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EXCLUSIVE I emailed Billy Joel this afternoon to congratulate him and wife Alexis on the birth of their baby girl, Della Rose. Billy responded: “It’s a wonderful life.”
As a follow up, he wrote: Even sweeter at this age. I’m a lucky man. Some people will disagree.
Mostly those who are discontent with the way their own lives went. But, then again, If I listened to those people I’d still be washing dishes at Nick’s Luncheonette in Hicksville.”
Billy is much blessed. He has a lovely new family, and a beautiful adult daughter, Alexa Ray, who is the apple of his eye. He’s one of our great talents, and one of my favorite people. Mazel tov!
PS Maybe all this bliss will inspire him to release some new music. In the meantime, I’ve been humming this all day:
Gabriel Day Lewis is the talented model-musician son of Daniel Day Lewis and Isabelle Adjani. He’s debuting today in Calvin Klein’s fall Platinum campaign. Gabriel is also a musician who’s about to release some new tunes.
He’s also mourning the loss, he says on Instagram, of two friends. One of them is Ian Jones, the model-photographer who died tragically this past week in the kayaking accident that involved Annie Lennox’s daughter (who survived).
Gabriel writes: “I simply cannot believe that I’ve had to say goodbye to two of my friends this week. What an improbable, heart breaking tragedy. Losing those with whom you were close is devastating. I’m trying to get back on my feet, the kind words that have been said both to me and Ian’s family have given me some of the strength that I’m in dire need of. Though I know that future opportunities with these friends are no longer existential, I cherish and value the moments that were spent with these two amazing guys. I love you so much Ian. I know you are up there amongst the Angels, looking down on us. I love you so so much. Thank you for being a part of my life.”
This is tough at 22. Gabriel also wrote of losing his friend, Jordan Boris, who died in a riptide in the Hamptons:
“I’m speechless. I found out today that my friend Jordan passed away. I haven’t been able to stop the tears. He was so dear to me, a beautiful soul that had an irrevocable impact on mine. You left us too soon my brother. Your light will never be extinguished as it lives on in our hearts. My prayers and profound thoughts go out to his family and his beautiful little girl. What a tragedy, our lives are so fragile. Every moment alive is a moment to cherish. I love you man. Rest in beautiful peace.”
Eden Svendahl was recruited by Bill Cosby for a role on the Cosby Show. She says Cosby told her she had “it” and “was I willing to do what it took?”
Svendahl was one of three women whom Gloria Allred presented today as accusers of Bill Cosby– all three said they were molested, harassed, or raped in different ways. These three women all seem like their stories are worse than the others, but of course they are all terrible.
The two other women really have awful stories–Linda Apollo Whitedeer, and Colleen Hughes. I’ll embed the press conference. Keep refreshing.
Keith Richards goes digital in 48 hours. His first two solo albums, Talk is Cheap, and Main Offender hit Spotify and other digital platforms for the first time on Friday. These albums feature my favorite two Keith singles, “Make No Mistake,” featuring the stunning Sarah Dash of Labelle, and “Hate it When You Leave.”
PS Sarah Dash is having a birthday brunch show August 23rd at 54Below in New York. Tell her you heard it from me, and say I was pissed she didn’t invite me properly!
So, why the heck did HBO’s “Show Me a Hero” miss the Emmy cut off? Timing is everything! The Paul Haggis directed mini-series, written and produced by David Simon of “The Wire” fame, is the one reason to watch TV in August. The next awards it can be up for will be Golden Globes.
“Show Me a Hero” is like a great Sidney Lumet movie about politics and corruption in New York, with a heavy dose of Haggis, an expert at following different story threads to a conclusion.
Oscar Isaac, soon to play Han Solo’s kid in the new Star Wars and already a star from “Inside Llewyn Davis,” is Al Pacino-like riveting as real life Yonkers, New York mayor Nick Wasicsko who had to guide the city through a violent housing desegregation in the mid 1980s. Winona Ryder, who doesn’t work enough, makes a sensational comeback of sorts as a local councilwoman who stood up against the local Yonkers bigots who didn’t want blacks and low income families living in their neighborhoods.
The whole cast is top notch, with Bob Balaban, LaTanya Richardson, Alfred Molina, Jim Belushi, Catherine Keener, Peter Riegert, and Jon Bernthal among the standouts. The whole show is like a Who’s Who of the Best Actors Around as the tragic story of Wasicscko’s ride as the youngest mayor of a major city plays out.
Yonkers, if you don’t know, is a hidden big city directly north of New York’s City’s the Bronx in Westchester County and very much like that borough– except instead of the Yankees, it has a lot of inner city problems.
How hard was “Show Me a Hero” to make? When principal photography concluded, the show’s co-writer and executive producer, Simon’s long time partner, actually had a stroke. Simon joked, “He was back in time for post-production.”
Last night’s premiere brought out Marisa Tomei, Samuel L. Jackson, Joel Coen and Frances McDormand, and my old friend, designer Kai Milla (ex-Mrs. Stevie Wonder) who told me she’s bringing a new line of clothes to Fashion Week next month with a big show at the snazzy Baccarat Hotel.
And Oscar? Are you following this guy? His career is a straight trajectory up for the last 10 years. He’s got Star Wars and X Men coming up. I’m certain he will have his own Oscar before he turns 40. Nice guys finish first sometimes!
