Categories
Music

I admit that I’ve been listening to a lot of his music lately myself.

George Michael’s music gets 3,000% sales boost following his death

Sales of George Michael’s music have risen by nearly 3,000% in the days following his death on Christmas Day.

According to Nielsen Music, Michael sold around 477,000 albums and songs in the week ending 29 December compared to 17,000 the week before – an increase of 2,678 per cent.

Of those sales, solo sales accounted for 429,000 – an increase from 16,000 the previous week.

The singer’s music with Wham! sold 103,000 units the same week, up from 5,000 the week before.

Michael was found dead at his home in Oxfordshire, England, on Christmas Day aged 53. A host of stars came forward to pay tribute to the icon following his tragic passing, with chat show host James Corden the latest to remember the music veteran.

“I feel like I’ve loved George Michael as long as I’ve loved music, in a way, and I know so many of his fans feel the same,” he said on his show The Late Late Show with James Corden on Tuesday night. “I can remember so many specific times in my life where I might have felt on my own, and George’s music would feel like, you would listen to a song and he would reach his hand out and tell you that you weren’t on your own and that these feelings were not particular to you.”

Corden has a lot to thank Michael for as well, considering a 2011 charity sketch with the singer inspired the comedian’s Carpool Karaoke segment, now one of the favourite parts of his nightly show that frequently goes viral.

“It was the first time I’d ever sung in a car with anybody, and it’s become quite a big part of my life now, and he really inspired it,” he said.

That sketch was also responsible for convincing Mariah Carey to sign up as the first participant of Carpool Karaoke.

“Her words were, ‘If it’s good enough for George, then it’s good enough for me. I’ll do it.’ So we all have so much to thank him for, for the music that he’s given that will last forever, but we personally, here at this show, we owe him so much,” he concluded.

Categories
Music

Hope it finally comes out this year!!

Singles soundtrack to receive expanded reissue and vinyl box set for 25th anniversary

Pretty much everything about the breakthrough of grunge music in the early ’90s can be boiled down to one movie: Cameron Crowe’s 1992 classic Singles. I mean, Pearl Jam was actually in the movie and Matt Dillion’s wardrobe consisted mainly of Jeff Amnet’s actual clothing. But nothing sums up the cultural significance better than the film’s soundtrack, which featured the likes of Chris Cornell, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, and yes, Pearl Jam. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the OST, and it looks as if Sony Music will be celebrating with an expanded reissue.

Pre-orders for a double-CD and triple-LP box set of the Singles Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition) have appeared online. Both editions feature the original 13 tracks plus 18 new ones including demos, instrumentals, and “Touch Me I’m Dick” by Dillion’s fictional band in the film, Citizen Dick, which featured Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament. (It should be noted that the way the tracklist is listed out makes it seem as if the vinyl box set will actually feature the original OST on double-vinyl and include the 18 bonus tracks on CD.)

There’s a February 17th release date listed, but it might be worth holding off to place your pre-order. A previous listing on Acoustic Sounds from May 2015 listed a August 2016 release date, and obviously that never occurred. Still, this new listing comes from Amazon, so it seems a bit more legit. Find the tracklist below.

Singles Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition) CD Tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Alice in Chains – Would?
02. Pearl Jam – Breath
03. Chris Cornell – Seasons
04. Paul Westerberg – Dyslexic Heart
05. The Lovemongers – Battle of Evermore
06. Mother Love Bone – Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
07. Soundgarden – Birth Ritual
08. Pearl Jam – State of Love and Trust
09. Mudhoney – Overblown
10. Paul Westerberg – Waiting for Somebody
11. Jimi Hendrix – May This Be Love
12. Screaming Trees – Nearly Lost You
13. The Smashing Pumpkins – Drown

