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Springsteen and Bon Jovi Performing on Same Stage for Hillary Clinton: Now You Know This Is Serious

Roger Friedman
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Springsteen and Bon Jovi Performing on Same Stage for Hillary Clinton: Now You Know This Is Serious

Monday night, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi will perform on the same stage for Hillary Clinton. The site is Philadelphia, adjacent to their home state of New Jersey. I hesitate to say they will perform together. But just their existence in the same place together is serious business.

If I were from Pennsylvania, I’d be pretty impressed. I mean, now you have to vote for Hillary.

The two singers are rarely seen together for any reason. Each one commands a huge following in New Jersey and its environs. But which is bigger? Who is the King and who is the Prince? The crowns rest uneasy.

Bruce is the King, simply from seniority. He arrived on the national stage in 1973. Bon Jovi came a decade later. And there’s a decade between them.

But still, it’s always been a little tricky. The last time I can remember them coming together was for Christmas concerts in Asbury Park in 2003. They were raising money for the town, and for the local sports teams. Sam Moore and Garland Jeffreys were among their guests.

Monday night’s show is at Independence Hall. Congrats to the lucky ones who get to see history made– not just a first women elected president, but Bruce and Jon together!

Benedict Cumberbatch Bombs on “SNL” But Scores HUGE $84 Mil Opening Weekend with “Doctor Strange”

Roger Friedman
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Benedict Cumberbatch Bombs on “SNL” But Scores HUGE $84 Mil Opening Weekend with “Doctor Strange”

Thank goodness the weekend box office for “Doctor Strange” didn’t rest on Benedict Cumberbatch’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” The show was uniformly awful from start to finish. Cumberbatch, one of the great young actors around, was given terrible material that just didn’t suit him. Perhaps sensing it was a bad show, Lorne Michaels brought in veteran alums Bill Murray and Dana Carvey to prop things up.

Cumberbatch can take pride, though, in knowing he scored a huge opening weekend with “Doctor Strange.” The three day box office was almost $85 million, way ahead of expectations. Disney/Marvel continues their rule over market share this year. Moviegoers just love the world Marvel comics.

Fox didn’t do badly either. “Trolls” brought in $45.6 million. That brings the animated feature with songs by Justin Timberlake to $150 million internationally. And that’s just the beginning.

Meanwhile, Mel Gibson scored $14 million for “Hacksaw Ridge,” with good reviews (but not as great as hoped). Described as “violent” and “gory,” “Hacksaw” suffers from its director’s stand on the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, women, and so on. If you don’t mind that his father is a Holocaust denier and that Mel has never denied his father, give him $10 bucks. Me, I can wait until it’s on airplane.

Darren Criss, John Cameron Mitchell Update “Hedwig” for L.A., Adding “The guy with the Tic Tacs”

Leah Sydney
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Darren Criss, John Cameron Mitchell Update “Hedwig” for L.A., Adding “The guy with the Tic Tacs”

HOLLYWOOD– Please leave me alone! Hedwig implored Donald Trump at the opening night at the recent premiere of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” at the Pantages in Hollywood. “The guy with the Tic Tacs is stalking me on Grindr (a popular gay dating app) and wanting to grope me. Please leave me alone!”

As an avid fan since the show opened up at Jane Street in New York years ago, I’ve been looped into the Tony award winning “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” — which premiered on Broadway in 2014. John Cameron Mitchell’s brilliant book, along with Stephen Trask’s rock score, created a show that has been a lasting cult hit, cultivating Hed-heads around the world.

Hedwig, an East German rock singer– perhaps a man or a woman gender fluid sensitive soul — who endured a botched sex change operation, is played by the truly brilliant Darren Criss of “Glee” fame. Criss has experience with the role, he stepped in for Neil Patrick Harris on Broadway. Criss captures the soulful pain and the intimate crises that befall the long suffering Hedwig. The show is site specific, with Hedwig telling the audience that the Pantages is available, at the request of producer Bobby Nederlander, because of the sudden closing of “Hurt Locker: The Musical.” (I have to admit I picked up my “Hurt Locker” playbill before the show started and I was baffled, but a trashed car and bloodstains on the stage were obvious clues.)

Criss added to the Trump banter with, “If I wanted to see a mess in an L.A. theater, I could just see L.A. Theater.”
He also chided one of this band members with a reference to his “Glee” co star, “Lea Michele could do it better.”

Mitchell played the role for years, then when the show hit Broadway, Neil Patrick Harris stepped into Hedwig’s high heels. Criss played the role on Broadway as well and is starting the North American tour. Luckily, Lena Hall, who plays her husband Yitzhak (she won a Tony for the role) reprises her role here and will play the role of Hedwig occasionally as well. Michael Mayer does a masterful job of directing.

