Finally! But who cares what the calendar says? Are "best of" lists just something to do around Christmas and New Year's? No, they're guides, reminding you of music you like but haven't listened to in a while and suggestions for albums you should check out. I sometimes stumble on a "best of" list from years ago and find myself pulling out an album I haven't played in ages or -- just as often -- heading to the store. I hope this list will do the same for you. First you get a list of my 50 favorite CDs of the year, then my favorite boxed sets, my favorite singles and my favorite reissues. And for being so patient, you get a quick look at my early favorites for 2007. That's followed by the same lists all over again, but with notes describing the music, what I like about them and so on. Enjoy. (And remember, if you google a band's name and MySpace, you can usually find a website with three or four songs to sample to see if any artist might appeal to you before buying.)
THE BEST CDS OF 2006
1. Corinne Bailey Rae/Corinne Bailey Rae (tie)
James Hunter/People Gonna Talk
2. My Chemical Romance/The Black Parade
3. Bob Dylan/Modern Times
4. Arctic Monkeys/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Midlake/The Trials of Van Occupanther
6. Roseanne Cash/Black Cadillac (tie)
Johnny Cash/American V: A Hundred Highways
7. Solomon Burke/Nashville
8. Cat Power/The Greatest
9. Bruce Springsteen/We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- American Land Edition
10. Drake Bell/ It's Only Time
11. The La's/BBC In Session
12. Candi Staton/His Hands (tie)
Candi Staton/The Ultimate Gospel Collection
13. Duncan Sheik/White Limousine (tie)
"Spring Awakening" Original Cast Recording
14. Howard Tate/A Portrait Of Howard
15. Various Artists/Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound
16. M. Ward/Post-War
17. Regina Spektor/Begin To Hope
18. Teddy Thompson/Separate Ways (tie)
The Strokes/First Impressions Of Earth
19. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra/Boulevard De L'Independance
20. Muse/Black Holes and Revelations
21. Ali Farka Toure/Savane
22. The Streets/The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
23. James Hand/The Truth Will Set You Free
24. Irma Thomas/After The Rain
25. Various Artists/The Rough Guide To Latin-Arabia
26. Vetiver/To Find Me Gone
27. Cassandra Wilson/Thunderbird
28. "Grey Gardens" Original Cast Recording
29. The Raconteurs/Broken Boy Soldiers
30. Larry Levan/Journey Into Paradise...The Larry Levan Story
31. "Billy Elliot" Original Cast Recording
32. Rahim Alhaj/When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq
33. Wolfmother/Wolfmother
34. Smokey Robinson/Timeless Love
35. Cast King/Saw Mill Man
36. Lupe Fiasco/Food & Liquor (tie)
The Roots/Game Theory
37. Josh Ritter/The Animal Years
38. Mana/Amar Es Combatir
39. "Sweeney Todd" Original Cast Recording (tie)
"Sunday In The Park With George" 2006 London Cast Recording
40. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs/Under The Covers Vol. 1
41. Dixie Chicks/Taking The Long Way
42. Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint/The River In Reverse
43. The Fratellis/Costello Music
44. The Vines/Vision Valley
45. Various Artists/ "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" Motion Picture Soundtrack
46. Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy/Adieu False Heart
47. Justin Timberlake/Futuresex/LoveSounds
48. Paul Simon/Surprise
49. Beirut/Gulag Orkestar
50. Nellie McKay/Pretty Little Head
THE BEST BOXED SETS OF 2006
1. Tom Waits/Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
2. Various Artists/What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves
3. Various Artists/Anthems In Eden: An Anthology Of British & Irish Folk 1955-1978
4. Richard Thompson/The Life and Music of Richard Thompson (tie)
Richard Thompson/1000 Years Of Popular Music
5. Frank Sinatra/Vegas
THE BEST SINGLES OF 2006
1. "Crazy"/Gnarls Barkley
2. "Before He Cheats"/Carrie Underwood
3. "Quiet Town"/Josh Rouse
4. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"/K.T. Tunstall
5. "Young Folks"/Peter Bjorn and John
6. "Last Request"/Paolo Nutini
7. "Leave The Pieces"/The Wreckers
8. "Money Maker"/Ludacris featuring Pharrell
9. "The Heart Of The Matter"/India.Arie
10. "We Used To Vacation"/Cold War Kids
11. "Philosophia"/Guggenheim Grotto
12. "Smile"/Lily Allen
13. "I Don't Feel Like Dancing"/Scissor Sisters
14. "Tamacun"/Rodrigo Y Gabriela
15. "Pull Shapes"/The Pipettes
16. "Year 3000"/Jonas Brothers
17. "Stealing Electricity"/Tom Russell
18. "The Bridge"/Elton John
19. "Ain't No Other Man"/Christina Aguilera
20. "Black Sweat"/Prince
THE BEST REISSUES OF 2006
1. Karen Dalton/In My Own Time
2. Fania Reissues -- Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco/Celia & Johnny
Fania All-Stars/Live At The Cheetah, Vol. 1
Willie Colon/El Malo
3. Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane/The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings
4. Various Artists/Chocolate Star: The Very Best Of Gary Davis
5. Merle Haggard Reissues -- I'm A Lonesome Fugitive/Branded Man
Hag/Someday We'll Look Back
Mama Tried/Pride In What I Am
Sing Me Back Home/The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde
6. Miles Davis Quintet Reissues -- Cookin', Relaxin', Workin' etc.
7. Incredible Bongo Band/Bongo Rock
THE MOST TIMID AND UNNCESSARY BUT GREAT-SOUNDING ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The Beatles/Love
THE MOST DANGEROUS, DOWNRIGHT EVIL (BUT SWINGING) ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Ray Charles + The Count Basie Orchestra/Ray Sings Basie Swings
EARLY FAVORITES FROM 2007 (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Arcade Fire/Neon Bible
The Bird and The Bee/The Bird and the Bee
The Feeling/Twelve Steps and Home
Patty Griffin/Children Running Through
John Hammond/Push Comes To Shove
Darren Hayes/This Delicate Thing We've Made (I've only heard 7 tracks of this 25 tgrack, 2 CD opus, but they're terrific)
The Magic Numbers/Those The Brokes
Mika/Life In Cartoon Motion
Ron Sexsmith/This Time
Signal The Escape/Untitled
Richard Swift/Dressed Up For The Letdown
Amy Winehouse/Back To Black
"Company" Original Cast Album
THE BEST CDS OF 2006 -- THE EXPANDED EDITION
1. Corinne Bailey Rae/Corinne Bailey Rae (tie)
James Hunter/People Gonna Talk
What is the best album of the year? Is it one that will prove most lasting, most influential? Is it the most daring? Sure, you look for all of those things. But ultimately, surely the best album of the year should be your favorite album of the year; the one you turned to again and again, the one you gave as presents to friends, the one by people you had to see in concert. In short, the one you played the most. And so it's a tie. Corinne Bailey Rae is obviously a break-out artist of the year. I've seen her in concert three times and she's grown in confidence each time. From the gentle acoustic "Like A Star" to the breathtaking finale "Seasons Change," this is a quietly ambitious CD. Her album is sort of like early Rickie Lee Jones with soul -- very rooted in a specific time and place but universal in its reach. Rae insists -- without boasting -- that she consciously intended this album to be very commercial, which means god knows what for the future, since her success will only make Rae more confident. Her potential seems boundless. Will we be comparing her to Stevie Wonder or Joni Mitchell or countless other artists in years to come? The only thing I know for certain is we'll be hearing from her.
James Hunter is a journeyman soul singer who has toured with Van Morrison and been on the brink of success for a solid decade now. I've seen him in concert three or four times and he's been a blast every time. You'll check the release date once you listen to this CD: if someone told you this was some long lost gem from the Fifties or early Sixties, a Sam Cooke classic, you wouldn't doubt it for a second. Not that this music is retro -- not at all. Hunter is just steeped in classic, adult soul music and delivers it without breaking a sweat. "People Gonna Talk," "Riot In My Heart," "Don't Come Back" -- rock solid tunes delivered with panache and low-key style. The best news is that he still hasn't quite captured his live magic so the CDs should only get better. (Don't worry; the entries will get shorter.)
2. My Chemical Romance/The Black Parade
I'm driving cross country listening to this crazily theatrical, expansive, world-beating album about death and misery and damned if it doesn't sound like a concept album and one wonderfully bleak song after another (bleak in the way that teenagers are completely and utterly and hopelessly bleak) keeps popping up and I'm loving it and wondering why their faux Goth look and mascara kept me from listening to their last album when suddenly in the middle of a song I hear a voice and is that, could it be...Liza Minelli? My mind is officially blown; these guys are too cool. Anthemic.
3. Bob Dylan/Modern Times
It made me smile but that namecheck for Alicia Keys in the first song had me worried. I like my Dylan timless -- if he's gonna namecheck someone, I'm more comfortable if it's Cleopatra or Billy the Kid. Well, I needn't have worried. In the latest remarkable phase of his career, Dylan has released yet another gem. How much fun is this guy having? His satellite radio show is a hoot (he talks just the way he sings), his autobiography was an acclaimed bestseller and he's in the midst of a run of albums not seen by Dylan since his salad days pre-Big Pink. I won't dissect the lyrics, cause he's tired of that, so how about the music? There's the Ryman Auditorium swing of "Spirit On The Water," the nicely stinging blues of "Rollin' and Tumblin'," the quietly fatalistic drumming on "Nettie Moore," the end-of-the-world party guitars of "The Levee's Gonna Break" and above all the music of that voice, which croons and squawks and yelps and mumbles and confides with boundless charm.
4. Arctic Monkeys/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Every damn band in the UK gets hyped. If I released a single there, I'd probably be hyped too. ("Yank with tuneless vocals! Bigger than the Beatles!" predicts NME.) But of course every once in a while they're right. Great song titles ("I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor," "From The Ritz To the Rubble") and the driving rock to back them up. Utterly infectious, but where the Kaiser Chiefs seem like a singles band, the AM's are definitely an album band. Snarling, funny, they'd get along with the Rolling Stones quite nicely, though without the same soaking in blues. Lots of swagger.
5. Midlake/The Trials of Van Occupanther
The first of a number of bands with a vaguely Seventies vibe. Where the hell did they come from exactly? I hadn't heard a word about them all year and suddenly little mentions here and there popped up all over the place. Ugly, ugly cover; stupid album title; hell, I don't even like their name really. But the songs float into my mind, through some hashish-induced haze, not that they're psychedelic, just...vague. I really haven't a clue what the songs are about, but I'm reminded of Fleetwood Mac and The Band (just because they seem so out of step) and maybe Big Star on a quiet day and it's really quite beautiful.
