Paul McCartney’s cool new video is for his catchy “Who Cares.” It’s a song from Paul’s “Egypt Station” album with anti-bullying message. It also stars Emma Stone. Great makeup and animation, art direction is superb. And Paul is playing a shrink named Dr. Lorenz. Why Lorenz? Have no idea, except if it’s a tribute the legendary songwriter Lorenz Hart.
Donald Trump Foundation Agrees to Dissolve Per NY Attorney General– See Our Original Stories About This Fraud
I first wrote about the fraud at the Donald Trump Foundation in 2011.
Today, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood has secured a stipulation from the Foundation to dissolve its activities.
You can read all my previous stories here, including how a ticket scalper helped fund the Foundation.
Attorney General Underwood released the following statement:
“Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.
“Today’s stipulation accomplishes a key piece of the relief sought in our lawsuit earlier this year. Under the terms, the Trump Foundation can only dissolve under judicial supervision – and it can only distribute its remaining charitable assets to reputable organizations approved by my office.
“This is an important victory for the rule of law, making clear that there is one set of rules for everyone. We’ll continue to move our suit forward to ensure that the Trump Foundation and its directors are held to account for their clear and repeated violations of state and federal law.”
EXCLUSIVE UPDATE CBS Soap “Young and the Restless” Exec Producer Mal Young Confirms Departure as Ratings Continue to Waffle
NOW: Mal Young confirms exit from “Y&R” : “Just arrived in London for the holidays. I felt like it was a good time to move on. Never a good idea to get too settled on a long running soap and I achieved all that I and CBS set out to do: improved scripts and production values. I have a project of my own that I’ve been developing and want to pursue that now. Plus running a show like this is all consuming and want to get a bit of my life back – and see my family occasionally!”
From me: Fans should not put all the blame for what’s happened at this show on Young. He had to report to people who dictated quite a bit to him. The real failure still lies with Head of Daytime Angelica McDaniel. to be continued…
EARLIER The end is near if not already passed for Mal Young.
The executive producer and head writer of “The Young and the Restless” seems to be out according to various sources.
My own efforts to reach Young have proved unsatisfactory, without a denial coming from the former producer of the hit show “Dr. Who.”
But Young’s tenure at “Y&R” went from being welcome to a nightmare in a short time. Many veteran actors from the show have left — either voluntarily or written out — causing a severe ratings drop.
Last year at this time, the 45 year old soap was up to 4.8 million viewers. Today it’s averaging 4.2 million with some days falling below the 4 million mark.
Doug Davidson, the show’s longest running actor, was dropped over the summer without even a goodbye. Eileen Davidson (no relation), the popular star of the show with a huge following and also more than 30 years of service, left, she said, of her own volition.
Young may have suffered from the same fate that has affected executive producers for decades: hubris. In an effort to brand the show his own, he alienated viewers by introducing new characters, dropping old ones, re-writing history. There are only four soaps left on the air. The ones that are gone did exactly that. and look where that got them.
With Young gone, viewers can expect to see their faves back before too long.
RIP Galt McDermot, Award Winning Composer of All Those Hit Songs from “Hair”: “Aquarius,” “Let the Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine”
Is there a popular musical that spawned as many hits as “Hair”? The Fifth Dimension had the medley of “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In.” The Cowsills had a top 10 hit with the title song. Three Dog Night literally started a decade of hits with “Easy to Be Hard.” A one-off singer named Oliver (William Oliver Swofford) went top 10 with “Good Morning Starshine.” This was all in 1969. The records are played on every oldies station to this day.
Galt McDermot wrote all those songs. The lyrics were by James Rado and Gerone Ragni. Reports from Canada are that McDermott has passed away at 89, one day before his 90th birthday. IN addition to “Hair,” McDermot wrote the music for the Tony Award winning musical of 1971, “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” That show, with a book co-written by John Guare, starred the late great Raul Julia and had Stockard Channing and Jeff Goldblum in the chorus.
Thank you, Galt McDermot! Rest in peace.
