Bowie is back to best on new album, critics say

LONDON (Reuters) - David Bowie's first album of new music in a decade sees the influential musician back to his best, critics said in reviews rushed out on Tuesday, two weeks before its release.

"The Next Day", which hits stores in Britain on March 11 and a day later in the United States, could even be the "greatest comeback in rock'n'roll history", according to The Independent's Andy Gill.

As well as a series of glowing reviews, this week also saw the launch of the second single from the 14-track album called "The Stars (Are out Tonight)", accompanied by a surreal video starring the Starman himself and Tilda Swinton as his wife.

In it the middle-aged couple's daily routine is upset by the arrival of a group of mysterious, androgynous celebrities next door who enter their dreams and reawaken old desires and fears.

"They burn you with their radiant smiles/Trap you with their beautiful eyes" read the lyrics on Bowie's official website.

As befits an "event" album with so much hype surrounding it, several newspapers gave The Next Day a track-by-track analysis.

"David Bowie's The Next Day may be the greatest comeback album ever," said Gill in his five-star assessment.

"It's certainly rare to hear a comeback effort that not only reflects an artist's own best work, but stands alongside it in terms of quality," he added.

Neil McCormick of the Telegraph also gave the record top marks, calling it "an ... emotionally charged, musically jagged, electric bolt through his own mythos and the mixed-up, celebrity-obsessed, war-torn world of the 21st century."

BOWIE MANIA

Even in an age when veteran musical comebacks are a daily occurrence, the fascination with Bowie appears to be huge.

Music magazine NME is dedicating a six-page cover feature to the singer, while the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is staging a major exhibition looking at his music, art and groundbreaking fashion.

More than 26,000 tickets have already been sold to the show, which opens on March 23.

Alexis Petridis, writing in the Guardian, argued that, while containing references to Bowie's past work, it largely avoided becoming a sonic memoir of a stellar musical career.

And he said that the secrecy surrounding the making of the album, and genuine media surprise when it was announced on Bowie's 66th birthday last month, risked overshadowing the quality of the music itself.

"That doesn't seem a fair fate for an album that's thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs," he said. "Listening to it makes you hope it's not a one-off, that his return continues apace."

Songs singled out by critics included "Valentine's Day", couched, according to Gill, "in one of the album's most engaging pop arrangements", and "Dancing Out In Space", described by Will Hodgkinson of The Times as a "nightclub smash".

"You Feel So Lonely You Could Die", the penultimate track, provides the climax which McCormick calls "fantastic, a lush companion piece to Ziggy's Rock'n'roll Suicide that drips vitriol in place of compassion."

Now that the album is complete, the question on many fans' lips is whether Bowie will return to the stage to perform live.

The singer himself has dodged the limelight altogether since the comeback, but guitarist Gerry Leonard told Rolling Stone magazine that he thought it was "50-50" that Bowie would tour.

The glam-rock star, born David Jones in south London in 1947, shot to fame with "Space Oddity" in 1969, and later with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, before establishing himself as a chart-topping force in the early 1980s.

His long absence from the music scene led to speculation he had retired, with British newspapers reporting as recently as October that he had disappeared from the limelight for good.

Bowie's last album of new material was "Reality", released a decade ago, and he underwent emergency heart surgery while on tour in 2004. His last stage performance was as a guest at a charity concert in New York in 2006.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Patrick Fugit Joins ABC's "Reckless" Pilot; Luke Ganalon Signs on for John Leguizamo Pilot

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Almost Famous" star Patrick Fugit has signed on for the ABC drama pilot "Reckless."

Fugit will play the lead role of David, whose wife is imprisoned during a political uprising overseas. When the U.S. government stymies his efforts to secure her release in the name of diplomacy, David pursues less-than-legal solutions, crafting an elaborate scheme to topple a brutal dictator.

The pilot, inspired by real events, is being written by Chris Black and executive-produced by Martin Campbell for ABC Studios.

In addition to the Fugit casting, child "Bless Me, Ultima" actor Luke Ganalon has been cast in ABC's untitled John Leguizamo comedy pilot.

