Joe Pompeo

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In case you were wondering what this year's official summer jam might be, wonder no more: A few days ago, People unveiled a taste of New Kids On the Block's comeback single, "Summertime," and as the title suggests, it is indeed all about the summertime, or, perhaps more accurately, meeting hot chicks in the summertime. Some of our favorite lines include, "I played it cool / The weather was hot / You had the beauty and the beach on lock" and "You wasn't lookin' for a man / When you saw me in the sand / But you fell for a boy from the city," and (here's the best one) "I was like, 'Hey girl, can i getch' yo' number?'" NKOTB plays the Meadowlands' Izod Arena on Sept. 23. (Pre-sale is on now, public sale starts Monday.) [On Sale: Monday, May 12]

The Smoking Popes never hit it much bigger than having one great song ("Need You Around") on the soundtrack to Clueless. But as far as '90s power pop bands go, it doesn't get much better. They play The Blender Theater at Gramercy on July 5. [On Sale: Friday, May 9 at noon]  read more »

David Lynch was in town last week promoting his national best seller, Catching the Big Fish, which recently came out in paperback. The book is an autobiographical account of the creative benefits the 62-year-old auteur claims to have reaped over the past three decades from practicing Transcendental Meditation, the trademarked meditation technique that rock stars like the Beatles and Donovan championed back in the late 1960s, and which has been making something of a pop culture comeback thanks to celebrity adherents like Mr. Lynch, Howard Stern and Moby. Indeed, it seems like over the past few years Mr. Lynch, whose most recent film was 2006’s epic Inland Empire, has been generating more press for his spiritual beliefs than his surreal and nightmarish brand of cinema.

But fans of creepy dancing midgets and lovers of cherry pie need not worry: Mr. Lynch, who spoke with the Culture Czar recently in his Upper West Side hotel room -- he was wearing his trademark white shirt buttoned all the way to the top and well-coiffed silver hair -- still loves Twin Peaks and a good cup of coffee. (His own Signature Cup blend is on sale at the IFC Center.) He also has a new documentary in the works that he hopes will be in theaters by the fall. But before he gets around to making another of the bewildering films his fans have come to relish, he has a slightly loftier goal to check off his to-do list: world peace. Read on!  read more »

Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski documentary will open in New York on July 11, two days after it airs on HBO, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, which is titled Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, follows the Academy Award-winning director's infamous statutory rape trial (he pleaded guilty to getting it on with a 13-year-old in 1977) and subsequent flight from the U.S. in 1978 (he likely evaded decades worth of prison time).  read more »

It seemed odd enough when the 80's Texas psych-punk band The Butthole Surfers made something of comeback in 1996 with an album that got lots of mainstream airplay. Now they're making a comeback from their comeback? You be the judge—they're playing Webster Hall on July 29. [On Sale: Friday, May 2 at noon]  read more »

We'd been wondering what director Ang Lee's next move would be, especially following Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger's fatal overdose in late January. It turns out Mr. Lee's next project is a bit more light-hearted than that film, or his last, Lust, Caution. It's a comedy about the original Woodstock music festival based on Elliot Tiber's 2007 memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life.  read more »

In case you haven’t heard, a lineup has been announced for this year’s New York installment of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, and it’s the kind of lineup that makes the Pitchfork set scream. The legendary My Bloody Valentine is headlining, marking the band’s first U.S. performance in 16 years. And in keeping with the recent trend of classic bands doing entire sets of classic albums, Thurston Moore will perform 1995’s Psychic Hearts, Built to Spill will do 1997’s Perfect From Now On, Tortoise will play 1997’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die and going all the way back to 1984, the Meat Puppets will perform Meat Puppets II. Also on the bill for the three-day, 30-act festival in Monticello, N.Y., are indie rock faves like Shellac, Mogwai, Polvo and Low. Here’s the catch: There are only 3,000 tickets available (none of them are for single days) and they are sure to sell out on the quick. [On Sale: Friday, April 25 at 10 a.m.]  read more »

Felix Dennis, the billionaire publisher of Maxim who was the first person to say the word “cunt” on live British television, cut right to the chase last night at the Columbia Journalism School.

