Saturday, April 4, 2026
Donate
Home Blog Page 1022

Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” Was a Dud: Is There to Time to Record a New James Bond Theme?

Roger Friedman
-
0
Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” Was a Dud: Is There to Time to Record a New James Bond Theme?

Is there time to record a new James Bond theme song?

Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” was a bust this winter when it was released in February. Total real sales were 52,000 downloads, although there were ten times as many sales from streaming. The disparity is jarring.

On Spotify, of her top 10 streamed songs, Eilish’s James Bond song is 10th. Her most streamed song is “Bad  Guy” with 1.4 billion. “No Time to Die” squeaks in at 178,000,000.*

It wasn’t a bad song, but Eilish’s record was timed to launch the movie in early April. When the movie was moved to November, all the steam went out of the project. Unlike Adele’s “Skyfall,” “No Time to Die” rose up no charts, got little airplay, and vanished.

Now we’re only mid way through the weeks and months until the movie is released on November 20th. Actually five months. Eilish’s single is now much in the past and not particularly exciting. (Sung in a whisper, it wasn’t that exciting to begin with.) The movie needs all new marketing hooks for its release. A new song would certainly help. Even a new recording — a post-pandemic mix– might be a good idea.

Maybe Eilish could drink some coffee before she re-records “No Time to Die” so it doesn’t sound like she actually does have time to die. She and brother Finneas have all summer to jazz it up. It’s not like they’re going on tour.

*I corrected the 178,000 to 178,000,000. It doesn’t matter. The number is very low.

Clive Davis Curates Digital All Star Grammy Party with Rare Live Performances by Carly Simon, Frankie Valli, Raises Big Bucks for COVID Relief

Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica” Holds the Number 1 Spot for 2nd Week, But Falls 76% in Sales

Roger Friedman
-
0
Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica” Holds the Number 1 Spot for 2nd Week, But Falls 76% in Sales

The top 50 chart ending Thursday was pretty sad. Not much is selling, even through streaming.

Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica” took the number 1 spot for the second week in a row, but sales fell 76%. The total in week 1 was 275,000. The 2nd week was 65,000. Actual CDs and downloads came to just 25,000. This means the second wave of buyers didn’t care if they owned the music.

Run the Jewels “RTJ4” is now up to 63,000 total after 10 days. The total sales this past week were just 25,000 including streaming and iTunes. RTJ gave away a lot of free downloads on their website. They don’t count with the RIAA.

Otherwise, this past week was a snore. The biz needs a surprise. Bob Dylan comes this Friday. That means we’re counting on a release from a 79 year old. Not a good situation.

Beatles Surprise Disappointment as Peter Jackson’s “Let it Be” Documentary Delayed by a Year

Roger Friedman
-
0
Beatles Surprise Disappointment as Peter Jackson’s “Let it Be” Documentary Delayed by a Year

Disney has announced that Peter Jackson’s “Let it Be” documentary about the Beatles has been delayed by a year. It was supposed to be released on September 4th. Now it’s set for August 2021. If it ever comes out.

What is now also up in the air is a 50th anniversary edition of the “Let it Be” album or any kind of re-release of the original “Let it Be” film. Internet detectives can find the film floating around on the web, but officially it’s out of print.

The Jackson doc was supposed to take Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original footage and rearrange it to make the Beatles look happier and less at each other’s throats during the making of their penultimate album. As it turned out, after making the album and the film they went on to make their masterpiece, “Abbey Road.” “Let it Be” was issued after “Abbey Road” as the Beatles broke up.

The “Let it Be” film does show the group in a tense moment. Paul McCartney is calling the shots. John Lennon is using Yoko Ono as an ally and shield. George Harrison is trying to be zen, although his facade cracks at one point and he gets a bit put out with Paul. Ringo is just doing his thing, although a highlight moment is the drummer playing a newly written “Octopus’s Garden” for George on the piano.

The Beatles legacy is so Rushmore-ish now that I’m sure there’s internal squabbling among the principals about the tone of the documentary. Frankly, they should just re-release the old movie and be done with it. The reality is that they made “Abbey Road,” broke up, fought in public, made amends, and were friends before Lennon, and then Harrison, died. Everyone loves them, and no opinions will be changed by fans now seeing “Let it Be” in its original form.

