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Cher’s Album of ABBA Covers Called “Dancing Queen” Coming September 28th, in Time for Grammy Cut Off

Roger Friedman
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Cher’s Album of ABBA Covers Called “Dancing Queen” Coming September 28th, in Time for Grammy Cut Off

Cher wants that Grammy award for Dance album. She’s going to get it.

I told you a couple of weeks ago her collection of ABBA covers was ready. The date is set for September 28th and it’s called “Dancing Queen.” She just makes the Grammy eligibility cut off. You know she’ll be on their show come February. (Cher, stay off the AMAs.)

Mark Taylor, who produced her massive comeback single “Believe” from 15 years ago, also produced these tracks. Here’s the list. Now wait and see the promo for this. Congrats to Warner Bros. They’re going to have a big hit. Whoever guided Cher into this whole “Mamma Mia” movie, etc really deserves a raise.

  1. Dancing Queen
  2. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
  3. The Name Of The Game
  4. SOS
  5. Waterloo
  6. Mamma Mia
  7. Chiquitita
  8. Fernando
  9. The Winner Takes It All
  10. One Of Us

 

Record Biz Chaos: Sony’s Columbia Records, Hitless for Most of the Year, Pays Millions to Unknown Rapper, Loses A Top Exec

Roger Friedman
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Record Biz Chaos: Sony’s Columbia Records, Hitless for Most of the Year, Pays Millions to Unknown Rapper, Loses A Top Exec

It’s time to ask, what the heck is going on at Columbia Records?

The legendary label, home to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, and Beyonce, has been hit-free for the better part of the last year.

The word ‘Columbia’ doesn’t appear on the top album charts and hasn’t in a long time. It’s made cameos on Beyonce’s duets album with Jay Z (which was a release from Columbia, Universal, and the Carters’ Parkwood Entertainment). New albums by Jack White and Leon Bridges each made brief (one week, two) stops on the charts before vanishing.

Other than that, Columbia hasn’t had a hit single on the charts since last year. That’s when One Direction’s Harry Styles was supposed to come with a monster hit solo album. To date since May 2017, Styles’ self-titled debut has sold a mere 384,000 copies according to Buzz Angle. (Its streaming numbers aren’t much better.) Sony has reportedly poured millions into Styles hoping for a long term superstar, but so far– at least in chart position and sales– that hasn’t happened.

So it was something of a surprise today that Joel Klaiman, executive vice president for promotion, announced his exit. He’s been there six years this time around. He had a previous run at Sony, and in between another six years at Republic/Universal.

But Klaiman has to be frustrated. In January, Ron Perry came to Columbia as president, with no experience ever running a label. Rob Stringer, who’d moved up the corporate hierarchy to be chairman of Sony Music (which includes Epic, RCA, Arista, etc) chose him to bring in new acts.

In the 8 months since Perry has been running Columbia, absolutely nothing has happened. It’s as if the company didn’t exist. What did Stringer expect? Perry had been a successful music publisher at SONGS, an upstart company that was sold to rival Kobalt Music. When the sale was announced, Perry was free. Stringer scooped him up. At SONGS, Perry had signed Lorde, Major Lazer, and The Weeknd.

But at Columbia, Perry has been silent. The biggest news came last week when Sony announced they’d signed a Naples, Florida rapper named Dominic Fike for between $3 million and $4 million. He’s little known, without a big social media following (only 901 Twitter followers). His music is what you’d expect– riddled with expletives and not particularly unique.

Columbia Records is considered the jewel in the crown of Sony Music. Adele is the jewel in Columbia’s crown, but she’s only now starting to think about a new record for next year. In baseball terms, Columbia has no bench of artists to go to while waiting for Beyonce to come up with a surprise release, or Adele to finish, or Springsteen to wrap up his Broadway stint. (A CD from the Boss’s show should come at Christmas, so that will help.)

One insider likened the Perry situation to one several years ago, when Sony turned its Epic Records over briefly to a songwriter named Amanda Ghost. She lived up to her name.

 

UPDATE Grammy Awards Furious Oscars Ambushed Them on Traditional Date: “It was a very disrespectful move on their part”

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Grammy Awards Furious Oscars Ambushed Them on Traditional Date: “It was a very disrespectful move on their part”

UPDATE: Says Grammy NARAS insider “It was a very disrespectful move on their part,” says NARAS will have to decide what’s best.

