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From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Review
Micropublishers
By Dave Romm
Back in the dim dawn of time -- say, 1985 -- it took a lot of resources to produce a vinyl album for an unsigned artist to distribute their music. Now, thanks to computers, the same technology that changed book and magazine publishing can be used to make your own commercial-quality CD with significantly less of an investment than pressing 1,000 albums. Herein are a few CDs that you can probably only get directly from smaller publisher; beer has microbreweries, CDs have micropublishers. I'll try to stick to ones you can actually get online. Also note that several CDs I've already reviewed fall into this category.
Tonic Sol-Fa is trying to be N'Sync or Backstreet Boys, and to my ears they're significantly better, closer to The Nylons. On the other hand, I'm not a teen girl, so I may not be their target audience. I love their a cappella vocals and doo-wop arrangements; they approach the intricate harmonies of Manhattan Transfer with the enthusiasm of Sha Na Na. I saw them live at the Minnesota State Fair (it's a great place for music) and I picked up a CD, in this instance Style. (Go to their web site and click on Tonic Store; the site relies too much on Flash for my tastes. They should have put some of this effort into the album, which lists the songs in the wrong order.) While the original songs are good and the CD starts off with the pyrotechnic boy-band song Na, Na, Na, the cuts that blow me away are their gorgeous cover of Eleanor Rigby (one of my fave Beatles songs) and a live doo-wop version of Man of Constant Sorry. It's the nature of Shockwave that the song I play the most is Scooby Doo, Where are You? Someday, I might try slipping Tonic Sol-Fa's psychedelic a cappella version of Land of 1,000 Dances into Patti Smith's Land instead of her's. I hope they come back to the Fair so I can pick up their other CDs.
Sandy Andina is a sliced-crosswise-only-on-Minicon friend of mine, and it's with great pleasure that I recommend her "vanity album", Ghosts and Angels. While I like most of the songs on the CD, my favorites are Fog, cool jazz about the city of Chicago and Ink and Pen, about collecting pens (and featuring Corky Seigel on harmonica. If Pigs Could Fly is a "kid's song for grownups" ("if pigs could fly... we would never need a root canal...") and Ghosts and Angels is about her past singing in a coffee house. What elevates Sandy over other worthy folksingers is her experience as a performer, command of her lovely voice, excellent arrangements, strong backing musicians and the wide range of subject matter. She's great live, too.
I also saw Bur at the Minnesota State Fair a couple of years ago, since he was listed as a celtic performer. And indeed he was, on stage with the Acoustic and Electric Celtic World Orchestra. Lots of rock, lots of bagpipes. Fun to watch, and the CD I picked up is interesting too. The epynomous CD Bur has the celtic folk/rock of the concert, and even contains his cover of The Beatles Come Together (more good Beatles covers, yea!), though my favorite cut is the rock/squaredance mandolin/whistle instrumental The Other Side of Mr. Gloomsbury. Oddly, the one album listed on his micropublishing site isn't that one, but Strange Kind of Light as "Australian artist Bur explores his Scottishheritage". The album I have can be had here, unless they're out.
I got Cab City Combo's CD Pork Side of the Moon in the mail, out of the blue, about the same time as the anthrax threat was looming. I was careful, and thank heaven I didn't get hurt. These guys are fearless and strange. Not every comedy song works, but a lot of them do. 25 cuts of diabetes and Buster Keaton and deconstructing Christmas and entropy and other stuff. My favorites (so far!) are Louis, Louis, a clearly spoken rendition of Louie Louie, the ballad of Jesus Jr., "the country-western Christ" and the snack-food chant Indiancorn. Sulu's Day is a long conceptual piece about the routine on the Enterprise while Kirk and Spock are having an adventure on the planet; I'm glad this cut exists, but you don't really need to hear it more than once. Cab City Combo inhabits that wide gulf between your average sophomoric college comedy troup and the sophisticated unabashed humor of the Bonzo Dog Band: nicely done music from unexpected vectors. Not for everyone, but my suspicion is that if you like them a little, you'll end up liking them a lot.
Dave Romm is a conceptual artist with a radio show and a web site and a very weird CD collection. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here.
Thanks (again), Dave!
Get Your Fresh Hot Asticles
Asticles
'Uncommon Sense'
The always-entertaining Jeff Crook has updated again, and a new animation just for this weekend -
it's the best one (yet)!
Check it out - 'Uncommon Sense'
Thanks, Jeff!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The kid loves 'Jaws' (the movie). Didn't have to play chess tonight (for the first time in almost a week) as he fixated on his newest dvd. Bless you, Bruce the Shark.
