The Alamo Drafthouse, Austin’s theater du jour, has announced the initial lineup for their third annual Rolling Roadshow. The gist is pretty cool.They take classic movies and show them in the iconic location featured in the movie. So for example, in past years they showed The Goonies in Astoria, OR. And Close Encounters of a Third Kind at Devil Rock, Field of Dreams at the Iowa baseball field, et cetera, et cetera.

Pretty awesome, eh? The whole thing is done caravan style, travelling 9,000 miles in 28 days, showing 11 movies all in their original 35 mm print. It’s like the greatest drive in movie theater experience ever conceived.  Harry over at AICN will be doing write ups for folks who can’t make it to any of the movies.
This year’s lineup:

• Fandango in San Elizario, Texas: Wed, July 18

• Friday in South Central Los Angeles, CA: Fri, July 20

• Lost Boys in Santa Cruz, CA: Wed, July 25

• Stand By Me in Brownsville, Oregon: Sat, July 28

• North By Northwest at Mt. Rushmore, SD: Tues, July 31

• Goldfinger at Fort Knox: Fri, August 3

• A Christmas Story in Cleveland, OH: Sun, August 5

• John Waters Marathon in Baltimore, MD: Fri, August 10

• Deliverance on the Chattooga River, GA: Sun, August 12

• Burt-athon in Atlanta, GA: Tues, August 14

• Smokey and the Bandit in Texarkana, AK: Wed, August 15

For our money, we’d try to make it for Goldfinger, Smokey and the Bandit, and Stand By Me. Unfortunately we’re still to scared of getting butt raped to see Deliverance and even worse we don’t think white people are allowed in South Central. Just kidding. Wouldn’t it be great to great blunted and drink 40 oz. during Friday?

“The Rolling Roadshow Tour is not simply a series of outdoor movie screenings,” says Alamo Drafthouse Cinema founder Tim League. “The tour is the culmination of everything we have worked towards at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: fantastic Cinema happenings with celebrity guests, wacky tie-ins, contests, scavenger hunts and the thrill of watching your favorite movies in the exact locations in which they were filmed.”

“I am tremendously excited to be a part of the [Roadshow] experience,” says Chuck Dorman, star of the opening film of the tour, Fandango. “I think fan support for this event is going to be unusually high so I’m going to do everything I can to help make it an extremely memorable occasion.”

“Tell your boss now that you’re feeling like you might be under the weather July 18 through August 15,” says Roadshow co-founder Karrie League, “because we want to see you out with us on the 2007 Rolling Roadshow Tour caravan!”

Werd.

BFF’s actor Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott can’t get enough of each other. After teaming up for Gladiator (2000), A Good Year (2006) and the upcoming American Gangster, the mates decided aw what the hell let’s go at it again.

According to Variety, the duo, are going to make a revisionist take on Robin Hood from the perspective of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Cleverly enough, Nottingham, will be the name of the film written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, creators of the Showtime series “Sleeper Cell.” Universal Studios picked up the film for a cool seven figures.

Crowe stars as the Sheriff of Nottingham in a revisionist take on the Robin Hood tale, with Nottingham as a noble and brave lawman who labors for a corrupt king and engages in a love triangle with Maid Marion and Robin Hood.

Production will start next year.

Scott will direct the film after he helms Leonardo DiCaprio this fall in a CIA thriller for Warner Bros., based on the David Ignatius novel “Body of Lies.” William Monahan is writing that script and Scott is producing with Donald De Line.

One supposes that Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott will square off against Martin Scorcese/Leo DiCaprio in a steel cage, tag team match at this year’s Summer Slam for world supremacy.

If you’re in the Philly area from, well, now until may 12, pick up tickets to see the Langhorne Players production of David Mamet’s Pulitzer-winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross. You may be asking yourself, why would I want to go see a local theater production? And the answer is, you might not. But if you’re in the Philly area, the show is being directed by good friend Ben Smallen. It’s his first professional production and he could use the love and support of our Philly readers.

Plus, it’s fucking Mamet! Need I offer more. You can grab a cheese steak, take in a ballgame and grab some good theater while you’re there!

The production runs April 27th, 28th and 29th; May 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th; May 9th (followed by talkback session with the director and cast), 10th, 11th and 12th. For more information go to www.langhorneplayers.org and for tickets please contact the box office at 215-860-0818.

This is fantastic, with every leak coming out about the New Pornographers latest record. We know it doesn’t drop until August, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get jazzed about every little cookie crumb. Seems that the band unveiled the cover artwork during their Coechella set this weekend. Well Bradley’s Almanac has the artwork for you. Take a gander of Neko Case’s handywork.

