Weezer cancels January gigs

Weezer: No January gigs

Rock band Weezer was able to avoid a significant tragedy after an early December tour bus crash, but the band has still had to bring a halt to its partying. Weezer said Thursday that it is canceling all of its January dates, including a Jan. 11 stop in Irvine at the UCI Bren Events Center.

Band leader Rivers Cuomo was said to have suffered three cracked ribs after a tour bus crash on Dec. 6. The accident occurred about 40 miles west of Albany, N.Y., according to the band.

On its website Thursday, the band cited “doctors orders” as the reason for adding January’s shows to those in December that already had been scrapped. At present, it said, none of them is being rescheduled.

-- Todd Martens Paris’ Pompidou open again

Paris’ Pompidou Center reopened Thursday after a three-week strike by museum staff in protest against budget cuts, luring in visitors with surrealist photos and designer furniture.

Officials at the Pompidou said union workers and management were in talks and the museum had returned to normal.

Many of the city’s top museums, including the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay, have shut temporarily in recent weeks because of the protest.

-- reuters Boyle keeps topping charts

British singing sensation Susan Boyle continues her dominance of the U.S. pop charts, with her orchestral-lite takes on boomer standards hitting a sweet spot with music buyers.

In three weeks, her “I Dreamed a Dream” has sold a stunning 1.8 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, surpassing 2009 releases from such mega-stars as Eminem and Green Day, and even overtaking another TV-made phenomena, the soundtrack to “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” which has sold 1.7 million copies since its release in the spring.

Boyle’s album hit another milestone this week too, racking up an additional 582,000 copies sold. Billboard reports that “I Dreamed a Dream” is the first album by a woman to sell 500,000 copies in each of its first three weeks since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.

-- Todd Martens REDCAT’s 2010 schedule

The return of the Wooster Group headlines REDCAT’s winter and spring 2010 lineup, which was announced this week. Also included on the roster are groups from Brazil and Chile, as well as some notable local artists.

The Wooster Group will perform its touring production of “North Atlantic” Feb. 10-21. The cast features Frances McDormand and Maura Tierney, plus most of the familiar Wooster faces -- Kate Valk, Scott Shepherd and Ari Fliakos. The play examines the role of the military in American culture during the Cold War.

The Brazilian dance troupe Grupo de Rua will perform “H3” Jan. 19-23. The nine-member ensemble uses street-dance moves as well as hip-hop in numbers that are choreographed by Bruno Beltrão.

Chile’s Teatro en el Blanco will present the West Coast premiere of its futuristic play “Diciembre” Feb. 24-27. Los Angeles choreographer Rosanna Gamson will stage “Tov” March 18-27.

The West Coast premiere of choreographer John Jasperse’s “Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful Thinking and Flat-Out Lies” is set to run April 14-18.

-- David Ng Kutcher’s show on the Web

“The Beautiful Life,” Ashton Kutcher’s quickly canceled television drama about fashion models, is getting a second chance to find an audience -- this time on the Web.

The CW network ended the show’s run in September after just two airings because of poor ratings, leaving Kutcher holding three additional episodes that had been produced but never shown.

So the former star of “That ‘70s Show,” who has transformed into a content producer and Web impresario, is putting all five on YouTube.com. The first three went up Thursday, and two more will follow Monday. Each runs about 40 minutes with no commercials.

-- reuters Harris is going solo at Geffen

Ed Harris will perform Neil LaBute’s one-man show “Wrecks” at the Geffen Playhouse from Feb. 7 to March 7, the company said Thursday. LaBute will direct. The show will be presented in the Geffen’s smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

Harris, whose film credits include “Pollock,” “Apollo 13” and “The Hours,” did the world premiere of “Wrecks” in Ireland in 2005 and at the Public Theater in New York in 2006. In 2007, he gave three performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City as a benefit for the Archer School for Girls.

-- from a times staff writer