Piece by Piece

This disc starts off with a grand one-two punch…the silky, jazzy “Shy Boy” and the wistful, engaging “Nine Million Bicycles” (with lilting “ethnic flute” accents)…both of which were written by the collection’s producer/arranger/pianist Mike Batt. And though the rest of the set doesn’t match those highpoints there is much to enjoy and appreciate here.

Melua and Batt co-wrote the jaunty “Halfway Up the Hindu Kush” (no, I don’t know what that means.) Navel-gazing, naïve, high school poetry-like lyrics bog down some of the songs that Melua wrote by herself (“Spider's Web”, for example, asks “If a black man is a racist, is it okay?/If it’s a white man’s racism that made him that way?”…which I guess must have sounded profound when she wrote it…)

But the disc is enlivened with a handful of eclectic, nice-arranged covers: Johnny Mercer’s classic “Blues in the Night” (delivered with just enough soulful conviction to make it work), an interesting, low-key take on Canned Heat’s “On the Road Again”, and a sweetly earnest version of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”.

Melua also shines on “I Do Believe in Love”, the lovely closing song, which she wrote and which features just her lovely voice and her piano (this is the only cut on which Batt did not play piano.)

This is not a perfect CD by any means but the best parts of it are soothing, inviting, and even downright wonderful.

KatieMelua.com

Treasure Hunters

What a disappointment. The promos for this thing made it look like it would be smart, challenging, fun, intriguing, and involving (a combination, perhaps, of the globetrotting adventure of The Amazing Race and the on-the-fly puzzle solving of The DaVinci Code.)

But after watching the first two hours, Treasure Hunters turns out to be none of those things. It’s silly, poorly-edited, stuffed to the gills with intrusive product placements and, perhaps worst of all, just plain boring.

And, of course, a show like this rises and falls on the strength of its casting and none of the Treasure hunters made a positive impression on me (special kudos going to the pastor who freely admits to being ready to lie to win and who actually wrestles a clue out of the hand of a woman who found it first…and to the “geniuses” [as their team are labeled and a description they are more than happy to claim every time they're on camera] who come off as pretty clueless through the hunt so far.) And with no one to root for it’s hard to care about the show.

Maybe things will pick up as the field of contestants narrows (there are 30 players…in 1o teams of 3...in the first two hours and that's a lot of folks to try to keep sorted out) but I’m not going to bet on that.

The Most Controversial Movies of All Time

Entertainment Weekly, one of the many magazines that love to make all kinds of lists, has released their ranking of the "25 Most Controversial Movies of All Time". Their Top 10:

1) The Passion of the Christ (2004-directed by Mel Gibson)

2) A Clockwork Orange (1971-directed by Stanley Kubrick)

3) Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004-directed by Michael Moore)

4) Deep Throat (1972-directed by Gerard Damiano)

5) JFK (1991-directed by Oliver Stone)

6) The Last Temptation of Christ (1988-directed by Martin Scorsese)

7) The Birth of a Nation (1915-directed by D.W. Griffith)

8) Natural Born Killers (1994-directed by Oliver Stone)

9) Last Tango in Paris (1972-directed by Bernardo Bertolucci)

10) Baby Doll (1956-directed by Elia Kazan; written by Tennessee Williams)

2006 supplied two films to the list: The Da Vinci Code ranked at #13 and United 93 at #16.

Among the other rabble-rousing movies on the list are: Leni Riefenstahl’s infamous pro-Nazi documentary Triumph of the Will (1935) at #15, Paul Verhoeven’s lurid Basic Instinct (1992) at #19, Spike Lee’s incendiary Do the Right Thing (1989) #22, Larry Clark’s harrowing Kids (1995), and Disney’s (?!?!) Aladdin (1992), which drew fire over its Arabian stereotypes, at #25.

Oliver Stone, who has two films in the top 10, may have a shot at placing another film on a future list with his film World Trade Center due to be released in August. And Jesus, the subject of two of the top 10, may join him when Nativity, a biography of the Virgin Mary that features Jesus’ birth at his climax, comes out in December.

Taking the Long Way

The Dixie Chicks have come back after all of the controversy (following lead singer Natalie Maines’ disparaging remarks about President Bush and the war in Iraq) unapologetically loaded for bear and, with the help of super producer Rick Rubin and some other famous friends (including Bonnie Raitt, John Mayer, and Mike Campbell), they’ve delivered a very solid, feisty and tender and enormously entertaining, disc.

