Pick Hits...

Off the Record...
The Black Crowes
Lions
The Crowes new album, Lions, is a testament to what it means to be a rock n' roll band. The first single, Lickin, is an absolute monster. Featuring a Rich Robinson guitar riff that sounds as if Tom Morello were sitting in with Aerosmith, the song prances and dances with bravado and finds Robinson is stellar vocal form. Singer Chris Robinson is about the best frontman out there for this type of music, his brother Rich has more riffs up his sleeve that Joe Perry, and the rest of the band rocks as hard as anyone in the game. Lions is definitely the band's best work in years, one that will surely add some zest to their live shows.
 

At the Movies...
Pearl Harbor
Set against the setting of the raid on Pearl Harbor, this is the tale of two friends, one an aviator in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the other in the British Royal Air Force who find themselves in love with the same woman. It's worth stating that the emphasis on the film is said to really be on the love stories, with history the amazing and tragic backdrop. This blending of an emotional story with spectacular special effects is destined to be a huge success at the box office and will be the film everyone will have to see. Blockbuster action filmaker Jerry Bruckheimer directs with Ben Affleck heading up an all star cast.

On Video...
Before Night Falls
An impressionistic bio-drama by the director of Basquiat. Javier Bardem stars as Reinaldo Arenas, a gay Cuban poet who runs up against the censorship of the Castro regime. When his books are published abroad illegally, he becomes a target of the government's anti-homosexual stance and is thrown into prison. He finally gets a chance to come to America, as part of the 1980 Mariel boat lift. Arriving in New York, he tries to make his way but, eventually, suffering from AIDS, he takes his life in 1990. A sad, depressing but humanistically rewarding film. Johnny Depp puts in another outrageous performance.
 

The Buzz...
ABC is paring down the frequency of its hit game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from four nights to two nights next season. The Regis Philbin-hosted quiz show will now air only on Mondays and Thursdays.
 

SHREK HAS HUGE DEBUT

Excellent reviews helped propel DreamWorks' animated film Shrek to an opening second only to that of record-holder Toy Story 2. The tale of an ogre, voiced by Mike Myers, who must rescue a princess (Cameron Diaz) opened with an estimated $42.1 million this weekend, making it the best debut for a non-sequel, non-holiday animated film.

 
Limp Bizkit have set Boiler as the next single from its album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. The single was chosen via an online poll on the band's website.

The X-Files star David Duchovny is leaving the show after this season, Fox network's top executive said, after confirming that the show would be brought back in the fall for its ninth season.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. will begin broadcasting up to 100 channels of digital radio coast-to-coast across the United States.
 
The WB network is losing some of its most familiar faces as the Sarah Michelle Gellar series Buffy the Vampire Slayer moves to UPN, Shannen Doherty departs Charmed, and the photogenic aliens of Roswell get the boot altogether.

The three remaining members of Rage Against the Machine have created a new band with former Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell.

The weekly tabloid The National Enquirer has agreed to give police tape recordings that reportedly depict actor Robert Blake pressuring Bonny Lee Bakley to get an abortion.

Two television stations have pulled a commercial for an aquarium in Newport, fearing the ad may create fears about shark sightings in the Ohio River. The commercial shows a fictional television reporter being knocked into the river, supposedly by a shark. It was made to promote a new shark exhibit at the Newport Aquarium, across the river from Cincinnati.

Look out Britney and Christina. Here comes Deborah Norville. The Inside Edition anchor recorded her first song, a dance tune called Movin' On, with the help of noted producer Junior Vasquez. A video for it was to air this week on the syndicated show.

The original manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, the book that defined the restless Beat Generation of the mid-1950s, has fetched a record $2.4 million at auction.

NBC Today anchor Katie Couric's very personal report on colon cancer, in which she was filmed undergoing a colonoscopy, has earned her a Peabody Award.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, director John Woo and stuntman Hal Needham were recipients of Taurus Honorary Awards for their contributions to action films at the first-ever World Stunt Awards.

Daryl Hannah won a libel suit Tuesday against a tabloid newspaper that reported she skipped rehearsals for a play to attend her dog's birthday.