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Leon Russell Dies at 74, Legendary Rocker, Blues Man, Influenced Elton John Among Others

Roger Friedman
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Leon Russell Dies at 74, Legendary Rocker, Blues Man, Influenced Elton John Among Others

The great Leon Russell has died at age 74. The amazing rocker, blues man, pianist extraordinaire wrote his own hits like “A Song for You” and “This Masquerade” which were covered by many. He also had his own hits including “Tightrope” and “Delta Lady.” He was a member of Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew that created the famous Wall of Sound, and influenced Elton John so much that the two made an award winning album called “The Union.” What a shame. This was an Artist. Add his name to the long list of music stars who’ve passed away in 2016.

Watch these videos below. After this incredible career, Russell was a little forgotten. Then Elton John told me he was making an album with Leon, who’d influenced him greatly. Elton told me, “Just listen to Tumbleweed Connection or Honky Chateau”– two of his beloved early albums– “it all comes from Leon.”

Because of Elton, Leon was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was on the nominating committee that put Russell into the Songwriters Hall of Fame even before that happened. Russell was rediscovered. He made one last album produced by Don Was, called “Life Journey.”

Keep refreshing…

George Harrison and Leon Russell– Concert for Bangla Desh– one of the best recordings ever

Elton John and Leon:

Elton and Leon on The View

Leon was a huge part of Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen. He was a Mad Dog, playing the piano here, his famous hat in place:

Leon talks about Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew:

“SNL” Brilliant Opening: Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton Singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”

Roger Friedman
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“SNL” Brilliant Opening: Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton Singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”

“Saturday Night Live” serves up a brilliant cold opening night. Kate McKinnon, in another Emmy performance, is Hillary Clinton singing and playing the late Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Just gorgeous. And then Dave Chappelle delivered the best monologue ever.

Watch Michael Moore’s Broadcast from Trump Tower– Including Trying to see The Donald

Roger Friedman
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Watch Michael Moore’s Broadcast from Trump Tower– Including Trying to see The Donald

Michael Moore visited Trump Tower early this morning, tried to see Donald, and was turned away. Fifth Avenue was fitted out for a riot, but no one was there. Then the protesters came. See the whole thing here:

(Watch) Sting Re-Open Paris’s Bataclan Theater with “Message in A Bottle” A Year After Terrorist Attack

Roger Friedman
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(Watch) Sting Re-Open Paris’s Bataclan Theater with “Message in A Bottle” A Year After Terrorist Attack

Sting is playing Paris’s Bataclan Theater in Paris– one year after the terrorist attack.

Here is singing “Message in a Bottle”:

Sting’s new album “57th and 9th” is full of hits. He appeared on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show on Thursday and performed “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You”:

There are plenty of instant classics on the album. Here’s one that I really love, called “Down Down Down”

There’s also a potential number 1 single with “One Fine Day”:

NCIS Star David McCallum aka “Duckie” is “Utterly Devastated” by Death of “UNCLE” Co-Star Robert Vaughn

Roger Friedman
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NCIS Star David McCallum aka “Duckie” is “Utterly Devastated” by Death of “UNCLE” Co-Star Robert Vaughn

“I am utterly devastated. Robert and I worked together for many years and losing him is like losing a part of me. My deepest sympathies go out to Linda and the Vaughn family.”

David McCallum posted this to Facebook last night after the death of actor Robert Vaughn at age 83. He and Vaughn famously co-starred in the 1960s hit TV series “The Man from UNCLE” as respectively, Ilya Kuriyakin and Napoleon Solo. Each went on to very successful careers, with McCallum currrently doing just “Duckie” on the long running “NCIS.”

Vaughn just worked and worked and worked. His best known film role was in the original “Magnificent Seven.” He was nominated for an Oscar in 1959 for Supporting Actor in “The Young Philadelphians.” (Paul Newman was the lead.) But he also appeared constantly on TV, in limited series and regular series, and doing guest spots. His “Columbo” episodes are remembered fondly. From 2004 to 2012 he was the star of the TV series “Hustle,” where he acquired a whole new audience.

Vaughn died leukemia two weeks short of his 84th birthday.

And yes, he’s not the father of director Matthew Vaughn, but for a time it seemed like he was because Matthew’s mother let people believe it. Matthew got the Vaughn name, and maybe some of the panache.

Robert Vaughn in The Young Philadelphians:
forward to 1:58

Vaughn and McCallum in “The Man from UNCLE”

Columbo:

“Fantastic Beasts,” “Harry Potter” Writer JK Rowling Says She Can Write Anywhere, Even the Lavatory “Where I Get Temporary Peace”

Paula Schwartz
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“Fantastic Beasts,” “Harry Potter” Writer JK Rowling Says She Can Write Anywhere, Even the Lavatory “Where I Get Temporary Peace”

“As far as writing’s concerned I need to do it. I feel strange if I don’t write,” replied J.K. Rowling to a question about her writing process and motivation. The most successful and famous writer in the world was at a press conference Thursday afternoon for her new film, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” The movie, which is released November 17, is a prequel to the Harry Potter books. And most notably, Rowling makes her screenwriting debut.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is based on a novella Rowling wrote for charity, which features many of the magical and extraordinary creatures now featured in the film. “Fantastic Beasts” was also one of Harry’s textbooks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizandry, and pretend-written by Magizoologist Newt Scamander. Newt is a nerdy wizard who anchors “Fantastic Beasts” and is played by Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne. (Redmayne attended the press conference along with co-stars Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol, director David Yates and longtime Potter producer David Heyman.)