Country radio is shying away…especially with the soaring, defiant “Not Ready to Make Nice” having been released as the first single…but that didn’t stop Taking the Long Way from debuting at the top of both the pop and country charts with more than an half-million copies sold in the first week (nowadays radio is not nearly as important in generating CD sales as it used to be, of course.)

The twang in Maines’ voice is still unmistakable and the country flavor is still very apparent but this disc has more of a pop sheen than their earlier collections…and that’s not a bad thing. The Chicks co-wrote all 14 songs on the collection (Sheryl Crow and Keb’ Mo’ being included among the co-writers) and they deliver a nice set of songs. Maines is in fine voice both on upbeat tunes like the title track and the driving “Lubbock or Leave It” as well as lovely ballads like “Easy Silence”. There are some amazing harmony vocals as well…especially on the delicate, stunning “Lullaby”.

The disc ends with a fine new version of “I Hope”, the gospel-inflected song the Chicks co-wrote with Keb’ Mo’ and performed during a benefit for Hurricane relief last year.

The only drawback…and it’s a minor quibble…is that Rubin and the Chicks succumbed to the tendency to want to fill up the space on the CD by stretching songs to 4 or 5 minutes when some of them would have been just fine at 3 and ½ minutes or so. (But a lot of performers have done that since the compact disc became the dominant recording format and they will continue to do so.)

Taking the Long Way is a shining return to form after the mixed results of their last studio disc (2000’s Home) and it’s lovely to have the Dixie Chicks back.

The Da Vinci Code

All things considered, they probably did as well as they could in telescoping an expansive novel into a feature film (always a tricky and mostly thankless task…one wonders how the massive Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is going to fare next year.) It’s certainly not a great movie…neither director Ron Howard nor star Tom Hanks need to clear any space on their awards shelves for their work here…but, if you just suspend disbelief and go with it, it’s a somewhat entertaining (if sometimes poorly paced) movie.

That said, one of the drawbacks of the movie is that it lacks the energy and sense of wonder and discovery of Dan Brown’s novel. The book is, at its core, a combination of a potboiler thriller and a detective story that keeps you reading despite some occasionally mundane prose and some preposterous suppositions. The movie’s characters spend an inordinate amount of time pulling answers out of thin air and ponderously explaining plot points (though, to be fair, some of the flashbacks accompanying some of these soliloquies are stylishly filmed.)

The movie touches on most of the book’s major plot points…rewriting some stuff (because that’s what Hollywood guys do) for reasons that escape me…but it sacrifices character development (and some continuity rhythm) to do so. People who’ve read the book can fill in the blanks when it comes to character motivations. People who haven’t can enjoy it as a mildly engaging treasure hunt of a film. In fact it might be a more satisfying movie going experience for those who haven’t read the book since some of the big “reveals” might actually surprise them rather than coloring the way they look at characters as soon as they appear on screen.

Howard tried to walk the fine line between telling the story and skirting the controversy of its main plot points…near the end Hanks is twice given lines aimed at the audience saying, truthfully enough I suppose, that what’s important is “what you believe”…and more or less (and for better or for worse) he succeeds in that.

A Random Pop Culture List

The 50 Best Film Adaptation of Books...

...at least as chosen by Great Britain’s Book Marketing Society (personally I would have included Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate...but that's just me.) The best film adaptation will be chosen by a poll of British book buyers online and in bookstores and announced in June.