David S. Goyer, super stud writer of genre fare, like oh say, the little known movie, Batman Begins, The Blade Trilogy, the recent The Invisible, and cult classic Dark City.  He’s also attached to several films like The Flash and Jumper.  

Now word comes from yonder that Goyer is stepping into the directors chair for the Magneto film.  It’s sort of a precursor to the X-Men films.  Following the early years when Professor Xavier and Eric Lench were superpowered friends, the film assumingly will deal with the events causing the fallout between the two.

Actors Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart won’t be in the film, their roles will go to actors in their 20’s or 30’s.   Could be good or it could be a disaster.  Goyer is really lacking when it comes to directing the material he writes.  Maybe it’s that he hasn’t found the right property, but whenever another director takes his material the movies are generally gold and whenver Goyer directs, well, we don’t want to rag on him too much.

What a weekend.  Okay so not really, unless you count watching 30 hours of NFL draft coverage a crazy weekend.  Which we did to see how the Patriots would end up selecting.  And though they did draft some college players it seems the pending arrival of wideout Randy Moss has everyone in a tizzy.  Anyway some stories for the watercooler this morning.

• Disturbia was the number one movie at the box office this weekend.  It was an anemic weekend at the movies and theater owners are probably say to themselves, “where is everyone?”  But then they sigh and remember that Spider-Man 3 opens at midnight on Thursday and will probably make just under a bajillion-gazillion dollars.
• Presidential hopeful, John Edwards, admits that a tax-hike to pay for health care coverage may be a possibility.  Whether you agree with him, that raising taxes for social programs, as opposed to digging the country out of Dubya’s debt, is a good thing at least he has the balls to put it on the table for discussion.  It’s like you can’t even mention raising taxes without getting your head on a guillotine in this country.
• Condi goes on the offensive against claims made by former CIA head George Tenet.  Tenet, claims in a his new book, that the current administration never even held “serious discussions” about the ramifications for going to War with Iraq.  They just made the decision and went with it.  My only thing is where was George Tenet five years ago?  At this point it’s to little to late.
•   NASCAR fans got a little drunk and a little upset yesterday when Jeff “Pretty Boy” Gordon over took “The Intimidator” for sixth place on the all-time wins list.  And everywhere the mullets shook in the wind from tossed Miller High Lifes raining down from the stands.

That’s about it… what a crappy weekend.  I’m sure there was more going on, but we’re in the process of moving offices and so things are influx.

Well you got that early look at what is quickly becoming, next to The Dark Knight, the Oysters most anticipated summer 2008 movie. Iron Man, directed by Jon Favreau and starring among others: Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, Terrance Howard and Jeff Bridges.

Now, USA Today, has a first look at Robert Downey Jr. portraying industrial billionaire Tony Stark.

What’s always been very cool about the Tony Stark character, besides his alcoholism (which makes Downey Jr. a perfect actor to play the role) and playboy ways, was that his suit of armor wasn’t just some Batman costume used to fight crime. The suit was the one thing keeping Tony Stark alive. Even when he wasn’t wearing the suit, he still needed the chest plate plugged into his heart to keep it pumping. From the looks of this picture, it seems that The Favs has decided to keep this crucial element of the comic book into the movie.

It’s great to see Robert Downey Jr. get his life and career back on track. He’s been on quite a roll recently, with supporting parts. It looks like this time he might have found the perfect mainstream entertainment for his talents.

Yeah, yeah, usually we leave this kind of stuff to Page 6. But the thought of Prince destroying Paris Hilton publicly to her face is just too awesome to not mention. Apparantly The Symbol pulled the slutty heiress on stage at a Vegas concert to sing a duet and then told the audience, “Let’s see if she can really sing.”

Paris Hilton was in the audience as Prince performed at Club 3121 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas’s Club 3121 on April 20. At one point, Prince invited the “Stars Are Blind” crooner to join him onstage.

A “delighted” Hilton scampered onto the stage and the “Purple Rain” singer handed the wanna-be-pop star the microphone and told the audience, “Let’s see if she can really sing,” a source told the mag.

An angry and humiliated Hilton stormed offstage — and left the club two songs later, reports Us.

She probably was just leaving to have unprotected sex with the son of a Greek shipping magnate. Cause isn’t that what all slutty socialites do?

