Greetings from Asbury Park: Little Steve van Zandt (or Miami Steve, as we fondly think of him) organized quite a group for Darlene Love’s “Forbidden Nights” video. Bruce Springsteen, Paul Shaffer, David Letterman, Joan Jett, Bill Murray and Elvis Costello make cameo appearances. Also, I see Steve’s choreographer wife Maureen, dancing up a storm with her gal pals.
You have to wait all the way til the end to see Letterma, who looks like Tom Hanks’ character from “Cast Away.” I ran into Paul Shaffer last night at Valerie Simpson’s swell backyard BBQ birthday party (along with Freddie Jackson and lots of friends). Paul told the video was debuting today, how much fun they all had making it.
By the way, Paul also told me he and Dave Letterman are in regular touch, and they’re each decompressing after 37 years on daily TV.
Darlene’s album, “Introducing Darlene Love”– yes, it’s a joke, she’s in the Rock Hall– drops on September 18th.
Just FYI Stevie and Bruce did a similar thing many years ago for Darlene’s colleague Ronnie Spector. They produced her singing Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.” I offer it here as pure pleasure:
Watch Bruce Springsteen, Dave Letterman, Paul Shaffer, Joan Jett in Darlene Love’s New Video
Robin Thicke Gives Piano to Long Island School as Part of Career Rehab Campaign
Robin Thicke: last year, you thought his career was over. So did I. His “Paula” album sold two copies. That was a result of his stealing “Got to Give It Up” from Marvin Gaye, passing it off as “Blurred Lines,” sliming all over Miley Cyrus during a national TV performance, screwing around, and then divorcing the beautiful actress Paula Patton, his high school sweet heart.
Thicke was toast.
Now the rehabilitation has begun. Thicke was sent out to perform at charity functions like the wonky amFAR event in Cannes, and places like that. Free publicity. Good works. Now Thicke has a hit single with Nicki Minaj, and threatening a new album. Of course, another single borrowed heavily from a Barry White track, but this time– as opposed to the Marvin Gaye debacle– they just gave White credit.
Now Ken Sunshine’s company says Thicke donated a Yamaha piano “worth $10,000” to a school in East Quogue, Long Island (this is like the Outer Hamptons). He also talked to the students and played a couple of songs for them. He may have cautioned them not to steal other people’s music or cheat on your wife right after she has your baby.
This was all done as a charity deal– Sunshine reps VH-1 Save the Music Foundation. You know, Robin’s always been “a huge supporter of music education,” according to the release.
Well, this is all pretty amusing. F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong. You can have a second act! And a third, and a fourth! Just ask Donald Trump.
“Compton” Cash Irony: History Repeats Itself as Warner Bros. Blows It On Rap/Hip Hop A Second Time
All that “Straight Outta Compton” money could have gone to Warner Bros. That studio had the screenplay and the project through their New Line division. But someone bungled it, and Universal wound up with the big hit of the summer about the history of Dr.Dre, Ice Cube and rap music. Warners, say the trades, may get around $5 million for its trouble. But the “Compton” riches go to Universal.
The irony is that this is the second time Warners has bungled the so-called Compton situation. In fact, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine– now zillionaires thanks to Apple and Beats– were at Warner Music Group (when it was still part of Time Warner) twenty years ago.
If you’ve seen the “Compton” movie you know the story: when Easy E had his “divorce” from Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, the latter two hooked up with Jimmy Iovine. He had his Interscope Records as a label at Warner Music. Death Row Records, along with Snoop Dogg, was all under his umbrella.
What you don’t see in the movie is that Time Warner didn’t want rap music or any of these people using that umbrella. “Gangsta” violence was at its peak, and there was immense pressure at the corporate level for Time Warner to force Warner Music to get rid of all of them.
And so they did. Interscope was sold to MCA, which was renamed Universal Music Group. Iovine and all the rappers seen in the movie left Warner Music Group for Universal. The rest is history. UMG became a huge force thanks to hip hop, from Snoop Dogg and Death Row to Eminem and just about everyone. Warner Music Group was gutted, and finally sold to Edgar Bronfman Jr., who squandered the little that was left of it.
