Singer/songwriter Uncle Kracker has wrapped work on "No Stranger To Shame," the follow-up to his 2000 Lava/Atlantic debut album "Double Wide." The new album, due in July, was produced by Mike Bradford, who also helmed "Double Wide" The first single will be a cover of Dobie Gray's 1973 No. 5 pop hit, "Drift Away," with Gray chiming in on backing vocals.
Fans can download demos of the album tracks "Memphis Soul Song" and "Keep It Comin'" from Kracker's official Web site. Kracker will tour in support of the set later this summer, but he can currently be seen on the road as a member of Kid Rock's Twisted Brown Trucker band. The group hits Reno, Nev., tomorrow (April 9) and will be on the road through May 26 in Omaha, Neb.
"Double Wide" peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 1.7 million copies in the U.S. to date, according to SoundScan. In addition to topping the charts in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and Austria, the single "Follow Me" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart and No. 5 on the Hot 100.
-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Posted by Jen on Monday, April 8, 2002 @ 07:33 p.m.
The spiky-haired brat of Fox's long-running The Simpsons and his animated clan are being decried by Brazilian officials for an episode they say sullied the reputation of international party destination Rio de Janeiro. In fact, not only are they decrying, they're crying lawsuit.
According to reports out of the South American country, Rio's tourism agency, Riotur, has asked its legal counsel to file a civil lawsuit (in a U.S. court) against the network over the March 31 Simpsons installment, "Blame it on Lisa."
Riotur had a cow because, from its point of view, the $18 million it spent last year to promote Rio as a really cool place to visit went down the drain the night Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa made their resort destination out to be a haven for mad monkeys, among other perceived slights. (Baby Maggie's off the hook 'cause she stayed Stateside during the episode.)
Rio's O Globo newspaper says Riotur took exception to the parts of the story where: (1) Homer is held for $50,000 ransom by a cab driver; (2) Bart is swallowed whole by a boa constrictor; (3) Marge is "helped" by unhelpful Brazilian police; (4) Lisa, et al, are attacked by mad monkeys; and, (5) Teletubbies is parodied as Teleboobies.
All right, that last one didn't make Rio's hit list (as far as we know). But the other ones are all there. In fact, Brazilians also took offense to their countrymen being depicted as Spanish-accented, thick-mustachioed conga dancers. (Despite the accents, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil--which is noted in the episode; the conga has Cuban roots, not South American.)
Not to give Riotur more ammo, but we suppose they could also take offense at stuff like, "Orfanto do Anjos Imudos," the sign seen on the local Rio orphanage in the episode. (Translation: "Filthy Angels Orphanage.")
A Fox spokesperson did not immediately comment Monday.
Like The Simpsons, the network could choose to blame this one on Lisa. (It was her fault, after all, that the family went to Rio--the do-gooder wanted to do a welfare check on a Brazilian orphan she'd been sending money to.)
Or the network could just plead that The Simpsons is an equal-opportunity offender. (Check out the 65-message-long thread, "Simpsons is insulting to Canadians," on the alt.tv.simpsons newsgroup; Japanese, Australians, French, British and leprechauns, among others, have also been mocked on the 'toon.)
More than likely, though, Fox will plead the First Amendment and say the show was a broad parody and thus protected as free speech.
Whatever it does, it probably shouldn't send Bart to mediate the crisis. Not until he learns to say, "Ay, carumba!" in Portuguese anyway.
Posted by Jen on Monday, April 8, 2002 @ 07:29 p.m.
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