Vol. 9 No. 11
Pick Hits
Caught In The Act
Toby Keith
This has been quite a year
for Toby Keith. Not only has he reigned in eight Academy of Country Music
nominations, including song and single of the year for Courtesy of the Red,
White and Blue, his current concert trek has been one of the hottest tickets
around. Filling arenas to capacity with partying and patriotic crowds, Keith and
his Easy Money Band pull out all the stops drawing songs from his current
release Unleashed, and from his earlier hit CDs, 1993's Toby Keith, 1997's Dream
Walkin’ and 2001's Pull My Chain. The fans sang along the entire set, which
included his No. 1 radio hits, including Country Comes to Town, I'm Just Talking
About Tonight, Should Have Been a Cowboy and Dream Walkin'. A special treat for
the evening were two songs written while on tour, The Taliban Song and I’ll
Never Smoke Weed with Willie Again, both performed acoustically while still
keeping in theme with his patriotic and partying flair. It’s easy to see why
Keith is at the top of his game, he allows his fans to enjoy the simplicity of a
good time.
At The Movies
Agent Cody Banks
To his family and friends, Cody
Banks (Frankie Muniz) is a typical teen. He loves to skateboard, hates
math, and feels like a complete idiot around girls. But Cody's got a secret.
He's actually part of a secret teen CIA program. Cody's living every boy's dream
life, he can drive like a stuntman, has an incredible arsenal of cool gadgets,
and his agency mentor, Ronica Miles, is totally hot. But Cody's training is put
to the test when he's sent to pose as a prep school student and befriend fellow
teen Natalie Connors (Hilary Duff) in order to gain access to her father,
a scientist unknowingly developing a fleet of deadly nanobots for the evil
organization ERIS. ilming hasn't even wrapped, and MGM is already looking at
this becoming the first in a series of Cody Banks teen spy movies.
Play It
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
HP2 has everything you could
ever want from a sports car racing game: Cool rides, great sounds, and a sense
of incredible speed and power. The control system in the game feels absolutely
spot-on, but what really pushes things over the edge is your need to contend
with the cops, who take exception to you pushing your car north of 200 mph. If
they clock you busting the limit they'll do what it takes to stop you, from
trying to run you off the road, to roadblocks complete with tire spikes and even
a helicopter that drops flash bombs. Roadblocks can be avoided, flash bombs can
be dodged and cop cars can be out-driven, but while you're doing this, you're
also required to beat the guys you're racing against. Every time you beat an
objective in the competition, it invariably means a new car to add to the
garage. This may be one of the very best racing games ever made. The combination
of desirable rides, the fantastic feel, the wonderful sounds and the awesome
visuals combine to keep you amused for a lot longer than most driving games ever
could.
The Buzz...
Metallica's 20-year
career will be spotlighted on MTV's annual music tribute, MTV Icon, to premiere
May 6. The show will be taped before a live audience featuring performances and
testimonials from artists and celebrities who have been influenced by the band,
their videos and music. The band will perform for the first time with new
bassist Robert Trujillo.
Deftones' long-awaited
follow-up to 2000's White Pony is tentatively set for a May 20 release through
Maverick Records.
It seems that former Mötley
Crüe drummer Tommy Lee has caught the acting bug. Lee is filming all
this week on the Fox action series Fastlane playing "a tweaker on meth!!" Tons
of chicks, guns, cars and explosions, Tommy should fit in just fine. In other
Tommy news, he has promised that his upcoming autobiography, Ragz to Riches,
will contain many details not included in Motley Crue's best-selling
autobiography, The Dirt.
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SUMMER SANITARIUM |
Eminem, Sum 41
and Godsmack were offered slots on the Summer Sanitarium 2003 Tour with
Metallica,
Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne
and the Deftones. Sum 41
decided to turn it down because they thought that they ‘might not gel with the
rest of the lineup’, Godsmack wanted to ‘do their own thing’ and Eminem just
wanted to ‘chill’ this summer.
