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In Virginia, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax Speaks Out About Governor’s Blackface Scandal: “I cannot condone the actions from his past”

Roger Friedman
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In Virginia, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax Speaks Out About Governor’s Blackface Scandal: “I cannot condone the actions from his past”

The Lieutentant Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, has spoken out about Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal. He says despite the fact that Northam has been a friend and treated him well, Fairfax “cannot condone” what happened in the governor’s past. You can read it below.

Fairfax is right. Most everyone agrees Northam must resign. He can’t remember if he’s the man in the yearbook photo wearing blackface? That is a line from Donald Trump’s playbook. I’m two years older than Northam. If I’d seen him like that, or with a darkened face to be in a Michael Jackson costume, I’d remember. It was unacceptable in 1984 and unforgivable in 2019.

Isn’t it amazing, by the way, the irony: he darkened his face to be Michael Jackson. A few years later, Michael whitened his face. If Northam had just waited a decade, he wouldn’t have needed to be in blackface. But that’s another story.

Lucky for Virginia, Fairfax has a great history and will be an excellent governor. He’s also an actual Democrat. Northam, who voted for George W. Bush twice, was not so solid.

Pop: Backstreet Boys Land First Number 1 Album in 18 Years, All CD and Downloads, No Streaming, 236K Copies

Roger Friedman
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Pop: Backstreet Boys Land First Number 1 Album in 18 Years, All CD and Downloads, No Streaming, 236K Copies

Backstreet Boys, middle aged men who used to be a boy band, are back on top of the charts.

Their “DNA” album is their first in 18 years to hit number 1 on the charts.

A little more than I predicted earlier in the week, “DNA” sold 236,000 copies. They were almost CDs and paid downloads, and very little streaming. Their older audience wanted it that way.

But their older audience also didn’t actually buy those CDs and downloads. “DNA” came with concert tickets. Backstreet Boys are a nostalgia act now, and they’re wisely cashing in on good feelings from fans who loved them in the 90s. The albums were part of the price of the ticket. The RIAA counts those as sales.

Next week when the ticket bundle is gone, “DNA” will sink at least 80% or maybe drop out of the top 50 altogether. There’s nothing to support it on the charts, no hit single. The days of “I Want It That Way” are over.

Curiously, the Boys didn’t turn to their old songwriters for tracks on the new album. The result is good vocals applied to not very compelling songs. And the Boys don’t have any publishing credits on the songs, so they’re not going to get that revenue.

Without the “DNA” sales, overall sales of music would have been pretty skimpy this week. An album by rapper Future, whose insistence on using his own music instead of Curtis Mayfield’s destroyed the “Superfly” remake last year, sold 57,000 copies– mostly via streaming.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Spider Verse,” “Mrs. Maisel” Take Home Coveted EDDIE Awards for Film and TV Editing

Leah Sydney
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“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Spider Verse,” “Mrs. Maisel” Take Home Coveted EDDIE Awards for Film and TV Editing

At the Eddie Awards, for film editing:

“Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Favourite” garnered the Best Edited Feature Dramatic and Comedy while “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” took the Animated prize.  “Atlanta” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” “Bodyguard,” and “Killing Eve,” took home the TV awards.

The editors came out of their edit bays for one night to the famed Beverly Hilton International Ballroom. Filled with Oscar nominees including Spike Lee, Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuaron and more, the vibe was non-jaded, not usual in that room especially, with a quirky funny host, Tom Kenny the voice of SpongeBob.

While wanting to go a bit racy, Tom remarked, “I can’t be swearing SpongeBob tonight; Viacom will send a Swat team of lawyers like [the ones who went to] Roger Stone’s house.”  Sincerity was present as kudos were paid to Anthony Bourdain, his CNN  show won, and more huzzahs went the winning docu award, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Head.”

Octavia Spencer gave her “Shape of Water” director Guillermo del Toro the Golden Eddie.  Game Guillermo explained his stomach ailment as “as assassination attempt by a piece of chicken on a salad I ate with Jim Cameron on Tuesday.”  He praised editors by saying, “an editor recognizes the movie when it goes by, stops it and talks to it.”  He went on to quip that meetings in the industry are often times in a three-piece suit but editors and cinematographers are “the people that you meet in your curlers, your pajamas and with morning breath.”

The editors have a pretty good hitting average when predicting the Best Picture Oscar; they’ve predicted 17 of the past 28 winners.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 69th annual ACE Eddie Awards:

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC)
Bohemian Rhapsody, John Ottman, ACE

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY)
The Favourite, Yorgos Mavropsaridis, ACE

BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Robert Fisher, Jr.

