Friday, December 19, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1620

Janet Jackson: New Single is Imminent, Album Will Make Grammy Deadline

Roger Friedman
-
0

Janet Jackson’s album and world tour are on pace. This week she released a little video clip on Twitter of a potential new song. The exciting part is that she’s actually singing, not yodeling hip hop story. Her voice sounds great, very Jacksonian.

Meantime, I spoke with the head of BMG Recorded Music, Jon Cohen, co-founder of Vagrant Records. His company was merged into BMG Music Publishing and now they’re actually running a label, not just a music publisher. (“Vagrant,” Cohen reminds me, “still exists.”)

“We are working this record,” Cohen assured me of Janet’s new release. “And we are wholly invested in funding it. We’re not licensing it. We use a real recording selling staff. We’re in partnership with Janet creatively.”

Cohen says a single from Janet is due imminently– and the album should be delivered in July for a late summer release. They will definitely make the September 30th Grammy eligibility deadline.

Meantime, Janet’s social networking looks like it’s in place. She’s very active on Twitter and Facebook, where you can find videos from the dance auditions for her tour.

NBC’s Brian Williams Tells Matt Lauer on Today: “I told stories that weren’t true”

Roger Friedman
-
0
NBC’s Brian Williams Tells Matt Lauer on Today: “I told stories that weren’t true”

Here’s the video of this morning’s interview with Brian Williams. It sums up at about 9:38. “I told stories that weren’t true,” Williams, now the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, says. Lester Holt replaces him. Williams gets kicked to MSNBC so that Comcast doesn’t have to pay out any part of his contract. Williams still receives $10 million a year. “This came from a bad place…inside me,” Williams says.

To me he sounds like Richard Nixon. He never once says these words, “I lied.” Watch this video. It’s brutal– especially since NBC has embedded a Dunkin Donuts commercial with Joel McHale. Keep refreshing.

Aretha Franklin Almost Had the Hit “Upside Down” in 1980, Before Diana Ross

Roger Friedman
-
0
Aretha Franklin Almost Had the Hit “Upside Down” in 1980, Before Diana Ross

Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, didn’t think he’d be stuck in Albany on the night of his big fundraiser in the Plaza Hotel ballroom. But you know, all that rent stuff, and other matters, meant he and the legislators were not leaving the capital.

To the rescue: Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul, resplendent in a silvery super hero gown with cape. And she was like Wonder Woman, singing a few songs in exceptionally fine voice– the classic “Spring is Here,” (from offstage, and the audience was wowed), her own “Chain of Fools,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Aretha saved the day!

She did something for the Cuomo faithful that was so brilliant they almost didn’t deserve it– Aretha sat down at the shiny black shellacked baby grand piano in the Plaza ballroom and accompanied herself on “My Cup Runneth Over.” (She is a naturally gifted intuitive keyboardist who still takes lessons.) The acoustics were amazing, plus Aretha brought in a sound guy. The result was something beyond magic. She should really do a whole album like that, live and unadorned. The audience went crazy.

Afterwards, Aretha and co. headed off to her favorite spot, the Ritz Carlton bar lobby, where the staff whipped her up all kinds of delicacies. For fun, Aretha surprise-called producer Nile Rodgers to reminisce about how she turned down the song “Upside Down,” which went to Diana Ross.

“I didn’t like his presentation,” Aretha said, laughing about it now. “They wanted me to just sing it. I wanted to study it. I could have had a big number 1 hit, but I threw them [Rodgers and Bernard Edwards] outta my house!”

Luckily, she had a lot of other hits anyway.

PS The big white bandage on her arm? I’m told she got a second degree burn from steaming one of her gowns. Why she was steaming her own gown is beyond me, but Aretha likes to do-it-for-herself, like the song says.

 

photo c2015 Showbiz411.com

Emmy Voting: Why Mad Men, Grace & Frankie, Kyle Chandler and Laura Carmichael Can’t Be Ignored

Roger Friedman
-
0
Emmy Voting: Why Mad Men, Grace & Frankie, Kyle Chandler and Laura Carmichael Can’t Be Ignored

Today starts one week until Emmy Awards voting concludes on June 26th at 10pm. That’s when all ballots are due in for nominations. I watch just enough television to make some recommendations:

Without a doubt “Mad Men” is the Best Drama of 2015. Jon Hamm, who should win Best Actor, obviously gets nominated. But then, in supporting, comes John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks– at the very least. This was a show of such intelligence and humor, and real relationships and dialogue. When Don Draper comes to the desk at Esalen in the last episode, he utters what should be one of the greatest lines in drama: “People come and go, and no says goodbye.” That’s it, Matt Weiner and friends win. Also, the penultimate episode was my favorite, in which everyone gets their finale, and Don gives his car to the kid who got him beaten up.

