Following more than a year of post- ponements and speculation, it appears that “Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons: More Original Music from the TV Series” has been geared up for an official October 19th release.      As a follow-up to the successful 1997 sound track album “Songs in the Key of Springfield,” Go Simpsonic will feature 56 tracks boasting music from recent seasons as well as old. As a bonus, four never-before-heard outtakes are to be included, such as “We Love to Smoke”

CD 75480-2 (ISBN 0-7379-0099-4) CS 75480-4 (ISBN 0-7379-0100-4) MSRP: $16.98 ($10.98 CS) ©™ 1999 Rhino Records/TCFFC

Simpsons Nominated for Emmys
By Jouni Paakkinen (jouni@snpp.com) - July 24, 1999
     The Simpsons received two Emmy nominations from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences this Thursday, marking the first instance since 1996 when the series has garnished so few.
     In the category of Outstanding Animated Program, "Viva Ned Flanders," originally broadcast January 10, 1999, was chosen along with episodes of King of the Hill, The PJ's, The Powerpuff Girls and Matt Groening's new series, Futurama. "Treehouse of Horror IX," originally shown October 25, 1998, was also nominated for Outstanding Dramatic Underscore.
     Elsewhere, former Simpsons writer Jay Kogen, now a producer for NBC's "Frasier," received his own nomination for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series.
     The Simpsons may also receive nominations for Achievement in Animation and Voice-Over Performance. Announcements will be made on Wednesday, August 4.
     The Emmy is the most prestigious award for excellence in television, conceded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Emmy awards ceremonies have taken place since 1949, with the upcoming event, to be televised on September 12, marking the 51st annual.
     For the complete list of Simpsons Emmy Awards and nominations, click here. More information about The Simpsons and this year's Emmy nominations can be found in Don Del Grande's post to alt.tv.simpsons.

Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilon
By Jouni Paakkinen (jouni@snpp.com) - July 20, 1999
     Simpsons voice cast member Hank Azaria married his fiancée of three years, Mad About You star Helen Hunt, last week. The wedding was a private ceremony at their home in Los Angeles.
     Azaria, 35, has provided numerous voices for Simpsons characters since the show's birth as a half-hour comedy series in 1989. Among popular characters such as Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum and Snake, Azaria also brings to life many one-time characters seen on the show each week.
     Hunt appeared on The Simpsons in March of 1998, opposite Azaria, as the voice of Moe's girlfriend. She was additionally awarded an Oscar in 1998 for her work in "As Good As It Gets," produced by James L. Brooks' Gracie Films.
     On the horizon, Azaria will be appearing in "Mystery Men," a comedy featuring Ben Stiller and Janeane Garafalo. The movie is set for release in the USA on July 30.

Another Butterfinger Contest
By Don Del Grande (ddelgran@snpp.com) - July 19, 1999
     There's a contest involving Butterfinger wrappers that have one of Bart's blackboard openings inside the wrapper; one of them has the one Bart will write on the season premiere, and whoever gets it wins a trip for four to Hollywood for three nights and, according to the rules, "will be animated into an upcoming episode of The Simpsons".
     Note that it does not say that it is a speaking part, so we'll probably never know which character it is. It also doesn't say anything about a couch scene, although you can stick "other" characters in couch openings; for example, the two firemen in the one where everybody falls in from the top.
     If nobody turns in the wrapper by November 1, the winner will be selected in a random drawing.
     However, the rules also say that "If for any reason the inclusion of Grand Prize winner's animated likeness in an episode of The Simpsons is not possible, Fox may choose to award a non-speaking part in an upcoming Fox theatrical motion picture or TV show". (Can you say "crowd scene"?)
     Other prizes (instant winners in wrappers) include 25 skateboards, 125 Simpsons chess sets, and 350 Simpsons magnet sets. The contest is open only to legal residents of the USA that are at least 18 years old.

Rhino Crazy for The Simpsons
By Brian Petersen (brian@snpp.com) - July 13, 1999 - Thanks to Richard Katz
     Rhino Records has received the go-ahead from Fox to produce a special packaging version of “Songs in the Key of Springfield: Original Music from the Television Series,” set for release on October 19.
     “The package will be a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle with the CD included inside,” says David Dorn, Rhino Vice President of Media Relations. The box will be square (approximately 6" x 6" x 3"), though it hasn't yet been decided what image will appear on the puzzle itself. “My thought all along was to have something that was previously unavailable to collectors. Hopefully that will be the case with the final product.”
     Meanwhile, David assured us that progress on “Go Simpsonic” is still in full swing, despite the album's delay. “The album certainly is not dead. We're still working out the legal issues, and things are looking better than they had in the past.”
     And, as the icing on the cake, Rhino also went on to reveal that the company is now in talks with 20th Century Fox about a third Simpsons album. Though no details on the album's concept could be revealed, Rhino hopes to officially announce the CD within the near future.
     Further details concerning the third album and “Go Simpsonic” will be posted here as soon as they're available. Stay tuned!

Castellaneta on Stage
By Jouni Paakkinen (jouni@snpp.com) - July 8, 1999
     Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, Grampa, Krusty, and many other popular Simpsons characters, is performing in his one-man show in Los Angeles' Acme Theatre on Wednesday nights through July 28.
     The show, entitled "Where did Vincent Van Gogh?" is written by Castellaneta himself, and directed by Art Wolff. During his 90 minutes on stage, Castellaneta gets to play over 20 characters. The narrator of the show is an alien who is trying on people's personalities in the process of recruiting them from the doomed planet Earth. The characters include a Billie Holiday impersonator, a ventriloquist's dummy, and a schizophrenic Puerto Rican baseball player.
     Dan Castellaneta has been a Simpsons cast member from the very beginning. When the production of the early Simpsons shorts was launched in 1987, he and Julie Kavner, who both worked on "The Tracey Ullman Show", were asked to do the voices of Homer and Marge Simpson in the forthcoming animated interstitials. Both of them agreed and have been providing the familiar voices ever since, although Castellaneta slightly changed the voice of Homer in the beginning of the second season of "The Simpsons". He changed the placement of the voice in order to get rid of the problems he had with certain emotional registers and intonations with the old, low-key voice.
     In addition to "The Simpsons", Castellaneta has made brief appearances on other prime time series, such as "Friends" and "L.A. Law", and is also known as the voice of Earthworm Jim.

"Where Did Vincent Van Gogh?" Wednesdays at 8 p.m. at the Acme Comedy Theatre, 135 N. La Brea Ave., through July 28. Tickets $15. Phone (323) 655-8587.