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Free Solo, Bob Eisenhardt, ACE

BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Bodyguard: “Episode 1”, Steve Singleton

BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Killing Eve: “Nice Face”, Gary Dollner, ACE

BEST EDITED COMEDY SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: “Simone”, Kate Sanford, ACE

BEST EDITED COMEDY SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Atlanta: “Teddy Perkins”, Kyle Reiter

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (NON-THEATRICAL)
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, Greg Finton, ACE & Poppy Das, ACE

BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR TELEVISION
Escape at Dannemora: “Better Days”, Malcolm Jamieson & Geoffrey Richman ACE

BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – “West Virginia” Hunter Gross, ACE

STUDENT COMPETITION WINNER
Marco Gonzalez – Boston University

Grammy Awards Will Salute Motown’s 60th Anniversary with TV Special Taped Two Days After Show

Roger Friedman
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Grammy Awards Will Salute Motown’s 60th Anniversary with TV Special Taped Two Days After Show

Maybe the greatest TV Music special ever was “Motown 25,” taped back in 1983. That’s when Michael Jackson moonwalked across the stage to “Billie Jean” and history was made.

Now the Grammys, Ken Ehrlich, and AEG are going to tape “Motown 60” two days after the Grammys in Los Angeles on February 12 th. This seems to be the reason Diana Ross is getting a special spot on the actual Grammy Awards.

Of course, a lot of Motown performers are gone. But many are still with us, including Diana, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson. Mary Wilson of the Supremes lives in Los Angeles, so it won’ t be hard to have her on the show.

Alas, all but one of the original Temptations is gone. And Levi Stubbs from the Four Tops is in heaven, crooning away. So is Marvin Gaye.

But there are plenty of ex-Motowners from the various groups in Los Angeles, and in Detroit. The Isley Brothers, who had a monster hit with “This Old Heart of Mine,” on Motown, are available. The Contours– “Do You Love Me?”– are still working. So is the great Martha Reeves, and the Vandellas.

Sounds like a very promising and fun show! And on point since the Temptations musical “Ain’t Too Proud” is opening on Broadway soon. You can bet that show will be featured!

 

A Media Era Comes to An End: Jann Wenner Totally Out of Rolling Stone as Penske Media Buys Up Rest of Company

Roger Friedman
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A Media Era Comes to An End: Jann Wenner Totally Out of Rolling Stone as Penske Media Buys Up Rest of Company

Jann Wenner is out.

It’s been 51 years since Wenner started Rolling Stone as a broadsheet from San Francisco. It used to fold in half and come out twice a month. Everything was fresh, and if you loved music, you were instantly dependent on it.

But you know, Time Life is gone. Conde Nast teeters, as does Hearst. Everything’s different now.

Tonight, Penske Media bought up the rest of Rolling Stone from Wenner and Singapore-based BandLab Technologies, the people Wenner had sold a minority interest to a couple of years ago. The announcement was made in Deadline.com, also owned by Jay Penske.

Penske now has full control of Rolling Stone, which believe it or not is still a worthwhile brand name. Even the website produces traffic. Alexa.com ranks it at 596 in the US, which is pretty good.

The Deadline story quotes an internal release Penske sent to the RS staff: “In the 12 months since PMC’s initial investment into this incredible team and legendary brand, the need to consolidate the Rolling Stone business has become abundantly clear and something that BandLab and their leadership team also recognized and were in full support of. It’s with their confidence and blessing that we were able to put together a deal that was best for all parties. We continue to have shared goals and will continue to collaborate in the future. This strategic transaction is a key move for what will be many years of future growth and expansion for Rolling Stone, both domestically and abroad.”

The end of Wenner is not bittersweet, it’s just bitter. Rolling Stone was his fiefdom. For years he ran it petulantly, as described in at least two biographies. He loved making and breaking writers, rock stars, photographers. He used the magazine as leverage in running the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And now the party is over.

Penske has achieved what Wenner could not: a media empire. Wenner at one point had US Weekly and Mens Journal. They’re all gone now. Penske owns RS, Variety, WWD, Hollywood Life, Deadline, TV Line.

Goodbye, Jann. It was…interesting.