Disc 2:
01. Citizen Dick – Touch Me I’m Dick
02. Chris Cornell – Nowhere But You
03. Chris Cornell- Spoonman
04. Chris Cornell – Flutter Girl
05. Chris Cornell – Missing
06. Alice in Chains – Would?
07. Alice in Chains – It Ain’t Like That
08. Soundgarden – Birth Ritual
09. Paul Westerberg – Dyslexic Heart
10. Paul Westerberg – Waiting for Somebody
11. Mudhoney – Overblown
12. Truly – Heart and Lungs
13. Blood Circus – Six Foot Under
14. Mike McCready – Singles Blues 1
15. Paul Westerberg – Blue Heart
16. Paul Westerberg – Lost in Emily’s Woods
17. Chris Cornell – Ferry Boat #3
18. Chris Cornell – Score Piece #4

Categories
Music

Fooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Foo Fighters to spend 2017 recording new album

It looks like every aspect of Foo Fighters’ short-lived hiatus is over. Not only are the prolific rockers scheduled to return to the stage to headline BottleRock Napa Valley Festival in May, but they’ve also got plans to work on a brand new album, their first since 2014’s Sonic Highways.

News of the album was revealed by Dave Graham, CEO of Latitude 38, the entertainment company behind BottleRock. “The Foo Fighters are in the studio all next year recording a new album and BottleRock may be their only show in 2017 in North America,” he recently told writer David Kerns of the Napa Valley Register, in an interview discussing the steps Latitude 38 took to nab the much-coveted, Grammy-winning outfit. (Kerns confirmed to Consequence of Sound that “next year” means 2017.)

The forthcoming full-length would mark the Foos’ ninth overall and follows their two 2015 EPs, Songs from the Laundry Room and Saint Cecilia. In November, drummer Taylor Hawkins put out his debut solo album, KOTA.

The three-day BottleRock Festival goes down May 26th – 28th in Napa Valley, California. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Modest Mouse, The Roots, and Mavis Staples are also expected to perform.

Categories
Movies

I admit that a few hundred dollars of that amount came from me.

North American Box Office Hits Record $11.4 Billion

The North American box office closed out the year with $11.4 billion in ticket sales, ComScore said Sunday. That marks a new record for the industry, bypassing the previous high-water mark of $11.1 billion that was established in 2015.

ComScore, a data measurement company, did not calculate admissions, but studio executives and analysts believe that attendance will be essentially flat. Nor does it account for inflation. The record was achieved, in part, thanks to more expensive tickets. Ticket prices hit new highs earlier in 2016, though an average full-year price for tickets have yet to be calculated.

Still it was a record that few thought the industry would set. This year was faulted for lacking major franchises such as James Bond and the Fast and the Furious series.

It was a particularly strong year for Disney, which controlled more than a quarter of the domestic market share despite releasing fewer films than any of the major studios. It made the most of what it had. Disney launched four of the top five highest-grossing films, including “Finding Dory,” the years top film with $486.3 million. When holdovers are taken into account, Disney had six of the year’s ten highest-grossing releases, a group that includes “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which debuted in 2015.

Other top films include “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ($408.2 million), “Captain America: Civil War” ($408.1 million),”The Secret Life of Pets” ($368.4 million), and “The Jungle Book” ($364 million).

Categories
Awards

I wonder if he thinks that his complaining will get him in. He seems to have forgotten that he was kicked out of the band.

Former Pearl Jam Drummer Calls Out Band’s Integrity Over Rock Hall Snub

Former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese continues to both plead with and call out his ex-bandmates over his exclusion from the band’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction lineup.

“Pearl Jam has always seemingly had a perceived level of integrity and has been known to stand their ground & fight the good fight, but it seems the allure of being given this trophy is just [too] important for them to take a stand,” Abbruzzese wrote on Facebook.

“We still have the music and no amount of corporate conglomerate or ticky-tack bullshit can keep us from enjoying the power of the music we love. The fact that we find ourselves fighting for the integrity of the validity of a segment of Pearl Jam history to be acknowledged is straight-up beautiful. The reason we have to is what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is supposed to have been built to celebrate: The love of the music.”

While Pearl Jam has had a handful of drummers over their tenure, only current drummer Matt Cameron and Ten member Dave Krusen (to his own surprise) will be inducted alongside Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready.

When Pearl Jam was nominated for the Rock Hall, Abbruzzese, who played on Vs. and Vitalogy, expressed his displeasure about not being among the eligible members. Now that the band has been inducted without him, the drummer continues to lobby for inclusion.

