This almost six minute film from 84 Lumber was the winner of Super Bowl night (runner up Budweiser). A mother and daughter are emigrating north only to find…well, you’ll see. Apparently conservative Fox wouldn’t run the whole thing, so viewers were told half way through to go to the website. And the website crashed. I don’t know what 84 Lumber is, or where they are, but if I ever see one I will buy a two-by-four just to thank them.
PS The irony of Donald Trump is that great art is coming out of this nightmare.
Here’s the Full, Brilliant Super Bowl Ad from 84 Lumber That’s Caused Such a Ruckus
RIP Pop Star Sonny Geraci, Sang “Precious & Few” and “Time Won’t Let Me”
So sorry to hear about the passing of Cleveland rocker Sonny Geraci. He was 69, and died subsequent to a 2012 brain hemorrhage.
I hope the Grammys remember him this weekend. Geraci had four big hits as The Outsiders in the 60s including “Time Won’t Let Me.” In 1972, under the group name Climax, he scored a huge hit with “Precious and Few.”
Geraci’s voice is one that you hear all the time on the radio, but don’t know who it is. He’s also a voice on the radio who was paid once for his services and received no performance royalty. Commercial radio has lived for decades on people like Sonny Geraci. Rest in peace.
Famed Feminist Gloria Steinem at “Girls” Premiere”: “We’ve had a coup, not an election”
On the red carpet for the final “Girls” premiere, legendary activist and feminist writer Gloria Steinem hugged Lena Dunham on the red carpet and posed with the women for photographs. Turns on she is a long-time fan of the show. I asked her what she thought “Girls” biggest contribution was to popular culture and feminism. “Authenticity,” she told me. “Much more than all the television shows, series anyway, that came before.”
Steinem was of course a strong and vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton I asked her how she was coping with the political craziness of the past few weeks since the election. “We’ve had a coup, not an election,” she said, “but fortunately he’s in the minority and we’re going to show him that.”
Dunham did interviews with Jenni Konner, the show’s executive producer and show runner. Asked about working with Adam Driver, who sadly was not at the premiere, Dunham gushed, “I love him so much. Every time I had the opportunity to act with Adam Driver it was such a master class. I didn’t come into this as a trained actor. I came into it as just a person who could kind of say my own lines and he really was a teacher to me, so every scene I shared with Adam, whether it was a fight scene or a love scene or just sitting around eating food was an amazing lesson, not to mention the chance to direct him.”
I asked the women what they were most proud of about the show. Said Konner, “I feel proudest of just being able to push the ball forward for women and creating room for more female show runners and more female writers and more actors and more directors. That’s what I hope our legacy is.”
In addition to the four female stars of “Girls,” on the red carpet we spotted “Girls” executive producer Judd Apatow, and from the cast, Andrew Rannells, Alex Karpovsky, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Becky Ann Baker, Rita Wilson and Ethan Phillips.
Before HBO aired the first two episodes of the new season to the enthusiastic packed house, Apatow, Lena and Jenni Konner gave some introductory remarks with a strong political bent.
“Before we start I’d like to thank Lena and Jenni, who are the greatest partners you could have in a creative endeavor like this,” said Apatow praising the women.
“But you had a message for the audience first,” Dunham told Apatow, who has blasted Trump in interviews and on Twitter.
“We’re just very mad at Australia right now,” replied Apatow, adding that he’s had a beef with Paul Hogan.
Countered Dunham, “And Naomi Watts? She’s outta here.”
“I punched a kangaroo,” added Apatow.
On a serious note Apatow told the audience, “We are very aware that this is a very strange time to do a big party. But there’s suffering and pain and fear overcoming our country. And we want to take a moment to acknowledge that there are a lot of people standing up and fighting for true democracy and equality and justice, and we would like to say that we believe in those ideas.” The audience cheered and hooted.
Dunham added, tearing up, “We had a love child for about seven years and so seven days of terror cannot stop us form celebrating this.”
Apatow thanked HBO. “They only fought us on one [sex scene] in six years, and you know what? They were right. And then they did it eight times on ‘Westworld’ this year.”
photo c2017 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz
Mariah Carey’s Bad Weekend Record Sales: “I Don’t” Craters at Number 61
What a weekend for pop music sales!
Lady Gaga’s amazing performance on the Super Bowl sent all of her records flying “off the shelves.” This morning she’s dominating the top 10 albums and singles. She sang live, sounded great, sang on roof, jumped off the roof, and flew around a football stadium.
