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Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and co. wanted a new trial over the “Blurred Lines” fiasco. But a judge has ruled that’s not happening. “Blurred Lines” remains plagiarized from Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” Judge John A. Kronstadt of US District Court, Central California did lower the financial damages, however. Pharrell’s exposure has been downsized from $1,610,455.31 to $357,630.96.
Robin Thicke still got to give it up.
“Blurred Lines” will continue to be played on the radio and sold as a recording, but now the Gayes get “ongoing royalties.”
What a mistake it was to take this to trial. Since this happened, Thicke and his lawyers have learned their lesson. For his new single, Thicke gave equal songwriting credit to the late great Barry White because the song “Morning Sun” is underpinned by White’s trademark orchestration. It was easier than having a new, even more embarrassing trial.
New songs often infringe old ones, and then the parties usually come to an offstage agreement. For example, “The Greatest Love of All” borrowed elements from Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.” There was a private settlement. Same with Mariah Carey’s “Emotions,” which was a re-do of The Emotions’ “Best of My Love,” by Maurice White.
I think most people know actor Norman Lloyd from his run on “St. Elsewhere” as wise Dr. Auschlander, who ran the hospital. Lloyd’s credits begin with “The Streets of New York,” from 1939, the first ever drama filmed for television. He was part of Orson Welles and John Houseman’s Mercury Theater group.
So holy moley–Norman Lloyd has a nice recurring part in Judd Apatow’s “Trainwreck,” a smash comedy that opens Friday. This is the Amy Schumer movie in which the female comic plays a young woman who drinks heavily, smokes everything, sleeps with everyone– until she meets Bill Hader, playing a sports doctor. Amy’s dad, played by Colin Quinn, lives in an assisted living facility. His pal is played by Lloyd, the oldest actor working anywhere I would guess.
“Trainwreck” is just a beautifully crafted comedy, raunchy but with a big heart. It hits the sweet spot that movies like “Bridesmaids” and “While You Were Sleeping” every so often occupy. Apatow, whose work I always enjoy (I’m a fan of “This is 40”), takes elements and themes from all his films and TV work and brings them all together here. Think “Bridget Jones” with a lot of liquor and sex, and no repentance.
There are lots of cameos, too– great basketball players Lebron James and Amare Stoudamare, Chris Evert, Marv Albert, Matthew Broderick, and so on all show up at different times. Marisa Tomei and Daniel Radcliffe appear in a movie within the movie.
In addition to all of then, Oscar winner Tilda Swinton absolutely steals the movie as the British editor of a horrid New York based magazine that sort of combines fetishistic sex and cutting edge news. It’s called Snuff. Swinton is almost unrecognizable, with long hair and her face covered in bronzer, plus an accent she told me last night she based on a friend from Essex. She is just phenomenal. Forget the Devil Wears Prada. This woman is insane and reminded me of a couple of particular magazine editors from the late 80s.
Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Bayer, and Ezra Miller– soon to be The Flash in DC Comics movies– also do fine supporting work.
Apatow accepted congrats last at Universal’s swellegant gala at Tavern on the Green after the Lincoln Center premiere. But he did tell me, “It’s all because of Amy.” A native of Rockville Center, Long Island, Schumer brought her mother, sister, and best high school pals to the premiere. (Her parents are divorced. Her father Skyped in to watch the red carpet.)
Schumer is 34. She’s been on the comedy club circuit for a long time, and included many of her friends in the movie. She’s been on a tear all winter, doing a guest gig on “The Bachelorette” and getting ink almost every single day. Like Joan Rivers or Roseanne Barr, she is just who she presents– you can tell there is no artifice. “Trainwreck” is her real life with a twist to give it cinematic structure. She hits the same real notes as Nia Vardalos did with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Watch word of mouth catapult “Trainwreck” when it opens.
As for Norman Lloyd, mazel tov. He was feted in Cannes a couple of years ago. He hasn’t made a movie since 2010, but it looks like this is his comeback. He turns 101 this fall. PS I’d love to see him on Jimmy Kimmel.
