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Van Morrison– Indefatigable– Records Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me” Again, This Time with Jeff Beck

Roger Friedman
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Van Morrison– Indefatigable– Records Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me” Again, This Time with Jeff Beck

I’ve lost count of Van Morrison’s renditions of Sam Cooke’s classic “Bring it On Home to Me.” There was a great live version back in 1974, and I see others floating around YouTube. But now Van the Man has done it again, with Jeff Beck on blistering guitar, plus a lot of other surprises as this wonderful record unfurls. Van releases a new album every year. This fall it will be “Roll with the Punches,” a collection of blues and jazz cover songs. He can’t write an album of new songs every year, for gosh sakes. Anyway, I can listen to Van sing anything, at any time. He’s the best.

  Here’s the track list for “Roll” which appears on September 22nd.
1) Roll With the Punches (Van Morrison & Don Black)
2) Transformation (Van Morrison)
3) I Can Tell (Bo Diddley & Samuel Bernard Smith)
4) Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue (Stormy Monday–T-Bone
Walker/Lonely Avenue–Doc Pomus)
5) Goin’ To Chicago (Count Basie & Jimmy Rushing)
6) Fame (Van Morrison)
7) Too Much Trouble (Van Morrison)
8) Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
9) Ordinary People (Van Morrison)
10) How Far From God (Sister Rosetta Tharpe)
11) Teardrops From My Eyes (Rudy Toombs)
12) Automobile Blues (Lightnin’ Hopkins)
13) Benediction (Mose Allison)
14) Mean Old World (Little Walter)
15) Ride On Josephine (Bo Diddley)

Broadway: With Bette Midler Out for a 2nd Week, “Hello, Dolly!” Does Worse Than Revivals of “Cats” and “Miss Saigon”

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: With Bette Midler Out for a 2nd Week, “Hello, Dolly!” Does Worse Than Revivals of “Cats” and “Miss Saigon”

Goodbye, Dolly.

Without Bette Midler in the title role, the musical “Hello, Dolly!” fell to unheard of lows last week. The show sold less than half the dollar amount of its capacity– $722K out of a possible $1.5 million. It was down by $214,000 from the previous week, which was way down from its prior week.

The average ticket cost $81. The regular ticket– ha ha ha– costs $748 when Midler is up on stage. But she’s taken a two week vacation, and the result is we see what’s really going on here. Donna Murphy is an award winning, wonderful performer. I’ve no doubt her performance is as good if not better than Midler’s. But when the big star is away, “Hello, Dolly!” is in dire straits.

What’s interesting about this is other musicals, who don’t have marquee names like Midler, are doing much better. But such emphasis has been put on Midler as the star that the show can’t survive without her. What a mess. And this is even with a bunch of Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical.

Think about it: “Dolly!” did less well last week than the revivals of “Cats” and “Miss Saigon.” It did only about $25,000 better than the 20 year old revival of “Chicago.” Ouch! 

James Bond: I Told You Last Fall That Daniel Craig Was Coming Back, Adele is Another Story

Roger Friedman
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James Bond: I Told You Last Fall That Daniel Craig Was Coming Back, Adele is Another Story

Lots of hoopla today from Brit tabloid The Sun that Daniel Craig is coming back as James Bond. I told you he was returning as James Bond last fall. Bond producer Barbara Broccoli underwrote Craig in the amazing “Othello” production last year off Broadway. Craig, who doesn’t want to be remembered just as 007, scored big points in that event. That was his trade off with Broccoli for one more turn as the tuxedo clad international playboy.

We won’t see the next Bond movie anyway until 2019. There’s got to be space between it and what’s become its knockoff, a new “Mission Impossible” movie.

As for Adele returning to sing the title song of the next Bond, I’d calm down about that. For one thing, Adele’s in the dog house right now over her canceled Wembley shows. For another, 18 months from now is a long time. Broccoli may have other ideas. Someone else may be the hot singer at that moment, or have a better song. Beyonce hasn’t had a Bond song yet. It may be her time. Or someone else we don’t know about.

