Volume 2, Issue 19 August 31 - September 13, 2000

Rock band Tool is making big promises to their fans. After no new releases since 1996's Aenima, the band plans to release two new records within the year. The recording of the studio album is supposed to start in October. The release of that album is planned for February or March of next year. The other album will apparently be a live recording that is due to be released around Christmas...

Singer Tori Amos gave birth to a little baby girl on September 5. Tori and her husband, Mark Hawley, a recording engineer, have not announced the name of their daughter yet...

Speaking of children, Michael Jackson is supposed to give a speech at the Oxford Union this academic year. The subject will be child welfare. The star will speak to the Oxford Debating Society about the welfare of children around the world. That the police have investigated the singer at least once for child molestation doesn't seem to bother the British. They say the investigations aren't relevant to the subject, since the singer has never been convicted...

Rapper Eminem is facing protests from different camps now. After being in trouble with Christina Aquilera about his lyrics, Eminem has gotten more and more enemies. Various groups planned on protesting against his lyrics at the Video Music Awards that were held Thursday, September 7. Next to the live protests at the VMAs, California-based company 30 Minute Photos Etc. has invited presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush to broadcast an advertisement against Eminem's lyrics on TV during the VMAs. The company announced that they'd pull all their scheduled commercials during the program and replace them with Public Service Announcements against Eminem's message and lyrics. No matter what people try to do against him, he's still popular with the MTV crowd. The rapper went home with three awards: Best Male Video, Best Rap Video and the prestigious Video of the Year Award. The other big winners were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who received three awards for Californication, and N'Sync...

Courtney Love, singer of Hole, is a lot less happy with the music industry. In an essay which she published on Hole's official website, www.holemusic.com, she talks about piracy and music. No, she's not bashing Napster, as seems to be the trend with musicians. Courtney bashes record companies, accusing them of stealing and mistreating artists. In her essay she explains how bands, after selling a million records, end up with exactly zero, while the record company makes a profit of $6.6 million and owns the rights to the music...

Hole has also found a new management company. Left Bank Management, under the leading hand of Allen Kovak, has signed the band. Left Bank also owns the Independent Beyond label, which might come in handy after Courtney's tirade against record companies.

THREE QUESTIONS WITH KERI RUSSELL

Do you have a wild side?

Oh, of course I do. My body may not be covered in tattoos, but I definitely like to have fun. I'm not always the good little girl ... Of course people think I'm this goody-goody-two-shoes coming off shows like "Felicity" and "The Mickey Mouse Club," but you know what? I don't really mind. The way you look influences that perception as well, and I think my face-- with the curly hair and the light eyes and round face-- says, "I'm nice."

What's the deal with the haircut fiasco?

I have a little more perspective now that a year has passed, but I still think the whole thing is just bizarre. Blaming my haircut ... the show just got lost on Sunday nights, and in its second season it was still trying to find its voice. Yet those factors were ignored because all anybody cared to talk about was how awful my hair looked. I did not cut my hair without the network's knowledge. It was a story idea! It wasn't something I opted to do, but something I was asked to do. I said yes because it seemed logical that this college girl would do that in order to make a clean break from a guy she'd been obsessing about for over a year.

How much is your character a part of you?

I think Felicity's an exaggerated version of myself, but I tend to cover myself up much more than Felicity does. She's so emotional and always wears her heart on her sleeve. I guess you could say she acts how I feel a lot of the time.

Might as well start with the obligatory Star Wars news: the updated trilogy will be released to video (not DVD) this holiday season with a bonus two-minute feature on the making of Episode II. It should fit nicely on your shelf next to the original '80's VHS trilogy, the remastered re-release from a few years ago, and the Han Solo figurine you rescued from your mom's garage sale last summer. And in case you hadn't heard, Jar Jar Binks will be in the next installment...

In TV news (but still sort of kind of film related), Robert Downey Jr. will do his first post-jail stint as actor extraordinaire on eight episodes of the overly-quirky "Ally McBeal." At first my opinion of the brilliant (if troubled) actor sank when I learned he was going to share lip space with Calista Flockhart, but then I found out he was getting $75,000 an episode. Way to go, dude! Of course, you'd have to pay me $75,000 just to watch an episode, but I've got a somewhat cleaner police record...

Hollywood is all pissed off that President Bill Clinton was jokingly awarded an Oscar for "Best President" by an ass-kissing Gray Davis, the governor of California. Although the statue was fake-- some suspect it came from Paramount Pictures' props department-- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts is peeved at the abuse of its trademarked little man. They're obviously stopping short of demanding the fake Oscar back or suing the President (which, we already know, doesn't faze him) but are anxious to clear the air and hear some apologies. Come on, guys, Clinton deserves that puppy way more than Marisa Tomei...

And finally, Jennifer Lopez is reportedly anxious to put her infamously large hips to use and have a child. Apparently, Sean "Puffy" Combs is less ready to have a little Pufflet. Yeah, the kid might steal your songs and call it sampling.

--Chris J. Magyar