directed again by Schrader in a 1990 adaptation of Ian McEwan's "The Comfort of Strangers" and, also in 1990, starred in the screen version of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale."

She later co-starred with Neeson in "Nell," with Mia Farrow in "Widow's Peak" and with a pre-teen Lindsay Lohan in a remake of "The Parent Trap." More recent movies, none of them widely seen, included "Wild Child," "Evening" and "Asylum."

She was born in London in 1963, the performing gene inherited not just from her parents (Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson), but from her maternal grandparents (Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson), an aunt (Lynn Redgrave) and an uncle (Corin Redgrave). Her younger sister, Joely Richardson, also joined the family business.

Friends and family members remembered Natasha as an unusually poised child, perhaps forced to grow up early when her father left her mother in the late '60s for Jeanne Moreau. (Tony Richardson died in 1991).

Interviewed by The Associated Press in 2001, Natasha Richardson said she related well to her family if only because, "We've all been through it in one way or another and so we've had to be strong. Also we embrace life. We are not cynical about life."

Richardson always planned to act, apart from one brief childhood moment when she wanted to be a flight attendant — "wonderful irony now since I hate to fly and have to take a pill in order to get on a plane. I'm so terrified."

Her screen debut came at age 4 when she appeared as a flower girl in "The Charge of the Light Brigade," directed by her father, whose movies included "Tom Jones" and "The Entertainer." The show business wand had already tapped her the year before, when she saw her mother in the 1967 film version of the Broadway show "Camelot."

"She was so beautiful. I still look at that movie and I can't believe it. It still makes me cry, the beauty of it. I could go on and on — in that white fur hooded thing, when she comes through the forest for the first time. You've never seen anything so beautiful!" Richardson said.

She studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and was an experienced stage actress by her early 20s, appearing in "On the Razzle," "Charley's Aunt" and "The Seagull," for which the London Drama Critics awarded her most promising newcomer.

Although she never shared her mother's fiercely expressed political views, they were close professionally and acted together, most recently on Broadway to play the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical.

Before meeting up with Neeson (who called her "Tash") Richardson was married to theater and producer Robert Fox, whose credits include the 1985 staging of "The Seagull" in which his future wife appeared.

She sometimes remarked on the differences between her and her second husband — she from a theatrical dynasty and he from a working-class background in Northern Ireland.

"He's more laid back, happy to see what happens, whereas I'm a doer and I plan ahead," Richardson told The Independent on Sunday newspaper in 2003. "The differences sometimes get in the way but they can be the very things that feed a marriage, too."

She once said that Neeson's serious injury in a 2000 motorcycle accident — he suffered a crushed pelvis after colliding with a deer in upstate New York — had made her really appreciate life.

"I wake up every morning feeling lucky — which is driven by fear, no doubt, since I know it could all go away," she told The Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2003.

Terry Fox tops torch choices

VANCOUVER, B.C. - A new survey suggests cancer crusader Terry Fox garners more support than living heroes for a spot in the 2010 Olympic torch relay.

The Ipsos survey, done for torch relay sponsor RBC, suggests 44 per cent of Canadians would like to hand the Olympic flame off to Fox. The next most popular choice was Wayne Gretzky.

The online survey asked more than 1,000 people to pick from a list of 24 the person they'd most like to pass the Olympic flame to.

Of the top 15, eight are dead, including former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Douglas and Rene Levesque.

Living Canadians on the list included Celine Dion, Gordie Howe and former Olympian Nancy Greene.

Twelve thousand people will have the chance to carry the 2010 torch, about half of them members of the public selected through contests run by RBC and Coca-Cola. The Ipsos survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman find 'Important Artifacts'

Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman want you to buy what they're sellin'.

Pitt and Portman have signed on for the adaptation of Leanne Sharpton's (deep breath) "Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry," according to Variety. The transition from Sharpton's novel to the big screen should be interesting, to say the least: "Important Artifacts" reveals the characters not through narrative but via a mock auction catalog, leaving readers to explore the relationship based on the items for sale and their descriptions.

Instead, Variety says the film will be a romantic comedy with Pitt and Portman in the title roles.

Pitt, 45, will co-star this year in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds." Portman, 27, last starred opposite Scarlett Johansson in "The Other Boleyn Girl."

Source: Natasha Richardson Off Life Support

Natasha Richardson has been taken off life support.

Sources close to the family tell E! News that the Tony Award winner was brain dead by the time she arrived in New York Tuesday night. Earlier today, the family made the wrenching call to remove her from respirators.

Accompanied by husband Liam Neeson, the 45-year-old Richardson was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan Tuesday, a day after injuring her head in a skiing accident in Montreal.

Sincer her arrival, Neeson and the couple's two sons had been keeping vigil. Also paying visits were members of Richardson's family, including her mother, Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave, sister Joely Richardson and aunt Lynn Redgrave.

“It’s particularly tragic for Vanessa,” laments a Richardson confidante, “because she just finished playing a woman who loses her daughter in The Year of Magical Thinking, and now she has to endure it all over again.”

Springsteen leads Seeger 90th birthday tribute

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder, John Mellencamp and Emmylou Harris are among the dozens of musicians who will celebrate American folk music legend Pete Seeger's 90th birthday with a gala concert at Madison Square Garden on May 3.

The event, dubbed "The Clearwater Concert: Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders," will raise funds and awareness for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an environmental organization founded by Seeger in the 1960s to preserve and protect the Hudson River.

Other artists scheduled to appear include Steve Earle, Joan Baez, Juanes, Richie Havens, Kris Kirstofferson, Tom Morello, Billy Bragg, Michael Franti and Ben Harper.

Celebrations honoring Seeger's musical legacy and social activism will go on throughout the year. The Madison Square Garden birthday concert is part of a series of 90th birthday events benefiting Clearwater, which is also marking its 40th anniversary.

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy will play a rare acoustic solo set at Clearwater's annual "Spring Splash" fundraiser in Beacon, N.Y., on March 28. Tweedy and Seeger will perform together at the sold-out event.

Blues singer Susan Tedeschi, folk hero Arlo Guthrie, "newgrass" sensations Old Crow Medicine Show and Alejandro Escovedo are some of the artists headlining the annual Clearwater Festival in Croton, N.Y., on June 20-21. The Persuasions, indie favorites Dr. Dog and Elvis Perkins in Dearland, New Pornographers frontman A.C. Newman, and Allison Moorer are among the dozens of other performers announced Wednesday on the festival's website (http://www.clearwater.org/festival/performers.html).

Seeger will be performing numerous times during the two-day festival, and his grandson (and frequent collaborator) Tao Rodriguez-Seeger will also play a set with his band.

All of the money raised at the events support Clearwater's environmental research, education and advocacy efforts to help preserve and protect the Hudson River.

American Express pre-sale tickets for the Madison Square Garden concert will be available starting March 23, and sales to the general public begin March 30. More information can be found at www.Seeger90.com (http://www.Seeger90.com).

Asked last year by Billboard what his legacy will be, Seeger replied, "My family will remember me, and a few others. I'm one of a lot of songwriters. There'll be more important things to think about."

Madonna to record new tracks for hits collection

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Madonna plans to head back into the studio to record new music for an upcoming greatest hits album, tentatively due in September.

Details on the project -- which will be her last album for Warner Bros. Records -- are not yet final, according to Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's longtime publicist. But she said that "all different options are being explored regarding packaging and content."

One of those options might involve input from Madonna's fans on which tunes should be included on the album. Guy Oseary, the singer's manager, has posted missives to his Twitter account, soliciting suggestions from Madonna's devotees about which tracks "must be on" the album.

Madonna has released two previous best-ofs: 1990's "The Immaculate Collection" and 2001's "GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2." She also issued the ballads collection, "Something To Remember," in 1995. "Immaculate" is tied with Patsy Cline's "Greatest Hits" as the top-selling hits albums ever by a solo female in the U.S. -- both are certified at 10 million sold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

In 2007, Madonna signed a long-term, all-encompassing deal with Live Nation. Her last album owed to Warner Bros. is the forthcoming hits package.

Madonna signed to the Warner Bros. Records label Sire in 1982 and released her first single, "Everybody," that year. Her self-titled debut album bowed in 1983.

Her most recent set, 2008's "Hard Candy," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 280,000. It has sold 714,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Salma Hayek back acting in Adam Sandler comedy

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Actress Salma Hayek will return to movie screens in a comedy alongside Adam Sandler, after a break in which she was producing and acting for television, Hollywood media reported Wednesday.

Hayek joins funnyman Sandler and his fellow former "Saturday Night Live" stars Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade in a comedy about best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later, according to Variety.

The 42-year-old star of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Traffic" has been devoting time to producing the US TV series "Ugly Betty" and guest-starring in the Golden Globe-winning "30 Rock."

Sandler co-wrote the new project and his "Happy Gilmore" director Dennis Dugan is onboard, said the Hollywood press. It will start shooting in the coming months, ready for release in 2010.

Hayek wed French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault last month in Paris. The couple have an infant daughter together.

She became famous after starring in a telenovela in her native Mexico when she was 22 years old, before moving to Hollywood.

Hayek has also starred in the action flicks "Desperado" and "Wild Wild West" and appeared in "Dogma." Her role as the eccentric Mexican painter Frida Kahlo in the film "Frida" earned Hayek a best actress nomination at the 2003 Oscars.

After Dora uproar, Nick and Mattel soothe moms

NEW YORK – When toy maker Mattel, working with Nickelodeon, announced earlier this month that a "tween" version of Nick's beloved "Dora the Explorer" cartoon character would be unveiled in the fall, the response was overwhelming ... overwhelmingly negative.

Dora the streetwalker. A sexed-up version of a children's icon. A poor example for kids.

Those were just some of the terms tossed around the blogosphere after Mattel released a silhouette of the "new" Dora, whose image was drastically changed from the endearing tomboy look Dora fans grew to love, with her bowl-cut hairdo, T-shirt and red shorts. This new Dora appeared to have long flowing hair, and was wearing what seemed a scanty skirt, emphasizing her long, shapely legs.

"Did Mattel turn Dora the Explorer into a Tramp?" read one headline from The Huffington Post.

But not so fast.

Mattel and Nickelodeon both say there are two major misconceptions about the new Dora, which is not replacing the "Dora the Explorer" cartoon, but will be a new interactive doll aimed at 5- to 8-year-olds.

"People care so deeply about this brand and this character," Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products, says. "The Dora that we all know and love is not going away."

"I think there was just a misconception in terms of where we were going with this," Gina Sirard, vice president of marketing at Mattel, says. "Pretty much the moms who are petitioning aging Dora up certainly don't understand. ... I think they're going to be pleasantly happy once this is available in October, and once they understand this certainly isn't what they are conjuring up."

Part of the confusion stemmed from the silhouette that was released, which made Dora look more like a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan than a young girl. For the record, the doll does not wear a short dress, but a tunic and leggings. And while she looks older (she's supposed to be about 10), with longer jewelry and longer hair, she doesn't have makeup and seems pretty much like a 10-year-old girl.

Nickelodeon and Mattel say that as part of unrelated research, they found parents wanted a way to keep Dora in their children's lives and have their daughters move on to a toy that was age appropriate.

"The idea is Dora for more girls," Brodsky says. "The whole point was this was created because moms said help us."

But the new version is a significant switch from the Dora many preschoolers have known, aging her so the kids who tend to drop Dora once they hit kindergarten and first grade remain connected to the new character, who has a new group of girlfriends to go exploring with (Sorry, but Boots, the Map, Swiper and other characters from the show didn't make the transition).

The doll, which comes with a USB port and is compatible with online story lines that take Dora and four friends on new adventures involving the environment, social action and more, still has, as Sirard called it, the "Dora DNA."

"What would Dora be if she grew up? You'd have what you'd have before you: a very sweet, wholesome adventurous. ... She's a perfect role model in that regard."

But as Coca-Cola infamously discovered when it trotted out "new Coke" almost 25 years ago and Tropicana recently found out when it changed — then reverted to — its famous cover design after public confusion and outcry, making any changes, or even additions, to a famous brand can upset consumers.

In this case, Dora is more than a just a cartoon character. The bilingual adventurer, praised for encouraging kids to explore and use their imaginations, is a not only a TV sensation, but a global brand that attracts millions of kids through dolls, clothes, touring shows, DVDs and other merchandising and events.

"A lot of people think of Dora as something for their small kids. And part of the reason people like Dora is because it teaches their kids to be inquisitive and curious in an educational way, because no one wants their kids to grow up fast," says Jean-Pierre Dube, professor of marketing at the University of Chicago's graduate school of business.

Dube says it's not uncommon for children's characters or products to evolve and mature with their age group, but Mattel and Nickelodeon may have complicated matters because instead of aging the actual character, they are introducing an extension of it.

"What we learned from this is people really cherish and value what Dora represents, and if you start trying to license that out or extend that brand, this is a really risky thing to do," he says.

"We could certainly make a case that the public is overreacting and that they're drawing conclusions that aren't there, but there's some important information there, and that is, 'Don't mess with this brand unless you're very careful.'"

Richardson's family gathers near injured actress

NEW YORK – Members of Natasha Richardson's family gathered at a New York hospital where the Tony-winning actress was reportedly taken with a serious head injury after falling on a Canadian ski slope.

Richardson, 45, part of the Redgrave dynasty of British actors and the wife of Liam Neeson, was flown from Montreal to New York on Tuesday after the accident, a person close to the family, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Richardson's condition was very serious and her family was highly distressed, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing two people close to her family who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

A reporter from the Toronto Star earlier reported seeing a distraught Neeson crouched inside the back of an ambulance at Montreal's Sacre-Coeur hospital as Richardson, wrapped in blankets and with tubes covering her face, was loaded inside. Neeson had immediately left the Toronto set of his upcoming movie, "Chloe," to be by her side in Montreal, a publicist for the film said.

Later that evening, a somber looking Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson's mother, was seen in photographs walking into Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Two boys, identified in photos as her sons, Micheal Richard Antonio Neeson and Daniel Jack Neeson, and a young woman identified as niece Daisy Bevan were seen leaving the hospital early Wednesday. Richardson's condition and the specifics of her injury could not immediately be determined.

Richardson is the elder daughter of Oscar-winning Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson. She fell during a private lesson Monday at the famed Mont Tremblant ski resort.

"We know that she has had an accident but we really do not know any more details," said Kika Markham, who is married to Richardson's uncle, Corin Redgrave. "We are very concerned."

A statement from the Mont Tremblant resort said Richardson fell on a beginners trail and later reported not feeling well.

"She did not show any visible sign of injury but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor," said the statement from the resort, about 80 miles northwest of Montreal.

The ski resort said the instructor and a member of the ski patrol accompanied Richardson to her hotel, where they again recommended she be seen by a doctor. Mont Tremblant spokeswoman Catherine Lacasse said Richardson said she seemed fine at first.

"An hour later she said she didn't feel well. She had a headache, so we sent her to the hospital," Lacasse said. "There were no signs of impact and no blood, nothing."

The New York Times quoted Lyne Lortie, a spokeswoman for Mont Tremblant, as saying Richardson wasn't wearing a helmet.

Richardson's films include "Gothic," "A Month in the Country," "Nell" (in which she appeared with her future husband), "The Parent Trap" and "Maid in Manhattan."

Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson has had extensive stage experience in the West End and Broadway. She won a Tony in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in a revival of "Cabaret."

Her maternal grandparents were the actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, and her uncle Corin and aunt Lynn Redgrave are both actors. Sister Joely Richardson is also an actress, best known for starring in the TV series "Nip/Tuck."

In January, Richardson and her mother played the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical, at Studio 54 in New York.

She married Neeson in 1994, and the couple have two sons, aged 13 and 12.

600-1,200 CBC job cuts expected

The CBC needs to "stop chasing revenues and eyeballs," says the minister responsible for the public broadcaster.

In a wide-ranging interview with Sun Media, Heritage Minister James Moore also said CBC layoffs were nearly certain and expected 600 to 1,200 people across the country would lose their jobs.

But the minister said the CBC could trim some fat without sacrificing local programming. He suggested the CBC had many assets to sell that "would not have any impact on the public broadcaster in any way."