 

“Hello, Dolly!” Opens in Los Angeles to Raves, and Wow, Wow, Wow with Betty Buckley in Carol Channing’s Signature Role

Leah Sydney
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“Hello, Dolly!” Opens in Los Angeles to Raves, and Wow, Wow, Wow with Betty Buckley in Carol Channing’s Signature Role

Betty Buckley, playing Dolly Gallagher Levi in the National Tour of “Hello Dolly”, proves she is one of our shining divas of stage, screen and TV. Betty grabs the role with gusto; infusing her Dolly with pathos, humor, regret, love and hope. Betty has played numerous iconic roles on stage, TV and film, think “Carrie,” “Sunset Blvd,” “Eight is Enough,” “Split.” Buckley’s talent lies in instantly making the characters she plays human, accessible and relatable. Betty’s Dolly is singularly Buckley.

Based on Thornton Wilder’s 1955 play “The Matchmaker” with a book by Michael Stewart, directed by Jerry Zaks, and of course the glorious score by Jerry Herman which includes such classics as “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes A Moment,” and the crowd adoring showstopper “Hello, Dolly!” The costumes and sets by Santo Loquasto add to the magic of it all. The cast and chorus are all wonderful, exuberant and perfection.

Legendary Carol Channing, who played Dolly for over thirty years and is most associated with that role, would have turned 98 today. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is front and center outside the Pantages. She would most certainly have approved of Betty’s powerhouse performance, so says her longtime publicist Harlan Boll who was there last night. “Carol would have considered Betty Buckley to be her kind of Broadway. She’d be comforted to know that her dear Dolly will indeed never go away.”

Oscars: Best Song Crisis Is Over as Academy Tweets that Songs from “Mary Poppins Returns,” “RBG” Will Be Performed Along with “Star is Born” and “Black Panther”

Roger Friedman
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Oscars: Best Song Crisis Is Over as Academy Tweets that Songs from “Mary Poppins Returns,” “RBG” Will Be Performed Along with “Star is Born” and “Black Panther”

UPDATE The Academy now says four of the five nominated songs will be performed on the Oscars including those from “RBG” and “Mary Poppins.” They’d already scheduled songs from “A Star is Born” and “Black Panther.” All that’s left is the song from “Buster Scruggs.”

They seem to indicate star Emily Blunt isn’t performing “The Place Where Lost Things Go.” A special guest? Hmmmm….

 

 

The Big Best Song crisis is over.

The Academy tweeted a few minutes ago that Jennifer Hudson would be singing “I’ll Fight” on the show.

The controversy was over having two of the five nominated songs performed instead of all five. Originally the word was the Academy and ABC wanted to keep the show short by limiting the performances.

Now Jennifer Hudson will join Lady Gaga and the others singing her guts out on live TV. The audience will go crazy. No one brings down a house like JHud!

Next step is announcing Emily Blunt will sing from “Mary Poppins Returns” and someone will sing from “Buster Scruggs.”

Kyle Buchanan wrote a great piece in the New York Times today about this whole fiasco. The fact is, people who watch and love the Oscars want to see EVERYTHING, the whole show, all the categories, no matter how long it takes. Three hours? Big deal. You got something else to do?

I do credit Donna Gigliotti, who’s the guest producer this year. She’s an Oscar winner, very smart, and very savvy. I predict she’s going to put together a great show, despite all these tempests in teapots!

The Very Supreme Diana Ross Will Add Some Superstar Glamour as Special Performer on This Year’s Grammy Awards

Roger Friedman
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The Very Supreme Diana Ross Will Add Some Superstar Glamour as Special Performer on This Year’s Grammy Awards

Superstar singer Diana Ross will be the special diamond performer on the Grammy Awards next month, says producer Ken Ehrlich.

Diana, who turns 75 in March, is still a huge touring act and one of our greatest performers. She once fronted The Supremes, featuring Mary Wilson, who I just saw at the Aretha Franklin memorial concert TV tribute taping.

Ross has been on our TV screens since The Supremes made their debut on Ed Sullivan way back in 1964. At one point, The Supremes were neck-and-neck with the Beatles on the singles charts.

No word yet on what Diana will sing, but the co-songwriter of one of her biggest hits– Valerie Simpson, of Ashford and Simpson fame– will bne in the audience. Valerie and late husband Nik Ashford wrote “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which Diana covered in 1970. The songwriters are receiving one of the Special Merit Lifetime Achievement Awards this year along with Sam Moore, Dionne Warwick, and a few others.