Craig, meanwhile, looks like he had a lot of fun making Steven Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky.” He gets to do comedy, and the trailer suggests maybe he steals the movie. Good notices there, plus “Othello,” will give him incentive to get back to Bond. Now all they need is a director if Sam Mendes doesn’t come around.

Michael Jackson Exonerated: Second Sex Abuse Claim, by Jimmy Safechuck, Dismissed by Court

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson Exonerated: Second Sex Abuse Claim, by Jimmy Safechuck, Dismissed by Court

The second young man who filed a posthumous sex claim case against Michael Jackson has had his hopes for a big payout dashed. LA Family Court judge Mitchell Beckloff has dismissed the case brought by Jimmy Safechuck, now 39, who was once one of the kids who stayed at Neverland and hung out with Jackson.

The dismissal of the Safechuck complaint comes after a similar dismissal of a complaint brought by dancer Wade Robson. His case was already gone, but a second part of it– filed against Michael’s business entities–is similar to Safechuck’s case. Robon’s part two will likely go the way of Safechuck’s.

Both Robson and Safechuck filed against Jackson’s estate years after the pop star’s death in 2009. Perhaps seeing that the estate was shutting down payouts and settlements of all kinds (most without merit) the pair lined up to what they could get. And the answer was, nothing.

Add their cases to Jackson’s acquittal in the 2005 child molestation case brought by Janet Arvizo on behalf of her son, Gavin. That case turned out to totally without merit, a fantasy, and a possible shakedown.

The one outstanding settlement Jackson made with a family was for the first claim, with Jordan Chandler, back in 1995. It’s pretty clear now that Jackson was frightened and accepted very bad advice to settle with the Chandlers rather than dispute their claim publicly. If only he had, Jackson might be alive today. Everything bad that happened to him followed from that debacle, and he never recovered.

None of Jackson’s eccentric behavior is erased from history. But at least his children breathe a sigh of relief that his legacy has been exonerated. It’s small consolation, I’m sure.

A tip of the hat to the website DailyMichael.com, which has done a great job following all these cases.

 

“Spider-Man” Saves Sony with $117 Million Weekend–Bigger than James Bond!

Roger Friedman
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“Spider-Man” Saves Sony with $117 Million Weekend–Bigger than James Bond!

Leonardo DiCaprio? Remember when he was the darling of Sony Pictures? We learned in the infamous hack they were flying him around on private planes for no reason.

Well, this weekend Sony gained two new heart throbs. Leo is yesterday’s news.

Tom Holland aka Peter Parker and Ansel Elgort aka Baby– stars respectively of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Baby Driver”– have saved the studio.

In Holland’s case, he’s bigger than James Bond and almost all other Spider-men except Tobey Maguire’s original film.

“Homecoming” is landing a $117 million weekend. Numbers are coming in. Stay tuned. Keep refreshing…

Beatles Fans: Ringo Starr Releases “Give More Love” on 77th Birthday, Title Track from New Album

Roger Friedman
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Beatles Fans: Ringo Starr Releases “Give More Love” on 77th Birthday, Title Track from New Album

One of the great things about Sirius XM’s Beatles channel is that they are deep dives into Ringo Starr’s solo career. We’re not just hearing “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Photograph,” but lots of terrific tracks from Ringo’s many solo albums.

On the occasion of his 77th birthday on Friday, Ringo released “Give More Love,” the title track from a new forthcoming album full of guest stars from Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton to Paul McCartney. The album comes in September. Meantime, the song is very catchy. Peace and love, Ringo! Happy Birthday!

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Swoops in for $50Mil Friday, Heads to $120 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Swoops in for $50Mil Friday, Heads to $120 Mil Weekend

Sony Pictures can breathe easy. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is their biggest opening since the original “Spider Man” movie with Tobey Maguire in 2002.

Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and crew swept in last night for a $50 million opening night (including $15 million from Thursday previews). They’re on track for a $120 million weekend.

Sony’s biggest opening ever was the 3rd “Spider Man” movie in 2007 with $136 million.

The studio also has a solid hit right now with “Baby Driver.”

Former Sony chief Amy Pascal gets the last laugh because she produced “Homecoming” after being forced out of her job.

Kesha’s New Single “Praying” Is Number 2, Scores 6 Mil Views in 1 Day: “God, please just let me die. Being alive hurts too much”

Roger Friedman
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Kesha’s New Single “Praying” Is Number 2, Scores 6 Mil Views in 1 Day: “God, please just let me die. Being alive hurts too much”

Kesha’s new single “Praying” comes finally after her public dispute with producer Dr. Luke, whom she claims raped her and held back her career. Dr. Luke denies all allegations and has countersued. He’s also lost his gig at Sony Music. Other pop stars who’ve taken Kesha’s side include Lady Gaga, Adele and Taylor Swift.

“Praying” is number 2 on iTunes and has scored over 6 million YouTube views since it was released last night.

Ben Stiller to Co Produce Netflix Comedy About Teen Bro Accidentally Cuts Off His (Ahem)

Roger Friedman
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Ben Stiller to Co Produce Netflix Comedy About Teen Bro Accidentally Cuts Off His (Ahem)

Amazon is going one way with films– classy, upscale, Oscar level.

Netflix seems interested in going another way. They have a long term deal with Adam Sandler. Now this: Ben Stiller will co-produce a comedy called “Eggplant Emoji” about a bunch of teen guys who go on a camping trip. Hilarity ensues when one of them accidentally cuts off his penis.

I mean, it’s too funny! You have to be there!

Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider wrote the screenplay, Jake Szymanski directs. Stiller co-produces with Nicky Weinstock, Kyle Newacheck, Anders Holm, Adam DeVine, Blake Anderson, and Ross Dinerstein.

By the way, the kid who loses his member is of course described as chubby, “a soft chocolate chip cookie.” In other words, he’s the fat kid– a teen Jonah Hill or Josh Gad, or the late Flounder from “Animal House.” He’s not the Ryan Reynolds guy. He never is.

 

Broadway: “Hello, Dolly!” Without Bette Midler Crashes at Box Office, Falls Below $1 Mil for Week

Roger Friedman
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0
Broadway: “Hello, Dolly!” Without Bette Midler Crashes at Box Office, Falls Below $1 Mil for Week

Well, now we know what Bette Midler’s contribution to “Hello, Dolly!” is financially. Last week, with Midler gone and the great Donna Murphy replacing her, box office receipts for the Tony winning revival dropped bigly.

The show was down $1.7 million from the prior week, and fell to $936K. There was a potential to sell $1.5 million worth of tickets. Seating capacity was down by 25 percent. Ouch!

Producer Scott Rudin must have factored in Midler’s leaves of absence, but this has to sting. The formerly Divine Miss M doesn’t return until July 9th. She has more breaks coming at the end of the summer and in the fall.

Tickets for “Hello, Dolly!” averaged $106.31 during Murphy’s run–waaaay down from $499-$799 Rudin gets when Midler’s on stage.

The irony is that Murphy is probably excellent. (I wouldn’t know. There haven’t been press tickets for this column. Or many others.)

And this points up the problem of what happens when Midler finally calls it quits– by the end of the year. Rudin is already facing that problem with his other show, “A Doll’s House, Pt. 2.” The stars– Laurie Metcalf and Chris Cooper– already exiting in the next two weeks. (Tony season’s over, gotta get back to film and TV.) Metcalf is being replaced by Broadway star Julie White, but receipts are going to drop like a rock. When Midler finally leaves, we may be singing “Goodbye, Dolly!”

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