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U2: Amazing, Innovative “Innocence” Show Has Nods to Johnny Cash, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Sex Pistols

Roger Friedman
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U2: Amazing, Innovative “Innocence” Show Has Nods to Johnny Cash, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Sex Pistols

I can’t say U2 is taking it easy. Their “Innocence and Experience” show at MSG last night was about as exciting and innovative as you can get.

Of course, they could have called it “I’m Still Standing” as the entire floor of the Garden is General Admission– i.e. no seats. Three hours. If you go– and you must– wear sneakers and bring a cane!

Two nights ago, Paul and Nancy McCartney stood in one of the two VIP risers on the floor. McCartney, a great live show man, must have really soaked in how Bono et al re-designed the Garden in a way I’ve never seen for a rock show.

bono iphoneLast night the guests included Charlie Rose and Gayle King, actor Peter Sarsgaard, a bevy of models, designer Tory Burch, and AOL-Verizon chief Tim Armstrong.

The show, an interactive video extravaganza, turns the usual rock concert on its head. It’s at once grandly bombastic and simply intimate, with many stages running lengthwise cutting through the center of the venue. The staging reminded me a little of David Byrne’s Public Theater musical, “Here Lies Love.” Maybe that show was an influence. But it definitely relieves the rock band of the static notion of always being at one end of the stadium. Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry are able to move about freely through the giant room. And there’s no obstructed view– it’s rock in the round. Special kudos to the lighting designer.

The show also has nods– and I’m assuming pays royalties to– a variety of other composers including Patti Smith, Paul Simon, the Sex Pistols, Johnny Cash (who is literally the intermission entertainment, his animated image performing against the Berlin Wall), and Stephen Sondheim. Bono sort of knits together all of his favorite things– including the Irish troubles, Nelson Mandela, and the themes of freedom and equality.  U2’s “One” charity and “Red” products are also heavily promoted, in a good way.

The set included requisite U2 hits– “With or Without You,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”– as well as a bunch of cuts from the band’s latest album, “Songs of Innocence.”

The real achievement (aside from the financial– no seats and all standing means they can pack in more people) of this show is seeing how all four members of U2 function as one. Edge’s jangly guitar still sends goosebumps. Larry Mullen’s drums pound propulsively. But it was Adam Clayton’s bass that really caught my eye last night– it’s maybe key to U2’s trademark– and for some of us– brilliantly reassuring sound.

Bono remains a great show, gifted with gab and ceaseless energy, a sense of humor and that unmistakable voice. He has the heart of a crooner even when he’s belting over the sonic accompaniment of his three colleagues.

 

All photos c2015 Showbiz411 on a Lumix ZS20

“General Hospital” Star Michelle Stafford Has Sneaked Scientology into Nickelodeon

Roger Friedman
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“General Hospital” Star Michelle Stafford Has Sneaked Scientology into Nickelodeon

Scientology may have been outed on HBO’s “Going Clear” but it’s going strong at Nickelodeon.

The children network’s Nickmom.com website is currently featuring short films from Michelle Stafford, the extremely mannered actress who jumped from one soap opera–  “The Young and the Restless”– to another–  “General Hospital” last year.

Stafford is an avowed member of Scientology. So is her production: everyone involved with her “Secret Mind of a Single Mom” is from Scientology. Just about the entire credit list, from actors to crew, are members of the cult.

That includes– and I must say, I’m shocked– an actor named David O’Donnell. He’s the grandson of famed Kennedy adviser and chief of staff Kenny O’Donnell. Kennedy– as in President John F. Kennedy. Unlike his Harvard grad grand-dad, David O’Donnell — according to his bio — skipped college and headed west where he studied acting with famed Scientologist Milton Katselas (now deceased).

Frighteningly, O’Donnell seems to be a 20 year member of the cult, working his way up to Operating Thetan level 5. This means he knows where the aliens are, and believes in them.

Meantime, Stafford’s Nickmom.com project is similar to the web series she produced two years ago. I wrote about it then, and it’s all the same people. It’s unclear if Nickelodeon, which is owned by Viacom, knows what’s going on. Coincidentally, Viacom also pays Tom Cruise millions for his “Mission Impossible” movies.

Here’s Janet Jackson’s Video for “No Sleeep” with J Cole: She’s Not Aging, But She Is Sleeping

Roger Friedman
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Here’s Janet Jackson’s Video for “No Sleeep” with J Cole: She’s Not Aging, But She Is Sleeping

Does Janet Jackson age? She looks the same as she did 20 years ago in this new video for “No Sleeep.” That’s three ‘e’s. And no verses. She must look good because she’s so rested from all that sleeep.