Caught some of 'NOW With Bill Moyers' and 'Dateline'. Kept alternating between 'em. Was too lazy to pull in a 2nd tv.
Watched Chris Rock on HBO, and followed it with Dennis Miller', partly because his guest was Steve Harvey, and partly because I'm curious as to how his
'broken wing' will be dressed this week. Once again, schaudenfreude rules!
Accidentally caught the open to Bob Costas (also on HBO), and was struck by the clip of smirk being asked that if he was the head o'national league baseball, would he pardon Pete Rose.
True to form, the compassionate conservative said No. Jeez, and which one brags about hitting the 'trifecta'?
Tonight, Saturday, CBS starts the night with a rerun 'Touched By An Angle' and follows it with a rerun of the ratings-killer 'The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers' (watched the
first time, and wondered where was Lyle Waggoner?), and then a fresh 'The District'.
NBC opens the night with a rerun of Carson Daly with Elton John as the guest. It is followed by the movie 'A Civil Action' with John Travolta. On a fresh 'Saturday Night Live',
Alec Baldwin hosts. P.O.D. is the musical act.
ABC opens the night with either 2 reruns of 'Whose Line' or else 'TBA', a catch-basin for Koresh-only-knows-what-crap. Either way, the viewers aren't likely to hang around. Following this stunning open,
is the movie 'Superfire', not made for TV, but with a release date of 2002. Yep, should be able to smell this one, as well as view it.
The WB has the movie 'Mulholland Falls'.
As usual, Faux starts with a fresh 'Cops' and follows it with a rerun 'Cops'. 'America's Most Wanted' tops the night.
In the middle of the afternoon, TCM has 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Has Displaced Wrestling On Cable
MTV's Biggest Hit - Ever
"The Osbournes," the reality sitcom about rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his colorful family life, is officially the biggest hit series in MTV's 21-year history.
Just under 6.3 million people watched last Tuesday's episode, up from 6 million the week before as the series continues to grow.
No MTV series — even cultural touchstones like "Beavis & Butt-Head" and "Real World" — has reached such heights. MTV has been trying to take advantage of the hit,
playing series episodes 15 times a week.
"The Osbournes" has pushed aside professional wrestling as cable television's biggest show, according to Nielsen Media Research.
MTV has prepared three more original episodes before its season ends. But it may try to use footage to create up to three additional ones.
MTV's Biggest Hit - Ever
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton
Former President Clinton shakes hands with David Browns, a friend from Hot Springs Ark., Friday, April 19, 2002, while visiting the Hot Springs Civic and
Convention Center to view a collection of photographs from his years in the White House.
Photo by Spencer Tirey
Lots To Check Out
Harry Shearer
www.harryshearer.com
Liberal Radio !
Erin Hart
Liberal radio - what a concept!
Erin will be pre-empted Saturday due to Mariner baseball,
and then shortened hours Sunday, 10pm to 1am (pdt) on www.710kiro.com or www.kiro710.com (It's
a browser thing).
And there's a chatroom, too!
For more details, visit Erin's fan page (courtesy of 14Dem), http://www.erinistas.com/, or to join her mailing list, drop a
note to erinistas@aol.com
TV Concert For May Sweeps
Barry Manilow
CBS has signed veteran crooner Barry Manilow to headline a one-hour concert for the network's May sweeps schedule.
Dubbed "Ultimate Manilow," the special will tape Wednesday at the Kodak Theater for broadcast Saturday, May 18, at 9 p.m. Manilow will belt out a slew
of his adult contemporary hits, including "Mandy," "Copacabana," "Can't Smile Without You" and "Daybreak."
Barry Manilow
Trying To Return To The States?
Roman Polanski
"Chinatown" director Roman Polanski is set to return to the U.S. after 25 years on the lam. Polanski, 68, was busted in 1977 after cops charged he'd
had sex with a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house. He was charged with six offenses including rape, and pleaded guilty to sex with a minor, but
fled to France before he was sentenced. According to Los Angeles TV station KTLA, Polanski's lawyer is negotiating a deal with the L.A. district attorney
to avoid jail time if he comes back. The woman, now 38 and living in Hawaii, says she has no objections to Polanski's homecoming.
Roman Polanski
First Novel From Quentin Tarantino
'Kill Bill' - The Novel
Talk Miramax Books has acquired worldwide publishing rights to "Kill Bill," the first novel from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino also wrote the screenplay "Kill Bill" and will direct the movie for Miramax beginning in mid-June. The picture, starring David Carradine, Uma Thurman,
Daryl Hannah and Lucy Liu, will shoot in Los Angeles, Mexico, Tokyo and Beijing. The movie will be released in fall 2003, while the novel will reach bookstores next spring.