Joseph C. Phillips played Denise’s husband on the Cosby Show. He was Cliff Huxtable’s son in law. Now in a blogpost self-published, Phillips says that he knows Cosby is guilty of the things he’s been accused of– even though Phillips himself saw nothing inappropriate.
He says he ran into an actress whom Cosby had mentored. They discussed the current allegations. The young woman then confessed to Phillips what Cosby had done to her. Here’s the portion:
I was particularly shaken the afternoon I bumped into an old friend while shopping. The controversy was at its height. The story of Bill was all over the press. I hadn’t seen this woman for many years. Back in the day, I had asked her out on a few dates, but was relegated to the friend zone so fast it made my ears wiggle. We had kept in touch for a few years, but our lives had taken different paths. Over the years, I had watched with a passive interest as her career grew, so I was excited to see her and catch up a bit.
As we spoke, I recalled that Bill had been her mentor (play father, teacher…something. I couldn’t quite recall what it was). The question popped into my head.
“Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”
She looked at me and then asked, “Is it going to make me cry?”
I was a bit taken aback. “Well,” I stammered. “I hope it doesn’t make you cry.”
She smiled. “Go ahead and ask your question.”
“Back in the day,” I started. “I remember that you knew Bill – that he was like your mentor or something. Did he ever…”
Before I finished the sentence, she began to cry.
We spent the next two hours sitting on a bench talking. Through tears, she told me her story. She cursed him for violating both her trust and her body. She cursed herself for not being smarter, and for degrading herself in pursuit of success. I listened patiently. As she began to run out of steam, she turned to me. “Do you believe me?”
“Yes.” I said. “I believe you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I don’t believe that you are crazy and only a crazy person would sit with me all this time and share a fantasy.”
And that’s it. Also Whoopi Goldberg has finally changed her opinion of Cosby. I know it was hard for her. She admired him, like a lot of us. I respect her for defending him. Cosby’s real story is a bitter pill to swallow.
Jimmy Fallon is back. His story of what happened to him — Ring Avulsion– is pretty harrowing. He tripped on a rug at home, fell and almost lost his finger. He spent 10 days in the ICU, Jimmy told his audience last night.
For New Yorkers, the funnier part of the story might be that Jimmy wound up going to Bellevue. (This is usually where you go when you’ve lost your mind.) But sounds like Jimmy’s doctors at Bellevue were heroes. Bellevue is really known for excellence in trauma surgery. They came through with flying colors.
Meantime, even worse maybe, Steve Higgins got Lyme disease. The Tonight Show time off was no picnic, that’s for sure.
update: click on Janet’s name below for an update.
Janet Jackson‘s new record company may be losing sleep over her first release for BMG Records. Her new single, “No Sleeep,” got a lot of media attention when it was launched a couple of weeks ago. But so far, it’s not selling on iTunes and isn’t getting much radio play. Janet is having the same problems as Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and other older singers who are trying to stay in the game and be relevant.
“No Sleeep” has met with indifference at radio stations. According to MediaBase, which tracks airplay, “No Sleeep” is not keeping anyone awake at but a few urban stations. The single hasn’t crossed over into pop, and hasn’t caught fire at R&B stations. This may be because it’s not extremely quiet for a summer song, and doesn’t have much of a hook. It’s just sort of a riff.
The stations that are playing it are all in B markets. So far, “No Sleeep” has had little luck in New York or Los Angeles, where singles are broken.
On iTunes, “No Sleeep” hasn’t cracked the top 150 singles. It is ranked at #70 for top pop songs of 2015 overall.
To be fair, “No Sleeep” was pushed out quickly as a signal that Janet’s new album is coming this fall. Maybe all it was supposed to be was a loss leader. The album is likely to have a lot of snappier stuff. And by then Janet will have been on tour for a week, so audiences will be more enthused.
This business of selling “mature” artists– acts who we loved in the their 20s and 30s– is tough, tough, tough and frustrating for everyone. Mariah Carey had a very good album at DefJam and then a really good single in “Infinity.” But the groundswell is hard to find after the first flush of publicity. And it’s not like Janet Jackson herself is a hard sell. Everyone loves her!
