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w Ryan Adams leaves country for rock on latest release BY DAVID BAUDER THE ASSOCIATED I'llESS NEW YORK - Ryan Adams hasn’t arrived for a scheduled af ternoon interview, sending in stead an apologetic manager with an explanation. “Ryan went out last night with Ron Wood,” the manager said. Oh. Enough said. The bar tab for a summit between two gener ations of notorious rock ‘n’ roll party animals must have ap proached the gross national prod uct of some small nations. But all is not as it seems. The next day, Adams insists it was a low-key evening; his Rolling Stones pal wasn’t drinking. Twin cups of Alka Seltzer and black coffee sug gest some recovery time for Adams. His music is confounding ex pectations, too. After making a name for himself with heartfelt alt country, Adams releases a rocking disc Tuesday that’s even louder and more energetic than the new one by his buddies in The Strokes. “All of my band shows have been loud, rock experiences,” Adams said. “I got tired of taking r all my songs and reconfiguring them into a live rock thing so I could play electric guitar.” Asked if many fans wece eager to hear the change of pace, Adams said, “I’m hearing the opposite kind of mumbling, that I’ve totally deserted people, deserted my craft and (I’m) bandwagon-jumping.” Such is life when you’ve spent a few years on music’s most-likely to-succeed list, since his days fronting the North Carolina band Whiskeytown and mostly since 2000’s “Heartbreaker,” his naked confessional disc about a failed love affair. The expectations have been there long enough for some fol lowers to grow impatient and for Adams, who turns 29 on Wednesday, to question the worth of such success. The prolific Adams, barely able to sit still for an interview, exudes restless creativity. He talks about forming his own record company — news to his current one — to re lease songs once a month that don’t fit on his albums. The album, “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” is two weeks’ worth of work with some friends and producer James Barber. “I can’t seem to show people enough of the puzzle yet to show them that the picture is more com plex,” he said. “Every time I make a record I’ve redefined who I am. They’re not proclamations of ‘Look at me now.’ They are liter ally one little bite.” One interviewer described “Rock ‘n’ Roll” as Adams holding a mirror to his record collection, a description he found fair. The song “Shallow” is Nirvana meets Cheap Trick. “So Alive” channels early U2. Echoes of The Smiths and Replacements turn up elsewhere. In a perversely funny twist, the title cut is the quietest, most soul baring cut on the disc. “There’s this girl I can’t get out of my head,” he sings, “and I don’t feel cool at all.” For the most part, it’s Adams having fun. The songs lack polish but not inspiration. Adams describes him self as a sketch artist who’s always working. He jokes that if he gets hit by a bus, he’ll have more ma terial for posthumous albums than Tupac Shakur. “I want as many pieces of art to get out to as many people as will have them,” he said. “It’s not about how many people. It’s about how many songs.” Mass popularity seems to confine many of the artists who achieve it, he said. Through his song, “New York, New York,” he’s already had experience with the more disori enting aspects of public attention. It was about lost love—like most of his songs — but was adopted as an anthem for the city when released shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Adams would perform it on TV sets inexplicably decorated by American flags. His record company, Lost Highway, will love to hear all this, just like they love it when he blows off a round of interviews to rehearse with his band. He said he hates explaining himself and his music. “I have to defend my personali ty all the time because people have decided that I’m going to be some crazy, alcoholic weirdo who’s starting fights with Britney Spears,” he said. Well, it’s not as if Adams hasn’t provided them with ammunition. He’s lived the rock *n’ roll lifestyle. He dates an actress (Parker Posey, who co-wrote a song on the new album). He memorably blew a gasket at a Nashville concert last year when an audience member yelled out a request for “Summer of ‘69,” a hit song by Bryan, not Ryan, Adams. Adams ordered the lights on and the fan removed. The reputation even works in his favor: Adams says he often has a few free hours because everyone’s afraid to call his home before noon. “There’s a really good chance that in my early 20s I didn’t know • how to function as any kind of complex person or any kind of so phisticated individual, or even as an adult,” he said. Ultimately, he said he doesn’t want to wake up in his early 40s and find that he’s wasted his time, wasted his chances, acting like a jerk. “You pay for all the (stuff) that you miss, all the people you neglect, all the life lessons that you didn’t get to learn firsthand and that morality that gets compromised into a little world that only func tions in your apartment, in a rock club and out of a bus,” he said. “Those are not interesting things to me,” he said. “There’s nothingto write about in that scenario. Who would want to be friends with that person? I woke up.” Candice Bergen exhibits photos BY BEN DOBBIN THE ASSOCIATED 1‘HESS ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Candice Bergen’s first photography exhi bition will feature a candid shot of Arnold Schwarzenegger rubbing himself down with baby oil. The “Murphy Brown” actress snapped an array of celebrities, from Charlie Chaplin to Paul Newman, while working as a photographer for Esquire, Life and New York magazines early in her career. More than 25 pictures Bergen shot between 1971 and 1976, includ ing photo essays of Muhammad Ali, the Ku Klux Klan and Black Panther Huey P. Newton, will go on display from Nov. 6 to Jan. 4,2004, at the George Eastman House, the world’s oldest museum of photog raphy. One is a 1976 