The Conservative government is giving the CBC $1.1 billion in funding, but is refusing to help offset the public broadcaster's expected budget shortfall of $65 million.

The CBC had requested help obtaining a line of credit to pay for layoff packages, but the government refused.

"I think the CBC has the capacity to do things within the envelope of the financial capacity that they have," said Moore.

A senior government official suggested the CBC could sell land it owns in Montreal or some of its real estate and lease needed floor-space back.

CBC spokesman Marco Dube said the Crown corporation was worried it would not be allowed to keep money from the sale of its assets. Any assets sold over $4 million must be approved by cabinet.

Moore said the government would only have a problem if the CBC suggested cutting services such as French radio in Vancouver or English services in Quebec City.

The minister said the public broadcaster should return to its mandate of showing Canadian content in a multitude of platforms instead of being a "taxpayer-supported competitor to private broadcasters."

He added that in an ideal world the CBC would be funded similarly to the BBC, which gets a direct yearly subsidy from viewers, but said that would require substantial changes to the Broadcasting Act.

Ian Morrison, the spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, applauded Moore's comments, but feared the minister wasn't controlling the purse-strings.

"The concern is about the gap between his words and others in the government," said Morrison.

Meanwhile, the CBC announced yesterday Judy Maddren, the voice of its morning news program World Report, will be leaving on March 27.

Passchendaele honoured with Golden Reel Award

Passchendaele, the First World War drama directed by Paul Gross, is the winner of the Golden Reel Award, one of three special prizes to be handed out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT).

The ACCT also announced two other special trophies Monday evening that will be given out at the 29th annual Genie Awards on April 4 in Ottawa.

The Golden Reel is handed to the Canadian film with the highest domestic box office receipts. Passchendaele brought in more than $4.4 million.

Passchendaele recounts an epic battle by Canadian soldiers, who drove back the German army in a brutal 12-day offensive across marshland to take the Belgian village of Passchendaele.

Some 16,000 Canadians were killed or wounded.

Gross, known for his acting role in the TV series Due South as well as the movie Men With Brooms, produced the feature along with Niv Fichman, Frank Siracusa and Francis Damberger.

The other major award announced was the Claude Jutra prize for a directorial debut. The winner of the 16th annual award is Yves-Christian Fournier for Tout Est Parfait (Everything is Fine ).

The prize is named in honour of the renowned late Quebec director Claude Jutra.

Fournier's dark movie delves into the world of a teen living in a suburb whose friends have killed themselves.

The last prize is for outstanding achievement in makeup design.

Bruno Gatien, Marie-France Guy and Adrien Morot will share the accolade for their work in Cruising Bar2, directed by Robert Ménard and Michel Côté.

The trio created prosthetics and tattoo work for Côté, who played four characters in the movie.

'Transformers 3,' 'Thor' get new release dates

The Autobots and Decepticons will battle it out again, this time over Independence Day weekend in 2011.

Paramount has given "Transformers 3" a coveted July 1 release date for that year, despite the lack of director, script or signed stars, sources say. Despite opening the weekend after July 4, the first installment pulled in more than $70 million. "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" won't be waiting for the fireworks: It hits theaters on June 24 this year.

Marvel's "Thor," meanwhile, will move to May 20, 2011. Just last week, the movie was pushed back a year from its original 2010 spot.

Canadian public broadcaster slammed over U.S. fare

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – Even as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s top brass hold two days of strategy meetings in Ottawa, the public broadcaster is continuing to come under fire for scheduling too much American fare in primetime.

Federal Heritage Minister James Moore was asked during a Sunday night TV show appearance in Quebec for his view on the current level of U.S. programing on the CBC schedule.

"Frankly, I can tell you I don't like it when I see the CBC canceling Canadian content, and we see 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune,'" Moore told the CBC/Radio Canada talk show "Tout le Monde en Parle."

Last week, the CBC, which acquired the two U.S. game shows last year, canceled or put on hiatus two lifestyle series, "Fashion File" and "Steve and Chris."

Moore's comments came as the pubcaster attempts to address a growing shortfall in TV advertising revenue during the recession, a gap that Ottawa said it will not help close with new public money.

Among the revenue-raising measures being considered at the two-day senior management meeting is the possible introduction of more U.S. fare onto the schedule as a way of subsidizing Canadian content production.

But Stephen Waddell, national executive director of performers union the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, said the CBC should instead cut back sharply on American fare to distinguish itself from private-sector rivals.

"Clearly, (Moore) has been listening to us. He's saying the CBC cannot sustain itself in terms of being a viable public broadcaster if it continues down this road as a commercial/public broadcaster," Waddell said.

Ian Morrison, a spokesman for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, which represents 50,000 domestic TV viewers, said the CBC's revenue shortfall springs equally from the recession and from the public broadcaster's overpayment for American game shows that did not meet "rosy" sales projections.

"For the minister to say the CBC shouldn't be buying American shows ... that's a shot across the bow," Morrison said.

The CBC senior management meeting wraps Tuesday.

Executives at the CBC were not available for comment.

Reports: Natasha Richardson in critical condition

MONTREAL – British actress Natasha Richardson is in critical condition in a Montreal hospital after being severely injured in a skiing accident in Quebec, according to published reports.

People.com and IrishCentral.com reported that the Tony award-winning actress and wife of Liam Neeson suffered a head injury Monday and is in a Montreal hospital.

People.com said Richardson was initially taken to a hospital near the luxury Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, and was later transferred to the Montreal hospital.

A family member confirmed Richardson had had a skiing accident.

"We know that she has had an accident but we really do not know any more details," said Kika Markham, who is married to Richardson's uncle, Corin Redgrave. "We are very concerned."

Richardson, 45, is the elder daughter of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson, and belongs to a British acting dynasty.

Her maternal grandparents were the actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, and her uncle Corin and aunt Lynne Redgrave are also both actors. Sister Joely Richardson is also an actress, best known for starring in TV series "Nip/Tuck."

Richardson's films include "Gothic," "A Month in the Country," "Nell" — in which she appeared with future husband Liam Neeson — "The Parent Trap" and "Maid in Manhattan."

Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson has had extensive stage experience in the West End and Broadway. She won a Tony Award in 1998 for playing Sally Bowles in "Cabaret."

In January, Richardson and her mother played the roles of mother and daughter in a one-night benefit concert version of "A Little Night Music," the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical, at the Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York.

She married Neeson in 1994, and the couple has two sons.

The Beastie Boys Ready “Check Your Head” Reissue

Fast on the heels of the Paul’s Boutique reissue, March 30th will find the Beastie Boys re-releasing the album that followed Paul’s, 1992’s Check Your Head. The Check Collector’s Edition will come in various formats, from digital to CD to vinyl, along with the B-sides and other bonus tracks from the era.

Buying the Digital Deluxe version will also score you the music videos — complete with band commentary — from Check’s singles. The digital reissues will be released March 30th, while their physical counterpart hits stores April 7th.

For the hardcore fans, an ultra-deluxe 4 LP 180HQ vinyl version packaged in a fabric-wrapped hardcover coffee table book case will be released with a limited run of 2,000 copies, according to a press release.

The Beasties’ Website has been updated to celebrate the Check Your Head reissue, with the band’s performance on the Arsenio Hall Show embedded on the site. Additionally, the Beasties announced today that they’ll headline Los Angeles’ storied Hollywood Bowl on September 24th in anticipation of their new album, due out later this year. The group will also perform at this year’s Bonnaroo, and are among those rumored to being playing Lollapalooza in August.

In addition to the Paul’s and Check packages and the new album due out later this year, the band is also expected to reissue 1994’s Ill Communication at some point before the summer. Some online retailers are listing an April 21st release date for that album. As Rock Daily recently reported, the Boys are hard at work on their first album since 2007’s instrumental The Mix-Up. For more on the new LP, which currently sports the title Tadlock’s Glasses, check out Beastie Boys Finishing Up “Weird” New Album.

New CD Releases, March 17: Willie Nelson, Marianne Faithful, Static-X, The Script, BoA, and more!

Willie Nelson "Naked Willie" (Sony)

Willie fans haven't been hurting for new products to buy. The country legend quickly follows this year's collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel, "Willie and the Wheel"--which itself followed two 2008 albums: the solo outing "Moment of Forever" and the Willie/Wynton Marsalis affair, "Two Men With the Blues"--with the release of "Naked Willie."

This 17-track CD mines Nelson's early career as a professional songwriter, from 1966 to 1970. Fans might know these songs, but they've never heard them like this before.

The story is that Nelson and his longtime harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, went back to the original multi-track recordings and re-mixed the songs, stripping away all the high-gloss production tricks (big string sections, tons of back-up singers, etc.), which were so prevalent at the time, in an effort to find the essence of each song.

* * *
Marianne Faithfull Easy Come, Easy Go" (Decca)

The acclaimed songbird, who has collaborated with everyone from David Bowie and Nick Cave to Roger Waters and Metallica, returns with her 22nd album, "Easy Come, Easy Go," which follows 2005's "Before the Poison."

Produced by longtime collaborator Hal Wilner--who has previously worked with the likes of Lucinda Williams and Lou Reed--"Easy Come, Easy Go" consists of all covers and includes songs originally made famous by Dolly Parton, Brian Eno and the Decemberists, among others. The disc is also rich with guest stars, such as Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright and Cat Power.

* * *
Static-X "Cult of Static" (Reprise)

The metal mavericks are back with their sixth studio album, which follows 2007's "Cannibal." The first single is the track "Stingwray," reportedly a reference to lead singer Wayne Static's wife, Tera Wray, and her Corvette Stingray.

"Cult of Static" was produced by John Travis, who also was at the controls for "Cannibal." The new album features the tune "Lunatic," which appeared earlier on the "Punisher: War Zone" soundtrack, as well as a guest appearance by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine.

* * *
The Script "The Script" (Sony)

The Irish pop/rock trio has already achieved much success on the other side of the Atlantic. The band's eponymous debut was released in late 2008 in Europe and has since gone on to multi-platinum sales figures. Now, the Script will try its luck in the US as it sees the stateside release of its self-titled disc. We can think of no better time for an Irish act to release an album than on St. Patrick's Day.

* * *
BoA "BoA" (SM Entertainment)

Boa Kwon, better known simply as "BoA" (short for "Beat of Angel"), started her march to fame at an early age. The South Korean pop singer released her 2000 debut when she was just 13 and has since become a major star throughout Asia.

Listeners on this side of the Pacific now have the chance to get to know BoA, as she offers up her self-titled US debut.

More new releases:
Bonnie Prince Billy, "Beware" (Drag City)
Les Claypool, "Of Fungi and Foe" (Prawn Song)
Dudu Fisher, "In Concert From Israel" (Mesa)
Mick Fleetwood, "Blue Again" (429)
Gorilla Zoe, "Don't Feed Da Animals" (Bad Boy)
Annie Lennox, "The Annie Lennox Collection (Deluxe Edition)" (Sony)
Little Walter, "The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967)" (Hip-O)
Nick Lowe, "Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe" (Yep Roc)
Nils, "Up Close and Personal" (Baja)
Rˆyksopp, "Junior" (Astralwerks)
Randy Travis, "I Told You So: The Ultimate Hits of Randy Travis" (Warner Bros.)
Twiztid, "W.I.C.K.E.D." (Psychopathic)
Bebo Valdes, "Juntos Para Siempre" (Red Ink)
Wavves, "Wavves" (Fat Possum)

Andy Samberg to host 2009 MTV Movie Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg will host the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

It will be Samberg's first time as host of the event, to air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., on May 31.

Samberg says he grew up watching the awards and was a writer for the show before landing his gig on SNL, so "it will be a sweet and satisfying homecoming. I can't wait to act really important."

Samberg, 30, has appeared on the NBC sketch comedy show for four seasons, building a fan base with quirky video shorts featuring himself, fellow SNL players and celebrity guests such as Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman.

The MTV Movie Awards are presented in unconventional categories including "best villain" and "best kiss."

"MacGyver" being reassembled as feature film

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – It will take more than twine, bubble gum and a pencil to do it, but the science-oriented adventure series "MacGyver" is being developed as a feature film for New Line.

"MacGyver" ran from 1985 to 1992 on ABC. Richard Dean Anderson, later of "Stargate: Atlantis" and "SG-1" fame, starred as an incredibly resourceful secret agent for the Phoenix Foundation who frequently would escape from dangerous situations with ingenious and lightning-quick engineering trickery.

Two telefilms starring Anderson aired in the years after the show's cancellation. The character eventually achieved enough cultural recognition to become a reference for anyone attempting to jury-rig a solution out of household items. "Saturday Night Live" took the concept to the next level with its "MacGruber" spoofs starring Will Forte.

Raffaella De Laurentiis, daughter of veteran producer Dino De Laurentiis, is producing the movie through her Raffaella Prods. along with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff. Dino De Laurentiis is executive producing.

No writer has been hired. The studio hopes to find a script that acknowledges the concept's pop-culture profile yet still makes for a serious and fun adventure movie.

"We think we're a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise," said New Line's Richard Brener.

Richard Dreyfuss finds "Happiness" on small screen

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss will star opposite Jason Biggs in "Happiness Isn't Everything," a comedy pilot for CBS.
"Happiness" revolves around adult siblings and their parents, who are over-involved in one another's lives.

Dreyfuss will play the pushy, loving and funny patriarch of the family, with Biggs playing his son.

Also cast in the pilot is Ben Schwartz as Biggs' explosive older brother.

Dreyfuss, who recently portrayed Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone's biopic "W," will next star opposite Nia Vardalos in the romantic comedy "My Life in Ruins."

The Couch Potato Report - March 14th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels an unbelievable true documentary, a great bio-pic, and we will celebrate a 70-year-old wooden boy.

This week's HOT POTATO is a film that will not only shock and scare you, but if you have kids, it will make you want to give them a hug or speak with them as soon as you possibly can as well.

That film, is DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER.

It is a documentary that was made by a man named Kurt, whose friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby, was murdered in Pennsylvania in 2001.

The murderer, Shirley Jane Turner, fled to Canada, where she gave birth to a baby fathered by the man she had killed.

After the birth of the baby - named Zachary - Dr. Bagby's American parents moved to St. John's where they tirelesly pursued legal options in Canada to have Zachary put in their custody while Turner remained free on bail, and after she was put in jail for their son's murder.

And then, the unthinkable happened.

The original intent of the filmmaker for DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER was to allow the child to meet his father someday, if only on film, and show him the truth about his father, in case Turner managed to remain free and keep custody.

What he ended up with was so much more than that.

As the story of Shirley and Zachary Turner was such a huge story in Canada back in 2002 and 2003, you may know what happened to baby Zachary...and if you have any relatives in Newfoundland you definitely do...but if you don't remember this story, or the horrific and tragic events that took place, this film will show them to you...along with the people most affected by them.

DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER is a well made documentary, and it tells a tragic story very well. The only issue I have with is, is the fact that it is completely one sided. Shirley Turner is portrayed as a monster, and they never try to show her in any other light.

Now, because of what she did, most of us will consider her a monster, but a documentary made by a more experienced filmmaker would have at least included one scene featuring someone saying something nice about Shirley Turner.

But, since the film is about the murdered Dr. Bagby, made by his friends, originally for his son...I can overlook the one-sided nature of it.

DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER doesn't necessarily have a happy ending, but it is a film I recommend.

That sentence is also true for the next film I have for you, the movie that won Sean Penn his second Oscar last month.

MILK doesn't necessarily have a happy ending either, but it is another film that I recommend.

MILK is based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. In 1977 he was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he became a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

On the morning of November 27, 1978, he was killed.

MILK starts off with the news footage of the assasination, and then we meet Sean Penn as Harvey Milk as he is sitting in his kitchen dictating his thoughts and stories to a tape deck.

There have been numerous attempts to make a movie about Harvey Milk since the documentary of his life and the aftermath of his assassination, titled The Times of Harvey Milk, won an Oscar in 1984.

The fact that none of those ever came to fruition is good news for film fans as Sean Penn IS Harvey Milk in this movie. His performance was deserving of the OScar her won on February 22nd, and the rest of the cast in director Gus Van Sant's film - including Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco and Canadian Victor Garber - are all exceptional.

