Chris working with National Product
(5/30/04) National Product Official Website (thanks Eva!)

...Article from The Scout (4/20/04)
The Scout.net did a write up on us . It said this:
"N’sync member Chris Kirkpatrick has been seen hanging out with the Orange County pop punk band National Product. Rumor has it the band heartthrob has plans to produce and shop the bands new demos..."

...Recording: Nsync, The Black Eyed Peas & NP have this in common...
NP has been offered the opportunity to get in and record our first true demo with producer Ray Brady, known for his work with artists such as: black eyed peas, nick lache, chris kirpatrick, jessica simpson, ashley simpson and many more, and our pimp ass vocal producer Chris Kirkpatrick who you all know sings for the Uber Deca-Platinum selling group Nsync. We are almost finished and expect it to hit you in the face no later than June...

Having fun raising funds
(5/30/04) Buffalo News

Watch Justin Timberlake tear the top off a clam.

Sign up for free duck hunting lessons from Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia.

Look on as Assemblyman Sam Hoyt shows how cutting-edge he really is by coming out for gay divorce.

Those are three of the top 10 reasons you should attend Hoyt's upcoming fund-raiser, his annual clambake at the West Side Rowing Club next month.

Our favorite reason for going? "Tickets: $40. Toll on the 190: 50 cents. Watching politicians try to be hip: Priceless."

ADLIDAS is 'video of the year'
(5/30/04) Video-C UK (thanks charlidos!)

JC Chasez - All Day Long I Dream About Sex

JC Chasez releases the electronic explosion that is ‘All Day Long I Dream About Sex’ on 21st June. Taken from his debut solo album ‘Scizophrenic’, the single is an amazing piece of pop perfection, mixing 80’s synths, handclaps and Jaggeresque attitude.

Written after a late night out, JC played around with some old synths he’d just borrowed and discovered the distinct sound. Sounding like Dead Or Alive meets Duran Duran the single is firmly placed within the retro electronica sound that is invading the charts.

‘All Day Long I Dream About Sex’ is accompanied by the music video of the year. With it’s dated effects and scenes of cheap pornography, the video capture the spirit and era of the song perfectly. Directed by 2 time MTV VMA Nominee Todd Kellstein the video is sure to be on heavy rotation on the music channels.

JC Chasez released his debut single ‘Some Girls’ / ‘Blowin’ Me Up’ last month which became a massive hit and is still in the UK Top 40. JC also supported Britney Spears on the Onyx Hotel Tour where the crowd went crazy for ‘All Day Long I Dream About Sex’.

The single features various house mixes from Camel Riders, Tom Neville and Stengaard. Tracklising as follows:

1) Radio Version (with fade) 3:35
2) Tom Neville Radio Mix 4:00
3) Camel Riders Mix 7:23
4) Stengaard Mix 3:33

'Malfunction' overshadowed the season
(5/30/04) Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic

In a television season that saw three Emmy-winning comedies sign off the air, continuing coverage of an increasingly controversial war and a wave of reality programming that practically wiped out sitcoms, a split-second shot of a nipple trumped everything.

You know the nipple: Janet Jackson's, exposed ever-so-briefly by Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl halftime show. Debate all you want whether it was a "wardrobe malfunction." Genuine outrage coupled with overheated media coverage combined to make Janet's flash the most influential thing seen on TV screens in years.

Reaction was swift and ongoing. The Victoria's Secret fashion show, televised the past two years, suddenly found itself without a home. (No one said the fallout was all bad.) ER scotched a scene that briefly showed an old woman's exposed breast. The Oscars - the Oscars! - aired with a delay, just in case.

Producers complained that fear of crossing a suddenly vigilant Federal Communications Commission - it is an election year, after all - put constraints on what they could write. Stephen Bochco threatened to put the kibosh on a final season of NYPD Blue, saying that if he had to cut back so severely on sex and language, it wasn't worth the trouble. (He since has relented.)

Where it all leads is anyone's guess. In the meantime, just keep your shirt on.

Literally.

Some say FCC crackdown is making them gun-shy
(5/30/04) Jennifer Davies San Diego Union-Tribune

Thanks to Janet Jackson's exposed breast and Howard Stern's big mouth, Jim Richards is having a tough time doing his job.

The furor over the Super Bowl halftime show and the huge fines levied against shock jocks have changed the broadcasting world almost overnight.

And Richards, Clear Channel's regional vice president of programming in San Diego, is bearing the brunt of it locally.