“I have always thought that every award given to a band that celebrates the band’s lifetime achievements should be awarded to every person that was ever a debt-incurring, life-sacrificing, blood-spilling, member of that band,” Abbruzzese wrote.

“Maybe the Hall should reevaluate the need to put all the monkeys in the same cage in order to boost revenue, and instead let the history of the band be fully and completely represented as they were and as they are,” he added. “Leave it up to the group to show their true colors as they celebrate their own history in a manner of their choosing.”

Abbruzzese continued, “Whoever is ultimately responsible for the decision that deemed my work with Pearl Jam as an effort that was not important enough to grant me induction knows nothing of what we accomplished, and I am personally at a loss for words for how Stone, Mike, Jeff, Matt, Edward and [manager] Kelly Curtis are accepting of such an injustice.”

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Krusen admitted he was surprised that he was included among the inductees; as noted in the interview, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame typically inducts founding members, with Krusen drumming on the band’s debut album Ten.

“I didn’t think I would be. A couple of friends would say, ‘When they get in the Hall of Fame…’ But I never gave it a lot of thought,” Krusen said. “I don’t play in the band, so why would I? But I was quite surprised and very excited. I’m very proud to have been a part of that thing. I’m glad to be included.”

Krusen also briefly addressed Abbruzzese’s lobbying for inclusion.

“I do know there’s a lot going on on Facebook. I guess somebody is starting a petition or … I don’t know. I’m staying out of that,” Krusen said. “I do know this: Having been in that band, when you leave, you are still representing them … I felt like just because I’m not in that band, I’m still out there and people are like, ‘Oh, you played in that band?’ You’re like an ambassador and you better keep your shit together … The whole drummer controversy with the band, obviously Matt Cameron should be there. Beyond that, I guess I’ll just stay out of it.”

Categories
People

I admit, I’ve listened to a lot of George Michael music this week. May he rest in peace.

Autopsy: George Michael’s Cause of Death ‘Inconclusive’

George Michael’s initial autopsy was ruled “inconclusive” after a post-mortem examination conducted on Thursday. Thames Valley Police announced Friday that further tests are needed, and results will not be known for several weeks, The Associated Press reports.

Michael, 53, died Christmas Day from apparent heart failure at his country home in Goring in Oxfordshire, England. Police are treating the singer’s death as “unexplained but not suspicious,” indicating they discovered no evidence of foul play.

After news broke about the former Wham! singer’s death, his representative issued a statement of “great sadness,” noting that Michael “passed away peacefully at home.” In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Michael’s partner Fadi Fawaz expressed his shock. “We were supposed to be going for Christmas lunch,” he said. “I went round there to wake him up and he was just gone, lying peacefully in bed. We don’t know what happened yet.”

Many of Michael’s friends and musical peers issued statements of condolences. “I have lost a beloved friend – the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist,” Elton John wrote on Instagram. “My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans.”

“I don’t have the words,” Queen guitarist Brian May wrote on his website. “This year has cruelly taken so many fine people way too young. And George? That gentle boy? All that beautiful talent? Can’t begin to compute this. RIP George. Sing with Freddie. And the Angels.”

Categories
People

Very sad news, but I’m comforted thinking she’s with her Daughter again. May she rest in peace.

Debbie Reynolds, Mother of Carrie Fisher and Star of ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ Dies at 84

The actress received an Oscar nom for ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’ and lost her husband to Elizabeth Taylor. Her daughter died just one day earlier.
Debbie Reynolds, the vivacious actress, dancer and pop star who wowed ’em in the musicals Singin’ in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, died Wednesday, one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, passed away, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. She was 84.

“She’s with Carrie,” said Reynolds’ son, Todd.

Reynolds died Wednesday night after being hospitalized for a medical emergency. On Tuesday, her daughter, the Star Wars actress, author and screenwriter, died of complications from a heart attack she had suffered four days earlier while on a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Years earlier, Reynolds suffered heartbreak of another kind when her husband and Carrie’s father, pop singer Eddie Fisher, left her to be with actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Reynolds was given the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2015 by the Academy for her charitiable life’s work. She also had a No. 1 single with the sentimental ballad “Tammy,” toplined her own NBC sitcom for a season and was an energetic touring performer on stages and in showrooms for decades.