Knowing Ken Ehrlich’s talent for setting up cool moments on The Grammys, I’ll bet he gets Diana’s award winning actress daughter Tracee Ellis Ross to introduce her.

Backstreet Boys Will Have Their First Number 1 Album Since the Year 2000 Thanks to Album/Concert Ticket Bundling

Roger Friedman
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Backstreet Boys Will Have Their First Number 1 Album Since the Year 2000 Thanks to Album/Concert Ticket Bundling

Believe it or not, the original boy band from the 1990s, Backstreet Boys, are back. Did you miss ’em?

Their “DNA” album is going to finish at number 1 tomorrow for the week. It may well sell over 200,000 copies. This isn’t because anyone bought it voluntarily. It comes as part of a bundle with tickets for their concert tour which begins in Las Vegas next week, goes to Europe, then comes back for summer in the US.

The tour is not aimed at cutting edge audiences. The closest it gets to New York is the Prudential Center in Newark.

The Boys’ last number 1 album was in the year 2000. Remember “I Want it That Way”?

The new album, “DNA,” sounds like the work of a lifeless, automated barbershop quartet. It’s more pedestrian than the people who roam Times Square. None of the songs are memorable. They are all written by committees. The Boys seem to have no publishing or producing credits, so their touring is where they will make money. I’m surprised they didn’t insist on a cut of each song. There’s one song actually called “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and it’s not Elton John’s. Not good.

But someone bought concert tickets, so let’s not quibble. At least 200,000 people, in fact, and they all got CDs in the deal counted by the RIAA. Is it fair to let “DNA” chart? Next week, it will drop 80% or more and leave the charts as fast as it came. That’s the way it works.

 

Former Neverland Boy Stands Up for Michael Jackson: I firmly believe Michael did no wrong…I solemnly swear that this kind-hearted, genius-of-a-man is innocent”

Roger Friedman
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Former Neverland Boy Stands Up for Michael Jackson: I firmly believe Michael did no wrong…I solemnly swear that this kind-hearted, genius-of-a-man is innocent”

The scandal surrounding the documentary “Leaving Neverland” is bringing out Michael Jackson’s defenders.

The latest is a 32 year old man named Talun Zeitoun. His mother, Janet. was Michael Jackson’s long time hair stylist. Tal writes in on a website he posted : “I was part of Michael’s life from the day I was born in 1987 until 2001. The last time I was literally close to him was backstage at the Staples Center when his casket wheeled past me. I knew him well because my mother, Janet Zeitoun, his sole hairstylist during the time, knew him even better. One could say that they might as well have been siblings. In fact, my mother was one of the few non-family members invited to the private memorial service at the cemetery hours before the public one in Downtown LA. Michael felt so comfortable with my mother because she made him laugh unlike anyone else, let alone the fact that she’s incredible at her craft. Michael even said in writing that she’s the “Michelangelo of hair.”

“I went to Neverland, several times of which Michael was there and he gave us the full tour of his home. I remember my favorite golf cart to get around had a Peter Pan emblem on it. I remember his movie theater concession stand being filled with candy that you could go behind the counter and take to watch whatever movie you wanted. I remember riding the big steam engine train that would take you from one end of the ranch to the other…”

“The bulk of my experience with Michael was during the 90s right when the FBI investigation began on account of child molestation allegations. Knowing that this was happening and that these charges were set against him, I don’t think my protective and well-aware mother would’ve allowed me to continue hanging around Michael or head up to Neverland had she not trusted him.”

“I firmly believe Michael did no wrong. You don’t have to take my word for it, though; know that his truth was proven in a court of law. The stories being presented in Leaving Neverland are incredibly one-sided. This film is merely the Wade Robson & James Safechuck Story because I, too, remember leaving Neverland, as does my mother, and as do many people in his life who’d be glad to have a say in a film so generically titled; now wrongfully entitled to depict Michael’s life and his misunderstood relationship with children. Any credible director of a documentary seeking truth on the matter would do his/her/their due diligence and present the full story from a carefully chosen and meaningful variety of sources. With four hours of film time to spare, I’m sure there could have been room. This is why I’m deeply disappointed in HBO and Channel 4 UK for picking it up with plans to air it later this spring. The networks snagged a falsity and will be responsible for disseminating a poorly researched film based on the highly skewed opinions of a select few that many of its subscribers will conclude as true.”

You can read the rest of Tal’s story here. I’ve put out requests to a few other “Neverland boys” to see if they’ll respond about their time spent on the ranch and with Michael. Updates when or if they chime in…

 

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