Bruce Springsteen is not indestructible.
He just announced the cancellation of all his September shows due to peptic ulcer disease. Ouch! How the heck did he get through those MetLife Stadium shows? That really hurts!
Springsteen just recently cancelled shows in Philly thanks what we think was COVID. He also had COVID a few months ago. He turns 74 in two weeks and looks like a fit 54. Now he needs some Tagamet pronto!
Get better fast, Bruce!
I probably should have written this last week for Michael Jackson’s 65th birthday.
Remember how everyone wrote him off when HBO aired their negative documentary? His critics claimed his legacy was ruined.
According to Luminate, thirteen years after his death Jackson has sold the equivalent of 977,000 albums so far in 2023. He will surpass 1 million and could get as high as 1.5 million before the year is out.
That’s with no active marketing this year other than his sold out Broadway musical, “MJ.” And, of course. he’s not here to do any promotion. Among deceased pop stars, he’s number 1.
To put Jackson’s popularity in context. he’s running behind The Beatles (1.2 million) but ahead of The Eagles (722K). Each of those groups is promoted all year long. The Eagles are about to go on a final tour. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr keep the Fab Four’s flag waving all the time.
Adding in two big legacy groups: Queen is just behind Michael. Elvis Presley is behind both of them. Fleetwood Mac is just behind the Beatles.
Probably the two biggest female acts are far behind. Madonna is nowhere near this range — only around 350K. Mariah Carey is around the 550K mark mostly thanks to “All I Want is Christmas.”
But Michael Jackson’s music just keeps going. So far this year he’s been streaming 1.2 billion times. Think of all the times you’ve been somewhere in public and heard “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” or “Billie Jean.” It’s endless.
Happy birthday, Michael.
The latest piece of video garbage from John Travolta is called “Mob Land.” In the UK, it made $171 in a three theater release on August 25th.
Now “Mob Land” — with a 43% critics score, and a 77 audience rating — is coming to DVD and streaming.
I know, you can’t wait.
Travolta plays sheriff in a small town. He wears a cowboy hat. His co-stars are Kevin Dillon (who disappeared after “Entourage” in a self fulfilling prophecy) and Stephen Dorff.
“Mob Land” has 15 producer credits.
Travolta is being mocked today online for an aerial view of his Florida home which shows his Boeing 737 parked out front. I guess these constant shit movies pay the bills!
Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney are among the guest stars on the Stones’ new album, “Hackney Diamonds.”
Here’s the new single:
Scooter Braun doesn’t care what you think, and certainly not what I think.
Overnight he posted a picture of himself standing in front of a private helicopter in Iceland. The caption: “Thank you for one amazing summer.”
Braun is hated by Taylor Swift and all her fans. He’s lost clients Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Idina Menzel and maybe Justin Bieber. He made a gazillion dollars from his deal with Korean company HYBE although that may be a lot of hype.
But who cares? Living well is the best revenge! And flying around Iceland on a private helicopter certainly must have pertained to the music business in some form, right?
At 9:30am ET, the Rolling Stones will drop their new single, called “Angry,” and debut their first album of new material in 18 years. Watch Jimmy Fallon talk to them about “Hackney Diamonds” right here.
Donald Trump is back, and doubling down on antagonizing special prosecutor Jack Smith.
In a post last night, Trump called Smith “deranged” and accused him of tampering with evidence in the January 6th federal lawsuit against Trump.
This time, Smith responded by petitioning the court
that Trump had made “daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool.” Trump may wind up being gagged by the court, which probably wouldn’t mean anything. He ignores court orders and can’t keep his mouth shut — or his fingers off the phone.
A John Carney film, for me. is an event. “Once” was huge, my favorite is “Begin Again,” and “Sing Street” just gets better and better. Carney’s magic comes from finding the best off beat songwriters and using their talents to create his fairy tales about ordinary people who want to become — and sometimes it works out — rock stars.
“Flora and Son” is as charming and wonderful as the previous movies. a Dublin saga about a single mother — Eve Hewson — with a delinquent 14 year old son and an ex husband with some background in the music biz. Hewson’s Flora is an independent, wise Irish girl who curses, smokes, and drinks, has a heart of gold, and healthy passion for men. She grabs an acoustic guitar out of someone’s trash. has it restrung, and hands it to her son. She hopes he’ll take it up. When he rejects it, Flora — already a singer — figures she’ll take lessons.
The teacher comes via YouTube from Los Angeles — Jeff. a ne’er do well songwriter played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a Topanga Canyon minstrel on the edge of the record biz but has never struck gold. The two immediately begin flirting, and playing a lot of original songs written by Carney and mostly Gary Clark (who once steered the great real life band Danny Wilson).
Flora and Jeff communicate solely via FaceTime from L.A. to Dublin, only sharing non screen scenes when Carney lets Flora’s fantasy bring Jeff into her presence, Otherwise, it’s all wifi, and I had to check that Dublin apparently has excellent public wifi in their parks because Flora tends to sit outside when she’s chatting and playing with Jeff. I thought it was implausible, but it turns out to be possible.
Gordon-Levitt pulls Jeff off despite the limitations of being mostly on video. Jeff is charming and self-effacing and a very good musician. Oren Kinlan is a talented kid, the rare ingratiating kind who has a nice rapport with his parents and keeps it real as a troubled teen with music on his mind.
But the star of this show is Hewson, who comes equipped with music in her genes. If handled right, “Flora and Her Son” is her “Working Girl.” She’s in almost every scene, and carries the film from beginning to end with aplomb. Carney steers clear of most cliches, and lets the characters run the film rather than plot. Will Flora and Jeff have a happy ending in the digital age? It could go either way and still be alright. Meantime, the choice of songs — including Tom Waits’ “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You” — moves the film along happily just as it has in all the Carney films.
“Flora and Son” will debut at the Toronto Film Festival. I still remember how “Begin Again” — then called “Can a Song Save Your Life?” — turned the Ryerson Theater into a frenzy. I’m so sad the cast of “Flora” won’t be present to feel the love this time.
Set your clocks for 9:30am Wednesday.
That’s when the Rolling Stones will hit their YouTube channel with Jimmy Fallon. They’ll drop their new single, called “Angry,” from their first album of new music 18 years. called “Hackney Diamonds.”
The Stones already teased “Angry,” and the balance of the songs will be previewed tomorrow. Come back here at 9:30 to see the Fallon presentation.
Elvis has left the building — literally.
Sources tell me that “Elvis” star Austin Butler and his girlfriend, Kaia Gerber — daughter of Cindy Crawford — were among the celebs who walked out of the catastrophe at the Burning Man Festival.
Already known is that Chris Rock and record producer Diplo escaped by jumping into a stranger’s truck.
Burning Man was hit by torrential rains that caused flooding and mud that made the original Woodstock look like a spa day. The festival was cancelled but no one could leave because the roads were blocked. A mass exodus is taking place now by foot and auto.
As for Butler, it’s unknown if he was forced to do his Elvis impression for whoever rescued him and Gerber. He probably did say, “Thank you, ma’am.” Gerber, om the other hand, may have had to promise a case of Casamigas Tequila to anyone who helped. Her dad, Rande Gerber, and George Clooney, own the brand!
PS If there had been no SAG or WGA strike, Butler would have been in Telluride where his new movie, “Bikeriders,” premiered this weekend.