Hey, Sara Gilbert’s not stupid. She could use $300,000 an episode for a rebooted “Roseanne.” So yesterday on “The Talk” Sara threw in with ABC and declared they made the right decision to cancel the show.
Can there be a “Roseanne” without Roseanne? I think it will be “AfterMASH” or “Archie Bunker’s Place” or “The Golden Palace” or — you get the drift. They will never overcome the absence of Roseanne. And Barr has a financial interest, too.
But here’s Sara, giving it her all.
The Broadway box office is roaring if you look at it one way: Bruce Springsteen adds $2 million to the weekly gross every week. This is despite the Boss cutting back on performances, alternating four one week and five the next. This began when he returned from vacation on March 4th.
Most Broadway shows have 8 performances. Long, difficult shows like “The Iceman Cometh” and “Angels in America” have 6 or 7. With Springsteen, essentially a one man show, the number was at 5 for the first few months. Now it’s just 4 every other week. This makes getting tickets even harder. It also begs the question: is it a Broadway show or a show on Broadway? Either way, we love him. And Bruce will soldier on for some more months.
Meantime, the announcement of Bette Midler returning to “Hello, Dolly” for an August cash grab is killing sales for Bernadette Peters’ current run. This is too bad– Peters is much better than Midler as Dolly Levi. (Bette was better as Bette.) The show dropped last week to $844K, way below its million mark. Go see it now, while you can get a normal priced ticket. Well worth it before that last ghastly $800/ticket extravaganza.
Closing: “Margaritaville” is first. “Saint Joan” is next. “Spongebob” won’t last long. The Donna Summer musical should be having a Last Dance soon. Denzel and “The Iceman” goeth on July 1st. “Angels in America” takes wing on July 15th. But new shows are always coming. That’s the way of the world.
The Michael McDonald who is chairman of MusiCares is not the star who sings “What a Fool Believes.” (He’s a very nice guy anyway.)
This Michael McDonald is a former tour manager and member of the music industry community who battled his own demons once a long time ago.
He writes on the MusiCares homepage: “I was introduced to MusiCares as a client. About 18 years ago, I decided I needed to get sober,” says McDonald. “[I was] referred to someone at MusiCares, Neil Lasher. He connected me with free group therapy [and addiction counseling] twice a week here in New York City. … There was no paperwork, no nothing (laughs). It was that simple.”
McDonald sent out a message today to the troops of MusiCares to reassure them: the charity goes on despite recent accusations and scandals. I’m reprinting his message here because no matter what MusiCares (despite often seating me by the kitchen) is really important. They are the organization always there for musicians in trouble. They’ll survive this latest contretemps.
Read McDonald’s letter:
Dear Friends,
By now, you may have seen the headlines and heard the allegations made by a former MusiCares employee about the 2018 Person of the Year event and workplace harassment. With any charity, trust is earned and can never be taken for granted. That’s why I want to write you all—to address the rumors and clarify some important truths.Â
First and foremost, I want to say that we take the allegations made by our former employee very seriously. Accordingly, I, along with Recording Academy Chairman John Poppo, have selected and hired the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP to conduct an independent investigation of these recent allegations. Needless to say, we welcome their findings and will act on their recommendations.
As you know, MusiCares provides a range of critical support for music people in need. With each passing year, our goal is to do more, to give more, and to serve a greater number of people. Our mission remains singular: to help music people in need.
Finally, although I can only share so much on this topic due to legal and privacy issues, I also want to reiterate one key fact: The employment of our former staff member ended after a full investigation.
Â
As a beneficiary of MusiCares’ services and someone for whom integrity is paramount, it’s been tough to see the integrity of an organization that has done so much good come into question as a result of allegations made by a single individual. While we work to investigate and address these allegations, please rest assured that MusiCares will continue to provide the best level of service possible to support our community—that will not change.
