The Tribune from Scranton, Pennsylvania • 26

THE TRIBUNSLSCRANTON, PA 1IFeatures MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2005 .10 S. mow I1 Features I Alanis Morissette revisits her hits with a sing-along 1 1 iC 1 The album won't hit record shops until July 26; until then, it's available only through Starbucks. Needless to say, this arrangement has thrilled music retailers; in Ms. Morissette's native Canada, the HMV chain protested this arrangement by pulling all of her CDs off the shelves. Listeners into singers But why re-record "Jagged Little The answer became clear at Radio City Music Hall last Wednesday night, when Ms.

Morissette sang mainly acoustic versions of the old hits and a few newer ones. Despite the conceit, Ms. Morissette isn't reinventing these songs so much as revisiting them, and the quieter arrangements only make it easier for fans to join her. In that sense, "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic" is a karaoke album, designed to turn listeners into singers. And Wednesday's con cert seemed a lot like a karaoke performance.

All that was missing was televised lyrics, although no one in the hall seemed to need them. Backed by a band so self-effacing that you often forgot It was there, Ms. Morissette delivered some of the most famous rock lyrics of the 1990s. The "Jagged" songs are full of self-help jargon don't censor your and cutesy paradoxes high but I'm Somehow she twists phrases like these into unpredictable hard-rock riffs. And when she sang, "There's an obvious aversion no amount of my insistence could make you try tonight," she delivered those words as one long, elegant sigh.

In the years since "Jagged Little Pill," Ms. Morissette has earned more than her fair share of scorn, and perhaps less than her fair share of credit. Her songs captured an emotional language that has since become so commonplace we barely notice it. In "Not the Doctor," a bracingly clearheaded breakup song, she sang', "I don't want to be adored for what I merely represent to you." That credo is everywhere these days, from the therapy-obsessed women musicians and plunged straight ahead. She took on the persona of a much older ex-lover to declare, "I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it," then switched bodies again for the sadder, less wordy chorus: "I have honored your request for silence And you've washed your hands clean of this." Recreate songs There were moments when it seemed that the new CD might not be the end of "Jagged." With its wide-open choru, "Mary Jane" sounded a bit like a contemporary-country ballad, and you could imagine these songs being reinvented across a wide range of genres.

If, a few years from now, Ms. Morissette wants to revive the album once more, she could recreate these songs in a variety of genres from indie-rock to pop-punk. But maybe it wouldn't make much difference. As the delighted audience discovered last Wednesday night, Ms. Morissette always sounds like Ms.

Morissette, and her best songs are good enough to withstand a decade of scorn, a rather wan backing band or whatever other obstacle they face. BY KELM SANNEN NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE NEW YORK In 1999, four years after the release of her breakthrough album, "Jagged Little Pi II," Alanis Morissette released "MTV Unplugged," featuring quieter versions' of her songs. Five years after that, in 2004, she released "iTtmes Originals," an Internet-only collection in which stories and reminiscences were interspersed with quieter versions of her songs. And now, a decade after her breakthrough, she has released "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic" (Maverick), a new CD with more of the same: quieter versions of the songs that made her a star. IMIRQUEE 1- TEAMTOW 8 MOM Steamtow MOVIE SCHEDULE 6117 621 BEG BEGINS (PG-A IHE HOIMOONERS (PG-13)1104145 RTAGEST MID iPG-13) 11:4512:2050371 MR.

AND HRS. SMITH (PG-13) MCAGASCMI (PG) OO THE ODITURES Of 'SHARK IMM( 'MGM (PG) CINDERELLA VAN (PG-13) 12:03,6:459:45 SIM ROBISON I 'PEISIGE MO (PG-13) 1270311 HERSIE RIO LOADED-SNEAK PREVIEW (G) Sr I 3:0) FAT ALBERT NOS SUMMER MOVIES FREE ADMISSION IPG) TueeMed 10:00 IHREK 2 KIDS SUMMER MOVIES FREE ADMISSON (PG) Tusgbed 102 tlit HOUR HOTLINE 570-558-FILM 134561 byww.mar ueecinemas.coml froytos Alanis Morissette performs live in Anaheim, Calif. DEBBIE VANSIORY ABACA PRESS at The Theatre at The Pond Susie Castillo was inspired by 1 NitssrOMINWOMINIMIRMIO (000000.111... Elmhurst Roaring Prook 141 teen ate el114t LAnnuzi Picnic June 22m' thru 25th itoKetliVitnitenet Fam4 FREE PARKING Grounds Open 6PM Nightly 622 50's Cruise Night Car Show with DJ Paul Thurs 623 Parade 7pm followed by DJ Joe Napolitano Fri 624 Music By Take5 Sat 625 Music By Old Friends Kiddie Rides featuring Montana Bros. Amusements Located off Rte 435 in Elmhurst 711 Ant Thed 6r41 urs 6i Fri 624 Sat 625 Kiddil '1 25th 1 It lino "..3 rit.s on the reality show "Starting Over" to the emo-loving boys on the stages of the "Warped Tout" Ms.