6. Roseanne Cash/Black Cadillac (tie)
Johnny Cash/American V: A Hundred Highways
I really wanted to give Roseanne Cash her own entry. Her album deserves it. It came out to glorious acclaim, loads of press and then completely disappeared. It's not like any radio station was gonna play it, of course. (Certainly not country radio, God forbid.) Sad, accepting, painfully honest -- this album is steeped in death and the belief that music can provide comfort and redemption or at least something to do until your own black Cadillac pulls up ready and waiting. Has any child of a major artist ever delivered more great music than Roseanne Cash? I can't think of anyone even close. But don't get me wrong: this album is stirring and wonderful and far from a downer. "Long after life there is love," indeed. As for her dad, I remember a brief moment when his American albums seemed to have slipped into formula. Then came that monumental boxed set that contained the stuff he hadn't released and it was better than most people's entire careers. And now this gem. I think Cash had learned how to accept and use the limitations of his painfully strained voice by this time, how to conserve himself to deliver power when he needed it, how to explore the crags and whispers when he didn't. "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is chillingly good, "Love's Been Good To Me" just embracing and only Cash could make me pay attention to Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could read My Mind." I can't believe that producer Rick Rubin has more albums from Cash ready to go. Can't wait.
7. Solomon Burke/Nashville
Hype's a funny thing. The media loves a comeback and Burke had a great one with 2002's Don't Give Up On Me. Personally, I loved the title track most, but found the rest a little spotty. He got stronger with 2005's Make Do With What You Got and people still wrote about him; hey, another album by Burke. But then he releases a stone-cold masterpiece, the album he was clearly building towards his entire career and by now the media has moved on. Heck, we just wrote about him; we can't do another profile. But not since Ray Charles delivered some Modern Sounds has a soul artist embodied country music so completely and wonderfully as here. Just masterful.
8. Cat Power/The Greatest
Hype's a funny thing. It can color (and discolor) your appreciation of an album. (Witness the furor over that classical music scandal of the pianist who plagiarized music from younger artists and reaped the rave reviews they mostly never got.) The hype for Cat Power's latest had the opposite effect on me. Oh yeah, a masterpiece? Dusty in Memphis cool? Oh I don't think so. It didn't help that earlier albums of hers hadn't wooed me sufficiently. And I played it and shrugged and put it aside. And I played it again later, knowing I should wait till I was in the mood to be more receptive. And I shrugged and put it aside. And I waited and played it again later and ohmigod it's terrific, smokey and assured and accomplished. Dusty in Memphis sort of cool. What the hell was I thinking before? To hell with hype.
9. Bruce Springsteen/We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- American Land Edition
We review the albums we're given, not the albums we wish they'd released. I could take this 18 track CD, rejigger the order, remove two or three lesser tracks and have an absolute masterpiece. But as is, this is joyous, kick up your heels, burn down the barn and have us a hoedown music. I've been singing "Erie Canal" since I was a little kid and never had a clue it could have power. "O Mary Don't You Weep," "Pay Me My Money Down," "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live" -- all incredibly rousing. Springsteen did Seeger a huge favor -- he ignored the soap box and focused on the people and the stories, which makes their message ultimately have a much bigger impact. When you get to "Bring 'Em Home," it's not just one more rallying song, one more slogan, it's a plea from people you've come to know and walk beside. And the concert! I saw him at Madison Square Garden and he was as good as he's ever been, which is to say he was just about as good as ANYONE'S ever been. This is his best album since Born In The USA and it'll be fascinating to see how he responds to it in his own work.
10. Drake Bell/ It's Only Time
Yep, the kid from Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh has released his second solo album and he's cheek by jowl with Bruce Springsteen and frankly I'm as surprised as you. Bells' first solo album was an Americana album in the vein of Mellencamp and Springsteen and other rockers; nice first effort, kiddo. But this is a sensational, Beatles-esque celebration of pop music that came out mid-December. I was driving down South for the holidays and the first few songs were so infectious I almost got a speeding ticket. (The better the music, the faster I drive; I can't help it.) Did Drake just tell his lover to "roll over?" Someone's become an adult. No one has paid the album the slightest notice; they've got him pegged as a TV personality. But he's the real deal. Maybe he's working through his influences here; heck, Jeff Lyne did that for his entire career. He namechecks Buddy Holly and Bettie Page in the same song and how can you not love that? And if hand-clapping and hook-heavy songs with unbeatable choruses and gorgeous Beach Boys-like vocals are just a stage, I hope he's stuck in it for at least a few more albums.
11. The La's/BBC In Session
Lee Mavers was barking mad; everyone knows that. He spent his time holed up in the studio, obsessively trying to capture the sound he heard in his head, a not-retro, but timeless sound that would present gems like "There She Goes" in exactly the way they should be, deserved to be, had to be. But despite period mikes and analog equipment and anything and everything he could think of, Mavers never came close to releasing any music until the debut album of The La's was pulled from his grasping hands and released to his immediate disdain that was somewhat overshadowed by rapturous critical acclaim. But my God, he was right. BBC In Session includes live recordings of their songs, with nine of the debut albums 12 tracks here in one or more versions that are unquestionably superior to the album version. I'm bitterly disappointed those last three tracks aren't here because then we could program an ideal version of The La's CD that would be even better than that gem. So why doesn't Mavers just record live? Instead he's reportedly holed up working on a followup that we'll see sometime in the next 40 years.
12. Candi Staton/His Hands (tie)
Candi Staton/The Ultimate Gospel Collection
Staton has been happily preaching and singing in the gospel world for many years. But a reissue of her classic soul sides reminded the world of Staton and reminded Staton that God wanted her to use all her talents. So here's this lovely comeback album, with the remarkable "His Hands" (which moves from the hands of a lover to the hands of an abuser with chilling ease), just the centerpiece of a great album. The two CD gospel collection shows the pagans what they've been missing. Typically, I like my gospel old school but in her case, I'll take the trailblazing "Contemporary" second CD.
13. Duncan Sheik/White Limousine (tie)
"Spring Awakening" Original Cast Recording
What a great year for Duncan Sheik. His latest solo CD is another minor key gem filled with wonderful tunes like "Hymn" and "Nothing Fades" that prove his obsession with Nick Drake was time well spent. Plus, he's got the most exciting musical on Broadway and captured it in an unconventional cast album that recorded the songs like a pop album instead of the "as live" quickie recordings that Broadway shows usually get. "The Song Of Purple Summer" is just pacific in its calm and loveliness.
14. Howard Tate/A Portrait Of Howard
I haven't seen ANYONE writing about this sensational album. Tate has had a comeback and here's he's paired with Steve Weisberg to create this musical autobiography. Great covers of tunes by Randy Newman, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Lou Reed and others sit side by side with Weisberg originals penned to reflect Tate's hard-earned wisdom and life story. It was recorded with a full orchestra, with great arrangements and Tate singing just brilliantly. Absolutely original, this will be hailed as an undiscovered masterpiece in years to come. Fans of classic soul music shouldn't wait.
15. Various Artists/Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound
I've been waiting literally years for this album, long before the people who compiled it had even thought about putting it out. It's a look at Tropicalia, the Brazilian musical uprising led by Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, Tom Ze and Jorge Ben. I've got a lot of music by all these people, but this CD focuses tightly on the music they put out basically in 1968. It's a lot more psychedelic than I expected, a lot more rock but just as thrilling as I hoped. You also get a terrific 51 page booklet that covers the music, the era, the politics, and everything else you could want to know in loving detail. Essential.
16. M. Ward/Post-War
Some people see an artist reach out to a wider audience and get bummed. Me, I love it when they stay true to their vision and bring more people into their sphere. Watching M. Ward sing the wonderfully loopy but engaging "Chinese Translation" on Letterman was a kick. Seeing him live was even better -- this guy knows he's got the goods and shows it. Besides, if he really wanted to sell out, he wouldn't have given his catchiest song the inexplicable title of "Chinese Translation" in the first place. A series of very good albums and he's only getting better.
17. Regina Spektor/Begin To Hope
Another act that won me over live. She charmed the pants off Conan with "Fidelity" and that song's infectious chorus with its hiccuping vocal line probably made a lot of people look foolish as they sang along with their iPods. A very New York record (think Laura Nyro) by an artist just beginning to discover her possibilities.
18. Teddy Thompson/Separate Ways (tie)
The Strokes/First Impressions of Earth
Two albums that got released so early in January that they were lost in the shuffle come year's end. Teddy's album was a real gem, improving on his fine first album and improving mightily on repeated listens. Witty, piercing and wonderfully perceptive (such as the heartbreaker "Sorry To See Me Go," he really came into his own here. Yep, dad will always be the better guitarist (that's gotta suck). But Teddy's voice is better and he really mines bittersweet with just a dollop more sweet than dad. Comparisons to Crowded House are apt. The Strokes rebounded from their too-quick second album and really brought it. But everyone seemed dissatisfied with more of the same. God knows why; it was great the first time.
19. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra/Boulevard De L'Independance
A pan-African band takes the music of Diabate and swings it with fervor and grace. Quite gorgeous and the world music album of the year.
20. Muse/Black Holes and Revelations
Yes, music can be listened to intently on your home stereo. But if we're honest music is also very utilitarian. People use it to smooth over dinner conversation and they jog to it and dance to it and so on. And when you're driving down the highway and need some truly epic, anthemic rock a la Radiohead and Queen or prog-rock gods like ELP to blast out of the speakers, when you want to be swept away and feel you're about to conquer the world, that much is at stake and you must ACT by God, well this is the album you want ready to pop into the CD player. And if Muse pulls over and asks for directions, just point them in the direction of the nearest stadium.
21. Ali Farka Toure/Savane
A final grace note from the legendary guitarist. For all the praise it received after his death, the simple truth is that Toure had reached such an acclaimed plateau, Savane probably would have been equally praised if it had been just another release and we didn't realize we would never get to hear from him again. A giant.
22. The Streets/The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
His third album is his second album, the one where you rap about the pain of sudden success. And while not quite the winner his first two CDs were, UKer Mike Skinner (who first won me over for good when he explained in rhyme that in the UK they call girls "Birds not bitches") is too funny, too observant to miss the target by too much. "When You Wasn't Famous" is one of the best songs from a genre -- the perils of stardom -- that has precious few worth mentioning.
23. James Hand/The Truth Will Set You Free
I thought Hank Williams was dead. But he lives on in this pure shot of honky tonk delivered by the genuine article. "Baby, Baby, Don't Tell Me That," "In The Corner, At The Table, By The Jukebox," "Just An Old Man With An Old Song." Yep, they're as good as they sound.
24. Irma Thomas/After The Rain
A New Orleans icon raising her voice just a few months after Katrina. Inspiring.