Â
Sincerely,
Michael McDonaldÂ
Chairman, MusiCaresÂ
Kanye West is very happy right now, so I don’t want to burst his bubble.
So: released on Friday, his mini album “Ye” with seven tracks should sell, stream, and download a total of 175,000 copies by Thursday night. That’s an ok number, not great. By comparison, Post Malone’s current album, “Beerbongs and Bentley’s” debuted with a total 461K (with 153K CDs-downloads). A better comparison would be The Weeknd’s “My Dear Melancholy,” also an EP, which sold comparably to Kanye.
Most of “Ye” sales will be from streaming. Right now, all seven tracks make up the top 7 on Apple Music. Five of the top 10 streaming tracks on Spotify come from the album.
On iTunes, just two of the tracks are in the top 50. But the whole album is number 1.
Hitsdailydouble figures that of the 175K, 70K will be from paid downloads. (There is no actual physical CD.) A few sales will come from Kanye transmitting them through ugly sneakers into the souls soles of those who feel slavery is a choice.
At $7.99, the whole album is a bargain, I guess. It’s only 23 minutes long, so you can get the point pretty fast. The best “Song” on the album is a construct of two old songs sampled plus what sounds like a John Legend vamp, and then a small combo of a newish rapper and Kid Cudi.
This is not “What’s Going On” or “Songs in the Key of Life.” But it can’t hurt you.
There’s no way to compare the sales of “Ye” with anything else, especially Kanye’s last album. “The Life of Pablo” had a botched release, twice, and never really went anywhere.
The president’s PR machine is missing.
Bill Clinton didn’t have to write a mystery with James Patterson, but he did. And in doing publicity for “The President is Missing,” Clinton has walked into a PR buzz saw.
On the Today show, in a pre taped interview, Clinton was ambushed on a number of subjects. But the worst of it was about Monica Lewinsky. In this new climate of #MeToo, Clinton left himself open to questions about his affair with Lewinsky, who was his White House intern when he was president in 1998. What was possible to get away with 20 years ago is no longer.
The book is number 1 already on Amazon as it’s released this morning. But not without a price. Interesting too because Clinton certainly doesn’t need the money from the Patterson book. But you wonder why he did an interview blindly, thinking it was just going to be about the novel. No one around him read the signals — Today show, Matt Lauer, Tom Brokaw, accusations and allegations.
And on top of it, NBC ran the most contentious part of the interview this morning on Megyn Kelly’s low rated but very much to the right and hostile segment at 9am.
The interview with Craig Melvin-– just 20 minutes altogether– turned out to be a disaster. Clinton actually gets angry and red faced, a rare off moment for a politician never looks off topic.
First of all, Donald Trump– the President of the United States– can’t spell the word ‘counsel’. In a Tweet this morning he misspells a pretty important word in his life.
Second, he sounds like he’s having the temper tantrum of a two year old or a full on nervous breakdown. Maybe Melania’s reported return this afternoon has him unglued. Maybe she’s tattooed SAVE ME to her forehead.
Box office: all the talk today is about “Solo” only making $29 million over the weekend. It’s up to $148 million in two weeks. Yes, everyone is crying crocodile tears.
LOL. Solo will be just fine.
But the real box office story is “Book Club.” Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candace Bergen, Mary Steenburgen lead a cast that has now grossed $47 million in 17 days. This is quite a feat. The ladies are headed to $60 million and a sequel if smart minds prevail. They’ve shown that movies for adults with real stars– real stars, baby– are still bringing audiences to theaters.
Jane Fonda, meanwhile, is shooting the new season of “Grace and Frankie” for Netflix with Lily Tomlin. They have a rock solid hit. Candace is coming back in “Murphy Brown.” Diane and Mary work all the time. They are all trailblazers.
“Book Club” still hasn’t been released in the UK, Australia, or France. There’s money to be made there, too.