And kill this song does. It just absolutely destroys. Glynnie over at G.F.O.M. turned me on to this spoken poetry/rap/Atari video game beats ditty from Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip. Basically, mc Scroobius Pip throws down the gauntlet calling out music lovers and the artists to pull their heads out of their collective asses and try to make the world a better place, or at least start thinking about it.

The le Hope, UK resident does all of this with his own take on the Ten Commandments and twists their structure to create his own commandments. To wit:

“thou shalt remember that guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and never will be”

“thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-english speaking countries as to those that occur in english speaking countries”

“thous shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets.”

But then he turns it around and says to not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmon Decker, Syd Barrett, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix in vain.

“Thou shalt not read NME, thou shall not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover.”

“Thou shalt not use art or poetry to get in a girl’s pants, thou shalt use it to get into their mind.”

It’s all great stuff and worth a listen even if you don’t enjoy hip-hop. Especially when he says that even when it comes down to it all musicians are just bands, and then listens like the 15 most important bands of the past and immediate past.

Guess I’ll just have to start thinking for myself. The EP is out on Lex Records. Check out the video and the subtle nod to Bobby Dylan.

MP3: Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - “Thou Shalt Always Kill”

The man behind The Who, or depending on your POV, the guy in front of the seminal British band, figures it’d be wise to let the talentless, common folk be able to compose music. Guess he’s been watching too much “American Idol.” Anyway, the rocker has unveiled computer software for creating digital music.

To wit, courtesy of Yahoo Music:

The Who guitarist/songwriter said that with a voice recording, a digital image and a rhythm clapped into a microphone, his new “Method” software will create spontaneous digital music and allow anyone to be a composer, and possibly a rock star.

“You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It’s as simple as that,” said Townshend, a technical wizard who pioneered the use of the synthesizer more than 35 years ago on the classic tunes “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Baba O’Riley.”

The project, which started percolating during his art school days in the 1960s, was developed by mathematician/composer Lawrence Ball and software developer Dave Snowdon.

But you better start thinking of songs quickly. Beginning on May 1, the software will be available to use at The Lifehouse Method. Unfortunately, that free software will cost money beginning August 1. But that’s three months! An entire summer’s worth! Don’t get fooled, (har! har!) cause there isn’t much to do over at the site, but you can play around with the basic tracks that make up “Baba O’Riley.” Which is sorta fun, for about 45 seconds, give or take.

MP3: The Who - “Baba O’Riley”

We’re beginning to get the feeling that this may be the summer of The Dark Knight. Already photoshopped photos, rumors, and spy pics are running like a gang of bulls through the streets of Pampalona. Which, given the love and adoration for Chris Nolan’s first stab at Batman only makes a lot of sense.

Eric Roberts, brother to Julia, father to Emma, and maybe one of our top five actors of all time has just been cast as a mob boss in The Dark Knight. No word on his character, but consider this just awesome. Cause here’s the thing? We’ve never realized why Mr. Roberts never got the love his sister did? You know? This was the same guy who got nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 for his role in Runaway Train and lost out to some old dude from Cocoon.

Sometimes when there were no cartoons on Saturday morning, we’d throw on our karate outfit and watch Best of the Best, or even if we were feeling frisky throw on Werewolves of Wallstreet. Anyway, we’re glad that an Eric Roberts rennaissance is about to take place, between this news, his role on hit television shows, “Heroes” and “The L Word,” and his screen time in the criminally undersen A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Not to mention star turns in videos for Mariah Carey and The Killers. Did we mention he was in an extended commerical for Ski-Doos? Oh yeah.

The Decemberists have plans to launched a five city U.S. tour. Said tour will have the ultra-literate-aren’t-we-so-much-smarter-than-you band playing with orchestras. Each performance will have the gang playing new arrangements by Sean O’Laughlin, who will also be conducting performances (with the exception of the Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl show).

My only question is, um, how come Boston isn’t on this list? Not only have the Boston Pops worked with bands like Guster, My Morning Jacket and Aimie Mann in the past, but this year Keith Lockhart and the Pops will be swinging shows with The Cowboy Junkies and M. Ward. Wouldn’t you love to hear The Decemberists team up with the Pops? I know I would. Hint, hint, cough, cough. C’mon guys lets git’r'dun.

The Decemberists U.S. tour dates:

July
7 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl (w/ LA Philharmonic)
13 Atlanta, GA - Chastain Amphitheater (w/ Atlanta Symphony)
14 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (w/ Baltimore Symphony)
15 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center (w/ Mann Festival Orchestra)
18 Chicago, IL - Millennium Park (w/ Grant Park Orchestra)