“Let’s get the murder thing out of the way,” he said in his refined British accent, alluding to his outrageous, and subsequently retracted claim in The Times of London on April 2 that he had killed a man 25 years ago.  read more »

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Don’t act like you didn’t watch MTV’s Making the Band 4, like you weren’t right there with the girls of Danity Kane and the guys of Day26 (and that other kid no one really seemed to care about) as they stressed to get those vocal tracks down just right, else they faced the cold wrath of P. Diddy. Cast your irony aside and watch these B-list reality T.V. celebs (er … talented musicians?) “bring it” on May 28 when the Making the Band Tour comes to the Hammerstein Ballroom. [On Sale: Friday, April 18 at 9 a.m.]

Hot Tickets is admittedly a bit light this week, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t plug Bon Jovi’s July 14 performance at MSG. It’s now or never: Break out your best bridge-and-tunnel attire, down a few cans of Coors, and be ready to pump those fists as you sing along to “You Give Love a Bad Name.” [On Sale Now]  read more »

Here in the U.S., Budweiser commercials tend to conjure images of sweaty dudes and babes throwing back a few cold ones under the sun or, more recently, of some red-blooded Bud spokesman explaining the science behind the King of Beer’s “unique seven-step brewing process” to thirsty patrons in a sports bar. But The Great American Lager had something else in mind for selling its brand across the pond. That something was Harmony Korine. Yes, the writer and director behind such WTF?!-inspiring indie classics as Kids, Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy has directed two new U.K. spots intended to “refresh Budweiser's image for the British market.” The roughly minute-long ads feature “a group of Nashville musicians jamming with beer bottles and kegs as instruments.” The second one begins with an older, Western-clad gent proclaiming in a thick southern drawl, “Your people love you. Your audience loves you. LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARRRRTEEEED!” (U.S.A.!) Now if that doesn’t sell some beer, we don’t know what will.

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If you've ever wondered what it's like to see about 20 dudes on a single stage pumping out feel good rock 'n' roll anthems that would make Axl Rose jealous, then you don't want to miss Boston's Bang Camaro June 12 at The Bowery Ballroom. [On Sale: Friday April 11 at noon]

There seems to be a trend these days of seminal indie bands playing entire sets of classic albums. (Did you catch Sonic Youth doing Daydream Nation last summer at McCarren Park Pool?) Add Mission of Burma to that list. The 80s punk rock legends are scheduled to perform the album Signals, Calls, and Marches on June 14 at The Bowery Ballroom, and the album VS the following night. [On Sale: Friday, April 11 at noon]

Calling all former Goth kids: Peter Murphy of Bauhaus is coming to The Blender Theater at Gramercy on June 26 and 27. [On Sale: Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m.]

First R.E.M., then the Breeders, and now Pearl Jam! When will the comebacks end? The Seattle grunge progenitors play MSG June 24 and 25. [On Sale: Friday, April 11 at 10 a.m.]  read more »

The year was 1993. The Pixies were fizzling out. It was time for a new quirky pop band to fill the void. (Who would provide that first track on some angsty 16-year-old's mix-tape?) The Breeders, featuring Pixies bassist Kim Deal (imagine that!), were that band. But alas, after a few semi-hits—“Cannonball” is the only song anyone with cable television remembers—they seemed a bit passé by, oh, 1996. By then, Ms. Deal was already busy with a little-remembered side project called the Amps. But here we are, some 15 years (and one milked-for-every-penny-it-was-worth Pixies reunion later), and who should have a new album out but … The Breeders! It’s called Mountain Battles, and it’s their fourth studio album, and first since 2002's Title TK. It's comforting in that, “I wish MTV still had shows like 120 Minutes” sort of way. As for the quality of the album itself, Radar writes that Battles “sounds like it came from the clouded minds of exalted 40-something indie-frumps who were hotboxing a 1982 Datsun in a Dayton, Ohio, parking lot.” Sounds good to us!  read more »

CONCERTS

As if it wasn't exciting enough that power-duo Gnarls Barkley has released its much-anticipated followup to 2006's St. Elsewhere (just in time to get the hype rolling for some summer jams), now we get news that Messrs. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse are playing the Highline Ballroom on April 10. Yes, that's one week from today! [On Sale: Friday, April 4 at noon]

So R.E.M. is making a comeback, huh. They've got a new album, a new look and a new tour with Modest Mouse and Brooklyn it-band The National, which comes to MSG on June 19. [On Sale: Saturday, April 5 at noon]  read more »