"'Kill Bill' is a novel, a cinematic novel," Tarantino said. "I'm moving away from screenplay format, keeping what I do like of the form and throwing away what
I don't. I write tons of prose. It's all about the page; it's the writer in me. 'Kill Bill' is not a novelization. It functions as a script, and it functions as
a novel, but it's not a script and it's not a novelization. It's something in the middle that gets across my writing style as its purest."
The novel tells the story of a bride who is presumed dead after she is shot at her own wedding reception. She wakes from a coma five years later and embarks
on a killing spree, avenging herself by taking out the people responsible for her shooting.
'Kill Bill' - The Novel
BartCop TV!
Over 4,300 Diamonds
The 'Winter Egg'
The "Winter Egg," a crystal Easter egg encrusted with more than 3,000 diamonds, sold at auction on Friday for nearly $9.6 million, topping the previous record for a Faberge
egg by more than $3 million.
Christie's was expecting between $4 million and $6 million for the glittering egg made for Russian Czar Nicholas II, but when the gavel came down after 10 minutes of tense
bidding, the winning bid was $8.7 million.
The egg is made of finely carved, transparent rock crystal, hinged to encase a small Easter bouquet. It has diamond borders with platinum and crystal
shaped inlays to simulate ice crystals. A cabochon moonstone rests on top of the egg marking the date it was created, 1913.
It sits on a crystal base adorned with platinum and inside the egg is a platinum Easter basket with flowers in gold, garnets, and crystals. The
basket symbolizes the transition of winter to spring.
The egg, the base and the basket together contain over 4,300 diamonds.
The 'Winter Egg'
Not Part Of The 'Cosby Show Reunion'
Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet won't be part of the upcoming 'Cobsy Show Reunion' next month.
NBC is saying it is because of her "busy schedule" that will keep the actress away from the show which airs on May 19th. But Bonet tells People
magazine that she wasn't comfortable with the whole vibe of the reunion show.
She says that the offer she got was a "a take-it-or-leave-it" kind of deal, and that made her feel devalued and disrespected. Bonet says the
whole reunion project "felt disingenuous and motivated by corporate profit."
Lisa Bonet
Palimony Suit Filed
Marlon Brando
A woman filed a $100 million palimony lawsuit against Marlon Brando, claiming the actor fathered her three children during a 14-year romantic relationship.
Maria Cristina Ruiz, 43, filed the Superior Court breach of contract suit Thursday, demanding damages and unspecified living expenses.
Ruiz once worked as Brando's maid and lived at his home after they became romantically involved in 1988, the suit said. The relationship
ended in December when Brando stopped paying her living expenses, although he continued to support the three children, the suit said.
Ruiz said she "devoted all aspects of her life to ... Brando's needs, the interests of their children, his personal interests and well being, to
the exclusion of her own."
Ruiz's children are 8, 10 and 13.
The suit claimed Ruiz and Brando agreed that all of Brando's property, including that acquired during his relationship with Ruiz, would be divided
equally for the benefit of Ruiz and the children if their relationship ended.
Marlon Brando
Honored At UTEP
Sam Donaldson
The Sam Donaldson Center for Communications Studies will include a Latin American media institute and internship, visiting lecturer and fellowship
programs, said Department of Communication Chairwoman Pat Witherspoon.
Donaldson, a 35-year ABC News veteran, graduated from the university in 1955 when it was known as Texas Western College. He was the manager of the
school's FM radio station where announcements were accompanied by live piano.
When asked whether he would consider teaching a course at UTEP, the 68-year-old said, "Maybe when I retire. But I never intend to retire. However,
I may be retired by others."
Sam Donaldson
More Or Less The Same Age
Liv Ullmann
Norwegian actress and film director Liv Ullmann said on Friday in Havana she wanted to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro as they were more or
less the same age.
"I wanted to come for various reasons, but my main interest is to meet President Fidel Castro. I think I can achieve that through friends. What's
more, he is the right age to meet me," Ullmann, who is in her early 60s, told reporters.
Castro, now 75-years-old, often entertains movie producers and stars.
As part of Cuba's homage to Ullmann, classic Bergman films in which she starred, such as "Whispers" and "Scenes from a Marriage", are playing in Havana theaters.