The English Patient Michael Ondaatje
Goodfellas Nicholas Pileggi
The Vanishing Tim Krabbe
Lord Of The Flies William Golding
Remains Of The Day Kazuo Ishiguro
Close Range (Brokeback Mountain) Annie Proulx
Empire Of The Sun JG Ballard
Schindler's Ark (filmed as Schindler's List) Thomas Keneally
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold John le Carré
Different Seasons (Shawshank Redemption) Stephen King
American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis
Jaws Peter Benchley
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? (filmed as Blade Runner) Philip K Dick
The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett
The Hound Of The Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle
Heart Of Darkness (filmed as Apocalypse Now) Joseph Conrad
Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
Pride And Prejudice Jane Austen
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (filmed as Dangerous Liaisons) Choderlos de Laclos
1984 George Orwell
Alice In Wonderland Lewis Carroll
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
A Kestrel For A Knave (filmed as Kes) Barry Hines
Breakfast At Tiffany's Truman Capote
Get Shorty Elmore Leonard
Goldfinger Ian Fleming
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey
Day Of The Triffids John Wyndham
The Outsiders S E Hinton
The Railway Children E Nesbit
Watership Down Richard Adams
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
Orlando Virginia Woolf
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
Brighton Rock Graham Greene
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak
Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk
The French Lieutenant's Woman John Fowles
LA Confidential James Ellroy
The Godfather Mario Puzo
The Talented Mr Ripley Patricia Highsmith
To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
Trainspotting Irvine Welsh
Sin City Frank Miller
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Devil In A Blue Dress Walter Mosley

Surprise

Paul Simon’s last couple of studio CDs…Songs from the Capeman and You’re the One…were decidedly uneven affairs…certainly not on a par with great Simon collections like Graceland and Still Crazy After All These Years. Surprise doesn’t belong in that lofty company either…but it is a step in the right direction.

Simon is in fine voice and some of the tunes…especially the gently-acerbic post 9-11 rumination “How Can You Live in the Northeast?”, the gospel-tinged “Wartime Prayers” (featuring piano by Herbie Hancock and backing vocals by the Jessy Dixon Singers), the jaunty and witty “Outrageous”, and the lilting parental ode “Fathers and Daughters” awkward.

And Simon’s distinctive style is cushioned here by lush electronica touches by Brian Eno (who is credited with creating the “sonic landscape” and with playing “electronics”.) Simon hasn’t turned in a Talking Heads album or anything like that…most of Eno’s touches are back in the mix beneath the guitars, drums, and basses…but there is a pleasing lushness to the proceedings.

Surprise is not a great album but it is a good one and for longtime Simon fans like myself it’s a nice little addition to his catalog…one that will probably grow more even pleasing with repeated listenings.

NBC Fall Schedule

NBC is the first network to announce their schedule for the 2006-07 season. Among the shows not returning from the current season are The West Wing, Will & Grace, Joey, Surface, Teachers, Conviction, E-Ring, and Four Kings.

Mondays will kick off with the hit game show Deal or No Deal. Following at 9 will be Heroes, a sprawling new series about a genetics professor investigating the fact that people with superhuman abilities live among us, with Medium returning in the 10 PM slot.

Tuesdays begins with Friday Night Lights, a family drama based on the book about High School football of the same name. Then comes Kidnapped (among those in the large ensemble cast are Jeremy Sisto, Delroy Lindo, Dana Delany, and Timothy Hutton), a serial thriller revolving around the kidnapping of the son of a wealthy New York couple followed by the returning Law & Order: SVU.

Wednesday is bracketed by two returning shows: The Biggest Loser at 8 and the long-running Law & Order (with “exciting” cast changes) at 10. In between will be two new sitcoms: 20 Good Years, an Odd Couple-type show revolving around two aging men who come to realize that life doesn’t last forever (leaving them…wait for it…about 20 good years) starring the potentially grand team of John (3^rd Rock from the Sun) Lithgow and Jeffrey (Arrested Development) Tambor…and 30 Rock, one of two NBC shows revolving behind the behind-the-scenes action at a late night comedy/variety show with Saturday Night Live vets Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan along with Alec Baldwin.

NBC’s once powerhouse “Must See TV” Thursday tries to get back up to speed with yet another revamp. The first hour will showcase the comedies My Name is Earl and The Office. At 9, the other show about the behind-the-scenes goings on at a late night comedy, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, will do battle with CBS’ might CSI. The hour-long drama will feature an ensemble cast led by Matthew (Friends) Perry and Bradley (West Wing) Whitford. ER will anchor the 10 PM spot with new shows through a December cliffhanger when it will give way to The Black Donnelleys, a crime drama about four Irish brothers in organized crime. ER will return after The Black Donnelleys finishes its run.

Friday will start with a second edition of Deal or No Deal followed by Las Vegas and, relocating from Sundays, Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Saturday will begin with the newsmagazine Dateline and then continue with rebroadcasts of episodes of drama series at 9 and 10.

