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Opinion: Congestion Pricing — I’m No Fan, But I Agree with Kathy Hochul, It Must Remain in Place

Roger Friedman
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Opinion: Congestion Pricing — I’m No Fan, But I Agree with Kathy Hochul, It Must Remain in Place

I’m an old curmudgeon. I hate congestion pricing, bike lanes, all the No Parking, and in particular, the long bike stands that take the place of parking.

Get rid of all of it, I said, before congestion pricing began.

But now the traffic is almost normal. My opinion has changed on this subject congestion pricing must remain in place.

Look, you don’t like it? Nine dollars is nothing compared to the outrageous price of taxis. They can be $30. Insane. Plus, there’s plenty of mass transportation. I’ve never seen anyone on the subway with a machete in my many decades of underground travel.

Trains from the suburbs are clean and mostly run on time, too. Plus, in Grand Central, you can get black and white cookies at Zaro’s.

Do I drive out and back in? Very often. Am I happy about the nine dollars? No. But am I happy that a quarter of the cars are gone? Yes. That Sixth Avenue is now semi passable? Yes.

I stand with Kathy Hochul. But Kathy, please, get rid of the cars parked in the middle of 8th Avenue from 42nd to 59th St. Give us back parking. Or regulate parking garages so they don’t gouge residents. Give the streets an angioplasty!

Tony Winner, Oscar Nominee Cynthia Erivo aka Elphaba to Host the Tony Awards!

Roger Friedman
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Tony Winner, Oscar Nominee Cynthia Erivo aka Elphaba to Host the Tony Awards!

Cynthia Erivo is hosting this year’s Tony Awards!

That’s before she plays Jesus Christ in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

And after the Oscars, where she’s nominated for “Wicked.”

And before she stars in the second part of “Wicked.”

It’s so rewarding to see someone nice, talented, reap some rewards.

Erivo arrives!

The Tony Awards are back at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, September 8th on CBS unless Donald Trump announces he’s taking over as Chairman.

No, that can’t happen. He’s not allowed with ten miles of the Theater District!

I could listen to Cynthia sing all night!

Oscars Add Oprah, Goldie Hawn, Selena Gomez as Presenters, Nick Offerman as Announcer

Roger Friedman
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Oscars Add Oprah, Goldie Hawn, Selena Gomez as Presenters, Nick Offerman as Announcer

The Oscars are lining up more presenters. Top of the list is Goldie Hawn, Hollywood royalty and an Oscar winner. Fingers crossed she’ll give out Best Picture.

Oprah Winfrey will be there, along with Joe Alwyn, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Connie Nielsen, and Ben Stiller.

Nick Offerman, known for his TV work on “Parks and Recreation” and “The Last of Us,” will be show announcer. Of course, Conan O’Brien is the host.

Other presenters include Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Amy Poehler, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, June Squibb, Emma Stone and Bowen Yang.

There will be no musical guests this year as the Oscars are not staging productions of the Best Song nominees. That eliminates chances to hear Gabi Wilson aka HER, Elton John, and Selena Gomez as draws to the show. But there will be a lot of attention to first responders from the recent fires, with many of them in the audience.

There’s an outside chance the show on March 2nd on ABC will open with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo from “Wicked” performing their songs. “Wicked” didn’t have an original song, so it wasn’t nominated in that category. But that would be a ratings draw, and certainly welcome considering the film’s success.

Exclusive: Controversial “Emilia Perez” Star Karla Sofia Gascon Will Attend France’s Cesar Awards

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Controversial “Emilia Perez” Star Karla Sofia Gascon Will Attend France’s Cesar Awards

Karla Sofia Gascon may be down, but she’s not out.

Sources tell me that Gascon, who’s been ‘cancelled’ over her racist Tweets, will appear at France’s Cesar Awards on February 28th. Gascon is nominated for Best Actress in “Emilia Perez.”

Her appearance is news because she’s otherwise been dropped by Netflix from their Oscar campaign. She didn’t come to the BAFTA Awards on Sunday and isn’t expected at the SAG Awards this Sunday. It’s unlikely she’ll be at the Oscars, although that announcement hasn’t been made yet.

