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“Oldchella”– the Coachella weekend with Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Roger Waters is expanding to a second weekend.
Promoter Goldenvoice is evidently sold out of all the tickets to the October 7th-9th senior citizen festival for rockers. So now they’ve added the following weekend, October 14th-16th.
This means that for two weekends in a row leading up to the presidential election, hundreds of thousands of white, well to do educated voters will be in one place. So the questions are– will Hillary Clinton speak? Will politics play a part? Will Donald Trump be welcomed or shunned? Because you know this event — called Desert Trip–is too good not to be exploited by the candidates in some fashion.
Yes, yes, maybe you heard Katy Perry is going to perform at the Cannes amFAR dinner this year. Sharon Stone will be allowed back, as well.
But amFAR is going to be upstaged earlier in the week by bigger stars at a more lavish event.
Chopard’s Cannes gala on Monday,May 16th is going to feature an all out show by the diva of all divas, Miss Diana Ross. And opening for the one and only leader of the Supremes will be DJ Mark Ronson, he of the “Uptown Funk” Grammy award this year.
Already the glitterati are fighting to get into the Chopard dinner, which will also feature a bevy of stars including (or starting with) Helen Mirren. (No Jane Fonda this year– she has already started filming season three of “Grace and Frankie” with Lily Tomlin for Netflix.)
And get this: this is the same night the Croisette will be at a traffic standstill from a Harvey Weinstein produced tribute to Robert De Niro and the advanced screening of his film “Hands of Stone.”
PS The other Cannes craziness involves Justin Timberlake’s appearance this Wednesday afternoon for the presentation of “Trolls” footage by DreamWorks Animation. Since Friday, Timberlake has had the number 1 single in the world with “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” The word is he may be performing it in conjunction with that presentation.
Kesha, the pop star who’s become a standard bearer after a highly publicized case against her producer Dr. Luke, stole the show Saturday night in Hollywood at the annual Humane Society gala. She wowed the crowd with a gut wrenching version of Diane Warren and Lady Gaga’s Oscar nominated anti-rape anthem “Til it Happens to You.” Warren — who was being honored as Humanitarian of the Year– accompanied her on the piano.
Kesha’s rawness and ferocity reflected her ongoing struggle with producer Dr. Luke and Sony, whom she sued for sexual assault in 2014. “I want to dedicate this song to every man, woman, child and animal that has ever been abused, “ Kesha said before she sang the song, as animal collages were shown.
The star-studded room was entranced and gave her a 5-minute standing ovation. Kesha later told me, “Look I’m still standing. I want to be an inspiration for women to come forward. I want to make sure the legislation is changed. I want to talk about this with lawmakers. And I want animals to be treated humanely in all areas.”
Diane told me: “When it comes to being a people person, I prefer animals. I just love that so many of my artists are here. Steven Tyler, (who sang one of his most successful songs in his storied career that Diane penned, “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,)” Jhene Aiki, Zendaya, Leona Lewis, I’m working with all of them. I wrote an amazing song for Michelle Obama, “This is For My Girls.“ I’m going to Washington next week for a lunch Michelle is doing. I really respect her, I want to talk to her about running for President and animals of course.”
Killed it @KeshaRose. I could feel your pain. Girl these boys won’t be in charge forever. The wisdom of women is rising. Let’s get louder
Moby was the host and noted, “ I’m a vegan. I love animals generally more than people. Animals don’t start wars or vote Republican. “ Of the CEO”s that run the horrible factory farms Moby commented,” there’s a special place in hell for them. Right below pedophiles and Donald Trump.”
Moby also added “Diane is just fucking great,” and Wayne Pacelle, the respected President and CEO of HSUS, agreed.. He said of Diane. “Diane is one of the great talents in the United States, and we’re so glad to honor her for her incredible compassion for all animals. “ To have someone with that kind of talent associated with animal protection just adds real sizzle to everything we do. “ Wayne, who has a best selling book currently out “The Humane Economy,” and HSUS do terrific work.