Sundays will feature the new Sunday Night Football primetime game anchored by Al Michaels and John Madden. The games will be preceded by Football Night in America, a studio pre-game show featuring Bob Costas, Cris Collingsworth, and Jerome Bettis. After the football season is over, Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent (hosted by Regis Philbin) will take over the 8 PM slot followed by The Apprentice (with Donald Trump taking his new search to Los Angeles) and Raines, a quirky police drama starring Jeff Goldblum.

Scrubs and Crossing Jordan have also been renewed and will be plugged into the schedule as other series fail.

Best and Worst Autograph Givers

According its 14th annual survey, Autograph Collector magazine (who knew such a thing existed? But then I don't care about autographs so I'm not part of their target audience:-) named Johnny Depp (above) is the most accommodating celebrity when it comes to signing autographs (Depp led the 2005 list as well.) Cameron Diaz (below) is, according to them, the worst in that regard (instead of just saying "no" supposedly Ms. Diaz lectures autograph hounds about how dumb trying to collect autographs is.)

Following Depp on the list of the 10 best autograph signers of '06 are: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood.

Joining Diaz on the autograph Scrooge list are: Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Tobey Maguire, Alan Alda, Halle Berry, Winona Ryder, Teri Hatcher, Joaquin Phoenix, and Russell Crowe. (And they are all, of course, completely free not to sign their names over and over if they don't wish to.)

The complete list will appear in the June issue of Autograph Collector.

Pop Culture News and Notes

A British court ruled against The Beatles in their suit against Apple Computer (which they filed to prevent Apple from using the apple-shaped logo on their iTunes site; the Beatles contend that they had a 1991 agreement with Apple that prevented the computer giant from using the logo, which they claim was too similar to the Beatles’ own Apple Records logo, on music-related enterprises.) Apple Corps…which was founded by the Beatles in 1968 and which is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, and the estate of George Harrison…is most likely going to appeal. For its part, Apple Computer hopes to reach some kind of amicable accommodation with the Beatles that might include iTunes finally having the music of the Fab Four, which is not legally available as online downloads, for sale.

* * *

Mission: Impossible 3 opened with comparatively soft numbers despite (or maybe because of) the incessant promo tour Mr. Cruise and his big wide grin embarked on last week. $48 million in domestic box office is still a lot of money but it probably disappoints the producers and the studio anyway since that is about $10 million less than Mission: Impossible 2 did during its opening weekend back in 2000. It gets worse when you factor in rising ticket prices between 2000 and now because the estimated number of people who went to see MI3 during its first weekend was more than 3 million less than those who queued up for MI2’s debut. There’s no reason to cry for Tom or the studio since it’s likely that MI3’s overseas take (where couch jumping and wild-eyed rants about postpartum depression may not have the same impact) will help them all make mountains of dough just the same.

* * *

Axl Rose has reportedly said that the oft-delayed new Guns ‘n’ Roses disc, Chinese Democracy, will be released sometime this fall. The record has been talked about for just about a decade now so Axl will just have to forgive us if we don’t hold our breath in anticipation that this thing will actually drop this year…

Living with War

I'm living with war in my heart
I'm living with war in my heart and my mind
I'm living with war right now

Don't take no tidal wave
Don't take no mass grave
Don't take no smokin' gun
To show how the west was won
But when the curtain falls, I pray for peace
Try to remember peace

There’s nothing ambiguous about Neil Young’s feelings about the war in Iraq, the Bush Administration, and the United States…he hates the first, he deplores the second, and he loves the third but thinks it (that is to say, we) could do better than we’re doing when it comes to decrying the first two.

Living with War (as of this writing, it’s only available for streaming from the major online services) is a nakedly political, scathing firebomb thrown into the mix of the ongoing discussion about the war and its consequences. This is a record designed to incite passions all along the political spectrum.

Musically, this 10-track set…recorded quickly and very recently (the first session was in late March)…is a great rock and roll record. In places it flat out rocks with the grunge-y kick of some of Young’s better electric records (as opposed to the somber mood of records like last year’s Prairie Wind.) The sound is created by a compelling combination of guitar, bass, and drums along with trumpet and a 100-voice choir.