"You are walking around just trying to figure out, is this going to cause the radio station to get fined or get me fired," Richards said. "It is a lot of pressure."

Clear Channel, which owns 1,200 radio stations, has fired Tampa, Fla., morning personality Bubba the Love Sponge (aka Todd Clem) and canceled Stern's show after the Federal Communications Commission fined the company almost $1.3 million for indecency infractions.

In February, Clear Channel booted Stern from six of its stations, including San Diego's "Rock" 105.3, where he had been a staple for some seven years.

The specter of Stern's ouster is affecting the entire radio and TV industry.

"It's a scary time," said Chris Cantore, the morning deejay at local rock station 91X. "His dismissal is a major kick in the industry. We are not relishing it at all."

KPBS, San Diego's public radio station, has edited out salty language from Marines in news reports from Iraq to avoid running afoul of indecency standards. KPBS television has spent hours editing out potentially offensive words from such movies as "The Cotton Club" and is considering not airing some of the more ribald British comedies it has broadcast in the past.

In a recent filing with the FCC, a number of other public broadcasters complained about the effects the ramped-up enforcement was having on their operations. The public broadcasters said they have spent "inordinate amounts of time" going over their programming to make sure the content couldn't be considered indecent.

Even shows as benign as "Antiques Roadshow" have not been immune from review. One episode almost had a segment edited out because it featured a 50-year-old lithograph of a nude celebrity.

"For the first time, producers and broadcasters of public television programming have engaged in significant self-censorship out of fear of government penalty," the filing stated.

Clear Channel, which owns and operates 11 stations in the San Diego area, has sent its stable of deejays through a training program to educate them about indecency rules. The San Antonio-based radio conglomerate also has instituted a zero-tolerance pledge and made all of its deejays sign contracts that would force them to share in any FCC fines their shows might incur.

Jefferson Pilot, which operates three radio stations in San Diego, including "Smooth Jazz" 98.1 and rock station 94.9, no longer airs live listener calls and has put a seven-second delay on its programs to edit out offensive content.

"Everybody is paying attention," said Darrel Goodin, general manager of Jefferson Pilot's San Diego operations. "There aren't any companies out there that are willing to risk a $500,000 fine and the possibility of having their license pulled."

Changing enforcement
Until this year, the FCC had taken a hands-off approach to enforcing indecency standards on radio and TV broadcasts. But amid swirling cultural forces, the FCC has begun imposing much more severe fines.

Congress has gotten into the act as well, arguing that the fines aren't nearly large enough to deter broadcasters and on-air talent from crossing the line. The House passed legislation that would increase the possible fines to $500,000 per incident for broadcasters from $27,500 per incident. Repeat offenders could lose their licenses.

"This has not been a question of the laws changing. This has been a question of enforcement changing," said Michael Glickenhaus, general manager of Clear Channel's stations in San Diego.

The first signal that the FCC had changed course occurred early this year when it fined Clear Channel $775,000 for numerous sexually provocative skits on the popular Bubba the Love Sponge radio show broadcast in Tampa. The segments included well-known cartoon characters talking about drugs and sex, and women competing for the chance to get breast implants.

Then came the Super Bowl, when Justin Timberlake ripped away Jackson's bodice, shocking the large mainstream sports audience.

The FCC was flooded with complaints, and Michael Powell, the commission's chairman, vowed a response.

It was no coincidence that shortly after the Super Bowl fiasco, the FCC ruled against TV stations that aired the 2003 Golden Globe awards show in which Bono, the frontman for the rock band U2, used the f-word in his acceptance speech.

Although the FCC imposed no fine, it was a reversal from a staff recommendation that had given the rocker a pass.

The full commission found that the use of the word violated a broadcast standard that defines indecency as "language that, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."

In the past, however, brief utterances like that of Bono had not been ruled indecent.

Powell acknowledged the change in policy.

"For the first time, the commission has applied the profanity section of the statute for the broadcast of this highly offensive word, an application I fully support," he said when the decision was announced in March.

Powell promised to continue to respect "the delicate balance of protecting the interests of the First Amendment with the need to protect our children."

For broadcasters, that delicate balance has translated into confusion. Many say they are no longer sure where the line is.

Cantore said he finds himself questioning what he used to consider commonplace language, and that it is having an effect on his ability to be spontaneous.

"In this profession, you always have to think twice before you speak. Now you have to think three times, four times before you speak," he said. "It seems so subjective about what is indecent and decent."

Doug Myrland, KPBS' general manager, agreed that the rules are less clear than in the recent past.

