Leslie Nielsen Remembered

The great comic actor from films such as Airplane! and Naked Gun died Sunday, November 28^th at a hospital near his Florida home from complications with pneumonia. He was 84 years old. A horde of celebrities have taken to honoring the memory of Lt. Frank Drebin (his Naked Gun character) on Twitter, quoting their favorite lines from his movies. David Hinckley of the New York Daily News writes, “Nielsen's deadpan approach made him seem like a character who had wandered in from another movie, often speaking in absurdities and non sequiturs.”

Nielsen was married four times and is survived by two children.

Alisa Hathaway
November 2010
 

Dolly Parton – New Album, New Tour, New Friendship?

Dolly Parton – New Album, New Tour, New Friendship?

Dolly Parton (the woman, the music, the brand) has announced she’ll be going on The Boot's
tour for the summer of 2011, after the release of her 43rd studio album. This is the
first tour or album to come from Dolly in three years, since the release of Backwoods Barbie in 2008.

The Boot reports that Dolly is currently working on a movie and subsequent
soundtrack with R&B artist, jazz singer, and acclaimed actress Queen Latifah. The
current working title of the film is A Joyful Noise, and country fans as well as R&B
fans will surely be making a joyful noise at this duet. The two women are recording
original songs for the movie soundtrack together, with the help of a full choir. Both
camps report the artists are excited to work together and anticipate their voices and
styles blending well for the music AND the movie.

For more information on A Joyful Noise, peruse The Boot’s article. The Boot's article

For updates on Dolly’s upcoming album and 2011 tour, visit her website.

Alisa Hathaway
November 2010

It’s Been A Hard Day’s Night, but iTunes finally did it!

Do you want to know a secret? Well, in fact, it isn’t a secret at all – it’s a Revolution. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, BIG NEWS across the universe: the full Beatles catalog of music is now available for download on iTunes, just in time for Christmas shopping season. Here comes the sun!

Though Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. certainly can’t buy me love, it seems they can buy the right to sell anything they please (please me.) The now-infamous legal battle between Apple Corps, the Beatles’ record label, and Apple Inc raged on for years with too much monkey business over the “Apple” trademark. Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite, (Mr. Kite, of course, being Mr. Jobs in this case) the dispute was settled with a little help from my friends. Okay, actually, the court decided that Apple Inc is perfectly entitled to sell any prerecorded content as long as they’re not distributing it as their own yellow submarine.

Apple Inc has originally signed an agreement stating they would not enter the music distribution business with the Apple name and logo. Apple Corps maintains that they violated this agreement by opening the iTunes store, cried “Don’t let me down!” and originally filed a case against Apple Inc in 2003. But after all the helter skelter, the only happiness Apple Corps can hope for is a warm gun. Oh, Darling!

In the end, Apple Corps had to let it be and allow Apple Inc to come together to release every little thing the Beatles released. While my guitar gently weeps for the record label, it certainly is Johnny B. Goode to have remastered, high quality versions of Beatles’ classics from one, all-inclusive source. If I fell in the love with the Beatles way back when I saw her standing there, these new releases just give me another reason to shout “Hey Jude!”

For more information on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, go in through the bathroom window.

To recall A Day in the Life of the early Beatles’ recordings, check out the Quarrymen presented by Lost Gold Records. Alternately, you can Meat Dbeatles like you never have before!

Until next time, I am the walrus.

Alisa Hathaway

November 2010