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Billy Preston’s Enduring Legacy, from the BBC

Roger Friedman
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Billy Preston’s Enduring Legacy, from the BBC

Billy Preston was the actual “fifth Beatle”–the only recording artist ever credited on a Beatles record. He played with the Beatles and Stones, and never got paid for any of it. (His receives nothing now from all the reissues he played on.)

The BBC has an excellent tribute out on Billy that’s worth listening to at http://tinyurl.com/247kogu

Preston’s legacy is currently being held hostage in Los Angeles federal bankruptcy court by Judge Theodore Albert, whose decisions in the late Preston’s case are erratic and seemingly capricious. When the full story comes out about Albert’s handling of this legend’s life, it’s going to be quite an eye opener.

In the meantime, here’s Billy, who died tragically in June 2006 at age 59. He played on “Abbey Road,” “Let it Be” and “The Concert for Bangla Desh,” had three top 10 hits with “Outta Space,” “Will it Go Round in Circles,” and “Nothing from Nothing.” He is not, of course, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Is Diddy Done? Sean Combs “Last Train to Paris” Is a Stiff

Roger Friedman
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Is Diddy Done? Sean Combs “Last Train to Paris” Is a Stiff

Is Sean “P Diddy/Puff Daddy” Combs finally done in the music business?

The answer may be yes, at least as a recording artist.

Combs’s latest effort, “Last Train to Paris,” failed to sell in its debut over Christmas weekend. It has yet to chart on ITunes, and is not in the top 200 albums on Amazon.com.

It’s not like Combs hasn’t pushed and promoted “Last Train.” In fact, a YouTube video of the launch party shows a young lady–hired by Combs–in a bathtub surrounded by candles. Her hair then catches on fire.

You could say Combs wishes his album would catch on fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY-EUmpMdvk

In truth, Combs has never been a big seller. His only real hit album, “No Way Out,” was released in July 1997. Its success was mostly due to a remake of Sting’s “Every Breath You Take” as “I’ll Be Missing You.”

His 2006 album, “Press Play,” was a sales bust.

It’s not “Last Train” isn’t good. The single, “Angels,” is kind of melodic soft-rap. It has a nice vibe, at least in the “clean” version. You can hear it at http://badboyonline.com/

But it’s the only thing you can hear or see on the website for what was once Combs’ thriving entertainment business. He recently left Bad Boy behind at Warner Music Group after the flailing WMG bought into Diddy for about $30 million. Now Combs records for Interscope/Universal.

Otherwise, Combs is in a regrouping moment in his career. His only retail store for his Sean John clothing line is closing after six years on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The line will now be sold at Macy’s. That leaves him to promote the mostly unpopular Ciroc Vodka. He– or rather someone or something– ‘tweets’ about it endlessly.

But Sean Combs isn’t going away. He is incredibly gifted at reinventing himself. Never, never count him out.

Spider Man on Broadway Chugs Along with Talented “B” Team

Roger Friedman
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Spider Man on Broadway Chugs Along with Talented “B” Team

Sunday’s matinee of “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” produced no injuries and only one short stop, in the first act.

Otherwise, the well publicized previews of this ambitious musical played to a sold out crowd on Sunday afternoon during the Blizzard of 2010. At the intermission, a couple of people left, saying that the show was more a “spectacle” than a musical. (They may have been time travelers from the 1950s.)

But the rest of the audience happily stayed. They didn’t seem to care that Sunday’s show comprised several “alternates” (don’t call them understudies). One of them was the incredibly talented Matthew James Thomas, who will alternate the lead role of Peter Parker with Reeve Carney. Thomas, who’s been written about as a possible Peter for London, was outstanding in the Second Act (thanks to a time change and the snow, it was a one act day for yours truly catching up with the show). The show’s big number, “Boy Falls from the Sky,” was thrilling on Sunday.

Where Carney has rock star appeal, Thomas is more of the trained theater actor. Carney has the rocker’s demeanor; Thomas is cut out for Broadway in a big way. In the end, fans may want to check out both actors.

There have been a few changes in Act 2, principally the addition of a spider’s web to a major scene. Also, there’s been clarification of the final fight between Spider Man aka Peter and the villainess Arachne, on this day played also by a new alternate, T.V. Carpio, and not America Olivo, who I think filled in for Natalie Mendoza previously.