EARLIER: It’s music vs. movies. Who will win?

The Academy Awards announced today it’s taking February 9th as its date for the 2020 Oscars. That moves the Oscars up two weeks than its usual time. The show is broadcast by ABC.

Over at CBS they can’t be happy. That Sunday is traditionally the night for the Grammy Awards. This last year the Grammys moved up to January 26th because of the Olympics. But for 2019 the Grammys are right back on their regular Sunday, two weeks before the Oscars.

Insofar as scheduling locally in Los Angeles, there aren’t going to be two major awards gatherings on the same night. The Grammys have been ambushed, frankly. Do they move up a week? That would be Super Bowl Sunday. Do they switch with the Oscars and go two weeks later? Or back into January?

Stay tuned. Jack Sussman and Les Moonves from CBS won’t be too happy with this Oscar news.

 

Academy Awards Sell out to Studios, Add “Popular Movie” Award, Will Cut On-Air Awards in Half

Roger Friedman
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Academy Awards Sell out to Studios, Add “Popular Movie” Award, Will Cut On-Air Awards in Half

That’s it for the Oscars.

Bowing to pressure about ratings for the show, and to the studios who don’t make arty films, the Oscars will add a “popular film” category to the contest beginning in 2020.

This means the big studio films that are ignored at the Oscars– like Disney, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, etc – will now have a People’s Choice type award. Filmmaking will not be the issue. But now “Mission Impossible” will be in a group with “Black Panther.”

Also, the Oscars will move up to February 9th, two weeks earlier than usual. Which means that the nominating period will be short, short, short. The Grammys won’t be happy– that’s their date– but what the hell. The studios have wanted this for a long time, and the Academy has capitulated.

It’s a cowing to crap.

The on air broadcast beginning in 2020 will also halve the number of awards given on air. This means, like the Emmys and the Grammys, “creative” awards will happen at a different time. No more sound editing on Oscar night, kids. It’s just gonna be stars, stars, stars. How was the movie made? Who cares, really? Find out later.

Well, the end was near. The Oscar ratings keep getting lower and lower. The studios are getting no recognition for their tent pole movies. It’s a very Trumpian philosophy.

More to come…

Dear Member,

Last night, the Board of Governors met to elect new board officers, and discuss and approve significant changes to the Oscars telecast.

The Board of Governors, staff, Academy members, and various working groups spent the last several months discussing improvements to the show.

Tonight, the Board approved three key changes:

1. A three-hour Oscars telecast

We are committed to producing an entertaining show in three hours, delivering a more accessible Oscars for our viewers worldwide.

To honor all 24 award categories, we will present select categories live, in the Dolby Theatre, during commercial breaks (categories to be determined). The winning moments will then be edited and aired later in the broadcast.

2. New award category

We will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film. Eligibility requirements and other key details will be forthcoming.

3. Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

The date of the 92nd Oscars telecast will move to Sunday, February 9, 2020, from the previously announced February 23. The date change will not affect awards eligibility dates or the voting process.

The 91st Oscars telecast remains as announced on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

We have heard from many of you about improvements needed to keep the Oscars and our Academy relevant in a changing world. The Board of Governors took this charge seriously.

We are excited about these steps, and look forward to sharing more details with you.

John Bailey and Dawn Hudson

Bryan Cranston Bringing “Network” to Broadway: Walter White is Mad as Hell, And He’s Not Gonna Take it Anymore

Roger Friedman
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Bryan Cranston Bringing “Network” to Broadway: Walter White is Mad as Hell, And He’s Not Gonna Take it Anymore

Say it with me now: Bryan Cranston is bringing “Network” to Broadway this fall.

The famous Sidney Lumet movie written by Paddy Chayefsky starred Peter Finch, William Holden, and Faye Dunaway. But it was never staged. Now Cranston will play Howard Beale, the network anchor who snaps, in this adroit satire.

This is a National Theater production, directed by Ivo vanHove (who’s everywhere, everyone wants him on their shows) and adapted by Lee Hall.

The Lumet movie won four Oscars, by the way, for Finch, Dunaway, supporting actress Beatrice Straight, and for Chayefsky for Best Original Screenplay.

Cranston, once known as Dr. Tim Watley on “Seinfeld,” has a Tony award and a boat load of other statues for his fine work in all media. He will be terrific as Beale, particularly in the infamous rant below.