Co-created by and starring Leguizamo, the pilot is based on the actor's life as a husband and father who feels like a fish out of water on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Balancing his life of privilege with friends from back home in the Bronx and relatives trying to keep Leguizamo grounded to his Latin roots, he also worries that his kids are becoming spoiled.

Ganalon will play Toby in the pilot, which is being executive produced by David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Jeff Goldenberg.

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Actress Carrie Fisher briefly hospitalized after bipolar episode

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance.

The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip.

The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. Fisher also appears to use paper to clean up after a small dog that shares the stage with her, and then stuffing the paper into a couch behind her.

"There was a medical incident related to Carrie Fisher's bipolar disorder," Fisher's spokeswoman Carol Marshall said in a statement. "She went to the hospital briefly to adjust her medication and is feeling much better now."

The actress has previously discussed her struggle with bipolar disorder. And in her 2009 memoir "Wishful Drinking," she also described her alcoholism and drug abuse.

Fisher is the daughter of Hollywood stars Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and, aside from starring in the first three "Star Wars" films, wrote the bestselling novel "Postcards from the Edge" about an actress recovering from drug addiction. She wrote the screenplay for a 1990 movie adaptation.

She in recent years had a recurring role on the animated comedy "Family Guy" and has guest starred in a number of other television shows.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Todd Eastham)

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American classical pianist Van Cliburn dies at age 78

(Reuters) - American pianist Van Cliburn, who awed Russian audiences with his exquisite Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos and won fame and fortune back home, died on Wednesday at the age of 78.

Cliburn passed away at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after suffering from advanced bone cancer, his publicist Mary Lou Falcone told Reuters. Cliburn announced in August 2012 that he had been diagnosed with the disease.

The lanky, blue-eyed Texan, who began taking piano lessons at the age of 3 and later trained at New York's prestigious Juilliard School, burst onto the world stage at the height of the Cold War and was the surprise winner of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.

His performance at the finale led to an eight-minute standing ovation, and the Russian judges asked Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for permission to give the top prize to the 23-year-old American.

Cliburn's triumph helped spur a brief thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations and made him an overnight sensation in the United States, where his name was known even among those who did not follow classical music.

"It was he that was the symbol of peace for the Cold War," Falcone said. "He was embraced by both Eisenhower and Khrushchev in the 1950s and the only musician to have a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan."

Time magazine dubbed him "The Texan Who Conquered Russia" in a cover story following his victory, and New York City gave the pianist a hero's welcome upon his return from Russia.

Taken on by the powerful impresario Sol Hurok, Cliburn was able to command high fees and practically had carte blanche in the recording studio.

His recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which he had played in Moscow, became the first classical album to go platinum and was the best-selling classical album for more than a decade.

Fans adored him for his innocence and charm more than for his music-making. In Philadelphia, a shrieking crowd tore the door handles off his limousine. In Chicago, the Elvis Presley fan club changed its name to the Van Cliburn fan club.

"He was an international legend," Falcone said. "Personally, he was a giant and publicly he was a giant."

But in 1978, Cliburn walked off the stage, professionally exhausted. He played occasionally in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including a performance in the White House for President Ronald Reagan and visiting Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

TAUGHT PIANO BY HIS MOTHER

Critics said the publicity-fueled demand and the public's taste had kept him from growing beyond a relatively narrow collection of romantic pieces, such as his signature Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos.

"Despite his fame, the Texas-sized pianist has been widely regarded among serious musicians as an immensely gifted but rather unreflective artist of unfulfilled and probably unfulfillable potential," a New York Times critic wrote after Cliburn's retirement.

Born on July 12, 1934, in Shreveport, Louisiana, Harvey Lavan Cliburn Jr. was taught piano by his mother. He gave his first public recital at 4. By age 5, even though he could not read or write, he was completely literate in music.

He won several local and regional awards and in 1951 began studies at Juilliard under Rosina Lhevinne. She schooled him in the traditions of the great Russian romantic composers, setting the stage for Cliburn's victory in Moscow seven years later.

