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
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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.
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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.