Morissette's new album and tour give her a chance to celebrate the success of "Jagged," and to acknowledge at least implicitly the lesser success of the three albums of new songs she has released since. Her albums have been more adventurous than her grew up watching "Yo! MTV Raps" and the antics of "Downtown" Julie Brown on the music channel. "This is the best job in the world," she said recently in a phone interview while taking a break from taping at MTV's LA studios. "Music has always been a huge part of my life, and it all started with my mom playing her salsa and merengue music in the house while my sister and I would do our Saturday-morning chores," she adds. "MTV offered me an opportunity I couldn't say no to." The aspiring actress joined MTV's ranks in January after producers auditioned her and other hopefuls for one of the coveted VJ spots.

Ms. Castillo, who comes off chatty and sweet, won them over immediately with her telegenic charm. Ode to Maml Ms. Castillo, 25, credits her success to her "Mami," Carmen Cintron, who reared Ms. Castillo and her two sisters as a single parent.

Ms. Cintron moved to Methuen in 1974 from her native Puerto Rico and depended on welfare to make ends meet. When the girls reached school age, Ms. Cintron got off welfare and juggled cleaning jobs at a hospital and in private homes in their low-income neighborhood. She still cleans the Brooks her own pace Jewel Kilcher going out and doing back-to-back shows? That is her way, she says from her ranch in Texas, of calling her shots.

"I don't really enjoy having a night off in any city except where I live," she says. "I'd BY JOHNNY DIAZ THE BOSTON GLOBE Ever since Susie Castillo won the Miss USA contest in 2003, her life has been a nonstop show There were the Pantene hair commercials in Argentina and the Honda ads in Japan. There were soldiers in South Korea to entertain, an AIDS walk in Miami to lead, and a Miss Universe competition in Panama to try to win. Now, her schedule is even more hectic, thanks to her newest boss, MTV The former beauty queen has parlayed her crown into a full-time gig as the cable network's newest VI These days fmd her racking up frequent-flier miles as a once-a-week host of "Total Request Live," broadcasting from Times Square and introducing such stars as no and flying to Los Angeles to host a new top video countdown show called "Weekend Dime." This summer, she will also spend time at MTV's Beach House in Las Vegas, where she will introduce more videos as part of and interview teen and 20-something sunbathers lounging in the Hard Rock Hotel pool area. Her high-style living is a long way from Methuen, where she Working at BY MARK ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS When a musician achieves success, it generally means he or she can work on their own terms.

So why, in the middle of recording her next album, is Ti THEATRE I i i': FILM EVENTS DEA mIRE ectric cl CONCERTS 4.1 ART MUSIC GET IT THURSDAYS1J AND MUCH MORE! 1 1 reputation, full of loud guitars and serpentine, minor-key vocal lines; despite her series of acoustic makeovers, she loves loudness. So it was sometimes odd to watch her wail while her timid band merely quailed. But she didn't let that stop her. When the time came for "Hands Clean," an extraordinary single from her 2002 album "Under Rug Swept," she more or less ignored the School in North Aridover. Watching her mother struggle made Ms.

Castillo appreciate the benefits of a good education and the importance of being bicultural. Ms. Castillo speaks English and Spanish fluently. Like many of her childhood friends, she spoke Spanish at home and English in school. Salsa and merengue and MTV were part of the soundtrack of her home life.

