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Robert Caro, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Beth Stern, Norah Lawlor Star at Annual East Hampton Authors Night, Jay McInerney Novel Snubbed

Roger Friedman
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Robert Caro, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Beth Stern, Norah Lawlor Star at Annual East Hampton Authors Night, Jay McInerney Novel Snubbed

Every summer, the East Hampton Library sponsors “Author’s Night,” to raise money and to see how it can be in large tent.

On Saturday, more than a thousand locals jammed into said tent pitched at Herrick Park to support the library and to see which writers are most popular.

The authors are stationed three to a table with piles of their books, which they sign for customers who pay on their way out. Unless you’ve got an outside corner table, the chances of passing out while wearing Lily Pulitzer or Prada are fairly high.

The joke is, it’s the best way to lose weight in two hours!

The guests are often as interesting as the writers. This year, celebs like Alec Baldwin moseyed around surveying the chaos. I ran into the great soap actress and now documentarian Ilene Kristen (of “Ryan’s Hope” fame). Famed NY TV news personality Lynn White glowed, and not just from perspiration! There was no sign of Howard Stern, but wife Beth Stern was busy signing books from the beginning to the end.

Writers with longest lines and fastest disappearing piles of books included the eminent Robert Caro, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Beth Stern (wife of Howard), and famed publicist Norah Lawlor, whose “Mom’s Book of Wisdom: Timeless Advice from My Mother & Yours,” sold out like lightning — 100 copies signed and gone in the first two hours.

Tom Freston had his memoir of starting MTV, David Margolick’s excellent history of Sid Caesar, and Tom Junod’s recollections of his unique father were all hits. I ran into comedy writer Carol Leifer, news personality Don Lemon, and the great society chronicler Michael Gross. Fan favorites included Valerie Greenberg, Monty Farber and Amy Zerner, Susan McGuirk, Aphrodite Jones, and Karine Jean-Pierre.

Jay McInerney — celebrating more than 40 years of “Bright Lights, Big City” — left early with a big stack of his latest novel unsold.

Maybe my favorite author? New York Times architecture guru Paul Goldberger. He’s written many bestsellers, his original one — “The City Observed” — is like a bible of New York city history. He told me it’s not in print right now! What? Goldberger’s book launched a lifetime of websites and books about vanished landmarks. Some publisher must bring it back immediately!

PS How much did I spend? Eighty-two dollars! And well worth it.

Brad Pitt Doesn’t Have a Publicist: He Confesses Being “Off the Wagon” As He Serves Wine to Esquire Writer, Talks About Family Issues

Roger Friedman
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Brad Pitt Doesn’t Have a Publicist: He Confesses Being “Off the Wagon” As He Serves Wine to Esquire Writer, Talks About Family Issues

Uh-oh.

Brad Pitt had a great movie publicist for years, Cindi Guagenti never let him get in trouble.

But Brad’s on his own these days and the result is pretty harrowing. For his new cover profile in Esquire, Brad served written Ryan D’Agostino wine and admitted he’s off the wagon.

Esquire.com will have traffic today like the Cross Bronx Expressway at rush hour.

Is this for visitors, the writer wonders?

Brad answers:

“No, I got—I was sober for seven years. And then I got back off the wagon.” Little laugh. He raises his famous opposing-diacritic eyebrows and holds a finger up: “In a more restrained manner. I got overconfident a couple times, went, Yep, nope, not good for me. Not in big quantities.”

D’Agostino — who must have been beside himself when this happened — suggests, “You can have a glass of wine.”

Pitt responds: “Yeah. Well . . . I can have a few. But I can’t have a lot. I have to be professional about it.” The star tells D’Agostino, who writes that ‘he likes mornings now anyway, and you can miss a lovely morning when you drink too much the night before, and it’s just not as interesting. Mornings are interesting, and he doesn’t want any more of them to go by unseen. Even on a day like today. His place affords travel-magazine views of the city, but today clouds blot out the blue from horizon to horizon, like pulled cotton. It’s typical for this time of year, but most hosts would have apologized for the sky not being blue on the day of my visit. Not Pitt. He surveys the sky, smiles, and says, “June gloom. I love June gloom. It’s just so much more contemplative and introspective.”