On Netflix: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin must be nominated for “Grace and Frankie.” The series picks around the 3rd episode, and it never stops. Like “Veep,” this is sophisticated humor that needs to be recognized. Christine Lahti needs a Special Guest nomination, too.

Also on Netflix: Kyle Chandler and Ben Mendelsohn are standouts on “Bloodlines.” The series is growing on everyone. Both actors are terrific. And while I am a huge Mendelsohn fan, I do think Chandler exceeds all his previous kudos.

Netflix has great material right now. And believe me, I pay for it. Titus Burgess, from “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” seems like the no brainer Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy this year. The “Veep” guys are all MVPs, Timothy Simons maybe most especially. But Burgess is burgeoning.

“Downton Abbey” earned Joanne Froggatt praise this year, and a Golden Globe award. I’d be very happy to see her in the Emmy race. Michelle Dockery gets a lot of attention, and she’s lovely. But somehow I think Laura Carmichael, as the put upon Edith, is constantly overlooked. On the men’s side, Hugh Bonneville is my “Downton” hero. “Downton” will have its day in 2016, when the show ends. That’s when the Emmy appreciation will come.

On the networks: We may have three African American women in Best Actress in a Drama: Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, and Kerry Washington. I sure hope they make it. Julianna Margulies is the creme de la creme. But I really enjoy Tea Leoni. She can do anything. Mariska Hargitay is good every year.

As for men on network dramas, there’s a scarcity of award winning work. “Hannibal” has a raft of good actors starting with Hugh Dancy.

In comedy: if “The Comedians” isn’t nominated, along with Billy Crystal and Josh Gad, something is very, very wrong.

More Emmy thoughts later…

Neil Young New Statement: Would Have Said “No” If Trump Asked to Use Song– “Democracy Has Been Hijacked by Corporations”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Neil Young New Statement: Would Have Said “No” If Trump Asked to Use Song– “Democracy Has Been Hijacked by Corporations”

This new message from Neil Young is intended to clear things up about his song, “Rockin in the Free World” and Donald Trump.

MESSAGE FROM NEIL YOUNG

 Yesterday my song “Rockin’ in the Free World” was used in an announcement for a U.S. presidential candidate without my permission.

 

A picture of me with this candidate was also circulated in conjunction with this announcement but It was a photograph taken during a meeting when I was trying to raise funds for Pono, my online high resolution music service.

 

Music is a universal language. So I am glad that so many people with varying beliefs get enjoyment from my music, even if they don’t share my beliefs.

 

But had I been asked to allow my music to be used for a candidate – I would have said no.

I am Canadian and I don’t vote in the United States, but more importantly I don’t like the current political system in the USA and some other countries. Increasingly Democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests. The money needed to run for office, the money spent on lobbying by special interests, the ever increasing economic disparity and the well-funded legislative decisions all favor corporate interests over the peoples.

 

The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling is proof of this corruption, as well as the proposed trade deals, which would further compromise our rights.

 

These Corporations were originally created to serve us but if we don’t appropriately prioritize they will destroy us. Corporations don’t have children. They don’t have feelings or soul. They don’t depend on uncontaminated water, clean air or healthy food to survive. They are beholden to one thing – the bottom line.

 

I choose to speak Truth to this Economic Power. When I speak out on corporations hurting the common man or the environment or other species, I expect a well-financed disinformation campaign to be aimed my way.

 

Such is the case with the reaction to my new album The Monsanto Years, which covers many of these issues. I support those bringing these issues to light and those who fight for their rights like Freedom of Choice.

 

But Freedom of Choice is meaningless without knowledge.

 

That’s why it’s crucial we all get engaged and get informed.

 

That’s why GMO labeling matters. Mothers need to know what they are feeding their children. They need freedom to make educated choices at the market. When the people have voted for labeling, as they have in Vermont, they need our support when they are fighting these corporate interests trying to reverse the laws they have voted for and passed in the democratic process.