Literary Firestorm as “The Color Purple” Author Alice Walker Endorses Infamous Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theorist in NY Times
A literary firestorm has been set off, and a famous writer may never be regarded in the same light again.
Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple,” has recommended the writings of anti-Semitic author David Icke in the New York Times Book Review. Asked what was on her night stand for reading, Walker said of the infamous anti-Semitic screed: “And the Truth Shall Set You Free,” by David Icke. In Icke’s books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about. A curious person’s dream come true.”
And with that one entry, Walker has revealed herself. Icke is considered the UK’s leading anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist. He’s also considered a Holocaust denier and a fan of the KKK. Walker’s endorsement of him is shocking at first until you realize what she’s been up to for several years now.
Twitter and social media have been on fire ever since. Walker is getting torched, and properly so.
Certainly unbeknownst to me and probably most people, Walker has been spewing venom for Israel and Jews on her website for years. She writes about Zionist Nazis, and supports Roger Waters the BDS (big dumb shits) movement. Six years ago she forbade the translation of her bestseller, “The Color Purple,” into Hebrew. I wonder how Steven Spielberg, who directed the movie, and its star, Whoopi Goldberg, feel about that.
She has famously written a poem called “To Study the Talmud.” It begins (the boldface is mine):
The first time I was accused
Of appearing to be anti-Semitic
The shock did not wear off
For days.
The man who charged me
Was a friend.
A Jewish Soul
Who I thought understood
Or could learn to understand
Almost anything.
He could not understand
However
Why I thought Israel should give back
The land it took
From a poorly defended
People in a war that lasted
Six days. I cringed
She concludes:
It is our duty, I believe, to study The Talmud.
It is within this book that,
I believe, we will find answers
To some of the questions
That most perplex us.
Where to start?
You will find some information,
Slanted, unfortunately,
By Googling. For a more in depth study
I recommend starting with YouTube. Simply follow the trail of “The
Talmud” as its poison belatedly winds its way
Into our collective consciousness.
Some of what you find will sound
Too crazy to be true. Unfortunately those bits are likely
To be true. Some of the more evasive studies
Will exhibit unbelievable attempts
At sugar coating extremely disagreeable pills.
But Walker’s endorsement of Icke should cinch the proposition that her literary career is now in flames. The Icke book Walker recommends is indeed “icky.” It’s so anti-Semitic that Icke had to self-publish since his own publisher refused to do it.
Rachel Maddow Has Beaten Sean Hannity For the Last Two Weeks– Including Last Friday, When Joy Reid Filled in For Her
UPDATE: Rachel Maddow is steamrolling Sean Hannity.
On cable news, Maddow’s 9pm MSNBC show has now beaten Hannity’s Fox News show at the time for the last two weeks.
Maddow even beat Hannity last Friday when Joy Reid substituted for her as anchor.
Maddow and her show partner, Lawrence O’Donnell, have found a winning way to deal with Fox News: reports facts and the truth. Make the shows timely. Talk to the audience as if they’re educated.
Hannity is still covering Hillary Clinton’s emails. He’s just completely ignoring anything contemporary.
Let’s see how this week goes. My guess is it’s another win for Maddow, et al.
Ratings aren’t Fox News’s only problems. Advertisers have decamped from most of their shows. It’s unclear who’s paying the bills now that Fox News can’t be cross-collateralized with “The Simpsons.”
UPDATE: Pop Star Zayn Malik Has Sold Just 1,800 Copies of New Album “Icarus Falls,” Drops Number 73 on iTunes
FRIDAY UPDATE: “Icarus” has fallen to 76 on iTunes. Buzz Angle shows 5,500 in sales including streaming of singles, and just 1,800 albums sold.
UPDATE WEDS DEC 19 9:45PM “Icarus Falls” on Wednesday night is up to 1,500 copies. It’s number 61 on iTunes.
EARLIER So maybe releasing 27 tracks on a new album without a marketing plan isn’t such a good idea after all.
On Friday, former One Direction member Zayn Malik dropped his second solo album on digital platforms. “Icarus Falls” included six already released– and failed– singles. It also had three singles released in quick succession that didn’t take off.