Some exciting music news from the Brits today: A new multi-format Radiohead best-of compilation (aptly titled, The Best Of) is due out June 2 in the U.K. on the band's former label, Parliphone/EMI, Pitchfork reports. What hits will the disc include? "Paranoid Android," "Fake Plastic Trees" and (bringing it back to '93!) "Creep," all made the cut, as well as the rarity and super-fan favorite "True Love Waits." Radiohead, who are headlining the first two nights of the All Points West festival in Jersey City this August, did not sanction the release. Meanwhile, Morrissey today won an apology in court from the British music mag Word over phrasing in a March 2008 article that "could have been construed to suggest that Mr. Morrissey was a racist, held racist opinions or that (as the child of migrant parents) he was a hypocrite," Reuters reports. The 48-year-old crooner, who has a similar case going against the tabloidy NME, said he was "delighted" with today's decision. His lawyer added: "Ultimately, my client would rather spend his time in concert than in court." Indeed, the Moz (sorry, calling him "Mr. Morrissey" just sounds too awkward), is expected to tour later this year in support of his forthcoming new studio album in the fall.

It seems like all the cool kids have been gravitating toward Facebook lately, but MySpace isn't out of style just yet. Today, the News Corp.-owned social networking giant announced its partnership with three major music companies -- Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group -- in creating a new online music service, according to The Wall Street Journal (a fellow Rupert Murdoch product). The ad-supported MySpace Music will offer free tunes and video streaming, as well as paid-for MP3 downloads and other digital goodies like ringtones, and MySpace's COO told the Journal that the new service would build on the site's already popular music environment, giving it "the potential to be a significant revenue driver." Could be bad news for iTunes, but as far as the competition with Facebook goes, that site still seems to be way ahead in the "killing time while at work" department -- Scrabulous anyone? More from WSJ after the jump.  read more »

As guests arrived at the 21 Club on the evening of Friday, March 28, for a party celebrating the opening in Soho of Acne Jeans’ first American store two days earlier, the Stockholm-based label’s creative director, Jonny Johansson, sat cross-legged in a plush red banquette, talking with the Transom about denim.

“If you had to choose one garment today that’s the most important garment in fashion, I would say it’s a basic pair of jeans,” he said in his thick Swedish accent.  read more »

It looks like its curtains for Remy Ma. The Grammy-nominated rapper was convicted today "of assault, weapons possession and coercion ... for shooting a woman in the abdomen in a dispute about money in New York," Reuters reports. But wait, there's good news! She was cleared of charges of "gang assault, witness tampering, witness intimidation and assault in a separate incident in which her associates are accused of beating up the boyfriend of a witness." Ms. Ma, (nee Remy Smith) is facing five to 25 years in prison. More about her in this Village Voice cover story from October.

One day you're a New York City subway toll booth worker, then you total your car in an accident that lands you in physical therapy, which is sort of boring (plus you have no cash to buy a new car). So, you enter a screenwriting competition on a whim, hoping to score some prize money. And the next thing you know, you're rubbing elbows with Hollywood bigwigs who think you're so good they ask you to write a sequel to a famous gangbanger flick!  read more »

At the Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday night, David Simon, the former crime reporter and creator of HBO’s massively popular urban drama series The Wire, didn’t waste any time before he started blasting his ex-bosses at The Baltimore Sun, the overall quality of American newspapers and, harshest of all, newsrooms that are more concerned with winning prizes than with maintaining sophisticated and nuanced coverage.

“To explain the who, the what, the when, the where, the how—that’s easy shit. It’s even easy shit if you caught someone with their hand in the till, if someone’s doing something overtly wrong,” said Mr. Simon, who was soft-spoken, but seemed to enjoy dropping a few choice expletives. “The why is epic. The why is where journalism becomes an adult game.”

But, he continued a few minutes later, “The why will not get you a prize. Where was their dick caught? That shit will win you a prize.”  read more »

I was never big on Altoids -- they're a bit too chalky, a little too fresh, perhaps. But I would be chewing the hell out of those things if they made me $25,000 richer, as they did the four individuals (one of them a New Yorker) whom the New Museum has named the winners of the first Altoids Award, a new biennial prize for emerging artists that's sponsored by the "curiously strong" mint maker.

