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Nobel Prize in Chaos: Cancels Annual Concert for 2018 Winners Plus No Literature Prize (The One Bob Dylan Got)

Roger Friedman
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Nobel Prize in Chaos: Cancels Annual Concert for 2018 Winners Plus No Literature Prize (The One Bob Dylan Got)

The times they are a changing: the austere and respected Nobel Prizes are in a bit of chaos this year. They’ve just announced that there will be no annual concert this year for the winners. The concert has always been a big deal.

Last year, John Legend was the headliner and Sting in 2016. Patti Smith performed for Bob Dylan in 2016 but that wasn’t at the concert but at the actual prize ceremony.

On top  of that, the award Dylan received this year– for Literature — will not be given for the first time ever in 2018. The Nobel committee says they will wait to give it again in 2019. The last winner in literature was Kazuo Ishiguro, author of “Remains of the Day.”

The Nobel Prizes are given by the Swedish Academy in accordance with Alfred Nobel’s will. But the Academy has been mired in scandal for the last year with issues relating to financial problems and sexual harassment.

According to a press release: “The crisis in the Swedish Academy has adversely affected the Nobel Prize. Their decision underscores the seriousness of the situation and will help safeguard the long-term reputation of the Nobel Prize. None of this impacts the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Prizes in other prize categories.”

The Nobel Prizes says it will give two literature prizes in 2019. One of them should be posthumous, to Philip Roth. It’s absolutely ridiculous that Roth never received a Nobel Prize before his death this year. Frankly, I don’t care what the Swedish Academy’s other issues are. Shunning Roth completely devalues their prize.

The Nobel Prizes will be announced between October 1st and October 8th.

PS If you’re thinking that little by little everything good has been ruined since Donald Trump took office, you are correct.

 

Instagram Photo Chosen by Janet Jackson of Her and Late Father Speaks Volumes: No One is Smiling

Roger Friedman
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Instagram Photo Chosen by Janet Jackson of Her and Late Father Speaks Volumes: No One is Smiling

Don’t be fooled by Janet Jackson’s Instagram photo of her and late father Joseph. No one is smiling in this picture, least of all Janet. She looks like she’s a hostage.

Janet’s rise to fame had nothing to do with Joseph. It was family friend John McClain who got Janet to A&M Records, far from her father’s reach, and to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as producers. Janet hated her father. He was very abusive to her, which has been noted over and over. She once famously helped her mother beat up one of her father’s girlfriends.

Whatever peace she’s made with her father is great, but the reality is she knew what he was capable of. Family friends who knew the Jacksons quite well circa 1980 say Janet once appeared in their kitchen asking for a butcher knife to use again Joseph. The elder Jackson was also responsible for her separating Janet from her high school sweetheart and forcing her into the marriage with James DeBarge.

💜

A post shared by Janet Jackson (@janetjackson) on

Donald Trump Posts Inaccurate Tweet About His Writing Skills, Uses Wrong Word and Poor Grammar

Roger Friedman
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Donald Trump Posts Inaccurate Tweet About His Writing Skills, Uses Wrong Word and Poor Grammar

Donald Trump is boasting about his writing skills. He says he’s written many books. This is false, he’s used ghost writers always, most famously Tony Schwartz for “The Art of the Deal.”

Trump says the Fake News (he’s made up this rubric) likes to “pour” over his Tweets. He means “pore” over the Tweets. The pour he’s used to is pour liquid, to dispense.

Finally, the grammar is wrong in his Tweet and doesn’t track. It’s a mess. He would get an F in any grammar class. His whole long first sentence is a run on, and when it comes to the first comma, what follows is a mess. “…it should be noted…” etc cannot come there. He’s referring to himself, he’s priding himself, so it should be noted that “…I…” do something.

The President of the United States is illiterate. He’s a lot of other things, but this is sad. He has very poor writing skills, which is another example of a word that sounds like pore or pour. Maybe he can learn something since he hates poor people and is trying to torture them.

Drake Sales of New Music Swamp Kanye, Beyonce, Jay Z in Debut Week: 740K Expected, Most of it Streaming

Roger Friedman
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Drake Sales of New Music Swamp Kanye, Beyonce, Jay Z in Debut Week: 740K Expected, Most of it Streaming

The Scorpion is stinging everything else on the pop charts this week.