The big question is who will play Dunaway’s seethingly ambitious network executive Diana Christensen? I’ll bet Faye would like to do it herself! (She could!) But that role will be a juicy one.

(Just thinking about Sidney Lumet made me sad. Go back, see all his movies. He was a genius.)

 

 

Twitter Chief Jack Dorsey Explains Why He Didn’t Dump Alex Jones and InfoWars: “He Hasn’t Violated Our Rules”

Roger Friedman
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Twitter Chief Jack Dorsey Explains Why He Didn’t Dump Alex Jones and InfoWars: “He Hasn’t Violated Our Rules”

Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey has issued a series of Tweets explaining why he hasn’t joined Facebook, YouTube and other social media in dumping Alex Jones and his crazy, hurtful InfoWars. His explanation is lacking, I’m afraid. But here it is. Dorsey also directs his readers to the Twitter mission statement. Dorsey’s blue bird is not flying high on this one, I’m afraid.

“We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.

Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.

If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us.

Accounts like Jones’ can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it’s critical journalists document, validate, and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. This is what serves the public conversation best.”

Glenn Close, Buzzing To an Oscar Nod for “The Wife,” Will Get Museum of Moving Image Honor

Roger Friedman
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Glenn Close, Buzzing To an Oscar Nod for “The Wife,” Will Get Museum of Moving Image Honor

Glenn Close– who should have an Oscar and maybe will get one this time for “The Wife” — is getting another big award first. Glenn will receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Museum of the Moving Image come December 3rd.

Glenn joins a long and austere list of top notch actors who’ve been honored by the MMI including Annette Bening, Warren Beatty, Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Goldie Hawn, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, Hugh Jackman, Steve Martin, Julianne Moore, Al Pacino, Sidney Poitier, Julia Roberts, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Jimmy Stewart. Whew!

“The Wife,” directed by Bjorn Runge, opens next week in New York and Los Angeles, and is sporting a fantastic 95 on Rotten Tomatoes. Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, and Max Irons co-star. Based on a novel by Meg Wolitzer, Glenn plays the loyal wife of a writer who win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Off to Stockholm they are swept, where Slater– a dogged and charming journalist– is determined to unearth secrets. And he does.

Sony Pictures Classics hosted a swell mid summer soiree at the Monkey Bar last week for all these people. Glenn Close was beaming. She has many Oscar noms, no wins. This one could be it if — if Lady Gaga, Saorise Ronan and few others don’t get in the way. I think this is Close’s year. How much more talented could she be? She’s also opening at the Public Theater in September in Jane Anderson’s “Mother of the Maid” (Anderson wrote the “Wife” screenplay). Fingers are crossed for a Broadway transfer during the winter.

As for the MMI Award, you know they get a lot of pals to come make toasts. So expect Michael Douglas from Glenn’s most famous movie, “Fatal Attraction,” plus great co-star like Janet McTeer, maybe Jeff Bridges, and even some Dalmatians!

 

Julie Newmar, Forever Catwoman, Insists She Never Slept with Batman, Still Purring at 85

Leah Sydney
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Julie Newmar, Forever Catwoman, Insists She Never Slept with Batman, Still Purring at 85

Catwoman herself, the regal Julie Newmar–who turns 85 next week– holding court, and Gustavo Dudamel conducting Rachmaninoff at the Hollywood Bowl:  It doesn’t get better than that. And the woman responsible for bringing Julie there to reign is Donelle Dadigan, long a respected figure in Hollywood.  

Tireless Donelle is founder of the Jose Iturbi Foundation, their mission statement is “Popularizing Classical Music…One Note at a Time!” She is also the Founder and CEO of the Hollywood Museum.  Recently, Julie hosted the pre-VIP event at the Bowl to benefit the foundation and classic Hollywood was at out in force.  Besides luminous Julie, others included “General Hospital” star Carolyn Hennessy, the great George Chakiris, “Mrs. Walton” Michael Learned, Alison Arngrim (from “Little House on the Prairie”), the mighty Paul Sorvino, TV beauty (two Emmy noms) Lee Purcell, and  “Mrs. C” — Marion Ross, of “Happy Days” (who was chatting about her book “My Days, Happy and Otherwise.”) 