25. Various Artists/The Rough Guide To Latin-Arabia
A great companion piece to "Camelspotting," another terrific world music compilation from 1999. Both contain the impossible-to-resist "Ya Nour El Ein" aka "Habibi." This Rough Guide CD explores the Latin influence on Arabia, with Perez Prado's "Mambo Number 5" just being the most unlikely song to appear. Like all the best compilations, it will send you off in a dozen directions. Perfect for a party with very cool friends who like to dance.
26. Vetiver/To Find Me Gone
Cowboy Junkies and George Harrison are just two of the influences that spring to mind for these San Francisco folkies linked to Devandra Banhart. Mesmerizing and I think I'm gonna regret not placing this higher on my list.
27. Cassandra Wilson/Thunderbird
What a terrible idea, mixing jazz mama Cassandra Wilson with trip-hop effects. But somehow it worked, shaking the singer out of her comfort zone and resulting in her most distinctive album in years. More originals than usual, and all up to snuff, though in a fire I'd grab the greasy, funky cover of Willie Dixon's "I Want To Be Loved" first.
28. "Grey Gardens" Original Cast Recording
This thoughtful, intelligent Broadway musical is dominated by what will clearly be the legendary performance of Christine Ebersole as both Big Eddie and Little Edie. I was certainly fooled by the pastiche numbers in Act One; I actually thoought they were oldies I'd never heard of before. It's all of a piece but two numbers are standouts: the hilarious "The Revolutionary Costume For Today" (probably the number they'll do for the Tonys) and "Another Winter In A Summer Town," a genuine standard.
29. The Raconteurs/Broken Boy Soldiers
It's taken me a while to get my head around this and I still love the White Stripes more. But I know, I know; I don't have to choose. And Brendan Benson has never been better. "Steady As She Goes" is far and away the standout, but this is solid.
30. Larry Levan/Journey Into Paradise...The Larry Levan Story
Any club with a door policy gives me the heebee geebees; I just can't be bothered to wait in line or be judged or take the time to get on a list. And a cover charge to dance? No thank you. So if Studio 54 were operating right now, across the street, I simply wouldn't be bothered. But the disco heaven of Paradise Garage, where everyone mingled easily and openly? That actually sounds appealing, especially if Larry Levan were the dj. This 2 CD set provides a glimpse into the magic Levan would spin nightly at Paradise. With Viny Mania closing its doors (the two were linked inextricably per the excellent liner notes), now is an especially fitting time to say goodbye again to an era and one of its most influential artists. Chaka Khan, Womack & Womack, Lace, all the way up to Yaz and yes, Talking Heads. Irresistible.
31. "Billy Elliot" Original Cast Recording
Elton John has been on a creative roll recently, releasing several of the best albums of his career. That extends to this musical, which is superior to the film it's based on and filled with anthemic gems capturing the workers-of-the-world-unite spirit of the men in the mines who were striking for their livelihood and indeed their lives. The opener "The Stars Look Down" would have been right in place in "Les Miz" and "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher" has a venomous bite John rarely employs.
32. Rahim Alhaj/When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq
It's simple and easy. Buy this CD online with a credit card and you'll be assured of a contemplative, beautiful world music album by an Iraqi-born musician living in the US who has been playing and studying the oud since he was nine AND you'll get put on Bush's terrorist watch list at the same time. QED.
33. Wolfmother/Wolfmother
The Darkness were shtick posing as a band. Wolfmother is the real deal, a bluesy, wailing reincarnation of Led Zep and all the other bands that knew how to wear tight pants and deliver stadium-destroying songs with ferocious passion. Great fun.
34. Smokey Robinson/Timeless Love
I've given up on trying to predict which artists can cover the standards. There seems no rhyme or reason to why, say, Boz Scaggs and the supremely versatile Linda Ronstadt can do it but others like Carly Simon and Rod Stewart are hapless. You would think Smokey could do it; I mean, why not? And indeed, he can, delivering delicate, nuanced, simply lovely versions of "You Go To My Head," "Speak Low" and other gems. What the hell took him so long?
35. Cast King/Saw Mill Man
The musical equivalent of outsider art, with Cast King reluctantly recorded in a tiny town in Alabama. He just hemmed and hawed until Matt Downer just showed up and started picking with the wizened old coot (if you saw the photos of him, you'd know that he simply has to be called an old coot) and then just started recording the songs King would play. All too brief, but filled with rough-hewn country gems that have been classics for forty or fifty years now -- just no one had ever heard them, that's all. If you're an adventurous country or folk fan, this will not disappoint.
36. Lupe Fiasco/Food & Liquor (tie)
The Roots/Game Theory
In a weak year for hip-hop, Lupe Fiasco kept the lights on with this witty, real chronicle of life that has no time for gangsta crap. The Roots must have been listening to a lot of current rap, too -- they seem awfully depressed.
37. Josh Ritter/The Animal Years
Starts out quite delicate and lovely and then it gets a little more forceful and less interesting and then it gets crazily epic with "Thin Blue Flame" and that doesn't really work at all. It's like the album is a tiny boat, just a canoe really, and someone's dropped a massive weight onto one end. But 90% of this is really good and wouldn't you know it animals keep popping up in the lyrics.
38. Mana/Amar Es Combatir
Sometimes listening to music in another language (one you don't speak, that is) can be freeing. Usually it comes with music that is also "foreign," music that sounds like nothing you hear day to day. But Mana could be playing arenas here and the music wouldn't raise an eyebrow; this is rock and you don't even need to say Latin rock. I haven't a clue as to what they're saying, but I believe it.
39. "Sweeney Todd" Original Cast Recording (tie)
"Sunday In The Park With George" 2006 London Cast Recording
Two terrific revivals: "Sweeney Todd" shined with the brooding Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone and "Sunday" -- which was notable especially for its imaginative design -- is shown here to have been nicely sung as well. Everytime I listen to it I hear a new highlight in this show: today, it's "Beautiful," the poignant duet between George and the Old Lady.
40. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs/Under The Covers Vol. 1
Chemistry -- it's as mysterious in singing as it is in acting but Sweet and Hoffs have it in spades. They combine on groovy covers like the Beatles "And Your Bird Can Sing," The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" and other songs less familiar...until they sing them. A delight.
41. Dixie Chicks/Taking The Long Way
I miss the country twang a little, but this is a determined record, led by "Not Ready To Make Nice," of course, but it's a credit to them that such a good song doesn't dominate everything in its wake. They're in it for the long haul, even if most of their fans exited a while ago.
42. Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint/The River In Reverse
Oh for another week and another chance to listen to this one again. Costello rarely disappoints; if something is lacking in a new record of his, it's usually me, not the record. I haven't been overwhelmed by this yet, but I know it's coming and certainly individual tracks keep pulling me back in.
43. The Fratellis/Costello Music
Dumb, fun rock n roll from the UK, with the album cover of the year to boot. A blast.
44. The Vines/Vision Valley
Their debut album was a scatter-brained gem, changing musical genres the way other bands change groupies. Then the lead singer imploded faster than you could say Pete Doherty, the followup album was uninspired and things seemed dire. Now comes their third CD and it's really good. They still have that anything goes aura that means a Beatlesque number can dissolve into feedback and serious rock swagger. It keeps you off-balanced and ready to be knocked over by a melody-rich tune like "Take Me Back," a tune worthy of Crowded House at their best. They might just survive...and flourish.
45. Various Artists/"Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" Motion Picture Soundtrack
I didn't like the documentary film this is drawn from: the movie was shoddily, sloppily shot, frankly. So what a relief to have this album where I can avoid the visuals, skip the duff track or two (most everything by Nick Cave, surprisingly) and concentrate on the musical higlights, which include Martha Wainwright on "Tower Of Song," Antony on "If It Be Your Will" and Teddy Thomspon's fragile, worth-the-price-of-admission "Tonight I Will Be Fine."
46. Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy/Adieu Flase Heart
It's not widely known -- indeed, it should be MORE widely known -- but Linda Ronstadt can in fact do anything. Pop, rock, country, standards, operetta, rancheros, lullabies and to that list you can add cajun music. I don't go in for gender politics, but if Ronstadt were a man, her genre-hopping agility would have her recognized as one of the great talents and surely the most adventurous, making the likes of Paul Simon and David Byrne seem like homebodies. Dip into any track here for proof, starting perhaps with "Go Away From My Window," with Savoy providing marvelous backing.
47. Justin Timberlake/Futuresex/LoveSounds
It's not a dramatic step down from his solo debut, in fact it's even stronger. But this one ranks much lower for me because I expect greatness from Timberlake, a world-beating album, and he hasn't quite delivered yet. Certainly commercially he's done it and I'll admit "Sexyback" has wormed its way into my mind more than I expected at first. But he's leaning too heavily on beats and rhythmic tracks when the old-school soul of closer "(Another Song) All Over Again" proves he can do it all. Don't just be commercial and contemporary, Justin, and don't just give them what they want, give them what they need.
48. Paul Simon/Surprise
The surprise for me is how initially disappointing this album was. A collaboration between Simon and Brian Eno raised delirious expectations for me and this hasn't met them. Yet. Most every Simon album improves on repeated listening, but I fear this will fall closer to You're The One than Rhythm Of The Saints as time passes But other than "Wartime Prayers," there isn't any song I'd call bad -- it's just that the music hasn't lifted up the dependably clever lyrics as easily as usual. But time will tell and certainly closer "Father and Daughter"is one of his most nakedly sweet songs and opener "How Can You Live In The Northeast?" one of his most wittily probing, so clearly Simon still knows what's what.
49. Beirut/Gulag Orkestar
This is crazy, some kid in Middle America churning out music that sounds like the score to a film by Emir Kusturica. But it's awfully convincing and pretty darn irresistible.
50. Nellie McKay/Pretty Little Head
Oh, she's driving me to drink, this Nellie McKay. I've been trying to interview her for the past year, coming up with one excuse for a story after another. But she can't be bothered. And she fought her record label and left because they wanted to reduce her two CD set to a single disc. Are they crazy? Why mess with an iconoclast like Nellie? But then here comes the album and her production is a little flat, hiding the beauty of some of the numbers. Case in point: the opener "Cupcake." In concert, it was a quirky, delightful highlight. On the album, it's disconcerting and unsatisfying. Too many tunes blend together on the CD, but I know she can stamp them individually given the right arrangements and better (more expensive?) production. Maybe she needs the discipline of a single disc. Maybe she needs the firm hand of a producer. Maybe she doesn't care if the wide world doesn't buy her CDs. But I do. She's a genuine talent and every time I've seen her do a gig in New York, she's been utterly winning. Now if only that came through on this album.