The title song has lovely choral vocals over a solid mid-tempo rocker (featuring some grand fuzzy guitar licks.) “Shock and Awe”, which features both a solid guitar riff and some sterling trumpet solos, feels like an acerbic companion piece to “Rockin’ in the Free World”, Young’s fierce broadside against the first President Bush back in the late 80’s while the compact “Families” hits the ground running and never lets up. The current President Bush is taken to task in the less-than-subtle “Let’s Impeach the President” (which features sound clips of the President talking about war, Saddam Hussein, the Patriot Act, WMDs, and other things Young labels as “lies”):

Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

The President is targeted less directly on “Looking for a Leader”, which talks about looking for someone to “re-unite the red, white, and blue before it turns to stone” (Young wonders if that new leader might be a woman or a black man…name-checking Barack Obama and Colin Powell along the way as possible candidates.)

“Flags of Freedom” is a clever, audacious update of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” (Dylan is name-checked in the lyrics) with an insistent backbeat and a tasty harmonica solo.

The set ends with the choir offering up a gorgeous, wistful, un-ironic version of “America the Beautiful” as its shimmering grace note.

This is a passionate, heartfelt, angry, hopeful, defiant record and that remains true whether you agree with Young’s politics or not.

“Living with War” and “Let’s Impeach the President”
words and music by Neil Young
©2006 Silver Fiddle Music (ASCAP)

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

I have to admit that when I heard that Bruce was making an album of folk song covers my first reaction was that we were in for something along the somber lines of the wondrous Nebraska or the less-enthralling The Ghost of Tom Joad. But Springsteen and his cohorts on We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions are not in a somber mood…quite the contrary they are in a mood to make a joyful noise and by golly that’s exactly what they do.

For the most part, Springsteen eschews the political songs associated with Pete Seeger (the anti-war track “Mrs. McGrath” being an exception) in favor of engaging, high-steppin’ versions of some of the folk songs Seeger recorded over the year…including traditional chestnuts such as the classic “John Henry”, the charming “Froggie Went A-Courtin’”, the inspirational “Eyes on the Prize”, “Jesse James”, and the rollicking gospel burner “O Mary Don’t You Weep”.

Springsteen (who brings a playful, almost Tom Waits-like growl to some of the tunes) sounds like he’s having a ball as he leads a crack band of 13 players (on violins, horns, guitars, keyboards, and vocals) through 13 songs associated with Seeger. The only members of the E Street Band involved here are violinist Soozie Terrell (who plays on all cuts) and Patti Scialfa (who sings background vocals on 9 tracks.)

The album was recorded “live” during three one-day sessions with no rehearsals (Bruce can be heard calling out changes and solos throughout the record); they worked out the arrangements as they played and the music sounds vital and all the more compelling for that off-the-cuff energy. The title track was recorded in 1997 for a Seeger tribute album, the others were recorded in 2005 and 2oo6.

This is an enormously entertaining disc that will set your toes to tappin' and your soul to hummin'…or as Bruce himself says in the liner notes, “turn it up, put on your dancin’ and singin’ shoes, and have fun”. ‘Nuff said.

Under the Covers, Volume 1

Years ago, Nick Lowe put out an album called Pure Pop for Now People (actually that was just the US title because the record company didn’t think the original title, Jesus of Cool, would go over well in the American market.) This disc, filled with buoyant covers of tunes from the 60’s and 70’s, embodies the title…it’s pure pop for now people of the 21^st Century and it’s perfectly groovy indeed.

Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet make a great team. Sweet plays most of the guitars here (and quite well indeed) and if his earnest voice is not in the same league with Hoffs’ creamy, soulful, beguiling vocals the blending of their voices works well just the same. Hoffs’ voice is more upfront in the mix most often and that was an excellent decision (Hoffs takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals here.) Van Dyke Parks plays keyboards and contributes string arrangements.

Recorded in Sweet’s home studio, this disc is filled with covers of interesting, intriguing songs…some better known than others. If their version of Bob Dylan’s world-weary “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is probably too sweet for its own good they hit the hail on the head with other songs such as their sprightly take on the Beatles’ Revolver gem “And Your Bird Can Sing” and their luminous reading of Fairport Convention’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”.

They dip into Neil Young’s songbook twice with “Cinnamon Girl” (which lacks the crunch and bite of the original but is enjoyable in its own right thanks mostly to Sweet’s tasty fretwork) and a jaunty “Everyone Knows This is Nowhere”.

Special kudos for them for their simply-grand acoustic version of “Alone Again Or” by the criminally underappreciated band Love.