Gascon, who made headlines first as a trans actress, was revealed to have made a litany of hateful tweets starting back in 2020 aimed toward Muslims, Asians, a variety of others, and George Floyd when he was murdered.

“Emilia Perez” is a French film, directed by Jacques Audiard, who is also nominated for a Cesar. At these awards, Gascon is up against co-star Zoe Saldana. “Emilia Perez” is also up for awards in editing, cinematography, adapted screenplay, and music.

Will Gascon walk the red carpet and answer questions from press? Sacre bleu! We’ll find out on the 28th. She will get to meet Julia Roberts, who’s getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cesars.

Review: Judith Owen Finishes Snazzy, Sassy NYC Show Run with Paul Shaffer on Keyboards (Watch)

Roger Friedman
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Review: Judith Owen Finishes Snazzy, Sassy NYC Show Run with Paul Shaffer on Keyboards (Watch)

Everyone has a guilty pleasure or two. One of mine is Judith Owen, the amazing jazz, cabaret, and blues singer who hits town every so often from her home in New Orleans.

One of Owen’s astounding attributes is that she sounds like rum soaked in New Orleans music despite being raised in Wales and England. Her accent only emerges when she talks. Otherwise, you’d swear that gumbo is her favorite dish.

Last night at Django, a brilliant jazz spot located under the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca, Judith closed out her run of several performances with her swinging band a special guest on keyboards, Paul Shaffer of David Letterman fame.

(The band — not to be missed– includes David Torkanowsky on piano, Lex Warshawsky on Bass. Portugese drummer Pedro Segundo, guitarist Dave Blenkhorn, Ricardo Pascal on sax and Kevin Louis with his spectacular cornet.)

Django was packed, as usual, as Owen has built up a loyal following since her recording debut in 1996. Since then, she’s released 13 albums, all of them joyously crafted to show off her colorful, rich voice full of vivacious textures. Wearing her trademar fedora cocked on her head, Owen is also a supple dancer, who moves across the stage with a huge smile. What isn’t there to like?

Last night’s set included rave versions of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer’s “Skylark,” Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You,” Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” Louis Jordan’s jump and shout “Caldonia,” and Art Blakey’s classic “Moanin.” Owen has a rambunctious nature on stage that suits the uptempo songs. She has a lot of sass.

She can also get bluesy very quickly. Her band — almost all New Orleans players — are so top notch, every song is a success.On “Real Gone Guy,” Owen is all pep and snap. Her voice is full of colors on “Send Me Someone to Love,” and hilariously filthy– as she says — on Dinah Washington’s “Big Long Sliding Thing,” a song about, er, a trombone.

Besides Shaffer, other notables spotted in the audience were legendary concert promoter Ron Delsener, media maven Jill Brooke, and famed NY radio dj Jim Kerr of Q104.3.

The only question left is, When she will be back?

All of Judith’s albums are on Amazon and Spotify. Here’s a taste:

Lady Gaga “SNL” Double Duty as Host, Musical Guest March 8th as New “Mayhem” Album Drops

Roger Friedman
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Lady Gaga is working her butt off to launch her new “Mayhem” album.

She’ll be guest host and musical guest on March 8th, the day after her 7th album drops. It will already be number 1 on iTunes and Amazon by the time she hits the stage.

The Gaga marketing plan has been tremendous. Super Bowl, two “SNL” specials, “Fire Aid,” not to mention two singles in the top 10. All of these appearances have featured different songs, and they’ve all been A plus.

“Mayhem” is rumored to have huge pre-sales already. So hold on for a massive debut, maybe the biggest of 2025.

We’re out of the shallow now!

“Blue Bloods” Spin Off: Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny to Boston Where He Acquires the Accent and Forgets Family

Roger Friedman
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“Blue Bloods” Spin Off: Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny to Boston Where He Acquires the Accent and Forgets Family

This is hilarious.

Deadline reports that Donnie Wahlberg will play his “Blue Bloods” character in a spin off set in Boston.

Wahlberg will suddenly acquire the Boston accent — the actor grew up there and is very identified with the city.

His character will be paired with the daughter of the Boston police chief. Danny was widowed seven years ago on “Blue Bloods” and only asked out his attractive partner in the final episode. So this Boston woman shouldn’t expect fireworks any time soon.