THE BEST BOXED SETS OF 2006
1. Tom Waits/Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
2. Various Artists/What It Is!Funky Soul And Rare Grooves
3. Various Artists/Anthems In Eden: An Anthology Of British & Irish Folk 1955-1978
4. Richard Thompson/The Life and Music of Richard Thompson (tie)
Richard Thompson/1000 Years Of Popular Music
5. Frank Sinatra/Vegas
THE BEST SINGLES OF 2006
1. "Crazy"/Barkley
2. "Before He Cheats"/Carrie Underwood
3. "Quiet Town"/Josh Rouse
4. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"/K.T. Tunstall
5. "Young Folks"/Peter Bjorn and John
6. "Last Request"/Paolo Nutini
7. "Leave The Pieces"/The Wreckers
8. "Money Maker"/Ludacris featuring Pharrell
9. "The Heart Of The Matter"/India.Arie
10. "We Used To Vacation"/Cold War Kids
11. "Philosophia"/Guggenheim Grotto
12. "Smile"/Lily Allen
13. "I Don't Feel Like Dancing"/Scissor Sisters
14. "Tamacun"/Rodrigo Y Gabriela
15. "Pull Shapes"/The Pipettes
16. "Year 3000"/Jonas Brothers
17. "Stealing Electricity"/Tom Russell
18. "The Bridge"/Elton John
19. "Ain't No Other Man"/Christina Aguilera
20. "Black Sweat"/Prince
THE BEST REISSUES OF 2006
1. Karen Dalton/In My Own Time
2. Fania Reissues -- Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco/Celia & Johnny
Fania All-Stars/Live At The Cheetah, Vol. 1
Willie Colon/El Malo
3. Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane/The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings
4. Various Artists/Chocolate Star: The Very Best Of Gary Davis
5. Merle Haggard Reissues -- I'm A Lonesome Fugitive/Branded Man
Hag/Someday We'll Look Back
Mama Tried/Pride In What I Am
Sing Me Back Home/The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde
6. Miles Davis Quintet Reissues -- Cookin', Relaxin', Workin' etc.
7. Incredible Bongo Band/Bongo Rock
THE MOST TIMID AND UNNCESSARY BUT GREAT-SOUNDING ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The Beatles/Love
THE MOST DANGEROUS, DOWNRIGHT EVIL (BUT SWINGING) ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Ray Charles + The Count Basie Orchestra/Ray Sings Basie Swings
Monday, March 19, 2007
Movie Box Office Is Exploding
Hollywood is getting off to a great start at the box office, when Jan through March is usually a dead zone. "300" has grossed $125 million and could hit $175 to $200 million. John Travolta's "Wild Hogs" is over $100 mil and should hit $150 mil. Nicolas Cage's "Ghost Rider" cost a hefty $120 mil, but for a movie they effectively dumped, it's going to make about $125 million and went from an expected flop to a movie that will bring a profit. I'm not sure how the budget works out for "Norbit," but it is just a shade under $100 mil. And "Bridge To Terabithia" is a definite word of mouth hit at $75 mil for a no-stars family flick. "Music and Lyrics" is just at about $50 mil, another movie that opened so-so but had good word of mouth and can now expect to be profitable thanks to a good run and presumably strong DVD sales. So, we've already got three $100 mil+ hits, and break-out indie flick with "Terabithia" and a solid Eddie Murphy grosser. That's a lot of success stories so early in 2007.
It all reminds me of a story that slipped by while I was away. The head of the MPAA addressed ShoWest and banged the drum for how successful movies have been. Don't believe anyone who tells you movies are struggling because of some year-to-year comparison or rising budgets. It doesn't get simpler than this look at admissions:
The 1970s -- 980 million admissions average per year
The 1980s -- 1.1 billion admissions average per year
The 1990s -- 1.3 billion admissions average per year
The 2000s -- 1.5 billion admissions average per year
Did you catch that? Decade by decade, movie admissions have steadily increased, with the 2000s averaging 50% more tickets sold than in the 70s. How can anyone think movies are in trouble? Usually because they're stupid or compare one year to a previous year. Even if the previous year set all sorts of records, they think it's a disaster if the movies don't ALWAYS gross more than the year before. That should be impossible. But the simple truth is that in the long term the business HAS been growing steadily, decade by decade.
Now here's something more to keep in mind. In the 70s, the overseas box office was often far less than the box office here, even for blockbusters, and it was usually an afterthought. In the 70s, Hollywood studios made NOTHING from VHS sales or rentals and sales to cable were just beginning to bring in tiny amounts. Now the studios often make more money overseas than they do at the US with a lot more room for growth in China and elsewhere. Studios also gross TWICE AS MUCH MONEY from DVDs as they do at the US box office. You can also throw in worldwide sales to cable and satellite channels, pay per view, online downloads and on and on. Movies are a MUCH bigger business today than they were in the 70s. People go to the movies more often and spend much more money on them. It's a $50 billion business (easily) rather than the $5 billion annual box office you might have seen in the Seventies. Do movies cost a lot more to make and market? They should: they're bringing in a lot more money.
It all reminds me of a story that slipped by while I was away. The head of the MPAA addressed ShoWest and banged the drum for how successful movies have been. Don't believe anyone who tells you movies are struggling because of some year-to-year comparison or rising budgets. It doesn't get simpler than this look at admissions:
The 1970s -- 980 million admissions average per year
The 1980s -- 1.1 billion admissions average per year
The 1990s -- 1.3 billion admissions average per year
The 2000s -- 1.5 billion admissions average per year
Did you catch that? Decade by decade, movie admissions have steadily increased, with the 2000s averaging 50% more tickets sold than in the 70s. How can anyone think movies are in trouble? Usually because they're stupid or compare one year to a previous year. Even if the previous year set all sorts of records, they think it's a disaster if the movies don't ALWAYS gross more than the year before. That should be impossible. But the simple truth is that in the long term the business HAS been growing steadily, decade by decade.
Now here's something more to keep in mind. In the 70s, the overseas box office was often far less than the box office here, even for blockbusters, and it was usually an afterthought. In the 70s, Hollywood studios made NOTHING from VHS sales or rentals and sales to cable were just beginning to bring in tiny amounts. Now the studios often make more money overseas than they do at the US with a lot more room for growth in China and elsewhere. Studios also gross TWICE AS MUCH MONEY from DVDs as they do at the US box office. You can also throw in worldwide sales to cable and satellite channels, pay per view, online downloads and on and on. Movies are a MUCH bigger business today than they were in the 70s. People go to the movies more often and spend much more money on them. It's a $50 billion business (easily) rather than the $5 billion annual box office you might have seen in the Seventies. Do movies cost a lot more to make and market? They should: they're bringing in a lot more money.
Movie Roundup
Here's an amusing story about British translators complaining about the outsourcing of their craft to cheapo translators overseas. Naturally, they give numerous examples of idiotic translations, such as "she died in a freak rugby accident" being translated into "she died in a rugby match for people with deformities." Frankly, I'm amazed that Guillermo Del Toro confesses the English translation for "The Devil's Backbone" was terrible. Obviously, not every director can pay attention to every bit of subtitling, but to not pay attention to the English subtitling for your movie seems crazy and frankly negligent. I didn't like "The Devil's Backbone" and so haven't been a fan of Del Toro's till "Pan's Labyrinth." Maybe the subtitling is the reason I was put off.
And director Zhang Yimou discusses his new movie and preparing to work on the opening ceremony for the Olympics when it debuts in Beijing in 2012. I've seen a series of articles about China preparing -- telling people to remove exotic items from their menus because Westerners would be freaked out and insisting that everyone stop spitting on the streets. They are taking the Olympics very seriously. And somehow I'm not quite convinced when Zhang says his movies aren't political, now that they seem to reflect well on the government. Did he insist they weren't political when they were banned by China?
And director Zhang Yimou discusses his new movie and preparing to work on the opening ceremony for the Olympics when it debuts in Beijing in 2012. I've seen a series of articles about China preparing -- telling people to remove exotic items from their menus because Westerners would be freaked out and insisting that everyone stop spitting on the streets. They are taking the Olympics very seriously. And somehow I'm not quite convinced when Zhang says his movies aren't political, now that they seem to reflect well on the government. Did he insist they weren't political when they were banned by China?
Overnight TV Ratings -- "Grease" Not Picking Up Steam
The reality show "Grease: You're The One That I Want" heads towards it finale next week, but the show is failing to pick up any steam. This doesn't really help or hurt the Broadway revival: that would have to stand or fall on its own since it couldn't really expect more than a month of business from fans who saw the TV series and wanted to see the show. It's down to the final two Dannys and Sandys and I'd vote for Max and Ashley, though all three judges want Max and Laura. It'll be interesting to see if viewers resist their choices. Certainly Austin -- who simply doesn't look like a Danny in any way, shape or form -- didn't look happy after the judges all picked his rival. I glanced at Rob Corddry's "The Winner" but found it unwatchable. The CBS shows ran 45 minutes late; I'm just gonna plop "60 Minutes" into the 8 p.m. slot and so on for the sake of convenience.
For a complete ratings breakdown, go to MediaWeek's Marc Berman.
7 p.m.
1. NCAA Basketball -- 12.67 million viewers
2. America's Funniest Home Videos (r) -- 8.48 million
3. Dateline -- 6.6 million
4. The War At Home (r and original) -- 3.08 million
5. The Pussycat Dolls: The Search For The Next Doll (r) -- 1.66 million
8 p.m.
1. 60 Minutes -- 13.8 million
2. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (r) -- 10.58 million
3. Grease: You're The One That I Want -- 6.59 million
4. The Simpsons (r) -- 6.89/The Winner -- 5.51 million
5. 7th Heaven (r) -- 1.77 million
9 p.m.
1. The Amazing Race All-Stars -- 12.83 million
2. Deal Or No Deal (r) -- 12.04 million
3. Desperate Housewives (r) -- 7.36 million
4. The Family Guy (r) -- 7.02 million/The Winner season finale -- 5.13 million
5. America's Next Top Model (r) -- 2.2 million
10 p.m.
1. Cold case -- 15.35 million
2. The Apprentice: Los Angeles -- 7.23 million
3. Brothers and Sisters -- 5.27 million
10:45 to 11:45
1. Without A Trace -- roughly 14-15 million estimated viewers
For a complete ratings breakdown, go to MediaWeek's Marc Berman.
7 p.m.
1. NCAA Basketball -- 12.67 million viewers
2. America's Funniest Home Videos (r) -- 8.48 million
3. Dateline -- 6.6 million
4. The War At Home (r and original) -- 3.08 million
5. The Pussycat Dolls: The Search For The Next Doll (r) -- 1.66 million
8 p.m.
1. 60 Minutes -- 13.8 million
2. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (r) -- 10.58 million
3. Grease: You're The One That I Want -- 6.59 million
4. The Simpsons (r) -- 6.89/The Winner -- 5.51 million
5. 7th Heaven (r) -- 1.77 million
9 p.m.