The Esquire story is otherwise very illuminating, and has lots of other good bits. But this news — considering Pitt’s terrible relationship to his six children — is pretty alarming. It’s too bad. But it just shows you why publicists sit in or nearby on these interviews. Good grief!

Brad’s new movie, “Heart of the Beast,” opens at the end of September.

Oscar Winner Julianne Moore Coming Back to New York Theater After 20 Years with Off Broadway Starring Role as “Faydra” for Manhattan Theatre Club

Roger Friedman
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Oscar Winner Julianne Moore Coming Back to New York Theater After 20 Years with Off Broadway Starring Role as “Faydra” for Manhattan Theatre Club

Julianne Moore has an Oscar, lots of other accolades, and awards.

I saw her on stage almost 40 years ago at the Louisville Theater festival.

Now, she’s coming back to New York theater some 20 years after appearing on Broadway in “The Vertical Hour” with Bil Nighy.

Moore will star in a new play called ‘Faydra,” written by Sarah Ruhl, at New York’s City Center.

Performances begin in February for the modern take on the classic Greek myth. Aphrodite aims her bow at Faydra and lets an arrow of love fly. Nothing is ever the same. Mostly because the object of Faydra’s sudden, all-devouring lust is her soon-to-be stepson.

Shades of “The Odyssey”! Suddenly Greek mythology is in vogue.

Manhattan Theater Club is producing the play at City Center, which is considered off Broadway.

That’s a smart choice for everyone involved. Moore will arrive will all the spring season premieres, but not be involved in the crazy run to the Tony Awards. This is an acknowledgement of the Tonys’ antipathy toward “Hollywood” stars.

More casting will be announced soon. You can bet it will be filled with “names.” MTC already has Denée Benton, Patina Miller in ‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play,” Lauren Ambrose in “The Unbelievers,” and Danny Burstein, Micaela Diamond, Jessica Hecht, Will Pullen, and Jeremy Shamos in “Awake and Sing!”

At the same time that Julianne takes the stage at City Center, Laura Linney will star on Broadway for them at the Samuel G. Freedman Theater in a new play by David Hare called “Montauk.”

We wouldn’t want Julianne Moore and Laura Linney in an awards race, would we? No one would survive, starting with the critics!

Legend Cindy Adams Tops the New Yorker with her Own Tales of Donald Trump and Evil Mentor Roy Cohn, Says of the Latter: “He never paid bills”

Roger Friedman
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Legend Cindy Adams Tops the New Yorker with her Own Tales of Donald Trump and Evil Mentor Roy Cohn, Says of the Latter: “He never paid bills”

Apparently last week’s New Yorker featured an excerpt from a new book about evil lawyer Roy Cohn and how he shaped Donald Trump’s life.

The excerpt provides no real new information, as the relationship between these two lawbreaking misanthropes has been raked over in books and documentaries.

The piece does mention, a couple of times, legendary NY Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams, now 96 and still publishing columns several times a week.

Cindy took one look at the New Yorker piece and rose up like a phoenix. “Roy Cohn is back in the news — but I actually knew the infamous lawyer,” she declared Sunday night before launching into a vivid memoir about the man who helped Senator Joseph McCarthy engineer one of America’s darkest periods — the Blacklist of the 1950s that destroyed lives.

Cindy writes:
Cohn’s home? East 68th mansion. Upstairs, a law library. The fabulous volumes — golden pages open, on the floor, stepped on, spilled coffee dribbled on. Me: “How can you do this to these precious books?” Roy: “Who cares? Just give me the judge.”
Roy took me to then-elegant French restaurant La Grenouille. Arriving, he told its maitre: “The check is in the mail.”

More:

One Joey [Adams, Cindy’s famous comic husband] birthday, we planned a party in Hong Kong. Suddenly, Roy arrived. Nobody knew he was coming. Nobody invited him. He flew in without telling anyone. Then he canceled all our dinner plans while inviting those he knew to a place he also knew.

And:

He never paid bills. Joey brought him to our antique dealer. He selected three items. Lamp, vase, table. Six months passed. Never paid. Housekeeper Elvira knew me well, so one afternoon, my driver and I just arrived at his home, walked in, repossessed the items and delivered all back to the dealer. That night, Roy took me to dinner. Never ever mentioned one word about what happened.