Liv Ullmann
$500 Reward
Money & More Pipi
Rocker Ozzy Osbourne wants close to $10 million for another season of "The Osbournes" - but is offering only a paltry $500 for the return of his pet pooch, Pipi.
The dog, a black Pomeranian which belongs to eldest daughter Aimee Osbourne - not seen on the show - has been missing from the family's Beverly
Hills mansion for about two months.
According to MTV's "Osbournes" website, the family is offering $500 "for any information leading to the canine's retrieval."
Even MTV, which runs the site, is cocking an eyebrow at the so-called "reward" money.
The MTV "Osbournes" site includes an e-mail link for anyone with any information on Pipi's whereabouts.
AOL will also establish a special e-mail address for Pipi information -pipiosbourne@aol.com - sources say.
More Pipi
Grandchildren Of H.G. Wells Lose
Paramount Wins
The grandchildren of author H.G. Wells lost their bid to control "The War of the Worlds" when Paramount Pictures was granted exclusive television rights to the
science fiction novel in a ruling made public on Friday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Ira Gammerman, in a six-page decision, said the Wells grandchildren, who filed a suit against Paramount nearly 18 months ago,
"are unable to sell the right to produce and distribute a television motion picture/miniseries based on the novel to Hallmark Cards Entertainment Productions LLC."
When H.G. Wells died in 1946, he left all his rights and interests in the novel to his son, Frank. After his death, Frank Wells' children, Martin and Robin
Wells as trustees of their father's estate, began negotiations with Hallmark to produce and distribute a TV miniseries based on the novel.
When Paramount learned of the negotiations in 1988, it asserted exclusive ownership of the television rights, based on a 1951 contract signed by Frank Wells.
The grandchildren and Hallmark as plaintiffs in the action had argued that while the 1951 contract gave Paramount "extensive motion picture
rights" this was "not television rights."
But the judge ruled that "any motion pictures that Paramount has the right to produce, it also has the right to televise."
Paramount Wins
Not A Big Seller
'The Ally'
Prime Minister Tony Blair is now available as a true action man -- complete with combat jacket, shorts and long socks -- but he is not popular.
U.S. company Herobuilders.com sells a plastic doll of the prime minister on its website, alongside models of U.S. President George W. Bush, extremist Osama bin Laden
and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
But while the Bush and bin Laden dolls are a hit, "The Ally" action doll depicting Blair has not found a single customer.
'The Ally'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
A King & The Queen
The Indy Jazz Fest
The Indy Jazz Fest may be shorter this year — only a weekend instead of a week — but no one can complain when a king and a queen are showing up.
Blues guitarist B.B. King and Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul, will headline the fourth annual jazz festival on June 14-16. The festival has
drawn more than 200,000 people since 1999.
Arturo Sandoval, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones and David Sanborn will also be performing, organizers announced this week.
Other performers at this year's festival include Norah Jones, Bruce Hornsby and Dianne Reeves.
The Indy Jazz Fest
Indy Jazz Fest Web site
Legal Action Being Taken
Hurley - Bing
Hollywood producer Steve Bing is taking legal action to determine whether he is the father of Elizabeth Hurley's newborn son, his spokeswoman said Friday.
Hurley said Bing was the father when she announced in November that she was pregnant. He questioned that, saying he and Hurley had not been in
an exclusive relationship when the baby was conceived.
Bing issued legal proceedings in the Family Division court on Wednesday, and Hurley was notified Friday, his spokeswoman said, adding that Bing had not
been able to contact the "Austin Powers" co-star or her lawyers.
Details of the legal filing were not available, but the court could order DNA tests on Damian if the two parties fail to reach an agreement.
Hurley - Bing
$20 Gold Coin
Double Eagle
Sotheby's on Friday began displaying a 1933 Double Eagle $20 gold coin, the only one the United States will permit to be privately owned. The auction house said the
Double Eagle could fetch as much as $6 million, a record for a single coin, when it is auctioned July 30.
The 1933 Double Eagle up for sale followed a long and winding road from its minting to the auction block.
The $20 gold coin was first minted in 1850. It became known as the "Double Eagle" because the $10 coin that was already being minted was known as the "Single Eagle," Fore said.
The Mint struck thousands of Double Eagles early in 1933. They never became official coinage because Theodore Roosevelt's cousin, Franklin, by then the president, took the
United States off the gold standard, to help the Depression-ridden economy.
The Mint melted down most of the 1933 Double Eagles, reserving two for the Smithsonian Institution.
But 10 escaped into the black market. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Mint retrieved and destroyed nine of these.