There are 15 tracks in all including covers of The Beach Boys (a game “Warmth of the Sun”), The Bee Gees (the sweetly soaring “Run to Me”), The Who (the pure power pop goodness of “The Kids are Alright”), Linda Ronstadt (a note-perfect re-creation of “Different Drum”), Marmalade (the rollicking “I Can See the Sun”), The Velvet Underground (a lovely “Sunday Morning”), The Mamas and the Papas (a credible version of the oft-covered “Monday, Monday”), The Zombies (the sparkling “Care of Cell #44”), and The Left Banke (the bright pop of “She May Call You Up Tonight”).

This is a marvelous pop record and I hope the “Volume 1” in the title means that there’s a possibly of an encore because I would certainly welcome “Volume 2” with open arms.

Britain's Favorite Lyrics

U2 topped the list of Favorite Lyrics as voted by a poll of 13,000 British music fans conducted by VH1. The winning line came from the band’s oft-covered hit “One” (the most recent hit was a version released by Mary J. Blige and U2 at the end of last year.)

The #1 lyric (according to the poll): One life, with each other, sisters, brothers.

Following in the top 5 are:

The Smiths’ “How Soon is Now?”: So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die.

Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us.

Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”: Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds, have no fear for atomic energy, 'cause none of them can stop the time.

Coldplay’s “Yellow”: Look at the stars, look how they shine for you.

The rest of the top 20 did NOT feature anything by The Beatles (either as a group or as solo artists), Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson, or Stevie Wonder (among many others.)

Included in the top 20 are: Eminem’s "Lose Yourself", Robbie Williams’ "Angels", The Who’s "My Generation", Radiohead’s "Creep", Marvin Gaye’s "What's Going On", U2’s "Where The Streets Have No Name", Abba’s "The Winner Takes It All", Pink Floyd’s "Another Brick in the Wall", Tupac featuring Snoop’s "California Love", Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody", Bob Dylan’s "Subterranean Homesick Blues", Kaiser Chiefs’ "I Predict A Riot", David Bowie’s "Heroes", and The Police’s "Every Breath You Take".

The results of the poll are…um…interesting (any list of lyrics that features Coldplay but doesn’t feature, for example, anything from John Lennon is suspect in my book…your mileage may vary…)

Pop Culture News and Notes

Due to popular demand (okay, I’m exaggerating about that) and halfway decent ratings (go figure) VH1 has announced that there will be a second season of the redoubtable Flavor of Love featuring Public Enemy mainstay Flavor Flav (see above) still looking for love from a bevy of hootchie-mamas…I mean, eager young ladies. The “love” connection made during the first season between Flav and “Hoopz” apparently didn’t work out (they’re just friends according to “Hoopz”.)

* * * * *

This summer’s edition of Big Brother will apparently be an “all-star” affair featuring former houseguests from the show’s first 6 seasons. Details on who will be participating on Big Brother: All-Stars (some of the players will be voted in by a public poll) and when the show will begin have not been released by CBS as yet (Julie Chen will still be hosting.)

* * * * *

ABC is considering moving either Desperate Housewives or Grey’s Anatomy to spread the ratings wealth of their powerhouse Sunday lineup (which also includes Extreme Home Makeover) to some of their weaker nights. One of them could be moving to Monday to fill the void left by Monday Night Football (which is moving to ESPN.)

* * * * *

Tori Spelling and her mother Candy Spelling are apparently not speaking to each other because Candy is furious about her portrayal on Tori’s faux-reality show, the often-amusing So NoTORIous. Loni Anderson plays the “Candy Spelling” character with over-the-top diva gusto on the VH1 show (Tori’s father, producer Aaron Spelling, is usually represented by a disembodied voice through a phone speaker just like Charlie on Spelling’s camp classic series, Charlie’s Angels.)

A Random Pop Culture List

The Writers Guild of America has compiled their list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays (as voted by their membership of film and television writers.) Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, and Billy Wilder each have four efforts on the overall list; Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), and William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) each have three screenplays on the list.

Their top 10 selections (all filled with wonderful, vivid and memorable, writing) are:

1) Casablanca written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett & Joan Alison)

2) The Godfather by Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola (based on Puzo’s novel)

3) Chinatown by Robert Towne

4) Citizen Kane by Howard Mankiewicz & Orson Welles

5) All About Eve by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (based on the short story and radio play The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr)

6) Annie Hall by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

7) Sunset Boulevard by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman, Jr.

