Thursday, December 18, 2025
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Paris Jackson, Daughter of Michael Jackson, Makes Fun, Elegant Talk Show Debut with Jimmy Fallon

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Paris Jackson has arrived. The 19 year old daughter of Michael Jackson made a fun, elegant talk show debut tonight with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.

gallery-1489507906-hbz-april-2017-paris-jackson-02Paris has not had an easy time growing up fast in the spotlight. But there she was with Jimmy, wearing a great dress, having a nice sense of humor and a good way about her. She was a sport playing Egg Roulette with Jimmy, and smashing two raw eggs on her forehead during a “competition.”

Paris told Jimmy her first album was The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper,” her first show was her dad’s MSG concert for “Invincible” in September 2001. She said her real celebrity knockout was seeing Alice Cooper live in concert recently.

The daughter of Debbie Rowe makes her acting debut this week on “Star,” Lee Daniels’ show on Fox.

She’s also on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar thanks to her representation with WME-IMG and Arnold Stiefel, the famed manager of Rod Stewart. It’s kind of great and amazing to see Michael Jackson’s older kids take to the world of celebrity so well. They seem like they’ve got themselves together. It’s not easy. I can remember the days when Michael was criticized for taking them out in public in masks and costumes. But he’s having the last laugh from heaven, isn’t he?

Chuck Berry’s Death Puts Legend Back on Charts with Hot Sales 45 Years After Last Appearance

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The last hit Chuck Berry had was in 1972, with “My Ding a Ling.”

But after he died this weekend, Berry went back on the charts and has stayed there for several days.

On the iTunes album chart he has the number 7 album with his “Definitive Collection.” On the singles chart, he’s number 67 with “Johnny B. Goode.”

According to buzzanglemusic, “Overall, Chuck Berry album sales increased 9,581% after his passing. His album sales average was 39 per day, which went to 2,054 the day of his death and then to 3,808 the day after. Two-thirds of those album sales were for his album, The Definitive Collection.

Chuck Berry song sales increased 11,684% with 16,616 total sales the day after his passing. Johnny B Goode was the most downloaded song the day after Chuck Berry’s passing with 4,297 sales, a 10,330% increase.”

So great that Chuck went out with a bang– and maybe educated some new fans in the process.

Barbra Streisand Will Be Interviewed by “From Dusk til Dawn” Director Robert Rodriguez at Tribeca Film Festival

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There are strange pairings and then there are strange pairings.

At the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, Barbra Streisand will be interviewed by… Robert Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is the director of “From Dusk til Dawn,” “Machete,” and “Machete Kills in Space.” He once lived with Rose McGowan. Is the king of pulp and noir violence a secret fan of “The Mirror Has Two Faces”?

You’d much rather think of Barbra being interviewed by Michael Feinstein, or Rob Marshall.

For example, Lena Dunham will be interviewed by Jenni Konner, Noah Baumbach will talk with Dustin Hoffman.

Anyway, Streisand’s pulled the worst of times to do her interview– right at the moment that the entire “Godfather” cast will be at Radio City Music Hall for their 45th anniversary. So we may not know if Rodriguez invites her to be in “Grindhouse 2: The Way We Weren’t.”

amFAR Cannes Gala Receipts Were Down By $8 Mil in 2014 from 2013

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Is amFAR’s Cannes gala declining in popularity? Or is just that fewer people are ponying up for tickets?

According to the charity’s most recently available Form 990, dated 2015 but for the year 2014, things took quite a tumble that year.

The Form 990 indicates gross receipts of $15.9 million at the 2014 gala. But the 2014 Form claims a whopping $24.8 million in gross receipts.

What’s interesting is that amFAR announced it had made $35 million at the 2014 Cannes event. So that means around $20 million from millionaires and movie stars who bought expensive items or made pledges at the live auction.

That’s fine for the high rollers who are brought in for this purpose. But with overall paid tickets down by so much, you do wonder is this all worth it? And why aren’t people paying for their tickets?

