It’s Sunday night, and time to take stock of the week.
First: I told you last August that Paula Abdul would be a judge on Simon Cowell’s “X Factor.” It was known then, but this latest contract stuff was contrived for publicity. A lot is going into “X Factor.” Sony Music is counting on lots of hits from as yet undiscovered talent. That helped Paula when it came to her contract with CBS for her failed dance show. The reunion of Simon and Paula is the only real publicity hook for “X Factor.” When the show starts airing, get ready for lots of stories about Simon and Paula fighting, and no one getting along with host Steve Jones. It’s all a PT Barnum like machine, designed to stoke tabloid headlines. And the public falls for it more often than Charlie Brown reaches in vain for Lucy’s football.
Second: So nice that the L.A. Times acknowledges a grand jury investigation of the Kabbalah Center. I told you this three weeks ago. I’ve been writing about malfesance at Kabbalah for years, about the Raising Malawi fundraising and Madonna’s role as the group’s patsy. The IRS and grand jury will do well to look into the vast real estate holdings of the Centre, and into an explanation for how the Berg family lives if they don’t have earned income.
One explanation will be that as leaders of Kabbalah, they’re entitled to parish houses. That argument has been tested in the past, mostly with failure as a result. Soon Hollywood will be owned by Kabbalah and Scientology–sort of wall to wall cults in a real estate monopoly. Only in Hollywood kids, only in Hollywood.