Uggie, the amazing Jack Russell terrier who stole the Oscar winning movie “The Artist,” has passed away at age 13. Well, he was put to sleep apparently according to a Facebook post. Uggie became an overnight sensation after starring in “The Artist” with Jean DuJardin and Berenice Bejo. He danced on stages all over the world, and attended the Academy Awards. The night before the Oscars he was feted at The Weinstein Company party at Soho House in Los Angeles, where he posed all night for pictures and signed autographs. I’ll never forget his trainer carrying him around on a pillow. The word was that Uggie had picked up a publicist and agent, wouldn’t do interviews, and had become very difficult. But really, he was a charmer. He even published a memoir in 2012.
from Facebook:
We regret to inform to all our friends, family and Uggie’s fans that our beloved boy has passed away. We were not planning on posting anything until we healed a little more but unfortunately somebody leaked it to TMZ and they will be announcing it. In short, Uggie had a cancerous tumor in the prostate and is now in a better place not feeling pain. Thank you for your support, I will not be reading any comments for a while as it is too painful at the moment.
Someone call the Karma Police! Dronemeister Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame is composing music for a Broadway play.
That’s right. Yorke is joining the Roundabout Theater production of Harold Pinter’s “Old Times” starring Clive Owen, Eve Best, and Kelly Reilly. Douglas Hodge is directing, and the show opens October 6th for a short run.
Yorke says in a press release: ““It’s been a pleasure working with Doug on my first stage production. I’ve enjoyed exploring through music the script’s themes of love and memory as well as Pinter’s rhythms, twists and turns.”
OK, sounds like fun. Here’s a little Radiohead for a Monday morning:
Broadway’s “Doctor Zhivago” didn’t make it this past spring; the stage production was beautiful but unwieldy.
Luckily, Lucy Simon’s wonderful songs live on in a just-released cast album. Below you can watch the 12 minute exclusive video of the making of the album. I think the songs stand on their own. They are really beautiful. My guess is, one day in the near future new producers will try again with “Doctor Zhivago” and these songs will already be well known to fans of the album.
Exclusive video
And here’s an earlier video of a song I really liked from the show called “Love Finds You”:
“The Man from UNCLE” is back and I’m ready for the sequel. Guy Ritchie has made such a fun, stylish origins story film about Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin that they could absolutely have played another installment at the Ziegfeld and everyone would have stayed.
And the audience included Ritchie’s kids with Madonna, son Rocco, and David Banda, the little boy they adopted from Malawi. I met the kids at the screening and they are very nice. They were quite excited for their dad.
Also in the audience: “12 Years a Slave” Oscar winning director Steve McQueen, “Crash” Oscar winning director Paul Haggis, Broadway stars Leanne Cope and Sara Esty from “An American in Paris,” Mick Jones from Foreigner with daughter Annabelle, and Maureen and Steve van Zandt. Later at the after party at the Bowery Hotel, we ran into MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell looking dapper after a day on the air.
At the premiere party, Armie Hammer — charming and affable, as always, a young Robert Redford from “The Way We Were” days– took pictures with Cope and her Broadway pals. They were, let’s say, agog. Hammer tried to dissuade them about his matinee idol status. “How about that Henry?” he said of his co-star who also plays Superman. “He’s carved out of marble!”
Will there be a sequel to “UNCLE,” I asked? Armie, bluntly said: “You never know. That’s what we thought about the Lone Ranger. And look what happened. It took me a long time to get over that.”
But back to “UNCLE”: Guy Ritchie is really the star of “The Man from UNCLE” even though he’s not in the movie. It’s just that as the director, Ritchie’s presence, personality and artistic stamp are all over the movie, and it’s a good thing. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are the actors, and they’re perfectly suave as Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin. Hugh Grant doesn’t have enough to do as Mr. Waverly, head of British Intelligence, but he might in a sequel– which I’d like to see. This movie is an origins story– it brings up to the first episode of the TV show. And it’s incredibly entertaining.
“The Man from UNCLE” is also beautifully shot, has a real sense of time (the 60s), place (Rome) and attitude (glib, willful, fun). Joanna Johnston’s costumes are sensational riffs on mod apparel, but in their own groovy-ness. Oliver Scholl’s production design is cool, cool, cool. And the props– including a mod one piece phone with the dial under the base– are dead on perfect.
The secret stars of “UNCLE” might turn out to be the ladies. Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki are absolutely essential, charming and sexy as respectively, a heroine and a villainess to counterpoint the guys. One or two movies from now you’re going to look back and say ‘Oh I know them.’ Swede Vikander with a swoony British sounding accent will be in “The Danish Girl” this fall. Debicki was the essential Jordan Baker in “The Great Gatsby” and she’s Lady McDuff in “MacBeth” also this fall starring Vikander’s boyfriend Michael Fassbender. Each of them is hot stuff.
PS As with Mission Impossible, Man from UNCLE is all about the music. The soundtrack is a lush combination of the original theme music and various similar takes including some uses of the scores from the original series. “The Man from UNCLE” theme was written by Jerry Goldsmith, who also wrote music for the show. But many other important composers contributed including Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible). All I know is, I want this CD ASAP.