"For so many of these artists, this is a life-changing opportunity, and that is exactly what we are here for -- to champion emerging artists and to consistently offer our audiences the chance to experience new art and new ideas from a variety of perspectives," said Lisa Phillips, the New Museum's director, in a statement.  read more »

The Tribeca Film Institute has announced the lineup for its fifth Tribeca All Access program, which spotlights filmmakers from "traditionally underrepresented communities." The lineup marks TAA's largest showing ever: 37 narrative and documentary projects—the directors and screenwriters of which will get the chance to market to industry executives during the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival—vying for awards totaling $44,500. This year's TAA panel of 10 jurors includes Law & Order stars Jesse L. Martin and Adam Beach (of SVU), actress and former Tommy Hilfiger model Joy Bryant, and documentarian William Greaves. The full list of films is after the jump.  read more »

CONCERTS

Feeling a bit hungry? "Hungry Like the Wolf," that is, (couldn't resist!) for some Duran Duran? Satisfy your appetite on May 30 and 31 when the iconic new wave quartet plays Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. [On Sale: Friday, March 21 at 10 a.m.]

Everyone's favorite British electro-pop band, Hot Chip, plays the Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 8. Sounds to us like it's going to sellout, so be sure to hit up Friday's Ticketmaster pre-sale (password=madeinbrooklyn). [On Sale: Friday, March 21 and noon]  read more »

THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE: THE GREAT COMIC-BOOK SCARE AND HOW IT CHANGED AMERICA
By David Hajdu
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 434 pages, $26

Earlier this month, a trendy bar in the East Village hosted what it billed as a “Nerd Nite” about the death of 1950’s horror comics, advertising the event with a listing that evoked all the kitsch and sensationalism of classic pulp: “A Senator looking to raise his national profile for a White House bid! A sex-obsessed psychiatrist blaming comics for juvenile delinquency! A comic book publisher on speed! Blood! Sex! Violence! Communism! A showdown in the Senate! Censorship! Death!”  read more »

Two mostly naked female models, posed perfectly still, were portraying a classic dominatrix scene last Friday in a spacious and dimly lit Chelsea art gallery. One of them, a curvy 25-year-old known as January Darling, who donned bright red lipstick and shiny Betty Page-like locks, was kneeling upright, wielding a long faux pearl necklace that she used as a leash to constrain her partner, Dusty, a petite girl crouched on all fours who was wearing nothing but a black paper mask and a tiny corset around her waist.  read more »

The concert promotion powerhouse Bowery Presents, owners of the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge, as well as the more recently opened Music Hall of Williamsburg and Terminal 5, is beginning a new venture across the Hudson River. Starting this fall, the historic Wellmont Theater in Montclair, N.J.—an artsy town that's home to lots of actors and journalists (and Stephen Colbert)—will reopen under a newly formed independent concert promotion company called Montclair Entertainment, which includes several principals from Bowery Presents, The Star Ledger reports.  read more »

On April 2, St. Ann's Warehouse in Dumbo will present a concert celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Hal Willner's Stay Awake, the producer's classic 1988 interpretation of the Vintage Disney Songbook, Brooklyn Vegan reports. Mr. Willner revived the project last June at the behest of former Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker, who invited Mr. Willner to present it live for the first time at London's 2007 Meltdown Festival, which Mr. Cocker curated.

The St. Ann's Warehouse concert will be the American premiere of Stay Awake, as well as a gala benefit for the venue, and will showcase artists from the original recording including Natalie Merchant and Suzanne Vega, with addtional appearances by Steve Buscemi, David Byrne and Beth Orton, among others.  read more »

Who would have thought that all you had to do to launch a singing career these days was hook up with the governor of New York? I mean, Tila Tequila had to steadily rack up more page views than any other artist on MySpace and host a trashy MTV dating show before people started to take her musical talents "seriously." Not so for "Kristen," a.k.a. Ashley Alexandra Dupré (birth name: Ashley Youmans), the former Jersey shore resident and aspiring songstress who recently made "The Luv Gov," well ... sing!

After the identity of the 22-year-old (or 32-year-old, by some reports) upscale call girl involved in the prostitution scandal that brought down Eliot Spitzer was revealed on Wednesday night, millions of viewers flocked to her MySpace page, on which she offered a sampling of what The New York Times described as "an amateurish, hip-hop inflected rhythm and blues tune that asks, 'Can you handle me, boy?'" (Her profile is now defunct.) The Times also reported, on its DealBook blog, that thousands of listeners have flooded the startup music site AmieStreet.com, where two of Ms. Dupre's tracks are available for purchase.