The other irony is that Universal Pictures, like Universal Music before them, wound up with the “Compton” riches. It should be a business school study how Time Warner and Warner Music managed to lose not only so much money, but so much talent. Iovine and Dr. Dre went on to create Beats and sell it Apple for a billion dollars. And before that they made Universal millions and millions on hip hop and rap.
A smaller irony: it was Doug Morris, now the head of Sony Music, who was at Warner Music in the 90s. He was the cheerleader of Iovine and Interscope. When they were forced out, and WMG was sold, Morris took over Universal Music and let Iovine, Dr. Dre, et al flourish.
Meantime, I finally got to see “Straight Outta Compton” last night. It’s just terrific. I know it’s easy to say now that it’s made $115 million. But F. Gary Gray and the screenwriters have fashioned what I thought was a very moving and totally entertaining saga. The arc of Easy E’s life turns out to be the backbone of the film. Jason Mitchell is superb. But so are O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube’s actor son) and Corey Hawkins, and Paul Giamatti as the nefarious Jerry Heller.
I loved R. Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight, and Marcc Rose as Tupac. Carl Franklin should cast them in his “Tupac” movie, which starts shooting in January.
Eventually we’re going to have a Biggie Smalls movie, as well as Tupac’s, and maybe something from Public Enemy. The history of hip hop is very cinematic because of all the violence. I just hope everyone can pull it off as well as this team did. Bravo! I can’t wait to see it again.
Kanye West to Get MTV Award, Preparing Rambling, Incoherent Speech Now
Kanye West is finally getting an award. He’s getting the Video Vanguard from MTV at the Video Music Awards at the end of August.
Somewhere, Kanye is preparing a rambling, incoherent speech that will be marked by flashes of genius but weighed down by craziness.
He may even interrupt himself and demand someone else– maybe Kim Kardashian– get the award.
I had no intention of watching this show, but I will now. And so will everyone else. Great move for MTV. Everyone loves a trainwreck.
Actually it would be funny if they had Taylor Swift go up and start shouting at him mid-speech. I’d pay to see that.
Justin Timberlake, Sam Moore Among Inductees for Memphis Music Hall of Fame
Sam Moore, the original Soul Man of Sam & Dave, is being inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in October, just five days after his 80th birthday. Moore is on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 singers of all time, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared last December on the Kennedy Center Honors and has sung for all the living presidents.
Sam will be joined by Justin Timberlake, whose last two albums were the biggest sellers of 2014. Even though Justin is young for induction, he’s got the creds. He’s devoted to the Memphis sound and has used it on his solo records. He’s got soul!
The other inductees are pretty amazing too: Scotty Moore, legendary guitarist of Elvis Presley and Sun Records fame; Al Jackson, Jr., the late great drummer for Booker T and the MGs; the great full throated country singer Charlie Rich (“The Most Beautiful Girl”), Memphis Slim, and Alberta Hunter, who was a legend at the Cookery over here on University Place in Greenwich Village for years.
This group joins the 47 previous inductees, including B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, Otis Redding, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Howlin’ Wolf, bringing the total number of inductees to 54.
The event takes place Saturday, October 17th in Memphis with a lot of celebrating.
Star Wars: Carrie Fisher “Princess Diarist” Due February 2016 (As Scooped Here)
I told you back on July 9th– now it’s confirmed by Carrie Fisher herself– “The Princess Diarist” are set for February 2016.
http://t.co/XYhE4NbACZ. Theres nothing-(much)more insane than seeing a book u havent finished writing available4purchase. C u@Booksigning!
— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) August 25, 2015
Of course Carrie kept diaries while filming the three key “Star Wars” movies. Now to tie in with “The Force Awakens,” Princess Leia herself will reveal what was going on while shooting the films. A best seller? Uh, yeah. Book is published by Penguin/Blue Rider Press. It should be a hoot.