Reynolds became a sensation after starring with legendary hoofers Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the immortal MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain (1952), directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen. With the stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to talkies, the movie was voted the No. 1 musical of all time by the American Film Institute.

Reynolds received her only Oscar nomination for playing the title role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), based on the Broadway musical and fictionalized account of the life of a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic. But Reynolds lost out to Julie Andrews in her debut film, Mary Poppins.

In between those two films, Reynolds was very much a headliner on the Hollywood gossip pages when her husband fell in love with Taylor following the death of Taylor’s husband, Around the World in 80 Days producer Michael Todd, in a March 1958 plane crash. Fisher was Todd’s best man when he married Taylor, and Reynolds had been a bridesmaid.

In 2010, Reynolds recalled how she found out her husband was cheating on her — lonely at home while Fisher was away on tour, she called Taylor at home to chat. To her surprise, Fisher answered the phone.

“Suddenly, a lot of things clicked into place,” she told the Daily Mail of London. “I could hear her voice asking him who was calling — they were obviously in bed together. I yelled at him, ‘Roll over darling, and let me speak to Elizabeth.’ ”

In her 2008 autobiography Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher described her parents’ breakup, which started when her dad “flew to Elizabeth’s side, making his way slowly to her front.

“He first dried her eyes with his handkerchief, then he consoled her with flowers, and he ultimately consoled her with his penis,” Fisher wrote. “This made marriage to my mother awkward.”

The Reynolds-Fisher divorce became final on May 12, 1959 — Carrie was 2 at the time — and Taylor and Fisher were wed less than four hours later. Taylor would go on to divorce Fisher in 1964 after she fell for Richard Burton on the set of Cleopatra (1963).

Reynolds did not talk to Taylor for seven years until she boarded the Queen Elizabeth with her second husband, shoe manufacturer Harry Karl, and discovered that Taylor also was on the ship. Reynolds sent her a note, and the two had dinner and “a lot of laughs.”

She divorced Karl in 1973. Reynolds also was married from 1984-96 to real estate developer Richard Hamlett.

In January 2015, she was the recipient of the Life Achievement Award at the SAG Awards. “In [Molly Brown] I got to sing a wonderful song called, ‘I Ain’t Down Yet.’ … Well, I ain’t.”

However, Reynolds recently had been saddled with health problems and was unable to attend the Governors Awards in November 2015 to accept her Hersholdt award on stage.

Mary Frances Reynolds was born April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas. At age 7, her family moved to Burbank, and at age 16, the 5-foot-2 former Girl Scout was signed to a contract at Warner Bros.

After appearing in bit roles in such films as June Bride (1948) and The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady (1950), Reynolds attracted the attention of MGM. The studio gave the fresh-faced teenager a small but significant part as singer Helen Kane (“I Wanna Be Loved by You”) in the Fred Astaire starrer Three Little Words (1950), then signed her to a seven-year contract.

In her next film, Two Weeks With Love (1950), Reynolds scored a hit song with a remake of “Aba Daba Honeymoon,” a duet with Carleton Carpenter that made it to No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart.

After the success of Singin’ in the Rain, Reynolds spent the rest of a busy decade starring as good-natured girls in such musicals and light-hearted comedies as The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953) opposite Bobby Van; Donen’s Give a Girl a Break (1953); Susan Slept Here (1954) with Dick Powell; Athena (1954) and Hit the Deck (1955), both alongside Jane Powell; The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra; Bundle of Joy (1956), with Fisher at the height of their relationship; The Catered Affair (1956), as the daughter of Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine; Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), playing a backwoods innocent opposite Leslie Nielsen; and The Gazebo and It Started With a Kiss, two 1959 films in which she was coupled with Glenn Ford.

In the 1960s, Reynolds made notable appearances in the epic How the West Was Won (1962), My Six Loves (1963) opposite Cliff Robertson, The Singing Nun (1966) and Divorce American Style with Dick Van Dyke.