Who knew? So honored. Flattered, even. In the name of Xenu, I am thrilled to report that @Showbiz411 has been blocked from following or reading Tom Cruise‘s official Twitter feed for Mission Impossible 5. Viacom shareholders, please take note. It’s your $250 million movie. But I can’t follow it anymore.
In Australia, the press is reporting there that journalist Bryan Seymour, who writes about Scientology frequently, was banned from covering the Mission Impossible junket in advance. He never even asked; his editors were told not to send him.
This is from the Australian, one of Rupert Murdoch’s oldest papers. I wonder if Cruise has figured out that Murdoch also owns Fox and has the “Minority Report” TV show: Tom Cruise bans journo
One of the world’s biggest movie stars has blacklisted an Aussie journalist. Paramount Pictures has told Channel Seven Bryan Seymour is the one reporter not approved to do an interview with Tom Cruise during promotions for his new Mission Impossible movie.
The film network passed on the instruction in writing during negotiations about which Seven reporter would interview Cruise. The reason Seymour has been sent to the sin-bin? His extensive coverage of Scientology.
Seymour believes any journo speaking to Cruise for movie puff-pieces should grill him about Scientology given he is the cult’s most famous follower. He suggests a few choice questions: what do you say to the female Scientologists forced to have abortions? What did you know about Scientology bugging your ex-wife Nicole while you were together? Why did L Ron Hubbard write in Dianetics that homosexuals are mentally ill perverts? And if top executives who have left the cult say they’re ashamed of Scientology and it’s practices, why aren’t you?
“That should start a conversation,” Seymour told Diary.
It’s doubtful any of Seven’s reporters — or any media outlets’ for that matter — would dare upset Cruise or risk ruining a relationship with Paramount by asking anything that even comes close to those questions. It’s a pity the cult of celebrity supersedes the task of exposing an actual cult.
I just got the message that Michael Masser has died at age 74. What a shame. He was as big and important a songwriter as there could have been from this last generation. He wrote “The Greatest Love of All” with Linda Creed, which became Whitney Houston’s signature song. He also co-wrote “Saving All My Love for You” and “Didn’t We Have it All.” (His lyricist was Gerry Goffin, famed late half of Carole King and …)
Masser’s other hits included Diana Ross — “Touch Me in the Morning,” “Last Time I Saw Him,” and “Do You know Where You’re Going To?”
He also wrote “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again” for Peabo Bryson and had a hit on “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” for Peabo and Roberta Flack.
Clive Davis offered the following statement on the passing of Michael Masser: “Michael Masser’s wonderful melodies are memorable and hypnotic. He is and was truly an all-time great composer. The legacy of Whitney Houston will always be permanently indebted to Michael. If it weren’t for ‘The Greatest Love of All,’ ‘Saving All My Love For You,’ ‘All At Once’ and ‘Didn’t We Almost Have It All,’ Whitney’s career would not have blazed as brightly or as uniquely. Personally, I lost a great friend whom I will forever miss.”
Masser leaves a huge legacy and a big big catalog. Condolences to his family.
A careless whisper has brought Wham singer George Michael out of hiding onto Twitter. Michael Tweeted today that despite a report in the UK Press, he is not dying from crack addiction.
Michael wrote: “To my lovelies, do not believe this rubbish in the papers today by someone I don’t know anymore and haven’t seen for nearly 18 years…”
To my lovelies, do not believe this rubbish in the papers today by someone I don't know anymore and haven't seen for nearly 18 years…
Michael added: “I am perfectly fine and enjoyed Wimbledon like the rest of you. Wish it went to 5 sets though!…”
His first Tweets in some time (just a couple recently, and then nothing for about a year) caused newly minted star Sam Smith to exchange greetings with him.
Michael’s cousin’s wife told the Sun, a UK tabloid: ‘He was smoking crack. Before he went away he was he got to the point where he would be shaking, saying, “I need it.” The paper used a picture of Jackie and her husband, George’s first cousin, from 1998. Haha.