“Clearly I don’t need to write anymore,” Rowling told journalists and fanboys. “But I love it so much it would feel like some sort of psychic amputation if I didn’t…basically I have to write. I never forget how incredibly fortunate I am. Genuinely, I get up every day and I think I’ll do the thing I love, I have a wonderful family, I’m the luckiest person I know and I would wish the same for everyone who is out there working hard and trying to deal with life, which is tricky for all of us, no matter who we are.”

As for her writing process, Rowling said, “We flew out here yesterday evening. I can write anywhere, at any time. I can write with the TV on in the background. I can write half answering my kids’ questions. I have written a surprisingly amount of one chapter actually on the lavatory, which is the only place I could get temporary peace. And last night I was in a kind of a bleak mood,” she noted, “and I thought I need to work, so I got out the second screenplay, and I did some work on that and that made me feel a whole lot better, so I can write all the time, anytime.”

Asked how she learned to write a screenplay, Rowling conceded screenwriting was different and new and she bought a screenwriting book.

“I never read it. It just sat on my desk,” she said. “I think I felt like that was my homework, but I actually hadn’t done my homework. Maybe I just thought I would absorb it somehow by it just lying there.” Rowling added, “I was very involved with the Potter scripts in as much as I had script approval and I spoke a lot to Steve Kloves about what he was doing, so I would say Steve was my tutor,” she said of the previous Harry Potter screenwriter, who has a producing credit on the film. “That’s why I was so keen to have him attached to this project because I knew he would be the guy I could phone at 4 a.m. if I needed to.” She never needed to she laughed.

Warner Bros. is banking on “Fantastic Beasts” to be a huge success. Rowling has already written the screenplay for the second film and five are planned.

Rowling said novels remained her first love. “I’m still writing novels. This is why I look so tired – I’m writing a novel and a screenplay,” she said. Actually she looked great, not tired at all, and almost all the questions were directed at her, which she answered amiably and passionately, especially about the film. “For all the tricky bits, if I hadn’t enjoyed writing a first screenplay so much I wouldn’t have said I’d keep writing, so I’m loving it.”

There were a few spoilers at the press conference, including to a question to Rowling about whether in the next Fantastic Beasts film, Dumbledore – who was played in the Harry Potter films by Richard Harris and after his death Michael Gabon – will make an appearance as a young gay man.

“Well, I’m very comfortable with the question,” Rowling said smiling. “I can’t tell you everything I would like to say because this is obviously a five-part story, there’s lots to unpack in that relationship.”

“You will see Dumbledore as a younger man and quite a troubled man, because he wasn’t always the sage (in the film,” Rowling added. “We’ll see him in what I think was the formative period of his life. And As far as his sexuality is concerned,” she said, taking a long pause, “watch this space.”

The Beasts of course are the real stars of the film and some are adorable. Rowling said some of the creatures were always intended to be in the film. “And then we swapped a couple of beasts just because we thought it would make for more interesting escapades. But I think everyone’s going to want a Niffler afterwards. I want a Niffler quite honestly.” The Niffler is a small, black furry creature with a duck-billed platypus face and a kangaroo-like pouch. The Niffler is attracted to shiny, bright objects and hoards them in his little pouch out in the open as though this is perfectly normal.

“I can’t wait for people to see it. You know I really can’t,” Rowling said of the film. “This is just the beginning. It’s a five-part movie. I know which characters are coming back… I know what’s coming so this is chapter one and I think people will like what’s coming.”

Legendary Hollywood Star Warren Beatty Reluctantly Steals His Own Movie in “Rules Don’t Apply”

Roger Friedman
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Legendary Hollywood Star Warren Beatty Reluctantly Steals His Own Movie in “Rules Don’t Apply”

Warren Beatty tells you he didn’t make a Howard Hughes movie.

Listen, Warren Beatty made a Howard Hughes movie. In “Rules Don’t Apply,” which he wrote and directed, Beatty plays Howard Hughes circa 1958. Beatty has worked on this movie for years. He was almost thwarted by Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio played a younger Hughes. But you know what? There was room for more than one Howard Hughes movie. For Beatty, rules don’t apply. And I’m so glad he made this movie.

The funniest part of “Rules Don’t Apply,” which opens November 23rd and opened the AFI Film Festival last night, is that Beatty steals his own movie like it or not. He created a young star crossed couple with two really talented up and coming actors– Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins. (The former is going to be the new young Han Solo. The latter is like a new Audrey Hepburn, and she can sing!)