Compare and contrast: amFAR’s two other events in 2014 did better than they had in 2013. Each of the two events they list on the Form 990– one in Dallas and one called “16” in 2013 and “17” in 2014– were up slightly gross receipts from year to year.

The annual amFAR Cannes extravaganza comes on the second Thursday of the film festival. Its status has declined precipitously over the years as major movie premieres are scheduled against it, and many of the big stars have already come and gone from the festival. A nearly $9 million drop in gross receipts suggests that more and more guests are being shipped in gratis — a lot like the Met Ball at the Metropolitan Museum or the Night Before fundraiser during Oscar week.

Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, Sam Moore, David Foster Raise Millions for 23rd Annual Celebrity Fight Night

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Last night in Phoenix: Celebrity Fight Night went on for the 23rd year without the late Muhammad Ali, but always in his honor and memory with lots of celebrities and no fights! Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, “Soul Man” Sam Moore, Reba McEntire and more helped Lonnie Ali, the Champ’s widow, and Jimmie Walker raise millions for Parkinson’s research.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Moore roused the crowd with “Take Me to the River,” “God Bless America,” and “Soul Man” led by David Foster and the orchestra.

Other performers included Reba, Dennis Quaid, Brooks and Dunn, Colbie Caillat. Mike Love of the Beach Boys closed the night with a medley of the group’s Brian Wilson-penned hits.

Harrison Ford and Italian fashion designer Stefano Ricci were honored with the 2017 Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night Awards.

Other celebs who attended the weekend events included Sharon Stone, Laila Ali, John Paul DeJoria, Bo Derek, Larry Fitzgerald, Kirk Gibson, Cale Hulse, Robert Kennedy Jr., Larry King, Nancy Lieberman, Gena Lee Nolin, Bob & Renee Parsons (he started GoDaddy, now runs a big foundation wth that co-sponsored), the very funny Melissa Peterman, and uber Olympian Michael Phelps.

Harvey Weinstein Ready for a Comeback as “Lion” Mauls “Moonlight,” Mogul Sets Dates for 2018 Oscar Films

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Best Picture nominee “Lion” crossed the $50 million mark in the US today. It’s made almost $125 million worldwide.

The Garth Davis directed hit represents a big comeback for The Weinstein Company, which is just shaking itself loose of a lot of films that didn’t work for one reason or another including “The Founder” and “Gold.”

“Lion” had less heat attached to it than “Manchester by the Sea” or “Moonlight.” But it wound up making more money than either of them including the latter, which won Best Picture. Among straight ahead quality dramas, “Lion” turned out to be the most popular. Both Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel reaped Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG nominations. Eight year old Sunny Pawar became a worldwide sensation. (I just hope he’s settled down at home and going to school!)

Now— after a desultory couple of years– Harvey Weinstein seems to be re-energized. In fact, Harvey has just announced a fall slate of no fewer than FIVE films that sound Oscar worthy but also like hits.

The big one is “Lion” director Garth Davis’s “Mary Magdalene” starring Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. “MM” will hit screens around Thanksgiving.

That will be followed by “The Current War” directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”). Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, each past Oscar nominees, star as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. The ‘war’ is about electrical current, and who put Ben Franklin’s discovery to use first. If that’s not an Oscar movie, what is?

For a late summer release, TWC has “Wind River” a thriller with Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen set for August 4th. “Hell or High Water” writer Taylor Sheridan makes his directing debut.

TWC also two more Oscar lures awaiting release dates– Diane Keaton in “Hampstead” and the US remake of “The Intouchables” called “Untouchable” with Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman.

There’s also the long held “Tulip Fever” on August 25th with a big all star cast Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Dane DeHaan, Holliday Grainger, Judi Dench, Matthew Morrison, Tom Hollander, Cara Delevingne.

But it’s those first three, and the undated pair, that indicate TWC may come roaring back. Studio fates are certainly cyclical. And it seems like the cycle has come back to Harvey. And you know that will be fun.