Making money off of George Michael by selling stories to tabloids is an easy business. The singer has had numerous drug arrests, has been in and out of rehab, and is scarcely seen. He released a new album last year called “Symphonica,” but it didn’t sell too well. He toured only in Europe, and didn’t do promotion in the US.
In June, Michael’s reps denied a report from a German tabloid saying he was in a very expensive Swiss rehab clinic.
I’ve been writing about rock music pretty much my whole life. Let’s say 40 years and leave it at that. The best movie ever about the rock life, and certainly the most honest and accurate? Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous.” There isn’t a false note in it.
The worst? Even worse than that Russell Brand movie, “Get Me to the Greek”? Denis Leary’s new FX show “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.” There’s barely a real note in it, starting with the show not using the original, real punk rock song it’s based on as a theme– Ian Dury’s classic and memorable “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.” This is where the title comes from for the TV show. But I guess it was more important for Leary and co. to write their own song, and collect the royalties.
So strike one.
Leary plays a washed up rock singer called Johnny Rock who insists he’s 50 (he’s 58 in real life). He had a band called the Heathens. It’s unclear if they ever had a hit or not, or whether the band was briefly successful at all. It’s also unclear what Johnny’s been doing for years and years. Has he been walking around dressed like a 70s rocker for 40 years? Or working at Bleecker Bob’s Record Store in the Village?
His former Heathens bandmate, “Flash” (think Slash) is played by John Corbett. They’re supposed to be a Steven Tyler-Joe Perry combination estranged for some time. Flash is now playing in Lady Gaga’s band and considered a great success. (Haha. Can you name in anyone in Gaga’s real life band? No. But on this show, Flash is consequently a “star.” Ok, why not?)
Unlike Leary, Corbett is actually a musician in real life. That helps since it’s a music show. But music is not the strong suit of this show. It’s kind of generic rock, circa 1985, and not often heard on the show. You almost don’t want to hear it, because you know that the standard here is somewhere between Quarterflash and Poison. (You may wince here.)
Into Johnny Rock’s sort of miserable life comes a 25 year old illegitimate daughter named Gigi, the product of an old fling. She wants to be a rocker and has a salty lexicon– she curses like a sailor. But she can’t write songs, so she’s moved to New York from Peoria to get Johnny and Flash to write her hits– even though they haven’t had hits. (It’s amazing they never had one–even REO Speedwagon had hits.)
If this show were set in 1985, you might believe it. But I can’t think of a young female singer in 2015 who would come to New York in search of wrinkled, pickled ne’er do well rockers to help her make it in the business. It makes no sense. And Gigi is also arriving in a music business that has no black people. Because Leary’s idea of rock is totally circa 1985– hair bands. It makes no concession to the massive changes in the business. Where are the rappers, samplers, hip hoppers, producers etc? Gigi aspires to be Pat Benatar or the Wilson sisters, not Taylor Swift or Katy Perry. The show should been set in 1990.
Meanwhile Johnny Rock sports a Linda McCartney haircut from the 70s. I am not sure what they were going for here. If Johnny Rock really existed, he’d have long given up the music business because it gave him up. He’s sort of like the “Encino Man” of rock music.
I watched five episodes. I have no idea why Gigi is considered a rock star. Like Johnny, she talks and talks and talks. Her singing is average and she looks ok, but nothing special. At 25, she’s also a little long in the tooth to be just starting out, also a little old to be now looking for her father. If she were 18, you might buy it. The one concession to 2015 is that Gigi is constantly on her phone discussing her “followers” and things that have gone “viral.” (She sounds like a grandmother when she talks like this, too.)
Denis Leary knew a lot, I guess, about firemen. That’s why “Rescue Me” worked. He doesn’t know much about rock or the life around it. The show’s consultant is Greg Dulli, of the Afghan Whigs. Who? Exactly. Johnny keeps going on and on about the Afghan Whigs. This was a very obscure group (1986-2001) that never had a hit, just a small cult following. Really small. I actually burst out laughing every time their name was invoked as a measure of success. ( On the imdb, Episode 1 is described “While watching a sold out Afghan Whigs reunion show leads Johnny to try and get his old band back together.” A sold out Afghan Whigs show? In your dreams.)