So is there a burgeoning star in our midst? Billboard asked some top A&R execs to weigh in on Ms. Dupre's prospects, and here's what they had to say:  read more »

It’s a classic tale: the going-nowhere 30-something who lives in his parents’ basement in New Jersey. The bohemian Manhattan chick who makes him realize there’s more to life than playing in a wedding band in the suburbs. A bridge-and-tunnel romance that shatters the engagement with his long-time girlfriend! Actually, it sounds more like the plot of an indie film, and that it soon will be, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which brings us news that Warner Independent Pictures is readying a movie based on Tom Perrotta’s “offbeat romantic comedy novel,” The Wishbones, with Little Miss Sunshine producers Albert Berga and Ron Yerxa. The duo was at a reading Mr. Perrotta did for The Wishbones, his first novel, back when it came out in 1997. Mr. Perrotta had originally adapted the book for New Line in 2000, and now Mr. Berga and Mr. Yerxa are looking for a director to work with him on updating the script for Warner. Of course the real question is, Who will be on the soundtrack?

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Cyndi Lauper is bringing her True Colors to Radio City Music Hall on June 1 (and to Jones Beach on June 3), along with fellow new wavers the B-52s, Rosie O'Donnell, and the Indigo Girls, in a Logo channel-sponsored benefit for the LGBT lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign. Icing on the cake: Queer Eye's Carson Kressley is hosting. [On Sale: Friday, March 14 at 10 a.m.]

From the "bands it's hard to believe are still around" vault come New York hardcore legends H20, performing Friday, May 30, 1995...er, we mean 2008, at the Blender Theater at Gramercy. [On Sale: Friday, March 14 at noon]  read more »

Barack Obama just can’t get those celebs off his back! We hear from Cinematical that Variety’s reporting two-time Oscar nominee Edward Norton and his Class 5 Films are getting ready to shop around a documentary about Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign. And it seems like they were ahead of the hype – the impetus for the film, according to Mr. Norton, was a speech Mr. Obama gave during the Democratic National Convention back in 2004: “We were all so struck by Barack’s speech and talked about how exciting it was to see someone from our generation, not our parents’, make his presence felt in such an inspiring way … It was akin to the way I remembered my dad describing how he felt when Kennedy gave his inauguration speech.” Directors Amy Rice and Alicia Sams have been shooting since 2006, when Mr. Obama gave them access on his visit to Africa that year, and the film’s release is set for 2009 (with or without Mr. Obama in the Whitehouse).

On Wednesday night, hipsters everywhere cried “Fierce!” as Heidi Klum named fashion design wunderkind Christian Siriano the winner of Project Runway season four, making him the youngest designer yet to have topped the hit Bravo reality series. But this weekend, the 22-year-old Mr. Siriano is taking the spotlight off of himself (surprising, we know!) and casting it instead on his boyfriend, nightlife photographer Brad Walsh, 25, who will present his debut New York photo exhibit this Saturday at the building where he lives in Park Slope, with Mr. Siriano as the evening’s host, and tunes provided by the Misshapes. (Sorry kids, we hear the guest list is way packed!)

On display will be a collection of a few dozen studio portraits and party photos that Mr. Walsh has taken over the past two years, including shots of Euro models Agyness Deyn and Freja Beha Erichsen, the Misshapes’ Leigh Lezark, miscellaneous friends and a variety of outrageously dressed club kids that anyone who used to read Blue States Lose has probably glimpsed at least once or twice. (You all remember Jonny Makeup, a.k.a. Little Scotty Mouth Breather, right?)  read more »

As we mentioned in this week’s spring pop music preview, the 2008 Plug Independent Music Awards, a sort of Grammys for the cool kids, were held at the west side mega-venue Terminal 5 last night. And just in case you were wondering what an indie rock awards show is like, the Culture Czar was there to bring you the full report!  read more »

COMEDY

Kathy Griffin—in appreciation of her gays, the fans of her hit Bravo reality series and anyone who just loves watching a hilarious comedian verbally brutalize celebrities who are more famous than herself—is bringing her notorious comedy routine to the area with a whopping four shows in two nights during the last weekend in May. And in true D-list fashion, they aren’t even in New York City! Instead, you’ll have to trek down to the Borgata in Atlantic City if you want to see Ms. Griffin perform, but fear not proud urbanites: Apparently A.C. is getting hipper by the minute! [On Sale: Saturday, March 8, at 10 a.m.]