The Toughest guy ever award
goes to WWE superstar Kurt Angle. Despite a serious neck injury, Angle
has decided to defend his WWE championship at WrestleMania against Brock
Lesnar, with neck surgery scheduled for a week later.
Although it has yet to be
confirmed, it appears that ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has
officially joined the Ozzy Osbourne band.
Stone Temple Pilots
bassist Robert DeLeo and guitarist Dean DeLeo have signed on to
produce the new Alien Ant Farm album in Los Angeles.
Staind have changed the
release date of their upcoming fourth album, 14 Shades of Grey, from May 6 to
May 20. The set's first single will be Price To Play.
AC/DC guitarist
Malcolm Young revealed that the band chose Steven Tyler to induct it
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because the Aerosmith frontman was an
early supporter of the Australian rockers.
The Rolling Rock Town Fair will
take over the Pittsburgh Steelers' home at Heinz Field on July 26. The day-long
fest will feature Blink-182, Puddle of Mudd, Def Leppard,
Sum 41 and others.
DMX is hanging up his collar. The barking MC took a
break on the set of his next movie, Never Die Alone, to confirm rumors of his
retirement from hip-hop.
Striking musicians settled a
contract dispute with theater producers to end a walkout that shut down 18
musicals, agreeing to a smaller number of musicians in the largest Broadway
theaters.
Talk show host Jerry
Springer, who has said he might run for the Senate, scored the highest
unfavorable rating in the 14 years that the Ohio Poll has been taking the
state's political pulse.
George Miller, a
stand-up comedian who appeared on David Letterman's late-night shows more
than any other comic, has died. He was 61.
Hollywood
and Silicon Valley carried their battle over Internet piracy to Capitol Hill,
debating the need for technology to prevent the illegal trading of movies and
television shows online.
German supergroup Rammstein
are on the verge of splitting up, according to Britain's Metal Hammer magazine.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
singer Anthony Kiedis has recently signed a deal with Hyperion Books to
release his autobiography, entitled "car Tissue, in the fall of 2004.
Kelly Osbourne has
landed herself a role in the new Doritos advertising campaign. The 18-year-old
will appear in two adverts for Doritos going out from March 17.
Vivendi Universal Games will
publish 10 titles from Fox's TV and movie franchises, including Buffy the
Vampire Slayer 2 for Xbox, The X-Files: Resist or Serve for Xbox and PlayStation
2, a new driving game from the Simpsons, Die Hard: Vendetta for PS2 and The
World's Scariest Police Chases 2 for PS2 under an exclusive deal. A Futurama
video game also is in development.
Joaquin Phoenix and
Reese Witherspoon are teaming up in Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash
biopic to be directed by James Mangold, with Phoenix set to star as the
country music legend and Witherspoon toplining as his wife and bandmate June
Carter.
DirecTV Inc. is threatening to
drop ABC Family from its satellite television lineup over what it calls an
unreasonable price hike request by the Walt Disney Co.
John Cusack is in
negotiations to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Paramount Pictures' The
Stepford Wives for director Frank Oz. The project will begin shooting in
June.
New York Yankees pitcher
David Wells was fined $100,000 by the team for an autobiography filled with
revelations of drinking, drug use and disparaging talk that the Yankees felt
tarnished their image.
In the latest trend of rappers
getting down with soda companies, Missy Elliot has signed on with
Coca-Cola to promote the new Vanilla Coke drink. Missy has already filmed the
commercial with actor Chazz Palminteri, and will begin airing on April 1.
Jerry Seinfeld is taking
his act to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Seinfeld will perform May 2-3 at the
casino's new $95 million Colosseum theater, which seats 4,000 people. Celine
Dion's new show, A New Day, opens March 25 at the Colosseum for a three-year
run. She'll be on vacation when Seinfeld is in town.
John Travolta is in
negotiations to step into the shoes of Jimmy Stewart in the update of the
1950 film Harvey,
a co-production between MGM and Miramax Films.