Jimmy Breslin, Legendary NY Newspaper Columnist, Reporter, Dies Age 86 or 88

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It’s almost fitting that no one can get Jimmy Breslin’s age right today. A reporter who lived on precision and fact, Breslin is pegged by the New York Times as 88, Wikipedia as 86, the Daily News (his longtime employer) at 87.

Jimmy Breslin was ageless. We flew on the same plane to the Democratic convention in Denver in 2008. Let’s say he was almost 78 years old. We arrived at the Denver Sheraton around 9pm and they’d sent all the porters home. It was two nights before the convention was going to begin, so they didn’t think they’d need any. (Denver– another story altogether.) I helped Jimmy carry in his and his wife’s bags. He was as raring to go as any young reporter. After all, I don’t think he’d missed a convention in 50 years. This one was probably his last.

I knew Jimmy a little from Elaine’s, and from various events I covered. He was larger than life, from all his reporting, and from Son of Sam in 1977. And from fighting with Norman Mailer but running with him for mayor against John Lindsay in 1969. Pretty much from the 60s into the 90s and almost up to 2008, Jimmy Breslin was the voice of New York. No one ever eclipsed him.

One of Robert DeNiro’s first movie roles was in “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” adapted from Breslin’s 1969 novel about mobsters who couldn’t get anything right. The book was a hit, the movie was so-so, but the title outlasted everything. That title is used as headline or comment constantly for the last 40 years whenever any group of anything screws up. So Jimmy leaves that as a legacy as well as his Pulitzer, his other accolades, and all the regular people he wrote about. He illuminated our lives. I was happy– eager– and honored– to carry his bags that night.

Mick Jagger on Chuck Berry: “He blew life into our dreams of being musicians and performers”

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Mick Jagger on Twitter:

The Best Chuck Berry Covers: Johnny Rivers, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Linda Ronstadt, ELO, Emmylou Harris, etc

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Chuck Berry, like every good inventor of something, borrowed from everywhere to create his sound. He had several forerunners including Dizzy Gillespie, from whom he ‘adapted’ his sound. Listen to Gillespie swing.

But here are some other covers of Berry songs that became well known following Berry’s advancing of the rock and roll sound. Ike Turner, separate from his domestic abuse issues, was also considered a precursor of Berry.

For the absolute in Chuck Berry check out Taylor Hackford and Keith Richards’s doc “Hail Hail Rock and Roll.”

1. THE BEATLES

2. THE BEACH BOYS

3. ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

4. EMMYLOU HARRIS

5. THE ROLLING STONES

6. JOHNNY RIVERS

7. LED ZEPPELIN

8. LINDA RONSTADT

9. JOHN PRINE

10. WAYLON JENNINGS

11. RORY GALLAGHER

12. AC/DC

13. PETER TOSH

14. GEORGE THOROGOOD

15. PAUL MCCARTNEY

Chuck Berry, the Founding Father of Rock and Roll, Dies at 90 But His Music Lives On

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The founding father of rock and roll, Chuck Berry, has died at 90. He laid the complete groundwork for anything you think of as rock and roll, or R&B even, from the guitar riffs to the look. He invented the duck walk. The Beach Boys owe their early career to him, so do the Beatles, to a great extent. Everyone copied Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music.” “Maybelline” and “Johnny B. Goode” were his signature songs, covered over and over. Ninety years is a long life. Berry was an inventor, a genius, a mad man, and just as difficult as he deserved to be. Just watch Taylor Hackford’s great documentary with Chuck, featuring Keith Richards– “Hail Hail Rock and Roll.” Chuck drove the two of them mad.

But watch these videos. Fresh as ever. The hair on the back of your neck still jumps up.

In 1972, when Chuck had been out of the mainstream for several years, he came back one last time with a huge number 1 hit, “My Ding a Ling.” Banned by a lot of radio stations, the record outsold everything he’d done before.

with John Lennon:

Who’s left? Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Fats Domino. God bless them.