8) Network by Paddy Chayefsky

9) Some Like it Hot by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond (based on the German film Fanfare of Love written by Robert Thoeren & M. Logan)

10) The Godfather, Part 2 by Puzo & Coppola (based on Puzo’s novel The Godfather)

Other screenplays on the list include: Dr. Strangelove, Fargo, The Usual Suspects, The Graduate, Do the Right Thing, Star Wars, 8 ½, Goodfellas, The Philadelphia Story, The Sixth Sense, High Noon, and Momento.

Disney to Offer 4 ABC shows free on the Internet

Disney has announced that they will be offering episodes of four of their ABC shows free on the internet in an experimental 2-month trial program during May and June. The trial will include episodes of the shows Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Commander-in-Chief (all available starting the day after they are broadcast on the network) as well as the entire current season of Alias.

Viewers will be able to pause and rewind the shows and to skip between “chapters” but they won’t be able to skip ads (Universal Pictures, Proctor & Gamble, Ford and AT&T are among the advertisers signed up for the trial) due to technical embedding (watching commercials is the trade-off for free downloads it seems.)

Thunderbird

I’m more than a little bit biased when it comes to Cassandra Wilson…I make no bones about that (see here for more about that.)

That disclaimer aside, I have no problem with proclaiming that Thunderbird is a stunner from start to finish. As always, the amazing Ms. Wilson defies being easily categorized; this disc finds her offering up a tasty, intoxicating gumbo of swampy delta blues, jazz, rock, pop, funk, and Americana to wondrous effect with her sensuously husky voice and her ability to find unique colors in songs both new and old as the vital ingredients holding it all together.

T-Bone Burnett, the Grammy winning producer of (among many other things) the glorious Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, helms this disc bringing his rich, authentic sonic palette to the party on a collection of original songs and, as always, surprising and delightful covers (among them a wistful take on Jakob Dylan’s “Closer to You”, a mournful then swaggering romp through Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Easy Rider”, and a spare, haunting version of the cowboy classic “Red River Valley”.)

Thunderbird is one of those CDs that grabs you on the first listen and then continues to reward the listener with each and every subsequent listen.

A Random Pop Culture List

CMT’s Top 10 Greatest "Done Me Wrong" Songs

1. “Your Cheatin’ Heart” Hank Williams


2. “Jolene” Dolly Parton


3. “Fist City” Loretta Lynn


4. “How Do You Like Me Now?” Toby Keith


5. “Harper Valley P.T.A.” Jeannie C. Reilly


6. “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” Kenny Rogers


7. “Seven Year Ache” Rosanne Cash


8. “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)” Travis Tritt


9. “Independence Day” Martina McBride


10. “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” B.J. Thomas

Nothing encapsulates the down home blues quite like a good old fashioned country song :-) Hank Williams at the top was a no-brainer, of course.

Katie Couric

After 15 years of being so delightfully (or, perhaps depending on your mood, insufferably) perky early in the morning on NBC’s Today Show, Katie Couric (seen above with co-anchor Matt Lauer) is going to be able to sleep in by jumping over to CBS to become the first woman to anchor a network news show solo (the less we remember the disastrous stint Connie Chung spent co-anchoring with Dan Rather the better) when she takes over the CBS Evening News later this year. Couric will also be managing editor of the show as well as become a contributor to the venerable 60 Minutes.

Couric’s stint on Today, which ends in May, is the longest of any anchor in the show’s 50+ year history.

Reports have it that Couric turned down more money (perhaps as much as $5 Million a year) offered by NBC in order to take on the challenge at CBS (where the news show has been trailing the other networks’ evening news shows for years.)

Bob Schieffer, moderator of Face the Nation, has been filling the anchor chair since Dan Rather stepped down a year or so ago.

NBC is apparently trying to raid ABC’s roster to replace Couric on the morning show as there are reports that they are negotiating to lure Meredith Viera from The View (how will she ever tear herself away from Star Jones and Joy Behar???) to co-host Today. (Failing that, NBC Nightly News substitute anchor Campbell Brown and Today Show news reader (and Dateline co-host) Ann Curry are among the in-house ladies at NBC who are being considered for the job.)