1. The Amazing Race All-Stars -- 12.83 million
2. Deal Or No Deal (r) -- 12.04 million
3. Desperate Housewives (r) -- 7.36 million
4. The Family Guy (r) -- 7.02 million/The Winner season finale -- 5.13 million
5. America's Next Top Model (r) -- 2.2 million
10 p.m.
1. Cold case -- 15.35 million
2. The Apprentice: Los Angeles -- 7.23 million
3. Brothers and Sisters -- 5.27 million
10:45 to 11:45
1. Without A Trace -- roughly 14-15 million estimated viewers
Roger Friedman Movie Deal In The Works?
I realy like Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com and even worked with him briefly at New York Magazine. But I have to wonder if he's trying to make a movie deal at New Line Cinemas. I can't think of any other reason why he's bending over backwards for New Line Cinema when he writes about "The Last Mimzy." First of all, he says Chelsea Clinton came to a screening to "see what the hubbub was about." Uh, what hubbub? Over "The Last Mimzy?" I'd guess the movie's title has a recognition factor of about 1% and a want-to-see rating that's even lower. Then he describes it as "a great family film" and "terrific for kids" (which is usually code for "terrible for parents"). He dares to mention it in the same breath as "ET," one of the all-time greats. Then he says it "keeps kids interested but has nothing offensive. It's a relief." Talk about damning with faint praise. What he fails to say is that it was directed by the head of New Line. (That's the bozo who can't make nice with director Peter Jackson so he can make another $1 BILLION DOLLARS in profits by making "The Hobbit.") And that "The Last Mimzy" has one of the worst titles of all time. And now my caveat: I haven't seen "The Last Mimzy" and since I've mocked Friedman about it, I feel obligated to check it out. If it is in fact a good film, I will abase myself appropriately. But I'm pretty safe in saying "The Last Mimzy" is no "Bridge To Terabithia." One thing is clear: with quotes like that, Friedman will definitely be in the print ad. For his sake, I hope he's not the ONLY person quoted.
Ricky Gervais On Comic Relief
Below I mentioned Comic relief -- the UK charity event that is a huge TV special -- as well as Ricky Gervais and "Extras." Now the two stories combine with this clip of Gervais on Comic Relief, which takes the piss out of everyone contributing their time and energy to these charitable events. Quite simply, it would never air on a similar US special. Watch it all. Not over-the-top funny, but wonderfully cynical.
Ant and Dec Coming To US!
For me, this is very fun news: Ant and Dec are doing a game show pilot for ABC called "Wanna Bet?" It's based on a German gameshow and I haven't a clue as to how it's played but Ant and Dec are great fun. They've been a duo since their days on a kids show; now they're close to a national institution. Ant and dec hosted the first "Pop Idol," which is why Ryan Seacrest was paired with Brian Dunkleman when FOX was carefully trying to duplicate the show's formula in the first season of "American Idol." Ant and Dec are very casually funny and have great chemistry; it'll be fun to see how they do over here. UPDATE: MediaWeek says the show combines celebrity interviews and music performances with regular people betting they can pull off a crazy stunt. In other words, it's sort of a variety show.
Minnie Driver Serious About Music
Actress Minnie Driver will hereafter be referred to as "actress/singer" or "singer/actress" because she's very serious about her recording career. Her debut album sold a scant 33,000 CDs in the US, but she did get some polite notices. Her second album, due out this summer, includes contributions from Liz Phair, Ryan Adams and his current collaboraters the Cardinals. So get used to it.
Weekend Box Office -- "300" Still #1
Yes, I was way off on "300," which I expected to out-perform everyone's expectations for a second weekend. But the movie still did tremendous business and has already hit $125 mil and counting. "Bridge To Terabithia" remains a genuine word-of-mouth hit that overcame one of the worst ad campaigns in memory thanks to stellar reviews and happy audiences. The saddest news was for Chris Rock, who hasn't opened a movie since "Down To Earth" and has never starred in a good one, unless you include the animated flick "Madagascar." The Top 10 per Box Office Prophets:
1. 300 -- $31.2 million ($127.5 million total)
2. Wild Hogs -- $18.8 million ($104 million total)
3. Premonition -- $18 million total
4. Dead Silence -- $7.8 million total
5. I Think I Love My Wife -- $5.7 million
6. Bridge To Terabithia -- $5.1 million ($75 million total)
7. Ghost Rider -- $4 million ($110.2 million total)
8. Zodiac -- $3.1 million ($28.9 million total)
9. Norbit -- $2.7 million ($92.4 million total)
10. Music and Lyrics -- $2.2 million ($47.4 million total)
1. 300 -- $31.2 million ($127.5 million total)
2. Wild Hogs -- $18.8 million ($104 million total)
3. Premonition -- $18 million total
4. Dead Silence -- $7.8 million total
5. I Think I Love My Wife -- $5.7 million
6. Bridge To Terabithia -- $5.1 million ($75 million total)
7. Ghost Rider -- $4 million ($110.2 million total)
8. Zodiac -- $3.1 million ($28.9 million total)
9. Norbit -- $2.7 million ($92.4 million total)
10. Music and Lyrics -- $2.2 million ($47.4 million total)
Top CDs Of The Year List Coming Out....Today! Really.
Until it gets posted, enjoy this UK chat with one of the people on it: Regina Spektor.
No Extra "Extras," Please
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant find it hard to say goodbye. They ended "The Office" after two brilliant seasons and 12 pitch-perfect episodes, one of the great sitcoms of all time, alongside "Fawlty Towers" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and anything else you can name. But then they caved and did two more hour long shows -- they had moments of greatness and I'm glad to have seen them, but the lads got all marshmallow-y and undercut the entire point of the series by striving for a happy ending. Now they've called it a day after two seasons of "Extras." Of course, it wasn't as good as "The Office" -- virtually nothing is -- but it had great celberity cameos and got better and better and managed to end on a nicely sweet note that wasn't too sentimental and was well-earned. Best of all, it showcased the hilarious Ashley Jensen, who can also be seen on "Ugly Betty." Unfortunately, now they're going to make just one more episode. Guys, if you don't have enough material to do six more episodes, why make one more? Resist the temptation.
And here's a chat with Ashley, who seems a charmer.
And here's a chat with Ashley, who seems a charmer.
Bestselling Books -- Still No Literary Fiction In Sight
Usually, there's at least SOME serious fiction on the best-seller list. The closest we come this week is the well-reviewed horror title by Joe Hill, who now sheepishly reveals he is the son of Stephen King. Mostly, it's just bargain-basement genre fiction, and not particularly well-considered genre fiction at that. Thank God for the non-fiction list, which proves we haven't completely abandoned serious reading. Mixed in with the Presidential contenders and Oprah's pick (Sidney Poitier), you'll find good books like "A Long Way Gone," about a child soldier in Sierra Leone; the well-reviewed Joh Grisham book about an innocent man on death row; and Thomas L. Friedman's collection of essays.
Hermione Still Not Signed For Final Two Potter Films
Rumours spread that Emma Watson has declined to sign up for the final two Harry Potter films. But Warner Bros. insists that they are super-duper confident she will. Frankly, I'm surprised the kids didn't have to commit to all seven films to appear in the first one. Maybe they were too young or a seven film commitment was just too lengthy to even attempt? But don't think she's holding out for more money or the rumour is baseless: Watson has always been the most resistant to returning each time, the last one to sign up and the first one to suggest maybe they wouldn't or shouldn't do all seven. She was 11 years old when the first film came out and would be 20 when the final film is scheduled to hit theaters in 2010.
UK Music Charts -- Pint-sized Sinatra Tops Charts
The UK equivalent to "American Idol" is "The X Factor," and this season's runner-up was the tiny but pugnacious Ray Quinn, Simon Cowell's personal protege (that's how the show works there, with judges supporting and counseling particular acts) who did swing music and standards, mostly. Now Ray has topped the charts with his debut CD "Doing It My Way." Personally, I can't get enough of Ray -- a child actor and Liverpool lad -- tearing up during "You'll Never Walk Alone," which gets played at a lot of funerals in the UK. Sure he's weak and dodgy at throughout, but he hits the big notes and that's what matters on these shows. And those tears got him to the finals. He recorded his swing album t Capitol studios in Los Angeles, which would be like me writing a play at Shakespeare's desk in Stratford Upon Avon. The "X Factor #3 person was Ben Mills, who charts at #3 fittingly enough. The singles charts includes songs promoted at annual fundraiser Comic Relief, a huge charity TV event in the UK, with a version of "(I'm Going To Be) 500 Miles" prominent. By the way, the winner of "The X Factor" was Leona Lewis, who is widely considered the most talented performer -- by far -- to come out of the series. She's signed a huge deal with Clive Davis in the US and it looks like they're going to take their time with her debut album and launch her as a major artist rather than trying to rush something out to capitalize on the show.
Carol Burnett Sues "Family Guy"
I don't watch "Family Guy" -- I find its pop culture references slapdash and uninteresting, though the baby looking to take over the world is always amusing. The most interesting thing about the show to me is the animosity other writers and animators feel for the show. They just HATE it and don't mind saying so repeatedly and on the record. Now Carol Burnett isn't too thrilled either. Americablog trumped me on a pop culture story (the shame) by pointing me to this story about Burnett suing "Family Guy" for including a parody of her janitor character, claiming Burnett was sweeping up floors in a porn shop. I don't know who her lawyers are, but I can't imagine this even coming to trial -- surely it's clearly parody? But a line at the bottom of the story caught my eye: ""The Carol Burnett Show," combining comedy sketches and musical performances, aired on CBS from 1967 to 1978 and was one of the most popular shows on U.S. television in that era." Hey, I loved the show and watched it every Saturday night with my mom through the 70s. It's certainly one of the most "beloved" shows of that era (a nebulous term), but was it one of the most popular? Hardly. During the show's 11 seasons, it was usually in the Top 30 and no better. (The last two seasons, it didn't even hit the Top 30. Once, in 1969, it hit #13, the show's peak, thanks to the strong lead-ins "Mayberry RFD" (#4 for that year) and "The Doris Day Show" (#10). And that's it. Mostly the show was ranked #27, #25, #23 and so on. The most popular shows of its era were Top 10 hits like "Gunsmoke" and "All in the Family" and "Happy Days" and "MASH" and "Little House On The Prairie" and "The Waltons." More popular variety shows included "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In" and "The Flip Wilson Show." "The carol Burnett Show" was one of my favorites and sadly out of circulation because the music rights are so prohibitive it doesn't get syndicated and doesn't get put out on DVD. But don't confuse beloved with ratings success. It had a great run, but the show was never a ratings smash.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Friday Box Office Numbers -- "300" Not 100%
Okay, so I was a LITTLE off. "300" is a terrific hit -- it grossed $100+ million in just eight days. But it's not a steamroller. With the movie grossing $25 mil during week after its massive opener, I thought the sky was the limit. $38 mil (which was the prediction of Box Office Prophets?) Ha! How about $50 mil? I knew I was in trouble when I went to the movies during the day and saw the movie wasn't sold out -- even in prime time. So instead of $50 mil, it grossed $30 mil, which means it will hit $125 mil by Sunday. Wild Hogs continued to pull undiscerning audiences, Sandra Bullock did okay with $18 mil (but can expect her confusing flick to drop) and Chris Rock continues to struggle at the movies with the DOA "I Think I Love My Wife," which will barely gross more than $5 mil. Too bad. He was on Bill Maher for five minutes and was funnier in those few moments than probably the entire film. He said, "People ask me if Michael Richards is a racist. He yelled 'nigger' in a crowded room. What do you have to do to be considered racist? Shoot Medgar Evers?" Go to Box Office Prophets for the complete Friday numbers analysis.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Premiere Magazine R.I.P.