The actress embarked on The Debbie Reynolds Show for the start of the 1969-70 TV season but quit the sitcom after getting into a fight with NBC over cigarette commercials. She surrendered her 50 percent interest in the show and later called the move the “stupidest mistake of my entire career.”

The series, produced by I Love Lucy’s Jess Oppenheimer, had Reynolds playing the wife of a sportswriter (Don Chastain). It lasted 26 episodes.

In 1981, she welcomed visitors to Hawaii for the short-lived ABC series Aloha Paradise. Her other TV appearances included episodes of Madame’s Place, Alice, The Love Boat, Hotel, The Golden Girls, Wings, Roseanne, Rugrats and Will & Grace (as Debra Messing’s entertainer mother).

In 1996, Reynolds received a Golden Globe nomination for playing Albert Brooks’ mom in Mother (1996). In 2013, she appeared as another mother, that of Liberace (Michael Douglas), in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra.

Her recording of “Tammy” spent five weeks at No. 1 in 1957 and was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song (Reynolds performed it during the 1958 Oscar ceremony.) The tune gave Reynolds the distinction of being the only woman to have a No. 1 record in the span between July 28, 1956, and Dec. 1, 1958.

Reynolds also scored top 25 Billboard hits with “A Very Special Love” in 1958 and “Am I That Easy to Forget” in 1960.

On stage, Reynolds earned a Tony Award nomination for the 1973 revival of Irene and in the early 1980s replaced Lauren Bacall as the lead in the musical version of Woman of the Year. In 1989, she began a national tour with a production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Through the years, she was a constant presence in Las Vegas.

Reynolds amassed a huge collection of movie memorabilia during her career and auctioned off some of it in June 2011. Items included the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore over a subway grate in 1955’s The Seven Year Itch (the winning bid was $4.6 million); a pair of Judy Garland’s red slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939); a Harpo Marx hat and wig; and costumes from Ben-Hur (1959) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).

“I still have a lot of my things, but I decided to become rich,” she said at the time.

She put more items — like a hat that Vivien Leigh donned in Gone With the Wind (1939) and Gregory Peck’s military jacket from MacArthur (1977) — up for sale in May 2014.

Her son Todd is also from her marriage to Eddie Fisher. Survivors also include her granddaughter Billie Lourd.

Categories
People

I’m so sad and heartbroken right now. May she rest in peace.

Carrie Fisher, Actress, Author and ‘Star Wars’ Rebel Princess, Dies at 60

The daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, she carved out her own idiosyncratic career as a truth-telling Hollywood wit.
Carrie Fisher, the actress and writer best known for her iconic role as Star Wars’ Princess Leia, died on Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack while onboard a flight from London to Los Angeles. She was 60.

Family spokesperson Simon Halls confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.

“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning. She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” Halls’ statement read.

A child of Hollywood royalty, Fisher carved out her own idiosyncratic career, enjoying her biggest onscreen popularity as Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy before going on to establish herself as an acerbic, truth-telling writer with such books as Postcards From the Edge. Her HBO special, Wishful Drinking, in which she recounted her unusual life, was nominated for an Emmy as outstanding variety, music and comedy special in 2011.

Born to actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher in 1956, Carrie Fisher grew up in a showbiz fishbowl — her parents divorced when she was just 2 after Eddie Fisher left Reynolds for actress Elizabeth Taylor in what at the time was a major tabloid scandal.

The young Carrie, who grew up in Beverly Hills, first stepped onstage when she was 15 to join her mother in the Broadway musical Irene. She made her film debut four years later in Warren Beatty’s Shampoo (1975), playing a precocious teen who seduces Beatty’s sexually adventurous hairstylist.

Appearing at Cannes in May to promote the documentary Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which HBO will air in March, Fisher joked, “I didn’t want to be in show business, and I think I did a very good job [of that].”

Nevertheless, she left her mark on the big screen. Star Wars (1977), in which she led the rebellion as Princess Leia, was only her second film and first starring role. She would reprise the part in the two sequels that rolled out in 1980 and 1983, and she returned to the character, in a now-mature incarnation, in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fisher, who is thanked in the end credits of the new Star Wars spinoff movie Rogue One, was scheduled to appear in the next Star Wars movie, Episode VIII, scheduled for release on Dec. 15.