Criss is simply fantastic is the role, conveying soulful pain as well as pitch perfect comic timing. “I lost an uncle at Auschwitz, granted he fell out of a guard tower.” When the audience groaned Criss quipped back, “Too soon?” Criss is irresistible; his performance will be an enduring Hedwig. The tale is fraught with drama, Hedwig’s bi-polar behavior, her scandalous background with the now famous rock star Tommy Gnosis, while her career is on life support. The story, the concept of “Hedwig” has ironically turned into a musical for the ages. Exciting, clever, loud, poignant, theater perfection. Don’t miss it. The show runs till November 27th at the Pantages in Hollywood, then tours after that.

Lady Gaga Explains Donald Trump on Japanese TV: “The truth is we celebrities know he’s an actor, and this is an act…he’s essentially a political imposter”

Roger Friedman
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Lady Gaga Explains Donald Trump on Japanese TV: “The truth is we celebrities know he’s an actor, and this is an act…he’s essentially a political imposter”

Lady Gaga had to explain the US election and Donald Trump to Japanese TV interviewers this week. I think she did a good job. She said: “The truth is we celebrities know he’s an actor, and this is an act…he’s essentially a political imposter.”

She also said she had this insight because she’s a celebrity, and celebrities know this because they’re insiders. I’ll chalk that part of it up to severe jet lag.

Gaga’s “Joanne” album is number 1 in Japan, and they’re going gaga for her, basically.

Watch this lovely performance of the lead track from “Joanne:”

Exclusive: Donald Trump Ex-Playboy Playmate Girlfriend Bought Herself a “Present” in August: a $65K Mercedes

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Donald Trump Ex-Playboy Playmate Girlfriend Bought Herself a “Present” in August: a $65K Mercedes

The Wall Street Journal says fitness model Karen McDougal had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, then sold her story to the National Enquirer this past August. The Enquirer says they paid McDougal $150,000 for photos and other materials but not for the Trump story.

Whatever happened, it’s clear McDougal got the money. She Tweeted on August 20th that she bought herself a new Mercedes. It looks like Karen got herself an AMG 63, starting price $65,200. So however she got the money, she bought herself a nice set of wheels: “I bought myself a present today (traded other car in)! 😀. I’m a sucker for white cars/light seats! #car #HAPPYGIRL”

Daytime Drama: CBS, Michael Muhney Drop Hints About Actor’s Return to “Young and Restless”

Roger Friedman
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Daytime Drama: CBS, Michael Muhney Drop Hints About Actor’s Return to “Young and Restless”

One of the strangest real life chapters from CBS’s “Young and the Restless” may be taking a new twist.

Both CBS and actor Michael Muhney have each dropped major hints that the controversial may be returning to the soap after a two year absence.

Muhney was the popular portrayer of bad guy Adam Newman until there some kind of blow-out on the set of “Y&R.” Muhney was abruptly dismissed. CBS leaked a rumor to TMZ that Muhney had been complained about regarding a possible groping incident involving a young actress on the show. No one commented officially, but Muhney left and was replaced by Justin Hartley. No charges were filed, and life went on.

But Hartley left the show a few weeks ago to join NBC’s prime time hit “This Is Us.”  The character of Adam was blown up in a house explosion. But on soaps, unless the actor actually perishes in real life, characters can always be revived.

But now the first and most intriguing clue: Two days ago, CBS Soaps in Depth, the network’s house organ, ran a feature on Muhney returning to his home town to see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. The title of the article is “The Young and the Restless’s Michael Muhney Shares His Trip to Chicago…”

The magazine presumably would not be running such an article unless CBS was okay with it. They wouldn’t be featuring an actor with whom they had legal disagreements. Also Muhney’s show status is referred to in the present tense. Another clue: Muhney hasn’t been mentioned at all in the CBS soap mag since August 2014– when he left the show– until a few months ago. In recent weeks, his name has started turning up regularly.

Then, of course, Muhney has also just Tweeted: “If you believe in something wonderful, cheer for it long enough, put out good vibes, if you have patience…it can really happen. #Heaven”.  He could mean the Cubs winning the World Series, but you decide.

Muhney’s return to the show may also coincide with the departure of actress Hunter King, whom CBS has promoted to the prime time show “Life in Pieces.” King was recently dropped from her contract status on “Y&R” from regular to recurring.

So is Muhney on his way back? It does seem like it. The fans will love it. Maybe time has healed whatever wounds there were. Or maybe just the ouster of much loathed former executive producer Jill Farren Phelps has also paved the way. In what remains of the soap opera world, this is big, big stuff. I almost never write about that world because it is so damn weird. The actors never speak to press because they’re afraid of being blacklisted. And soaps are considered an alternative universe anyway in show biz. It’s best to go watch the hilarious movie “Soapdish” to understand it all!

“Doctor Strange” Set for $80Mil-Plus Weekend, Already Has $132Mil Foreign, Will Obliterate “Hacksaw”

Roger Friedman
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“Doctor Strange” Set for $80Mil-Plus Weekend, Already Has $132Mil Foreign, Will Obliterate “Hacksaw”

The box office is in for a depth charge this weekend. “Doctor Strange” picked up $9.4 million on Thursday night and is headed to an $80 mil plus weekend.

