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Film fest tickets going fast Thirty years in the making and the Toronto International Film Festival is still selling out quickly. According to media relations' staff, Kate Dickson, the festival expects to fill all 305,000 seats again this year. "We're selling out in record time," said Dickson, noting that many packages were already gone. Tickets went on sale as early as July 18, for Visa Card holders. This year, the festival will show 256 feature films and 79 shorts. In it's first year, in 1976, the festival featured 140 films from 30 different countries. The TIFF was designated non-competitive, and has since then kept its flavour of film appreciation rather than industry politicking. Among this year's features is a David Burke North American premiere titled Edison. The film has an all-star cast with Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J and Dylan McDermott. Keeping pace with the Cannes festival in France, the Toronto International film festival attracts a huge number of Hollywood stars, movie directors and actors. This year's list of special guests tops 500. Celebrity-seekers should be on the lookout for Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. Brother and sister team Jake and Maggie Gyllenhall, along with Jake's girlfriend and Spider-man co-star Kirsten Dunst, are also on this year's guest list. Rap artist turned actor Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000) is expected to make an appearance, as are funny men Colin Mochrie, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughan. Other silver screen actors on the VIP list include Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Kurt Russell, and Woody Harrelson, to name a few. The festival will not only feature Hollywood premieres but many international films. This year's Discovery Line-up will show 24 films from emerging directors worldwide, including contributions from Chile, Iran, the Czech Republic, China, Argentina and the Philippines. The festival starts this year on Sept. 8 and runs until Sept. 17. To find out more about ticket sales visit www.e-bell.ca/filmfest/2005.
Diane Lane to Shoot Movie in Missouri A little bit of Hollywood is coming to Cape Girardeau. Producers of "Killshot" have confirmed that Diane Lane and other stars and crew will be in town later this year or in early 2006 to shoot scenes for the movie. Based on the 1989 novel by Elmore Leonard, "Killshot" will tell the story of a married couple who find themselves in Cape Girardeau while on the run from a pair of hitmen. Scenes for the film will be shot in late December or early January, said Jerry Jones, executive director of the Missouri Film Commission. "Cape Girardeau is of huge atmospheric importance to the film," co-producer David Webb said recently from Toronto. Directors and producers took a five-hour tour of the southeast Missouri town in July. "We loved the whole Mississippi River aspect of it. You can't exactly recreate that," said Webb. "Killshot," directed by John Madden, also will star
Mickey Rourke and Justin Timberlake.
It is expected to be released next year.
Timberlake launches fashion line Pop singer Justin Timberlake is getting ready to introduce his own clothing line. Timberlake is teaming up for the William Rast collection with his best friend, Trace Ayala, and Danny Guez, who worked on Eve's Fetish and Bow Wow's Shago clothing lines, MTV.com reported. William Rast is made up of the first names of Timberlake's and Ayala's grandfathers, MTV said. While the clothes were actually designed by Juan Cervantes, Timberlake offered input for the upscale line described as down-home Tennessee meets Hollywood style. The lines for both sexes includes jeans, T-shirts, polo shirts, sweaters, blazers and outerwear. Bloomingdale's and high-end boutiques are expected to launch
the line Nov. 3.
MusicFreedom Updates JC
questions video link JC's first blog entry and why not................ JC's second blog entry LOL
RICH CRONIN LEUKEMIA BENEFIT, with performances by Jordan Night,
Aaron Carter, Joey Fatone, Smilez and Southstar, C-Note
and Atomic Tangerine, to benefit various leukemia charities: 3
p.m.- 2 a.m. Aug. 21; Church Street Market, 55 W. Church St.,
Orlando; $10.
For the record Justin Timberlake is writing songs with his longtime friend/
Nashville songwriter Matt Morris. Morris, who co-wrote five songs
on Christina Aguilera's Stripped, said that the two will hit the
studio in the next couple of months, and that their creations
run the gamut from R&B to Southern rock to pop music and could
end up on either Timberlake or Morris' album at this point. "Writing
with Justin is one of my favorite things," Morris said. "He's
got incredible instincts, unmatched by anyone I've worked with."
The two have written at least an album's worth of songs, about
15 to 20, he said, but since the subject matter is so personal,
discussing them "should be reserved for close friends and
therapists," he laughed.
