Showbiz411

Frank Sinatra hit number 3 this week on the charts. Really? Yes, really. A Warner/Reprise collection from 2008 called “Nothing But the Best” sold over 41,000 copies last week and finished just behind a pop hits collection and rapper Rick Ross. Why? Amazon.com sold the CD for 99 cents, that’s why. They basically gave away the Chairman’s music for free. I don’t know if Warner/Reprise approved of this. There’s a school of thought now that giving away music is good because it will stimulate concert ticket sales. But that’s certainly not going to happen in this case. Since the boost, “Nothing But the Best” is back at $10.99. It contains 22 Sinatra hits from the Reprise catalog, all remastered. I have the original Reprise hits package and still sounds fine to me.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.