Top Chef’s exciting new location
Bravo’s top-rated and highly acclaimed reality food show, Top Chef, has big plans for the fifth season. Like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location and Top Chef has chosen a most unique place, somewhere you might not guess in a game of 20 questions. I’m not going to reveal the place until after the jump, because there may be some of you out there that want to be surprised.
Just to recap, Top Chef has already spent seasons in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. They’ve also had special episodes and finales in Napa Valley, Las Vegas, Hawaii and Aspen and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Traveling to interesting and even exotic locales is part of the fun, giving the contestants a chance to incorporate the regional foods and the style of that part of the world.
Okay, if the suspense is getting to you — I know it is — go to the jump and see where season five of Top Chef is going to be…
BROOKLYN! No, I’m not kidding. The new season of Top Chef will reportedly be set in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — hometown of Barbra Streisand. (She grew up at the corner of Newkirk and Nostrand Avenue, if you want to be precise.) Also Barbara Stanwyck, Mae West and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Seriously, this isn’t as bizarre as you might think. Brooklyn is New York. It’s one of the five boroughs and it’s quite trendy and gentrified, as they say in NYC. There are great studios out there — I remember going to Brooklyn when Another World filmed there, in the same studios that now house As the World Turns.
Also, some of the most amazing restaurants and chefs are in the metropolitan area, including season one winner Harold Dieterle. Peter Luger’s, the number one steakhouse in the world for 24 years and running, is in Brooklyn. There’ll be no shortage of guest judges or restaurants. It’s actually an excellent choice.
Top Chef contestants probably will be bunking in a Brooklyn townhouse or loft, and they’re putting together a new kitchen and studio set as speak. TC isn’t the only reality show that’ll be shooting in Brooklyn; MTV’s The Real World is also going to be filming there in the upcoming season.
Cruise, Kidman, Streisand Remember Pollack
Judging by the A-list tributes extended by those who worked with director Sydney Pollack, he wasn’t just a dedicated filmmaker, he was a dedicated friend.
“I first met him while he was in the midst of editing Tootsie (one of the all-time classics),” Tom Cruise said of Pollack, who died Monday at 73 after a battle with cancer.
“I’d seen every one of his pictures and he generously took the meeting. Years later, having lived through some short post schedules myself, I realized just how generous. He spent over six hours, with the patience of Job, answering all my questions.
“Throughout the years, unpretentious and never condescending, he shared with me what he loved about family, storytelling, food, flying and a great bottle of vino,” said Cruise, who acted for Pollack in The Firm and costarred with him in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
“He was a Renaissance man and a great friend. I will miss him dearly.”
Nicole Kidman, who also pulled double duty with Pollack, starring in his thriller The Intepreter and opposite him in Eyes Wide Shut, called him “irreplaceable to so many people.”
“He was elegant, a gentleman, smart and generous, a wonderful actor, a great cook…a true connoisseur of life,” Kimdan said today in a statement. He guided me artistically and personally, not just as a director or producer but as a mentor and a friend. I will miss him terribly.”
Barbra Streisand honored her The Way We Were director as “a great actor’s director because he was a great actor.”
“He knew how to tell a love story,” she said in a statement. “And he was a very good friend, someone I even shared secrets with.”
Similar sentiments were issued by longtime Pollack pal Martin Landau. The men became friends when both were industry newbies.
“Ever since we started together in New York, Sydney excelled at everything he set out to do, his friendships and his humanity no less than his extraordinary talents.”
Greg Kinnear made the jump from E!’s Talk Soup to the big screen when Pollack cast him in Sabrina opposite Harrison Ford.
“Sydney Pollack earned his reputation as the quintessential actor’s director. He was challenging, he cared about the work and made you feel safe, even if he was directing you in your first film. I’ll always be grateful to him. He was a class act and will certainly be missed,” said Kinnear.
George Clooney, meanwhile, was first out of the gate to remember the Hollywood legend and all-around nice guy, issuing a statement Monday night. Pollack served as a producer on Clooney’s two most recent big-screen outings, Leatherheads and Michael Clayton.
“Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act. He’ll be missed terribly.”
Candygram! Sweet Success for Madonna
Gotta give it to up for Madonna, lady sure knows how to make an exit.
Hard Candy, the Material One's final Warners album before joining Live Nation, dominated the pop chart, moving 288,000 copies to debut at No. 1 for the week ended Sunday, per SoundScan.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is now just one No. 1 away from tying Barbra Streisand's all-time record of eight chart-toppers, the standard for female artists.
Take that, Mariah.
The new single "4 Minutes" also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Madonna her 37th Top 10 hit and pushing her past Elvis for the most Top 10s of all time. The Justin Timberlake collaboration is her 53rd single to crack the Hot 100 (and her second duet, following 2003's "Me Against the Music" with Britney Spears, fresh off her split with Timberlake).
Album producers include Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, while Kanye West appears as a, um, Candy rapper.
Hard Candy concludes the singer's quarter-century career with Warner, which dates back to her 1983's self-titled debut. Last fall, Madonna signed a 10-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation, reportedly worth $120 million, that includes albums, tours, merchandise and promotion.
Madonna's megadebut knocked down the newly married Mariah Carey's E=MC2 and Leona Lewis' Spirit to Nos. 2 and 3, selling 95,000 and 84,000 copies, respectively. (Carey's album still has bragging rights for biggest debut of the year, selling 463,000 copies in its opening week last month.)
