TV Alert
Miss America Tonight!
The Telethon
``America: A Tribute to Heroes''
In an extraordinary benefit across the television dial, entertainers from Tom
Hanks to Bruce Springsteen united Friday to raise money for victims of the World
Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks.
Making understated appeals for donations, actors told stories of innocent people
killed and heroic acts. They alternated short speeches with singers who
performed on sets decorated by hundreds of burning candles.
Within the first 15 minutes, Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and the rock band U2
performed on stages in New York, Los Angeles, and London.
``This is a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters,'' Springsteen said
opening the telecast, before singing a new song, ``My City of Ruins.''
Wonder condemned hatred in the name of religion before singing ``Love's in Need
of Love Today.'' Neil Young performed the late John Lennon's hit ``Imagine.''
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played their defiant ``I Won't Back Down.''
Wyclef Jean, dressed in stars and stripes, sang Bob Marley's ``Redemption Song.''
With such stars as Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, and Jim Carrey and a two-hour
limit, it was hard to fit in everybody interested in pitching in. Celebrities
like Meg Ryan, Jack Nicholson, and Sylvester Stallone were relegated to the
phone bank, answering contributors' calls.
A phone number, 1-866-TO-UNITE, and Web site, www.tributetoheroes.org,
flashed across the screen for donations.
The special, pulled together in less than a week with artists donating their
time, was telecast live without an audience.
Actor Will Smith appeared with the boxer he's portraying in an upcoming movie,
Muhammad Ali, to remind viewers not to target all Muslims in the wake of the
Sept. 11 attack.
``I wouldn't be here representing Islam if it were terrorist,'' Ali said. ``I
think all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth. Islam is
peace.''
``Frasier'' star Kelsey Grammer, dressed in black and fighting for his
composure, talked about John F. Kennedy. His show's executive producer, David
Angell, was killed in one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.
``NYPD Blue' actors Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits paid tribute to New York City
police officers before Long Island native Billy Joel sang ``New York State of
Mind.'' A New York City firefighter's hat sat on top of his piano.
Review
My review of this Telethon is way down at the bottom of the page...
Reader Response
Telethon
Adam M
Celine Dion!!!! They couldn't find a frickin' American??
Or at least, someone who doesn't turn my stomach.
Thank you.
--Adam Magazine (my real name, really)
Adam, you're reading my mind...
Season Opener To Be Delayed
Another 'West Wing' Update
NBC's White House drama ``The West Wing'' will respond to the East Coast
terrorist attacks with a special episode written by series creator Aaron Sorkin,
the network said Friday.
Production on the episode, titled ``Isaac and Ishmael,'' has begun and
post-production will be hurried to make the Oct. 3 broadcast (9 p.m. EDT), NBC said.
``Aaron is a brilliant writer who has something he wants to say. We have great
faith in his abilities to interpret last week's events in a manner that will
make this an important hour of television,'' NBC Entertainment President Jeff
Zucker said.
Details of the story were not released, but the network said it will deal
with ``some of the questions and issues currently facing the world in the
wake'' of the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
The drama's planned season premiere, ``Manchester, Part I,'' has been moved to
Oct. 10 to accommodate the special show.
'The West Wing'
Pröst!
Oktoberfest
Germany's Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, begins Saturday in
Munich with tighter security after the attacks on the United States, as
authorities seek to reassure visitors that risks are minimal.
The 16-day festival, itself the target of a bomb attack in 1980 that killed 13
people, was threatened with cancellation last week after the plane attacks on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but finally got the go-ahead last Friday.
The festival could still have been called off if there had been a retaliatory
strike or threats of violence in subsequent days. Munich city officials said
they could always end the festivities if the situation changed.
Federal officials said Friday they had no reason to fear the worst.
``We don't have any indications for an attack at the Oktoberfest,'' an Interior
Ministry spokesman said Friday. ``We would issue a public warning if we did.''
Oktoberfest
Way long time ago I attended the Oktoberfest ins München...the memory is
a bit hazy, but mostly I remember laughing a lot, being unable to navigate
back to the Youth Hostel, and sleeping in some hedges.
On the other hand, the next day I was able to roll my "R's" like never before.
Radio News
More Clear Channel Nonsense
Roberta Flack's poignant ``Killing Me Softly'' is usually considered mellow and
endearing enough to merit countless replays on ``lite'' music stations.
But after the terrorist assault in New York and Washington, the title alone was
enough to get it taken off the air at KISQ, an R&B radio station in San Francisco.
Those in the music industry are walking a fine line since the Sept. 11 attacks,
trying to entertain while remaining sensitive to the pain still fresh across the
nation.