"In all the years before, we were fairly certain," he said. "Now it is unclear for even things like 'Masterpiece Theatre.' "

Complaint system
The confusion is also a result of how the FCC identifies offenders. It does not monitor the airwaves, but instead relies on viewer and listener complaints. The complaint system means enforcement is not uniform and can be dictated by a vocal minority, said Guylyn Cummins, a San Diego lawyer who specializes in First Amendment issues and has represented The San Diego Union-Tribune.

"They are the ones who get heard, and they can control content in America," she said.

The Internet has made it easier for well-organized groups to flood the FCC with complaints. In 2000, the FCC received 111 indecency complaints. By 2003, the number had increased to 243,350.

Stern, reeling from the recent fines and his Clear Channel dismissal, has highlighted the disparity the complaint system encourages. On his radio show and his Web site, Stern identifies indecency infractions by such other broadcast celebrities as Oprah Winfrey and Ryan Seacrest and asks his legions of fans to complain to the FCC.

A recent rerun of an "Oprah" show, for instance, described sex acts that Stern contends were as raunchy as the ones for which Clear Channel had been fined. That Oprah show, which in its original broadcast went unnoticed, has now garnered a number of complaints.

Richards said television is not being held to the same standard as radio and that outrageous content on broadcast TV is everywhere, pointing to dialogue on TV shows such as "Arrested Development," Fox's off-color sitcom, as well as the reality show "The Simple Life."

The nine programs for which the FCC received the most complaints in 2003 were all TV shows, including the Golden Globe awards, "Without a Trace" and "Married by America."

"TV gets away with murder, and we get the death penalty for speeding down the highway," Richards said.

That's not to mention the envelope-pushing content aired on cable television and distributed over the Internet, both of which are not regulated by the FCC because they don't use the public airwaves.

To many in the broadcast industry, attempts to put the indecency genie back in the bottle are foolhardy, especially when surveying what is shown on such cable outlets as MTV, HBO and E!, which televises segments of Stern's radio show.

Derek Dalton, general manager of San Diego's KGTV/Channel 10, said the restrictive climate makes it difficult for his station to compete against cable.

"It puts our companies at a disadvantage because we are not on the same playing field," he said. "If the standard is set for one, it should be set for all."

Election test
It is unclear to industry insiders and legal experts how long the current crackdown will last. Many look at it as a product of politics.

"I hope it is a fad perpetrated by an election year," Richards said. "After the election, I hope we are concentrating on other issues."

But John Eger, a telecommunications lawyer and a San Diego State University communications professor, said the current crackdown is more than a blip. A former FCC legal adviser, he remembers listening for hours to George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" comedy skit. Eger said there are groups that have been waiting for a president and an administration sympathetic to their concerns over indecency.

"This may not go away easily," he said. "The test will be what happens after November."

Rent & rave
(5/30/04) LOUIS B. HOBSON Winnipeg Sun

HOLLYWOOD -- Filmmaker Chris Columbus has secured the rights to what he considers one very hot property. "I'm going to direct and write the screenplay for the film version of the Broadway musical Rent," says Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter movies.

"I have been obsessed with Rent for six years. It's the best musical I've ever seen. I think it's as timely, important and moving as it was when it debuted in New York in 1996."

He says he has no intentions of updating the musical.

"It has to be a period piece. It has to be set in the early days of the AIDS crisis."

Columbus says he hopes to begin shooting Rent on location in New York in December and January because the story is set in a New York slum over the Christmas holidays.

"We'll then move to soundstages in San Francisco, where I live, so I can be near my family."

Columbus, who has not cast the film yet, says he will be looking for singers who can act.

"The music is the important thing in Rent. The songs must be sung by trained singers."

He has already received word from several pop stars -- including Justin Timberlake -- who are interested in being part of the project. But Columbus isn't so sure.

"I think there is room for one or two pop stars in the cast, but I told Justin he will have to go through as rigorous an audition process as everyone else."

JUSTIN TIME

Speaking of Timberlake, it's not like he's hurting for work. JT just completed filming a major role opposite Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman and L.L. Cool J in the thriller Edison, which was shot in Vancouver.

His image also makes a flash appearance in Shrek 2. When Shrek and Fiona lie down on the bed in her old room in the palace of Far Far Away, there is a picture of Knight Justin pinned to the ceiling.

"We had to pass the idea by both Justin and Cameron Diaz in order to use the joke in the movie," says Shrek 2 producer Aron Warner. Timberlake and Diaz are dating.

"They were both very cool about it."