The word ‘ahimsa” means non-violence in Sanskrit. It’s the title of U2’s new single, a collaboration with “Slumdog Millionaire” composer A.R. Rahman. The group is on a tour of Australia, New Zealand, the Phillipines, Japan, South Korea, and Mumbai, so the timing is perfect. We can look forward to a new U2 album in 2020.
Me, I approve. I love hearing new music from U2.
Here’s a case where the tail wags the dog. I went down to Cipriani Wall Street last night for one of the Samuel Waxman Foundation’s many successful cancer research fundraisers. They’re an outstanding organization, and they also like to have a musical act at their events.
Last night’s act was a little unusual, not a disco band or oldies act or beloved rock star from the 70s. This time it was Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real. Lukas is the 30 year old son of Willie Nelson who is in so much demand that he and the Promise back up Neil Young on the road. And when they don’t do that, Lukas is writing songs with Lady Gaga.
The Promise consists of Anthony LoGerfo. Tato Melgar, Corey McCormick, and Logan Metz. They are a ferociously talented band. I saw them play a year ago with Neil at Port Chester’s Capitol Theater and it has become a memorable night. I saw Lukas and brother Micah play with daddy Willie last February at the Grammys Producers & Engineers Wing tribute to Willie in L.A., and again, they were beyond top notch.
The group has a new album out in 2019 called “Turn off the News (Build a Garden)” on Concord Records that should have nominated for multiple Grammys. It should be on the top of the charts. If you like the Lumineers or Mumford & Sons or the Allman Brothers or Neil Young, this is your music. It’s country blues flavored rock, but it’s more than that. Like the Allmans, the Promise can flex in any direction. They carry not only a great drummer but also a percussionist. When they broke into Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” live last night, my jaw dropped. It was spectacular.
All the musicians are virtuosos, but Lukas — with his long brown hair and cowboy hat– is the star. He is a gifted guitarist who can make that thing sing. He’s a also damn fine singer. Sometimes he sounds like a young Willie Nelson, but he’s got other timbres in that throat that produce some colors even Willie never had. Lukas has a surprising R&B falsetto, too, that Don Henley would appreciate. I wouldn’t mind hearing him take on “One of these Nights” or “Take it to the Limit” just for fun.
The band played a number of songs from the album that I really loved including one– “Bad Case”– that should be a hit if radio still wanted them. Some other songs, like “Find Yourself” and “Georgia,” I wouldn’t mind hearing on here in New York on Q104.3. They could go back and rediscover a winner like “Set Me Down Like a Cloud.”
So yes, support the Samuel Waxman Foundation this end of the year. They are helping to find cures for cancer. And the music ain’t bad. You can sing along while you write the check.
Good news for soaps despite lackluster ratings and crazy rumors.
NBC, Sony TV and Corday Productions are ironing out a deal for “Days of Our Lives” to keep going. They just had their 54th anniversary, and now they’ll hit 55. (It will be the 56th season.) In the last couple of weeks, “Days” released its cast and announced an indefinite hiatus, which made a lot of people think they were cancelled. But really, what would NBC replace it with that wouldn’t irk the remaining 2 million fans? The answer: nothing. So they’re safe again, to tell stories of amnesia, paralysis, and switched babies. God bless.
At ABC, “General Hospital” ratings have been dismal, and there’s been no sign of life in a while. So somehow they got former long time star Jane Elliot to return for the holidays as Tracy Quartermaine. She’s been with the show on and off since 1978. All I remember is that when I was in college, she left her father for dead when he was having a heart attack. So a family reunion seems just about right. No word on how long she’ll stay. Eliot “retired” a couple of years ago at age 70 but she must be bored. She’ll stir things up and maybe get the ratings going.
Somehow, Taylor Swift really came out on top in this whole push pull thing with the American Music Awards.
Leading up to the Grammy Awards, it seemed like Taylor was in a bind. She couldn’t sing old songs on the AMAs because of her legal conflict. She couldn’t sing new songs from her “Lover” album because the Grammys– everyone thought– were going to restrain her from doing the same songs on both shows.
But then the Grammy nominations yesterday were a big surprise. They snubbed “Lover” except for the title track. Swift was left out of Album and Record of the Year. It was quite dumbfounding. I– and many others– expected her to get Album, Song, Record (for “Lover ” or “You Better Calm Down”). But she was left with just best song (“Lover”) and best pop solo performance.
This was akin to Justin Timberlake’s big snub a few years ago for his “20/20” album. There’s a good chance Taylor won’t even perform on the Grammys. She may have an Oscar nomination for her “Cats” song, and wait to appear on that program instead. Ouch!
So this Sunday, Swift could perform anything she likes on the AMAs. After all that sturm and drang, Swift could sing any or all of the “Lover” songs. So far, sources say, they don’t know what she’s settled on. But it’s sure to be a big deal and the cause for huge ratings.
We wait and see…
For years, the Independent Spirit Awards chased the Oscars, nominating a lot of the same people who got nods for the Academy Awards.
This year, because almost no one cares and no one watches the Spirit Awards on the IFC Channel, Film Independent went the other way. They stopped chasing the Oscars and nominated actual independent films. There are few exceptions, “Marriage Story” being the most obvious. “Hustlers” is, too. That’s ridiculous.
The most likely overlap would be Renee Zellweger in “Judy.” She should win the Oscar. Can she win both awards? Maybe. But last year that hurt Glenn Close.
There are no real headlines from the Spirit Awards unless Adam Sandler wins Best Actor for “Uncut Gems.” But I think Robert Pattinson is more likely to win for “The Lighthouse.”
The only performance I care about here is Mary Kay Place in Kent Jones’s “Diane.” Her performance is sublime, and it’s time to give her a statue. She’s worked for 45 years since “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” turning in one great character after another. All hail Mary Kay !
Best Feature
A HIDDEN LIFE
CLEMENCY
THE FAREWELL
MARRIAGE STORY
UNCUT GEMS
Best Director
Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY
Julius Onah – LUCE
Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS
Best First Feature
BOOKSMART
THE CLIMB
DIANE
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE MUSTANG
SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Best Female Lead
Karen Allen – COLEWELL
Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS
Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL
Mary Kay Place – DIANE
Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY
Renée Zellweger – JUDY
Best Male Lead
Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Kelvin Harrison Jr. – LUCE
Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS
Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG
Best Supporting Female
Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS
Taylor Russell – WAVES
Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL
Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY
Octavia Spencer – LUCE
Best Supporting Male
Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY
Shia LaBeouf – HONEY BOY
Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE
Best Screenplay
Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY
Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY
Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD
Best First Screenplay
Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS
Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS
James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT
Best Cinematography
Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS
Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY
Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE
Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR
Best Editing
Julie Béziau – THE THIRD WIFE
Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
Tyler L. Cook – SWORD OF TRUST
Louise Ford – THE LIGHTHOUSE
Kirill Mikhanovsky – GIVE ME LIBERTY
John Cassavetes Award
BURNING CANE
COLEWELL
GIVE ME LIBERTY
PREMATURE
WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY
Robert Altman Award
“Marriage Story”
Best Documentary
AMERICAN FACTORY
APOLLO 11
FOR SAMA
HONEYLAND
ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
Best International Film
INVISIBLE LIFE, Brazil
LES MISERABLES, France
PARASITE, South Korea
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, France
RETABLO, Peru
THE SOUVENIR, United Kingdom
Piaget Producers Award
Mollye Asher
Krista Parris
Ryan Zacarias
Someone to Watch Award
Rashaad Ernesto Green – PREMATURE
Ash Mayfair – THE THIRD WIFE
Joe Talbot – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Truer Than Fiction Award
Khalik Allah – BLACK MOTHER
Davy Rothbart – 17 BLOCKS
Nadia Shihab – JADDOLAND
Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside – AMÉRICA
Annual Bonnie Award
Marielle Heller
Lulu Wang
Kelly Reichardt
The animated film that is garnering the most awards buzz of the pack is the Dreamworks box office hit, “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” which wraps up the storied trilogy with stunning animation and emotional power, allowing the hero Hiccup and the Dragon Toothless to mature into the leaders of their respective clans. The voice actors are a mega talented bunch they include; Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Kit Harington, F. Murray Abraham, Gerald Butler, America Ferrara, AJ Kane, and Craig Ferguson.
At a recent panel at the Pacific Design Center, along with a stunning exhibit of the art behind the film, Dean DeBlois, the Writer /Director of the film explained what brought him to the franchise, which was adapted by the book by Cressida Cowell. “The opening line was, ‘there were Dragons when I was a boy’ right then I was hooked. The three stories all cross boundaries of time and are universal rites of passage. Every success hiccup has been because of Toothless.”
Joining the panel was Producers Bonnie Arnold and Bradford Lewis, Composer, John Powell who wrote an outstanding, gorgeous score, the Production Designer Pierre Oliver, Head of Character Animation the esteemed Simon Otto, Supervising Sound Designer Randy Thom, and VFX Supervisor Dave Walvoord.
Dean called his co-workers “masters of what they do” while the noted composer Powell called Dean, “a rare unicorn.” Powell went on to talk about how the score was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road in London. DeBlois summed it up by saying, “The film is naturalism with a sense of whimsy. The fact that these movies resonate around the world shows that the over ten years this masterful team spent on them were well spent. These films show all the love and care we all put into it.”
Considering the huge success “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” continues to be, the audience certainly agrees and the awards voters will most surely too.
The Broadway Michael Jackson musical has a star.
Ephraim Sykes, who played David Ruffin in “Ain’t Too Proud” this past season, and was Tony-nominated, will take the role.
Lynn Nottage is writing the book and Christoper Wheeldon is directing the musical called “MJ.” The show begins performances on July 6, 2020 at the Neil Simon Theater.
Michael will also be portrayed as a child and teen, obviously. But the gist of the show is going to be all about “Thriller” and stop there, when Jackson’s life was at a high. It will likely not delve into anything after that.
But the music of “Thriller” and “Off the Wall,” plus Jackson 5 hits and Michael’s early solo hits like “Got to Be There” will make enough of a show. I wouldn’t expect anything fallacious or terribly factual. Like “The Cher Show” and “Tina!”, “MJ” is designed as a souvenir jukebox that will send audiences out dancing, not suing.
In an Oscar season that has brought little campaigning or flash to New York, Warner Bros. treated us last night to a screening of “Joker” with director Todd Phillips and a Q&A moderated by superfan Michael Moore.
The location was the shiny new WarnerMedia headquarters which is tucked away in the irrelevant Hudson Yards mall on 10th Avenue and 33rd St. This is quite a splashy new situation for Warner Bros., which used to be Time Warner and before that Warner Communications at 75 Rockefeller Plaza. Steve Ross, the man who rescued Warner Bros. from oblivion 50 years ago, must be smiling in heaven. Luckily you can see heaven (great views of Manhattan skyline) from the windows of the Warner Media party space.
There were two big takeaways from last night’s screening. The first was that, on second viewing, “Joker” is better than ever. You can see why fans must have gone back and back. As I wrote from the Toronto Film Festival, it’s a brilliant movie. The sudden violence toward the end does make you look away. But it’s a small part of a greater good. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is beyond sublime, it’s balletic. I’d find it hard to believe anyone could beat him for Best Actor this year. As another big Hollywood star said to me this week. “It’s his time.”
Second, Phillips responded to an audience query about reports of a sequel. He said, “There are no deals for a sequel. We have no plans as of yet. We were caught off guard by a story that ran this week.”
But obviously there will be two sequels since “Joker” has made a billion dollars worldwide on a $60 million budget. Phillips and Phoenix are now set for life if they weren’t already. In the current movie, Bruce Wayne is a child who slides down a short pole when leaves Wayne Manor’s gatehouse to meet Arthur Fleck. Later we see him watch his parents get murdered by a clown. I surmised to Phillips that we’d see a teen Bruce in part 2 and the adult Bruce become Batman in the finale. “You’ve got it all plotted out, haven’t you?” he said with a laugh. Indeed.
Right now I don’t see any way that “Joker” could be excluded for Best Picture. It would join The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Two Popes, Marriage Story, Little Women, Bombshell, and one more– either Parasite, Richard Jewell, or 1917 since 9 is the magic number for nominees. By the end of next Monday, we’ll know better where things stand.
Disney’s live action remake of their very first hit will be filmed next year.
In keeping with “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” and “Dumbo,” the mouse house will remake the 1938 classic, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
There’s no casting as the screenplay is not finished, I am told. Disney is waiting for the new songs to be finished before they shape a plot around it.
What is known is that Pasek and Paul, the songwriters behind “La La Land” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” are writing all new tunes. That’s because Disney and director Marc Webb have jettisoned much of the original music including the wonderful classic “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Why? It’s considered an old school notion, sources tell me. The American Film Institute once listed that song as number 19 on their all time movie tunes list.
The only songs from the original movie to survive the transfer are “Whistle While You Work” and “Heigh Ho (It’s Off to Work We Go).” The original animated “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the first movie ever to have a soundtrack. But no one cares about that.
The new movie won’t be all PC. I’m told the seven dwarfs will still be called dwarfs, not “little people.” But they will be rendered in CGI. No small actors will play them.
As for the casting, Snow White is considered too young now for Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, or Emily Blunt. Even Lea Michele will be too long in the tooth. So Snow and Prince Charming will be new kids on the block. Yes, you can forget it, Zac Efron. We need the new, young Zac Efron!
Cutting “Someday My Prince Will Come” is like cutting “I Feel Pretty” from the new stage version of “West Side Story.” What are these people thinking?
The Grammys theme this year is Revenge of the Ladies. After the debacle two years ago where it seemed that women were getting a bad shake, the ladies have triumphed over the men in nominations.
In fact, the now combined no-gender Best Pop Solo Performance category has NO men at all. The nominees are Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Lana del Rey, Lizzo, and Taylor Swift in one of her only nominations.
In Pop album, the only guy is Ed Sheeran. All the rest are female.
Were the men not singing in 2019? John Legend? Shawn Mendes? Like they didn’t happen.
Frankly, it was not a great year for the men of pop. But the Grammys left out a couple of obvious choices: Lewis Capaldi, the Scottish singer who had a huge hit all year with “Someone You Loved.” And Rob Thomas, one of the best pop singer songwriters of the last 20 years. The leader of matchbox twenty had a terrific album this year with “Chip Tooth Smile.” But the Grammys routinely ignore him for reasons that are inexplicable. Country pop singer Thomas Rhett also was overlooked.
So, game this year to the women. They’ve waited long enough.