TV movies feature Shepard murder

Two new made-for-TV movies about the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard are scheduled to appear within one week.

Shepard was a University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death and left tied to a fence by two young men, Anthony McKinney and Russell Henderson. The murder lent much attention to hate crimes legislation and gay rights.

HBO’s “The Laramie Project” will air at 7 p.m. Saturday, and NBC’s “The Matthew Shepard Story” will air at 8 p.m. March 16.

The NBC movie focuses on the moral dilemma of Shepard’s parents as they considered seeking the death penalty for their son’s murderers.

The HBO version takes a look at Laramie, the town where Shepard lived and died. Cast members include Steve Buscemi, Amy Madigan and Laura Linney.

Cranberries begin mini-tour

The Cranberries will undertake a short North American jaunt beginning May 10. Pre-sale tickets are now on sale on the band’s official Web site; after the pre-sale, tickets will be available via Ticketmaster.

The band is touring in support of its fifth and latest album, “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” which debuted at No. 46 on The Billboard 200 last November.

All of the Cranberries’ albums will be reissued by Universal later this year. The albums will also be available packaged together as a box set, called “The Cranberries Treasure Box,” which will include 22 bonus tracks.

The Cranberries are currently in Paris shooting a video for “This Is the Day,” the second single from “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.”

– News gathered by Bethany Kohoutek from the AP