 

I do not trust self-serving misinformation coming from corporations and their media trolls. I do not trust politicians who are taking millions from those corporations either. I trust people. So I make my music for people not for candidates.

 

Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World.

 

– Neil Young

Kate Winslet Talks Kids, Hectic Family Life and How New Husband Ned Rocknroll Makes it Work

Roger Friedman
-
0
Kate Winslet Talks Kids, Hectic Family Life and How New Husband Ned Rocknroll Makes it Work

So much went on last night at the premiere of Alan Rickman’s “A Little Chaos” including a reunion with Oscar winner Kate Winslet, former New Yorker, and maybe will-be-again. She’s been living in London since having her third child– a boy named “Bear”– yes, really, and we all growled when she told me because you know, Kate Winslet is terribly funny.

At the swell party at the Monkey Bar following the MoMA screening– packed with A listers like Diane Sawyer, Christian Slater, director Fred Schepisi, and so on– Kate said of Ned (real name Abel Smith, nephew of Richard Branson): “He makes it all work. Whenever I’m too tired to do something, or I just throw up my hands and say, There’s no way we can get from here to San Francisco in three days, he calms me down and says Yes we can and does it. It’s quite remarkable.”

She said that her son, Joe, whose father is director Sam Mendes, recently realized he wasn’t living in New York anymore and really missed it. Kate said, “I think he wants to come back. You never know.”

Truly, Winslet– who I met years ago when she told me to “bugger off” at a cocktail party–looks and sounds better than ever.  She’s also at the height of her acting powers. In “A Little Chaos” her character at one point must relive a terrible trauma from her past. Winslet just seeps through until you’re so mesmerized that you forget it’s an actress speaking the lines. She knows what she’s doing.

Later in the night, when I circled back, Kate was sitting in a Monkey Bar booth having a heavy conversation with a woman who was ablaze in long, thick, frizzy gray hair framing a cherubic face. Winslet, you know, has all kinds of friends in New York from her long stint as a Mom in Chelsea. (Her PTA pals used to come to all her premieres.)

“This is Belinda,” Kate said. “She’s a magician.” An illusionist? I asked. “No, a real magician,” Belinda replied. As a journalist, I worried: “Can you make people disappear?” “I can’t,” she said, and I was relieved. Kate said, “You must visit her parlour, and she’ll show you. You can only bring eight people.” She gave me such a dead serious expression that we both almost laughed. “Now we must get back to our important conversation.”

Kate has two big movies coming this fall, after “A Little Chaos,” which is a summer break from dinosaurs and the like.  She co-stars with Michael Fassbender in the Steve Jobs movie as Joanna Hoffman, and in Jocleyn Moorhouse’s “The Dressmaker,” which we should see in the fall and sounds like her ticket to back to the Oscars. Winslet already has a Best Actress statue for “The Reader.”

Review: Hooray for “Inside Out,” Pixar’s Most Exhilarating, Clever Film in Years

Leah Sydney
-
0
Review: Hooray for “Inside Out,” Pixar’s Most Exhilarating, Clever Film in Years

“Inside Out” is Pixar’s most original, complex, clever, illuminating and exhilarating film they’ve had in years.  By far their smartest animated feature, is a truly heartfelt and moving exploration of the mechanism of the brain (inside) as it affects a young girl’s adventures from birth (outside).  At the recent morning screening at the famed El Capitan in Hollywood, children were surprisingly quiet and completely transfixed.  Director and co-writer Peter Docter (he helmed the wise “Up,”) has created an innovative story that depicts the myriad emotions kids feel in particular and how they voice them. Inside Out is a dazzling, creative film that will surely put Docter and co. back in the Oscar race.

The set up is deceptively simple: We watch Riley, a cute baby girl, grow into a popular athletic 11 year old in cozy Minnesota. But when her family is uprooted to San Francisco as she turns 11, Riley starts grappling with adolescence. From the very beginning, as we watch her development in the world, we also see Riley’s five emotions– hugely inventive characters inside her head.

Joy  is played by Amy Poehler,  Fear by Bill Hader, Anger by Lewis Black, Disgust by Mindy Kaling and Sadness by Phyllis Smith.  All these said emotions are based at ‘headquarters,’ where they operate from a control panel inside her lively head.  Just as in life the Emotions can’t agree on how to handle the seemingly seismic events going on in and outside of Riley.