No, MILK doesn't necessarily have a happy ending, but it is a film I recommend. Highly recommend

After a couple of serious films this morning, let me lighten the mood now with the comedy ROLE MODELS.

This film stars Paul Rudd from FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and Seann William Scott, Stiffler from the AMERICAN PIE films.

They play two energy drink salesmen who are forced to complete 150 hours of community service as punishment in a Big Brothers and Big Sisters-type organization for their various offenses.

Rudd's is given the responsibilty of making friends with Christopher Mintz-Plasse, McLovin' from SUPERBAD, a nerdy teenager obsessed with live action role-playing games.

ROLE MODELS is not the funniest film you will ever see, but I did laugh out loud a few times, and that is why this one is a great rental. It isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy juvenile, sophmoric humour, pick this one up!

Now, on another note, if you would like to see a movie that would love to be a detailed look at a great real-life record label, but instead only gives you a brief look into the labels and it's stars, then pick up CADILLAC RECORDS.

This film has a great cast, spectacular music, and dozens of great stories, but unfortunately it just isn't a great movie.

CADILLAC RECORDS does a pretty good job of showing us the music that starting in the early 1940s and was produced until the late 1960s by the Chicago-based Chess Records.

The owner of the label paid his stars with Cadillac cars, instead of money...and we are talking about stars like Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Etta James.

Beyoncé Knowles plays Etta James, and she and the rest of the cast do a good job bringing these music legends to life, however all of their lives are so tragic and interesting that they all deserve their own films..., and so - just as we are getting into their story - the movie moves on to the next person and their connection with Chess Records.

Now I love music, and I love seeing all movies made about musicians and the record companies they worked for - and with - and so I am glad I saw CADILLAC RECORDS...but I can't recommend it as once the needle got to the end of the movie's groove, it wasn't one that I will ever play again.

The next release on tap this week is also one that I will never play again...I am not even sure how I managed to sit throught it a second time after seeing it in theatres and thinking it was awful.

But I watched AUSTRALIA again this week, and again I did not care for it at all.

Baz Luhrman is the director of this film, the great ROMERO & JULIET remake and the superb film MOULIN ROUGE.

Those movies were done by a man who had a unique vision, and followed it to get his films to the screen.

With AUSTRALIA, it looks like he took all the best parts of GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ and CITY SLICKERS in a blender and used them to try and make an epic ramance that served as a love letter to his homeland.

Sadly, he failed.

Nicole Kidman plays the widow of an English aristocrat in northern Australia who inherits a sprawling cattle ranch.

Hugh Jackman is a cattle drover who decides to help her out in order to make some of his long-term goals come true.

The pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over the hot and unforgiving landscape, and eventually experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand as World War II begins.

And wouldn't you know it...even though they don't get along at first...they fall in love.

Throw in the mix a young Aboriginal boy, a dastardly villain, and when it all adds up, frankly my dear, I didn't give a darn!

At 2 hours and 45 minutes, AUSTRALIA is about an hour longer than it needs to be, an dthat is because it wants to feature too many characters and tell too many stories, and the end result is something that I thought was simply the best parts of some other films thrown into a blender and re-written to take place in the land down under.

If you are a huge fan of Kidman or Jackman, then you might get something out of this wanna-be-epic, however AUSTRALIA left me cold and bored...twice...but never again!

Finally this week is a movie that has never bored me, has always entertained me, and I suspect it always will.

That movie is Walt Disney's animated classic PINOCCHIO.

The BLU-RAY BEACON this week shines on the 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition of the film that showed us all can happen, when you wish upon a star.

This new release of PINOCCHIO looks fantastic and crisp, sounds better than ever, and features some great new Special Features and behind the scenes stories, incluidng this one about the creation of Jiminy Cricket from legendary animator Ward Kimball.

PINOCCHIO was released in theatres on February 7th, 1940, and the spectacular 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition of the film is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

AUSTRALIA, CADILLAC RECORDS, ROLE MODELS, and MILK are all also available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

And the unbelievable DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER is available now, only on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

HEAVEN ON EARTH is a Canadian film directed and written by Deepa Mehta about a young Indian Punjabi woman who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage with an Indo-Canadian man.

And LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a Swedish film about an overlooked and bullied boy who finds love and revenge through a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Ron Silver dies at 62

Ron Silver, actor and activist, has died at age 62. Silver, who appeared in numerous episodes of The West Wing, had been battling cancer, according to the New York Post.

He "died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him this morning," said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped create. "He had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years and his family is making arrangements for a private service."

'Witch Mountain' races to top spot at box office

LOS ANGELES – Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain" raced to No. 1 at the weekend box office, bypassing expectations with $25 million in ticket sales.

The PG-rated sci-fi flick starring Dwayne Johnson as a cab driver with a pair of alien teenagers along for the ride topped the R-rated superhero epic "Watchmen," which earned $18.1 million in its second week.

Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group, said analysts had predicted that "Race to Witch Mountain," director Andy Fickman's re-imagination of the 1975 live-action film "Escape to Witch Mountain," would fly away with $20 million or less. Now he expects this "Witch Mountain" to maintain a high orbit in theaters with kids on spring break.

"I think audiences this weekend were really drawn to the action adventure of 'Race to Witch Mountain,'" said Zoradi. "There was also this element of parents over 30 who remembered the original and were drawn to this one, so I think that combination is what helped us exceed what folks in the industry thought this movie was going to do."

Ticket sales for "Watchmen" plummeted 67 percent from last weekend's $55.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president of distribution, said the studio anticipated the big dip for director Zack Snyder's comic book adaptation about a team of subversive superheros.

"It's very common with higher profile, highly anticipated movies," said Goldstein.
Also opening this weekend in wide release was "The Last House on the Left," the Universal horror remake, which turned up at No. 3 with $14.7 million in ticket sales, and "Miss March," the Fox Atomic comedy in the No. 10 spot with $2.4 million. 20th Century Fox's thriller "Taken" remained at No. 4 with $6.7 million in its seventh weekend in theaters.

Factoring in 2009's higher admission prices, the weekend box office total was down 16 percent compared with last year, making it the first down weekend in six weeks. Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers, does not believe the shift signals the end of 2009's otherwise stellar year at the box office.

"I don't think this down weekend reflects any kind of lack of interest by the audience," Dergarabedian said. "I think it has to do with 'Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who' opening a year ago with $45 million. That's really a tough comparison. Not every weekend this year is going to be up when you have some strong openings like that from last year."

Here are 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. "Race to Witch Mountain," $25 million.
2. "Watchmen," $18.1 million.
3. "The Last House on the Left," $14.7 million.
4. "Taken," $6.7 million.
5. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," $5.1 million.
6. "Slumdog Millionaire," $5 million.
7. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," $3.1 million.
8. "He's Just Not That Into You," $2.9 million.
9. "Coraline," $3.3 million.
10. "Miss March," $2.4 million.

Bono slams illegal downloaders

U2 rocker Bono has slammed music fans who download songs illegally - insisting laws against the practice will eventually be tightened when movie studios begin to lose revenue through the web.

Bono admits that as a "rich rock star" he has doesn't want more money - but is adamant musicians should not be allowed to lose income through the internet.

The rocker is convinced the fight must go on against the practice, but fears police will not be granted powers to prosecute offenders properly until they get the backing of Hollywood executives -when the illegal downloading of films becomes as common as music.

He tells USA Today, "People think people like me are overpaid and over-nourished, and they're not wrong. What they're missing is, how does a songwriter get paid?

"It's not the place for rich rock stars to ask for more money, but somebody should fight for fellow artists, because this is madness. Music has become tap water, a utility, where for me it's a sacred thing, so I'm a little offended (by illegal downloading).

"The music business has been thrown to the dogs legislatively. That will change when file-sharing of TV shows and movies becomes as easy as songs. Somebody is going to call the cops."

George Clooney's Dr. Ross returns to `ER'

NEW YORK – George Clooney led a parade of old favorites back to "ER" on Thursday as the medical drama nears the end of its 15-year run.

Clooney, who left the show in 1999 to pursue movie stardom, reprised his character Dr. Doug Ross. Now in Seattle, Ross works with wife Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) to persuade a grandmother played by Susan Sarandon to donate the organs of her grandson.

One of those organs, the kidney, went to "some doctor in Chicago," Hathaway said. Neither she nor Ross knew the transplant patient was their old colleague John Carter, played by fellow "ER" original Noah Wyle.

The finale of the NBC drama is scheduled for April 2. Once television's most popular show, "ER" anchors a diminished NBC lineup with about one-quarter the audience it had during its peak. Next season, NBC will replace it with Jay Leno.

Thursday's episode, written and produced by "ER" executive producer John Wells, was a reminder of the show's glory days and perhaps an era of network television that is gone for good.

"Let's hope we didn't bring all of these people out here for nothing," Clooney's character said to a group of people waiting to transport donated organs. He may as well have been speaking to audience members tuning in to "ER" for the first time in years.

The show even poked fun at its revolving door of actors since the original cast left. When Ross learned that two of the people waiting for organs were from his old County General Hospital in Chicago, they questioned each other on colleagues each might have worked with. There were few matches.

As he waited for a transplant, Wyle's character was visited by Dr. Peter Benton, played by Eriq La Salle. Benton tormented Carter back in the day, but this time stood by him and watched his surgery, saving Carter from trouble caused by an impatient surgeon.

"You stayed here," Carter said upon waking from the surgery.

"I didn't want to miss all the fun," Benton said.

During its peak, in the 1995-96 season, "ER" was the most popular show on television and averaged 32 million viewers a week. To put that in perspective, only one entertainment program — ABC's broadcast of the Academy Awards — has gathered more than 32 million viewers this entire season.

"ER" was TV's No. 1 show for three seasons and, as late as 2000-01, was the top-rated scripted series after fare like "Survivor" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

This season, "ER" is limping along in 49th place, averaging 8.2 million viewers an episode, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Besides Clooney and Marguiles, other old favorites from the show's heyday have paid respects with returns this season.

Anthony Edwards, who played Dr. Mark Greene, returned even though his character had been killed off: He appeared in a flashback scene. Laura Innes, who played Dr. Kerry Weaver from the second season through 2006-07, made a guest appearance, as did Sherry Stringfield, Alex Kingston and Paul McCrane.

Clooney had led the parade of series originals out the door. Margulies left in 2000, Edwards and La Salle in 2002 and Wyle in 2005.

Elvis Costello, Michael Buble, Feist among presenters for Juno Awards

TORONTO - Legendary rocker Elvis Costello will be among the presenters at the Juno Awards.

Michael Buble, Feist and Costello's wife, Diana Krall, will also present awards at the March 29 show at Vancouver's GM Place. Others appearing on the show include Canadian Olympians Jeremy Wotherspoon and Mellisa Hollingsworth, says CTV, which will air the ceremony.

The Juno Awards will be hosted for the second consecutive year by comedian Russell Peters.

Nickelback, who lead with five nominations going into the show, are scheduled to perform, along with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan and Sam Roberts.

Marvel delays "Thor," "Avengers"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The superheroes will take just a little longer to arrive on the scene.

Marvel Entertainment said Thursday it was pushing back by a year a pair of key properties in its comic book franchises "Thor" and "Avengers."

"Thor" will now come out on June 17, 2011 (it had previously been scheduled for July 16, 2010), while "Avengers" will hit theaters May 4, 2012 (it had been slotted for July 15, 2011).

Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel said the move "maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multicharacter 'The Avengers' film in 2012."

It's likely, however, that the studio wanted to ensure at least one tentpole in as many years as possible. Under the previous schedule, it had nothing slated for 2012. Also, as Maisel suggested, the move gives maximum runway for the characters leading up to "Avengers," which will wrap in roles for many of its top-tier characters.

Had it let the previous dates stand, it would have seen the bunching of two properties (Iron Man and Thor) in 2010 and then three (Captain America, Spider-Man and the multicharacter Avengers) in 2011. Under the new schedule, it will space out the characters more: just one (Iron Man) in 2010, Spider-Man, Thor and Captain America in 2011, and Avengers in 2012.

The studio also announced that it was pushing the release of the Captain America picture, titled "The First Avenger: Captain America," back several months, from May 6, 2011, to July 22, 2011.

That move was not unexpected given that Sony, which is releasing "Spider-Man 4" via its licensing deal with Marvel, is bringing out its picture in May of that year. Marvel clarified on Thursday that that pic will come out on May 6, 2011. It had previously given the month of May but no exact date.

Marvel is pursuing a strategy similar to that of its classic comic books, in which characters frequently cross over between properties. Samuel Jackson recently signed a nine-picture deal to play superhero Nick Fury, who will appear in many of its upcoming pics.

The studio's current priority is "Iron Man 2." Casting is coming together for the project, with Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson recently signing on for the project, which will shoot this year.

...Clooney checking back into 'ER'

Tonight is supposedly the night George Clooney returns to ER.

The long-running medical drama, which airs on CTV and NBC, is wrapping up for good on April 2, at the end of its 15th season. But tonight's instalment has been touted as a "reunion" episode, and we all know what that means.

Clooney played Dr. Doug Ross as a regular cast member on ER from 1994 to 1999, before leaving to pursue a big-time movie career.

Dr. Ross' love interest was nurse Carol Hathaway, played by Julianna Margulies. That character is coming back for sure tonight, since Margulies openly has been featured in promos for the episode.

Everyone is being more cagey about Clooney, but the inside buzz is deafening.

Clooney last was seen on ER in May 2000, when he showed up for the final scene of Margulies' last episode. Clooney had left the show a year before that.

On the set of ER in Los Angeles last summer, executive producer John Wells told television critics that Clooney always was a model citizen, both when he was on ER and when he departed the series.

"I think everybody knows this story, but (Clooney) never asked, as the show took off, to make a dime more than he was paid at the beginning," Wells said. "He completely fulfilled his contractual obligations to us over five years, stayed committed, did publicity, worked hard, and was just a completely standup guy.

"We see lots of examples where people have had those kinds of opportunities and they don't respond that way. So I have nothing other than admiration for him as a friend and a professional. He was a big part of what made the show successful at the beginning."

Tonight's episode initially was scheduled to be the last for ER, but NBC and Wells ultimately worked out a deal for three additional episodes.

All season, former ER cast-members have been coming back.

"I did not want anyone to leave the series at any point, to tell you the truth, particularly any of the original six actors," Wells said.

The "original six" in this case is not an NHL term. Rather, Wells was referring to Clooney, Margulies, Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis, Noah Wyle as Dr. John Carter and Eriq La Salle as Dr. Peter Benton.

Wyle currently is back for a multi-episode arc. Edwards has been back. And La Salle will be back tonight, too.

"We really didn't anticipate that we would be able to change casts, particularly after the sort of -- with all due modesty -- the extraordinary success we had at the beginning," Wells said. "We sort of felt like, 'Wow, as soon as people start to leave, that will be that.'

"But we were able to replace the actors who were leaving with really extraordinary actors. When we look back at the list, we've had 26 regulars on the show over 15 years."

Not many series are able to withstand that kind of turnover. The only other one that comes immediately to mind is Law & Order, and not coincidentally, ER and Law & Order are among the longest-running primetime dramas in TV history.

"I remember how we were talking when Sherry (Stringfield) was leaving the first time -- she was the first person to leave the cast, that was in year three," Wells said. "We all thought, 'Oh, well, here it comes, we'll be gone by year five.'

"But we were able to introduce characters slowly so we didn't have actors coming in to replace someone. I think the audience embraced that, because it's similar to their workplaces. People come and you care about them, they're friends, they leave, other people replace them, and they become your friends."

Of course, there are friends, and then there are FRIENDS.

Welcome back, Clooney.

ScarJo & Mickey Rourke Help Raise Iron Curtain

(E! Online) – Scarlett Johansson is joining the superhero set.

Her rep confirms that the actress has signed on to play Black Widow in the Iron Man sequel opposite Robert Downey Jr. The deal was signed Wednesday afternoon.