Radio stations are playing patriotic tunes like ``God Bless America,'' Ray
Charles' ``America'' and Lee Greenwood's ``God Bless the U.S.A.,'' and MTV - better
known these days for shows like ``Jackass'' - is airing more soothing fare,
digging into their archives to play such inspiring songs as Bob Marley's
``One Love,'' Mariah Carey's ``Hero'' and George Michael's ``Freedom.''
Other new songs have gotten a boost from the tragedy, such as New Age star's
Enya's ``Only Time,'' according to Sean Ross of Airplay Monitor.
The nation's largest radio station group, Clear Channel, even drafted a list of
songs that could be considered troublesome and shared it with other programmers.
Clear Channel, which owns some 1,200 stations, also confirms that one of their
officials sent programmers a suggested list of songs to steer clear of.
Suzanne Vega, whose album ``Songs in Red and Gray'' is being released Tuesday,
canceled plans to go to Europe, but she's still going ahead with plans to tour
the United States and promote the new album.
Nonetheless, she said: ``It's a bizarre situation to try to sell a product at
this moment.''
Music Responds
Also see bc Ent, Wed, 9/19/01,
4th & 5th stories down.
Gee, was Will Smith selling his new movie about Mohammad Ali tonight at the Telethon
when they appeared together?
I still think a big bong was passed when Clear Channel honchos determined their 'banned' -
oops - I mean, 'suggested not to play' list...
BartCop TV Is Here!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot', keeps updating!
There is more to check on nearly a daily basis!
The Vidiot.
Read all the latest.
It's Official
Latin Grammys Scrubbed
Organizers have scrapped any hope of rescheduling the 2nd annual Latin Grammys,
cancelled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Recording Academy president Michael Greene had expressed a possibility last week
that the show could be resurrected, but issued a statement Friday saying it
would be impossible.
The Recording Academy plans to distribute the awards to winners privately.
Latin Grammys Scrubbed
Official Latin Grammys Site
Fun Link
Oh, Go Ahead!
BC 'Sanitized'
In The News
Bill Clinton In NYC
Former President Bill Clinton embraces Sonia Bermudez, a native of Colombia,
while visiting Local 32BJ union headquarters in New York Friday, Sept. 21, 2001.
Bermudez who is pregnant, lost her husband, Jorge Morron, in last week's
terrorist attack against the World Trade Center. Morron, also Colombian, worked
in security at the World Trade Center and was to have been sworn in as a citizen
several days ago.
(AP Photo/Ernesto Mora)
Big Dog In NYC
New! Updated!
BartCop Astrology
Check it out at BC Astrology.
"Guitar Greats" has been set aside for now, and replaced with an astrological look at the
WTC Tragedy using various, relevant horoscopes, including charts for Manhattan and the US.
Very interesting reading!
Broadway News
New Show Opens 'Urinetown'
Black ties and red, white and blue ribbons came out Thursday for Broadway's
first opening of the fall season and its first musical - ``Urinetown,'' an
unlikely comic entertainment about a dastardly company that controls a city's
public toilets.
Celebrities such as Rosie O'Donnell, Edie Falco of ``The Sopranos,'' Joel Grey,
Neil Simon, Tony Randall, Rue McClanahan, Taye Diggs, Kristen Johnston and
Jennifer Tilly mingled in front of the Henry Miller Theatre before watching the
quirky musical. The show by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann began life at the 1999
New York International Fringe Festival, moved off-Broadway last spring and then
made the leap to Broadway.
The mood was almost festive as television cameramen jostled regular theatergoers
in their efforts to get to the famous folk. If there was apprehension about last
week's terrorist attacks, none showed.
The musical's producers had postponed the show's opening one week because of the
attacks on the World Trade Center.
Thursday's opening was greeted with rapturous applause. At the finale, with the
cast singing and dancing, the audience stood and cheered the actors with bravo
after bravo.
"Urinetown"
Disney News
Walt's Centennial
For three years, Walt Disney's boyhood hometown - the idyllic inspiration for
Main Street USA at Disney theme parks - has been spruced up for a celebration
this weekend of his 100th birthday.
Then came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Reeling along with the rest of the nation, community leaders considered
postponing or even canceling their homespun party honoring the creator of Mickey Mouse.
They decided to go ahead with the three-day party as scheduled Friday after
getting encouragement in calls, letters and e-mails from around the world.
Marceline, population 2,588, is an old railroad town that was founded in 1888.
Disney called it home from 1906 to 1911, when his family moved to Kansas City,
95 miles away. But he returned many times.
Organizers had hoped to attract 40,000 people over the three-day celebration,
but no one expects that many now. Still, there were hundreds of people wandering
around Marceline early Friday afternoon, ahead of the high school football game
and its halftime memorial for Disney.
