Owls with clipped wings

We Take Flight!
The Blue And White!
Owls!
Oscoda!
Fight! Fight! Fight!

Mystery Of The Day

My favorite Taco Bell, at the corner of Lincolnway and Bendix...is gone. As in nothing but turned up soil and a sign.

What happened here?

Rock Roundup 926

U2 and Green Day rocked the crowd last night with a great cover of an old Scottish punk song called "Here Come The Saints" before the Monday Night Football game. (audio)

I know this will come as a shock to many of you, but Guns N' Roses have delayed the North American leg of their tour and have had to bump the first couple of dates. Hard to believe they aren't ready yet. Weird. The tour will now resume October 5th in San Diego, instead of tomorrow night in Fresno.

Last week, we lost Boz Burrell, the original bassist for Bad Company, who had also played with King Crimson. He was 60. No cause of death has been announced.

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler admits he's been battling hepatitis C for a few years on Access Hollywood tonight. He says he battled the serious viral blood infection, which can lead to liver disease, by undergoing a year of interferon treatments and that now "it is nonexistent in my bloodstream...where it's like a complete cure." Tyler adds that the treatment contributed to the end of his marriage to Teresa Barrick.

New on DVD this week:

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift

Curious George (with Will Farrell as The Man In The Yellow Hat)

The Lake House (Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock...they have to make sure the house never travels slower than 55 miles per hour or it blows up, I guess...)

New on CD this week:

Live albums from both Emerson, Lake, and Palmer...and Free

New retrospectives from Yes and The Yardbirds

The Very Best Of Jerry Garcia

A reissue of George Harrison's Living In The Material World.

The soundtrack for The US vs. John Lennon

Paul McCartney's new classical piece Ecce Cor Meum, which translates to Behold My Heart.

A new 4-disc, 99-song box set from The Byrds called There Is A Season, which includes some previously unreleased stuff and a DVD.

...and a new Tori Amos box set called A Piano Collection. (Jen)

Rock Roundup 919

Pete Townshend is apparently not good at the game "dead or alive." In the new Who song, "Mirror Door," he wrote about a bunch of celebrities who are dead...or at least he thought so. He writes about Howling Wolf, Dave Van Ronk, Bobby Darin, Brownie McGhee, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Doris Day. The problem -- Doris Day is 82 and very much alive. Townshend tells London's Daily Express, "I was absolutely convinced she was dead." He found out about his mistake after Endless Wire was recorded. The Who are at Madison Square Garden in New York tonight, and Endless Wire will be in stores October 31st.

The Eagles "Hotel California" woke up the shuttle astronauts yesterday.

Peter Cetera isn't happy about the Chicago reissues, which include previously unreleased material as bonus tracks. He complains that Rhino is putting out what he calls "unfinished songs", "writing demos" that the band never saw to completion, and calling them new music. He says there was "a reason those songs were never recorded in the first place."

Elton John is back in stores today with The Captain and the Kid, the sequel to his 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Reviews for the new, 10-song disc have been positive. The album is available in three formats -- C-D, C-D and D-V-D, and limited edition vinyl with a gatefold sleeve and full-size booklet. The U-K release of the enhanced C-D contains a web link to two more tracks, "Across the River Thames" and a live version of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." The version with the bonus D-V-D contains an interview with Elton and Bernie Taupin.

Also in stores today: the Soundtrack for My Name Is Earl, and a live U2 Album of the Zoo TV Tour.

On DVD today is the video-game horror flick Stay Alive...Stick It (which is to Gymnastics what Bring It On was to Cheerleading)...Season One of My Name Is Earl...and Season Six of The Gilmore Girls!

Entertainment News 914

Survivor: Apartheid begins tonight at 8 on CBS. Actually, the 13th round of the American version of the popular European reality show is set in the Cook Islands of the South Pacific. Twenty castaways have been divided into four tribes...this time by race. Whites vs. African-Americans vs. Asians vs. Hispanics. Being one of the last few people who watches this show, I'm more than a little surprised they did this, but we'll see how it pans out.

In other reality TV news, Rock Star: Supernova has a singer...but now they might need a different name for the band. Lukas Rossi was tapped last night to front the supergroup of Motley Crue vet Tommy Lee, Metallica and Ozzy vet Jason Newstead...who grew up in Michiana, by the way...and Guns N' Roses castaway Gilby Clarke. A San Diego Court ruling has put the name Supernova on hold, because a band with that name has been playing and recording albums in Orange County, California, since the mid-1990s.

Rumors are floating that part of the excesses that led to Paramount's dumping of Tom Cruise had to do with his desire for a new toilet seat being installed in his private bathroom every day he showed up at the office.

And Whitney Houston & Bobby Brown are finally splitting up. Whitney filed for separation...which she calls "a legal technicality" on the way to divorce. The troubled couple were together for 14 years, and have a 13 year-old daughter.