But due perhaps to the new cast members getting their webs, er, straight, there was noticeably less flying in the second act on Sunday. In the first act, enthusiastic kids told me during the intermission, there had been lots of it, however, including the spectacular performance by Patrick Page as the Green Goblin. And Jennifer Damiano continues to be winning as Mary Jane.

Still to be worked on is the ending of the show. It ends on an ellipsis and not an exclamation point right now. I did wonder how much of the poison doled out by the New York Post on a regular basis is infecting audience reaction even in a small way. (The newspaper that once printed John Lennon’s morgue pictures on its front page is devoted to killing the show.) Still, they throng the merchandise booths in the theater when the show is over, which is a good sign that friends are being encouraged to buy tickets.

Snow Snow Snow in Manhattan: It’s 10PM, Do You Know Where the Snow Plows Are?

Roger Friedman
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Snow Snow Snow in Manhattan: It’s 10PM, Do You Know Where the Snow Plows Are?

It’s 10:45pm. I’ve just returned to Greenwich Village from 57th St. and Seventh Avenue. And guess what? Not one street is plowed.

My cab driver, a great guy, went very slowly down Seventh Avenue. This is what we saw: no plows working, no streets cleaned. No sign of anyone doing anything.

Broadway, Times Square, Seventh Avenue, Macy’s, all the way down: nothing. Back on 57th St., it was full of snow going east and west.

Even Mike Bloomberg’s precious pedestrian mall where Broadway has been destroyed in Times Square–no one was sitting in the garden chairs, that’s for sure!

Down here in the Village, you can fuhgeddaboutit. Sixth Avenue has not been this full of snow in at least 14 years. It’s a beautiful, impassable tableau.

Remember the blizzard of 1996? Rudy Giuliani was plowing these streets before the snow even fell.

Where is Mike Bloomberg? Bermuda?

At this rate, with this strategy–let it snow completely then try and plow the streets–Monday and Tuesday are going to be long days.

“Fockers” Is the Holiday Season Hit, So is “Grit”; Jeff Bridges Has Two in the Top 5

Roger Friedman
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“Fockers” Is the Holiday Season Hit, So is “Grit”; Jeff Bridges Has Two in the Top 5

“Little Fockers” got pretty bad reviews, but audiences like it. The Robert DeNiro-Ben Stiller comedy–the third and last part of the trilogy that includes “Meet the Parents” and “Meet the Fockers”–has taken in almost $50 million. At a clip of $14 million a day, it’s doing great. For Universal, “Fockers” is a godsend. They needed a hit. (It’s also a partly Paramount feature as well thanks to their old deal with Dreamworks.)

“Fockers” is the only out and out comedy with stars for this holiday season. It’s counter programming to “True Grit”–also doing very well, and “Tron.” If you just want to laugh and have popcorn, “Fockers” is a relief.

‘True Grit” is also a hit, and will be the biggest release ever for the Coen Brothers. Not getting any Golden Globe nominations hasn’t affected its fortunes. Jeff Bridges has the biggest weekend of his career, with “Grit” and “Tron” in the top 5. He also won his Oscar in 2010 for “Crazy Heart.” I hope he’s celebrating.

Meantime, “The King’s Speech” expanded and, has nearly $10 million in the bank. The Oscar-tipped Tom Hooper film just continues to build and build. It’s the consensus film of the Oscar season. The feeling is everybody likes it, it’s the one film that Academy voters, nearly all reviewers (except for crazy Manohla Dargis), and audiences can all love. Plus, you can take the teens during the holiday. “Social Network” skews younger, “Black Swan” is edgier, “True Grit” is slower and retro, “The Fighter” is punchier.

I am still baffled by the positive reviews I’ve read for Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere.” It’s not the moviemaking I couldn’t stand, it was the story. Meantime, watching “Toy Story 3” on Christmas night with family and friends was a treat. What a great, great film.

Afraid of “127 Hours”? James Franco’s Grandma Says You’re a “A Bunch of Pussies”

Roger Friedman
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Afraid of “127 Hours”? James Franco’s Grandma Says You’re a “A Bunch of Pussies”

Mitzie Verne, James Franco‘s grandmother, and owner of the famed Verne Art Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio, has a Christmas greeting for us.

She and her grandson made this video on Friday, and here’s the link. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/00d8bf6a82/christmas-greetings-from-the-franco-s

It’s very cute. Basically, Mitzi says the people who are afraid to go to “127 Hours” are “a bunch of pussies.”