Premiere Magazine is gone. It's a sad day for me, since so much of my New York career began and still springs from my time at Premiere Magazine. Like many magazines (Spy, 7 Days, Interview) it had its heyday and influenced many others and then became a shadow of its former self.
But I can still remember what a revelation Premiere was in 1987 when it debuted with the Dan Ackroyd remake of "Dragnet" on the cover. Here was a magazine that talked about the movie industry and was smart and fun. Before Premiere, you could go to dusty academic journals for dry essays or just get celebrity profiles. Premiere covered the entire movie business, profiling not just stars but agents and writers and directors and publicity departments and managers. It made the business side of the movies entertaining and it took the entertaining side of the movies as seriously as the Wall Street Journal covered business. People certainly went on the sets of films before Premiere, but it made that journey a mainstay and Premiere didn't just visit the set and take the guided tour -- it COVERED the making of a movie, complete with drama and excitement and battles over budgets and casting and the fights that are a part of any business, all without devolving into gossip. It took the work seriously, it took the artists seriously and it wasn't a puff piece magazine. If you behaved like a jerk on the set, Premiere would make that clear. Today, everyone goes on movie sets all the time and expects to report faithfully what they observe, rather than just provide free publicity for the film. Premiere is a big reason why.
Premiere also did innovative articles like "Shot By Shot," which detailed how the special effects worked. Behind-the-scenes talent like composers and cinematographers and costume and set designers and editors and special effects guys -- the giants of the industry in their fields -- got covered and profiled with as much professionalism and vigor as the stars. And the stars were treated with dignity. Premiere would talk about their private lives but it was always in the context of a meaty profile and how it informed their work; not in the context of wondering who they were sleeping with.
Premiere for a time had a Summer and Fall movie preview that was powerful and prescient. Today, everyone mimicks the Premiere summer movie preview, but does it in a toothless way. Even Premiere became toothless eventually. But at first, Premiere's rankings of the summer movies and descriptions of the buzz and hurdles the movies faced were spot-on. They would champion movies they thought would break-out, call an obvious disaster-in-the-making exactly that and weren't afraid to say when a movie just looked dull. Today, everyone just politely hints at bad buzz or the obvious problems with a movie. Premiere was feared and respected for a while because it reflected the actual talk in the industry about a movie's prospects. Hollywood wasn't used to seeing the conversations they were having reflected in the media, but there it was. Back in the day, if Premiere had to rank which summer blockbuster was going to come first ("Spiderman 3" or "Shrek 3" or "Pirates 3" ) it took that challenge seriously and the studios really, really cared about where they fell on the list. If everyone was talking about "Knocked Up" (the Judd Apatow movie out this June that is getting good buzz), Premiere would let you know. And if an awful "Nancy Drew" remake (out June 16) looked dead in the water, Premiere let its readers know that too -- or even worse, relegated it to a listing of "Also coming out," indicating it wasn't even worth talking about. No, Premiere didn't invent summer or fall previews (heck, I was doing summer previews in high school and college papers before Premiere even existed), but Premiere took them seriously and gave them weight for many years.
Perhaps Premiere's most imitated innovation was The Power List. I'm sure other mags or newspapers must have had a ranking of top people in an industry before. But Premiere's Power List defined the genre and made it spread everywhere, to the point where every industry of any sort has an annual power list compiled by somebody, somewhere. Again, Premiere's Power List mattered because the magazine took it seriously, invested a great deal of time and energy in reporting, talking to industry people, balancing different factions off against each other, all just to compile a list of the most powerful people in Hollywood, whether it was CAA's Michael Ovitz at the top or Steven Spielberg or an actor. People obsessed over their ranking and whether they would move up or down or god forbid not make the list at all. Everyone from Entertainment Weekly to the Widget Makers of America does annual power lists now. Premiere is the reason why.
Most of all, Premiere magazine took movies seriously without taking itself seriously. It had FUN. Movies were fun and Premiere was fun. They proved you didn't have to be Pauline Kael or American Film to talk about a movie in a serious, intelligent manner. They did lengthy pieces about the creation of classic Hollywood films, writing about the making of, say, "Bonnie & Clyde" as if it were coming out next week. And because so much time had passed and because Premiere didn't just speak to the stars but also to the cinematographer and the set designer and the key grip if they could, the stories were juicy and revealing. They celebrated behind the scenes people like Polly Platt. They revolutionized the way people covered and talked about movies.
Today, they've been passed by and so many of their innovations have become standard fare. Entertainment Weekly was always a problem because when it debuted after Premiere it was a lot more nimble on its feet. It could respond to a hit film quickly whereas the monthly Premiere always had to peer into the future and hope that it was right about which movies were going to matter. EW could throw "Borat" on the cover two weeks after it opened. Premiere couldn't throw a hit film on its cover four months after it opened, obviously. And while entertainment coverage has devolved since Premiere's heyday into gossip and facile celebrity profiles instead of meaty coverage not afraid to critique or paint an unflattering picture, that's our fault, not Premiere's.
The minute I saw that first issue of Premiere, I wanted to work there. I called them up to see about summer internships and the woman who answered the phone said, "Hey, we were just sitting around talking about that" and told me to send in some clips and my resume. Nothing. I moved to New York City in 1991 and the first and only place I wanted to work was Premiere. I couldn't even get an interview there, despite a ton of decent clips and some awards. I worked at a deli, trying to get a job somewhere during the height of a recession when even tiny jobs at Rolling Stone would garner 500+ applications of people who'd already worked elsewhere, unlike a former college student like me. Then a bartender I knew who stopped in my deli regularly (and whom I frequented on two-for-one nights) saw a sign I had posted in desperation on my register -- "Will Write For Food." What kind of job are you looking for? he wondered. I wanted to work in entertainment for a newspaper or magazine. He scrunched up his forehead. Would Premiere count as an entertainment magazine, he asked. Uh, yeah. He was having a brunch that Sunday and a friend of his would be there who worked at Premiere and he could introduce us. So I took an extra-long lunch break that Sunday from work, went to the brunch, met someone who actually worked at Premiere and he gave me the name of someone to call about an internship. So I went and I interviewed...and I didn't get the non-paying job. Aargghhh. (The guy, a friend, later admitted he made a mistake.) But he liked me and remembered me and when the photo department needed someone to work 20 hours a week sorting and unsorting photo stills, he called and I jumped. And I was in. I went from the photo department (where my terrific first boss was Charlie, a great gal) to the fact checking department to an actual job in the fact checking department (paying all of $18,000 a year for a full-time job, which meant I still worked at the deli on weekends). I loved it and worked hard and got on well with almost everyone there and made a few monumental mistakes as a fact checker (apparently it DOES matter whether The Last Of the Mohicans" filmed in North Carolina or South Carolina and everyone in both of those states will let you know if you mess that up) and as a conscientious fact checker, each and every one of those mistakes I let get into the magazine haunt me to this day. But I worked really hard and mostly did a good job as a fact checker and slowly but surely I got to write a tiny little item here and there (maybe a laser disc review), I got to go to screenings of movies and speak up in meetings to say that, say, "Rudy" was a delightful film and I even eventually got a semi-regular column on movie music, making me only the third person at the magazine to cover it, with one of the other two being Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. I even got to taste office politics when I had a one-sided feud with an editor who tried to get me fired for years and almost succeeded before I could jump to a full-time writing position at New York magazine.
Some of my closest friends in New York, I met at Premiere magazine. One of them provides most of my freelance work today at the NY Daily News. I'll be meeting another next Saturday at the annual IRAs meeting, where a group of crotchety guys who've known each other mostly since college get together every year for decades now to decide what THEY think are the best movies of the year. Another friend from Premiere comes over almost every night and we watch movies and TV shows together. I'm prouder of working at Premiere in its heyday than I am for any other job I've ever had. (Second place would be my modest contributions to the early days of Americablog -- about the only time I ever felt like what I did actually mattered.) I only wish its tradition of great writing and reporting lived on more strongly in the other newspapers and magazines that have now outlived it.
Goodbye, Premiere. I am missing you already.
But I can still remember what a revelation Premiere was in 1987 when it debuted with the Dan Ackroyd remake of "Dragnet" on the cover. Here was a magazine that talked about the movie industry and was smart and fun. Before Premiere, you could go to dusty academic journals for dry essays or just get celebrity profiles. Premiere covered the entire movie business, profiling not just stars but agents and writers and directors and publicity departments and managers. It made the business side of the movies entertaining and it took the entertaining side of the movies as seriously as the Wall Street Journal covered business. People certainly went on the sets of films before Premiere, but it made that journey a mainstay and Premiere didn't just visit the set and take the guided tour -- it COVERED the making of a movie, complete with drama and excitement and battles over budgets and casting and the fights that are a part of any business, all without devolving into gossip. It took the work seriously, it took the artists seriously and it wasn't a puff piece magazine. If you behaved like a jerk on the set, Premiere would make that clear. Today, everyone goes on movie sets all the time and expects to report faithfully what they observe, rather than just provide free publicity for the film. Premiere is a big reason why.
Premiere also did innovative articles like "Shot By Shot," which detailed how the special effects worked. Behind-the-scenes talent like composers and cinematographers and costume and set designers and editors and special effects guys -- the giants of the industry in their fields -- got covered and profiled with as much professionalism and vigor as the stars. And the stars were treated with dignity. Premiere would talk about their private lives but it was always in the context of a meaty profile and how it informed their work; not in the context of wondering who they were sleeping with.