Celebs that agree and were there were Priscilla Presley with her granddaughter Riley Keough, Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed, Frances Fisher, Songwriter/Producer Bruce Roberts, filmmaker Amy Ziering, Kathy Freston, Carol Leifer, actress Kate Mara who passionately spoke about implementing “meatless Mondays,’ and more. All in all, a meaningful night for our precious animal friends.
Disney says “Civil War” rebounded on Saturday and will do well enough today–Sunday–that it made $181 million for the weekend. Revisions tomorrow.
The terribly reviewed “Mother’s Day” actually increased by 9% over last weekend. I guess a lot of people said Let’s take mom. How bad can it be? And you know there’s no sex or violence or coherence.
The rest of the box office is pretty dull but the new “Barbershop” movie is inching towards $50 million. It couldn’t have cost that much. Go WB!
Sony waits for “Money Monster” next Friday like water in the desert. I’m rooting for them. We see it Thursday in Cannes.
Big statement tonight by singer Kesha. She’s performing tonight at the big A list gala for the Humane Society on the Paramount lot. My spies say she’s performing “Til it Happens to You,” the Oscar nominated anthem by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga. The song was written for rape survivors. Kesha claims she was raped by her producer Dr. Luke. (He denies it.) Moby, Priscilla Presley, and her granddaughter Riley Keough are in the audience. Stay tuned for more…
Ouch! The folks at DC Comics and Warner Bros. must be getting a little chuckle this morning. Marvel-Disney’s “Captain America: Civil War” opened far lower last night than “Batman v. Superman.”
The cap’n took in $75 million vs. BvS $81 million. And everyone hated the latter movie apparently. “Civil War” Friday included $25 million from Thursday night.
But “Civil War” may be softer than anyone expected. And that’s weird given the huge amount of money it’s made overseas in advance of its US opening. It’s already made $291 million in foreign lands.
Maybe that’s why Disney did the big worldwide opening first. Something in the research may have suggested a little burn out on “Avengers” movies. Because “Civil War” is another “Avengers” movie with a different title and the oddity of a new Spider Man. It’s really “Iron Man 4” (I’ve lost track.)
So we’ll see how the superheroes fly tonight and tomorrow. They should do $174 million and beat “BvS” ($166 mil opening weekend) easily. Still, who knows?
Fame is fleeting. The folks at Empire, the hot TV show of 2015, are finding that out. And they’re doing it with Sony Music. Last year at this time, the “Empire” sold 110,000 copies in its debut week. Then last winter, the follow up sold just 39,000 copies.
This week, the new “Empire” CD sold 15, 710 copies– around a tenth of the original CD last year. Whoops! That party is over. And there were no streaming numbers. No one streamed “Empire Season 2 Volume 2” at all? I guess not. I know it’s Spotify. I listened to it there. Will there be another “Empire” CD? Doubtful.
Elsewhere, Drake outsold Beyonce 3 to 1. “Lemonade” is just ten days old and it’s old news. Drake sold 825,000 CDs and downloads. But with streaming he finished up at 1,075,494. Drake is the Adele of the spring.
And Justin Timberlake is number 1 on the singles charts with his new release, “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”
The latest Facebook post from Sinead O’Connor after Arsenio Hall filed suit against her for claiming Arsenio helped get Prince and Eddie Murphy get drugs back in the day, Arsenio vehemently denies all of it.
From Sinead:
REGARDING ARSE-INIO HALL’S LAUGHABLE THREATS
I’m more amused than I’ve ever dreamed a person could be and look forward very much to how hilarious it will be watching him trying to prove me wrong. I’m also very happy to notice that the DEA have taken me seriously enough to be thoroughly questioning all of Prince’s friends and aides from the last thirty years as to his KNOWN history of hard drug use and where he obtained his drugs. I do not like drugs killing musicians. And I do not like Arsenio Hall. He can suck my dick. That is if he isn’t too busy sucking someone else’s dick. : )
Earlier, Sinead had posted a long diatribe that she says cannot be republished without her permission. Well, the whole of it can be found here. The gist: that they had a bad date during which Sinead was offered a “spliff,” which she smoked.