But on the other end, it was not a good weekend for Mariah Carey. Her ill conceived single “I Don’t,” sampled from a 17 year old R&B hit, is a massive dud. At first “I Don’t” jumped to number 6 on iTunes. But by this morning it’s number 61. There’s no sign of it being streamed on Spotify, either.
The good news I guess is that the video has 6 million views on YouTube. But that and $2.50 will get you on the subway. It just means that Carey’s fans are playing it over and over again– for free, basically.
I don’t– heheh– think “I Don’t” can come back. Most people won’t know it existed. So far, 2017 isn’t going too well for MC.
UPDATE Lady Gaga Holds 16 Spots on iTunes Top 100 After Amazing Super Bowl Performance
MONDAY MORNING Lady Gaga is holding 16 spots on the iTunes Top 100 singles this morning. On the album chart, “Joanne” is number 1, “Born this Way” is in the top 10 and her other albums are scattered over the chart.
SUNDAY NIGHT At last, Lady Gaga has a number one hit from the “Joanne” album.
Thanks to her amazing performance during the Super Bowl tonight, Gaga has sent “Million
Reasons” zooming to number 1 on iTunes. The is quite a feat. But that number was so well produced, with Gaga playing piano, that the fans went crazy. (Check the video at 7:30.)
Just watch her. The singing, particularly of “This Land is Your Land” and “God Bless America” was so good, Tony Bennett was probably cheering at home.
Gaga is the consummate performer. This showing was almost better than the game itself, especially if you’re a Falcons fan. (For me the Patriots win was like the Bowling Green Massacre all over again!)
Gaga’s performance was so good that it sent “Born this Way” to number 10, “Poker Face” to 12, “Bad Romance” to 16, and “Just Dance” to 19.
Not only that: “Joanne” is both 2 and 3 on iTunes, and two more Lady Gaga albums are in the top 10.
On amazon, Gaga’s albums are all in the top 20 including her “Cheek to Cheek” album with Tony Bennett.
Mariah Carey: First Lip Sync, Now Lip Service— New Breakup Song Sampled from 2000 Hit By Donell Jones, Including Lyrics
You’d think Mariah Carey would be so mad at ex fiancee James Packer she’d write her own song about their break up.
But it turns out her new non-hit “I Don’t” is just mostly sampled from a 2000 hit by Donell Jones called “Where You Wanna Be.” The main melody of the hook sung by Mariah in the song — the “but when you love someone” refrain– is Jones’s song. This is called Karoake in most bars.
Mariah, who has been involved in more copyright complaints than most pop artists, was caught lip synching on New Year’s Eve. Now she’s doing lip service. “I Don’t” has lyrics that are very similar to “Where You Wanna Be” and the original song’s melody. What Mariah and her cowriters added was a new rap and a few changes. They credit Jones, but it’s basically his song.
Doesn’t Mariah have original thoughts about Packer? This would be as if Taylor Swift used old Joni Mitchell songs to break up with her boyfriends.
Meanwhile, “I Don’t” is a bust. It’s not being played on Spotify, and it’s fallen out of the top 30 on iTunes. What was this all about anyway?
This is not new. Mariah lifted all of the song “Best of My Love” by the Emotion for her song “Emotions.” She took all of “Genius of Love” by the Tom Tom Club for “Fantasy.” And those are just two examples.
Where I Wanna Be, Donell Jones:
I Don’t, Mariah Carey:
Box Office Scandal: Who Tried to Kill “A Dog’s Purpose”? Hit Movie Almost Died Thanks to TMZ
“A Dog’s Purpose” is a hit after all. The Lasse Hallstrom Universal film has made $43 million worldwide, cost just $22 million and will go on and on now. I’m sure all parties are relieved since the film almost died upon release. It was tarred and feathered by TMZ, which posted what now turns out to be a doctored video of animal abuse. The resulting outcry was so bad that Universal cancelled the movie’s junket and premiere.
The doctored video showed a trainer purportedly forcing a German Shepherd into a pool. PETA went crazy. I received dozens of emails and calls, and no doubt other venues got more. The 2nd Assistant Director’s head was being placed on a chopping block.
And now an independent investigation finds:
- The video was deliberately edited for the purpose of misleading the public and stoking outrage. In fact, the two scenes shown in the edited video were filmed at different times.
- The first video scene was stopped after the dog showed signs of stress. The dog was not forced to swim in the water at any time.