Premiere for a time had a Summer and Fall movie preview that was powerful and prescient. Today, everyone mimicks the Premiere summer movie preview, but does it in a toothless way. Even Premiere became toothless eventually. But at first, Premiere's rankings of the summer movies and descriptions of the buzz and hurdles the movies faced were spot-on. They would champion movies they thought would break-out, call an obvious disaster-in-the-making exactly that and weren't afraid to say when a movie just looked dull. Today, everyone just politely hints at bad buzz or the obvious problems with a movie. Premiere was feared and respected for a while because it reflected the actual talk in the industry about a movie's prospects. Hollywood wasn't used to seeing the conversations they were having reflected in the media, but there it was. Back in the day, if Premiere had to rank which summer blockbuster was going to come first ("Spiderman 3" or "Shrek 3" or "Pirates 3" ) it took that challenge seriously and the studios really, really cared about where they fell on the list. If everyone was talking about "Knocked Up" (the Judd Apatow movie out this June that is getting good buzz), Premiere would let you know. And if an awful "Nancy Drew" remake (out June 16) looked dead in the water, Premiere let its readers know that too -- or even worse, relegated it to a listing of "Also coming out," indicating it wasn't even worth talking about. No, Premiere didn't invent summer or fall previews (heck, I was doing summer previews in high school and college papers before Premiere even existed), but Premiere took them seriously and gave them weight for many years.
Perhaps Premiere's most imitated innovation was The Power List. I'm sure other mags or newspapers must have had a ranking of top people in an industry before. But Premiere's Power List defined the genre and made it spread everywhere, to the point where every industry of any sort has an annual power list compiled by somebody, somewhere. Again, Premiere's Power List mattered because the magazine took it seriously, invested a great deal of time and energy in reporting, talking to industry people, balancing different factions off against each other, all just to compile a list of the most powerful people in Hollywood, whether it was CAA's Michael Ovitz at the top or Steven Spielberg or an actor. People obsessed over their ranking and whether they would move up or down or god forbid not make the list at all. Everyone from Entertainment Weekly to the Widget Makers of America does annual power lists now. Premiere is the reason why.
Most of all, Premiere magazine took movies seriously without taking itself seriously. It had FUN. Movies were fun and Premiere was fun. They proved you didn't have to be Pauline Kael or American Film to talk about a movie in a serious, intelligent manner. They did lengthy pieces about the creation of classic Hollywood films, writing about the making of, say, "Bonnie & Clyde" as if it were coming out next week. And because so much time had passed and because Premiere didn't just speak to the stars but also to the cinematographer and the set designer and the key grip if they could, the stories were juicy and revealing. They celebrated behind the scenes people like Polly Platt. They revolutionized the way people covered and talked about movies.
Today, they've been passed by and so many of their innovations have become standard fare. Entertainment Weekly was always a problem because when it debuted after Premiere it was a lot more nimble on its feet. It could respond to a hit film quickly whereas the monthly Premiere always had to peer into the future and hope that it was right about which movies were going to matter. EW could throw "Borat" on the cover two weeks after it opened. Premiere couldn't throw a hit film on its cover four months after it opened, obviously. And while entertainment coverage has devolved since Premiere's heyday into gossip and facile celebrity profiles instead of meaty coverage not afraid to critique or paint an unflattering picture, that's our fault, not Premiere's.
The minute I saw that first issue of Premiere, I wanted to work there. I called them up to see about summer internships and the woman who answered the phone said, "Hey, we were just sitting around talking about that" and told me to send in some clips and my resume. Nothing. I moved to New York City in 1991 and the first and only place I wanted to work was Premiere. I couldn't even get an interview there, despite a ton of decent clips and some awards. I worked at a deli, trying to get a job somewhere during the height of a recession when even tiny jobs at Rolling Stone would garner 500+ applications of people who'd already worked elsewhere, unlike a former college student like me. Then a bartender I knew who stopped in my deli regularly (and whom I frequented on two-for-one nights) saw a sign I had posted in desperation on my register -- "Will Write For Food." What kind of job are you looking for? he wondered. I wanted to work in entertainment for a newspaper or magazine. He scrunched up his forehead. Would Premiere count as an entertainment magazine, he asked. Uh, yeah. He was having a brunch that Sunday and a friend of his would be there who worked at Premiere and he could introduce us. So I took an extra-long lunch break that Sunday from work, went to the brunch, met someone who actually worked at Premiere and he gave me the name of someone to call about an internship. So I went and I interviewed...and I didn't get the non-paying job. Aargghhh. (The guy, a friend, later admitted he made a mistake.) But he liked me and remembered me and when the photo department needed someone to work 20 hours a week sorting and unsorting photo stills, he called and I jumped. And I was in. I went from the photo department (where my terrific first boss was Charlie, a great gal) to the fact checking department to an actual job in the fact checking department (paying all of $18,000 a year for a full-time job, which meant I still worked at the deli on weekends). I loved it and worked hard and got on well with almost everyone there and made a few monumental mistakes as a fact checker (apparently it DOES matter whether The Last Of the Mohicans" filmed in North Carolina or South Carolina and everyone in both of those states will let you know if you mess that up) and as a conscientious fact checker, each and every one of those mistakes I let get into the magazine haunt me to this day. But I worked really hard and mostly did a good job as a fact checker and slowly but surely I got to write a tiny little item here and there (maybe a laser disc review), I got to go to screenings of movies and speak up in meetings to say that, say, "Rudy" was a delightful film and I even eventually got a semi-regular column on movie music, making me only the third person at the magazine to cover it, with one of the other two being Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. I even got to taste office politics when I had a one-sided feud with an editor who tried to get me fired for years and almost succeeded before I could jump to a full-time writing position at New York magazine.
Some of my closest friends in New York, I met at Premiere magazine. One of them provides most of my freelance work today at the NY Daily News. I'll be meeting another next Saturday at the annual IRAs meeting, where a group of crotchety guys who've known each other mostly since college get together every year for decades now to decide what THEY think are the best movies of the year. Another friend from Premiere comes over almost every night and we watch movies and TV shows together. I'm prouder of working at Premiere in its heyday than I am for any other job I've ever had. (Second place would be my modest contributions to the early days of Americablog -- about the only time I ever felt like what I did actually mattered.) I only wish its tradition of great writing and reporting lived on more strongly in the other newspapers and magazines that have now outlived it.
Goodbye, Premiere. I am missing you already.
Former "Idol" Mario Vazquez Lawsuit Details
Here are the salacious details of the lawsuit against former "Idol" Mario Vazquez, which accuses of him of masturbating in front of an "Idol" employee and trying to engage the man in sex. It ain't pretty.
Weekend Box Office Preview
Box Office Prophets has a rundown of the movies opening this weekend. None of the major releases look interesting -- certainly not Sandra Bullock's movie "Premonitions," which had a trailer so lengthy and detailed it gave away the premise, the twist and then the third act twist as well -- I know virtually the entire plot of the film except for the last ten minutes. Why bother? But BOP is WAY off on "300," which they think is just a silly fanboy flick with limited appeal like "Sin City," which grossed just $75 mil in the US. They should be comparing "300" to "Gladiator," because that's the movie it most resembles. It's a big, brawny, old-fashioned warrior flick. And it's grossed at least $25 mil from Mon through Thursday. BOP predicts "300" will drop mightily and gross (a still terrific) $38 mil. I say, with the amazing midweek numbers, what is clearly exceptional word of mouth and an expansion of screens, the movie will set the record for a second weekend of an R rated movie and gross $50+ mil. Frankly, I wouldn't have been surprised if BOP had predicted the movie to hold stead at such a remarkably high level and $60 mil is possible. But $50 mil is a huge jump over $38 mil, so I'll stay conservatively on that.
Women Hot On Broadway
Michael Riedel of the NY Post gives the skinny on a raft of promising Broadway shows. The women are out-selling the men, with Vanessa Redgrave's "The Year Of Magical Thinking" selling like gangbusters and "Deuces" with Angela Lansbury" doing great. Much slower business for "Inherit The Wind," which seems deserved to me despite the presence of heavyweights Brian Dennehy and Christopher Plummer -- it just feels like a creaky, old-fashioned show more appropriate for a short-run at the Roundabout, despite being bizarrely timely in Kentucky and elsewhere. But the real puzzler is "Frost/Nixon," which has been moribund at the box office despite raves in the UK, a career-defining performance from Frank Langella and some preumsed mojo from "The Queen," which stars Michael Sheen (who plays Frost) and shares the same writer. Why people aren't snatching this up is beyond me, but they will as soon as the reviews come out.
Overnight TV Ratings -- Andy Richter Doesn't Control The Universe
I really liked "Andy Richter Controls The Universe" and I found his new sitcom "Andy Barker, P.I." somewhat amusing. I liked the tone (which works nicely with The Office and Earl) and it was enjoyably offbeat. You've got to like a show where the hero curses by saying "Cheese and crackers!" (It works.) I'll; even watch it again a few times to see if they really find their rhythm. But it was definitely an odd duck and I'm certainly not surprised it opened so-so, on a par with "30 Rock." I also found Richter's appearance on Conan a little sad. They're both clearly friends, but the rapport they had for years didn't come back so easily; or maybe it just seemed odd for Richter to answer pat questions and leave the set, instead of being Conan's sidekick for the evening. Here's a thought: it might seem like going backwards, but when Conan replaces Jay Leno, bringing back Richter after this multi-year break would be great. They've both proven they can succeed without each other (to a degree, in Richter's case) but they're a great, great team. For a complete ratings breakdown, go to MediaWeek's Marc Berman.
8 p.m.
1. Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader -- 12.18 million viewers
2. Ugly Betty -- 10.77 million
3. NCAA Basketball -- 9.59 million
4. The Office (two repeats) -- 6.63 million
5. Smallville -- 4.58 million
9 p.m.
1. Grey's Anatomy -- 22.38 million
2. NCAA Basketball -- 10.68 million
3. Scrubs (r) -- 6.37 million/Andy Barker, P.I. -- 5.84 million
4. Family Guy (two repeats) -- 5.76 million
5. Supernatural -- 3.54 million
10 p.m.
1. October Road -- 14.34 million
2. Raines -- 10.34 million
3. NCAA Basketball -- 8.43 million
8 p.m.
1. Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader -- 12.18 million viewers
2. Ugly Betty -- 10.77 million
3. NCAA Basketball -- 9.59 million
4. The Office (two repeats) -- 6.63 million
5. Smallville -- 4.58 million
9 p.m.
1. Grey's Anatomy -- 22.38 million
2. NCAA Basketball -- 10.68 million
3. Scrubs (r) -- 6.37 million/Andy Barker, P.I. -- 5.84 million
4. Family Guy (two repeats) -- 5.76 million
5. Supernatural -- 3.54 million
10 p.m.
1. October Road -- 14.34 million
2. Raines -- 10.34 million
3. NCAA Basketball -- 8.43 million
Kate Blanchett Joins "Indy IV"
Suddenly, I'm a lot more interested. (Not that I wasn't already, but surely this is a classy, interesting sign that they want to do Indiana Jones right one more time. Sure, Harrison Ford is 26 years older than her, but Blanchett is a woman, full stop, so it doesn't feel like he's trying to pair with a starlet.
