Greetings and happy 2007! We hope you all had a great holiday season. Now that the last carol has been sung, the final champagne cork popped, etc., we’ve got some news to catch you up on.

• A New Year’s message from Gary, as well as new concert dates, have been posted on the Lt. Dan Band web site.
  
• You might remember that Gary and the LDB performed for Operation Support Our Troops Illinois back in July. A chunk of the funds raised at that event have gone to help provide internet access to wounded veterans at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood, Ill. (If any of you are visiting — a very special hello!)
  
• Kim Basinger and Gary are officially the new ambassadors for Swiss watchmaker Baume & Mercier. They participated in a photo session with celebrity photographers Jeff Lipsky and Black Little. The proceeds from the rights to the images have been donated to charitable organizations - environmental protection and the education of underprivileged children, two causes supported by Baume & Mercier’s charitable campaign. You can see one of the photos of Gary here.
  
• Open Season will be released on DVD on January 30.
  
• Gary was mentioned in an article about celebrity philanthropy in the Ottawa Sun.
  
• In an article about the CSI franchise from the Independent (UK) (via tvgrapevine.com) Gary’s character is referred to as “the most modern and complex and the least archetypal of the trio, his greyness suiting the post-September 11 Manhattan location.” And the National Post (Canada) has a Q&A with CSI creator Anthony Zuiker.
  
• Finally, OMG, are people really still asking this question? (At least they are asking someone who isn’t me.) Did this guy miss the first hour of Forrest Gump? Really, I want to know.

The Daily Herald reports on a phone interview a high school freshman honors class conducted with Gary about Of Mice and Men. Even better, you can listen to the entire chat — there’s a link to a downloadable mp3 file at the bottom of the article.
(Thanks very much to Bettina for the tip!)

There’s a smart commentary on Apollo 13 and the theme of geeks as heroes over at The Flick Philosopher. Don’t miss it!

• Reviews of the season premiere of CSI:NY — at Blogcritics (hee: “I’m impressed with one thing. Gary Sinise can kiss!” and TV Squad.
• There really aren’t any yet, but reviews for Open Season will start appearing here (Rotten Tomatoes) and here (Metacritic) over the next few days.
• Gary will be in Washington, DC this week for the USO’s annual fundraising gala.
• Next new episode of CSI:NY — tomorrow night, entitled “Not What it Looks Like.” There’s a preview at the CBS web site.

• Hey! It’s finally here! The season premiere of CSI:New York can be seen tonight on CBS, 10 pm EDT/PDT. We’ve heard whispers that it’s not to be missed!
• Mission to Mars is discussed in a New York Times article on Brian De Palma (free reg. required).
• There’s a new Lt. Dan Band performance scheduled — on November 4 at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California. Tickets go on sale Saturday.
• Reminder: the animated feature Open Season premieres next Friday, September 29, in both conventional theaters and IMAX 3-D. Gary is among the cast of voice talent which includes Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing, and Billy Connolly.

Gary’s renown as a voiceover artist — from ads for Cadillac to animated features such as the upcoming Open Season — is well-known, but now he’s lending this talent to yet another worthy cause. Gary is narrating public service announcements for My Good Deed, a nonprofit encouraging Americans to honor the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by performing one good deed.

You can see some of the national ads on the My Good Deed website.

The TNT network is launching a new broadband service called “DramaVision” starting August 15. This initiative will make a wide array of its archive original programming available. “George Wallace” is expected to be among the offerings, although no dates have been set. (Note to The Powers that Be: This doesn’t get you off hook for the DVD.)

A special DVD edition of The Green Mile will be released on November 14. There’s no indication of Gary’s participation, but for fans of this film, this set looks like it will be something special.

The Peoria Journal-Star has a nice article about Gary and his participation in Riverfest.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the animated feature Open Season, in which Gary performs as voice talent, check out this page at Movieweb for a trailer, featurette, and more. Open Season opens on September 29 in both regular theaters and IMAX 3-D.

Sorry, all. I was at ComicCon with an author friend last weekend (her books totally rock, btw, you should read them!) and I got way behind on everything. (If you are interested, my report, such as it is, is in my personal journal.)

Anyway! Back now. Tired, but back. So here’s a quick round-up of news items:

• Speaking of ComicCon, here’s a report on Open Season from the Sony presentation at the con.
• I can’t believe that people are still asking this question (scroll to the bottom), which I have been answering (and answering… and answering) since 1996.
• There are lots of pictures from the July 22 Rockin’ for the Troops concert at the Operation Support Our Troops Illinois web site.
• A brief item about Gary’s USO activities during the CSI:NY hiatus.
• A roundup on Riverfest (in Ottawa, IL) where the LDB will be performing on August 5… and a featured article on Gary, related to Riverfest.

And I think… we’re pretty much caught up. I hope you are all staying cool, wherever you are!

This doesn’t apply to most of us yet (including me) but here’s a review of something we can hopefully look foward to — Apollo 13 on HD-DVD.

We haven’t heard much yet about Open Season, the animated feature scheduled to open this fall. �Here’s an article about the film from The Malaysia Star. In addition to Gary, other actors featured in the film include Martin Lawrence, Debra Messing and Ashton Kutcher.

The AFI show was interesting — some of it was great — Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, and of course Gary! Not only talking about his own films, but classics like Lawrence of Arabia. Awesome.

Some of it, though — seriously, does anyone really have a burning desire to know why Jessica Alba finds The Sound of Music inspiring? But even with some quibbles about the broadcast and what was chosen and left out, it’s a pretty impressive list overall, and it gave me some ideas for my Netflix queue.

In case you didn’t make it through all three hours, Gary had two films on the list — Apollo 13 at no. 12 and Forrest Gump at no. 37. You can find the complete list at the AFI site.

…albino alligator? Well okay then! We never doubted for a moment, really.

Also, a (vaguely annoying) article about the 10th anniversary of Bubba Gump restaurants.

Two of Gary’s older projects will be released on DVD soon — That Championship Season and Jack the Bear. Recent release The Forgotten will also be out soon. Pre-order links below:

The Forgotten (release January 18, 2005)

That Championship Season (release February 8, 2005)

Jack the Bear (release December 14, 2004)

Gary will be doing some national press in the next few days, presumably to support CSI: New York and The Forgotten. Tonight he will be on the Late Show with David Letterman, and tomorrow on CBS’s The Early Show. Check your local listings!

Gary is also profiled this week at AskMen.com.

CSI: NY is reviewed by SignOnSanDiego.Com and Newsday. Both have nice things to say about Gary.

There are several clips from The Forgotten at this French-language site.