That Cindy has not written a book about her life is tragic. Maybe she’s left a manuscript to be published after she passes on. There was a documentary about her, but it didn’t even scratch the surface. She knows where every body is buried!

Only in New York, kids. Only in New York

Ariana Grande “Petal” Has Huge Debut Week on Charts: Some Say She’s Too Thin But Her Voice Isn’t and Neither are Her Sales

Roger Friedman
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Ariana Grande “Petal” Has Huge Debut Week on Charts: Some Say She’s Too Thin But Her Voice Isn’t and Neither are Her Sales

Ariana Grande is really under a microscope these days.

Some say she’s so thin, she could fit under one!

But her voice isn’t thin and neither are her sales.

Ariana’s new album, “Petal,” debuted at number 1 on Friday with 291,853 copies sold according to hitsdailydouble.com.

A little more than half were physical sales, too. The rest came from streaming.

Ariana may not be spending Sunday in the Park with George, but she’ll be taking September off with a nice big hit under her belt.

Ariana outsold the other new album of the week — by country star Shaboozey — by miles.

Shaboozey, who struck gold with “The Bar Song” two years ago, sold only 31,618 copies of his new album.

The problem is that “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is one of those singles than wreck a career, like Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” They get lodged in the culture, and nothing can follow it up. “A Bar Song” will haunt him forever.

A surprise dud of the summer season: Gracie Abrams’ “Daughter from Hell.” It debuted at number 1 two weeks ago, but fell apart quickly without a hit single. Now it’s 59 on iTunes and gone from the main charts. A Taylor Swift disciple, Abrams perhaps relied on good will and not enough marketing for the album.

Guess What? “Spider Man: Brave New Day” Is a REALLY Big Hit, Way Over $1 Billion Worldwide, Please Tell Alvy Singer His Broom Didn’t Work

Roger Friedman
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Guess What? “Spider Man: Brave New Day” Is a REALLY Big Hit, Way Over $1 Billion Worldwide, Please Tell Alvy Singer His Broom Didn’t Work

I was thinking of “Spider Man: Brand New Day” the other night, watching “Annie Hall” on TCM.

Annie (Diane Keaton) calls Alvy (Woody Allen) to come kill a spider in her bathroom. He uses a broom, a shovel, anything he can get his hands on, to perfect the death.

But the spider — “as big as the size of a Buick” — is elusive, and Woody smashes everything in the bathroom.

And so “Brand New Day” has smashed everything in the bathroom, and is headed for other parts of the house.

Domestic total is $655 million. Worldwide total is over $1 billion.The comic book adventure generated $43 million on Friday, $57 million on Saturday, and an estimated $45 million on Sunday, according to Sony.

Alvy Singer would not have been able to vanquish Peter Parker.

In other news, “The Odyssey” added an epic $31 million to its bottom line, up to $461 million.

Pretty much not happening: “One Night Only” and “Super Troopers 3.”

In the case of the former, the title song by the New Radicals will probably outlive the movie. Can the restarted New Rads go up the charts and get a Best Song nomination? Sure, why not? Stranger things have happened!

“Spider Man” Headed to Highest 10 Day Domestic Gross in History, Eyed for $653 Million Finish on Sunday: Everyone Seems to Like It a Lot!

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man” Headed to Highest 10 Day Domestic Gross in History, Eyed for $653 Million Finish on Sunday: Everyone Seems to Like It a Lot!

Let’s just swing to the chase.

Sony says “Spider Man: Brand New Day” has the highest 10 day domestic run ever.

Through tomorrow, the US total should be $653 million. Talk about spinning a web!

Just this weekend alone $143 million.

Everyone seems to like the movie a lot. Clearly, there are many multiple returns.

Sony’s made so much money, maybe they can produce an affordable MP3 player.

What about “The Odyssey”? Well the probable Oscar winner has taken in over $1 billion worldwide. They can afford to polish up that Trojan horse!