She’s right. Man up, everyone.

And yes, James Franco is Jewish. (Mother’s side; Dad is Portugese.) Ho ho ho.

Phil Spector’s in Jail, But His Stars Still Own Christmas (With Video Gift for You)

Roger Friedman
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Phil Spector’s in Jail, But His Stars Still Own Christmas (With Video Gift for You)

Phil Spector may be in jail, but that hasn’t stopped his two most famous stars–Ronnie Spector and Darlene Love–from carrying on their Christmas traditions of performing at B.B. King’s. The only difference now is that Ronnie and Darlene–who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this March–are now paid for their work.  Here’s Jim Bessman’s report from last weekend. Put on or download Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” the 1963 classic, and enjoy!

Friday night brought “Ronnie Spector’s Best Christmas Ever” and found The Ronettes’ lead singer in better voice than ever. Backed by a six-piece band (two keyboards, sax, bass, guitar and drums) and top female backup vocalists in Elaine Caswell and Jenni Muldaur, Spector approximated her ex-husband’s Wall of Sound productions on The Ronettes’ hit catalog, which as she showed at B.B.’s, is much bigger than the two best-known 1963 entries “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You.”

“(The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up,” “Do I Love You?,” “Walking In The Rain,” “I Can Hear Music” and “Paradise”–all Ronettes’ hits–were perfectly rendered, same with “Is This What I Get For Loving You?,” which was memorably covered by David Johansen. Spector’s appeal to the punk rock generation was also manifest in her cover of Johansen‘s fellow New York Doll Johnny Thunders‘ “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory” and Joey Ramone‘s “She Talks To Rainbows”–both recorded on her 1999 EP “She Talks To Rainbows,” which Ramone and her guitarist Daniel Rey co-produced.

Other covers saluted her acknowledged inspiration Frankie Lymon and Ronettes-influenced Amy Winehouse, and her friend John Lennon, whose “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” fit perfectly with the night’s Christmas theme. To that end, Spector also sang all her “Christmas Album” classics–“Sleigh Ride,” “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Frosty The Snowman”–a lit-up Frosty the Snowman prop smiling away throughout the show. She also let loose on “My Christmas Wish” from her new Christmas EP “Ronnie Spector’s Best Christmas Ever.” The new song featured her trademark “whoa-whoa”‘s, and she gave her low-cut top a little Christmas jiggle in perpetuating the teen male fantasies of the well-past-their-teens males in the SRO crowd.

While Ronnie Spector was embraced by the punks, Darlene Love has enjoyed more mainstream support from the likes of Phil Spector-influenced Bruce Springsteen, whose guitarist Little Steven van ZAndt introduced “Darlene Love’s Christmas Show” on Sunday night.

Rattling off her Spector-produced hits “Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home,” “(Today I  Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” “A Fine, Fine Boy” and “He’s A Rebel,” he alluded to her songs on Spector’s “Christmas Album” in declaring “It’s official–Christmas is here,” then hailed Love’s forthcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after proclaiming her the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singer ever, male or female.

Love lived up to the intro. Like Ronnie Spector, she was backed by a Wall of Sound-worthy band of two keyboards, sax, drums, percussion, two guitars, bass, and three top New York backup singers in Ula Hedwig, who’s sung with Love since Love moved to New York in 1981; jazz recording artist Catherine Russell, and Clayton Bryant, a regular at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar open mic nights, who also backs them in concert. Still on a high from last week’s induction announcement, Love began by returning to her roots with the gospel classic “Please Be Patient With Me,” then delivered the first of her Spector “Christmas Album” songs in “Marshmallow World”; she would also reprise her performances of the album’s “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and of course, its only original song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

She sang all the Little Steven-mentioned hits, too, as well as his “All Alone on Christmas,” which she performed on the “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” soundtrack. But she also thrilled with another wailing gospel-tinged tune in “I Know Where I’ve Been,” the inspirational showstopper she performed on Broadway in “Hairspray,” and Sam Cooke‘s anthemic “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which she did after noting the similarities in her and Cooke’s background. The full house was on its feet when she closed with “River Deep, Mountain High” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which, incidentally, she taped  for her annual spot on David Letterman‘s Christmas Eve show.