"My relationship with the Russians was personal, not political," he said in a 1989 interview. He played in Moscow and St. Petersburg when he briefly returned to the concert stage years later.

Cliburn, a lifelong Baptist who did not smoke or drink, became a prominent and popular figure in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and was well known for his generosity, contributing vast sums to the Broadway Baptist Church and other causes.

He lived on what friends called "Van Cliburn time." He rose in the early evening, would dine at midnight and preside over after-dinner conversations at 4 a.m. Usually heading the dinner table was his mother, Rildia Bee, who lived with him until her death at 97.

In 1996, Cliburn was named in a palimony lawsuit by Thomas Zaremba, who claimed a portion of Cliburn's income and assets and accused Cliburn of possibly exposing him to the AIDS virus during a 17-year relationship. The lawsuit eventually was dismissed.

Cliburn also supported the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, a private and nonprofit-based enterprise that offers winners cash prizes, a Carnegie Hall debut and two years of touring arranged and promoted by the competition.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2003 and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2011.

Cliburn is survived by his long-standing friend, Thomas L. Smith.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Paul Simao; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Alden Bentley, Gary Hill)

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U.S. singer Anastacia diagnosed with breast cancer again

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. singer Anastacia has been diagnosed with breast cancer having successfully battled the disease in 2003, she said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.

The 44-year-old, who had major success outside the United States with hits like the 2000 dance favorite "I'm Outta Love", has been forced to cancel plans to tour Europe starting in London on April 6.

"I feel so awful to be letting down all my amazing fans who were looking forward to 'It's A Man's World Tour'," she said in a statement. "It just breaks my heart to disappoint them," she said.

She added that she will continue writing and recording her new album and hopes to schedule a new tour as soon as possible.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Country singer, survivalist Craig Morgan heads to Arctic

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - American country singer Craig Morgan calls himself a survivalist, and he is in for a frigid challenge at an upcoming sled dog expedition in the Scandinavian arctic.

Morgan, a Tennessee native who is best known for hits "That's What I Love About Sunday" and "Redneck Yacht Club," said he could not pass up an invitation to test his survival skills in the annual Fjaellraeven Polar sled dog expedition.

"I've jumped out of airplanes, been on scuba trips, and I was just in the Bahamas in a cage with sharks," Morgan, 48, told Reuters. "Still, this is pretty extreme in my book."

The harrowing 205-mile dog-led adventure from the frozen mountains of Norway to Sweden takes place April 9-13 and promises to teach ordinary people how to last through sub-zero temperatures and lashing Arctic winds.

Morgan, who will learn how to handle sled dogs along with 20 other participants, will also bring along the camera crew from his reality show "Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors" on the Outdoors Channel to chronicle the expedition.

"I had not heard about this event before I was asked to participate," said Morgan, who will bring along his son, Kyle.

"Once they asked me I said, 'Absolutely,'" he added. "I'm a survivalist; anytime I get the opportunity to test my survival skills I jump at it."

On his TV show, Morgan tests his survival instincts in situations such as skydiving and aerial bow fishing.

Morgan, a U.S. Army veteran whose only prior sub-zero experiences include stays in Korea and blustery Iowa, said he looks forward to learning how to work with the sled dogs.

"I love dogs, have dogs of my own, but these dogs are completely different," he said.

"They sleep outside in the snow ... the language that you give the commands is different. I'll have to get into their world and work the way they are used to."

Morgan is also the host of the Outdoor Channel's "Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge." He has released six studio albums over his 13-year career, most recently "This Ole Boy" in 2012.

(Reporting by Vernell Hackett; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Jackie Frank)

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Spielberg to lead Cannes film festival jury

PARIS (Reuters) - Director Steven Spielberg will preside over the 2013 Cannes film festival jury in May, organizers said on Thursday, an A-list casting that adds Hollywood firepower to the high-brow international festival.

Spielberg, whose presidential drama "Lincoln" took home two Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards, will succeed Italian director and actor Nanni Moretti, who helmed the jury for Cannes' 65th anniversary last year.