But in the end, it’s Beatty as a kind of going crazy Hughes who is both full of pathos and humor. And when the movie bends to Hughes’s will– and Beatty’s– those are the very best moments. Two scenes in particular may kick Beatty into the Oscar race for Best Actor– a hilarious one with Matthew Broderick that elicits belly laughs from the audience; and another with Collins that’s very sad and revealing.

Is everything about Hughes in “Rules” true? No. Or rather, it’s an imagined story about someone for whom truth was a stretch and facts were scant. But smartly Beatty and Bo Goldman have taken just enough tidbits about the reclusive, elusive Hughes and made an entertaining story about Hollywood just as sexual repression was about to explode. The time — 1958– is that of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, and “Pillow Talk” moments before the dam burst, so to speak. It would be another 16 years before Beatty himself, a sex symbol, sent himself up and put all his cards on the table with the classic, “Shampoo.” But in 1958, here was the struggle between good and evil as Hollywood tried to grow up.

The supporting cast is excellent. Broderick is hilarious, doing his best work here and in the also coming “Manchester by the Sea.” Annette Bening is lovely as Collins’ stage mother leaving her in Sodom and Gomorrah. I really loved an expected cameo from Steve Coogan. Alec Baldwin, Candice Bergen, Taissa Farmiga, Martin Sheen and Oliver Platt all punctuate the film.

I really wish Beatty had made movies in the last sixteen years. But now that he’s back I think he’s energized. And what would really be cool is more movies with Beatty front and center without having to add young people as diversions. They’re fine, but seeing “Rules,” you realize just how good he is. He and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel score here by putting Hughes in shadows and just letting in glimpses of him. But next time, Warren can shine the light more brightly on himself. It’s a tribute to him that he leaps out of those shadows anyway.

Robert Redford Is NOT Retiring from Acting or Anything Else, Says Rep

Roger Friedman
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Robert Redford Is NOT Retiring from Acting or Anything Else, Says Rep

Robert Redford is NOT retiring from acting or directing or anything else despite a recent Tweet and story in Variety. Redford’s rep Cindi Berger confirmed this for me just now.

In an interview with his grandson posted on line, Redford said he had two more acting jobs and movies. And then he says, off the cuff, he’s thinking about giving it all up and devoting himself to painting.

There was an inference drawn by the website hosting the post that Redford was “retiring.” He’s not, that’s ridiculous, and you know, really. So I called his PR.

Robert Redford is too committed to film, to Sundance, to all of it, to stop anytime soon. He just had a big hit with “Pete’s Dragon,” and was excellent in “Trust,” as Dan Rather and in “All is Lost.” Why stop now? He’s just getting started!

#RIP Leonard Cohen: Artist, Hero, Genius Follows Prince and David Bowie in Music’s Worst Year

Roger Friedman
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#RIP Leonard Cohen: Artist, Hero, Genius Follows Prince and David Bowie in Music’s Worst Year


Leonard Cohen is dead at 82, just a couple of weeks after delivering his final album. He was a great artist, a hero, and a genius. In a year when Prince, David Bowie and Glenn Frey, not to mention Natalie Cole, have all left us, this is another crushing blow. From “Suzanne” to “Hallelujah” and his numerous classics like “First We Take Manhattan,” Cohen was a glorious and unforgiving poet who was right up there with Dylan, Lennon, and Paul Simon.

A statement on his Facebook page reads: It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief.”

No cause of death was given but we can assume Cohen was ill. The new album, “You Want it Darker,” seemed to indicate he knew his time was up.

More in the morning. But do download or stream Jennifer Warnes’ “Famous Blue Raincoat” album of Leonard Cohen’s songs as well as his own recordings.

(Watch) Paul McCartney Goes #Mannequin, Embraces Hot Song “The Black Beatles” in Instagram Video

Roger Friedman
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(Watch) Paul McCartney Goes #Mannequin, Embraces Hot Song “The Black Beatles” in Instagram Video

Paul McCartney stays hip, that’s for sure. Earlier this year he wrote a hit for Rihanna, and before that, Kanye West.

Now he’s embracing a hit record called “The Black Beatles,” performed by Rae Sremmurd with Gucci Mane. (Listen, don’t ask me, ok?) McCartney’s Instagram post is very arty– he takes on the viral #Mannequin pose with aplomb. And it looks like it was filmed at home by his own piano. There’s some nice art on the walls including a border painting by the late Sam Francis.

McCartney underscores his video with a part of the lyric in which he’s referenced:
I wear leather Gucci jackets like its still the 80’s
I’ve been blowin’ OG Kush, I feel a lil’ sedated
I can’t worry about a broke n—- or a hater
Black Beatle, bitch, me and Paul McCartney related

The OG Kush that’s referenced is a very high end marijuana. Paul has always liked his pot! I guess Rae and Gucci feel related to him for that reason.

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