I’ve been reading stories about Mariah Carey in the press lately. She’s broke, she sold James Packer’s engagement ring because she needed the money, and so on. Today, the story is that her Caesar’s Palace dates aren’t selling.
Well, it’s all hogwash. And I haven’t seen Mariah since our weird encounter in January at the end of Clive Davis’s pre Grammy party. Otherwise, it’s been silence.
But I will tell you I got a laugh about the sale of the ring. She’s a clever girl, our Mariah. She made $10 million out of that crazy engagement. Good for her. You can’t take the Long Island out of the girl.
And ticket sales? I checked. They’re fine. She has 8 dates at Caesar’s in July. They’re 60% to 70% sold. She’ll do 90 percent by show time. That’s around 35,000 tickets. Without a new album or a radio hit. Tickets run up to $500 a pop. Caesar’s gets huge PR. It’s a win win.
Listen, I don’t know who is managing Mariah, or who her publicists are these days. I do know that she made $50 million when EMI Records prematurely released her from a contact after the failure of “Glitter.” Just an update: EMI Records no longer exists, but Mariah is an international superstar. Those are just the facts.
Is she kooky? Yes. Is someone out there planting negative stories about her? Indeed. Is there Russian collusion?
But look, everyone has grown up. Madonna’s ventures in Malawai have even improved. And hell has not frozen over yet.
Mariah’s next best bet? Make an album with a really great jazz producer, no hip hop, not pop, R&B standards that showcase her voice before it’s too late.
EXCLUSIVE I forgot all about Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Or as he calls himself on the Form 990 tax filing for his World Values Network, Jacob Botach.
Shmuley is in the news today because like a barnacle he’s once again attached himself to celebrity– this time Roseanne Barr. He taped some interview with her this week but now he says he’s not releasing it out of the kindness of his heart.
This is the same guy who exploited Michael Jackson into the next afterlife. He even published a book of recordings he said he made with Michael, although Jackson never knew about them.
Last year I told you about Shmuley’s newest charitable foundation, the World Values Network. Shmuley is very adept at creating not for profits. This one is really NOT for profit, only his.
According to the 2016 tax filing for World Values Network, Revenue less expenses was way in the RED– MINUS $304,191. Nevertheless, Shmuley received a salary of $357,000. He lists himself as “Jacob Botach.” It’s the second time he’d done it, so we know it’s not a mistake. I reported that he’d done it last year, too.
This guy is his own worst enemy. If he hadn’t popped up in the Roseanne story, I’d have forgotten about this altogether. But Boteach’s Achilles heel is celebrity. He has to be part of it.
Contributions to the World Values Network in 2016– which gives no grants to any one — fell from $2.7 million to $1.6 million in one year according to the filed tax returns. Yet Shmuley gave himself a raise of $25,000 and still took home his six figure salary. Net assets fell from $921,443 to $617,252. He’s draining his own pool.
But where is the IRS? How does this just go on and on. If there’s still a US attorney in NY, maybe they can look into it. They did years ago when Shmuley ran a sketchy charity for which he used Michael Jackson has his lure.
Roseanne is no regretting this mini episode of her crazy week.
This is the Royal Jesters’ version of “Take Me for a Little While.” The song was a hit for Dave Edmunds, Dusty Springfield, and Vanilla Fudge at different times. It was written in the 1960s by Trade Martin, who more recently expressed his distaste for mosque that was going to be built near the World Trade Center site.
On Kanye West’s new album, the song is called “Ghost Town.” Anyway, the Royal Jesters’ version is obscure, which is what Kanye likes. The Jesters were a Chicano soul group from San Antonio, Texas. It’s their voices you hear on “Ye.” It looks like they recorded as a B side for a single in the late 60s maybe. At least one member of the group is dead. I hope the whole group is being paid handsomely by Kanye and Def Jam.
Gospel great Shirley Ann Lee sings the opening part from her song “Someday.” God knows who was paid for this. It turns out both original records are in the hands of something called Numero Group from Chicago.