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Just before the hit Fox show "The O.C." kicks off its second season on Nov. 4, Warner Bros. will issue the next two volumes in the show's soundtrack series. Due Oct. 26, "Music From the O.C.: Mix 2" sports exclusive tracks from Nada Surf and Jem plus 13 additional cuts from the likes of Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie and the Killers.
Here is the track list for "The O.C.: Mix 2":
"Saturday Morning," the Eels
"Hello Sunshine," Super Furry Animals
"Smile Like You Mean It," the Killers
"A Lack of Color," Death Cab For Cutie (Adam's personal fav!!)
"The Specialist," Interpol
"Something Pretty," Patrick Park
"You Got Me All Wrong," Dios Malos
"If You Leave," Nada Surf
"Big Sur," the Thrills
"Little House of Savages" (live), the Walkmen
"Trouble Sleeping," the Perishers
"So Sweet," Johnathan Rice
"Popular Mechanics for Lovers," Beulah
"Walnut Tree," Keane
"Maybe I'm Amazed," Jem
"Eastern Glow," the Album Leaf
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Mischa's on OPRAH!!!
Stars Surprise Their Biggest Fans
The surprises just keep coming as the hottest young stars surprise their biggest fans! Usher, Avril Lavigne and The O.C.'s Mischa Barton get in on the fun, and their fans have no idea what is about to happen. Don't miss it! Check your local listing for times, and then SET YOUR VCR!!!
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You thought Josh was joking about the Chrismukkah album? Pisha!
The O.C. Chrismukkah Album
The Raveonettes - "The Christmas Song"
Ben Kweller - "Rock of Ages"
Trent Dabbs - "January Lights"
Jimmy Eat World - "Last Christmas"
The Long Winters - "Christmas With You Is Best"
Rooney - "Merry Christmas Everybody"
Leona Naess - "Christmas"
Guster (one of Jen's fav bands to hang out with, literally) - "Carol of the Meows"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Christmastime"
Grant Lee Phillips - "We Three Kings"
Ron Sexsmith - "Maybe This Christmas"
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http://www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/17/414a41b57ad01 Confessions from one of The O.C.'s addicts
After a summer hiatus, FOX's popular teen drama will be back to hook more college-age viewers
By Melissa Artnak
September 17, 2004
It all started innocently enough, over the hurricane weekend a year ago. With no intentions of braving the storm and with nothing better to do, a dozen kids from my hall piled into one AMR single, dimmed the lights and started something that would become a casual activity for some and a full-fledged obsession for others. We watched seven straight hours of The O.C., a television show that had premiered on FOX network over the course of that summer.
The show was perfect for everyone's entertainment needs -- the actors and actresses were some of television's most attractive, the plot lines were fast-paced and the episodes were interesting enough to keep everyone wanting more. And perhaps more importantly at the time, when we were all new to Hopkins and still getting to know each other, watching a show like The O.C. gave us all a pressure-free opportunity to just lazily hang out, without making small talk about ourselves. Besides, even the most wild tales we shared of senior weeks or vacations abroad paled in comparison to the hijinks of the four kids in Orange County--Marissa, Ryan, Seth and Summer--and the rest of their friends, enemies and families.
While we were watching those episodes, more people crammed into the room, either lured by the smell of burnt popcorn or curious about our occasional spurts of shouting and clapping, which were usually triggered by a fistfight between Ryan and his rival Luke, or by a new hookup between cast members.
When we finished watching the last of the episodes, everyone, including the guys who were initially too cool to watch a "glorified soap opera," was buzzing about the occurrences on the show--"Did Marissa really overdose? They can't kill her off, right?" we asked each other in hushed tones. "What's going to happen between Seth and Summer?" some wondered aloud. Or, my personal favorite observation from one reluctant viewer, "Dude, I can't believe they mentioned Deathcab for Cutie on a show like this!"
While waiting for new episodes to debut on FOX, everyone assuaged their The O.C. withdrawal in different ways -- some blasted the theme song, "California" by Phantom Planet, intermittently throughout the day, others watched the episodes over again and I, embarrassingly enough, put a picture of Adam Brody, the actor who plays Seth Cohen, on the background of my computer.
Like it or not, everyone who entered that tiny AMR single on that fateful afternoon was hooked, and this television show created a unique and somewhat embarrassing bond, one that gathered us in that same room every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. for the rest of the school year.
Though I'd like to think that everyone has experienced the guilty pleasure that is The O.C. at least once, I'll give a brief tutorial to those of you who have successfully avoided the show thus far. The O.C. appropriately enough takes place in Orange County, California -- a locale where, at least in TV land, everyone is rich, beautiful and more than a little dysfunctional.