"Scarlett is thrilled to be a part of Iron Man," her rep, Marcel Pariseau, is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, after months of negotiations...The Wrestler's comeback kid Mickey Rourke has finally sealed a deal to play the villain Whiplash, according to Variety.

Rourke's team had reportedly held out for more money after Marvel's initial offer was just $250,000.

Scheduled for a May 2010 release, part two of the franchise will also include Gwyneth Paltrow returning as Pepper Potts along with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Don Cheadle playing Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Prince To Play Four Nights on 'Leno'

Prince will perform on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno three nights in a row, March 25-27, as he builds anticipation for the March 29 release of two new albums, "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND." Prince will also perform a fourth night on the "Tonight Show," May 28th, in celebration of the end of Leno's run as host of the show.

Both CDs, along with a third by new artist Bria Valente, will be available as a three disc set exclusively through Target for a price of $11.98.

The "Tonight Show" performances are part of a larger roll-out for the CD package in Los Angeles. In an email message sent to fans who signed up for updates on lotusflow3r.com, Prince wrote, "From the 24th on, there will b a slew of NPG-related events happening around electric LAlaland.. we don't want 2 give away all the details yet, but b prepared 2 get yo groove on, numerous ways 4 numerous days. We know $ is tite but the adventures will b worth ur while! Stay 2ned 2 this outtaspacestation."

As previously reported, Prince is just the latest music legend to release new music exclusively through a major retailer. AC/DC and the Eagles were among the acts who sold millions of CDs through their partnership with Wal-Mart.

He's also the latest artist to promote new music with a multi-night run on a late night talk show. Last week, U2 performed five nights in a row on the "Late Show with David Letterman" as the band mounted a full court press for its newly released "No Line On The Horizon" disc and upcoming world tour. The White Stripes and the Strokes both did multiple nights of performances on the "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

Cornell rules out band reunions

Chris Cornell has no plans to reunite with his former bands Soundgarden or Audioslave - because he is more interested in making new music than in rehashing previous hits.

The rocker stunned fans when he announced he would collaborate with hip-hop producer Timbaland for his solo album Scream.

But he insists he would rather continue to reinvent his musical style with unexpected collaborators than revisit the glory days of his previous rock groups.

He says, "I prefer to look forward rather than backwards and I'm moving too fast to consider doing it. Reuniting with people should be the draw, not the money.

"It's important I don't repeat myself. Rock music has a tendency to be more nostalgic - unlike hip-hop, which is one of the reasons I worked with Timbaland."

“Guitar Hero: Van Halen” Reportedly On the Way

Van Halen are rumored to be the next band to get its own Guitar Hero game, Joystiq.com is reporting. The group would be the third with a specifically branded Guitar Hero title, following Aerosmith and Metallica, whose version is set for release on March 29th.

According to Joystiq, GH: VH will feature many of the band’s greatest hits (”Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot for Teacher”), plus recordings by Weezer, Tenacious D and Judas Priest.

While Activision wouldn’t comment on the game, the potential of a Van Halen Guitar Hero is already generating hundreds of questions. Will new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen appear in the game instead of Michael Anthony? Will the game feature playable versions David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone, and if it’s just Roth does that mean his polygonal doppelganger will sing Hagar’s “Right Now?” Also, will Diamond Dave’s virtual dressing room ensure that he has enough room to practice his digital martial arts? We must know.

Of course, it comes as little surprise that rumors of a Van Halen Guitar Hero leaked out just days after their competitor Rock Band revealed more details about their own game dedicated to another pretty popular quartet. As Rock Daily reported last week, The Beatles: Rock Band will hit stores September 9th and feature career-spanning tracks from the Fab Four’s Please, Please Me through Abbey Road. Clearly the Guitar Hero makers had to plot a course of action to compete with Rock Band’s mega-release for the holiday sales, and they’re hoping the allure of blasting through “Eruption” and “Hot for Teacher” will ensure two video games are under the tree come Christmas.

New Releases, March 10: Kelly Clarkson, Madeleine Peyroux, Taylor Hicks, Chris Cornell, Sarah Brightman and more

Kelly Clarkson "All I Ever Wanted" (Sony)

The first "American Idol" champ, who won the title back in 2002, returns with her fourth studio set, "All I Ever Wanted," which follows 2007's "My December."
The first single from the new disc is "My Life Would Suck Without You," which was released in mid-January and went on to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Clarkson, who recently finished up another round of co-headlining dates with Reba McEntire on their "2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour," will support "All I Ever Wanted" with a summer headlining run that is scheduled to begin June 11 in Orem, UT.

* * *
Madeleine Peyroux "Bare Bones" (Rounder)

The jazz-influenced vocalist/guitarist is back with her third album in four years. Her previous record, 2006's "Half the Perfect World," garnered Peyroux her highest-ever chart position, reaching No. 33 on The Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Jazz Albums chart.

The new set marks the first time that Peyroux--a singer championed for her cover versions of other artists' works--has taken songwriting credit on all tracks. Producer Larry Klein, whose resume includes efforts with Shawn Colvin and Joni Mitchell, was at the controls for "Bare Bones."

Peyroux is currently backing the new album with a spring tour that is doubling as a fundraiser for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The month-long outing concludes with an April 4 date in Austin, TX.

* * *
Taylor Hicks "The Distance" (Modern Whomp)

Another "American Idol" winner, who took top prize during the reality TV show's fifth season in 2006, is also ready to drop a new release. "The Distance," the singer's sophomore studio set, follows 2006's "Taylor Hicks."

Having released his eponymous major-label debut on Arista, Hicks is taking the indie route with "The Distance," which is being put out on the artist's own Modern Whomp Records. The set was produced by Simon Climie, who has worked with such big-name acts as Eric Clapton, Faith Hill and Carlos Santana.

* * *
Chris Cornell "Scream" (Interscope)

The former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman focuses on his solo career with the release of "Scream," his third solo offering to date. The set's first single is its title track.

The new record teams the Grammy-winning rocker with famed hip-hop producer Timbaland, who reportedly brought an R&B flavor to Cornell's typical hard-rock stylings.

Cornell will showcase "Scream" during a North American trek that is set to kick off March 28 in Dallas and run through a May 3 date in Los Angeles.

* * *
Sarah Brightman "Symphony: Live in Vienna" (Manhattan)

The mega-popular classical/pop/Broadway soprano unleashes a new live set. The CD/DVD combo documents a performance in Vienna during the star's tour in support of her 2008 release "Symphony."

* * *
More new releases:
Ballas Hough Band, "Ballas Hough Band" (Hollywood)
Rocco Deluca and Burden, "Mercy" (Republic)
Dope, "No Regrets" (Koch)
The Dream, "Love vs Money" (Def Jam)
J. Holiday, "Round 2" (Capitol)
Ronnie Milsap, "Then Sings My Soul" (Starsong)
New Found Glory, "Not Without a Fight" (Epitaph)
Elvis Presley, "I Believe: The Gospel Masters" (Sony)
The Rippingtons, "Modern Art" (Peak)
Rod Stewart, "Unplugged...and Seated: Collector's Edition" (Rhino)
Bernie Taupin, "He Who Rides the Tiger" (American Beat)
Armin Van Buuren, "Imagine: The Remixes" (Ultra)
Various artists, "Amore Infinito: Songs inspired by the Poetry of John Paul II - Karol Wojtyla" (Deutsche Grammophone)
Various artists, "Punk Goes Pop: Vol. 2" (Fearless)

U2 announces two Cdn. tour dates

U2 is scheduled to play two Canadian dates - in Toronto and Vancouver - on its 2009 fall tour of North America.

It will be announced today that the veteran Irish rockers will perform at Toronto's Rogers Centre on Sept. 16 and at Vancouver's B.C. Place on Oct. 28, as part of their 2009/2010 tour of stadiums throughout the world.

Other Canadian stops are a possibility for either fall 2009 or summer/fall 2010.

Arthur Fogel, the CEO global touring and chairman of global music at Live Nation, revealed these details and more to Sun Media in advance of today's global announcement by U2.

Fogel said the "U2 360 Degree Tour," as it will be called, begins June 30 in Barcelona, Spain, at Noucamp Stadium and will play throughout Europe until the third week of August, before beginning the North American leg on Sept. 12 at Soldier Field Stadium in Chicago.

The opening act for the Toronto show will be Snow Patrol, and Black Eyed Peas will open in Vancouver. Rotating opening acts in Europe will include Snow Patrol, Glasvegas, Elbow, and The Kaiser Chiefs.

Tickets, $30, $55, $95 and $250, will go on sale this coming weekend for the European shows, and at the end of March for the North American shows. Multiple shows in some cities are possible.

"My philosophy has always been tiered pricing," Fogel said. "Given the (economic realities) in our world, I think it's more important than ever. So what we're going to do is we're going to have 10,000 tickets for every show at $30, the GA price on the (floor for standing only) is $55, and then most of the tickets are in the $95 range and then maybe 10 percent of the house at $250."

Forgel says he is confident that when U2 tickets go on sale, there will not be a repeat of the Bruce Springsteen mess in January, when anxious buyers who went to Ticketmaster were incorrectly told shows were sold out already, and then were redirected to other sites where tickets were priced much higher, including Ticketmaster's own TicketsNow.

Springsteen and his camp expressed their outrage publicly.

"I think it's abundantly clear that whatever happened on that Springsteen fiasco ... that Ticketmaster's sensitivity has heightened dramatically to managing the process, to not allow that to happen," said Fogel. "The reality is that generally how tickets end up on the secondary market, like StubHub and all these sites, is people sell them. It's people selling to people. Whatever happened on Springsteen, I don't know. Suffice to say I'm absolutely confident that the system will in no way be feeding the secondary market. Individuals, like if somebody buys four tickets and decides they want to resell two of them, I don't see anyway humanly possible to stop that. It's certainly not something that we're endorsing or facilitating."

Fogel said the 2009 portion of U2's tour will wrap up at the end of October before resuming in the summer/fall of 2010 in Europe and North America again, and hopefully South America.

U2 released No Line On The Horizon on March 3, and celebrated with a week-long residency on David Letterman that wrapped up last Friday night.

They also performed their first single, Get On Your Boots, on both the Brit Awards and the Grammys.

Fogel said the band had been rehearsing leading up to those promotional TV appearances but will really get down to work somewhere in Europe later this month or early in May for their world tour.

WHO WOODEN WANT TO SEE IT?

Only an ogre doesn't love Jiminy Cricket, the wisecracking conscience of Hollywood's most famous wooden boy. He's cute and even sings the classic "When You Wish Upon A Star."

But if Walt Disney had stuck to the original plot of the "Pinocchio" story - first created as an Italian newspaper serial in 1883 - our beloved Jiminy would have been smashed with a hammer early on, his erstwhile puppet pal tired of being told what to do.

In the bonus features of the 70th anniversary DVD and Blu-ray editions of the classic film, out Tuesday, we learn that Jiminy and Pinocchio both went through major transformations before Walt Disney considered them charismatic enough to anchor a film.

"[Pinocchio] was brash, he was cocky and kind of unlikable - he was a troublemaker," says veteran animator Frank Thomas in an interview from 1983. "Walt didn't like that as he was shaping up."

And whereas author Carlo Collodi only gave the talking cricket - il grillo parlante - a handful of scenes in his original story, Disney decided to give him nearly as much screen time as the piney hero himself.

"Walt had felt there was not enough warmth, not enough friendship, no love in the story, really," Thomas recalls. "So that's where he used Jiminy Cricket. He ended up being the heart of the story instead of being squashed with a mallet."

With Disney animators riding high on the blockbuster success of 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the iconic pairing of Pinocchio and Jiminy opened the door for the studio to create what many consider its animation masterwork. The production set a standard for traditional cel-based animation.

Chief among the breakthroughs - which included sophisticated motion-capture techniques and an unusual multi-plane camera - was the film's depiction of water, both in windswept waves crashing around Monstro the whale and in the funhouse-mirror effects created during Pinocchio's time in the water. One animator spent an entire year focusing only on those effects and we get to see his multi-layered sketches, which have all the detail and complexity that CG animators use today.

"The effects at that time were so beautifully done," animation director Eric Larsen said in 1983. "We still look back at it as one of the most perfect, technically, pictures we ever made."

But technical dexterity without great characters doesn't mean much. And the animators excelled with this cast. Just as they gave all seven dwarfs in "Snow White" distinct personalities, every player in "Pinochio," from huffy housecat Figaro to leering fox Honest John, is memorable.

That's partly due to Disney's "sweatbox" manner of brainstorming ideas. In a small screening room, the boss and his animators would watch reels of the movie as it progressed from storyboards to line drawings to finished product. Along the way, Disney would offer his notes and prompt the animators for feedback. All the comments were taken down by a stenographer and distributed later to keep everyone working to improve the project.

The sweatbox, we can assume, is where Disney jettisoned the storyboard of an alternate ending. In the film, Pinocchio drowns after escaping Monstro's belly, only to be revived and turned into a real boy by the blue fairy in Geppetto's workshop. The other conclusion had Geppetto drown and Pinocchio mourn over his body on the beach before the blue fairy intervenes, bringing the woodcarver back to life and transforming Pinocchio at the same time.

While "Pinocchio" represented the pinnacle of the Disney animation team's work, it was also the only time legendary cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck) worked on a Disney film. He played Gideon, Honest John's nefarious feline accomplice, but after he'd recorded his part, filmmakers decided to make Gideon mute.

The only remnants of Blanc's performance are a few spirited hiccups, a reminder that during his best years, Walt Disney's editorial instincts were ruthless but unparalleled, spurring his team to create the finest canon of traditionally animated films in history.

"Watchmen" hits big time at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "Watchmen," an unorthodox superhero movie that took two decades to reach the big screen, took the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, but fell a little short of expectations.

The adaptation of a cult comic book series sold an estimated $55.7 million in tickets in its first three days, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said, becoming the biggest opening of the year.

But pundits had expected an opening in the $60 million-plus range, and the tally was considerably lower than the $71 million start two years ago for "300," the previous film from "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder. The ancient battle epic holds the record for a March opening. "Watchmen" ranks at No. 3.

"Our expectations were met," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Time Warner Inc-owned studio.

He said the film's 161-minute running-time inevitably affected business, restricting theaters to one main evening screening. Male moviegoers accounted for about two-thirds of the audience, with the "sweet spot" aged between 17 and 35, Fellman said.

The occasionally gruesome film, which cost about $120 million to make, revolves around a team of crime-fighters targeted in a dastardly plot with dangerous implications for mankind.

OBSCURE ACTORS, CHARACTERS

A relatively unknown cast plays a similarly obscure lineup of characters, including the vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the naked blue giant Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), and the occasionally topless Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman).

The project is based on the sprawling 1980s "Watchmen" comic books by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, which were long considered unfilmable because of their multiple characters, violence, digressions and abundance of dialogue.

That did not stop studios such as Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures from attempting adaptations. Warner Bros. came aboard in late 2005, and brought on Snyder who was working on the effects-heavy "300" at the time.

But all the hard work on "Watchmen" was almost ruined earlier this year by a last-minute legal challenge from Fox, which claimed it held the distribution rights. Under a settlement announced in January, the News Corp-owned studio will take 8.5 percent of gross profits.

Warner Bros. is already sharing profits with closely held financier Legendary Pictures, its partner on "The Dark Knight," and foreign distributor Paramount. The Viacom Inc-owned studio opened the film simultaneously in much of the world. Sales data were not immediately available.

Top critics were largely underwhelmed by "Watchmen," according to Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com), a web site that aggregates reviews.

After two weekends at No. 1, "Madea Goes to Jail" slipped to a distant No. 2 with $8.8 million, taking its 17-day haul to $76.5 million, a record for prolific actor/writer/director Tyler Perry. The black-themed comedy was released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Fox's unstoppable Liam Neeson thriller "Taken" rose one place to No. 3 with $7.5 million in its sixth weekend. It has earned $118 million to date.

The Couch Potato Report - March 7th, 2009

This week The Couch Potato Report peels films about high school, what
just happened, Chihuahuas and Wonder Woman!

I have opinions on several high profile releases to share with you this
week, but the title that I have dubbed our HOT POTATO this Saturday
morning is a small Canadian movie that you won't hear anyone else talk
about.