I spoke with the lovely Julie about her still avid fan base and her quest for her elusive star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  She told me, “I was a dancer to start with, and I didn’t start acting until I was 24.  I got a Tony award,” she said, throwing this little fact in. In fact, she did get a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play, in 1959’s “The Marriage-Go-Round.” Her co-stars– are you ready for this?– were legends Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert.

Seven years later, in 1966, Newmar would find herself a household name, body and face, purring on the hit “Batman” TV show with Adam West, Burt Ward, and the likes of Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin. They are now all etched in history.

“Catwoman,” she says, “brought in a sizable public and the wonderful thing is that it’s still reverberates and is still being played in movies, TV series and comic books. It amazes me.  It’s a marvelous character.  So, I wish I could dance my way on the Walk of Fame. Maybe two strapping fellows would bring me there!” 

She then told me about her upcoming book, a photo biography called “The Nine Lives Of Julie Newmar.”  I asked her about any tidbits she has that she hasn’t talked about yet.  She quipped,  “I’m like my good friend George Hamilton, I keep my lips sealed and say nothing.  You have to imagine it.”

Did she, as rumor had it, have a tryst with the original Batman, Adam West?  She laughed, “No, I did not have an affair with Adam West.  He was a sweetheart and wonderful. He was the best Batman of all.  Maybe it was the times, but he seemed to just get it. “

Any other fun stuff to share I asked her?  “Oh yes.  An Astrologer just told me that I’m going to get married next year.  So lets just look forward to that.”

Then Julie greeted two French friends in perfect French.  She commandeered the room and the Bowl, where fans where thrilled to see her.  The Hollywood Walk of Fame should give this icon, so ahead of her time, her deserved star ASAP.  

 

Broadway: Hugely Panned Go-Go’s Musical “Head Over Heels” Drops 14% at Box Office After Opening

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Hugely Panned Go-Go’s Musical “Head Over Heels” Drops 14% at Box Office After Opening

No one said Broadway was easy. I really thought the Go Go’s musical “Head Over Heels” would close on opening night. It has all the earmarks of “Springtime for Hitler.” Critics tried to like it because was gender fluid, but in reality it leaks all over the place.

Turns out the reviewers didn’t help. After the opening, the show dropped 14.71%. Receipts from the prior week fell by over $23,000.  The total the show can make at the Hudson Theater is $883,552. The week after it opened “Head Over Heels” grossed just $297,420. The closing notice should be coming soon, if not today.

Just about every show took a massive hit last week as summer ebbs, school starts in a lot of places, tourists return to their planets. “The Lion King” dropped by over $300,000! “Wicked” came close to that. “Hello, Dolly!” dropped by almost $20,000. “My Fair Lady” fell by a whopping $75,000. The Donna Summer show, which I can’t believe is still playing, dropped by $118K!

Broadway will go through a summer downturn now until Labor Day. Bruce Springsteen is yachting with David Geffen off Capri, so his usual $2.4 million weekly take is missing. But the new fall shows are just around the corner. And everyone is counting on “Pretty Woman” to come through!

Ratings: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who is America?” Sticks to Average 300K Viewers, Last Place at 10PM Sunday

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who is America?” Sticks to Average 300K Viewers, Last Place at 10PM Sunday

Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who is America?” has settled into a weekly average number of viewers: 300,000. This week it was 313K, last week a little under, etc. It’s never more than that. He’s found his audience. They are loyal. But the show is in last place in its time slot on Sundays, beaten by everything else on cable.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the press is from the prior week. This week, SBC failed to get a local politician in Utah to fall for being called a pedophile.David Pyne, national director of the Utah Republican Assembly, turned out to be a smart cookie. He’s probably a bad guy but I liked him for smelling a rat.

The big get was Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who’s not exactly a member of Mensa to begin with. SBC just kept talking and talking until he’d convinced Joe to say he’d give Trump oral sex. Arpaio would have agreed to anything at that point. It was a lot of fun.

I like the show, and I’m watching it. So I’m one of the 300,000– although this week Spectrum couldn’t manage to provide Showtime at 10pm. It was weird, but the main Showtime channel wouldn’t register. Spectrum is being booted from New York State for a good reason.

Showtime’s David Nevins said this week that the network wants more of “Who is America?” and why not? It’s cheap to produce. Nevins said he was on the fence about a show I really love called “I’m Dying Up Here” and said nothing about their best show, “Billions,” which should have been on HBO.

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