This leads Joy and Sadness lurching out of home base into way weird and perilous adventures in Riley’s brain that are all visually simply stunning. Eventually they run into Riley’s imaginary friend, Bing Bong, lovingly voiced by Richard Kind (he sounds like your favorite great uncle and the Maytag repairman all rolled into one, and maybe smells like fresh deli pickles), who kind of steals the show as the most memorable of the characters.

The kids in the audience, while not getting all the emotional concepts, were nonetheless rapt in awe from what they were seeing on screen.  The adults, me for example, never lost interest for a second. That’s because Josh Cooley and Meg Lefauve’s terrific script works on several levels simultaneously– small children understand are able to laugh at and identify with the simple issues, while adults may be surprised at the layers of sophistication the screenwriters took in parsing the cerebellum.

“Inside Out” is a tour de force along the lines of “Wall E” and “Toy Story 3.” It’s totally original, not from a sequel or known material, and sheer perfection. This is one time when you hope there will be sequels.

 

 

Music Birthdays: Rocker Paul McCartney, Producer Richard Perry Each Turns 73

Roger Friedman
-
0
Music Birthdays: Rocker Paul McCartney, Producer Richard Perry Each Turns 73

What a weird musical coincidence: rocker and Beatle Paul McCartney, and famed record producer Richard Perry, each turn 73 today. Some music giants have the same birthday– Elton John and Aretha Franklin, for example– but they aren’t the exact same age. Anyway Happy Birthday to both of them. Did you know that Paul and Linda McCartney sang backup for Carly Simon on her song “Night Owl,” produced by Perry in 1972? It’s one of the many anecdotes from the memoir he’s writing about being one of the most successful producers in rock history.

Madonna’s Wreck of a New Video: 3 Weeks of Post Production, Micro Management (Watch Here)

Roger Friedman
-
0
Madonna’s Wreck of a New Video: 3 Weeks of Post Production, Micro Management (Watch Here)

Madonna’s video of “Bitch I’m Madonna” was a production disaster, I’m told. UPDATE It’s finally been released to YouTube after only being on JayZ’s pay per view system Tidal.

The video is filled with cameos by contemporary stars like Beyonce and Jay Z, and is basically a mess. I’m told that Madge either kicked out director Jonas Akerlund or he just left because of the chaos. “Madonna wants what she wants,” says a source.

Once the video was shot it required three weeks of post production. “Everybody was retouched over and over,” another source says.

Madonna micro managed the project, too, coming into the city from her various country locales to nitpick over nonsensical things.

“It’s her worst song ever,” adds one critic. Well, the reality is, she did it well on the Tonight show, but the momentum from that is long gone. Too bad, too, because as one participant says, “She had to pay for it herself.”

Donald Trump Foundation Has $2 Mil Benefactor in NY’s Most Famous Ticket Scalper

Roger Friedman
-
0
Donald Trump Foundation Has $2 Mil Benefactor in NY’s Most Famous Ticket Scalper

Donald Trump has announced his presidential candidacy, and is now a target for everything. He can take it.

But he does have at least one really big fan: Richard Ebers, aka the Ticket Man. Ebers is the most famous ticket scalper in New York. He’s been featured in the New York Times. A few years ago, after being a one man Stub Hub, he joined another entertainment company that sells secondary market tickets to concerts and sporting events. Then they were bought by Creative Artists Agency.

Richard Ebers is famous for getting tickets to events where there are no seats. He also loves Donald Trump. Ebers has donated almost $2 million over the last four years to the Donald J. Trump Foundation. He’s the foundation’s largest donor by miles, Trump at one point did get $1 million out of the World Wrestling Foundation.

Right now the Donald Trump Foundation claims $1.37 million in total assets. In 2013, according to their federal tax filing, they gave away $913,075 to a variety of worthy charities. There wasn’t a single questionable item. The most unusual entry was a donation to the Trump Foundation from Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox Foundation for $10,000.

I spoke to Richie Ebers briefly today. All he said was he really liked Donald Trump. Otherwise, he said, he was not at liberty to say why he’d given him almost $2 million. He said, mysteriously, that maybe he could explain it in the future.

Meantime, if you need tickets to anything, now we know who to call.

 

 

1...1,6191,6201,621...2,323Page 1,620 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com