Mostly, “Sex and Drugs”– as it drags on and on– wraps itself in a very shmaltzy father-daughter blanket. Gigi doesn’t know Johnny and he didn’t know she existed, but she’s immediately calling him “Dad.” The episodes start to take on a Father Knows Best feel. I thought he was almost going to call her “kitten” or “princess.” The point is supposed to be rock bands are like a family, and with Johnny’s new daughter, it’s all covered in a warm family fuzzy glow. But really? Yikes.
And there are logistical things you start to wonder about: Gigi’s mother gave her $200,000 to come to New York and find her bliss? WTF? And also, Gigi’s mom never told Johnny she’d had a kid? This was born in 1990, not 1950. So the mother was rich? So rich that she didn’t want her kid to know her father?
No, I really didn’t like “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” and I don’t want to hear about it again. I am hopeful that the Mick Jagger produced HBO show written by Terry Winter, set in the 70s, is great. I still have high hopes for Cameron Crowe’s “Roadies.” But really, this was not very convincing and sort of painful.
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” at number 1 on the US charts. The Stones had already been on the charts, but this was their breakthrough moment. “Satisfaction” is their signature song. For years I thought maybe it was also the greatest rock song of all time. Maybe it’s equal to “Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles, but the latter is much more pop. “Satisfaction” is the simplest expression of rock. The debate goes on and on…
ABKCO is selling a new 12″ vinyl of “Satisfaction” you can get on Amazon, etc. and all the usual places. It’s a cool souvenir whether or not your turntable is set up. Kids, if you’ve got one from Urban Outfitters, you want this record.
In the meantime, here’s the group performing live back in the day, as well as Otis Redding’s amazing cover, which was also a hit:
The Stones:
Otis Redding’s cover version:
The indefatigable Bob Merlis sends this message about “Satisfaction” and its B sides:
The iconic guitar riff that opens the song was composed by Keith Richards who recorded the sequence of notes on a home tape recorder while in a dreamlike state in the middle of the night when the band was on tour in the U.S. After listening to his own recording and devising the song title “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” he played the riff for Mick Jagger by the pool at the Gulf Motel in Clearwater, FL in early May, 1965. Jagger immediately composed the lyrics.
Having scrapped a version of “Satisfaction” that was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago on May 10, the group re-recorded the song at RCA Studios in Hollywood, CA on May 12. It was this version that would take over the airwaves and shoot up the charts the following month.
Textured by the aid of a Maestro Fuzz-Tone pedal, Richards’ riff was originally intended to be replaced by a horn section, but the recording sounded complete to producer/manager Andrew Loog Oldham and engineer David Hassinger. Jagger’s lyrics, simultaneously expressing sexual frustration and disdain for consumerist messages, would strike a nerve with the mostly young, rock ‘n’ roll buying public. Ironically, the only two people in the Stones’ camp who were initially against turning “Satisfaction” into a single were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
“The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man,” credited to Nanker Phelge (a pseudonym used on compositions written by the entire band), is a lighthearted jab at George Sherlock, an employee of London Records at the time, who accompanied the group on their first U.S. tour. The Stones saw Sherlock as a vain, toupee-topped, seersucker suited music biz flunky who was ultimately harmless. In later years, Sherlock expressed pride in having been the subject of the song. Loosely based on Buster Brown’s hit “Fannie Mae,” it is the lyrical content that gives the tune historic importance; the prodding of authority figures through song was almost unprecedented at the time. In the UK, Decca decided to instead use the country-blues composition “The Spider and the Fly” (also by Jagger/Richards) as the B-side to “Satisfaction,” the company assuming that the abundance of American references on “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man” may have gone over the heads of British listeners.
Pressed by Quality Record Pressings in Salina, KS, and limited to 10,000 numbered copies in North America, ABKCO’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” 12-inch single will be released a half-century to the day after the landmark song dominated U.S. charts and helped transform the course of pop music history.