And a little Friday retro:

Exclusive: Bobbi Kristina Brown Remains in Hospice After One Month

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Bobbi Kristina Brown Remains in Hospice After One Month

Bobbi Kristina Brown remains in hospice one month after she arrived. I’ve confirmed that she’s still alive, has not passed away yet, and has not had a funeral.

The daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown entered an Atlanta hospice one month ago. But as has been pointed out, the 22 year old is young, was not suffering from a debilitating illness. It’s taking her body a much longer time to shut down.

Anyone who’s been through this process knows how agonizing it is for the family. Photos of a white tent and hearses pulling in and out of Peachtree Hospice made tabloids draw conclusions of all kinds. But I am told the white tent was erected to give some privacy to families of other patients. Hearses, of course, are a natural occurrence at a hospice.

I am assured that when Bobbi Kristina passes an official announcement will be made right away. She will have a private and low key funeral and burial near her mother’s grave. What’s happened to her is a tragedy.

Mariah: “Shalom!” Announces Concert Date In Israel (Watch Cute Video)

Roger Friedman
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Mariah: “Shalom!” Announces Concert Date In Israel (Watch Cute Video)

Mariah Carey is playing the Rishon Lezion Amphitheater on August 18th in Tel Aviv. Here’s her cute Instagram. “Shalom!” she says. Rishon Lezion can accommodate 20,000 people, Mariah should have no trouble filling the place.

Watch Tom Cruise Interview Himself at Vienna Premiere of “Mission Impossible”

Roger Friedman
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Watch Tom Cruise Interview Himself at Vienna Premiere of “Mission Impossible”

Tom Cruise– the Mission Impossible 5 Rogue Nation premiere in Vienna this evening was beautifully scripted. Cruise appears in a tuxedo with the local Austrian TV anchor. The anchor asks him one or two questions and Tom makes several long memorized speeches to promote the movie. Is he live or Memorex? If I have to hear about him hanging from the plane one more time…

Move the cursor to 52:00 and watch the whole thing unfold. If you watch the whole video, it seems he arrived in casual clothes to sign autographs, then changed into formal wear. Versatile!

Leonardo DiCaprio Raises $40 Mil, But Foundation Hasn’t Filed Itemized Report Since 2008

Roger Friedman
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Leonardo DiCaprio Raises $40 Mil, But Foundation Hasn’t Filed Itemized Report Since 2008

Big headlines: Leonardo DiCaprio’s private foundation raised $40 million for environmental causes ast night in St. Tropez. Lots of big stars were on hand, and the press is everywhere.

But LDF, as Leo calls it, hasn’t filed a public itemized report since 2008. That’s the year that DiCaprio moved his foundation under the California Community Fund, which files reports in general as a summary for all its funds.

LDF is not itemized, so there’s no way of knowing what’s happening. Transparency is zilch.

From 2000 to 2008, LDF was on its own and filed individual reports. By its last couple of years, DiCaprio was giving between $200,000 and $250,000 to mostly environmental groups. The directors of the foundation included his parents and ubiquitous Hollywood – Harvard liaison Jeffrey Sachs.

DiCaprio’s move into the CCF removed his foundation from any public scrutiny. This would be unlike Madonna, whose Ray of Light Foundation is often chronicled in this space, or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Last week, DiCaprio announced that he was donating $15 million to 30 different organizations. But there’s absolutely no way of knowing what’s really going on, other than relying on press releases. And the press does a great job of that.

There’s no question that DiCaprio is committed to investing in the environment. His commitment stretches back to 1998, the year after he made real money– a reported $100 million — from “Titanic.” But it would seem a little less sketchy to have the details, just as with most other foundations.

Uber Spending Millions To Defeat NYC Mayor’s Limitation Proposal, Plus Investors Like Ashton Kutcher

Roger Friedman
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Uber Spending Millions To Defeat NYC Mayor’s Limitation Proposal, Plus Investors Like Ashton Kutcher

TV star Ashton Kutcher, who I like, is not telling the truth on Twitter. He’s using his millions of followers to try and influence the New York City council to prevent limitations on Uber. He’s not telling his followers that he’s a major investor in Uber.

Marcy Simon is a top exec at mega PR firm Burson Marsteller. They did and maybe still do represent Uber. Simon is using her Twitter feeds to advocate for Uber without any transparency. She’s a big player in the tech PR world, a close associate of Google’s Eric Schmidt among others.