portrait of Schwarzenegger, the newly elect ed California governor, in a body builder pose. Another shows the former Mr. Universe rubbing oil on his arm as he gets ready for Bergen’s photo shoot at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. “He was adorable, amazingly confident and cocky,” Bergen writes in a caption. “Funny and flirtatious. The piece ran on the ‘Today’ show. I chose Joe Cocker’s ‘You Are So Beautiful’ to run un der the photo montage. Today I would probably choose ‘Hail to the Chief.’” Each of Bergen’s subjects is ac companied by commentary. She photographed Chaplin in 1972 on his return to the United States to receive an honorary Academy Award. Chaplain, a British citi zen who lived in California, was an outspoken liberal and sup porter of the wartime alliance with the Soviet Union. He came under harsh attack in the McCarthy era and when he went to England in the early 1950s to film “Limelight,” his entry per mit was revoked and he lived the remainder of his life in Switzerland. “Chaplin was terribly nervous about his return and over whelmed by the fuss and frenzy he caused,” Bergen wrote. “He was • New reality TV show wants to know: ‘Can you be a porn star?’ BY ANTHONY BREZNICAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — A new reality TV show asks the question: “Can YOU Be a Pomstar?” Mary Carey, the porn actress who ran for California governor in the recent recall election, is among the hosts, joining fellow adult-film stars Tabitha Stevens and Ginger Lynn. Silhouette Productions an ^ nounced Monday to shoot seven “ one-hour shows, with plans to start broadcasting on iN DE MAND Networks and other pay per-view channels on Jan. 8. A group of 28 women will com pete for a one-year contract with a major adult video distributor and a cash prize of $100,000. “It’s going to be an R-rated ver sion for pay-per-view,” Silhouette Productions chief executive offi cer Harry Feingold told The Associated Press. “Obviously, there will be outtakes that will be hardcore,” which will likely turn up on DVD release later. “It’s like ‘Paradise Hotel,’ when they go behind the scenes. Everybody wants to know what’s going on. Well, here you see it,” he said, referring to the Fox network reality series about young people trying to seduce each other. In each episode, four women ar rive at a house in Los Angeles for photo shoots, interviews and “sur prises,” according to Silhouette. Viewers will help pick eight final ists for a 90-minute finale. The statement promised “un inhibited nudity and sizzling sex uality,” while the show’s official Web site said it would feature “Real people having real sex!” Reeves CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 has as much to do with the grad ual uncloaking of the character’s humanity as his martial-arts mastery and superpowers, Reeves says. “It’s the journey of self, I guess. You start with this kind of loner, outside guy, which a lot of people can relate to, and he goes out into the world,” Reeves says. “He falls in love, he has self-doubt, he’s questioning the truth, reality. He’s got great bravery about him, ^ I think.” “The Matrix Revolutions” leaves open the possibility of fur ther sequels, but Reeves says the story of Neo is complete and his work is done. He looks forward to showcas ing a cheerier side in “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Thumbsucker,” about a teenag er with an oral fixation on his thumbs, which should help break the perception that he gravitates toward da,rk, somber characters. "3h room ul/jli 2} //W Pc^h heer,2> on fz^, v''«w £f°wn-f"own, pr«'f'3e-e|-t, z»ppef‘/>_er5>y fhe whole Mellow exj=*er/ence. Mon^^ $-| oo OFF Any Beer or, Wine Tce^^j: $2.00 Pint night! $2.00 Pints all Day! ukMneix^: Music at the Mushroom with Voices of Dissent ThMr^f»5= $1.00 off wine by the glass great selection Jill frtfvy- More Great Specials iSSSf- ~TZXf «ai opw 7 * weeK./ 3hfooln ^iyj T-oofo... c^B zjheatf z*W bc^rf ft» rush/ loo? Gm-tsfws wf ^Aseti^. 4 mmqfe (°r fioo) from C/.3.C. I n you are under the age of 21. it is aganist me law to truy alcoholic beverages \ ’SifSNEKsKF * AU ABC regulations enforced totally childlike in his enthusi asm. ‘Oooh, all this for me.’ The ‘Little Genius.’ He was utterly charming and unpretentious, un guarded and emotional.” Bergen launched her exhibition during a guest appearance at the recent third annual High Falls Film Festival, which celebrates the work of women in front of, and be hind, the camera. Barenaked - CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 chimpanzees' and postcards, complete with a conga-drum breakdown. It’s a lot of fun for a song that does not make much sense. Some of the more poppy tracks like “Postcard,” “Maybe Katie” and “Shopping” capture - the trademark silly songwriting style that has made the Ladies famous. Their only straight-ahead rock song, “Second Best,” is still on the lighter side of the band’s repertoire, but has the potential of becoming a great live song. The recorded version is some- ’ what lacking, however. The song just doesn’t come together quite right on the CD. The most surprising track on the record is “War on Drugs." In direct contrast to most of the al bum, “Wtar on Drugs” is an im passioned song written by lead singer Steven Page about sui cide. The song has a very somber tone, yet it crescendos to include some of the loudest singing Page has done on a record. The irony of the song is that it not only shows the guilt that drives peo ple to commit suicide, but also the guilt that keeps them from doing it. It’s a very powerful song considering the band it is com ing from. Overall, “Everything to Everyone” is another eclectic mix of songs arid musical styling from one of the best bands Canada has ever produced. New listeners who are not used to Page’s and Ed Robertson’s lyri cal style might have a hard time trying to get into this record. However, hardcore fans will eat it up like a good plate of Canadian bacon'. 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