“There’s something in the splif that isn’t marijuana. I don’t know what. I never had it before nor since. Its so hard to describe. Its like if I hadn’t had a stronger mind I wouldn’t have known what I was doing. Its like ‘Me’ went very far into the back of my mind and something else took over the rest. Everything inside me and outside me was undulating Suddenly he’s laughing. An “Aha! You’re not so tough now” laugh. My body is melting into a dead weight, trying to pull me to the floor. His smile looks like the wolf in Grandmas’s bonnet. I know what he’s done.”
So this is after Arsenio filed suit following the original post.
I do wish Sinead would stop using Facebook and get serious about all this. I know she had some problems last winter. But when I met her a couple of years ago at a Curtis Mayfield tribute show in New York, she was quite lucid and a lot of fun. The accusations and the lawsuit can just go on and on, but if she really has information and wants to dispense it, I think we’d all like to hear what it is.
Prince’s siblings sent out this notice tonight via their lawyers, but the law firm points out this is not from them, but from the siblings. Friday night, 8:20pm, so we’re still on Prince time now that new people have taken over. You are allowed to laugh at that. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Here’s the statement:
We would like everyone to know that, contrary to previous and current reports, there has been no memorial, funeral or tribute service for Prince that was organized or authorized by the family or Paisley Park representatives. Together, the family is planning an official memorial service and public event to take place in the near future. Prince and his music influenced so many people that we feel inspired to celebrate his life and legacy in just the right way. We appreciate the public’s patience and have been comforted by your outpouring of love, support and condolences. We look forward to sharing with the world this celebration of, and farewell to, our Prince. Details will be coming soon.
— Alfred Jackson, John Nelson, Norrine Nelson, Omarr Baker, Sharon Nelson, and Tyka Nelson.
6:22PM EXCLUSIVE UPDATE the Jackson family lawyer Perry O. Sanders, who wanted to tell me he’s been in touch with Trent Jackson, and is working on “getting to the bottom” of this story. “No one will take advantage of Mrs. Jackson.” And — this is from me– while Trent Jackson may have rubbed some people the wrong way, we are in no way suggesting that he filed these papers. More to come…
Someone is trying to sam Katherine Jackson.
Papers were recently discovered with her “signature” in which Michael Jackson’s mother was seen signing away the rights to her old home in Encino, California. Mrs. Jackson hasn’t lived there for years, but the house– a walled compound– still exists on Hayvenhurst Avenue.
Unfortunately, whoever tried to sign away the house from Mrs. Jackson didn’t realize something important: she doesn’t own it. The property has been owned by Michael Jackson’s estate since he died. Michael himself owned it before that for years. You may recall he almost lost it in foreclosure back in 2005.
Someone– no one knows who but there is speculation– got Mrs. Jackson’s signature, had it notarized and stuck onto a Quit Claim notice.
Mrs. Jackson has lived with her grandchildren– Prince, Paris, and Blanket– in a house now owned by Michael’s estate in Calabasas, California. The only other person who’s around her all the time is Joe Jackson’s nephew, Trent Jackson, who acts as her daily aide and supervisor.
Trent was very helpful four years ago when Mrs. Jackson was spirited away by several of her children in what looked a little shady. But Mrs. Jackson returned to her home, and life went on. Since then, Trent, my source says, has become very proprietary in relation to his aunt by marriage. “He’s very unpopular in the family,” a source says. “If you want to speak to or see Katherine, you have to go through Trent.”
You might think this is a strange story if you’re just joining our program in progress. But really, it’s just another bump in the long road that is the Jackson Family Highway to Hell.