Tues Rock Rndup 912

The Who's very first world tour officially gets under way tonight in Philadelphia. It's also the first tour they will ever start knowing that they are without bassist John Entwistle, who died on the eve of the band's 2002 tour in Las Vegas. And it's the first tour in support of a new album since 1982, when they released It's Hard. This tour will feature songs off their new album, Endless Wire, in stores October 31st. As for what you can expect them to play, Pete Townshend tells us, "I'm hoping that we can create a more flexible show than usual. We're preparing to take more risks than we usually would."

It's a busy time for KISS singer-guitarist Paul Stanley. He doesn't have a reality show like Gene Simmons, but he kicks off a solo tour next month in Atlanta. He'll play Chicago November 6th at the House Of Blues. His solo album, Live to Win, is in stores October 24th. Also, he and his wife Erin are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, Colin Michael Stanley, who was born on September 6th. And along with Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Brett Michaels of Poison, and others, he'll take part in the next session of the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, February 15th to the 19th in Hollywood, California.

Eddie Van Halen recently wrote and composed two songs for Sacred Sin, an adult film that will be released tomorrow. On September 30th he will co-host the movie's invitation-only release party, dubbed "The Gathering," at the 51-50 Estate, which is believed to be his L-A home. The two songs are "Rise" and "Catherine," and the D-V-D will contain music videos for both songs.

Peter Frampton's long-awaited instrumental album, Fingerprints, arrives in stores today. The disc features quite a few guest stars, including Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts and his former rhythm partner, bassist Bill Wyman; Pearl Jam's Mike McCready and Matt Cameron; Hank Marvin from The Shadows; and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes. Frampton says the idea behind the album was to "take a trip through [his] influences."

Bob Seger's Face the Promise hits stores today. It's the Detroit singer's first studio album in 11 years. Seger says he took that time off from the music industry so he could enjoy time with his young children. "I started having kids really late, at age 47. It was a great time for me to be home with my kids." Seger adds that he didn't totally get away from music during the past decade. "I never stopped writing." Seger will be in L-A Thursday for a performance that night on The Tonight Show.

Entertainment News 908

Fred Goldman, the father of murder victim Ron Goldman, could soon be marketing O-J Simpson T-shirts, hats and bumper stickers. Goldman has asked a court to give him the publicity rights to the name, image and likeness of Simpson, who was supposed to cough up more than 33-million dollars for the wrongful death of Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. In making his unusual request, Goldman says the Pro Football Hall-of-Famer "has never paid a dime on the judgment to anyone." A hearing has been set for October 17th.

Rocky Balboa is headed back to the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The City of Brotherly Love's Art Commission yesterday approved a plan to return an enormous statue of Sylvester Stallone to the site of the running-up-the-stairs scene in the first Rocky. Stallone donated the statue to the city in 1982, but administrators have mostly kept it in mothballs (especially after Rocky V, one would think). This time, though, the statue will be near the bottom of the steps. It will be dedicated today, as a prelude to the release of Rocky VI later this year.

Jessica Simpson’s new album A Public Affair sits at No. 52 on Amazon.com, well below expectations. Even worse, most of the reviews written by fans and customers give the album one or two stars and are heavily critical. Many are speculating that she, like fellow blonde irritant Paris Hilton, has finally oversaturated her market with style (so to speak) over substance. Hilton’s debut album is hovering around No. 95 this week on Amazon. Meanwhile, Bob Dylan is on the top of the charts. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Entertainment News 907

Lindsay Lohan is...in a manner of speaking...hanging around prisons -- and her incarcerated dad, Michael Lohan, isn't happy about it. Papa Lohan -- who's in a New York jail for, among other things, beating the crap out of his brother-in-law with a shoe -- tells Inside Edition he was disturbed to find sexy snapshots of his daughter hanging on the lockers of convicted pedophiles and sex offenders. Michael says he told the assorted perverts, "That's my daughter, and because I'm here with you now, I'd appreciate it if you took [them] down." Most complied, he says, but some "took some persuasion" -- which probably means the threat of a shoe-beating.

Marcia Cross and her husband of 10 weeks, Tom Mahoney, are already expecting their first child. The 44-year-old Desperate Housewives star and the 48-year-old stockbroker are expecting the pitter-patter of little feet next April.

Entertainment News 906

In London, a British television network is planning to broadcast a dramatic, documentary-style film about a fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush, the network's head said Thursday. It's set in Chicago, next year. The program uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago, Peter Dale, the head of More4, told a news conference. "Death of a President," also scheduled to be shown at the Toronto Film Festival in September, focuses on all those linked to the pretend crime -- including nearby anti-war protesters, suspects, Secret Service guards and investigators, Dale said. More4, which is the digital offshoot of Britain's Channel 4 network, plans to show the program on Oct. 9. The White House declined to comment on the network's announcement, saying it would not dignify the program with a response.