There isn't even a Wikipedia page for this made-in-Moncton, New
Brunswick film...and just about everything can be found on Wikipedia -
The Free Online Encyclopedia...there is even a reference to ME on
Wikipedia!!

No, you won't find GROWING OP on that website, and you probably won't
find it in every movie store either, but if you do find it, this movie
is a pretty good rental.

GROWING OP is the cinematic story of a home-schooled kid who decides to
head to high school, despite the protests of his majijuana growing
parents, all in hopes of winning the love of the new girl in town.

Surprisingly, she likes him as well, and they start to become
friends...and maybe even more.

GROWING OP follows the same tried and true formula that we have seen
hundreds of times before - guy likes girl, guy lies to girl, she falls
for him, she finds out he lied, they break up, and we all hope for a
happy ending because we like the characters - so, isn't a film that
offers much that anything you haven't seen before. But it does offer it
up with a Canadian soundtrack and attitude, and it also has a few unique
turns that you might not see coming.

Plus, the parents in GROWING OP are played by Rosanna Arquette from THE
WHOLE NINE YARDS and Wallace Langham of TV's LARRY SANDERS SHOW, and
they aren't your typical idiot parents we usually see in films like
this. They are well rounded people, who love their kids, and just happen
to have a grow op in their house.

No, GROWING OP isn't an entirely fresh take on the romantic comedy, but
I liked it. If you can find it at a store near you, give it a shot.

And if you love movies, and the inner workings of the film business,
yiu will probably also want to give WHAT JUST HAPPENED a shot.

I wanted to like this movie starring Robert DeNiro as a fading
Hollywood producer, and we see two weeks out of his life as he is having
a tough time getting his latest film finished and in theatres, but
unfortunately it just doesn't work.

In addition to DeNiro, the cast of this film includes Bruce Willis,
Robin Wright Penn, Stanley Tucci, Catherine Keener, John Turturro,
Kristen Stewart and Sean Penn, but the story is a bit too inside
Hollywood, and features situations and jokes that only people who work
in the film business could find funny and appreciate.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED isn't a good movie to just sit down and watch, but
it is an interesting look at how some people make movies, and how some
movies are made.

I think Robert Altman's THE PLAYER was a better film about this
subject, but as a movie fan, and fan of movie making, I enjoyed WHAT
JUST HAPPENED, but I thought I would love it, and I didn't.

I also didn't love SOUL MEN, and that was too bad as it features the
final screen performances of the late, greats Isaac Hayes and Bernie
Mac.

Bernie Mac stars with Samuel L. Jackson as a singing duo who are
reluctantly getting back together - after decades apart - to drive cross
country to sing at a memorial service at The Appolo Theatre in New York
City for the man who they were once in a trio with.

SOUL MEN is rated 18A, so it is a very profane comedy, but it just
isn't a very good movie. I think they were really hoping to make it a
Black BLUES BROTHERS, and there are some funny lines, but overall this
is a move that is only worthy of your time if you were lifelong fans of
the great Bernie Mac or Mr. Isaac Hayes...may they rest in peace.

This next movie I have for you this Saturday morning - I admit - is not
a film for me. I knew that going in, the title and the promos I had seen
for it gave it away..., but I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt,
and I watched the whole thing, and some of the Special Features...but in
the end what I though to be true was.

No, you can't judge a book by it's cover...but you sometimes can judge
a film by it's title.

This film...BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA.

This film is about a Chihuahua who is kidnapped while in Mexico
and...does it matter what it is about? It is a movie called BEVERLY
HILLS CHIHUAHUA!!

I love this breed of dogs, as a kid we had Chihuahuas, two of them -
Chico and Dumpling, may they rest in peace - but this is a movie for
kids, adults stay away! If you love high courture fashion, you might
enjoy the first ten minutes or so, but after that, unless you are a kid,
skip this!!

BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA isn't a dog...it has dogs, but it isn't a
dog...but I was sooo happy when it was over!!

So happy!!

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG is up next.

This is a film for us adults, and I thought it was great!

Kristin Scott Thomas from THE ENGLISH PATIENT stars as Juliette, a
woman who has just been released from prison after fifteen years.

Her younger sister invites her to stay with her family.

Juliette struggles with being around them, as she tries to become part
of society again, and copes with her past...a past I won't tell you
about, you will have to let the film unfold in front of you, as I did,
to get all of the details.

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG is primarily in French, and features great
subtitles...but true to Kristin Scott Thomas' talent - she is British -
there is also an English language soundtrack too.

I quite enjoyed I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, and I really enjoyed the new
animated WONDER WOMAN movie!

While the world continues to wait for a live action feature length
WONDER WOMAN film - to go along the BATMAN, SUPERMAN and even WATCHMEN films that have come out over the years - we have now been given this animated film featuring the Amazon who is sent to "man's world" as an
ambassador of peace.

WONDER WOMAN has great animation, an entertaining voice cast including
Kerri Russel from FELICITY in the starring role, and Edmonton's own
Nathan Fillion as Colonal Steve Trevor.

I have enjoyed WONDER WOMAN from the very first time I read the comic
as a kid, and saw Lynda Carter on TV, and this new film is great!!

It is not for kids, due to the violence in it, but as a big kid, I
really enjoyed it!!

I also enjoyed the film that won the Academy Award in 1972 as the Best
Picture of 1971, and I am sure I always will! It is a classic!!

THE FRENCH CONNECTION and it's sequel FRENCH CONNECTION II are now
available on BLU-RAY. The sequel is an awful, awful movie, so I won't
focus on it, other than to let you know it is now out on blu-ray,
instead, let me rave about the original, starring Gene Hackman as Popeye
Doyle.

He is one of a pair of New York City cops who stumble onto a drug
smuggling ring with a French connection.

The quality of the original FRENCH CONNECTION film on Blu-ray is
fantastic!! The film has probably never looked, or sounded better, and
there are some great special features as well, including Hackman
explaining why he wanted to quit the picture.

The new Blu-ray release for THE FRENCH CONNECTION is fantastic, and it
is now available in stores and online on a new Blu-ray release, along
with it's less than spectacular sequel FRENCH CONNECTION II, which Gene
Hackman actually praises in that discs special features.

The great WONDER WOMAN animated movie, I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG and
BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA - a film only for kids - are all available now
on Blu-ray and DVD...and SOUL MEN, WHAT JUST HAPPENED and the
made-in-Moncton film GROWING OP are all available now on DVD.

Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report

DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER is a documentary about a woman who fled to Canada, where she gave birth to a baby fathered by
the man she had killed.

MILK features Sean Penn's Oscar winning performance as slain politician
Harvey Milk.

Also next week, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in AUSTRALIA, we
will RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN and celebrate PINOCCHIO's 70th
Anniversary.

I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in
seven days.

For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.

Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!

Previewing Hollywood's spring movies

Optimism may be a scarce commodity in most quarters of the economy right now but hope springs eternal in the movie business. The box office was booming through the first months of the year and Hollywood's hoping that it can stave off a slump as it readies a huge slate of releases for the spring movie season.

But what with a new U.S. president in office and folks everywhere facing the worst economic conditions in decades, these movies are entering a far different world than their makers might have expected. How will they fit with viewers' new demands and expectations? Do audiences want escapist fluff or opportunities to vent their anger and anxiety?

All that seems certain is that middle-aged action heroes are in (the Liam Neeson flick Taken was a surprise smash) and crass displays of consumerism are out (sorry, Confessions of a Shopaholic).

Here's a list of the movies coming soon to theatres and how they might fare in light of the current crisis.

MARCH 13

Race to Witch Mountain

Who's in it: Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Carla Gugino

What it's about: In this remake/reboot of the Disney science-fiction series spawned by the books by Alexander Key, two mysteriously gifted teens and their reluctant protector race to prevent an alien invasion.

Recession ready: Yes – the highway chase scenes are rendered plausible again due to depressed gas prices. Our interplanetary visitors may also have some valuable advice about alternate energy sources.

Gomorrah

Who's in it: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Salvatore Cantalupo

What it's about: A defiantly unglamorous sort of mob movie, this Cannes prize winner from Italy exposes the inner workings of a crime syndicate in Naples.

Recession ready: Definitely. Thoughtful viewers will appreciate Gomorrah's bracing portrayal of the ways that greed and criminality turn an economy toxic.

MARCH 20

Duplicity

Who's in it: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti

What it's about: Two corporate spies (and ex-lovers) team up to get back at a company that burned them in writer-director Tony Gilroy's follow-up to Michael Clayton.

Recession ready: Not as much as it seems. Gilroy's film is poised to capitalize on viewers' anger at corporate weasels but the poor performance of The International doesn't bode well for biz-minded thrillers.

MARCH 27

Monsters vs. Aliens

Who's in it: Voices of Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Hugh Laurie

What it's about: In this 3-D animated feature from the DreamWorks team behind Shrek and A Shark's Tale, a ragtag crew of mutant humans helps defend the Earth from – you guessed it – an alien invasion.

Recession ready: Hollywood bean-counters are banking on ever-improving digital 3-D technology to turn young viewers (and their parents) into loyal ticket buyers.

Before Tomorrow

Who's in it: Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Madeline Ivalu, Paul-Dylan Ivalu

What it's about: Named the best Canadian first feature at TIFF last September, the latest production by the team behind Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) tells of an elderly Inuit woman and her grandson who struggle to survive in the Far North after their community is devastated.

Recession ready: Yes. The depiction of the pair's hardships in the Arctic is a vital reminder of what people can endure (though maybe not for very long).

APRIL 3

Adventureland

Who's in it: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds

What it's about: Young amusement-park employees get up to no good in this comedy by Superbad director Greg Mottola.

Recession ready: Fer sure. Adventureland's nostalgic '80s setting removes it from the stresses of the here and now.

Fast & Furious

Who's in it: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez

What it's about: The stars of the original The Fast and the Furious movie reunite to bring down a heroin operation and to race some more hot cars.

Recession ready: Looks dicey – the withering auto market could spell doom for this car-crazy franchise. Plus, real-life tragedies due to illegal street racing have made the phony kind a lot less sexy.

APRIL 10

Hunger

Who's in it: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham

What it's about: The debut feature by video artist Steve McQueen recounts the circumstances surrounding the early-1980s hunger strike by Bobby Sands and other members of the IRA.

Recession ready: Yes. Major awards from TIFF, Cannes and nearly everywhere else make Hunger one of the movies of the moment.

Even so, its horrific images of brutality and suffering are tough to take at any time.

Observe and Report

Who's in it: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta

What it's about: A dim-witted mall security guard gets a chance to shine when he becomes part of a police operation to catch a flasher.

Recession ready: More so than you'd think. The surprise success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop suggests that viewers still have warm feelings for shopping malls despite not having any money to spend.

APRIL 17

17 Again

Who's in it: Matthew Perry, Zac Efron, Leslie Mann

What it's about: An unhappy man gets a chance to rewrite his life story when he's mysteriously transformed back into his teenage self.

Recession ready: Weirdly so – what with unemployment rising and expectations sinking, it already feels like we've been transported back to 1976, the same year that audiences flocked to see Freaky Friday or 1988 for Big – other tales of youth regained.

Crank: High Voltage

Who's in it: Jason Statham, Dwight Yoakam, David Carradine

What it's about: Despite dying at the end of its over-adrenalized 2006 predecessor – regarded by action fans as the best of Statham's star vehicles – Chev Chelios is back for more abuse as he hunts the baddies who have his heart – literally.

Recession ready: Damn straight – if this sequel even has half of the ridiculous velocity of the original Crank, that'll be more than enough to take your mind off your woes.

APRIL 24

The Soloist

Who's in it: Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener

What it's about: In this adaptation of the memoir by Steve Lopez, a reporter befriends a Juilliard-trained violinist he discovers living on skid row in Los Angeles.

Recession ready: Better now than last fall. Though The Soloist's postponement from its November release date was interpreted as a sign of trouble, this story of small triumphs in hard times may actually benefit from our tough new economic climate.

MAY 1

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Who's in it: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston

What it's about: A sensitive young mutant – a French Canadian in the original Marvel comic, though he's since been Americanized – copes with life with an indestructible metal skeleton.

Recession ready: Looking good. The all-pervasive atmosphere of dread is likely to encourage viewers' fondness for internally conflicted movie heroes, a trend already established with the popularity of The Dark Knight's Batman, James Bond and Jason Bourne.

The Ghost of Girlfriends Past

Who's in it: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Emma Stone

What it's about: An incorrigible ladies' man gets a supernatural kind of comeuppance when he is taught some harsh lessons by the ghosts of former girlfriends on the eve of his younger brother's wedding.

Recession ready: Women think so. The healthy box office for female-targeted films like Mamma Mia! and He's Just Not That Into You have helped keep the studios in the black. What's more, McConaughey's charms are powerful enough to make hits even out of movies as awful as Fool's Gold and Failure to Launch.

MAY 8

Star Trek

Who's in it: Chris Pine, Zachary Pinto, Simon Pegg

What it's about: J.J. Abrams and his young cast boldly go where umpteen Star Trek TV shows and feature films have gone before. That said, the Enterprise crew's new mission could freshen up a moribund franchise.

Recession ready: Fanboys think so, plus, the multiracial cast and Obama-appropriate emphasis on hope and cooperation may capture the zeitgeist more successfully than other new blockbusters.

Adoration

Who's in it: Scott Speedman, Arsinee Khanjian, Rachel Blanchard

What it's about: A Toronto teen's phony claims to be the offspring of would-be bombers sparks an inquiry into the real history of his parents' tragic demise.

Recession ready: Atom Egoyan hopes so. The latest feature by the local auteur marks a return to some favourite themes and a more modest scale after the big-budget misfire of Where the Truth Lies.

MAY 15

Angels and Demons

Who's in it: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgard

What it's about: In this follow-up to The Da Vinci Code (presented as a sequel here, though Dan Brown's original book was actually that bestseller's predecessor), more of the Vatican's best-guarded secrets are brought to light by intrepid professor Robert Langdon.

Recession ready: Iffy. Recent troubles have made many people more interested in spiritual matters than in sinister conspiracies.

MAY 22

Terminator Salvation

Who's in it: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard

What it's about: The science-fiction franchise launched by James Cameron's 1984 hit enters its latest incarnation by returning to the early days of warfare between humans and machines.

Recession ready: We refuse to speculate lest we incur Bale's fiery wrath.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Who's in it: Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Robin Williams

What it's about: Statues and dioramas get lively once again as Stiller and his co-stars cause a ruckus in another American institution.

Recession ready: Yes indeed. A movie ticket still remains far cheaper than an actual visit to Washington, D.C.

MAY 29

The Brothers Bloom

Who's in it: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz

What it's about: In this caper movie by Brick director Rian Johnson, sibling con men meet their match when they try to bilk an heiress who's just as crafty.

Recession ready: Hard to say. The Brothers Bloom might have missed its moment when its release was postponed from last October. And its cool reception at the Toronto International Film Festival the month before suggests that audiences may be wary of these grifter brothers.

And do we really need to be reminded of the Bernie Madoffs of the world?

Exclusive: U2 To 'Kiss The Future' On Global Stadium Tour

Kiss The Future, U2's world tour in support of its new album "No Line on the Horizon," will play stadiums around the world, beginning June 30 in Barcelona, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Details of the tour will be announced March 9.

It’s a groundbreaking tour with production that includes a 360-degree audience configuration, ambitious staging and a cylindrical video screen. “We’re very excited about the idea to go on the road with this album,” the Edge says. “It’s an album that I think is going to translate so well to the live context. The songs we’ve tried in rehearsal are sounding fantastic, so that’s got everyone really fired up.”

U2 will be playing in a setting unique among all previous tours, by any artist. The tour will be global and lengthy. U2 will stay in Europe through Aug. 22, then hit American shores on Sept. 12 with a show at Soldier Field in Chicago. The band will play in North America until Oct. 28 and plans on working the globe until the fall of 2010. In addition to its production firsts, the tour is destined to become one of the highest-grossing tours ever; at $389 million, the band’s 2005-2007 Vertigo tour is second only to the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang trek.