 

Clive Davis Curates Digital All Star Grammy Party with Rare Live Performances by Carly Simon, Frankie Valli, Raises Big Bucks for COVID Relief

Roger Friedman
-
0
Clive Davis Curates Digital All Star Grammy Party with Rare Live Performances by Carly Simon, Frankie Valli, Raises Big Bucks for COVID Relief

I’d been hearing about these private Hollywood Zoom parties called Quarantunes for sometime now. WME superagent Richard Weitz and his 17 year old daughter Demi (charming and articulate) host them from their Los Angeles kitchen. The parties have raised around $3 million for various charities because guests– a number of whom are famous– are encouraged to donate while the party continues.

So last night I got an invite thanks to Sirius XM’s great Tracey Jordan, who helped legendary music mogul Clive Davis put together a digital version of his famed pre-Grammy dinner concert for the Weitzes. The money went to United Way, and the raised a lot.

Like all Clive’s dinners, the performers were all kept secret. So when Carly Simon turned up live from her barn on Martha’s Vineyard with a band, I was verklempt and so were the 400 plus other guests who were logged on. And Carly’s big surprise was that her band included one of our favorite actors, Tony Shalhoub, on guitar. The rest of her outfit included son Ben Taylor, David Saw, and John Forte. They kicked off with an old song called “It So Easy Then” from Carly’s “No Secrets” album, and then hit a home run with a gorgeous, flowing, “Anticipation.” Carly said she was singing in a lower key than she did in 1971, but she was sure radio ready. A triumph! (She should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by now!)

Clive’s many other performers for the four hours included more legends Frankie Valli (86 years old and also, spot on), Kool and the Gang, Ashanti, a special video of John Legend and Andra Day singing “The Greatest Love of All,” and so on. Quite amazing. The 400 guests included former Paramount chief Sherry Lansing, hit songwriter Diane Warren, the great Jimmy Jam Lewis, and tons of familiar faces from the biz. Other highlights included Kool and the Gang singing “Hollywood Swinging” and “Get Down on It,” and Frankie– sounding and looking great– with a big group of singers he’d corralled into doing “Let’s Hang On to What We’ve Got.” I also adored Ashanti and her mother rapping and singing together.

There was a way out special guest, too: Jim Messina! You know him, he was Loggins and Messina. Before that Jim Messina was in Poco and a famous session musician. In the early 70s, he also worked for Clive at Columbia Records in A&R. What a thrill to see and hear him do Danny’s Song, House at Pooh Corner and other hits!

The program wasn’t just known stars. We met an an up-and-comer, a gospel R&B singer named Jac Ross, discovered by Rodney Jerkins. Jac Ross channels Sam Cooke so well he would surprise the Cooke family and even Lou Rawls would have been surprised.

A great night- I sure hope they invite me back!

 

Everybody Must Get Stoned: Bob Dylan Announces Trilogy of Tennessee Whiskeys, and the Tracklist to New Album

Roger Friedman
-
0
Everybody Must Get Stoned: Bob Dylan Announces Trilogy of Tennessee Whiskeys, and the Tracklist to New Album

Bob Dylan is not shy about branding. Call this Everybody Must Get Stoned.

Dylan, our poet laureate, has announced on Instagram a “trio of Tennessee Whiskeys” They’re called Heaven’s Door, named for his famous song “Knockin On Heaven’s Door.” Each bottle is 50 bucks. One comes in a faux leather case with Dylan lyrics scrawled on it to make it look like a book. He’s also got an album coming out next week called “Rough and Ready.” It’s unclear which project is the tie in and which the main event. I guess we’re lucky there’s no cologne called “Blowin’ in the Wind” or Shelter from the Storm home furnishings.

Well, why not? Guillermo del Toro has a line of tequila. Francis Ford Coppola has his wine. Ernest Hemingway– who will never go away– is touting cologne. And of course, Kanye West has his sneakers. Why shouldn’t Bob Dylan have some good merch?