In Cairns, Australia, a videotape of Steve Irwin's last moments shows him pulling a poisonous stingray barb from his chest but no evidence that he had provoked the fish, officials said yesterday, as tributes poured in for TV's beloved "Crocodile Hunter." John Stainton, Irwin's manager who was among the crew on the reef, said the fatal blow was caught on videotape, and described viewing the footage as having the "terrible" experience of watching a friend die. "It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him in the chest, and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone," Stainton told reporters in the Queensland state city of Cairns, where Irwin's body was taken for an autopsy. Police were holding the tape as evidence for a coroner's inquiry -- a standard procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural causes. Experts agree human deaths caused by stingrays are extremely rare and speculate the stingray may have felt trapped between the cameraman and the TV star. But Queensland Police Superintendent Michael Keating said there was no evidence Irwin threatened or intimidated the stingray, a normally placid species that only deploys its poisonous tail spines as a defense.

It was a record year for the Jerry Lewis annual Labor Day telethon. It took in in $61 million for muscular dystrophy. Telethon officials credit a $23.5 million donation from the International Association of Fire Fighters. And there was no major hurricane before the show to knock television stations off the air. As the final figure was flashed, Lewis choked back tears and said, "We did good." The previous record for the telecast, which has raised $1.4 billion since 1966, was set in 2003. That year, supporters gave $60.5 million.

Sharon Stone may want to stay away from bookstores for the next couple of months, to avoid a couple of memoirs by former associates. In The Devil's Guide to Hollywood, Basic Instinct screenwriter Joe Eszterhas writes, "Sharon's 'prima donna' behavior so annoyed the crew on one of her movies that they relieved themselves into a bathtub before Sharon got into it for her scene." And in his Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Rupert Everett calls his A Different Loyalty co-star "totally unhinged." Among the examples -- shaking a breast at him in a restaurant and saying her character, a real deceased person, "came into me last night. She's right there." And during the filming of a love scene -- after having her hairdresser ice and blow-dry her nipples -- she allegedly told the openly gay actor, "I can turn a gay man straight in five minutes." Rupert writes, "The girl was stark raving mad. I was scared of her."

Tuesday Rock Roundup 905

Aerosmith and Motley Crue begin their Route of All Evil Tour tonight in Columbus. Ohio. This is Aerosmith's first outing since earlier this year, when they ended a tour with Cheap Trick after Steven Tyler was ordered to undergo throat surgery. However, they'll do the first month of the tour without bassist Tom Hamilton, who was recently treated for throat cancer. He is being replaced by David Hull, who used to play in The Joe Perry Project. Crue Bassist Nikki Sixx calls this tour "a dream come true" on his blog.

Freddie Mercury, the flamboyant singer of Queen, would have celebrated his 60th birthday today. He was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar. His parents were Persian, although his father worked for the government of Britain, where the family moved in 1964, when Freddie was 18. One of rock's greatest voices and showmen, Mercury died of complications from AIDS on November 24th, 1991. He will be remembered tonight in London at a special production of the Queen musical, We Will Rock You.

Gene Simmons died last week, but it was the rockabilly singer, not the KISS bassist who adopted the same name. He says, "I am alive and well, thank you. In fact, they have to drag me kicking and screaming. I ain't going anywhere."

New CDs Today:

Nothing really, except the new Iron Maiden called A Matter Of Life And Death, which as a fan I hope is better than the last one. The band is showing it's age, but they're still fun.

The new Elton John comes out in one week.

New DVDs Today:

The docudrama United 93

Lost Season II

Fraggle Rock Season II

Oz Season VI

The Office Season II

And new versions of the first Star Wars Trilogy that lets you switch between the original and the remastered versions of each flick.

Steve Irwin

Clickity.

Entertainment News 901

Nicolas Cage talks about his decision to re-hash the '7os cult horror classic The Wicker Man. He says, "It occurred to me that not a lot of people know about [the original]. There's only a core base of cult followers who love the movie dearly in England. Many people here in the United States aren't aware of it. It's not so famous a film that everyone's going to just say, 'Well, I've already seen that.' Wicker Man, I felt, needed to be reintroduced to people." In other words, he needed a new pool on his winter house. The Wicker Man, also starring Leelee Sobieski, Ellen Burstyn and Kate Beahan, opens today.

Great White's former tour manager Daniel Biechele has filed a motion to have his four-year jail term reduced. Biechele pled guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in February for his role in the Station fire in 2003 in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

Mel Gibson has gotten at least one film offer -- in a movie that would begin with Mel walking out of the Malibu bar he left before his drunk-driving arrest in July, getting into a car with a bottle of whiskey, speeding away yelling obscenities about Jews, and finally getting pulled over by a cop who shoots him in the head during his anti-Semitic tirade, spraying a bloody Star of David onto his windshield. It's the opening scene of the script for a sequel to The Hebrew Hammer, the 2003 spoof starring Adam Goldberg. Writer-director John Kesselman tells T-M-Z, "I think if Mel wants to truly extend an olive branch to the Jewish community as a whole, his on-screen death would go a long way in accomplishing that goal."