The 12-day festival, which takes place on the Cote d'Azur in the south of France, is a major showplace for new movies from around the world that attracts top and emerging screen writers, deal-makers and hundreds of film critics.

Spielberg's blockbuster film E.T. screened as a world premiere at Cannes in 1982, and festival President Gilles Jacob called the respected director a "regular" at the prestigious film festival.

"Since then I've often asked Steven to be Jury President but he's always been shooting a film," Jacob said. "So this year, when I was told 'E.T. phone home,' I understood and immediately replied 'At last!'"

Spielberg called the festival a "platform for extraordinary films to be discovered and introduced to the world."

The 66-year-old director's four-decade career has included such varied films as "Jaws," "Schindler's List," "The Color Purple" and "Jurassic Park."

Spielberg was passed over at Sunday's Oscars for Best Director for "Lincoln," the story of the president battling to abolish slavery and end the civil war, but the film provided actor Daniel Day-Lewis with his third Best Actor award.

"Lincoln," distributed by Disney, also won for production design.

The Cannes film festival runs from May 15 to 26.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Dale Robertson, actor in U.S. westerns, dies at 89

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dale Robertson, the star of scores of Hollywood Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, has died at the age of 89 in Southern California, Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla said on Thursday.

Robertson, who was best known for his role of special agent Jim Hardie in the NBC television series "Tales of Wells Fargo" from 1957-1962, died on Tuesday, the hospital said.

The "Sitting Bull" star had been in poor health for about two years and had a cancer diagnosis last week, his niece, Nancy Love Robertson, told The Oklahoman newspaper.

Born Dayle Lymoine Robertson in Harrah, Oklahoma, in 1923, the actor attracted the attention of Hollywood agents after a Los Angeles photographer posted his photo in a display window.

Robertson, who served in Europe and Africa during World War Two, starred in 60 films and television shows over his five-decades acting career, starting out with roles in 1950s Westerns such as "Devil's Canyon" and "Dakota Incident."

The actor was inducted in 1983 into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Western Performers Gallery in Oklahoma City, alongside some of Hollywood's most famous on-screen cowboys including John Wayne and Roy Rogers.

Robertson is survived by his wife, Susan, and two daughters.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Dennis Rodman calls North Korean leader "an awesome kid"

BEIJING (Reuters) - Former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman emerged from four days in North Korea on Friday, calling the leader of the reclusive country "an awesome kid".

Rodman, known for his tattoos, body piercings and flamboyance, was in North Korea to film a sports documentary, and watched a basketball game alongside the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.

Kim "is like his grandfather and his father, who are great leaders, he is an awesome kid, very honest and loves his wife so much", Rodman told the Chinese government news agency Xinhua before leaving the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Friday.

Kim, 30, is the grandson of Kim Il-sung, who founded North Korea, and the son of Kim Jong-il. Both ruled the country with an iron fist.

Kim has maintained his father's drive to secure nuclear arms for his impoverished country, with North Korea last month conducting its third nuclear test, drawing the condemnation of world powers and the United Nations.

At Thursday's basketball game, Rodman and Kim laughed and conversed in English, and later had an "amicable" dinner, Xinhua quoted the former Chicago Bulls player as saying. Kim attended secondary school in Switzerland, but his language abilities remain a mystery.

North Korea routinely denounces U.S. "hostility" and no peace treaty was signed after a truce ended the 1950-53 Korean War. But Xinhua said Kim told Rodman over dinner that he hoped further sports exchanges would promote "mutual understanding between peoples of the two countries".

Asked how his visit might help, Rodman told the agency: "About the relationship, no one man can do anything. His country and his people love him. I love him, he is an awesome guy."

Before meeting Kim, Rodman appeared to have mixed up the two Koreas, suggesting he might meet South Korean rapper Psy during his trip to the North.

Rodman came to North Korea to shoot footage for a show to air on the U.S. television network HBO, a producer travelling with the group said.

Arriving at Beijing airport, Rodman brushed past reporters without speaking.

(Reporting by Terril Yue Jones; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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