Drake’s new album, “Scorpion,” is a massive hit far surpassing Kanye, his minions, Bey and Jay, everyone.

“Scorpion” is on track to sell 740,000 copies by Thursday night. That number is almost all from streaming. Paid downloads on iTunes and amazon will come only to around 150,000.

Every song from the “double album” set is on the Streaming Hits chart, as well. Every single track is in the top 20 or top 30. That includes songs Drake sampled with Michael Jackson (his estate should be happy) and Mariah Carey (her sample comes from a song she sampled largely from Maurice White, late leader of Earth Wind & Fire).

Money is just pouring. “Scorpion” is number 1 everywhere. And that’s good for the kid Drake admitted to fathering on this record. The mother is former adult-film star Sophie Brussaux. She and the kid can relax in the South of France forever.

Will “Scorpion” be in the Grammy mix? Undoubtedly. You can already expect it to win Best Rap Album and probably in the general Album of the Year category.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Aubrey Drake Graham is Canadian, He turns 32 this fall. His father is black, American, Catholic raised in Memphis and is a well known studio drummer. Drake’s mother is Jewish, from Canada. Drake, a dual citizen, was Bar Mitzvahed.

Every record this guy puts out turns to gold immediately. His biggest hit is “Hotline Bling,” with the refrain ‘you don’t call me on your cell phone’ set to the beat of Timmy Thomas’s “Why Can’t We Live Together.”

Rolling Stone Magazine Goes Monthly, Cuts Annual Issues in Half, Sets Annual Subscription Price at Whopping $59.99

Roger Friedman
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Rolling Stone Magazine Goes Monthly, Cuts Annual Issues in Half, Sets Annual Subscription Price at Whopping $59.99

Rolling Stone magazine still gathers no moss. Recently purchased by Penske Media (Variety, Deadline), the once premier rock mag is cutting its annual number of issues in half — to 12– and going monthly. Previously, Rolling Stone was bi monthly, as in twice a month, for most of its 50 year run.

The new annual subscription price has been set at a whopping $59.99, with individual issues costing $9.99. That’s up by 10 bucks a year.

To make Rolling Stone competitive, Penske has hired a lot of new people. They’ve also published their first new issue with a photo of a pregnant, tattooed Cardi B receiving a loving kiss from her husband, Offset. (If a Rolling Stone reader from 1975 stumbled on this story a la “Back to the Future” they’d be laughing harder than Marty McFly.)

Rollingstone.com, which is eminently readable, has had a little uptick in clicks since April. and it’s ranked 485 on alexa.com, which is very good. So the website is getting traffic, it has a clean look, and record companies– what’s left of them– still like to debut videos there since there are no other music magazines except Billboard (owned by Penske’s rivals, and more tipped to the trade).

So on Rolling Stone rolls. The days of Chet Flippo, Ben Fong Torres, Timothy White, Hunter S. Thompson, et al is long gone. The trick now is to try and create a new gestalt for the 2020s, if there can be one. That means walking the fine line between worship to classic rock and awareness of the new stars. The Cardi B cover looks like a step in the right direction. (Not to mention that Vanity Fair has Kendrick Lamar on its cover. It’s a good ne world!)

 

Pop Legends: Paul Simon, 76, Wraps it Up While Paul McCartney, Also 76, Plans Another US Tour

Roger Friedman
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Pop Legends: Paul Simon, 76, Wraps it Up While Paul McCartney, Also 76, Plans Another US Tour

I’ve been bracing myself for the idea of Paul Simon, who is 76,  playing his last shows this summer. He will make a career finale in Forest Hills on September 22nd after two nights at Madison Square Garden. It seems much too soon.

At the same time, another Paul is just gearing up for another arena tour. Paul McCartney, also 76, just announced four dates in Canada. They are quite literally at the same time as Simon’s farewell shows, although McCartney does have September 21-27 off on his current schedule. He could show up in Forest Hills.

With McCartney, anything is possible. The Canada dates kick off the “Freshen Up” tour for his new album, “Egypt Station,” due September 7th. And even though McCartney just played several dates in the New York area last September, you know he will fill up MSG, Barclays in Brooklyn, Prudential Center in Newark once again without any difficulty.

For McCartney to slide into MSG, his bookers will have to deal with not only Simon, but the monthly Billy Joel (only 69) and several Elton John dates. Elton, 71, is on his own farewell tour that goes on well into the year 2020.