How will he explain knowing his way around Roxbury and Jamaica Plain after growing up in New York? Will Danny now transfer his New York sports allegiances to Boston? He better not.

This was the best CBS and “Blue Bloods” producers could come up with. Moving Wahlberg’s Danny to Boston cuts loose the rest of the original cast. The Reagans never left New York in 14 seasons, why would they now?

Kevin Spacey — Skewered on “SNL 50” — Attacks “Brutalist” Actor Guy Pearce, Who Accuses Him of Targeting: “You Are Not a Victim”

Roger Friedman
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Kevin Spacey — Skewered on “SNL 50” — Attacks “Brutalist” Actor Guy Pearce, Who Accuses Him of Targeting: “You Are Not a Victim”

Kavin Spacey has posted a whiny, catty response to criticism from former “LA Confidential” actor Guy Pearce.

Spacey was skewered Sunday night by Fred Armisen on “SNL 50.” Armisen joked that an old script could be used “the next time Spacey hosts.” The audience was silent, then laughed.

Now Spacey is fighting with “Brutalist” nominee Pearce.

On a podcast Pearce said “I was scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man, and … extremely charming and brilliant at what he does — and really impressive, etc. He holds a room remarkably. But I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question.”

Spacey –whose career has been ruined by sex scandals even though he’s denied all accusations — is not happy as you’ll see below. He even suggests Pearce may have had a thing for him.

Pearce recalled when he first heard about the allegations against Spacey in 2017.

“I was in London working on something, and I heard this and I broke down and sobbed, and I couldn’t stop,” Pearce said. “I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever. That was a really incredible wake-up call I suppose.”

In 2018, Pearce called Spacey “a handsy guy.” But he made it clear he’d never been molested, just made to feel “uncomfortable.”

Read more here.

Fire Aid Giving Out First $50 Mil from All Star Fund Raising Concerts During Grammy Week

Roger Friedman
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Fire Aid Giving Out First $50 Mil from All Star Fund Raising Concerts During Grammy Week

Fire Aid is dispensing half of the $100 million it raised three weeks ago with dual all-star concerts.

Irving Azoff, et al raised the money as part of Grammy week to help firefighters and for wildfire relief for victims of the terrible fires.

It’s amazing to me that the film community has nothing planned for Oscar week at all. Vanity Fair and Chanel are giving their usual big name parties without any interest in the firefighters, first responders, or people who lost homes. (VF is giving money to the Motion Picture Fund because if you’re not a star, they don’t care.)

According to Fire Aid: “This initial phase of gifting prioritizes community-based organizations that are on the front lines of wildfire relief. The selected organizations have the infrastructure, experience, and relationships necessary to efficiently and equitably deliver assistance to fire-impacted individuals and have each received $100,000 or more. The need for immediate relief funding remains dire and these funds will serve to assist with that goal. Rebuilding efforts will be the focus for FireAid phase two grants.”

The Fire Aid concert is still on YouTube and will be all year. You can still donate money to the fund. The full list of organizations receiving aid can be found HERE.

Meanwhile, the Recording Academy is doling out funds through Musicares proceeds. Events like the Clive Davis pre-Grammy dinner were successful fundraisers. Can you imagine if the music business had behaved like Vanity Fair and others?

PS The Motion Picture Fund to which Vanity Fair is donating an undisclosed sum takes care just of people living in the Motion Picture Home. They were not affected by the fires.

Cynthia Erivo aka Elphaba to Play Title Character This Summer in Hollywood Bowl “Jesus Christ Superstar”

Roger Friedman
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Cynthia Erivo aka Elphaba to Play Title Character This Summer in Hollywood Bowl “Jesus Christ Superstar”

Cynthia Erivo, aka Elphaba in “Wicked,” is about to break another barrier.

She’ll be playing the title role this summer in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl.

The dates are August 1st through the 3rd.

Erivo, who can sing the heck out of anything, will be the first big star and bold faced named woman ever to play the role. You know she will be getting standing ovations when she hits that stage.

She’s already appeared in an all female production, playing Mary Magdalene. That was a one night only performance co-starring Shoshanna Bean, Orfeh, Ledisi, and Morgan James.

This production is on a much grander scale and begs the questions about other casting. Should be interesting and ground breaking.

More to come…

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