Ken Kurson is reporting in the New York Observer that Uber is spending millions to influence New Yorkers on TV and radio to keep Uber from being limited by Mayor DeBlasio and the council. It’s a must read piece.

Anyone who lives in Manhattan knows that cab rides have turned into expensive affairs. This is largely because congestion has made traffic come to a stand still. Uber and other private car companies have increased traffic ten fold. Just get in a vehicle and try to move up Sixth Avenue. Impossible. It’s like a parking lot nearly all day.

Uber and the other private companies must be curtailed. There is just so much room on New York’s avenues. They’ve pushed it to the limit. Or over the limit.

I am amused by non New Yorkers telling us about our transportation. Since 1904 we’ve lived very well on a very functional transit system. There are good days and bad. But the subway is a modern miracle. The buses are extremely agreeable. And we have lived very well on yellow cabs. There are always cabs. No one is still waiting for a cab. Just wait. One is coming.

Uber is great in the suburbs, and cities where it’s harder to get around. But it’s almost completely unnecessary in New York City. Unless, of course, you’re on their payroll.

I don’t agree with Mayor DeBlasio on a lot of things. But this time he’s right. Time to put the brakes on.

UPDATE Adam Sandler “Pixels” Wipes Out with Critics, Scores a Zero with Major Reviewers

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Adam Sandler “Pixels” Wipes Out with Critics, Scores a Zero with Major Reviewers

1:33PM WEDS: “Pixels” has 14 of 14 negative reviews including the major reviewers. Even if one or two pajama bloggers post something positive, the fate is sealed. Wipe out.

EARLIER “Pixels” is coming, but so far there are no reviews posted anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. The CGI semi animated film is being talked about on message boards as “the worst movie I’ve ever seen” by several who’ve seen it. My source from last week’s screening echoed that comment. So far there are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, even though both “Southpaw” and “Paper Towns” — the two big movies this weekend– are largely accounted for.

Sandler has mostly been in flops for the last five years. The sole exceptions are the interminable “Grown Ups” and its sequel. Otherwise, the list of disasters includes last year’s “The Cobbler” — which didn’t even post box office numbers– as well as “Blended” $46.2 million– and “Men, Women and Children” — $705K– yes thousand.

“That’s My Boy” and “Jack and Jill,” each made with a target audience of morons, were mostly DOA. To be fair the latter film squeaked out $74 million. It was likely profitable since its costs were minimal.

Sandler’s big run of $100 million movies was back in 2007-2008. Since then I guess much of his audience has been confined, restrained, or institutionalized. Maybe that’s why he’s headed to Netflix, so the homebound can see his work.

Keep refreshing as we monitor the “Pixels” reviews…

E.L. Doctorow, Great American Novelist of “Ragtime” Fame, Dies at 84

Roger Friedman
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E.L. Doctorow, Great American Novelist of “Ragtime” Fame, Dies at 84

Ed Doctorow was one of the few people I was actually in awe of– a real writer, a great writer, a pure novelist whose gift is a legacy. “Ragtime,” “The Book of Daniel,” “Loon Lake,” “Billy Bathgate,” “Welcome to Hard Times.” Dead at age 84. He was a great editor first, at Dial Press, before his books took off. Condolences to his family.

Heartbreaking. Thanks, E.L. Doctorow, one of the last of the greats.

The great opening line that would introduce us to Father, Mother, Mother’s Younger Brother, Coalhouse Walker and all those wonderful characters: “In 1902 Father built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York.” Doctorow wove together fiction and history the right way, never erring to do justice to facts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awBmXjSgEus
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in the New York Times of Ragtime, 7/8/75: “It works so well that one devours it in a single sitting as if it were the most conventional of entertainments. And the reviewer is tempted to dispense with heavy breathing and analysis and settle down to mindless celebration of the pure fun of the thing. Of the passages in which one Harry Houdini, grown dissatisfied with being “a trickster, an illusionist, a mere magician,” sails to Europe, learns to fly a biplane and performs a few turns before the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who “gazed. . .with stupid heavy-lidded eyes” and “didn’t seem to know who Houdini was. He congratulated him on the invention of the airplane.” Or of the scene in which a J. P. Morgan and a Henry Ford get together in a mansion on New York’s West 36th Street, exchange their respective thoughts on reincarnation and “found the most secret and exclusive club in America, The Pyramid, of which they were the only members.”

Please read from 1980: https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/03/05/specials/doctorow-sign.html

 

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