According to Buzz Angle, which measures sales almost in real time, “Icarus Falls” has indeed fallen. It’s sold just under 1,400 copies. This is all digital — downloads and streaming. That’s because a physical CD won’t be out til this Friday.
Compare this to “Springsteen on Broadway,” the soundtrack to Bruce’s Netflix special and his Broadway show. “SoB” has sold 18,000 copies through Sunday night. And think how much marketing has gone into that release. A ton!
Zayn has no manager, and a non responsive publicist. He also has no back up at his label, RCA, which simply deferred to the outside publicist. Outside of appearing on Zane Lowe’s Apple radio show, our Zayn was not set upf for morning or late night TV, radio appearance or anything else. There’s no lead single, no impact single, and no single period. Icarus’s wings may be melting, but he doesn’t have any hooks. As I wrote on Friday, “Icarus Falls” is a somber, mopey album.
I’m worried that Zayn is going to learn the hard way– he needs to tour, he needs PR and marketing, he needs help at radio. He needs social media help ASAP. Nothing has posted to his Twitter account all weekend.
Carl Reiner Hopes “Some Wise, Rich Entrepreneur” Will Colorize the Remaining 156 Episodes of “Dick van Dyke” Show
Guess what shows won their time periods on Friday night on CBS?
From 8 to 9pm it was “I Love Lucy.” From 9 to 10 pm it was “The Dick van Dyke Show.” In fact, “Kucy” was the highest rated show of the night on broadcast TV with 5.86 million viewers.
Yes, it’s 2018, not 1965 or 1956. CBS showed two colorized episodes of each classic comedy. They’ve done it before.
We remember these shows in black and white. They were filmed in black and white. But the people who made them were in color. You get that, right? The cast, crew etc were themselves IN COLOR. The film was black and white.
Personally, I’m not for the colorization. But “Dick van Dyke” creator Carl Reiner, who’s 95, loves it. He said so on Twitter.
Reiner Tweeted: “Just chatted with Dick Van Dyke about how, last night, we, and a majority of viewers, enjoyed seeing our old show in living color, Our hope is that some wise rich, entrepreneur also colorizes the 156 other episodes.”
No, no, no Carl. Rob and Laura, Sally and Buddy, Alan Brady– leave them in glorious B&W please! Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, too!
Just chatted with Dick Van Dyke about how, last night, we, and a majority of viewers, enjoyed seeing o\ir old show in living color, Our hope is that some wise rich, entrepreneur also colorizes the 156 other episodes.
— carl reiner (@carlreiner) December 15, 2018
Watch Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood Join Paul McCartney On Stage in London for “Get Back”
We’re never in the right place, are we?
Sunday night in London, at the O2 Arena, Paul McCartney had some nice guests join his band for “Get Back.”
They were his ex and forever bandmate Ringo Starr, and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood.
Colin Kroll, Co-Creator of HQ Trivia, and Vine, Dead at 34 from Apparent Drug Overdose
A year ago, HQ Trivia was so hot you couldn’t get near it. Everywhere I went people were downloading the app and playing the trivia game at 3 and 9pm. People were obsessed with it, especially in New York. And the most anyone won was a few dollars. It didn’t matter. Hundreds of thousands of people were playing the game.
This morning, reportedly, Colin Kroll, the 34 year old co-founder, was found dead in his apartment. He allegedly died of a drug overdose, which also sounds like a suicide. This is tragic and shocking. He had also been the creator of Vine, the popular video social media that set the stage for Instagram and other services. Vine is gone, but it was a landmark.
This comes on the heels of “SNL” star Pete Davidson posting a suicidal note yesterday on Twitter. The result was pandemonium and a NYPD investigation. But Davidson did appear on the show briefly last night. What happens next, no one knows.
There were so many celebrity suicides this year, including Kate Spade. What is going on? There is so much help available. Too many talented people are taking their lives after rocketing to success. Please call
1-800-273-8255 if you’re feeling depressed during the holidays, or know someone who can use a boost.