The only thing missing was The Crystals’ La La Brooks, the third female vocal star of Spector’s “Christmas Album,” who could have played Saturday night had she not already played B.B.’s in October–when Phil’s daughter Nicole came out to sing backup on The Crystals’ “Da Do Ron Ron.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXVcrWO5FCg

Amy Winehouse: Father Announces His Own New Year’s Eve Concert

Roger Friedman
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2
Amy Winehouse: Father Announces His Own New Year’s Eve Concert

Mitch Winehouse, father of disaster in progress Amy Winehouse, is set to perform his own New Year’s Eve concert in London.

Since Amy can’t-doesn’t-record or perform, someone’s got to do it.

Mitch apparently has released an album called “Rush of Love.” He’s going to sing the songs from it at Le Pigalle in Picadilly on December 31st. The show, including dinner and Champagne, is a reasonable 95 British pounds, or about $150.

Does Mitch know he’s cashing in on daughter Amy’s so called success? He does. Here are excerpts from his press announcement:

“No one is more aware than Mitch Winehouse of the accusation soon to be leveled at him.

“Well of course I wouldn’t be in this position without Amy,” he laughs indulgently, as if anyone could think differently or even see that fact as a negative, “but now the opportunity is there, why not take it? Who wouldn’t want to make an album?”

For Mitch Winehouse to cut a record called Rush of Love at the age of 60 is an unlikely twist of fate, especially one with a song selection revealing a real depth of knowledge and impeccable taste.

But It comes from a perfectly natural place and reveals the roots of his own, as well as his daughter’s musical inspiration.  This is no album of the usual Rat Pack standards – it is jazz, swing, crooning, if you like, but not pop.
Mitch has been a businessman, salesman and latterly a London cabbie. Until his daughter began persuading him to record 6 years ago, ‘singer’ was not a career move.

But while the kids listen to his daughter, Winehouse senior is taking them further back to the roots.

“Everyone likes this music, young and old,” he says, “but there is so much more that no one’s ever heard. I was looking up lyrics on the internet and came across Sinatra performances. The comments from young people underneath are all saying things like ‘this is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard, I didn’t know Sinatra could sing like this’. They only hear My Way these days.”

“Suddenly, I just want to perform,” he concludes, a little surprised at himself, “I want the chance.”

http://www.youtube.com/mitchwinehouse

PS Remember Amy? What a career! Her second album, the Grammy winning “Back to Black,” was released on October 30, 2006. Since then it’s been lots of real “Rehab,” tattoos, arrests, scandals, and bad hair days. A follow up album? Well, this is it.

Ten Best Films of 2010, and More: “King’s Speech” Is Best

Roger Friedman
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Ten Best Films of 2010, and More: “King’s Speech” Is Best

The top 10 films of 2010:

1. The King’s Speech 2. The Fighter 3. The Social Network 4. 127 Hours 5. Toy Story 3

6. Black Swan 7. Solitary Man

8. The Town 9. Inception 10. Rabbit Hole

plus 11. Blue Valentine 12. Please Give 13. Shutter Island 14. The Kids Are All Right 15. The Tillman Story

16. True Grit 17. Tamara Drewe 18. The Ghost Writer 19. The Kings of Pastry 20. Waiting for “Superman”

“127 Hours” Still Alive, Kicking: Studio Stands Fast

Roger Friedman
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0
“127 Hours” Still Alive, Kicking: Studio Stands Fast

Danny Boyle‘s extraordinary film, “127 Hours,” isn’t being forgotten or forsaken by Fox Searchlight.

The studio assures me that despite cutbacks in the number of theatres currently showing the film, “127” will get a second life beginning in January around the time of the Oscar nominations.

To that end, Fox Searchlight tells me they’ve started a new marketing campaign called “I Kept My Eyes Open for 127 Hours.” They’re featuring T shirts with the slogan and doing everything they can to lighten up the idea that the movie is grim. It’s not.

www.ikeptmyeyesopenfor127hours.com/

Also here’s a new commercial for the film, which I’ve put on my top 10 list for 2010.

http://fslav.wiredrive.com/presentation/projects/detail/720816/914379/8169664/?presentation=1d5a9ecc05dd2a5ca35d3852d7cd2efd

Let’s rally around “127 Hours.” If you’re serious about film, go check out this one, “Blue Valentine,” and “Rabbit Hole” during the holiday break!

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