Not much else happening. The lamented “One Night Only” has made $2.8 million Thurs-Fri. It’s not going to get much better. Audience meter is 72%, reviews are 48%. No sex, the director says, or nudity. The characters are Amish, I guess. Wait for a plane ride.

“Tony,” about Anthony Bourdain, is playing in six theaters. I haven’t seen it. A24 doesn’t send me recipes, and I don’t have the ingredients anyway. Seriously, it’s gotten good reviews. If you want to get out of the frying pan and into fire, go see it.

Everyone’s asking me why some movies haven’t gotten into the New York Film Festival. I have no idea. These things are above my pay grade!

Madonna’s Tribute to Late Producer William Orbit Comes 5 Months After He Said She Ignored His Plan for “Ray of Light” Sequel: “I’m writing a book”

Roger Friedman
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Madonna’s Tribute to Late Producer William Orbit Comes 5 Months After He Said She Ignored His Plan for “Ray of Light” Sequel: “I’m writing a book”

Madonna has finally posted a tribute to late producer and collaborator William Orbit.

She mentions his “crooked teeth.” See below.

Madonna fails to note Orbit’s scathing post from March 17th of this year, when he said she ignored his plan to make a sequel to their “Ray of Light” album. She wouldn’t even speak to him.

Orbit wrote: “I am writing a book, and that’s where I will put that entire story along with my candid reflections…Have transitioned now to a man for whom Fs are no longer on offer. Zero fucks. For the music biz. But who likes to hear somebody go on about feeling good. So, for the history books, she doesn’t love me any more waaaaaaaaaaaah”

It gets worse.

Orbit wrote: “Right. Let’s put this Madonna ROL 2.0 thing to rest here and now folks. Can get exhausting. Is NOT going to happen. Look, why don’t I just lay it out, cos I get asked constantly. I have an album ready that imho is indeed the successor to ROL. Everything about how it was made and how it sounds yells that from the first few bars. And I reached out. And there has been heard. Nil response. A week later. I speak with many close to her, including fam, but have not had a single syllable back in over two decades…last time we spoke was at in Midtown Manhattan, MSR Studios, for MDNA.”

Orbit continues: “Zero zero absolute zero hard feelings. Are you kidding, I will always love that woman. For real. She made my career. But am I crying?”

You can read his whole post below. In case it gets taken down, I’ve screen shot it.

Was Orbit ill in March and reviewing his life? Was something else going on? I don’t know. Maybe we will learn more. And get to see his book.

RIP.

“Spider Man: Brand New Day” On Track for $600 Mil By Sunday or Monday Latest as Daily Drops are Minimal, “One Night Only” Looks DOA

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man: Brand New Day” On Track for $600 Mil By Sunday or Monday Latest as Daily Drops are Minimal, “One Night Only” Looks DOA

As I predicted, “Spider Man: Brand New Day” sailed to $510 million yesterday.

With another $29 million added to the till, “Brand New Day” should finish the weekend with $600 million.

Yesterday’s drop was an infinitesimal 11%. People just keep going to see this movie, and the huge box office numbers don’t even include IMAX. It’s all from regular ticket pricing and a lot of discounting.

Stan Lee must be doing cartwheels in heaven. Steve Ditko, too. Stan created the whole scenario of Peter, MJ, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May, and the villains. Also, the high school setting. Ditko brought them all to life. This was back in 1962. And t just goes on and on and on!

“One Night Only,” the romcom with Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro, scored only $750k Thursday. With pre-previews, the total comes to $1.1 million. This movie is DOA. This was pretty clear from the jump, when the trailer was released.This is a blemish for Turner, who maybe was going to be James Bond.

keep refreshing…

Madonna Collaborator William Orbit Dead at 69, Wrote and Produced “Music,” “Ray of Light,” “Beautiful Strangers”” Family Says He Died July 23rd

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Collaborator William Orbit Dead at 69, Wrote and Produced “Music,” “Ray of Light,” “Beautiful Strangers”” Family Says He Died July 23rd

The family of Madonna collaborator William Orbit says he died on July 23rd.

Orbit was 69 years old. He wrote and produced Madonna’s “Ray of Light,” “Music,” and her best single, “Beautiful Stranger.”

The family does not say what happened to Orbit, whose real name was William Mark Wainwright.


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