The show begins when Ryan Atwood (Benjamin Mackenzie), a kid from the neighboring town of Chino, gets in trouble with the law and meets Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), a lawyer who ends up taking care of him. Cohen lives in a mansion in the O.C. with his wife Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) and quirky son Seth (Adam Brody), who quickly befriends the new kid. Upon moving in with the Cohen clan, Ryan quickly stirs up the world of the ridiculously gorgeous and wealthy.
He develops a romance with Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), the girl next door, whose family has its share of troubles. Added into the mix is Summer (Rachel Bilson), Marissa's best friend who Seth has loved from afar for years, Luke (Chris Carmack) who is Marissa's boyfriend and Ryan's new enemy, and a plethora of guest stars.
Okay, so maybe it is a glorified soap opera, but the partner-swapping, the weekly fistfights and the glamorous parties of excess are what make it oh-so-enjoyable. I won't give away too much more from the first season, just in case you want to start an informal The O.C.-watching club of your own. Good luck on catching up though, since there were a whopping 27 episodes last TV season.
It's not just the outrageous plot that makes this show so fantastic--the offbeat sarcasm of Seth keeps the ridiculousness of the show in check, the dynamics of some of the characters' friendships and relationships are quite endearing and at least a little relatable, and the songs on the show put every other primetime teen drama soundtrack to shame.
Now that you know your Lukes and Ryans, it's back to that The O.C. bond I mentioned earlier. Once the show returned in late fall, nearly everyone from that original seven-hour viewing religiously gathered and got their weekly fix of Seth, Marissa and the rest of the crew. Some of our The O.C. group would rush home from physics labs and enter the designated TV room out of breath, immediately asking, "What did I miss?" Others would put studying for the next day's exam on hold for an hour, just to catch up on the shenanigans of The O.C. kids.
Now that we're not all conveniently living in the same dorm building, it's going to be a little more difficult to arrange weekly The O.C. viewings, but I have a feeling it will still happen. And, although maybe you and your friends might choose a different television program (but I still highly advocate The O.C.), you'll probably have a television-based ritual of your own.
In a world of exams and deadlines and real-life relationship problems, it's comforting to sit in a room for one hour a week with a few friends, snack on some chips and escape into a fictional world of characters with issues that make your crazy life seem, well, a little boring in comparison. So whether you've worshipped The WB for the past six years of your life or you were never allowed to watch television on a school night and the rule has stuck with you, pick up a TV Guide this fall, pick a show and invite a few people over to start a television ritual, The O.C. or not.
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http://www.studlife.com/news/2004/09/17/Cadenza/A.shore.Pick.For.The.o.c.Soundtrack-722253.shtml
The Shore/Self-titledMaverick For fans of: Coldplay, Train, "Music from 'The O.C.': Mix 1" Grade: C- Final word: Innocuous pop-rockers make music for the beautiful people. Download this song: "Everything We Are" There needs to be a new genre of rock 'n' roll (as if there weren't enough already, but bear with me) called "O.C. Rock." Yes, that "O.C.," Fox's favorite portrayal of physically flawless, fabulously wealthy but oh-so-romantically-woestruck California youth. Each episode usually features music by "indie" groups that are still accessible enough for Hollister models and girls in ruffled skirts. The Shore, a California band themselves, belong in this genre. They practically define it. Their mid-tempo songs contain just the right amount of "alternative" attitude, and their lyrics, while not exactly about anything in particular, still provide a pleasant backdrop for nervous makeout sessions at 11th grade parties. Which is not to say that the Shore are a terrible band. You can tell they have the pop sensibility and catchiness to take them as far as, say, the Thrills. But as far as making meaningful music goes, they're basically braindead. Lead singer Ben Ashley, whose croon imitates rock darlings Ryan Adams and Rufus Wainwright without coming close to matching them, can't write an eloquent lyric to save his life. Take "Firefly," for example, an otherwise acceptable Coldplay song: "Bathed in the light, gets me back just in time / Nothing to lose, but the truth we can find." Even forgetting the awkwardness of "the truth we can find," the words have no apparent meaning. All the songs here are, tangentially at least, about love, but Ashley's tendency towards stupid psychedelic clichés ("Love is the answer, oh yeah, yeah, yeah") and hackneyed rhymes ("Set my soul on fire / Let me be your man / Your one desire") doesn't help whatever romantic point he's out to prove. Obviously, an album's worth of the Shore is about 45 minutes too much. So where is the best place to experience a song like "Everything We Are," a vapid but catchy ditty? "Tonight on 'The O.C.,' you heard music by the Shore..." --- http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095286213927&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630
O.C. a rare hit with teens, elders
VINAY MENONJosh Schwartz leans across the table and recalls a phone conversation.
Last year, the 27-year-old creator of Fox's The O.C., called his nana for feedback on the pilot episode.