Owen Wilson Battles Family Issues as Movie “No Escape” Makes Him An Action Hero
Monday night: a private, advanced screening of “No Escape,” a hot little action film that opens Wednesday. Owen Wilson stars, Pierce Brosnan has a juicy extended supporting part, Lake Bell acquits herself beautifully. This is an edge of your seat movie, totally engrossing and wholly entertaining. You will also never again visit a country where there’s any chance of revolution.
Harvey Weinstein hosted the gathering, preceded by cocktails and shmoozing. Tom Brokaw, looking very well for a man who is battling cancer, walked in by himself. Some other luminaries included actor Luke Wilson, who came to support his brother, trumpet man Chris Botti, the famed songwriter Valerie Simpson, NY Times writer Nick Kristoff, movie producers Holly Wiersma and Celine Rattray, and the great musician ELEW aka Eric Lewis. Magician David Blaine arrived with Guy Oseary, manager of U2 and Madonna.
Harvey introduced Owen, Pierce and Lake, and talked about their hectic shoot in Thailand. “We told them were making a movie about Cambodia,” he joked.
I asked Owen about that news that his dad, Bob Wilson, the great former PBS exec, has Alzheimer’s. He told me that this actually began about three years ago. The news breaking last week was old news to him, his brothers and mother, who have pulled together. It’s a tragedy for the Wilson family as the brothers continue to rack up career successes.
Last week our Leah Sydney checked out producer Gary Walters’ screening of “No Escape” in LA, by the way. She reports:
Producer Gary Michael Walters, CEO of Bold Films, hosted a screening at UTA in Beverly Hills of his newest film, “No Escape,” which could be a sleeper hit of the late summer for The Weinstein Company. Gary, the accomplished son of the one and only legendary publicist Norby Walters (known in Hollywood for his famous poker games and his annual Oscar “Night Of A 100 Stars” gala) was with his lovely wife Irene cheering their son from the last row. They should be proud, Gary has terrific taste; he executive produced the terrific “Night Crawler” and “Whiplash.”
Now add “No Escape” to that list. Co-written by the brothers John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle and directed by John, it’s a story that we’ve seen before, but never like this, it’s executed practically perfectly. The film opens with a normal family, Owen Wilson, (Jack Dwyer) who is one of the most likable actors on the screen, Lake Bell, who plays his wife Annie with as much appeal as Owen, two terrific young girls, Claire Geare and Sterling Jerins, who play their children, all flying to their new home overseas (the film was shot in Thailand) where Dad is about to start a seemingly swanky job. They quickly get caught in the middle of a surprise coup, and the rest of the film is their harrowing adventures to escape. What the Dowdles do so well is from the opening scene, you are tethered to the emotional journey of this family.
The actors, including a terrific Pierce Brosnan, are as authentic as they come. John Dowdle paid tribute to Gary before the screening by telling the crowd, “We were working on this for years, it was a cursed production until we came to Bold, Gary changed everything.” Lake Bell then followed him by saying, “I just want to say, I’m sorry and you’re welcome.”
Lake was right, it’s a nail biter, and nerve wracking but it holds your attention from start to finish. The actor Robert Forster agreed and told me that, “It’s gripping from start to finish. There is no place to hide.”
John told me that, “At one point the Thailand government shut us down because they were worried we’d set off the real thing.”
Dowdle lavished praise on his cast. He said, “Lake is an actor everyone loves, from the crew, to the audience. She is exactly who she appears to be. “ He lavishes praise on Owen as well. “We’ve just seen a sliver of what Owen can do.” What that also means is that Owen was more than keen to do his own stunts, which had John worried to say the least. He explained, “Owen did pretty much his own stunts. There were times I had to go to his trailer and say ‘please, you have to wear a harness, it’s not safe.’ He was actually willing to do it without. I told him, ‘Hey, I can’t afford to lose a day or you on this production.”