Six other new releases cracked the Top 10.
Lyfe Jennings' Lyfe Change sold 80,000 copies at No. 4. Def Leppard's Songs From the Sparkle Lounge moved 55,000 at No.5, one spot and 1,000 copies ahead of the Roots' Rising Down.
Portishead, fresh off a Coachella reunion, checked in at No. 7, selling 53,000 copies of Third. This is the group's first studio release since its 1997 eponymous sophomore disc, which landed Portishead its previous career-high-debut at No. 21.
Speaking of reunions, Mudcrutch, the early '70s precursor to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, finally recorded and released a debut album nearly four decades after forming. The self-titled effort, featuring Petty and his former bandmates, sold 38,000 to open at No. 8.
Tim McGraw lassoed in the week's seventh and final Top 10 bow with his limited-edition Greatest Hits collection. The two-disc Wal-Mart exclusive, which packages together his 2000 and 2006 retrospectives, sold 29,000 copies at No. 10.
Steve Winwood, who recently reunited with Eric Clapton for a trio of Blind Faith shows at Madison Square Garden, just missed, selling 26,000 copies of Nine Lives to debut at No. 12. The Brit rocker, who also logged in miles with Traffic, Go and the Spencer Davis Group, peaked at No. 126 with his last studio album, 2003's About Time.
The chart's other noteworthy newcomers included Carly Simon's This Kind of Love at 15, Augustana's Can't Love, Can't Hurt at 21, Lil' Mama's VYP: Voice of the Young People at 25, indie electro-rockers Mindless Self Indulgence at 27 with If, Maná's Arde el Cielo at 30 and Estelle's Shine at 38.
Overall, week-to-week sales were up 10 percent, but still down 10 percent compared to the same sales week in 2007.
- Hard Candy, Madonna
- E=MC2, Mariah Carey
- Spirit, Leona Lewis
- Lyfe Change, Lyfe Jennings
- Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, Def Leppard
- Rising Down, the Roots
- Third, Portishead
- Mudcrutch, Mudcrutch
- Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 27, various
- Greatest Hits, Tim McGraw
Mariah Breaks Leona’s Spirit
She's no Einstein, but Mariah Carey can certainly add up the numbers for a nuclear chart-topping debut.
Carey's E=MC2 energized the charts, giving the pop diva her sixth No. 1 album and delivering her biggest sales week of her career with 463,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan.
Carey is now tied with Madonna for the second-most No. 1 albums by a female artist, with both superstars trailing Barbra Streisand's eight. E=MC2 also topped Jack Jackson's Sleep Through the Static (375,000) as the biggest bow of the year.
It's been a historic year for Carey. The E=MC2 single "Touch My Body" topped the Hot 100 earlier this monthher 18th No. 1. She now ranks only behind the Beatles, who scored 20 U.S. chart-toppers. "Touch My Body" reigned for two weeks, tying her with Elvis for the most weeks spent at No. 1, with 79.
"Mariah's an inspiration, the true definition of a star," Island Def Jam Chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid said in a statement. "Now Mariah has added another plateau of success to what has become her virtually unapproachable track record on charts around the world."
Carey's sales were bolstered by a promotional slate that literally saw her pop up all over the TV grid, including stops on American Idol, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Hills and Saturday Night Live.
Brit sensation Leona Lewiswho many call the next Mariahsaw her debut album Spirit, which opened at No. 1 last week, fall a spot on 95,000 copies. Country act Lady Antebellum landed the week's next best bow with its eponymous debut selling 43,000 copies at No. 4.
Disney split personality Miley Cyrus-Hannah Montana roared back into the top 10 with her soundtrack disc The Best of Both Worlds Concert climbing 28 spots to a new high at No. 3 on 47,000 copies. The album debuted five weeks ago as a Wal-Mart exclusive, but the disc made it to all retail racks last week. Cyrus also benefited from cohosting the CMT Music Awards with her father.
Speaking of the CMTs, Taylor Swift's self-titled album jumped three spots to No. 10 on 30,000 copies after "Our Song" took home trophies for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year at the April 14 ceremony. To date, Taylor Swift has sold more than 2.8 million copies in 78 weeks.
The Juno soundtrack also returned to the top 10, jumping 38 spots to No. 8 on 31,000 copies, following the film's DVD release. Further down, Thrice's The Alchemy Index, Vol. III & IV: Air & Earth just edged out Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live to finish at 17 and 18, respectively. Both albums sold approximately 21,000 copies.
Other notable debuts include Children of Bodom's Blooddrunk at 22, the Naked Brothers Band's I Don't Want to Go to School at 23, Tristan Prettyman's Hello at 27 and the Kooks' Konk at 41.
Overall, sales were up 2 percent from last week but down 8 percent compared to the same week in '07.
To recap, the week's top 10 albums were as follows:
1. E=MC2, Mariah Carey2. Spirit, Leona Lewis3. The Best of Both Worlds Concert, Miley Cyrus4. Lady Antebellum, Lady Antebellum5. Now That's What I Call Music! 27, various 6. Troubadour, George Strait 7. Alvin & the Chipmunks soundtrack, various8. Juno soundtrack, various9. Accelerate, R.E.M.10. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift