The Tony Awards nominations begin rolling out at 8:30 this morning.
In the mix potentially: George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kieran Culkin and other Hollywood stars.
Will they be rewarded or snubbed? Did the $900 tickets for their shows daunt the Tony nominators?
Barbra Streisand’s next album of duets is coming next month.
Readers of this site know all about it because I’ve announced it exclusively over the last year.
“The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two” has been scooped here many times.
This column has told you exclusively in the past that Paul McCartney, Sting, James Taylor, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, Bob Dylan, and Seal are featured on the album.
“Secret” is produced by Peter Asher, famous for all of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt’s hits.
The first single is a cover of Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” with Hozier.
This album showcases Barbra singing contemporary pop songs since the 70s when she recorded “Stoney End” with the late Richard Perry.
The lyric video is below, and after that, click on the highlighted links to see my original stories.
1. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” with Hozier
2. “My Valentine” with Paul McCartney
3. “To Lose You Again” with Sam Smith
4. “The Very Thought of You” with Bob Dylan
5. “Letter to my 13-year-old Self” with Laufey
6. “One Heart, One Voice” with Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande
7. “I Love Us” with Tim McGraw
8. “Secret O’ Life” with James Taylor
9. “Fragile” with Sting
10. “Where Do I Go From You?” with Josh Groban
11. “Love Will Survive” with Seal
You’d think Benson Boone would be on top of the world.
He’s had a huge hit album, “Fireworks and Rollerblades,” for almost 18 months with his massive chart song, “Beautiful Things.” He’s selling out tours, backflipping and cartwheeling like an Olympic tumbler over the place.
But the album and single are old now, and it’s time for new music. That’s where the trouble comes in.
On Friday, Benson dropped a new single called “Mystical Magical.” It’s third single he’s released since last summer away from his album. And it’s a flop.
“M&M” was preceded by two singles. The most recent, called “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else,” has sold a healthy but not great 400,000 copies all from streaming. It’s never been a radio or charted very high after its initial impact.
The prior single just died.
The “Mystical Magical” video has about 2.3 million since its release last Friday. That’s not a lot but it’s better than nothing. It’s obviously nowhere near “Beautiful Things,” still in the iTunes top 20. “M&M” is stuck at number 15.
The record is only two minutes, forty six seconds. It’s surprisingly short. The lyrics are simple. Benson is singing about very little of import.
The chorus goes: Once you know what my love’s gonna feel like
Nothing else will feel right
You can feel like
Moonbeam ice cream, taking off your blue jeans
Benson is 22 years old. But imagine if those lyrics wound up in a dark alley with lyrics from past 22 year olds like James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, or Jackson Browne. Or Elvis Costello. They wouldn’t make it out the other side.
So what is Benson Boone supposed to be about? Doing shirtless gymnastics while eating moonbeam ice cream?
I always wonder why one hit wonders are born that way, Think of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Or Vanessa Charlton’s “A Thousand Miles.” That was it. “Beautiful Things” may be their offspring.
Benson’s new album, “American Heart,” will be revealed in June. Let’s hope it’s not a broken heart. So far, his new promo picture shows a formerly svelte Boone shirtless and gaunt a la Jesus with an American flag instead of cross.
The number 1 album come this Friday?
Hitsdailydouble.com says it will be “Skeleta,” by the Swedish heavy metal group called Ghost.
“Skeleta” has little streaming. Of the 85,000 projected copies for the week, all but 10,000 are paid sales of CDs or downloads. Ghost fans want the recording in their hands, or in their iPods or iPhones.
Ghost is on a smallish label called Loma Vista Records, which is owned by Concord. Loma Vista is the brainchild of Tom Whalley, who ran Warner Music Group many regimes ago.
This will be another week of record low sales in the music business. This Friday’s releases are underwhelming, to say the least. Josh Groban’s new album is his first in five years. But he was great in “Sweeney Todd”!
It used to be around this time every year or so Ellen Pompeo would start her whining.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” star would threaten to leave the show, a negotiating trick that worked well for her. She kept raises as the series plodded on.
In time, other actors had to be let go to accommodate her salary. She got Rich with a capital R for being the lead of a soap opera that never got critical appreciation.
This spring — with “Grey’s” hitting all time low ratings — Pompeo has been on a press tour complaining about wanting to work less while she’s paid her zillions of dollars.
Today Pompeo got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She must have convinced Shonda Rhimes and ABC to pony up the $75,000 it costs to pay the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for the honor.
Now Pompeo — who’s only had one job in Hollywood, playing dreary Meredith Grey — is resentful because she feels Hollywood doesn’t appreciate her. She wants an Emmy, or even a Golden Globe. She would take a Critics Choice Award. She might settle for a People’s Choice Award.
She tells Variety: “To keep a show on the air for 20 years, I have to be somewhat talented, but I’ve never been critically recognized. I think I’ve worked so hard and for so long that, yeah, I’d like a little bit of probably a pat on the back from someone to think I have some sort of talent.”
Pompeo is a piece of work. She has her star on a sidewalk. She has millions and millions of dollars. She’s very lucky. At best, she’s a mediocre TV actress who’s gained power over time. She’s had co-workers’ characters get killed off so she could thrive. During the pandemic year, Meredith was in a COVID coma, laying on a bed, while all the action went on around her. Surreal.
Pompeo may not have a long time left to complain about her gilded cage life. The most recent episode of “Gray’s” hit an all time low rating of 1.888 million viewers. Even though the show has been renewed, it should have been canceled. Next season should be its last. I can’t imagine the fans reading her press care much about what happens to Meredith. And Ellen Pompeo is the least sympathetic person in TV Land.
When Conan O’Brien agreed to honored by the Kennedy Center last year, there was no sign of scandal.
But when they taped the Mark Twain Awards last month, all hell had broken out. Donald Trump had taken over, fired most of the staff, and many performers set for shows bowed out.
Now on Sunday we’ll see the finished edit of the Mark Twain Prizes with an all star cast of comedians. All of them went after Trump and his frightening changes during their roast of Conan.
I’m told that key people involved in the production who were there that night have not seen the final cut. No one knows if anything critical of Trump was left out, or if the Mark Twain Prize show will be presented as it happened.
In the trailer below, David Letterman’s reported line about “the resistance” remains, but it’s cut away from in a nano second. What we see in the trailer is generic jokes.
If there was White House interference, we don’t know yet. But the people who were in the audience that night are encouraged to email me on Sunday night when the show plays on Netflix. showbiz411@gmail.com
Lineup of leading performers included Nikki Glaser, Will Ferrell, David Letterman, Kumail Nanjiani, Tracy Morgan, Adam Sandler, Andy Richter, Reggie Watts, Bill Burr, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Stephen Colbert, Sean Evans, Robert Smigel and others.
Meet Shane Boose, aka Sombr, the next actual American Idol. (Not like the TV kind.)
Sombr’s the new Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Troye Sivan. He’s got the looks and the songs, and the teenage girls looking for him on social media.
But this is a funny story. I saw this guy on social media and thought, he looks like someone I know. That’s because his dad, Andy Boose, runs the events company that handles things like amFAR and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. His mother, Bennah Serfaty, is the PR person at amFAR, an organization I write about often. But, as they say, Who knew?
The Booses obviously have done a good job with their kid! I’m sure they weren’t thrilled when Shane, now 19, dropped out of New York’s LaGuardia High School — the Fame school — two years ago. But he is seriously on track to becoming a pop star.
Sombr has two massive hits we’re going to hear all summer thanks to a tsunami of social media and endless touring. They are “Back to Friends” and “Undressed.” The former is number 16 on Spotify’s daily streaming chart. “Back to Friends” has already sold the equivalent of 350,000 copies thanks to 125 million streams. “Undressed” is at 200,000 sold via 63 million streams. They’re each charted right now on the Billboard Top 100.
The songs will remind adults of Eric Carmen’s Raspberries. As Nick Lowe would say, Pure pop for now people.
You might say Sombr is a “nepo baby.” Elton John — whom he obviously knows –has already endorsed him on his Rocket Music Hour. But Shane’s real, he’s got the stuff, he’s a musical prodigy obviously, and the result is two massive hits at a very young age.
Right now, Sombr — on the Warner Music label — is touring as an opening act with Daniel Seavey promoting his EP. A full album can’t be far off. By next winter. watch him get featured at the Warner Music Grammy party, sing at Elton’s Oscar party, take off like Benson Boone.
With his angular features, he’s ready for his close up. The question is, Are there any more Kardashians left to date?
Rocker Bebe Buell always has some surprises for us.
From Nashville, where she’s lived for more than a decade, the rock and roll muse of stars like Steve Tyler, Elvis Costello, and Todd Rundgren has issued a new incredibly catchy single that’s also full of contemplative lyrics.
“Skin Suit” is produced by the very hot Greg Lattimer who liked the single so much he offered to work on it for free.
That’s how good “Skin Suit” is, with Bebe’s husband, co-writer, and bandleader Jim Walls providing an inordinately melodic hook as a counterpoint to Bebe’s ever rich vocals.
This is a song for college radio, Sirius XM New music, and anywhere Taylor Swift isn’t. You can find it on Spotify and iTunes and all the usual suspects.
If you’re new to Bebe’s music, she cut her teeth on real New York punk rock in the 70s when she was the first singing supermodel and Playboy cover star. She got a reputation for dating rock stars, but she was really studying them as she toured her own band.
Bebe’s other music is all over YouTube including one of my personal favorites, “Air Kisses for the Masses.” If you want to know more about this rock veteran, read her extraordinary book, ‘Rebel Soul. You won’t be able to put it down!
Well, Vanity Fair’s big changes are happening.
First editor in chief Radhika Jones announced she was leaving as soon as Conde Nast and Anna Wintour find a replacement.
Now Vanity Fair’s online editor, Mike Hogan, is leaving — and soon, May 9th. Hogan did a great job but faced enormous obstacles in and outside of the company.
Hogan had to deal with cruel insanity of getting traffic via Google’s evil algorithm. And then he had Conde Nast and Wintour to answer to apart from Jones.
Max Tani of online newsletter Semafor posted the note Hogan sent to staff. See below.
What else is going to happen to Vanity Fair? Will there still be an Oscar party?
Per a note to staff, executive digital editor Mike Hogan says he's leaving Vanity Fair after 25 years… pic.twitter.com/SOdN5QhAW4
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) April 28, 2025
Maybe fans of “The Conners” expected Roseanne to rise from the grave.
She did not, and the series ended 7 seasons last Wednesday with a bang and a whimper.
The two part finale was really two episodes, not one big one.
The first episode was up 18% from the previous week, with 3.345 million viewers who thought they were seeing an hour special.
Disappointed, 6% of them left and missed the actual finale at 8:30pm. That episode, which featured the Conners standing over Roseanne’s grave, fell to 3.1 million.
In the key demo, the numbers rose and fell also, up 34%, then down 11%.
“The Conners” was born when Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet about Obama associate Valerie Jarrett. Barr lost everything, and her character was killed off what was supposed to be the return of “Roseanne.”
In the final episode, John Goodman’s Dan sued the pharmaceutical company that he argued killed Roseanne with opioids. He won the case but financial reward was just $700. He and the family discovered this by opening an envelope at Roseanne’s grave.
The whole thing made no sense but at the point it didn’t matter. They showed not one clip of Roseanne in their nostalgia package but Dan did place a stone on her grave.
“The Conners” could have had a big send off, but ABC skipped that. They were just happy to see it go. Still, “The Conners” ended with much higher ratings than the canceled “Grey’s Anatomy” and a lower budget.
May its memory be a blessing.
PS This was funny. There was no mention of the missing Conner kid, DJ, played by Michael Fishman. After 37 years it was like he never existed. TV production is cruel. What could he have done to them?