For the rest of the story, Double Eagle
Nation's Newest Teddy Bear?
'The Osbournes' - What The Bleep?
How did an aging, tattooed, drug-battered monster of rock morph into the nation's newest teddy bear?
For more than three decades, the name Ozzy Osbourne has been synonymous with loud, nihilistic music, offstage mayhem, youth rebellion and parental panic.
Now the godfather of heavy metal and the father of the MTV show The Osbournes is the hottest thing to hit pop culture. Witness the blizzard of Ozz:
* In the last week alone, one or more members of the family has been on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone, in Time magazine,
on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and Live! With Regis & Kelly.
* He's an object of fascination for busloads of Hollywood tourists who gawk in front of his yellow mansion, and the subject of more than 3,000 message postings on America Online.
* He's the buzz of Washington. He and wife Sharon will dine with the Bushes, as guests of Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, at the White House Correspondents Dinner on May 4.
* Right now, his agent is seeking a multimillion-dollar deal for a second season of The Osbournes, last week's highest-rated show on basic cable and one
of the highest-rated shows in MTV's 20-year history.
With 12 MTV cameras positioned throughout his Beverly Hills home, each Tuesday night (10:30 ET/PT) viewers get a half-hour glimpse behind the scenes at Ozzy, his doting yet steely wife and their two rebellious but sweet teenagers -- Kelly, 17, and Jack, 16. (Daughter Aimee, 18, opted to live off-camera.)
But rock's merry madman lets us in on a little secret: He's a lot like anyone's adorable dad. Shuffles a bit. Forgets things. Worries about the garbage. Snores on the couch while the TV blares. Walks the dog.
At the same time, British-born John Michael ''Ozzy'' Osbourne argues with his wife about wearing a bat-winged coat on stage. Regularly swills wine. Throws fruit at the neighbors. Receives a pooper-scooper for his birthday -- with a card addressed to the ''Prince of Darkness.''
For the rest, 'The Osbournes' - What The Bleep?
Services Held
Robert Urich
Hundreds of friends and celebrities mourned TV star Robert Urich as a down-to-Earth actor who never let success go to his head.
Urich died at age 55 Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.
Actors Tony Danza, Gavin McLeod and Tom Selleck joined the nearly 1,000 mourners at St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church in North Hollywood.
"It's sad because of who Bob is and was. You see the friends he had, real friends. It's not just show business, it's true friendship that brings these kind of people out," Selleck told reporters outside the church.
A framed black-and-white photograph of the actor was positioned outside the church amid an array of flowers.
During his 30-year TV career, Urich was best known for playing private eyes in "Vega$" and "Spenser: For Hire" and a luckless cowboy in "Lonesome Dove." His death came one day after the debut of the television movie "Night of the Wolf," in which Urich co-starred as a ranch foreman.
The earned his first TV role in the 1973 comedy series "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice." He also appeared in the TV series "S.W.A.T" before being cast as Peter Campbell in "Soap."
Other TV credits include: "Crossroads," "Vital Signs," "It Had to Be You," and "The Love Boat: The Next Wave."
Among his film roles were appearances in "Turk 182!" with Timothy Hutton and "Ice Pirates" with Anjelica Houston.
After being diagnosed with cancer, Urich became active in cancer research. He and his wife established the Heather and Robert Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research to accelerate the pace of research into sarcoma.
Robert Urich
In Memory
Rusty Burrell
Rusty Burrell, a retired sheriff's deputy who later served as bailiff on the reality television show "The People's Court," died Monday at his home in Rosemead. He was 76.
Burrell, who spent 25 of his 31 years in law enforcement in the court system, was suffering from lung cancer, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The white-haired lawman was a real-life bailiff during a number of high profile trials, including cult-killer Charles Manson and Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress kidnapped by radicals who was later accused of joining their crimes.
Burrell often worked with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner, who was chosen to preside over "The People's Court," dispensing stern lectures with his settlement decisions.
When Burrell retired from the sheriff's department in 1981, he was hired to be the bailiff on the syndicated show, which featured real people trying to settle small claims court grievances on television.
Their tenure on the series ended in 1993, but the two friends reunited several years later to work on "Judge Wapner's Animal Court" on cable's Animal Planet network.
Rusty Burrell
Aaron McGruder's
The Boondocks
Still Seeking Volunteers
'The Osbournes'
Put up a page devoted to 'The Osbournes'
C'mon....send your thoughts, your impressions, your views, your favorite quotes...
Scroll down for lots of addys to pick from (or 'from which to pick', for the truly anal retentive).