After playing arenas in North America and stadiums elsewhere on their last few tours, U2 will play stadiums everywhere this time out. “This is going to be completely different, and that’s what makes it exciting -- finding something new to bring to the touring culture,” says the Edge. “It’s hard to come up with something that’s fundamentally different, but we have, I think, on this tour. Where we’re taking our production will never have been seen before by anybody, and that’s an amazing thing to be able to say. For a band like U2 that really thrive on breaking new ground, it’s a real thrill.”

As they have for well over a decade, Live Nation global music chairman Arthur Fogel and his team will produce and promote U2 worldwide. Committing to a global stadium tour is “obviously a major undertaking on a bunch of different levels,” says Fogel. “On the last tour it basically broke down indoors in America and stadiums outside of America. Both shows were pretty different and they were both incredible, but I think the general feeling, and certainly mine, was the experience of U2 in a stadium is special and unique, and it would be great for North America to experience that the way the rest of the world did the last time around.”

Playing in a 360 configuration will increase the capacity by about 15%-20%, depending on the stadium. The configuration opens up myriad opportunities for scaling ticket prices, an important consideration for Fogel and the band. The top ticket price will be slightly higher than last time and the bottom price will be lower, with the floor seats -- the closest to the stage -- the lowest priced. In fact, playing larger capacity venues allows for more conservative pricing overall. Field level is going to be $55, and there will be 10,000 tickets a show, every show, at $30, Fogel says. The price points are $250, $90-$95, depending on the market; $55 and $30.

On-sales will begin in Europe in mid-March, and North American on-sales will start in late March/early April. U2 will also resurrect its random upgrade program first seen on the Elevation tour in 2001, where select fans purchasing GA tickets will be moved closest to the stage.

The basic layout of the tour is Europe in July and August, America in September and October with a total of 40-45 shows this year; more stadiums in America in June and July next year, then August and September in Europe. The trek then tentatively will hit South America in the fall of 2010, for potentially as many as 90-100 shows over the next two years.

This will be the first tour under U2’s 12-year multi-rights deal with Live Nation, though the band’s relationship with Fogel dates back to a show at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1979. “Arthur and I are great friends and I’ve been very interested in the Live Nation project for years now, and we’ve been very supportive of it,” says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. “We obviously intend to go on performing for a long time to come and that’s what the deal reflects. U2 always had parallel careers as recording artists and a touring act and it was always fundamental to our way of thinking that the two should be complimentary.”

Rock Hall of Fame puts focus on Springsteen

CLEVELAND — Seeking something fresh and exciting to complement its upcoming induction ceremony, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has gotten its fondest wish — the cooperation of 1999 inductee Bruce Springsteen in launching a new exhibit solely dedicated to the Boss.

The hall on Friday announced plans to open the exhibit From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen on April 1, three days before the hall holds its induction ceremonies in Cleveland. Featuring various memorabilia from Springsteen, the exhibit is expected to run through the spring of 2010.

"He's someone we've always wanted to do a big exhibit on," said Jim Henke, the Rock Hall's curator. "So it's one of those things that I'd bring up with his manager from time to time. Last summer they said, 'Yes, it makes sense now.'"

It's perfect timing for a year that has been pretty Springsteen packed already. He performed during festivities surrounding the inauguration of President Barack Obama, released his latest album, Working on a Dream, in January, then was the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl last month. He's planning a major tour to kick off April 1 in San Jose, Calif., and will even make an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in June.

Henke says the Springsteen exhibit may be the most extensive exhibit on a rock star ever done at the hall. Previous exhibits have focused on the lives and careers of John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles.

Springsteen has provided various guitars, including the one he holds on the cover of Born to Run, the album that helped rocket his popularity. The exhibit also will have scrapbooks and notebooks in which Springsteen wrote many song lyrics.

"Once (Bruce) knew this was real, that it would really happen, he wanted it to have as much depth as it could possibly have," said Jon Landau, Springsteen's manager and board member of the hall. "He is fully behind this exhibition and the effort the museum has made to really get things right."

Henke is hopeful that eventually Springsteen will make his first visit to the Rock Hall since it opened nearly 14 years ago. Landau said he's sure that the Boss eventually will visit the exhibit.

"I think we'll have to visit at some other time than the official opening, but Bruce is looking forward to seeing it as soon as it's possible for him," Landau said.

Eminem Promises A Double 'Relapse' In 2009

Eminem is making his "Relapse" a double: not only did the best selling rapper reveal the release date for his highly-anticipated return to the rap game, but he announced that the follow-up will drop in 2009 too.

"Relapse," Eminem's first full album of new material in four years, is due from Interscope/Aftermath/Shady on May 19. The album's first single, "Crack the Bottle," is currently at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second album, "Relapse 2," is promised before the end of the year. "A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year," said Eminem in a statement. "I was one of them. Then Dre and I went back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre."

In an exclusive interview with Billboard last year, Eminem spoke about the studio reunion with producer and mentor Dr. Dre. "Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man," Eminem said. "Just him banging away on tracks and me getting that little spark that makes me write to it. I don't have chemistry like that with anyone else as far as producers go -- not even close. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on Relapse.' We are up to our old mischievous ways ... let's just leave it at that."

Michael Jackson Says London Concerts To Be 'Final Curtain Call'

Michael Jackson has confirmed his July residency at London's O2 arena during a press conference at the venue, describing it as the "final curtain call."

Hundreds of screaming fans turned up for the announcement, as well as members of the media, after promoters AEG Live posted a message on the 23,000-capacity venue's Web site inviting people to attend.

"Thank you all... this is it," said Jackson, who appeared an hour and a half late at 5.30pm. "I just wanted to say, these will be my final show performances in London. When I say this is it, it really means this is it. I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear. This is it, this is really it, this is the final curtain call."

He added: "I'll see you in July and... I love you. I really do, you have to know that, from the bottom of my heart. This is it and see you in July."

The first date is July 8 and tickets go on sale March 13. Tickets are priced £50 ($70) to £75 ($106). Full details will be announced later.

Posters advertising 10 shows, also stating 'This is it,' appeared on the London Underground before the announcement.

The statement issued announcing the residency says that Jackson's O2 shows will be "history in the making as the King of Pop Michael Jackson performs in London for the last time."

Rob Hallett, president international touring, AEG Live, said in the statement: "We are delighted to facilitate the return of the King of Pop, long may he reign! Michael at the O2 this summer will surely be the highlight of the musical year.

"When Michael Jackson performs, the eyes of the world will be watching. Look out for an International flavor to the audience, as this will be his only concerts in the world this year."

Billboard.com had already revealed details of the residency and, earlier today, AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke told the audience at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium that Jackson is likely to perform a total of 20 to 25 shows at the O2 Arena once further dates are added to the initial 10 shows.

"We spent two years working with Michael trying to get him comfortable with this," said Leiweke, during his keynote Q&A at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. He added that the singer is "very focused."

Jackson has not released a studio album or played a full concert since 2001. His last major tour was the HIStory World Tour in 1996-1997.

Beatles edition of `Rock Band' video game planned

NEW YORK – Rock Band is getting the perhaps greatest rock group of all time: The Beatles.

The Beatles' management said Thursday that a Beatles version of the Rock Band video game will debut Sept. 9. In addition, they'll sell accompanying instruments modeled after the ones used by the band.

This is the first time Rock Band has based a game on one group, according to MTV Games. It has not yet been determined what Beatles songs will be included in the edition, available for Xbox360, Playstation 3, and Wii video game consoles.

Representatives of the Beatles and Rock Band had been planning a collaboration for months, but initially, the final project was not supposed to be a Rock Band game, but another type of game compatible with the instruments used for the popular series.

But MTV Games said in a statement: "As we moved through the creative process, it just seemed to make sense to clearly highlight the association between The Beatles game and the critically acclaimed Rock Band franchise. The game is being developed by Harmonix and will utilize and build upon the core foundation of Rock Band to create a brand new and innovative Beatles experience."

Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, is developing the product. The Beatles, who broke up nearly four decades ago, have been slow in embracing new technology: their music is still not available for sale on iTunes.

The band's management, Apple Corps Ltd., is partners in the project with MTV Games and Harmonix.

Jewel, Nancy O'Dell drop `Dancing With the Stars'

LOS ANGELES – Pop star Jewel and TV host Nancy O'Dell have dropped out of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Both women sustained injuries during training for the show that prevent them from continuing the competition, the network announced Thursday. Jewel was diagnosed with a fractured tibia in both legs, while the "Access Hollywood" host will need surgery to repair a torn knee cartilage, the network said.

Jewel said in a telephone interview Thursday that she initially dismissed the pain in her legs as soreness from the show's six- to eight-hour daily rehearsals. She eventually sought treatment and was "completely shocked" by the diagnosis.

"The doctor just looked at me and said, 'You're done dancing,'" she said.

The 34-year-old singer-songwriter said she is in pain and using crutches and will have to be seated to perform her next two shows — set for Thursday near Los Angeles and Saturday in Seattle.

"It's my first time sitting down in a concert," she said.

Jewel and O'Dell are still slated to appear on the show's season premiere Monday, when "additional changes to the cast" will be announced.

Jewel's husband, rodeo champ Ty Murray, remains a contestant on the program, though he said it's "a huge bummer" that his wife had to withdraw.

"That's a big part of the reason why we did the show," he said. "It was chance for us to work together and go through this together."

Jewel said she will continue to support her husband and her professional dance partner, Dmitry Chaplin, and she expects to return to the show.

"I think I'll be able to sing this season, so I can sing for Ty on the show if I can't dance for him," she said. "And I hope to dance with Dmitry again and vindicate ourselves."

'Seinfeld' stars guest on `Curb Your Enthusiasm'

NEW YORK – "Seinfeld" isn't coming back, but its stars will be together again this fall on HBO.

The network says that Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards will appear in several episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The HBO comedy stars Larry David, who helped create "Seinfeld."

HBO wasn't giving out any other details about the appearances, which were first reported on the Entertainment Weekly Web site http://www.ew.com. But they are sure to be eagerly anticipated by fans of "Seinfeld," which continues to be shown frequently in syndication.

Robin Williams Needs Heart Surgery, Scraps Tour

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Robin Williams is taking a time-out for "a little tune-up."

The madcap Oscar winner announced today he is postponing the remaining dates of his one-man show, Weapons of Self-Destruction, to undergo heart surgery.

The 57-year-old Williams announced Tuesday he was scuttling two shows in Florida this week after experiencing shortness of breath. Following a checkup, Williams discovered he needed a procedure to replace an aortic valve.

In a statement, Williams expresses optimism that he will be able to resume his show in the fall.

"I'm so touched by everyone's support and well wishes," said Williams. "This tour has been amazing fun, and I can't wait to get back out on the road after a little tune-up."

Previously purchased tickets will be honored at the rescheduled dates, or ticketholders can opt for refunds.

Williams has been on the sold-out 80-city tour since September. Tickets for the Broadway leg of this road trip sold out so quickly that another three dates were tacked on in April to meet demand.

All Together Now: McCartney, Starr to give rare public performance

The remaining Beatles — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr — are going to perform in public together for the first time in six years.

The pair will do a special concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 4 to benefit the David Lynch Foundation, according to the foundation's website. The organization, set up by the American director of Blue Velvet and the Twin Peaks TV series, promotes transcendental meditation in schools.

The former bandmates rarely perform together. They last shared a stage in 2002, during a tribute gig for late Beatle George Harrison in London.

McCartney's latest album is Electric Arguments, a collaboration between the songwriter-singer and producer-musician Youth, and released under the moniker, the Fireman. McCartney is also slated to headline the Coachella Valley music festival in Indio, Calif. on April 17.

Starr did a tour of the U.S. and Canada in 2008 in support of his latest album Liverpool 8.

The "Change Begins Within" concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall is also scheduled to feature Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, Paul Horn, Bettye Lavette and Jim James. Other musicians will also be added to the bill soon.

Tickets, ranging in price from $79.50 to $500 US, go on sale March 9.

Aniston vows to quit Hollywood

Jennifer Aniston has vowed to quit Hollywood to escape the glare of the media spotlight.

The former Friends star, who is dating musician John Mayer, is hounded by the paparazzi eager to get a snap of Aniston on a daily basis.

But the actress is sick of the constant attention, and is planning to leave Los Angeles one day, to live "somewhere remote" where "nobody really cares".

And Aniston is considering taking a sabattical from acting as she ponders her future.

She tells Britain's Elle magazine, "I don't have a game plan. I don't think that in five years' time I need to be doing this or that. You set yourself up for disappointment that way. It seems unnecessary torture.

"I can see myself taking a few years off, living somewhere remote. I would miss acting.

"But... eventually, I'm not going to be living in L.A. full-time. Eventually I'm going to move somewhere nobody really cares. Just go off and be alone."

The Five Things You Gotta Know About Watchmen

It's a murder mystery! It's got superheroes you've never heard of! It's totally deep and way metaphysical! It's an '80s period piece, with Richard Nixon and a giant blue naked guy!

Graphic novel adaptation Watchmen opens this week to big buzz, even though you may know nothing about it. But don't worry. We sat down with the oddly familiar cast and director Zack Snyder to decode this antihero epic, and gather the five essentials:

1. Watchmen Is the Utimate Geek Comic: Want street cred at Comic-Con? Talk Watchmen. Anyone can go on about the X-Men, but aficionados obsess over Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 1986 series—about how very twisted masked men and women in tights would really be.

2. The Dark Knight Was Lightweight: This isn't just a romp about beating up bad guys. Watchmen dwells on questions about the role of superheroes and the toll crimefighting takes on the psyche. Like The Dark Knight, only...darker. "You accept that Batman can walk around in a real world and that a bad guy can dress like a Joker," Snyder tells E! News. "Watchmen blows that up again. "It's time to take [those ideas] apart," he says, "and re-examine—without a smile or a wink—what the f--k this mythology is about."

3. Denny Duquette Is a Real A-hole: Izzy, don't accept any marriage proposals from The Comedian, played by Grey's Anatomy's Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He may be one of the heroes, but he's a bad dude. Seriously. "I may lose a couple of Grey's Anatomy fans," Morgan tells us, "but I'll gain some Watchmen fans, so it's an even trade."

4. You Know These Characters, But You Don't: Watchmen doesn't have a Christian Bale or Heath Ledger or even a Wolverine or Spidey. What it has are heroes you'll find familiar, but with names like Nite Owl, Rorschach, Moloch the Mystic—and Silk Spectre, actually Malin Akerman in tight yellow synthetics. "I don't know if anyone in here has a latex fetish," Akerman (maybe you know her from Entourage?) tells us. "I certainly do not after this film."

5. The Giant Blue Penis Is a Fake: Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is the movie's only hero with actual superpowers, an energy force who looks like a big buff guy. He's too busy analyzing particles to put on pants, but don't get too excited. "I like being nude in front of people as much as the next guy," Crudup tells us, "but no, they insisted that I remain clothed, and they do all the work in postproduction."

Playwright, screenwriter Horton Foote dies at 92

NEW YORK – Playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote, who movingly portrayed the broken dreams of common people in "The Trip to Bountiful," "Tender Mercies" and his Oscar-winning screen adaptation of "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Wednesday in Connecticut, Paul Marte, a spokesman for Hartford Stage, said. He was 92.

Foote died in his apartment in Hartford where he was preparing work on a production for next fall at the nonprofit theater, Marte said.

Foote left the cotton fields of his native Wharton, Texas, as a teenager, dreaming of becoming an actor. But realizing his gifts as a storyteller, he embarked on a writing career that spanned more than half a century and earned him two Academy Awards ("To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Tender Mercies") and a 1995 Pulitzer Prize for "The Young Man From Atlanta."

Foote was active in the theater until the end of life. His play, "Dividing the Estate," the comic tale of a Texas family squabbling over an inheritance, was presented on Broadway this season by Lincoln Center Theater.

The stories and lives of the people he loved in Texas became the bedrock for many of his plays, with the fictional Harrison, Texas, standing in for Wharton. Dividing his time mostly between Texas and New York, he kept the Wharton home in which he had grown up and did much of his writing there.

