What did you do over the weekend?
Legendary music mogul Clive Davis, 93, hosted his annual three day event at his beautiful home tucked away in leafy Westchester County.
The event is almost as legendary as Clive himself, with big dinners each night, brunch during the day, and a talent show on Sunday.
This year, guests included Chevy Chase, famed Motown songwriter Valerie Simpson, Paul Shaffer, and Henry Wayne Casey aka KC of the famed Sunshine Band. Also on hand: Republic Records co-chief Monte Lipman, influencer and entrepreneur Nikki Haskell, MSNBC producer Ron Dodd, famed Broadway producer Fran Weissler, WABC weatherman Sam Champion, theater writer Michael Riedel, and Jerry Wonda of Fugees fame, among others.
I was lucky to be included, and got to talk to the most unusual visitor: the great actor Brian Cox aka Logan Roy of “Succession.” He and his wife, actress Nicole Ansari-Cox. (I was seated next to Francine Lefrak, Broadway producer and such an innovative charitable giver that she and husband Rick Friedberg had just been part of the Time 100 dinner for philanthropists on Thursday night!)
Yes, I had a lot of questions for Cox, who I met 25 years ago when starred in a film called “L.I.E.” His co-star was a very young Paul Dano.
Has he seen Sarah Snook on Broadway in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”? Snook played Shiv Roy, his daughter on the series.
“Of course! She’s marvelous! What a job she did!” He agreed with me when I mentioned how Snook is without ego despite her acting gifts. “We love her!” he said.
Cox hasn’t had a chance to see Kieran Culkin yet in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” he’s going soon. Cox had nothing but praise for Culkin, who played Roman Roy. Cox was blown away by Kieran’s work in Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain.”
“He’s had an incredible year, and I’m so happy for him,” Cox told me.
I did ask him about voicing the McDonald’s commercials. Does he enjoy it? “Totally,” he declared. “I want to do more!”
The Saturday dinner — for well over 100 guests — included an entertainment surprise. The person most surprised was the entertainer herself, Valerie Simpson, who wrote dozens of hits with late husband Nik Ashford. Minutes before the guests were seated, Clive enlisted her to play a couple of songs on his beautiful piano.
Simpson, always up for a challenge, rose to the occasion and serenaded us with two of her famous songs. One was the first hit she and Nik wrote for Ray Charles, “Let’s Go Get Stoned.” She told us, “We wrote it as a joke, but Ray loved it. And it changed our lives.”
Val told us she was shocked, watching the Met Gala, when that huge group of singers on the red carpeted stairs serenaded the celebrities with one their songs. That was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” appropriate since Diana Ross made her first Met Gala appearance in years. (See below, with party co-host Greg Schiefer as talented mic holder.)
As for Clive, who just turned a youthful 93, he remains the host with the most. Over dinner he told a story about how he revived Miles Davis’s career in 1970. The famed jazz trumpeter was doing small shows around the country. Clive encouraged him to record the landmark “Bitches Brew” album, which became a huge bestseller. It propelled Miles into big venues — including Bill Graham’s Fillmore West — and cemented his fame.
The best part of the Clive story is the kicker: Miles was going to be presented with his gold record and demanded that Clive give it to him at the ceremony. Only, he told Clive that he could not come in his signature blue blazer and — Clive quoted Miles — “those fucking khaki pants.”
Davis told Davis he’d pick out the music mogul’s outfit himself.
The result: a picture of them made the cover of Cashbox magazine, You can see it below.
And beneath that, my picture of Chevy Chase underneath a portrait of Aretha Franklin. Clive reminded us that during his Arista Records days he produced the only “Saturday Night Live” comedy album. Of course!
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