Ms. Castillo listened to salsa artist Luis Enrique as much as the Bangles and New Kids on the Block on MTV. Her Puerto Rican background and Americanized upbringing enriched her, she says. "Mom would always tell my two sisters and me that she wanted things for us she didn't have," says Ms. Castillo.

"We worked hard to make ourselves proud. It's not a bad dream for her to have and for us to follow" While seeing some of her neighborhood friends drop out of school or get pregnant as teenagers, Ms. Castillo chose a different path. She dreamed of becoming a model and at age 14 began striking a pose, appearing in an antismoking commercial for the American Cancer Society and magazine ads, including Teen. Ms.

Castillo went on to graduate from Methuen High, and then Endicott College in Bever gives Jewel rather just work. My voice seems to handle it just fine. I'd rather do 14 shows in a row with no nights off, then get my time all bunched up together" If you do night-on, night-off, "it takes twice as long to do the same amount of dates. I just don't think it's very fun," the singer says. "My schedule has been kind of weird.

It's my last record for Atlantic under my contract. I'm not recording nonstop. I don't like to go in the studio for five months and not see daylight, I'll do five days of recording, then take a couple of weeks off. It doesn't feel like homework that way" This is a time of transition in the career of the 31-year-old singer-songwriter who grew up in Alaska and went on to fmd fame with hits like "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Hands." She has to deal with the transitions of the music industry in the digital age like everyone else does. In fact, she stays slightly ahead of the curve.

She is one of the first major artists, for example, to sell instant live discs of her shows to fans. But she also has to struggle with an industry that pigeonholes artists. When Neil Young goes off on a weird tangent, that's just Neil being Neil. When Jewel made "0304" in 2003, setting her lyrics to dance. grooves rather than the singer-songwriter style fans knew her for, some people flipped out.

"Women in my industry have changed musically out of that premeditated, image-driven way" she says. As for made a PAULI PAM TENT RENTAL 499-201 7 CANOPY TENTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS GRADUATIONS -9 PICNICS mcgiivrxtugniar, ovippING 3-Ems Reasonable Rates! Clean Tents! Professional Setups! 3 1 4.14"1"1-11 x. RIIN WEZX-FM 106.9 107.3 her mom ly with a degree in interior design four years ago. She and-her sisters are the first generation in her family to attend college. Beauty Queen But Ms.

Castillo didn't itop there. She won Miss Teen Massachusetts ad then Miss Mas sachusetts. also captured Miss USA in 4, the third Latina to title. And just what happened with that tiara that came with it? "I own it," says Ms. Castillo, who also came away with a $20,000 wardrobe and a $45,000 scholarship to the School of Film and Television in New couldn't take it away from me." She went on to become one of 15 finalists for Miss Universe in Panama, where she sported a Wonder Woman outfit for the pageant's country-of-origin segment.

As Miss USA, she became an advocate for Latina health and championed breast and ovarian cancer awareness. "Being Latina and speaking Spanish fluently, I was able to educate the Spanish community" she says. "Being Miss USA was like being a peer leader on a grander scale," especially to young Latinas in Lawrence, where her family now "I told them, 'I am from here and I did this. You can do whatever you want to do." little time record I really like. My goal was to make my interpretation of modern dance-hall music.

I imagined people crowded into bars in the '40s, during the second world war. That was the record I was looking to make," she says. As for the reaction, "I was a little disappointed because a lot of people didn't listen to the record. I think they looked at imaging and things like that and it got carried away" Jewel does those songs live now, but she gives them new context. Playing solo acoustic gives her a chance to be a bit looser with the set list and the crowd.

"I talk more when I'm solo. I tell more stories and goof around with the audience more," she says. New songs from the album in progress will appear as weIL Fans who want to know which way the new album is going probably will be pleased that it's more in line with her traditional singer-songwriter work. "The record is going fast. I'm guessing I'll release it in the spring.

I'm in no hirry enjoying my time off, just working in spurts," she says. That relaxed schedule has allowed her to develop a cartoon series for Nickelodeon called "Punk Rock Angel Girl." It's still in development. "I drew her and invented the whole world and wrote the first episode," Jewel says. But she also concedes she is frustrated by the slow pace of television. "It takes forever I work fast by myself, but working with a TV company it starts to drag out" lik 1 1 itiv, 0 1,.....

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