"I picked a difficult subject, a little lost Texas town no one's heard of or cares about," Foote told The New York Times in 1995. "But I'm at the mercy of what I write. The subject matter has taken me over."

Never one for urbane and trendy topics, Foote instead focused on ordinary people and how their nostalgic recollections would mislead them.

"My first memory was of stories about the past — a past that, according to the storytellers, was superior in every way to the life then being lived," Foote wrote in 1988. "It didn't take me long, however, to understand that the present was all we had, for the past was gone and nothing could be done about it."

Parents and children are treated with an even touch. While many playwrights in the 1970s and 1980s turned to the evening news and wrote issue-oriented dramas, Foote stuck with everyday people dealing with problems of the heart: children without fathers, parents without children, career failures and redemption through love.

Casting call: 4,500 performers sought for Olympic ceremonies

Olympic organizers in Vancouver are looking for 4,500 dancers and performers and athletes to volunteer in the televised performances for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games next February.

"We're looking for people with all types of performance skills and levels of ability who want to play a part in sharing Canada with the world," said David Guscott, the executive vice-president of celebrations and partnerships with the 2010 Olympic organizing committee, known as VANOC.

The ceremonies inside BC Place will be broadcast around the world and are intended to tell the story of Canada to an estimated television audience of 3.5 billion.

"Previous experience isn't a requirement, but taking quick action is. This is the one and only call for participation," he said.

VANOC is also looking for about 1,000 volunteers to help backstage at the ceremonies. Applications can be filed online at the VANOC website.

All performers must be 17 or older by May 1, 2009 to apply, although possible opportunities for performers younger than this are still being considered.

"Above all, we're looking for volunteers with lots of personality, a positive attitude, tons of energy, and a willingness to perform on a stage in front of thousands of people live and billions more around the globe."

Auditions will start in May and candidates will be notified this summer if they have been successful. Rehearsals will begin in November and continue until the Feb. 12 opening of the Games, including over the December holiday period.

Rehearsals will be held twice a week and each volunteer performer will rehearse for more than 100 hours to prepare for their role.

It will be the first time in Olympics history that the ceremonies will be staged at an indoor venue.

They are being produced by Australian David Atkins, who also produced the ceremonies for the Summer Games in Sydney in 2000.

The federal government is spending the $20 million to cover the majority of the cost.

No Bond For Boyle

British director Danny Boyle will not take the helm of the next James Bond movie - despite insisting he's a huge fan of the 007 franchise.

The acclaimed moviemaker was reportedly approached by Bond bosses to direct the upcoming sequel to last year's Quantum of Solace after he swept the board at February's Oscars with Slumdog Millionaire.

A source told Britain's The Sun newspaper, "He has been offered the chance to direct the 23rd Bond film by (Bond producer) Barbara (Broccoli). Everyone on the Eon team thinks Danny would be the perfect addition to the Bond family."

However, despite the modest filmmaker insisting he is "flattered" to be linked with the Bond brand - he has no plans to direct the next movie.

A spokeswoman tells WENN, "While Danny says he always has and always will enjoy the Bond movies he has no plans to direct one. Danny is naturally flattered to be thought of!"

Write On! Bon Jovi book coming out in the fall

NEW YORK – Bon Jovi is ready to spill.

The multiplatinum rockers are marking their 25th anniversary with "Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful," an "insider portrait" that includes previously unpublished photographs and text by the band members.

"The book offers unprecedented insights into the members' lives on stage, on the road, and at home, as well as intimate reflections on the highs and lows of their 25 years together," according to a statement issued Tuesday by publisher HarperCollins.

The book comes out next fall, when a documentary of the same name is released.

Bon Jovi's many hits include "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer."

"Wonder Woman's" Keri Russell is 'a tourist' with a tiara

One of Keri Russell’s most vivid childhood memories is folding laundry while watching Lynda Carter twirl as Wonder Woman on television. And then there was her star-spangled Halloween costume when she was 4, a homemade outfit that for one night made her feel like a real Amazon princess.

"So you can imagine, the idea of playing Wonder Woman now, well, that’s pretty special," said Russell, who gives voice to the most famous female superhero of them all in "Wonder Woman," a PG-13 animated movie that hits stores Tuesday as a straight-to-video release on DVD and BluRay.

For Russell, there is "a certain feeling of responsibility" in playing a character that has been quite literally wrapped in the flag since her first appearance on newsstands in December 1941, the same month Pearl Harbor was bombed.

"She was the strong female among all these male heroes and for little girls she was an important symbol, so I do take it seriously,” said Russell, who won a Golden Globe for her starring work on the television show "Felicity" and has appeared in films such as "Mission: Impossible III" and "The Upside of Anger."

Still, Russell chuckled when asked about the physics of Wonder Woman's red, white and blue outfit (“It’s a bikini, and she’s jumping around and fighting? I’m glad it was a cartoon.") and the somewhat startling experience of treading into the comic-book sector ("The fans are very, very passionate and obsessed in a way, and it’s, um, interesting. I’m a tourist.")

Wonder Woman has been portrayed through the decades in different ways. There were many times when she seemed like a super-powered Barbie look-alike but in the late 1960s she was also a groovy boutique owner and staunch champion of the feminist movement. This time, the 75-minute animated film, which is steeped in Hellenic legend, presents her as confident and powerful princess from an ancient tribe who is repulsed by plenty of what she sees in callow American culture.

The movie was guided by acclaimed animation producer Bruce Timm and isn’t for kids –- at one point, the makers of the film were told their movie needed trims or it would be tagged as an R-rated feature. Even after trims there are still saucy scenes, such as the one where the heroine puts her truth-demanding lasso around Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion, who worked with Russell in "Waitress") and he feels compelled to comment on her breasts with a crass expression. Later in the film, Wonder Woman swings a sword in battle and, in a shocking moment, she beheads an evil opponent. This is not the "The Super Friends."

The movie is part of a robust surge in direct-to-video animated movies featuring publishing-world heroes created by DC ("Justice League: The New Frontier," "Superman: Doomsday”), Marvel (“Hulk Vs.,” "Ultimate Avengers") and Dark Horse ("Hellboy: Sword of Storms"). Sales have been steady if not spectacular but the relatively low production costs and the pop-culture momentum of superhero stories in Hollywood has studios willing to cultivate the sector.

Also, the quick voice work and the chance to channel iconic roles are appealing to plenty of established stars. For instance, "Wonder Woman" and its dark tale (much of it drawing on the Wonder Woman comics of George Pérez in the 1980s) features voice work by Rosario Dawson, Virginia Madsen, Oliver Platt and Alfred Molina.

"It was two days' work and you are part of this great story and production,” said Russell, who laughed about the need to grunt and bellow on command. “You get to be a superhero and what’s better than that?"

Neil Young Confirms New, Electric Car-Inspired LP “Fork in the Road” Due April 7th

When Neil Young began playing nine new songs a night towards the end of his 2008 tour it became apparent a new album was in the works. Today it was confirmed that Fork in the Road, a theme record about Young’s Linc Volt electric car project, will come out April 7th. The title track was turned into a hilarious YouTube video earlier this year. The only previously unheard song is “Johnny Magic,” a loving tribute to Jonathan Goodwin, who is Young’s partner in the Linc Volt project. Young has spent significant amounts of time working with Goodwin at his Wichita Kansas garage over the past year. Goodwin, known as the “motorhead messiah,” is one of the worlds preeminent electric car experts, and has little interest in his partner’s other career. “For the first month I thought he was Neil Diamond,” Goodwin told Rolling Stone last year. “I guess he is another singer. My wife told me ‘That’s Neil Young. He sings the older songs.’ To this day I’ve never listened to any of his music.”

The album was recorded with Young’s touring band, which includes Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Pegi Young (vocals) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, guitar). They just wrapped
up an Australian tour and are headed to Canada and Europe later in the year.

Here’s the track listing:

“When Worlds Collide”
“Fuel Line”
“Just Singing A Song”
“Johnny Magic”
“Cough Up The Bucks”
“Get Behind The Wheel”
“Off The Road”
“Hit The Road”
“Light A Candle”
“Fork In The Road”

"Spinal Tap" stars getting serious on new tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It's no joke. The comedic trio behind "Spinal Tap" are hitting the road for a 30-city North American tour next month, and are leaving their heavy-metal guises at home.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer -- accomplished musicians who have been playing together since 1978 -- said on Monday they will perform music from their "Spinal Tap" days as well as from subsequent film collaborations like the folk-music spoof "A Mighty Wind."

They performed a few songs and took questions during a news conference held on the 25th anniversary of the release of the influential mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," in which the Americans played deluded English headbangers.

The cult hit spoofed situations that have rung eerily true for real-life bands, such as getting lost while trying to make their way to the stage, being confounded by malevolent stage props, or dealing with problematic drummers.

The film also popularized phrases such as turning the volume "up to 11." And when artists explain away their waning popularity by saying that "their appeal is becoming more selective," it's an inadvertent quote from the movie.

NO ROYALTIES

"It's a cautionary tale that we don't intend anyone to pay heed to," said McKean, who played vocalist David St. Hubbins. "If you're a young guy or gal and you want to be in a rock 'n' roll band, see this movie but do it anyway."

But musicians might want to pay heed to one small factoid: The trio never made a dime from the Rob Reiner-directed movie, their manager Harriet Sternberg told Reuters.

The film, originally funded by TV producer Norman Lear at a cost of $2.5 million, has changed hands at least half a dozen times, and is now owned by French firm StudioCanal. Sternberg said no attempt has been made to recover any royalty income.

The trio's "Unwigged & Unplugged" theater tour begins on April 17 in Vancouver, B.C., and runs through May 31 in Milwaukee.

"We've never gone out as ourselves," said Shearer, who played Derek Smalls, the hirsute bass player famed for stuffing a cucumber down the front of his pants. "It's interesting. After playing characters on stage all these years, we're having meetings now trying to figure out who we are."

They have toured several times before in their Spinal Tap incarnation, but played it straight off stage. Now, "we're gonna destroy hotel rooms," said Guest, the man behind guitarist Nigel Tufnel.

"Actually, at our age, we're gonna hire people to destroy hotel rooms," added Shearer.

The trio have also recorded studio versions of the Spinal Tap songs that appeared in live form on the film and soundtrack. The as-yet-untitled album, bolstered by seven or eight unheard tracks, will be released on May 26.

Lynda Carter a wonder on new CD

NEW YORK - Lynda Carter peers at the ultrasleek stereo in her hotel room, trying to find the right button - any button, really - that will get it to accept her CD.

"Now, where would Play be?" she asks.

"Is it Enter?" she wonders. "That's not it."

"CD? Does that say CD?"

Carter played Wonder Woman on television, someone who stopped bullets with her bracelets or hopped in an invisible plane. On this day, she's more human - more alter ego Diana Prince - stumped by an unfamiliar stereo.

But not for long.

"OK!" she says with delight as the right button is pressed and the squeal of a saxophone signals the beginning of Sam Cooke's torch song "You Send Me."

The voice that emerges, though, isn't Cooke's. It's Carter's. And, while walking over to a sofa, she can't help but sing along with herself, a grin plastered to her face.

"I didn't realize how much I missed music until I came back," she says, her tall frame swaying. "It's just a blast. It's so much fun."

That's right: Long before she donned her famous star-spangled one-piece, Carter was a singer. She's getting back to it now with a new CD and a cabaret tour, proving that the 57-year-old is still something of a wonder woman.

"She's really a very incredibly talented singer," says drummer Paul Leim, the leader of her band who has worked with Carter since her "Wonder Woman" days and also with the likes of Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers and Faith Hill.

"Hopefully, everybody will get a chance to experience the real Lynda Carter instead of the actress from the cartoon," says Leim by phone from Nashville, Tenn.

The album contains covers of standards like "Cry Me a River," "Blues in the Night" and "Summertime," as well as playful torch songs such as "Million Dollar Secret."

Carter even covers the Etta James' classic "At Last," a song that also lends the CD its name. "It was 'At Last' for a long time before I knew it was the president's dancing song," she says, slightly chagrined.

Listeners might be startled at the strength of her voice and the soulful colouring of her songs, backed by top-notch studio musicians.

"I don't think I work for surprise, but I think I'm surprising," she says.

Carter has lost little of her head-turning looks. On this day, she wears a short embroidered jacket, tight silk shirt and black leggings, a look few women decades her junior could pull off as well.

Besides being a powerful charity fundraiser, she turns out to be a news junkie, able to talk about presidential line-item vetoes or Tom Daschle with ease. She also embraces her inner goofball.

"I'm really kind of a corny person," she says. "I think I am so funny. I do - I crack myself up. I consistently, at least according to my children, make a fool of myself. I am a completely flawed person. It is what it is. I'm happy with it."

She'll be appearing this month on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard and then at Lincoln Center in New York. In April, there's a fundraiser in Washington and a one-night stand in Modesto, Calif. And, in June, she'll be at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"I like to make people laugh and feel comfortable with me," she says. "I work just as hard for 100 people as I do for 1,500 people. They deserve it."

Carter, who grew up in Phoenix, got her first professional singing job at 14. At 17, she was on the road, playing the Catskills, clubs in the Reno-Tahoe area, and made her debut at the Sahara Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in a band called The Garfin Gathering.

"I thought I was living the dream. Being paid to sing was unbelievable for me. When being paid to sing no longer felt right, that's when I quit," she says.

She won the Miss World-USA title in 1972 and four years later landed the iconic role of Wonder Woman, which she played until 1979. She says its success was due less to the skimpy outfit than her focus on making Diana Prince feel real.

"People forget that I spent most of the time on television playing an alter ego," she says. "That's how I allowed people to really understand her."

Carter, who released her first album in 1978 and sang in several prime-time specials in the 1980s, has returned to performing of late, as her two children with her second husband, lawyer Robert Altman, become young adults. She's appeared in "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Sky High" and the TV series "Smallville."

She recently played a sociopath on "Law & Order" and loved it. "People like me don't get those opportunities very often," she says. "My daughter called it creepy. So I thought I'd hit a home run."

Carter returned to singing and performing in 2005 in a London performance of "Chicago," and a year later was part of the musical's 10th anniversary show on Broadway.

She dipped her toe in cabaret in 2007, playing small venues in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Leim is working on a live CD of a show that she did in front of a nine-piece band at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

Despite the new work, she knows that she'll never fully escape the legacy of Wonder Woman. Perhaps only when someone new steps into her old suit.

"It needs to be done again," she says. "I think they should. I'm the first one to pass that baton and I hope it makes a bizzilion dollars."

New U2 album to come in 5 formats

TORONTO - For U2's first release in five years, Bono and Co. are going all out - and expecting fans to do the same.

Sure, consumers can pick up the plain CD release of "No Line on the Horizon" when it comes out Tuesday, or they can splurge on one of the other four packages. There's the limited box set that includes a DVD and hardcover book, the "digipack" edition with a fold-out poster and rights to download a U2 film, the 60-page magazine version and the limited-issue vinyl double LP.

Yep, even the biggest band in the world is taking steps to rouse record buyers out of their collective malaise.

Loading a CD release with fan-friendly bonuses is a strategy that many bands are adopting as a way to entice consumers who otherwise might be just as happy downloading new music.

When Bruce Springsteen released "Working on a Dream" in January, it came with a bonus DVD featuring 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage. Radiohead's "In Rainbows" was available in a pricey limited deluxe edition that included both CD and vinyl, plus a second disc of new songs and a lyric book.

With the record-buying public seemingly shrinking with each passing year, it's becoming a necessary strategy even for the titans of the industry.

"I definitely think it does (help sales) because it adds a better sense of value to what people are buying," said Terry McBride, CEO of Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group. "I think it brings in the added value proposition of things that can't be digitized."

Of course, those bonus-loaded packages don't come cheap - the super-deluxe version of U2's new album runs a hefty $83.99 on Amazon.ca. That, McBride says, makes it even more important that the content is worthwhile and coming directly from the band.

"Knowing (U2), they had a lot to say about all of it, and they had their hands all over it," he said of their new release. "That makes it a lot more authentic, because they actually care.

"In the case of U2, it's not a marketing thing. They're really sincere people about what they release and what their fans like."