The Hit List *NSYNC
Doorway to downloads: Portal is hooked up locally A producer with a Central Florida connection and a boy-band star are part of the team behind a new Internet music portal that offers an alternative to iTunes and other music download sites. Musicfreedom.com is the brainchild of producer Alex Greggs, 'N Sync's JC Chasez's and business partner Bill Marquez, who is the CEO of Netster.com, an Internet music portal I've never heard of. Greggs, whose credits include work on Chasez's solo debut album and material for 'N Sync, Ricky Martin and others, describes the new service as a combination of the sales clout of iTunes and the underground community atmosphere of Myspace.com, the popular online forum for music and social interaction. "We're working with a lot of really cool artists and a lot of them never see the light of day," says Greggs, who divides time between Los Angeles and his home studio in Winter Park. "It seems like either nobody's heard of them or they get signed to a major label, but there's no middle ground -- it has kind of disappeared in the last couple years." For many bands, Greggs says, it's as hard to land a spot on iTunes as it would be to sign a label deal. And although Myspace offers fledgling bands the chance to provide free downloads to potential fans, it's hard for musicians to turn that into financial gain. Musicfreedom looks to meet the needs of fans and performers, he says. The cost to download follows the iTunes model of 99 cents a song or $9.99 for an album. For each song, 40 cents goes to the band and 40 cents goes to the site, with the remainder earmarked for credit-card processing fees. Nearly 1,600 users have visited the site since its low-profile launch last week, to survey music by 200 bands. That's a skimpy assortment of music compared with competitors, but Greggs expects interest to grow exponentially when word gets out. "We haven't even started advertising, which is the crazy thing," Greggs says. "We wanted the site to go word of mouth for the first month or so, to give us time to see the features that people might want." With input from Chasez on the artist side, Musicfreedom is looking to establish itself as the ultimate music-intensive site. There won't be any marketing component, a la iPods and accessories, or any opportunities for visitors to land a date. Instead, Greggs is focusing on the design of a useful music-search engine that will connect bands and listeners. "When I search for a band that sounds like Radiohead, I'm gonna find bands that sound like Radiohead. If you go Myspace and put in 'the Beatles,' you'll get everything from classical music to pop. Because people use Myspace as a dating service more than a music site, it gets filled up with a lot of garbage that doesn't have anything to do with music." Besides, if you have enough good music, it's easy to forget that
you don't have a date.
Debuting Music Services ...The digital music scene has been heating up, with more companies trying to match the success of Apple’s iTunes Music Store. In May, Yahoo launched a music service and earlier this week announced a music search engine (see Yahoo Debuts Music Search). The digital music field also includes RealNetworks, Napster,
MSN Music, Rhapsody, and others. On Friday, a music site aimed
at independent artists known as MusicFreedom.com debuted, co-founded
by JC Chasez of the music
group *NSYNC...
Musicfreedom.com Offers an Alternative to Independent Bands ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- J.C.
Chasez from the musical group With the proliferation of home recording studios, musicians
today are Alex Greggs, who has produced acts such as *NSync, Ricky Martin,
M.I.A.,
Celebrity birthdays for Aug. 7-13 Aug. 8: Producer Dino DeLaurentiis is 86. Actress Esther Williams
is 84. Actor Richard Anderson ("The Six Million Dollar Man,"
"The Bionic Woman") is 79. Country singer Mel Tillis
is 73. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 68. Actress Connie Stevens is 67.
Actor Larry Wilcox ("CHiPS") is 58. Actor Keith Carradine
is 56. Singer Airrion Love of The Stylistics is 56. Actor Donny
Most ("Happy Days") is 52. Keyboardist Dennis Drew of
10,000 Maniacs is 48. Guitarist The Edge of U2 is 44. Drummer
Rikki Rockett of Poison is 44. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 43. Country
singer Mark Wills is 32. Guitarist Tom Linton of Jimmy Eat World
is 30. Singer JC Chasez of 'N Sync is
29. Singer Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees is 29. Singer
Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry is 28. Actress Countess Vaughn ("The
Parkers," "Moesha") is 27.
