SPECTRUM
Thursday, November 4, 2010
37
Music & Movies
Leonard Cohen postpones Cambodia gig indefinitely Indian singer Vasudha Sharma performs during the music launch of Bollywood actor, writer, director and playwright Makrand Deshpande’s upcoming Hindi film “Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hain Tu” in Mumbai on November 2, 2010. — AFP Leonard Cohen ans of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen reacted with disappointment yesterday after the artist delayed a plan for his first-ever concert in Cambodia indefinitely. The musical and literary giant known for songs such as “So Long, Marianne” and “First We Take Manhattan” was to perform at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium on November 27 in the only scheduled gig in Asia on his world tour. The concert “has been postponed to a date to be announced due to logistical issues insurmountable in the given time prior to the performance,” organizers said in a statement on the Mekong Sessions website on Tuesday. “Leonard Cohen remains committed to performing in Cambodia,” the statement added, without specifying a date. It said all ticket holders would receive full refunds. Following the announcement, dozens of Cohen fans flooded online message boards to voice their dismay. “I can’t find words to express my disappointment and anger,” wrote an Internet user by the name of Gibbons on the Leonard Cohen Forum. Before the
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postponement, the concert had come in for criticism for its expensive tickets. Single tickets started at 282.50 US dollars-an eye-wateringly high price in a country where around 30 percent of the population lives on less than 50 cents a day. Proceeds of the concert were due to go to local charities. “I wonder whether having set ridiculously high prices and therefore not selling enough tickets is the main insurmountable logistical issue,” wrote Internet user Sok Poupe on Khmer 440, a popular website for expats in Cambodia. Cohen returned to the stage in 2008 af ter a 15-year absence during which he spent time in a Buddhist monastery in California. More than 1,000 renditions of Cohen’s work have been recorded by artists as diverse as R.E.M., Elton John, Willie Nelson and Tori Amos. Cohen is also a published novelist and poet. The postponement of the Phnom Penh concert is not the first upset of Cohen’s tour. Promoters AEG Live recently announced the cancellation of his December 4 performance in Honolulu, Hawaii, also citing “logistical issues”. —AFP
Swift’s new album biggest opener in 5 years
Watchman charged with killing actor in Philippines olice filed homicide charges yesterday against a Philippine village watchman who allegedly shot a masked actor he mistook for a real gunman during the filming of a movie. Watchman Eddie Cuizon told investigators he was checking his neighborhood in central Cebu city for armed men when he tried to confront two masked men on a motorcycle and opened fire as they sped awayunaware that they were actors. Police investigator Roger Nedamo said Cuizon was charged with homicide and violation of a gun ban in the death of actor Kirk Abella, 32. The gun ban was in place because
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of a local election. Normally, watchmen are not allowed to carry firearms in Philippines, where many street killings, including those targeting political activists and journalists, are perpetrated by motorcycle-riding gunmen. Abella was playing a vigilante in the low-budget movie “Going Somewhere” by British theater and film director Alan Lyddiard. Dozens of people watching the filming late Saturday thought the gunshot they heard was part of the movie, said Parian district community police chief Alexis Relado. Lyddiard’s Filipino assistant, Beverly Tanedo, said in a cell phone text message to
The Associated Press that they were “baffled why it happened, having taken the necessary precautions and have asked the help of the police for security.” “Our immediate concern now is to help Kirk’s family get through this,” she said, adding that they were helping the family to hire lawyers. She did not respond to queries on plans for the movie. Assistant Prosecutor Noel Sellona, who will review the police complaint before deciding whether to file a case in court, said the family wanted Cuizon to be charged with murder instead of homicide, a lighter crime punishable by up to 20 years in
prison. But police opted for homicide charges after determining the shooting was not premeditated. “It wasn’t planned. It was plain stupidity,” he said. Victor Sablada, who played the motorcycle driver, said Cuizon introduced himself as a police officer. “I told him, ‘Buddy, we are just shooting,”‘ he said. Sablada said that as he revved up the motorcycle and started to move, Cuizon jumped on the seat behind Abella and shot him point-blank in the back. Cuizon fell off the motorcycle and Abella, mortally wounded, slumped to the ground, his body hitting a lamp post, he said.