Tom Hanks Movie “Greyhound” Not Waiting for Theaters to Open, Heading to AppleTV Plus Next Month

Roger Friedman
-
0
Tom Hanks Movie “Greyhound” Not Waiting for Theaters to Open, Heading to AppleTV Plus Next Month

Tom Hanks is taking a “Greyhound” to AppleTV Plus.

Hanks’s next movie was supposed to be released by Sony Pictures today. But last month Sony threw in the towel and sold global rights to “Greyhound” to Apple’s streaming service.

Hanks wrote the script to the World War II movie based on C.S. Forester’s novel “The Good Shepherd.” Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue co-star with Hanks in the film directed by Aaron Schneider.

“Greyhound” is just the latest big feature to bypass theaters and head straight into the world of streaming platforms. Today we’re getting Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” and Judd Apatow’s “The King of Staten Island,” as well as Disney’s “Artemis Fowl.”

And there will be more, soon. The filmed stage musical “Hamilton”– which is not a feature film, but the Broadway musical filmed before the original cast left– is coming to Disney Plus on July 3rd.

So far, all of these movies are probably better suited to this platform rather than gamble on theatrical release. So the fact that theaters are closed right now may turn out to be a good thing.

Soap Opera: Without New Episodes During Pandemic Ratings are So Bad ABC Doesn’t Release Them Anymore for “General Hospital” Reruns

Roger Friedman
-
0
Soap Opera: Without New Episodes During Pandemic Ratings are So Bad ABC Doesn’t Release Them Anymore for “General Hospital” Reruns

The pandemic is killing the remaining four soap operas.

Things are so bad for the soaps, three of which are showing greatest hits from the past, that ABC has stopped sharing the ratings for “General Hospital.”

The other shows are fessing up, but the results aren’t good.

Even though “Days of Our Lives” is showing new episodes, they’ve fallen into a ratings ditch. It doesn’t help that Gov. Andrew Cuomo cuts into their show at 12:30pm on a daily basis.

For the week of June 1st, “Days” had an average of 1.8 million viewers. The number was up slightly from last week. But it was off from last year by 153,000 viewers.

Number 1 soap “The Young and the Restless” scored 1,950,000 for the week’s average. They’re down, too, from the prior week, by 68,000, and their audience is halved overall.

Sister CBS soap “Bold and the Beautiful” is really flailing without new shows. They were down to 1.5 million average, down 86,000 from the week before.

The last “General Hospital” numbers I got, unpublished, were 1.2 million from the last week of May. We can surmise they fell again the week of June 1st.

Even though Los Angeles is “open” starting today, June 12th, there’s still no sign of the soaps returning to their sets anytime soon. When the shows do rev up again, it’s not like they’ll be back on the air the next day. The three shows besides “Days” shoot six weeks in advance. So they’ll need that much time to get back on air from the day they resume production. They’ll need a production hook to get viewers back. One gimmick that always works is live shows. If they can all three agree on staggering it, a month of live weeks– one for each show– would at least get curiosity up among stalwart viewers. And stunt casting might not hurt. Maybe they can get famous alumna to return for cameos.

Disney’s Day of Reckoning Is Here for “Artemis Fowl,” Delayed Since Last Summer, Scores a Lowly 14 Among Reviewers

Roger Friedman
-
0
Disney’s Day of Reckoning Is Here for “Artemis Fowl,” Delayed Since Last Summer, Scores a Lowly 14 Among Reviewers

Is it “Artemis Fowl” or Foul?

Well, something foul lurks for this Disney movie that was supposed to be released last summer. It was so bad, the Dizzies moved it to May 2020, then to tomorrow. And now the reckoning has come: a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes from 49 reviewers.

Kenneth Branagh directed it. You know, he’s a great actor and stage director, but with movies he’s problematic. So this isn’t a surprise. Also, you can tell from the run time– 95 minutes– that Artie has been cut and cut and cut to make sense, makes none but at least it’s short.

For Judi Dench, she can’t be too pleased. This is her second turkey since “Cats,” much less than a year ago. At least with Harvey Weinstein, she got Oscar nominations. James Bond gave her cache. But these studio movies are not her forte. She’s used to dress up a mess too often. But I guess the paycheck is good. Still, I’d like to see Dame Judi finish her career with something great.