CONCERTS

“If you want beef then bring the ruckus / Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ ta…”; you get the idea. Yes, the seminal hip-hop group is back with a new(ish) album and a show at Irving Plaza on April 16. Don’t call it a comeback! [On Sale: Today!]  read more »

Bluesy rock singer Josh Kelley, 28, who recently married Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl, was sitting in his dressing room at Roseland Ballroom on Friday, Feb. 29. “After we got engaged, I wanted to understand all these different emotions I was going through. So I wrote songs about my girl,” Mr. Kelley, wearing frayed boot-cut jeans and a gray knit turtleneck, told the Transom.  read more »

As late winter’s doldrums penetrate the city, it’s becoming harder to find a reason to leave the house at night. But what if we told you Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were headlining the Plug Independent Music Awards tomorrow at Terminal 5? And then what if we told you it was only $10?  read more »

There's nothing like some colorful pop art to get you amped for spring. The Jewish Museum seems to know this. On March 16, the museum will unveil Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered, a follow up of sorts to Mr. Warhol's somewhat controversial 1980 series, Ten Portraits of the Twentieth Century, which includes images of Franz Kafka, Gertrude Stein, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir and Sigmund Freud, among others. Ten Portraits Reconsidered features the primary source material that the original exhibit was based on, like photographs, sketches, and one of only 200 published editions of the final silk-screen portfolio. More after the jump.  read more »

The soundtrack for NBC's popular superhero drama, Heroes, will hit stores on March 18, bringing fans 18 songs from the show that mix the old (Bob Dylan and David Bowie -- the Bowie track is "Heroes," obvs!), with the new (Wilco, Panic! at the Disco, and Imogen Heap), according to The Hollywood Reporter. More notably, the disc will also include a track by '80s fuzz-rockers the Jesus and Mary Chain, which is the duo's first new studio recording in a decade, as well as four songs -- including the Heroes theme song -- written by former Prince collaborators Wendy & Lisa. And for the die-hards, who are currently lamenting the show's hiatus, "executive producer/director Allan Arkush has crafted five music video montage podcasts -- featuring Heroes footage set to select tracks from the album." But for those, they'll have to hit up the Zune online store (the exclusive free download spot) or MSN, where they will be streaming.

It looks like Criterion has some fresh competition. Former Miramax chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, now of the Weinstein Company, launched their own DVD label, the Miriam Collection (named after their mother, how sweet!) in January. Reuters reports that the duo is shooting for 12 to 15 branded releases per year, ranging from major productions, like Miriam's inaugural DVD, Anthony Mann's El Cid, to niche titles like Stephen Frears' (The Queen) made-for-British-TV movie, The Deal. Miriam's second release, slated for April 29, will be The Fall of the Roman Empire, also by Mr. Mann, "a lavish 1961 production starring Alec Guinness, Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif ... that earned its place in the record books for the largest outdoor set in Hollywood history: more than 55 acres, with a reconstructed Roman Forum."  read more »

In unlikely theater news, a famous horror author and a red-blooded American rock star have teamed up to make a Broadway play. Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a play written by Stephen King and scored by John Mellencamp, will open at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in April 2009 in preparation for an eventual Broadway run, the Associated Press reports. The director is Peter Askin, who is best known for directing the off-Broadway glam-rock mockumentary Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (His credits also include co-writing a little-known 1982 cult comedy called Smithereens, which depicts early 1980’s Manhattan in all its post-apocalyptic glory!)  read more »

On Friday, Brooklyn’s BAM Rose Cinemas will begin screenings for a mini film fest that pays tribute to IFC Films, the New York-based distribution company owned by the Independent Film Channel, the New York Post reports. Seven recently released and forthcoming indie features will be screened through March 6, including It’s a Free World, a 2007 documentary about “the plight of Eastern European immigrants in the U.K.,” which will be shown at least once each day. The opening night will also feature a preview screening of Paranoid Park (trailer above), Gus Van Sant’s Cannes Film Festival award-winning skateboard drama that’s set for a March 7 U.S. release.  read more »