Fisher often spoke with ambivalence about Leia, telling Rolling Stone in 1983: “She has no friends, no family; her planet was blown up in seconds — along with her hairdresser — so all she has is a cause. From the first film, she was just a soldier, front line and center. The only way they knew to make the character strong was to make her angry.”

However, in the wake of the success of The Force Awakens, Fisher appeared to have made peace with her onscreen alter-ego, attributing the success of the franchise to the fact that “this movie’s about family, Star Wars is. That’s why it has the appeal.”

And she received another Emmy nomination for a 2007 appearance on NBC’s 30 Rock, in which she played a crazy writer, spoofing her Star Wars dialogue with that episode’s last line: “Help me, Liz Lemon! You’re my only hope!”

When some fans criticized how the older Leia looked, Fisher took to Twitter. She admitted that some of the negative comments had hurt her — “unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings,” she wrote — but she also fought back, adding, “Youth & beauty R NOT ACCOMPLISHMENTS, they’re the TEMPORARY happy Biproducts of Time or DNA. Don’t hold your Breath 4 either.”

But while Fisher will always be associated with Leia and the princess’ famous hair buns, Fisher — who also appeared in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), When Harry Met Sally … (1989) and Soapdish (1991) — drifted away from acting full-time and found a new identity as an author, screenwriter and all-around Hollywood wit.

Frankly addressing her own problems with substance abuse and bipolar disorder, she penned the 1987 hit novel Postcards From the Edge, an only slightly fictionalized version of her own life as a sometimes-depressed actress and the daughter of a major, and occasionally intimidating, Hollywood star. She went on to write the book’s screen adaptation for the 1990 film version, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.

While serving as a script doctor on such films as Sister Act, Last Action Hero and The Wedding Singer, Fisher wrote several more novels as well as the memoirs Wishful Drinking (2008), which she later turned into a one-woman play, the 2011 HBO special; Shockaholic and, most recently, the recent The Princess Diarist.

Whenever she appeared on the Hollywood awards circuit to pay tribute to another star, Fisher could be counted on to offer up a wry observation that provoked laughter. Speaking at the 2004 AFI Life Achievement Award given to Streep, she recalled what it was like to have the Oscar-winning actress play her. “After Postcards premiered, I began daily to see the pain and disappointment in the eyes of my family and friends every time I wasn’t Meryl,” Fisher admitted. “There’s a name for this condition as it turns out — Merylnoma Streepdecoccus.”

Fisher — whose most constant companion in recent years has been her French bulldog Gary, who accompanied her everywhere — was married to musician Paul Simon from 1977-83 and during the course of her life had a series of other romances with high-profile men, including a recently revealed affair with Star Wars co-star Harrison Ford.

In addition to her mother, survivors include her daughter, actress Billie Lourd, whose father is CAA co-chairman Bryan Lourd; her brother Todd Fisher; and her half-sisters, actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.

Categories
Music

A show featuring The Joshua Tree in its entirety would be amazing!!

U2 to Celebrate ‘Joshua Tree’ 30th Anniversary, Release New Album in 2017

2017 is looking to be a big year for U2, according to a video that they posted to their YouTube page yesterday.

In the video, all four guys are in a dark room decorating a “joshua tree” with Christmas lights, as the Edge plays “Little Drummer Boy” on guitar.

“Happy Christmas, everyone.” Bono says. “Next year’s gonna be a big year for the U2 group. We have Songs of Experience coming,” which is the follow up to their 2014 album Songs of Innocence. “And to honor the 30th anniversary of Joshua Tree, we have some very special shows. Very special.”

And then as the lights go out and the guys walk away, Bono whispers, “Joshua Tree.”

Billboard is speculating that U2 is planning a stadium tour this summer, and that they will headline Bonnaroo.

Categories
Movies

I only saw NOCTURNAL ANIMALS over Christmas and it was very good, not great. I do need to see ROGUE ONE again.