"Not for me, no thanks!" exclaimed nana, a curt response that left her grandson speechless.
The anecdote ignites a roar of laughter in the downtown restaurant, where Schwartz and three of the show's "older" cast members — Tate Donovan, Melinda Clarke and Kelly Rowan — are having lunch.
The obsession some have with the show, I point out, borders on the deranged. For others, however, The O.C. remains part alternative lifestyle, part contraband addiction: Many closeted viewers will not admit they're getting high each week on this mind-altering soapedy.
"I run into so many people who are like, `You're on that show? Oh, I don't watch it, it's not my demographic,'" says Clarke, who plays the fiendish Julie Cooper.
Before she can finish, Donovan points at my tape recorder and shoots her a playful, shut-the-hell-up glance. Rowan, meanwhile, is laughing.
"No!" protests Clarke, "What I'm saying is people don't give it a chance!" Those who are giving it a chance will have to wait until Nov. 4 for the season premiere, a blinding eternity in the sun-drenched land of Orange County.
In the interim, there are two "behind the scenes" specials, including The O.C.: Obsess Completely (CTV, 7 p.m.; Fox, 8 p.m. tonight) and next Thursday's Welcome To The O.C.: A Day In The Life.
The specials are essentially insider filler: bloopers, commentary, exclusive interviews and a preview of how the sophomore season will deal with last year's cliffhanger finale.
For fans, questions abound: How long will Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) remain in Chino? Will he become a father? Where the hell was Seth (Adam Brody) sailing? What will become of Donovan's Jimmy Cooper? What new marital challenges await Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Rowan's Kirsten? Will Julie still be a bitch?
Schwartz has engaged in past campaigns of disinformation to keep storylines off the radar. As Clarke observes: "Josh is very invested in keeping the secrets of the show."
He won't say much now, except that the new season will be kinder, gentler and more focused on exploring characters instead of exploding twists.
"For the first six episodes (last season), our philosophy was that every one should be a `sweeps' episode," he explains. "So we really went for it."
Storylines on The O.C. last season torpedoed toward the absurd at Mach 4 speed. Things happened. Things changed. New things happened. As I've pointed out, there were arrests, blazing infernos, suicide attempts, car wrecks, shoplifting, therapy sessions, gunplay, love triangles, cross-generational affairs, prostitution, gambling, cotillion punch-ups, gay reveals and teenage pregnancy.
Where does Schwartz go from here?
"As we head into season two, we will probably slow down a little bit in terms of how we tell stories and maybe dig in more," he says. "But we still want to deliver a certain amount of `incident' every week."
Along the way, these fictional incidents have managed to corral both young and old viewers, a rarity in this fragmented industry.
"I run into women in their 40s and 50s and they say, `What's great is I can actually watch this with my kids,'" says Rowan. "I think the writers do such a great job blending those two worlds together."
Donovan thinks the show "has a great melodramatic hook in terms of the characters. But it's also very funny. And I think with the buoyancy and warmth of family and relationships, you just end up rooting for everybody."
In television, with success comes imitation. Are they worried about inevitable knock-offs?
"Not really," says Schwartz. "It's very flattering that the show has tapped into something and people want to imitate it.
"But I think a lot of the imitators will miss the reason why people like our show. It's not just about the beaches and beautiful people and crazy things happening. There is a lot of heart to our show and a lot of humour and great chemistry between the actors." "Besides," adds a smiling Donovan, "they don't have Adam Brody." --- http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000631610
'The O.C.' Rocks With Two New CDs
Just before the hit Fox show "The O.C." kicks off its second season on Nov. 4, Warner Bros. will issue the next two volumes in the show's soundtrack series. Due Oct. 26, "Music From the O.C.: Mix 2" sports exclusive tracks from Nada Surf and Jem plus 13 additional cuts from the likes of Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie and the Killers.The album is led by Nada Surf's cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's 1986 No. 4 Billboard Hot 100 hit "If You Leave" and Jem's rendition of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed." Also exclusive to the disc is a live version of the Walkmen's "Little House of Savages."
Interpol offers "The Specialist" from the Japanese version of its debut album, "Turn on the Bright Lights," while Keane contributes the B-side "Walnut Tree." Tracks by the Eels, Super Furry Animals, Patrick Park, Dios Malos, the Thrills, the Perishers, Johnathan Rice, Beulah and the Album Leaf round out the collection."Mix 3: Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah" takes its name from the holiday the half-Jewish, half-Christian Cohen family celebrates on the show. Although a full track list is not yet finalized, the album will feature such songs as Ron Sexsmith's "Maybe This Christmas" and Low's "Just Like Christmas."Released in April, the first "O.C." soundtrack debuted at No. 52 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 163,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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