Spanish actress Emma Suarez poses during a photocall for the presentation of Spanish director Agusti Vila’s film “La mosquitera” (The mosquito net) yesterday in Madrid. —AFP
Taylor Swift By Keith Caulfield aylor Swif t’s third album cracked the million-unit mark during its first week of sale in the United States, the biggest opening tally in more than five year, according to data issued on Tuesday. The country-pop star sold 1,047,000 copies of “Speak Now” during the week ended Oct 31. It’s the largest sales week for an album since rapper 50 Cent’s “The Massacre” bowed at No 1 with 1,141,000 in March 2005. Since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991, there have only been 16 instances where an album sold at least a million copies in a week. The last artist to achieve this feat was rapper Lil Wayne’s, who sold 1,006,000 copies of “Tha Carter III” in June 2008. The record of 2,416,000 units is held by ‘N Sync’s 2000 release “No Strings Attached.” A day af ter its Oct 25 release, industry pundits were projecting that “Speak Now” would sell between 800,000 and 900,000 copies by the end of SoundScan’s tracking week. Those predictions got even sunnier over the weekend, and by Monday,
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it seemed a sure bet that the 1 million mark would be met. Swift’s previous album, “Fearless,” debuted at No 1 in November 2008 with 592,000 copies. It spent 11 non-consecutive weeks at the summit. A few more Swift milestones to note: “Speak Now” has the second-largest sales week of any country album since 1991. Only Garth Brooks’ 1998 effort “Double Live” moved more, when it started with 1,085,000. Thus, Swif t also achieves the biggest sales week of any female country act since 1991. Previously, the highwater mark was set by fellow crossover diva Shania Twain when her “Up!” started with 874,000 at No 1 in 2002. And, “Speak Now” owns the biggest week for any album by a woman-regardless of genre-since 2000, when Britney Spears’ “Oops! I Did It Again” danced into the No 1 spot with 1,319,000. In total, just four albums by women have notched millionplus weeks. Aside from Swift and Spears, the Whitney Houston-fueled “Bodyguard” soundtrack moved 1,061,000 during the busy Christmas week of 1992 and Norah Jones’ “Feels Like Home” debuted at No. 1 with 1,022,000 in 2004. — Reuters
‘Cold Feet’s’ Nesbitt cast as dwarf in ‘The Hobbit’ o l d Feet” actor James Nesbitt has been cast as a dwarf in Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit”, the director’s Wingnut Films said yesterday. Nesbitt will play the dwarf Bofur in the two-part prequel to “The Lord of the Rings”, which is due to begin filming in New Zealand in February after an industrial dispute that had threatened the production was settled late last month. “James’s charm, warmth and wit are legendary as is his range as an actor in both comedic and dramatic roles,” Jackson said in a statement. The statement said pre-production for the movies was in full swing and they were scheduled for release in December 2012 and December 2013. British actor Martin Freeman from “The Office” was confirmed as the lead character of Bilbo Baggins last month. — AFP
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Film academy to honor Godard’s art, not ideology mid concerns that Jean-Luc him for his contributions to film in the Godard may harbor anti-Semitic New Wave era. It didn’t look at his overall views, the Academy of Motion life.” “The academy has given awards to Picture Arts and Sciences is moving forother people who have not had all stellar ward with plans to honor the filmmaker at lifestyles,” Sherak added. The Jewish its second annual Governors Awards. Journal and The New York Times have Godard is to be honored alongside film published stories questioning Godard’s historian and preservationist Kevin feelings about Jews, citing examples in his Brownlow, director-producer Francis films and in books about him that could Ford Coppola and actor Eli be interpreted as anti-Semitic. Wallach at a private ceremoFormer academy President ny on Nov 13. Sid Ganis, who is producThough the academy ing the Governors has received some Awards, said the recent complaints about reports and ensuing Godard being selected complaints haven’t to receive an honorary affected his approach to Oscar this year, acadethe event. my President Tom “The task is clear, and Sherak said the 79-yearit is about honoring him for old French-born director his art,” Ganis said, callis being recognized soleing Godard “one of the ly for his artistic contriIn this Sept 1, 1995 great poets of cinema.” butions. “The academy file photo, French Still, Ganis said, “no is a purist kind of organipossibility of any kind filmmaker Jean-Luc of anti-Semitism is tolzation,” Sherak said in Godard is shown in erated, artist or no an interview Tuesday. “The award was given to Frankfurt. — AP artist.” —AP
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Cuizon, 52, told police he had been woken up by a concerned citizen who alerted him that armed men were seen around the neighborhood. Volunteer watchmen help police keep the peace and patrol the streets. They are normally armed only with batons and are not supposed to carry firearms. Abella was dead on arrival at a hospital. Realizing what had happened, Cuizon surrendered to police. He was remorseful and wanted to seek forgiveness from Abella’s family, police chief Relado said. Abella’s sister Cleofe Escanillan said her brother was a bit player and worked occasionally as a waiter. — AP
‘Lion King’ actress dies from leukemia hannon Tavarez, the 11year-old who starred on Broadway in “The Lion King” and whose battle with leukemia won the hearts of many, including Alicia Keys, Rihanna and 50 Cent, has died. Shannon died Monday afternoon at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, on Long Island, of acute myelogenous leukemia, a common type of leukemia among adults, but rare among children. “She was a remarkable and talented young lady who touched the lives of those she entertained, as well as those who cared for her over the past several months,” medical center said Tuesday in a statement. Shannon, who played the young lion Nala, had received an umbilical-cord blood transplant in August. The procedure was performed as an alternative to a bone marrow transplant. Her doctor, Dr. Larry Wolfe, said that a perfect bone marrow match for Shannon could not be found. The search for a match was especially daunting because Shannon’s mother is AfricanAmerican and her father is Hispanic, from the Dominican Republic. For bone marrow transplants, minorities and those of mixed ancestry have a more difficult time finding good matches because there aren’t as many people from those groups signed up as potential donors. Right now, 83 percent of African-American patients who need marrow transplants don’t find matches after six months of searching, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping patients receive transplants. On her website, which includes a photo of Shannon as Nala and a video of her singing “The Circle of Life,” the 78pound actress said, “Some people think that the test for compatibility is scary! ... All it
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File photo shows actress Shannon Tavarez is seen backstage at the Minskoff theater in New York where she was playing the part of Young Nala in the Broadway musical, “The Lion King.” —AP really takes to get started is a cotton swab of the inside of your cheek. “So please get tested today. Who knows? You might be my match. Or, you may be able to help other young people with similar illnesses. And remember... ‘One swab will do the job.’” Shannon was forced to quit the show in April. She beat out hundreds of other hopefuls last year to earn her spot playing Nala, the childhood pal and girlfriend of Simba, hero of “The Lion King.” She split the role with another girl, performing four shows a week for six months. In a hospital interview with The Associated Press after being diagnosed, the young actress talked about her love for the theater. —AP