If Disney had released “Artemis Fowl” to theaters, it would have left a stench. This way, it just floats away on DisneyPlus. It cost around $150 million, but that can be hidden in an Avengers budget certainly. This too shall pass.

Sad that we won’t have a box office report Saturday morning that reads “Artifice Foul.” Oh, for the good old days!

Updates: Kelly Clarkson Divorce, Country Group Changes Name to be PC, Just Separated Sean Hannity Dating Co-Worker

Roger Friedman
-
0
Updates: Kelly Clarkson Divorce, Country Group Changes Name to be PC, Just Separated Sean Hannity Dating Co-Worker

Busy day today:

Kelly Clarkson is divorcing her husband, Brandon Blackstock, after nine years and two kids. Brandon has two kids from his first marriage. How did all this happen? Brandon’s father, Narvel, managed Reba McIntire and then they got married. Then Narvel started managing Kelly, and his kid married her. Brandon works for his father. Reba has new management, of course, and Kelly will, too, ASAP. Kelly has taken off like a rocket. It probably dawned on her that she didn’t need the Blackstocks now that she’s got a hit TV show, constant other appearances, hit singles, and so on. Plus, aside from the pandemic, she’ll be living in Los Angeles, not Nashville. Recently she put her homes in both places up for sale, which is always a sign that the end is coming.

Lady Antebellum: it finally dawned on them that their name had racist connotations. It means “before slavery ended.” Now they’ll be called Lady A. Probably a lot of their fans thought Antebellum was the name of a drug, like Belladonna. They say in their Tweet that the name Antebellum came from a house they posed in front of for their first photos. The house must have been a plantation, you know, the kind where slaves were kept and tortured. Did they not see “Roots”? “12 Years a Slave”? “Gone with the Wind”? Now they’ll be known as Lady A. Whatever.

Gabriel Sherman says in Vanityfair.com, which needs the readers, that newly divorced Sean Hannity is dating co-worked Ainsley Earhardt. Two disgusting people, they deserve each other. Before Sherman’s piece even went up, Page Six– Hannity’s cousin through News Corp–insisted it wasn’t true. That’s how you know it’s true. Mrs. Hannity probably knew about this for a long time, which is why she threw in the towel. She’s the lucky one here. Fox News, of course, is the home of family values. We’ve learned that the hard way.

Rapper-Actor Ice Cube aka O’Shea Jackson Tweets Anti-Semitic Message with Shocking Drawing, Reviving His History of Hate

Roger Friedman
-
0
Rapper-Actor Ice Cube aka O’Shea Jackson Tweets Anti-Semitic Message with Shocking Drawing, Reviving His History of Hate

Back in 1991, rapper Ice Cube aka O’Shea Jackson released a song with anti-Semitic lyrics called “No Vaseline.” This was before the internet, and although there were articles written about it, Jackson went on to have successes unimpeded.

Three days ago, Jackson Tweeted out the most anti-Semitic message I’ve ever seen by a celebrity who’s supposed to be mainstream. The Tweet featured a horrific painting of what looks like Jewish men — depicted by their big noses — playing Monopoly. The game board is supported by dozens of bald, naked black men, i.e. slaves. There’s a wad of cash thrown into the middle of the board.

The painting is credited to “Anonews.” A message is emblazoned above and below the painting: “All we have to do is stand and their little game is over.” Ice Cube himself has written as his Tweet message, in capital letters: “FUCK THE NEW NORMAL UNTIL THEY FIX THE OLD NORMAL!”

I’ve reported the Tweet to Twitter and sent Jack Dorsey a message asking him to ban Jackson.

This kind of message is as damning as anything sent out by any other kind of racist. This is racism at its purest level, and it’s hate. It furthers memes about Jews that are disgusting and untrue, and does nothing but cause deeper schisms. But it’s consistent with Jackson’s views, ones that obviously haven’t changed since he wrote “No Vaseline” thirty years ago. As far I’m concerned, Jackson should have been “cancelled” when that song was released.

I’m reproducing the Tweet here because I want everyone to see what this guy did.

This is completely unacceptable.

 

 

1...1,0211,0221,023...2,374Page 1,022 of 2,374

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com