Besides Forster, Lawrence Bender, Joanna Cassidy, looking red hot, and talented filmmaker Adam Rifkin, Walters produced Rifkin’s Reality Show” series on Showtime all came out to support their pal Gary.
Music: Sting’s Ingenious Daughter, Eliot (Coco) Sumner Has the Most Refreshing Sound of the Summer
I am quite tired of endless bubblegum songs by pop tarts, aren’t you? Music was so much more interesting circa 1979. So here’s “Species” by Eliot (Coco) Sumner, ingenious daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler. This is the most refreshing sound I’ve heard so far in the summer of 2015– and the most sophisticated. I like that Eliot recalls Joy Division/New Order as if sung by Marianne Faithfull. Very cool.
Listen to this once and it will be stuck in your head:
Eliot (yes that was her given name, Coco was a nickname) says “I love science fiction. Most sci fi involves a new alien species that doctors and scientists probe and observe. I’ve always felt quite alien so the song comes from a very real place.”
Eliot will be headlining two upcoming shows, in Los Angeles at Bardot on August 31st and New York at Pianos on September 16th. Last week marked the beginning of Eliot’s August and September tour with On An On with stops in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and more. Her EP comes out August 28th.
Early Reflections SMPLR Digital Tracklist:
1. Information
2. Firewood
3. After Dark
4. Come Friday
5. I Followed You Home
Eliot Sumner Tour Dates:
*with On An On
8/20 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom *
8/21 Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge *
8/22 Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room *
8/25 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
8/26 Austin, TX @ Holy Mountain *
8/28 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar *
8/29 Tucson, AZ @ Flycatcher *
8/30 San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
8/31 Los Angeles, CA @ Bardot
9/1 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo *
9/3 San Francisco, CA @ Popscene at Rickshaw Stop *
9/4 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge *
9/6 Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
9/8 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court *
9/9 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge *
9/11 St. Louis, MO @ Firebird *
9/12 Nashville, TN @ The High Watt *
9/13 Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
9/15 Washington, DC @ DC9 *
9/16 New York City, NY @ Pianos
9/17 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right *
9/18 Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy *
9/19 Hamden, CT @ The Space *
9/20 Allston, MA @ Great Scott *
9/22 Toronto, ONT @ The Drake Hotel *
9/23 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
9/24 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
One Direction “Break Up”: Is It a Stunt? News Pushed Single Sales Way Up Overnight
So One Direction is breaking up. Or are they? The news didn’t hurt them at all. Indeed, “Drag Me Down,” which had been languishing on the iTunes chart around number 12, is up to number 5 over night.
update 1:30pm– it’s up to number 4
It’s too soon to know what’s happened at radio, and whether “Drag Me Down” is going to get played more because One Direction is now the topic of news. But the leaked story from People.com certainly catalyzed what had been a dreary singles launch for the group.
Last week, after I wrote that the single was floundering, One Direction’s PR countered that they didn’t need a video to have a hit. Right after that they launched a video that got over 4 million views on YouTube. But the video didn’t seem to spur singles sales of “Drag Me Down.”
I am told that the 5th One Direction album, probably called “Five,” will hit stores before Christmas. The likely date is November 6, so Sony can beat Universal Music Group’s Justin Bieber album to the punch. If not, they’ll have to go closer to Christmas.
And then what? For some reason, the “word” is that One Direction will stay together through February to promote– but not to tour for– the album. My guess is that if the album is a hit, they might be encouraged to do more. But if it’s a flop, the “hiatus” gives them an out.
Oscar Winner Forest Whitaker Coming to Broadway in Eugene O’Neill’s “Hughie”
Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is coming for Tony Awards season next spring. He’ll star in Michael Grandage’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Hughie.” The Shuberts are producing. It will be a short run to try and get Whitaker a Tony Award, then adios. But we’ll see how receptive the Broadway community– and the Tonys– are to another Hollywood star swooping in to collect a gold statue. It doesn’t work most of the time. But the box office should be big, and that’s the main thing.