Morning Report - News from Aug. 30, 2002

POP/ROCK

Eminem Finishes First With ‘Without Me’

Eminem led the pack at the 19th annual MTV Video Music Awards, held at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Thursday night. The controversial rapper’s “Without Me” walked off with the top honor, best video of the year, as well as the awards for best male video, best rap video and best direction.

The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl” collected three awards: breakthrough video, editing and special effects.

Pink’s “Get the Party Started” was chosen best female video, and Avril Lavigne was named best new artist in a video for “Complicated.”

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Alan Jackson Sets Nominations Record

Alan Jackson was nominated for a record 10 Country Music Assn. awards Thursday, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Merle Haggard in 1970. Toby Keith followed with eight nominations.

Jackson, who won the best entertainer award in 1995, was nominated again in that category. Other nominees for the honor: Kenny Chesney, Keith, George Strait and the duo Brooks & Dunn.

Jackson will be competing against himself in three categories--best single, song and music video, in which both “Drive (For Daddy Gene)” and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” were nominated.

Nominees for album of the year were Jackson’s “Drive”; “New Favorite,” by Alison Krauss & Union Station; “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,” by Chesney; “Pull My Chain,” by Keith; “The Great Divide,” by Willie Nelson; and “The Road Less Traveled,” by Strait.

The awards, voted on by about 5,000 CMA members, are to be given Nov. 6 at the Grand Ole Opry House.

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THEATER

Mason Denies Asking

to Replace Comedian

Comedian Jackie Mason denies that three days before he was due to perform at a Chicago club, he put pressure on the venue to cancel an act by Ray Hanania, an Arab American comedian who was to appear with him.

Linda Moses, manager of Zanies Comedy Club, told the Chicago Tribune that the comedian “was a little concerned with having a Palestinian open for a Jewish person.”

Nonsense, Mason says.

The manager of Zanies canceled the appearance, he contends, after being inundated with calls from local Jews reacting to critical statements Hanania had made about Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.

In a video clip shown during Mason’s appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire” Wednesday night, Hanania said, “This isn’t about Arab-Israeli politics, this is about me being Arab American, trying to let Americans know that I’m normal. We’re good people. And we can be doctors, lawyers and stand-up comedians.”

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MOVIES

Lions Gate Acquires ‘House of 1000 Corpses’

Rob Zombie’s horror film “House of 1000 Corpses” has been picked up by Lions Gate Films. The scheduled release date is early next year.

The rock star was forced to buy back the movie, which was originally made at Universal Studios, because executives were put off by its violence and gore.

Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films Releasing, had a different reaction to the film, the story of two young couples searching for a legend known as Dr. Satan during a misguided tour of the back roads of America. Lost and stranded, they confront a bizarre family of psychotics--not to mention encounters with murder and cannibalism.

“We’re really looking forward to having a lot of fun with this campaign,” he said.

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Telluride Film Festival

Opens in Colorado

The 29th Telluride Film Festival, one of America’s most prestigious, opens today in the Colorado resort town with its usual eclectic mix of cinema from around the world.

Running through Monday, the event includes the North American premieres of Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine,” Terry Gilliam’s “Lost in La Mancha,” David Cronenberg’s “Spider” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her,” as well as the world premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s “Naqoyqatsi.”

Filmmakers Paul Schrader, D.A. Pennebaker and the late Chuck Jones--an animator and longtime supporter of the festival who died in February--will be honored.

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UNIONS

SAG Says Checks

Going Out Sooner

Good news for performers upset with the Screen Actors Guild for delays in mailing their residual checks--an ongoing problem at the union. Following reports of three-month delays, SAG announced in June that it would speed things up by leaving off production information from the mailing. And it seems to have worked.

According to spokesman Hyanne Kichaven, the backlog has been eliminated. Checks are now going out within 30 days of receipt, she said.

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QUICK TAKES

Nielsen ratings released Thursday showed CBS winning the daytime competition for the 700th week in a row, a streak that began on March 9, 1989.... Sally Field will return to “ER” this season as the mentally ill mother of Nurse Abby (Maura Tierney).... The Ray Charles gospel concerts scheduled for Thursday and next Friday at the Kodak Theatre have been postponed, with no new dates announced yet.... In the wake of Fox’s success with “American Idol,” CBS has ordered an update of “Star Search,” the 1980s and ‘90s syndicated talent contest hosted by Ed McMahon.