The Best (Selling) 200 Albums Of All Time
Thanks to Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com who has been covering the meltdown at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. His column was the first place I read that the voting was rigged for this year's nominees to the Hall -- final voting put the Dave Clark Five into the Hall, but Jann Wenner ignored that, kept them out and put Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in instead. Now Wenner was right that it was embarassing that the Hall had no hip-hop, but that doesn't mean you cna just ignore the votes. Including six inductees was a very reasonable option but he just ignored it. That makes the Hall a joke. Personally, I don't think the Dave Clark Five belong in the Hall Of Fame, but if they got the votes, they got the votes.
Now Friedman tells me the Hall has shamelessly tied itself to a record store promo on The Definitive 200 best Albums Of All Time, an absurd list created by the National Association of Record Manufacturers. All lists are silly, of course, but this one is so shameless, pretending to be a list of great albums but really only highlighting bestsellers. Among the 200 best albums of all time are dreck like the "Top Gun" soundtrack (really, one of the best albums of all time? It's not even the best soundtrack for a Tom Cruise movie, which would be Risky Business, of course.) I think about the only cast album is "The Phantom of the Opera" but they don't even include the legendary, best-selling double album, they include the single CD "Highlights From...." You've got a couple of Bob Dylan albums (but not Blonde on Blonde) and certainly a lot of the albums are great, but it's just so transparent. Barbra Streisand's "A Star Is Born" instead of one of her truly great (and equally best-selling albums)? And surely this is the only list where Kenny G will be cheek by jowl with NWA. (#107 and 108, respectively.) And it's all so unnecessary. Why didn't NARM just release a list of the 200 Best-selling Albums Of All Time, asking consumers "How Many Do You Own?" Many of these albums would have repeated and it would have been a lot more honest and no one could have mocked them.
Now Friedman tells me the Hall has shamelessly tied itself to a record store promo on The Definitive 200 best Albums Of All Time, an absurd list created by the National Association of Record Manufacturers. All lists are silly, of course, but this one is so shameless, pretending to be a list of great albums but really only highlighting bestsellers. Among the 200 best albums of all time are dreck like the "Top Gun" soundtrack (really, one of the best albums of all time? It's not even the best soundtrack for a Tom Cruise movie, which would be Risky Business, of course.) I think about the only cast album is "The Phantom of the Opera" but they don't even include the legendary, best-selling double album, they include the single CD "Highlights From...." You've got a couple of Bob Dylan albums (but not Blonde on Blonde) and certainly a lot of the albums are great, but it's just so transparent. Barbra Streisand's "A Star Is Born" instead of one of her truly great (and equally best-selling albums)? And surely this is the only list where Kenny G will be cheek by jowl with NWA. (#107 and 108, respectively.) And it's all so unnecessary. Why didn't NARM just release a list of the 200 Best-selling Albums Of All Time, asking consumers "How Many Do You Own?" Many of these albums would have repeated and it would have been a lot more honest and no one could have mocked them.
"300" Tearing It Up At The Box Office
"300" made massive news when it opened to $70 million last weekend. Now it's gunning for the record for biggest second weekend by an R rated movie. (I believe the record is $50 mil+ by "The Passion of the Christ.") Well, if midweek performance is any indication, "300" will do that easily. It's expanding the number of screens it is on today and no wonder -- it's done bang up business on Monday ($7.6 mil), Tuesday ($6.5 mil) and Wednesday ($5.8). Frankly, a $20 mil opening weekend with holding steady on weekend two would have been good news for "300," which has a no-name cast. Instead, it did that money on Mon-Wed! It's going to be huge this weekend again. It's at about $95 mil and counting.
Simon Cowell On "60 Minutes"
If the tastiest quote they can offer up is that Cowell says he's more important to Sony than Bruce Springsteen (which is certainly true commercially speaking), than the Anderson Cooper interview must be pretty tame.
Book By Madonna's Nanny Killed
The idea that Crown backed out of publishing a book by Madonna's former nanny because it would take longer than they thought to get it out is just silly. You mean, Madonna won't be newsworthy two years from now? Please. But how distasteful is this? Obviously, you don't give up all your rights just because you work for a famous person and I don't know about the legality of demanding people give up all their rights to publish or comment on someone in exchange for getting a job with Oprah or Tom Cruise or Madonna or whomever. (I assume those agreements aren't binding, since people simply CAN'T give up their basic rights and surely freedom of speech -- ie. writing a book -- is one of them.) But I have a great deal of sympathy for the celeb in these cases, even if they're bad bosses. If you don't like working for someone, quit. But surely these people should be able to hire employees without worrying that every moment of their private life is being documented and recorded so the employee can dish a tell-all or run to the tabloids for money. And there's a big difference just in waiting -- writing a memoir some 30 years later (nice or nasty) just feels less like cashing in on your access that churning something out a week after you left them. The people that do this are just vile, in my opinion. Don't they ahve any self-respect?
"The Wind That Shakes The Barley"
Destined to be one of the best films of the year, Ken Loach's new drama opens today. Here are my scribbled thoughts on the movie just after seeing it premiere at Cannes. There was a fair amount of hoo-haw about the movie and its depiction of the British being one-sided or too stereotypical, which is absurd. (I speak as a British subject with Irish roots, a Catholic who despises the IRA.) First, the movie is NOT about the Irish versus the British in Ireland. The British play a very small role. It's really about the horrible cycle of violence, how killing the enemy (the British) leads to killing informers which leads to killing close friends and even your family. It is inevitable and brutal and dismaying, even if every step along the way seems right and reasonable and even necessary. Besides, the bullying treatment by the British, the beating of prisoners and so on is hardly historically inaccurate. And there's a balancing scene where one British soldier speaks bitterly and painfully about the situation they're in that makes you feel empathy for them as well. This is a movie in greys. The New York Times has a nice review by AO Scott.
But how silly is their revamp of the Times website. Nestled in the review was a video link, which I assume contained the trailer or a scene from the film. Instead it contained an AO Scott one-minute condensation of the very review we're reading. What is the point of that? Video should be value-added, not just the story you're reading boiled down in 60 seconds. An interview with the director, a debate on the politics, a glimpse of the movie at Cannes or a scene from the movie would be good. Just rehashing the very article you're looking at is moronic.
But how silly is their revamp of the Times website. Nestled in the review was a video link, which I assume contained the trailer or a scene from the film. Instead it contained an AO Scott one-minute condensation of the very review we're reading. What is the point of that? Video should be value-added, not just the story you're reading boiled down in 60 seconds. An interview with the director, a debate on the politics, a glimpse of the movie at Cannes or a scene from the movie would be good. Just rehashing the very article you're looking at is moronic.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
"Ocean's 13" To Premiere At Cannes
Now let's hope it's a lot better than "Ocean's 12."
Oddly, Variety talks about how premiering at Cannes hasn't always been a great boost for Hollywood movies. Of course, for many years Hollywood avoided Cannes. What was the point? Cannes was an art exhibit held during the summer, when Hollywood premieres all its mindless blockbusters. And any promotional boost was lost on movies that wouldn't open until the fall and no one in America really follows Cannes anyway. That's all changed, with Hollywood using out of competition slots to boost summer flicks, sneak previews of excerpts to build excitement for fall releases (like "The Lord of the Rings") and so on.
Then they list high profile movies that have premiered recently at Cannes, starting with "The Da Vinci Code," which Variety describes as "panned by jet-lagged critics." Uh, the people who saw it around the world also panned it, so why the jet-lagged tag, as if critics were cranky instead of the movie being a dull mess. And I wasn't jet-lagged; I'd been in Europe for two weeks, and MOST of the critics there live in Europe anyway. But of course, it went on to gross a massive $758 million worldwide.
Then Variety boneheadedly says other films didn't seem to benefit from a Cannes premiere, naming "Marie Antoinette," "Hollywood Ending" and "The Ladykillers." But some movies DID benefit from Cannes, says Variety, such as "Shrek 2" and "X-Men 3." What a puzzle, they seem to be saying. Uh, where's the confusion? The bad movies that premiered at Cannes did poorly around the world. The good movies that premiered at Cannes did great around the world. And some movies -- like "The Da Vinci Code" -- do well no matter how poorly they are received. it's pretty simple, good movies tend to do well and misfires tend to do poorly, whether they debut at Cannes or Venice or just at your local theater. Duh.
Oddly, Variety talks about how premiering at Cannes hasn't always been a great boost for Hollywood movies. Of course, for many years Hollywood avoided Cannes. What was the point? Cannes was an art exhibit held during the summer, when Hollywood premieres all its mindless blockbusters. And any promotional boost was lost on movies that wouldn't open until the fall and no one in America really follows Cannes anyway. That's all changed, with Hollywood using out of competition slots to boost summer flicks, sneak previews of excerpts to build excitement for fall releases (like "The Lord of the Rings") and so on.
Then they list high profile movies that have premiered recently at Cannes, starting with "The Da Vinci Code," which Variety describes as "panned by jet-lagged critics." Uh, the people who saw it around the world also panned it, so why the jet-lagged tag, as if critics were cranky instead of the movie being a dull mess. And I wasn't jet-lagged; I'd been in Europe for two weeks, and MOST of the critics there live in Europe anyway. But of course, it went on to gross a massive $758 million worldwide.
Then Variety boneheadedly says other films didn't seem to benefit from a Cannes premiere, naming "Marie Antoinette," "Hollywood Ending" and "The Ladykillers." But some movies DID benefit from Cannes, says Variety, such as "Shrek 2" and "X-Men 3." What a puzzle, they seem to be saying. Uh, where's the confusion? The bad movies that premiered at Cannes did poorly around the world. The good movies that premiered at Cannes did great around the world. And some movies -- like "The Da Vinci Code" -- do well no matter how poorly they are received. it's pretty simple, good movies tend to do well and misfires tend to do poorly, whether they debut at Cannes or Venice or just at your local theater. Duh.
Gay Bigot Isaiah Washington Makes Noble Donation
What a coincidence. Isaiah Washington has decided -- just at this very moment -- to make a very public donation to a project that will detail the slave trade. Hmm, this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that Washington was revealed as an ugly bigot who not only attacked a fellow actor, but then lied about it to the world at the Globes and expected everyone else to play along, would it? And if this isn't the most cynical, shameless attempt to use the historical atrocities of the slave trade to rehabilitate his image, than why the hell did he make it public? Frankly, since Washington dehumanizes other people who are different from them and uses slurs to attack and belittle them, he has a lot more in common with the slave TRADERS than he does with the people who suffered under them. This man has an extremely lucrative job on one of the most popular TV shows in the world, but can't stop himself from calling a co-worker a faggot. And now he wants to link himself to the injustice of people who were seen by others as less than human? He should have been fired. Anyone who used the "n" word with Wahsington most certainly would have been.
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