Mourning Downie fans drive up Hip sales
Fans of the Tragically Hip flocked to the band’s music as they mourned the death of singer Gord Downie, which drove a huge boost in sales, streams and radio play.
Eleven albums by the Kingston, Ont., band climbed onto the Billboard Canadian Albums chart for the week that ended Oct.19. Downie’s family announced the Hip frontman’s death the previous day.
Overall sales for the band’s catalogue spiked 1,000 per cent, rising to a combined 11,000 equivalent units from 1,000 units the previous week.
The strongest performer was the Hip’s greatest-hits compilation Yer Favourites, which rose to No. 2 from No. 182 the previous week. It was held from the top position by the debut of Pink’s Beautiful Trauma.
Another 10 Hip albums made the Top 200, including 1992’s Fully Completely and 1998’s Phantom Power, while Downie’s Secret Path also reentered the chart.
Streaming of the Hip’s music also grew tremendously, rising more than 700 per cent on services like Apple Music and Spotify.
Radio stations filled their playlists with Hip favourites in the days after Downie’s death.
“Ahead by a Century” was the Hip’s most played track on the day the singer’s death was announced, followed by “Courage,” “Wheat Kings,” “New Orleans Is Sinking” and “Bobcaygeon.” The Canadian Press
Letterkenny gets a worldwide push
The hit comedy Letterkenny is getting a commitment for more episodes, a tour and a push to expand internationally.
CraveTV and Letterkenny producers New Metric Media have announced a multi-year partnership that includes the production of more than 40 new episodes.
Meanwhile, the Letterkenny Live! tour will hit 26 cities, starting Feb. 28, 2018, in Halifax, with plans to extend into the U.S.
The 90-minute touring show will feature original sketches performed by stars Jared Keeso, Nathan Dales, K. Trevor Wilsonand Mark Forward. CraveTV and New Metric Media say they also plan to build the show into “a worldwide entertainment brand.” The series and format has been rolled out to international buyers at the trade show MIPCOM in Cannes, France.
Shot in and around Sudbury, Ont., Letterkenny stars Keeso and Dales as Wayne and Daryl, best friends in a small Ontario town. Their crew includes Wilson as Squirrelly Dan and Michelle Mylett as Wayne’s sister Katy. Forward plays the town’s hockey coach.
A fourth season of six new episodes of the Canadian Screen Awardwinning show, created by Keeso, will launch later this year. A Halloween special was released last Friday.
All previous seasons of the show are available to stream on CraveTV. Star staff, wire services
Women say director harassed them
Writer and director James Toback, who received an Oscar nomination for writing Bugsy, has been accused of sexual harassment by 38 women in a report published in the Los Angeles Times.
Many of the women allege Toback approached them on the streets of New York City and promised stardom. His meetings would often end with sexual questions and Toback masturbating in front of them or dryhumping them, according to the accounts.
The 72-year-old denied the allegations, saying he never met any of the women, or if he had it “was for five minutes and (I) have no recollection.”
Thirty-one of the women spoke on the record including Louise Post, a guitarist and vocalist for the band Veruca Salt, and As the World Turns actress Terri Conn.
The Times also reported that Canadian actress Chantal Cousineau alleged that Toback made sexually explicit comments in a Toronto hotel room when she was asked to meet him for an audition in 2001. She also alleged that during a subsequent rehearsal that Toback was masturbating just off the set.
The report comes amid the ongoing downfall of producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by over three dozen women.
Though less widely known than Weinstein, Toback has had a successful four-decade career in Hollywood.
Toback used his own life as inspiration for his first produced screenplay, The Gambler, which came out in1974 and starred James Caan.
He also wrote and directed the Harvey Keitel film Fingers, the loosely autobiographical The Pick-up Artist, Two Girls and a Guy, Harvard Man and the Mike Tyson documentary Tyson. The Associated Press
Briefly
Star Trek: Discovery will explore more new worlds. The Torontomade series has been picked up for a second season by the CBS All Access streaming service. The series, which airs on Space and CraveTV in Canada, stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Jason Isaacs and Michelle Yeoh.
Major League Baseball wants to turn its first superstar, New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, into TV’s next big anti-hero. The league is involved in developing a limited TV series about the life of the hard-partying home-run king. Director-producer Allen Coulter, whose credits include The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, has been hired by MLB to oversee the project, envisioned as an unrestricted, candid look at Ruth’s raucous times off the field.
ABC News says Ashley Judd will sit down with anchor Diane Sawyer for her first television interview since the actress-activist went public with allegations against movie executive Harvey Weinstein. The interview will air Thursday on Good Morning America, World News Tonight With David Muir and Nightline.
Justin Timberlake has finally been invited back to the Super Bowl halftime show, 14 years after the “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson caused a national controversy. Timberlake will headline the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 4 in Minnesota. This will be his third halftime performance, the most for any entertainer.
Country star Alan Jackson, late guitarist and singer Jerry Reed and songwriter Don Schlitz were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. Country icon Loretta Lynn returned to the Hall of Fame for the first time since she suffered a stroke in May to formally induct Jackson. Lynn, who cancelled her tour dates this year to recover, said Jackson was the only person who could make her leave her house. Star wire services