Sonic Reducer Major gossip!!! Read this! That was the subject line of a recent
e-mail from Hunx of Gravy Train!!!!, sharing his adventures at
LA's Spider Club with Tina from Top Ten and the Bobby Teens. It's
too good not to share, er, chunks. Though the evening had an '80s
prom theme – perfect for the pair – "The doorman
would not let us inside, while he let literally everyone else
in sight in," Hunx writes. "Feeling like huge dorks
in line, Ryan Cabrera (Ashley Simpson's on-again, off-again) walks
up and the paparazzi go buck. Fifteen minutes later the doorman
tells us we look 'amazing' (referring to our '80s outfits, which
were actually just our everyday wear) and he pulled back the rope
and let us in!!!!!!!!! Inside we peep Cabrera, then Jackie from
That '70s Show, then Lance Bass of N*SYNC.
'NSYNC's Joey Fatone to host national Miss Teen competition Fifty-two of the country's most talented, bright and beautiful young women aged 13 to 17 years old are poised to compete in the first Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant from Aug. 17-20 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. A remarkable mix of teens, including honor students, debate champions, singers, dancers, cheerleaders, thespians, athletes, musicians and writers, will compete for this coveted title, as well as $150,000 in scholarship assistance. 'NSYNC's Joey Fatone will host and Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs will co-host the final night of competition on Saturday night, August 20. Produced by Skydog Productions, JM Best Entertainment and Good TV, the show will include performances by Christian recording artist, Miss America 1987 Kellye Cash, who is also a member of MAOT's Board of Directors; Trans Continental recording artists CNOTE and Jasper & Kelli; and the Dragon Legend Acrobats. Best known as a member of the multi-platinum band 'NSYNC, Joey
Fatone is also an accomplished actor who appeared in the hit movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Cooler and The Bros. In 2002, he
received rave reviews in the Broadway play "RENT" and
also had the lead role in the 2004 Broadway hit Little Shop of
Horrors. Currently, he is working on a variety of movie and television
projects.
Singer's dad: Partner forged loan signature Ray Chasez spoke in bankruptcy case involving the restaurant that his son owned with Robert Daly in Naples; he said Daly kept asking for more money
Ray Chasez spoke at a creditors' meeting Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers in a bankruptcy case involving a defunct Naples restaurant the singer co-owns. "My boy did not sign that loan," said Ray Chasez, who holds power of attorney for his son. The meeting was the first in the bankruptcy case for Zen Sushi Bar & Asian Grill, a restaurant on Fifth Avenue South in Naples. JC, or Joshua, Chasez filed the bankruptcy in June and Zen closed later that month. Zen was a 50-50 partnership between Chasez and Robert Daly, a Naples resident. Daly was responsible for day-to-day operations. Chasez, who owns a home in the Orlando area, sued the restaurant in March for full ownership rights, claiming a deadlock between owners. The suit has been on hold since the bankruptcy was filed. In the lawsuit, Chasez alleges Daly or Sam Phillips, a manager at Zen, took out a loan with Chasez's signature forged on it. Daly has disputed the allegations. "We don't know where the money went. ... He wasn't even in town when it was signed," Ray Chasez said of his son. The lawsuit accuses Daly of mismanaging the restaurant and says he was responsible for its poor financial performance. Ray Chasez said Zen's problems became apparent just a few months after the restaurant's opening in May 2004. JC Chasez already had invested $800,000 when Daly and Phillips started requesting more money. "In October and November he was getting calls once a week for more money, more money, more money," he said. "Josh asked me (in December) to come down and find out what was going on." Part of Daly's initial investment to Zen was loaned from Chasez, an amount that includes a $120,000 promissory note. In January, Daly filed for personal bankruptcy. The bankruptcy doesn't include the promissory note nor any business interests. Daly also owns Naples-based RDL Group & Associates Inc., a financial consulting firm. Daly never disclosed the personal bankruptcy to Chasez, Ray Chasez said. "He did not feel it was important to tell his partner," he said. Ed Miller, Daly's Naples attorney, declined to comment. Daly has said Chasez underfunded the restaurant and failed to pay employees. Zen employed about 70 people, none of whom received paychecks for their last three weeks of work, he said. Robert Tardif, trustee in the case, asked Ray Chasez about his son's intent with the business because of his involvement in *NSYNC. Ray Chasez replied, "Robert was to run business day-to-day. He was to contribute to daily operations. JC was to lend his
name down the road (when the time was right)."
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