Twilight Mania | Canada Loses Juno-Winning Artist Haydain Neale

To the surprise of no one, ‘New Moon’; the second installment in the ‘Twilight’ franchise has proven to be a bona fide smash hit already; amassing a new opening day record total of $72.7 million and finishing its debut weekend with $142.8 million.

That makes it the third best opening weekend ever, behind only ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Spiderman: 3’.

In addition, ‘New Moon’ racked up the biggest two-day total and biggest November opening in history, leaving ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ in its proverbial dust.

Grateful co-stars (some would say lovers) Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart took to Twitter shortly after the opening numbers were released, much to the delight of the 167,000 fans of the official ‘Twilight’ Twitter page.

Utilizing his 140 characters or less, the brooding young star thanked his fans for the incredible box office take, noting, “It’s very exciting to be a part of something embraced by so many people. I hope you are looking forward to ‘Eclipse’ as much as I am”, while Stewart added, “You all have proven you’re the most amazing fans in the world once again.”

The third installment, ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ will be released June 30 of next year, certain to further advance Stephanie Meyer’s vampire chronicle into something of pop culture immortality. Meantime, ‘Breaking Dawn’, the fourth in the series of novels is getting set to shoot, but at this point there is no director attached to the project.

And while the collective hearts of females around the world continue to skip a beat and swoon with all things Edward and Bella-related, interestingly, it’s not just younger women that appear smitten. Fans of the franchise are known as ‘Twi-hards’, ‘Twi-lighters’ and yes, now even - ‘Twi-moms’.

If you don’t believe me, just look online where sites such as: www.twilightmoms.com and www.confessionsofatwilightmom.com have actually sprung up.

Yep, actual sites where scores of mothers of young ‘Twilight’ fans have joined in on the fervor for themselves; creating various blogs, chat rooms and fan forums to profess their devotion along the way.
Idolatry is one thing, but does that translate into merchandise?
It appears the answer is a resounding, yes, as there is already a plethora of items making the rounds - and you won’t believe the range of items; everything from clothing and bobby pins, to jewelry, Wolf Pack packing tape and on the illicit side, narcotics. That’s right; DEA agents in the US say that dime bags of heroin with a cartoon illustration of Pattinson’s face are quickly becoming a hot item among ‘Twilight’ druggies! A seizure of the sought-after smack was recently confiscated during a major bust in West Hempstead, Long Island.

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The Canadian music community was saddened this week to learn of the death of Haydain Neale, the Juno-winning singer/songwriter who was the creative force behind jacksoul, the R&B group known for a string of hits including ‘Still Believe in Love’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Unconditional’.

The news – of his untimely passing is particularly tragic given the singer suffered serious head injuries in a 2007 traffic accident which left him in a coma and in need of an arduous regimen of rehabilitation that lasted months. Through the help of his wife, daughter and band mates, Neale was finally able to complete production on ‘Soulmate’, the soon to be released album he started three years ago. He overcame insurmountable odds and extensive therapy to battle back from serious injury but in the end, unfortunately couldn’t overcome a diagnosis of lung cancer.
Simply put, he was one of the best this country has produced, with a soulful sound and vocal style often compared to that of Seal. Proceeds from the sale of ‘Soulmate’ will go to the Haydain Neale Family Trust. He was only 39. It’s an incredible loss.

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