Toronto indie rockers Metric are releasing their fourth studio album, "Fantasies," in similarly bonus-packed fashion.

Beginning Tuesday, fans can pre-order the new album - which doesn't see physical release until April 14 - from Metric's website in three formats. The album will be available on limited edition vinyl, as a deluxe hard-cover CD or as a straight-up download in one of several "content bundles" that will include other extras.

Though Metric is releasing the album on Last Gang Records in Canada, they're essentially putting the record out themselves in the U.S. With that added responsibility, they took it upon themselves to include bonus content with the release.

"For us, it's just a way to stay creative and to think outside of what is normally allowed, which is based on a retail construct," said singer Emily Haines in a recent telephone interview from New York. "We're all discovering that ... preconceptions of how the world has to be are appearing to be not set in stone at all.

"So we're just having a good time and trying to stay inspired and make art."

Metric has documented their tours with photographs and videos taken by the band, some of which will be included with the record.

Haines says that beyond extra features, she thinks more care needs to go into the physical albums as well.

"I just think nobody is going to be impressed by something that looks cheap or throwaway," she said. "Particularly material goods and manufacturing, we all know the cost in environmental terms. If it's something I'm going to go buy, I want it to be valuable.

"Nobody wants a pile of plastic cases."

Not all musicians are onboard with this new strategy. Some are suspicious of what looks like a new method to rake in cash for record labels.

"Everything is about added bonus, added bonus, added bonus," said TV on the Radio singer/guitarist Kyp Malone. "But I feel like I'm not personally trying to sell records to anyone but the people who buy records already, you know? I know that's a shrinking market, and I recognize that, and I'm fine with it.

"I don't think I can trick anybody."

Haines understands Malone's point, but says the process feels less ominous when it comes directly from the band.

"(If) it's presented to you as a crass marketing tool by somebody whose taste you don't respect, you find yourself resisting ideas that are potentially just kind of cool," she said. "We enjoy making (these extras), and ideally, people are interested in seeing them. It's just a few minutes of entertainment or insight.

"But it takes a lot of the sinister side of things out of it when I don't feel like somebody's trying to sell every moment of my life."

Tragically Hip announce theatre tour

The Tragically Hip may be the same, but their next tour won't be.

The CanRock legends have announced they'll spend the spring and summer promoting their new album We Are the Same — due in stores and online April 7 — with a theatre tour.

Dubbed An Evening With The Tragically Hip, the jaunt will see them playing two sets per night, with multiple performances in many cities and no opening acts.

The tour kicks off April 27th in Kitchener and winds its way through the U.S. and Canada before wrapping up in Ottawa on Sept. 28.

Pre-sales begin Tuesday, March 3 at 10 a.m. for registered users of thehip.com. When buying tickets, you can also pre-order We Are the Same, along with the bonus CD Live From the Vault: Volume 4, a 1994 concert recording from Belgium. Check Ticketmaster and Live Nation's websites for public onsale dates in various markets.

The Hip's tour dates:

April 27-29 / Kitchener, Centre in the Square

May 1 & 2 / Montreal, Metropolis

May 4 / Quebec City, Le Capitole

May 7 / Philadelphia, Fillmore

May 8 / New York City, Nokia Theatre

May 9 / Boston, House of Blues

May 11, 12, 14-16 / Toronto, Massey Hall

May 23 / Kingson, K-Rock Centre

May 26 & 27 / Chicago, Vic Theatre

May 29 & 30 / Detroit, Fillmore

May 31 / Cleveland, House of Blues

June 2, 4-6 / Lewiston, N.Y., Artpark

June 9-11 / Los Angeles, Troubadour

June 13 & 14 / San Francisco, Fillmore

June 16 / Portland, Wonder Ballroom

June 17 / Seattle, Moore Theatre

June 20 / Victoria, Save On Foods Memorial Centre

June 22-24 / Vancouver, Orpheum Theatre

July 23 / London, Ont., Harris Park

Sept. 9-11 / Winnipeg, Centennial Concert Hall

Sept. 14, 16, 17 / Edmonton, Jubilee Auditorium

Sept. 19 / Banff, Eric Harvie Theatre

Sept. 21, 23, 24 / Calgary, Jubilee Auditorium

Sept. 26-28 / Ottawa, National Arts Centre

War epic Passchendaele among GG winners

Acadian singer Edith Butler, dancer Peggy Baker and filmmaker/playwright Robert Lepage are among the winners of this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

Also named as winners are playwright George F. Walker, composer R. Murray Schafer and writer/singer Clemence Desrochers.

Each recipient receives $25,000.

The awards will be presented at Rideau Hall May 8.

As well, actor/director Paul Gross was honoured for his film Passchendaele, winning this year's National Arts Centre Award for achievement over the past performance year.

And philanthropist James D. Fleck was named the recipient of the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts.

"The presentation of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards is a time for us to recognize the invaluable contribution of our artists who have chosen the stage as a space in which to create and to express themselves and who dedicate their lives to enriching our own," said Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

New CD Releases, March 3rd: U2, 'Watchmen,' Neko Case, Raul Malo, Rush, and more!

U2 "No Line On the Horizon" (Interscope)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers from Dublin, Ireland are set to unleash their 12th studio album, which marks the group's first batch of new material since 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."

"No Line on the Horizon" was produced by longtime U2 collaborators Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Steve Lillywhite. The album's first single is the track "Get On Your Boots," which the band debuted in mid-February at the 2009 Brit Awards in London.

"No Line on the Horizon" will be made available in five versions, including a standard CD, a double-vinyl pressing and a deluxe box set.

* * *
Various artists "Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture" (Reprise)

Comic book fans are counting down the days until the release of the "Watchmen," the major motion picture adaptation of the popular comic book series/graphic novel. The film hits theaters on Friday (3/6), but fans can get an advance taste of the film by purchasing "Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture."

This collection includes offerings by such legendary musicians as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. It also includes one track by a much newer band--My Chemical Romance offers up a cover of Dylan's "Desolation Row."

* * *
Neko Case "Middle Cyclone" (Anti)

The popular singer/songwriter, who releases records both under her own name and as a member of The New Pornographers, delivers another solo album. "Middle Cyclone" follows 2006's "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood."

The record was co-produced by Case and New Pornographers studio engineer Darryl Neudorf. "Middle Cyclone" features a number of guests, including M. Ward, Garth Hudson and Sarah Harmer, as well as members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico and Giant Sand, among others.

Case is set to support the new album with a tour that begins March 31 in Austin, TX.

* * *
Raul Malo "Lucky One" (Fantasy)

The former Mavericks frontman drops his first set of original material since his 2001 solo debut, "Today." In the interim, he released the cover collections "You're Only Lonely" and "After Hours," which feature songs written by his favorite performers, including Kris Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson and Roger Miller.

Malo will showcase "Lucky One" during a five-week US tour. The trek launches March 6 in Portland, OR, and will hit more than a dozen clubs and theaters.

* * *
Rush "Retrospective 3" (Atlantic)

This two-disc CD/DVD combo spotlights the multi-platinum Canadian band's more-recent releases. "Retrospective 3," which draws from the years 1989 to 2008, features such tunes as "Roll the Bones," "Driven" and "Half the World."

* * *
More new releases:
Boston Spaceships, "Planets Are Blasted" (Guided by Voices)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem In Person at Carnegie Hall: The Complete 1963 Concert" (Sony)
Justin Townes Earle, "Midnight at the Movies" (Bloodshot)
Bela Fleck, "Throw Down Your Heart, Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sessions" (Rounder)
Ian McLagan and Bump Band, "Never Say Never" (R.E.D.)
Buddy and Julie Miller, "Written in Chalk" (New West)
Nashville Pussy, "From Hell to Texas" (Steamhammer)
Alan Parsons Project, "Vulture Culture: Original Recording Remastered" (Sony)
Arvo Part, "In Principio" (ECM)
Prodigy, "Invaders Must Die" (R.E.D.)
Tierney Sutton, "Desire" (Telarc)
Thin Lizzy, "Still Dangerous: Live at the Tower Theater Philadelphia" (VH1)
Various Artists, "The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 11B: 1971" (Hip-O)

Soundtracks and scores:
"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (Lakeshore)
"Watchmen: Original Motion Picture Score" (Reprise)

Penn to lobby for Harvey Milk Day in California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fresh from his best actor Oscar for his performance as Harvey Milk, Sean Penn is pushing California to officially recognize the late gay politician's birthday.

State Senator Mark Leno plans to reintroduce a bill Tuesday with Penn by his side designating Milk's birthday a "day of significance."

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the same bill last year.

In his veto message, the governor said Milk should be honored in San Francisco but not statewide.

Leno says Penn's award shows that Schwarzenegger's argument about Milk being only of provincial interest no longer holds up.

Prince to release new CD set through Target

NEW YORK – Prince is coming to a Target near you.

The superstar is releasing a three-disc CD set through the retailer at the end of this month. The set will include two new albums — "LOtUSFLOW3R" and "MPLSoUND" — as well as a third by his new artist, Bria Valente, for the price of $11.98.

Prince is just the latest music legend to release new music exclusively through a major retailer. AC/DC and the Eagles were among the acts who sold millions of CDs through their partnership with Wal-Mart.

Prince has released his recent CDs through major labels, but they were one-album deals that gave him the flexibility to go elsewhere when the project was done. Last fall, he released a coffee table book of photos titled "21 Nights" documenting his record-breaking, 21-night run at London's 02 Arena in 2007. The book also included a CD of live performances.

"Prince has long been renowned as one of the world's most original and iconic musical artists," said Mark Schindele, Target's senior vice president of merchandising. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share his most recent work with our Target guests."

The CD set will be on sale at Target and its Web site on March 29.

Atlantic Canadian musicians feted at ECMA gala

Four days of celebrating Atlantic Canadian music culminated in Corner Brook, N.L., on Sunday night with the annual East Coast Music Association Awards.

Newfoundland and Labrador's Hey Rosetta! picked up three awards, with the rising indie rock group's album Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) snagging the FACTOR recording of the year prize, as well as group and alternative recording of the year.

Taking the awards podium for the third time, Hey Rosetta! frontman Tim Baker quipped that he had "already given the speech that I prepared, twice."

However, he added thanks to "basically any funding body and anyone who lobbies for the arts and in favour of the arts. Sometimes it's not a lot of money [we receive], but it means a lot and it means you can make something beautiful and meaningful.... [It] keeps the process really pure. Thank you for that."

Cape Breton singer-songwriter and producer Gordie Sampson, now based in Nashville, was among the evening's early winners, taking the single of the year trophy for We Are Young and So Is the Night. Later on, he was also named winner of the SOCAN songwriter of the year trophy.

Halifax singer Jill Barber was also an early ECMA Award recipient. She won for jazz recording of the year for Chances.

After a skit featuring Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams revving up the people of Corner Brook kicked off the televised broadcast of the ECMAs, singer Damhnait Doyle and CBC Radio personality Jian Ghomeshi continued the evening as co-hosts.

Prizes presented prior to the television broadcast included:

Aboriginal recording: This Is the Life for Me, The Flummies.

Instrumental album: Raindrops, Duane Andrews.

Blues recording: Something in Between, Matt Andersen.

Classical recording: A Child's Cry from Izieu Oskar Morawetz, complete works for violin and piano, Jasper Wood.

Aside from the slate of traditional awards, organizers will also present the inaugural ECMA Fan's Choice Award, a new publicly voted honour. The evening will also include a star-studded tribute to singer-songwriter, guitarist and Newfoundland musical pioneer Dick Nolan.

Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90

CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.

Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.

Harvey had been forced off the air for several months in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday. His death comes less than a year after that of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.

"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," Paul Harvey Jr. said in a statement. "So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."

Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of "The Rest of the Story," Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio Networks.

He became a heartland icon, delivering news and commentary with a distinctive Midwestern flavor. "Stand by for news!" he told his listeners. He was credited with inventing or popularizing terms such as "skyjacker," "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."

"Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history," ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said in a statement. "We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him."

In 2005, Harvey was one of 14 notables chosen as recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom. He also was an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame, as was Lynne.

Former President George W. Bush remembered Harvey as a "friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."

"His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed," Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Harvey composed his twice-daily news commentaries from a downtown Chicago office near Lake Michigan.

Rising at 3:30 each morning, he ate a bowl of oatmeal, then combed the news wires and spoke with editors across the country in search of succinct tales of American life for his program.

At the peak of his career, Harvey reached more than 24 million listeners on more than 1,200 radio stations and charged $30,000 to give a speech. His syndicated column was carried by 300 newspapers.

His fans identified with his plainspoken political commentary, but critics called him an out-of-touch conservative. He was an early supporter of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy and a longtime backer of the Vietnam War.

Perhaps Harvey's most famous broadcast came in 1970, when he abandoned that stance, announcing his opposition to President Nixon's expansion of the war and urging him to get out completely.

"Mr. President, I love you ... but you're wrong," Harvey said, shocking his faithful listeners and drawing a barrage of letters and phone calls, including one from the White House.

In 1976, Harvey began broadcasting his anecdotal descriptions of the lives of famous people. "The Rest of the Story" started chronologically, with the person's identity revealed at the end. The stories were an attempt to capture "the heartbeats behind the headlines." Much of the research and writing was done by his son, Paul Jr.

Harvey also blended news with advertising, a line he said he crossed only for products he trusted.

In 2000, at age 82, he signed a new 10-year contract with ABC Radio Networks.
Harvey was born Paul Harvey Aurandt in Tulsa, Okla. His father, a police officer, was killed when he was a toddler. A high school teacher took note of his distinctive voice and launched him on a broadcast career.

While working at St. Louis radio station KXOK, he met Washington University graduate student Lynne Cooper. He proposed on their first date (she said "no") and always called her "Angel." They were married in 1940 and had a son, Paul Jr.

They worked closely together on his shows, and he often credited his success to her influence. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997, seven years after her husband was. She died in May 2008.

'Madea' locks up top spot at weekend box office

LOS ANGELES – "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" locked up $16.5 million in ticket sales to claim the top spot at the box office for a second straight weekend, beating out "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

The Jonas Brothers film, featuring the band on stage and off, took in $12.7 million, the second-biggest opening for a concert film behind 2008's "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert." That 3-D film, chronicling fellow Disney idol Miley Cyrus, premiered at the top of the charts after playing in just 683 theaters. "Jonas Brothers" opened in 1,271 theaters.

"'Hannah Montana' set a bar so high it's going to take forever to knock it off," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. "Everything about it worked. She was coming off a great album and tour and three years on the Disney Channel. I don't think any set of circumstances will ever be quite what 'Hannah' had."

Feisty, pistol-packin' granny Madea remained unstoppable at the box office. The two previous films centering on Perry's foul-mouthed character — 2005's "Diary of Mad Black Woman" and 2006's "Madea's Family Reunion" — also debuted at No. 1, and they grossed more than $150 million total.

"We've been talking a lot lately about people going to the movies to escape," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "Usually, people want to escape from jail, but people keep wanting to escape to jail with Madea. That character has made a huge mark. If you've got 'Tyler Perry' or 'Madea' in the title, you've got a hit."

"Slumdog Millionaire," riding high after collecting eight Oscars last week, finished third with $12.1 million, bringing its total to $115 million and giving it the biggest post-Academy Awards weekend for a best picture Oscar winner in 10 years.

"I still run into people who haven't seen it," said Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution at Fox Searchlight. "I'm like 'Hello? Do you live on the planet?' But obviously, there were a lot of people who hadn't seen it yet or we wouldn't have gone up 45 percent this weekend, so it's really terrific."

The week's other new wide release, the video game adaptation "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" distributed by 20th Century Fox, opened at No. 8 with $4.6 million.

Here are 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. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," $16.5 million.
2. "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience," $12.7 million.
3. "Slumdog Millionaire," $12.1 million.
4. "Taken," $9.9 million.
5. "He's Just Not That Into You," $5.8 million.
6. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," $5.6 million.
7. "Coraline," $5.2 million.
8. "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li," $4.6 million.
9. "Confessions of a Shopaholic," $4.4 million.
10. "Fired Up," 3.8 million.