Vol. 9 No. 5
Pick Hits
Off The Record
Zwan -
Mary Star
Of The Sea
Zwan is a super group of
sorts, with Billy Burke (aka Billy Corgan, former Smashing
Pumpkins frontman), guitarist Matt Sweeney (Chavez), guitarist
David Pajo (Tortoise), drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing
Pumpkins), and bassist Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle)
making up the team. The opener Lyric slashes a perfect Who guitar chord
and slamming Keith Moon drumming, melody and vocals ascending a wall of
rumbling guitars. Zwan is full of color and energy, the songs propel forward
with all the thrust of a 747. This is a triumph for Corgan, an unrepentant
mixture of musical styles, amidst an album of stadium happy singles and
up-with-people anthems.
At The Movies
The
Recruit
Al Pacino stars as
Walter Burke, a trainer of new CIA officers. His current subject is a smart
young man fresh out of college, James Clayton (Colin Farrell). James is
eager to succeed and he rises to the challenges presented to him by Burke. But
when he is suddenly assigned to a dangerous mission, his true initiation is
trial by fire. From the get-go, The Recruit is one of those suspenseful stories
that delights in pulling the rug out from under you, only to find another rug
below that. Pacino turns in another solid performance in this explosive thriller
with a gripping climax.
On Video
Simone
A washed-up film director’s
Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) only claim to fame is Oscar nominations for short
films. When his leading lady walks off the set and his ex-wife, now a studio
head, pulls the plug on the production, a slightly wacky computer nerd comes to
his rescue when he bequeaths Viktor a software program that will create the
perfect virtual actress. Viktor sets out to finish his film with Simone, and
makes a smash hit and a new, rising star. Soon Viktor and Simone are the
darlings of Hollywood and the world, making one hit after another. But Simone
soon becomes too big for Viktor to handle. The public wants Simone, not the man
who created her leading Viktor to understand the true meaning of success. Pacino
takes command of the screen, keeping the film's elements tied together. Well
worth a look and an evening's investment.
The Buzz...
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
is ready to swing the two-by-four in the MGM remake of Walking Tall, a film that
will likely go into production in early summer. The Rock followed The Scorpion
King with the Peter Berg-directed Helldorado for Universal, and studios
all over town are developing vehicles for him, including Universal's Spy Hunter,
Johnny Bravo at Warner Bros., Walk Like a Dragon at
Paramount,
and Skip Tracer and King Kamehameha at Sony.
A federal judge ruled that
Internet service provider Verizon Communications must fork over the name of a
suspected Kazaa-using, peer-to-peer pirate believed to have illegally shared
more than 600 music files in a day. The decision may set a precedent that would
allow recording industry investigators to obtain, without having to go to court,
the names of those suspected of illegally using peer-to-peer services.
Vancouver
police have opened an online Guns n’ Roses rogue's gallery to help nab
the hoodlums who trashed GM Place when the band cancelled their Vancouver
concert last fall.
An estimated 137.7 million
football fans tuned into ABC for at least some portion of the Super Bowl,
according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research. That means close to half the TV
sets in country were tuned to the football game, making it the second highest
rated Super Bowl ever, just behind the 1996 contest between Dallas and
Pittsburgh.
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WRESTLEMANIA XIX RUMORS |
WrestleMainia XIX is a little
over two months away, but is already shaping up to be quite a doozie. In an
attempt to revive sagging ratings the WWE is assembling quite a star-studded
lineup for their biggest pay-per-view of the year. In addition to the already
announced Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar championship match, the rest
of the rumored lineup includes: Hulk Hogan vs Vince McMahon,
Shawn Micheals vs Chris Jericho, The Rock vs Goldberg,
Kevin Nash vs The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs
Triple H.
With the all the media
attention surrounding Jennifer Lopez's engagement to Ben Affleck
we tend to forget she's technically still married. Does anybody remember Cris
Judd? As of this weekend, Judd will be legally out of J.Lo's life forever.
Their marriage will officially be dissolved, leaving Judd with a cool $15
million to help drown his sorrows.
A judge awarded nearly $80,000
in severance to a former Miss America Pageant chief executive officer who is
suing over his firing.
Piano Man Billy Joel was
hospitalized for several hours after smashing his car into a tree along a
highway on far eastern Long Island.
The coroner's office won't
release a cause of death for Nell Carter for another four to six weeks as
they review toxicology results. The actress died at her Beverly Hills home, she
was 54.
Paul Reubens' attorney
is filing a motion Friday to get her client's kiddie porn charges dropped,
claiming his erotic art collection is historical.
Six of the
US’s
largest music retailers, (Best Buy, Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment Group,
Wherehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment Inc. and Trans World Entertainment
Corp.) are joining forces to create Echo, a member driven digital music club
that hopes to boost CD sales.
Guitarist Zakk Wylde has
been working on Derek Sherinian’s (Planet X, ex-Alice Cooper, ex-Dream
Theater) next solo record, in which he will perform on three songs. The
album is slated for release in April.
David Fincher will
direct the skateboarding feature Lords of Dogtown for Columbia Pictures.
MGM has set an April 1 release
date for that most spectacular of movie musicals, West Side Story, in a Special
Edition Collector's Set.
ABC is casting for a new
reality series based on a hit British show called Wife Swap. While it's not
quite the swingers' scene viewers might expect, Wife Swap will feature two women
who trade husbands, kids and homes for 10 days. By the way, while they swap
spouses the women don't actually sleep with each other's partners.
Lee Majors is suing
producer Universal Television Group for breach of contract and fraud, alleging
the company failed to pay him royalties it owed him from the Six Million Dollar
Man series.
Don Hewitt, who invented
60 Minutes and has been its executive producer since the stopwatch began ticking
in 1968, announced he is stepping down next year.
Paramount Pictures is in
negotiations to bring in former executive-turned-producer Tom Jacobson as
co-president, a title he would share with current president John Goldwyn.
Perfect pirated DVD copies of
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, cloned from special Oscar screener discs
supplied by the studios to MPAA members in the United States, are circulating in
the United Kingdom.
With a sudden resurgence of the
musical genre thanks to the critical and commercial success
Chicago
and Moulin Rouge, Columbia Pictures is hoping to mount a big-screen version of
Bye Bye Birdie.
Ozzy Osbourne
is said to be up for the role of the villain in the next Die Hard movie.
Osbourne will reportedly appear in the film alongside Britney Spears, who
is being lined up to play Bruce Willis' daughter in the fourth offering
of the explosive film franchise.
Pearl Jam have announced
dates for their first major North American tour in three years. The three-month,
48-date tour is scheduled to begin on April 1 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
A Perfect
Circle have begun
writing and recording the follow-up to their successful 2000 debut, Mer de Noms,
according to a post from APC/Tool singer Maynard James Keenan.
David Letterman's next
door neighbors, smiling salesmen Mujibur Rahman and Sirajul Islam
of K&L's Rock America, are being forced to shutter the doors to their midtown
Manhattan souvenir store because of spiraling rents and a landlord who wants to
bring in a tenant who can pay more.
Hatebreed will video
their next single, Perseverance the first week of February, and should begin
airing in mid-Spring.
The Deftones are slated
to release their forthcoming as-yet-untitled album through Maverick in May 2003.