A day after President Bush told the nation that a long military campaign is
imminent, one of the most heated battles in Marceline was an apple pie eating
contest. With memories of toppled skyscrapers so achingly fresh, one of the
diversions this weekend will be demonstrations of barn-raising near the Disney
farmstead outside town.
Disney Centennial Story
www.wd100birthday.com
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Don't worry about the HTML, just send text, or rich text, or a Word document, photos, video, whatever you have, and Michele will take care of the rest. Don't hesitate to write with any questions you may have and bring on the recipes!
To check out 'Train Station Chicken', and more (like 'Dump Cake' & Peach Cobbler),
In The Kitchen With BartCop
TV News
Increased 'Security'
Starting this week, people attending the David Letterman show at the the Ed
Sullivan Theatre on Broadway were being checked by electronic metal-detectors.
Ticket holders entering the theatre were asked to stand still while security
guards with electronic wands swept their bodies.
They are the same type of security wands used in many airports to determine if
someone is carrying a weapon.
"In light of recent events, we felt it was prudent," a CBS spokeswoman said.
The electronic searches began Monday night. the first night Letterman returned
to the air last Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
The metal detectors are not unheard of for TV audiences.
NBC, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, has long been using metal detectors for
people taking tours of the studio and for people who want to take the elevator
upstairs.
As well, some syndicated, afternoon talk shows have used the detectors to make
sure audience members were not carrying weapons.
Increased Security
In The News
More Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)
Yusuf Islam, formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens, is denying rumors that he
is associated with a militant Muslim group in Britain.
``Like most Muslims all over the world, I want to state without reservation that
massacres like those committed in the United States ... have nothing to do with
Islam or with the beliefs of most Muslims,'' he said in a letter published
Thursday in the French newspaper Le Figaro.
Islam, who changed his name after converting to the religion in the late 1970s,
cautioned against violent counterattacks to retaliate for the terrorist
hijackings, saying that ``this situation must not be exacerbated by reprisals on
even more families and innocent communities.''
Those heading such reprisals would be showing the same mentality that provoked
the ``appalling tragedy'' in New York and Washington, he added.
Yusuf Islam
Music News
Cranberries Video Pulled
``Analyse,'' a video by the rock band the Cranberries, has been pulled from
television and the band's Web site following last week's attacks because some of
the scenes were deemed too similar to horrific real-life events, the band's
label said Thursday.
The video, which accompanies the band's new album ``Wake Up And Smell The
Coffee,'' was filmed in London in August and features scenes of a plane flying
over cityscapes and buildings, and a featured character walking by the outline
of a dead body.
MCA said the video, which was originally released about two weeks ago, was being
re-edited for all markets.
Cranberries
First Person Diary
Ray Berry
Ray has temporarily (I hope), suspended 'Bush-Toons'. In its place, he has put
his daily diary of life in Manhattan since Tuesday.
Ray has great observational abilities, a way with words, and has still been able
to keep his sense of humor.
To visit & read, www.bush-toons.com
Radio News
Liberal Talk Radio
The military might of the United States is on the move--what kind of new
challenges will be faced in the new war on terrorism?
Do you feel safe at home? And what civil liberties are you willing to sacrifice
in the legal combat against the terrorists?
Please join Erin Hart on www.710kiro.com and
710-KIRO in Seattle this weekend, Saturday & Sunday (September 22nd and 23rd) from
9 p.m. to 1 a.m.(pdt).
My Review Of The Telethon
An interesting attempt. What a shame the only viable director available was in
London.
Who did the sets? It looked like a cross between Cher's house at Halloween
and prayer hour at Loretta Young's. (Wonder if there was a state required
Fire Marshall on set?)
I realize it was put together in a hurry, but, did it have to have the production
values of a high school broadcasting class?
It was easy to tell the LA-inserts...had enough hum in the audio that my kid was sure
there were killer bees in the studio.
Would have been nice if they could have identified the acts...they couldn't hire a chyron operator?
Koresh, it's not like they're rare, or expensive...
And what was with the audio on the 'grand finale'? Could see Stevie Wonder playing
his heart out, but didn't hear a thing for 4 verses.
True to telethon tradition, it went over, but by less than 3 minutes, which is pretty
freaking good.
And, although Celine Dion did a nice job, I gotta ask why a Canadian got 'the
big song'---'God Bless America'?
Are they saying there are no American acts with
the pipes for it?
Neil Young, Tom Petty & Sting did particularly wonderful work.
I'm kind of picky...but that's because I remember what 'broadcasting' was.
~~ Marty
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