- A full spectrum of preparation and safety measures were in place, including the following:
- Prior to shooting the scene, safety meetings were held to go over and reinforce safety precautions and protocols.
- The dog was selected for his love of the water, and had been professionally trained and conditioned for the water scenes over the course of six weeks, using positive training techniques.
- In addition to one of American Humane’s Certified Animal Safety Representatives, five experts—including safety specialists and animal handlers—were present to supervise and safeguard the dog throughout the water scene.
- During the last scene, handlers immediately assisted the dog out of the water, at which point he was placed in a warming tent and received an examination that found no signs of stress. Eyewitnesses report that the dog wanted to go back in the water. Still, out of an abundance of caution, American Humane stopped filming of any more scenes with the dog.
- A veterinary checkup was performed last week at the request of American Humane, which confirmed that the dog is healthy.
Someone wanted “A Dog’s Purpose” to be a calamity and they used TMZ as a willing participant. That’s not hard since they don’t check anything, and are usually in cahoots with their sources. Was it another studio? And why? Why bother? But when that video turned up on TMZ 15 months after the movie was shot, it should have raised suspicions.
Certainly if the dog had been harmed, anyone who witnessed that “scene” would have called the authorities right away. But this video released timed to hurt the film and the people who made it. What I don’t understand is why, when the German Shepherd heard this story, he didn’t speak up right away. Now we know he was barking up the wrong tree.
“La La Land” Wins Directors Guild for Wunderkind Damien Chazelle, Oscar Is Inevitable
Damien Chazelle won the Directors Guild Award last night for “La La Land.” His Oscar, and the Best Picture Oscar, do seem inevitable now. The 31 year old wunderkind, whose previous film was the upstart favorite “Whiplash,” is on a roll. And considering how good the film is on every count, it’s all good news.
The other feature film winner last night was Garth Davis for “Lion,” for Best First Feature. “Lion” is still the underdog in this Oscar race. It’s only made $20 million, but with other awards and nominations, and terrific performances from Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel and little Sunny Pawar, “Lion” is the film to see this season. Everyone loves it.
Ezra Edelman won for Documentary for “OJ: Made in America,” the inevitable Oscar winner also.
In television, awards went to “The Night Of,” “Game of Thrones,” Tina Mabry for Children’s Programs, Saturday Night Live, the Tony Awards, and “Veep.” Kudos to Derek Cianfrance, whose movies include “Blue Valentine” and “The Place Beyond the Pines,” who won Best Commercial Director for a Nike Golf ad.
Watch Melissa McCarthy Steal “SNL” as Sean Spicer in An Instant Classic Episode of 40 Year Old Show
“Saturday Night Live” was off the charts great tonight, maybe the best it’s been in years. The stars aligned as Kristen Stewart proved to be a terrific guest host (and a hot Gisele Bundchen), Alessia Cara was a beautiful performer. Alec Baldwin was a hilarious Trump. Kate McKinnon, thank you as always for being there.
But the surprise of the night was Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer. This goes in the record books. I am still laughing and may not be able to sleep. She totally captured the complete lunacy of what’s happening. Kudos, five stars, Emmy Award:
Mariah’s Mixed Bag: New Single 1.4 Million YouTube Plays, But Slow Sales, No Streaming
Mariah Carey wakes up (some time today, maybe around 2pm) to a mixed bag of news on her new single “I Don’t.”
On the good news front, “I Don’t” featuring rapper YG, has 1.4 million plays on YouTube. That’s the financial equivalent of a tuna sandwich, but one that’s been passed around a lot.
On the mixed news front, “I Don’t” made it to number 6 on iTunes, and is now at number 9. Carey’s fans could only afford so many copies.
On the bad news front, no one is streaming “I Don’t.” The single has not cracked the top 50 streaming songs on Spotify. It’s also not on the Global chart.
Of course this is all since the single was released at midnight on Friday morning. But 36 hours with a high recognition release tells a lot. And part of the problem might be that “I Don’t” doesn’t have an album or plan that it’s attached to. It’s just a free floating assault on another Carey ex, the same as last year’s “Infinity.” Only, that single was wittier. And you can maybe get away with that once. Twice doesn’t have the same impact.
Mariah needs to get serious about her career and her singing and stop flouncing around like Ann Corio doing old lady burlesque. She has to button up that shirt and think about her legacy. She’s almost 47, and the pin up thing is getting a little absurd.