Benedict Cumberbatch is about to become YUGE, as Donald Trump might say. “Doctor Strange” looks like it will be the biggest opening for Marvel introducing a new character to movies, maybe ever.

And the reviews bear it out. “Doctor Strange” is up around 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Internationally, “Doctor Strange” already has $130 million in the bank. That huge $165 million budget will be met. Sighs of relief everywhere.

That’s doesn’t spell good news for Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge.” Marvel is going to pulverize the violent, bloody, war film that wound up getting a middling review in the New York Times.

On the precipice this weekend is Tom Cruise in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.” Apparently no one’s going back, and the movie has only made $43 million in the US. Half of that goes to Cruise, and other half goes to theaters. So hmmm…that’s a problem.

 

More Media Backwash: Rolling Stone Loses Huge Libel Suit with UVA, HBO Cancels Bill Simmons After 4 Months

Roger Friedman
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More Media Backwash: Rolling Stone Loses Huge Libel Suit with UVA, HBO Cancels Bill Simmons After 4 Months

Another bad day in media.

Rolling Stone has lost its libel suit case brought by the University of Virginia. This was the case of the made up rape story. UVA wanted $7.5 million when they filed, but the total could be much, much more when the jury deliberates for damages. We’ve just seen the whole arc of the Gawker case, in which a jury awarded Hulk Hogan $140 million.

The award destroyed Gawker well before a settlement brought the amount down to $31 million– which is still a massive amount of money. Rolling Stone and Wenner Media are now in peril. Earlier this year, Jann Wenner sold 49% of the company to Chinese investors in preparation for this. But Wenner’s nearly 50 year run and his legacy are now at stake because of this crazy episode in which the magazine and its editors were duped. It’s quite awful for everyone.

At the same time, HBO has cancelled Bill Simmons’ sports show after four months. Simmons left ESPN and joined HBO hoping his huge social media following would translate into big ratings. They wanted to make a sports version of John Oliver or Bill Maher’s shows. It just didn’t happen.

Simmons says: “One of the many reasons I joined HBO was to see if we could create a show built around smart conversations for sports fans and pop culture junkies. We loved making that show, but unfortunately it never resonated with audiences like we hoped. And that’s on me. But I love being a part of HBO’s family and look forward to innovating with them on other ambitious programming ideas over these next several years – both for the network and for digital. With that said, I want to thank the dedicated staff that worked so diligently with me behind the scenes to make this show every week – we hired so many great and talented people and I loved having them in my life. It’s difficult for me to imagine not working with them anymore.’

Simmons will stay with HBO and be deployed in other ways.

For the kind of show HBO wanted, you should catch Michael Kay on the YES Network. He’s managed to mix sports and pop culture, and his show is excellent.

Neil Young Gives Up the Pono Ghost, Puts His Music Back on Spotify, Other Outlets, High End Website Now “Under Construction”

Roger Friedman
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Neil Young Gives Up the Pono Ghost, Puts His Music Back on Spotify, Other Outlets, High End Website Now “Under Construction”

Don’t dream, it’s over.

Neil Young has given up the Pono ghost. He’s put all his music back on all streaming services. And he’s released a new single, the title track from his new album “Peace Trail.”

Neil has back his own high end digital player, Pono, and a music service named for it, for the last couple of years. In 2015 he took all of his catalog and put it just on Pono. But as with Jay Z’s Tidal, Pono was an experiment that failed. No one listened. High end streaming and downloading is for a select few, and too much trouble. Plus the Pono player looked like a bar of Toblerone chocolate.

But the Pono Music Store in closed. On the website they say they are “under construction.” But Pono is a dream deferred.

Here’s Neil’s new song, which we can all hear. It’s really good. It sounds a little like Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” You can’t beat that!

With Neil putting his own catalog back on other services, Pono seems doomed to be a Trivial Pursuit question. But it was a valiant effort.

And frankly, since we’re on this subject, Neil faced two problems. First of all, you can download high end music from hdtracks.com, a terrific service. Second, Astell and Kern makes a great line of high end players. Their AKJr is well priced, easy to use, and a lot of fun. The sound is impeccable, and it’s the size of a credit card. You can eat a Toblerone bar at the same time you’re listening and not worry about it melting in your pocket!

Listen to Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande’s Hot Single “Faith” from the Movie “Sing”

Roger Friedman
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Listen to Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande’s Hot Single “Faith” from the Movie “Sing”

Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande’s “Faith” is a highlight from the coming Universal film “Sing.” What a great song! Now I have faith there’s still good music out there! Now, if only Stevie would get his new album together and put it out! I know he’s got a bunch of songs. “Faith” is a “Happy”-like single written by Ryan Tedder and Benny Bianco. They made it sound like a Stevie hit from the 60s, a la “Fingertips Pt 2.” This is the first time Stevie’s put a song on a soundtrack in 25 years, by the way.

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