The actress is on board to produce and likely star in the 1940s song-laden comedy about one of the nation's first all-female country acts, a group whose members were also guests of the Texas penal system. Aniston will be joined by seven other singin' and pickin' actresses cast as part of the Goree All Girl String Band, which is remembered as the Dixie Chicks of its day for the radio performances it put on from a Texas music hall.

Aniston and her producing partner, Kristin Hahn, hired Margaret Nagle (HBO's "Warm Springs") to adapt the screenplay from a Texas Monthly article. DreamWorks, Aniston and Hahn have sent the script out in search of a director with no scheduled production start to date. The group of eight female Texas prisoners performed live every Wednesday evening in the early 1940s to an estimated 7 million Americans tuned into radio station WBAP-AM in Fort Worth.

The women - some of whom were in prison for cattle rustling, robbery and murder - joined together with the hope of "singing their way out" of Goree State Farm, a few miles south of Huntsville, according to Skip Hollandsworth, who wrote the 8,000-word profile "O, Sister Where Art Thou?" for Texas Monthly in May 2003.

The women were allowed to change out of their prison uniforms (starched white linen dresses) and into light tan shirts, brown western-style skirts, white cowboy boots and, tied around their necks, brown bandannas each week for their public appearances, thanks to the Texas prison system's bid for a little favorable publicity following reports of escapes, beatings and gunfights in their facilities.

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Milli Vanilli The Movie?

Reuters is reporting that Universal Pictures plans to make a film about the Milli Vanilla, that classic lip synching fraudster duo from the early 90s.

Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety reported in its Thursday issue that Universal Pictures is developing a film about the lip-synching combo, who lost their coveted Grammy for best new artist in 1990 when it emerged that they had never sung on their records.

The project will be written and directed for the General Electric Co.-controlled studio by Jeff Nathanson, who previously wrote the Leonardo DiCaprio crime caper "Catch Me If You Can." He has secured the cooperation of Milli Vanilli alumnus Fabrice Morvan, who has been pursuing a comeback for years, as well as the estate of his colleague, Rob Pilatus, who died of a drug overdose in 1998.

"I've always been fascinated by the notion of fakes and frauds, and in this case, you had guys who pulled off the ultimate con, selling 30 million singles and 11 million albums and then becoming the biggest laughing-stocks of pop entertainment," the paper quoted Nathanson as saying.

We are glad that this incredibly important subject is finally getting the attention it deserves. It sounds like an Oscar shoe-in. Here are the most memorable lyrics in case you forgot them. We found them here on a site called Crap From the Past.

I'm in love girl,
I'm in so love girl.
I'm just in love girl, and this is true.
Girl, you know it's true.
Ooh, Ooh, Ooh I love you.
Yes, you know it's true.
Ooh, Ooh, Ooh I love you.
Girl, you know it's true.
My love is for you.
Girl, you know it's true.
My love is for you.

Here's the music video.

Posted on February 20, 2007
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Prince's Giant Guitar

Prince's Superbowl halftime performance was excellent. He sounded great. No one had a wardrobe malfunction. He played "Purple Rain" in the rain. He covered a Foo Fighters song in a cool new way. He even sacrificed his hair covering to an adoring fan, while allowing his hair to get wet. It was totally G-rated.... or was it?

It was, except for the giant phallus that was revealed to the crowd in silhouette. Ah, Prince. We knew you hadn't really gone mainstream. Slipped that one right by the censors. Well played.

Posted on February 8, 2007
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