Boaters say rap lyrics befoul lake air
CHICAGO, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Artist Snoop Dogg rapped to a different beat at a weekend Chicago concert with boaters blowing horns to protest the bass-heavy music and obscenity-laced lyrics.
The protest -- which organizers said included boaters on Lake Michigan and people in the arena parking lot honking car horns -- followed a second weekend of hip-hop music wafting across the lake, Tom Collins told the Chicago Tribune.
"It's not just about the boaters," Collins said. "It's also about the families who want to walk along the lakefront."
He was one of dozens of boaters who exchanged e-mails about an Aug. 26 concert that featured hip-hop artists. Collins said boaters left the docks when that concert blasted loud music and shook their boats, the newspaper reported Monday.
Snoop Dogg's performance Sunday at the Charter One pavilion was part of the Download 2007 festival.
Boaters have complained to Charter One officials, the Chicago Park District and city officials.
Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said performers must abide by noise levels established two years ago when the venue operated by Live Nation opened. She said the venue maintains a dialogue with boaters, including posting a concert schedule.
CBS stands by 'Kid Nation'
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- CBS is standing behind its "Kid Nation" reality TV show about kids plunked in a New Mexico ghost town despite criticism of how the kids were treated.
But CBS is concerned enough about keeping its advertisers that it has begun providing them with some answers by providing screenings of the first episode, The New York Times reported Monday.
The show takes 40 children, ages 8 to 15, and places them in a "ghost town" in New Mexico to see if they can develop a working society without adult help. After production ended, one parent complained about her child being injured and about the set's working conditions. The New Mexico attorney general's office is investigating, and Hollywood unions have questioned whether the production skirted child labor laws.
"Everybody's questions about the show will be answered when it airs," said Tom Forman, "Kid Nation" executive producer.
But uncertainties swirling around "Kid Nation" may make it difficult for the series to find a home for a second season, for which casting has begun, because of child labor laws in other states, another executive said.
Non-musicals dominate Broadway this year
NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The play's the thing this fall on New York's Broadway as a dozen non-musicals -- and only three musicals -- will open before the end of the year.
"Last year, there were a lot of plays that were a little heavier," producer Bob Boyett told Variety. "The difference in this coming season is that we have a much broader and, in my opinion, a much brighter spectrum."
Scheduled to make their Broadway debuts are Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention," Tom Stoppard's "Rock n' Roll," the London hit "The Seafarer," Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County" and Mark Twain's farce "Is He Dead?"
Theresa Rebeck makes her Broadway debut with "Mauritius." Also on tap are six revivals.
At the same time, three musicals are slated to debut before the holidays: an adaptation of Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein," Disney's "The Little Mermaid" and the Shakespeare-in-Texas work "Lone Star Love."
Israeli fund underwrites Palestinian film
JERUSALEM, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Israel's Rabinovich Fund has helped finance Palestinian director Tawfik Abu Wael's new film about a Palestinian couple's trip from Ramallah to Jerusalem.
In addition to $400,000 from the Israeli fund, "Tanathor" has received financing from the Locarno Film Festival's "Open Doors" scheme, Variety reported.
The film will be produced by Israeli executive Amir Harel, who also worked on the Oscar-nominated Israeli-Palestinian co-production "Paradise Now," as well as Cannes Camera d'Or winner "Jellyfish."
"Tawfik is one of the most promising and talented directors who work here," Harel told Variety. "The script is strong and emotional, and there is a lot of potential to make a great movie out of it."
"Tanathor," Arabic for "Tumbling," will start shooting in early 2008.