Will McCartney ever retire? I don’t think so. He has some kind of cosmic challenge going on with Mick Jagger (turning 75 this month), who’s also touring this summer with the Rolling Stones. And Ringo Starr (turns 78 this week) is out there with his band. Beatles vs. The Stones. It’s the Yankees and the Red Sox. It will just go on and on.

Senate Democrat Ron Wyden Railed Against by Vintage Pop Stars Over Legislation That Could Destroy Their Meager Earnings from Digital, Satellite Broadcast

Roger Friedman
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Senate Democrat Ron Wyden Railed Against by Vintage Pop Stars Over Legislation That Could Destroy Their Meager Earnings from Digital, Satellite Broadcast

Famed R&B star “Soul Man” Sam Moore is the latest member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who is furious with Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. The reason is that Wyden may screw up pending legislation now called The Music Modernization Act (S. 2823), which includes the “Classics Act.”

Currently, music artists who made records before 1972– which is all of classic rock, pop, R&B, country, etc– are not compensated by digital or satellite radio. The Music Modernization Act, endorsed by Barack Obama while he was president, is also supported by two dozen or more US senators and huge numbers in the House of Representatives.

The Classics Act protects not just big stars like the Beatles or Rolling Stones, but huge numbers of R&B stars from labels like Motown, Stax, Atlantic– i.e. all the stuff you love to dance to at parties (Aretha, James Brown, Temptations, Sam & Dave)— who get nada, zip, zero now from millions of plays on various services from Spotify to Sirius, Pandora, AppleMusic, et al.

Wyden has suddenly weighed in with his own legislation that would not only water down the Music Modernization, but take away rights these artists already have! Billboard’s Robert Levine recently observed: “Wyden’s bill also calls for all pre-1972 recordings to lose all of the protection they currently have under state law. Under current law — and the Music Modernization Act wouldn’t change this — all state law protection expires no later than 2067, although in some jurisdictions it could run out sooner. It also says that works recorded between 1923 and 1930 will enter the public domain if they’re not used, and it offers a three-year window from liability for statutory damages in some cases.”

Wyden’s legislation, called ACCESS, must be stopped. Sam Moore posted on Facebook this week:  “Stop Sen Wyden from devaluing and stealing from me and all of my peers who recorded our biggest hits before Feb,1972!  The idea that he thinks that he can minimize or devalue my talent and my peers talent is about as offensive as offensive can get!
Don’t take our legacies away from us! Don’t take our ability to care for our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren
You are just plain wrong and you just don’t have that right Senator. It’s embarrassing that a 70-year-old man, a Democrat, no less, would put himself above all of us! (I’m betting his you know what stinks just as bad as mine does how dare he!) “

Moore notes that Wyden’s local NAACP chapter in Oregon is also railing against his proposal as hundreds of the artists are black.
 Yes I’m sick and tired of any senator or congressman who feels that they can play God over us artists because they’re getting there you-know-what’s kissed by special interest and lobbyists and I don’t care which party they are in!
ENOUGH!
Hope you have a Happy Independence Day Senator Wyden! “

MusicFirst, a coalition that represents music artists’ digital rights, also has chimed in:

“Wyden’s bill also calls for all pre-1972 recordings to lose all of the protection they currently have under state law. Under current law — and the Music Modernization Act wouldn’t change this — all state law protection expires no later than 2067, although in some jurisdictions it could run out sooner. It also says that works recorded between 1923 and 1930 will enter the public domain if they’re not used, and it offers a three-year window from liability for statutory damages in some cases.”

Me, personally: I can’t figure out how a Democrat who considers himself a friend of the arts, and a progressive, wants to limit the rights of these amazing artists. Maybe it’s time to take a deeper dive into Wyden’s motivations.

Sandra Bernhard Says Her One “Roseanne” Reboot Episode Was Cut to Shreds, Hasn’t Heard from Comedian Since Scandal

Roger Friedman
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Sandra Bernhard Says Her One “Roseanne” Reboot Episode Was Cut to Shreds, Hasn’t Heard from Comedian Since Scandal

Comedian and actress Sandra Bernhard says her one appearance on the “Roseanne” reboot was cut  to shreds and that she hasn’t heard from the embattled star since she shot the episode last year.

