Ben Affleck Did Not Attend the Premiere of His Latest Film
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: They had a party, but the star wasn't there.</s>NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's find out more about that. Here's Laurin Sydney with showbiz news. Hi, Lauren.</s>LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Right you are, Joie, you scooped me again. Ben Affleck did not make it to the premiere of his latest film, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," but last night's event did have its share of star power just the same. Writer-director Kevin Smith took center stage for what should be the final film in his New Jersey series, which includes "Clerks" and "Dogma." Affleck, who is reportedly still in rehab, and Matt Damon co-star in the film. This time around, Smith and sidekick Jason Mewes give their comic-book characters life in a cross-country quest to, of all things, understand why Hollywood is so shallow. Last night in Memphis, 15,000 Elvis Presley fans gathered for a candlelight vigil at Graceland, observing the 24th anniversary of the King's death. Every year, fans of all kinds from all around the world make the pilgrimage to Memphis to participate in the overnight gathering. Presley died unexpectedly of heart failure in 1977. OK, they're called the Clark Family Experience, and thanks to dad, this clan is merely a dozen kids, has banded together, literally, as they ready for the release of their debut album. Our Bill Tush caught up with them in our studio.</s>BILL TUSH, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I want to introduce you to six guys you are going to be hearing a lot from. They are the Clark Family Experience, and here they are, and they all are named after the letter A. I try to remember -- I tried to remember, but I goofed it up, so we're going to let you guys do it yourself. You are?</s>AUSTIN CLARK, MUSICIAN: Austin.</s>ALAN CLARK, MUSICIAN: And I'm Alan.</s>ASHLEY CLARK, MUSICIAN: Ashley.</s>ADAM CLARK, MUSICIAN: Adam.</s>TUSH: Back there?</s>ANDREW CLARK: Andrew.</s>TUSH: And?</s>AARON CLARK, MUSICIAN: Aaron.</s>TUSH: Aaron. OK. There you got it. Did your parents ever explain why they named you the way that they did?</s>ALAN CLARK: No, they never did, but the reason why there are so many kids -- mom wanted girls, so she kept having kids until she got them.</s>TUSH: Really?</s>ALAN CLARK: Yeah.</s>TUSH: But there are 11 of you?</s>AUSTIN CLARK: Eleven kids all together.</s>ALAN CLARK: Nine boys, two girls.</s>TUSH: OK, so how come we got six here and the other five are where? They're not in the group, are they?</s>ALAN CLARK: No, they're young. They are in training.</s>TUSH: Well, you are a country group, right?</s>ALAN CLARK: Yeah.</s>TUSH: I heard you play a little bit, it's great stuff. And you have got your albums coming out this fall. You hooked up with a guy that anybody who knows country music knows, Tim McGraw, big superstar.</s>ASHLEY CLARK: We're helping him out. He's in a slump right now.</s>TUSH: This guy is going nowhere, right? He's married to an ugly woman named Faith Hill. But you guys hooked up with him, and he -- what -- produced your album?</s>ALAN CLARK: He produced the record, along with Byron Delmore (ph), and we are looking forward to it coming out.</s>TUSH: Terrific. Now, do you write your own stuff?</s>ALAN CLARK: Yeah, we do, and we get</s>TUSH: Good deal. So, everything is going well? You're all excited. You moved from Virginia.</s>ALAN CLARK: Virginia to Nashville.</s>TUSH: To Nashville.</s>ALAN CLARK: And making records, and they are keeping us busy down there, working, living on a bus.</s>TUSH: How does it start out? I mean, you know, there have been families in the business, the Jacksons, the Osmonds, all those guys. How does it start out? Like, were you just suddenly one day wake up, and say we are a group?</s>ALAN CLARK: Well, it was our dad's idea. He is a minister, so growing up we traveled a lot on the road, and -- like I was 3, like, 4 years old, like started playing guitar. He taught us to you play everything.</s>ASHLEY CLARK: He plays like 20 instruments.</s>TUSH: No kidding.</s>ALAN CLARK: So, it was mainly his idea.</s>ASHLEY CLARK: Mostly banjo.</s>TUSH: So, he plays 20 instruments -- mostly banjo. So, he taught you each how to play a different instrument?</s>ALAN CLARK: Yeah.</s>TUSH: Does he ever teach you on one and then he says, no, you're better off with this?</s>ALAN CLARK: We kind of switched around. The older we got, we like -- I like this instrument better than the other instrument we were playing. We switched a little bit, but mainly it's been like this.</s>ASHLEY CLARK: He would pick an instrument for us if we didn't have one in the band.</s>TUSH: Good deal. Now, don't leave any New York city taxicabs. We were talking about that before. We're going to have you guys play for us. This is a preview, because the album is coming out in the fall. The Clark Family Experience.