‘Rogue One,’ ‘Sing’ Dominate Christmas Box Office, ‘Passengers,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Struggle

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Sing” carved up the Christmas box office, while newcomers “Assassins Creed” and “Passengers” struggled to get their slice of the ticket sales.

The Star Wars spinoff is projected to rack up $96.1 million over the four day holiday. The space opera’s domestic revenues currently stand at $286.4 million and should cross $300 million on Monday. Globally, the prequel has racked up a mighty $523.8 million.

“Sing,” a family-friendly film about a talent competition for animals, was the de facto choice for moviegoers with kids. It has earned an impressive $76.7 million over its first six days of release. Its success is another win for Illumination and Universal, the producers of “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Despicable Me.” Animation has been a particularly popular genre this year — three of the six highest grossing films and six of the top 20 highest grossing films have been animated offerings.

“Sing” carries a $75 million production budget, an economical figure considering that most animated movies typically cost in excess of $150 million to make. It also boasts a voice cast that includes Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, and Seth MacFarlane, as well as a soundtrack of hits from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Queen, Taylor Swift, and the late George Michael.

The tunes may have helped the film resonate with audiences, particularly given that it is an original property hitting at a time of year traditionally dominated by franchises.

Universal distribution chief Nick Carpou says that “Sing’s” appeal was clear during its premiere at last September’s Toronto Film Festival.

“I was sitting in the audience and you could just feel the reaction of people,” he said. Every song had rousing applause. It was as if they were performing them live.” “Sing,” like last summer’s “The Secret Life of Pets,” leaves the story open for more installments, a sign that Illumination and Universal may have a new animated series on their hands.

Sony’s “Passengers,” a science-fiction romance that was hoping to capitalize on the combined drawing power of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, struggled to make a mark. All the star wattage wasn’t enough to withstand a critical drubbing. The film earned $30.4 million over the five day period, on the low end of projections. “Passengers” cost $110 million to produce after incentives are taken into account.

Sony executives, however, argue that the film is performing well, and point to the “Passengers’” strong Christmas day grosses of $7.5 million as evidence that “Passengers” is finding its footing. They expect that the film will perform well with older crowds through the holidays.

“This trajectory will show the mettle of our film,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s worldwide distribution chief, adding, “The chemistry between Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence is really resonating.”

Fox’s “Assassin’s Creed” also failed to make a big impression. The video game adaptation generated $22.5 million over the six day period. With a hefty $125 million production budget, “Assassin’s Creed,” like “Passengers,” will need to get a warmer reception overseas if it wants to fight its way into the black.

Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson noted that the video game of “Assassin’s Creed” has great global resonance and said the studio always saw the film as playing well with foreign ticket buyers. Its cast includes French actress Marion Cotillard, Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender, and English thespian Jeremy Irons.

“This start exceeded our modeling,” he said. “We’ll be the beneficiaries of a strong holiday play period.”

Fox’s “Why Him?” seems better positioned to profit. The R-rated comedy with James Franco and Bryan Cranston earned a solid $16.7 million on a $38 million budget for its first four days in theaters. It opened Friday.

“We believed in this film from its first research screening,” said Aronson. “This film plays like gangbusters with an audience. America loves to laugh and lord knows we need something to laugh about.”

All three major new films will try to make up ground in the coming days, and they’ll get some help from the calendar. Many Americans will take the week between Christmas and New Year’s as vacation, making moviegoing an attractive leisure activity.

Many Oscar-contenders benefited from the holiday. “La La Land” expanded nicely, and is projected to earn $9.7 million for the four day weekend after moving from roughly 200 to 734 locations. The Lionsgate musical will have earned $17.6 million since debuting in limited release earlier this month.

CBS and Lionsgate’s “Patriot’s Day” opened in limited release on Wednesday. The drama about the Boston Marathon bombing earned a healthy $256,718 from seven screens.

Paramount’s “Fences” capitalized on strong reviews and awards buzz, racking up $11.4 million after moving from a few dozen locations to 2,233 venues.

Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment’s “Hidden Figures” opened in limited release on Christmas day and is projected to make
$955,000 in its first two days in theaters. The historical drama follows a group of African-American scientists and mathematicians who played a crucial role in the early days of the space program.