Bernhard made a brilliant appearance last night at East Hampton’s Guild Hall where, for 75 minutes, she let loose on everyone including people in the audience and Hamptonites in general. Some of the show was scripted with set  pieces but much was ad libbed, and hilarious. Bernhard is never mean, but she can go in for kill and come out of it bloodless.

It wasn’t far into the set when Roseanne’s came up. Bernhard said that she’d had a great scene with Estelle Parsons, who plays Barr’s mother on the show. “But they cut the whole thing out, and I was like okayyyy,” she said. She said that basically Barr was crazy, that years ago she’d visited her in rehab, that the comic “lived badly” in Hawaii, and that she was currently staying with her parents in Utah. “Do you remember when she accused them of sexually molesting her?” she asked the audience. “I wonder how they feel about that now.”

The set pieces included witty takes on QVC presenters. She also began the set with a gentle jab at Melania Trump. Bernard also gave a few zetses to the Hamptons crowd, chiding the audience over their “resistance.”

I hadn’t seen a Sandra Bernhard show in about 25 years. I was so impressed, and the audience loved her. She’s retained a lot of her edge, and is as current as possible. She’s also a terrific rock singer, and comes with a three piece band. (Her pianist and music guy has been with her since 1985.) I was thinking I’d say Sandra Bernhard is the Patti Smith of comedians. But she beat me to it by closing the show rocking out a blistering performance Patti’s “People Got the Power.” Other songs included “Downtown Train,” Neil Diamond’s “Hot August Nights,” and “Manic Depression.”

There’s no question that after more than three decades, Bernhard is a gifted performer. It’s time, I think, for some higher career retrospective love. (Netflix?) This girl is on fire.

 

 

 

Box Office: “Gotti” All But Disappears After Two Weeks in Release, “Jurassic” Roars with Another $60 Mil

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Gotti” All But Disappears After Two Weeks in Release, “Jurassic” Roars with Another $60 Mil

John Travolta’s “Gotti” movie has all but disappeared from the box office charts. Even though it seems to be playing in some theaters, Vertical Entertainment didn’t report numbers from Friday night.The weekend take was just $305K from 331 locations.

It’s Travolta’s biggest bomb in 20 years. So far there’s no hope of overseas box office, as only Hungary has reported with $57K.

But small films can be hits if they’re well made. The Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” has made over $7.5 million and is growing. Focus Features tapped into a nostalgia for the late children’s show host and it worked. Personally, I’m ready for the Soupy Sales movie.

Neon’s terrific “Three Identical Strangers” — a must see doc– scored $32K per screen for a limited NY-LA opening total of $163K.

In blockbuster news, “Jurassic World” overcame its meh reviews and made another $60 million this weekend for a total of $264 million. I’m happy for that dinosaur named Blue, I liked him.

“Incredibles 2” is almost at $500 million. Incredible!

Charts: Beyonce & Jay Z, Kanye Are Not Selling Enough Downloads or Streams to Get Hits

Roger Friedman
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Charts: Beyonce & Jay Z, Kanye Are Not Selling Enough Downloads or Streams to Get Hits

Drake released a new album today. It went straight the top of iTunes, and most of its tracks are lodged on the iTunes singles chart. They’re all getting lots of play on Spotify. “Scorpion” is a hit, whether you like it or not.

But Drake always sells like that. I’ve written about him before. He swamps the streaming songs chart.

This week, though, he’s also knocked off Beyonce and Jay, and Kanye West. The first couple of hip hop has “The Carters” album out. Kanye has his “Ye” album. They are really not selling, and not selling enough to have made a difference.

This week “The Carters” sold around 59,000 “copies.” They did streaming equivalent of 37,000 copies, and another 20,000 in paid downloads. (They skew older as it turns out.)

Kanye sold a total of 25,000 copies, most of which came from streaming. He had about 2,000 paid downloads.

These are not big numbers. Kanye certainly alienated his audience, so it’s understandable. But Bey and Jay have no hit single. “The Carters” has had a long lukewarm response despite the fact that they’re touring.

Listen, financially, I’m not worried about any of these guys. But the reality is, recordings is not where they’re making their money. Only Drake can say that.

By the way, an unreleased John Coltrane album was released today from the height of his career. The tapes were just put away. Now they’re finally out. If you’re interested in actual music, take a listen.

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