Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1665

Grammy Update: Madonna, Beyonce Asked for 2 Hours of Rehearsal Time Each

Roger Friedman
-
0
Grammy Update: Madonna, Beyonce Asked for 2 Hours of Rehearsal Time Each

Grammy weekend is in full swing in Hollywood, where it’s raining. Raining! That always stinks. Meantime, rehearsals downtown at the Staples Center are full steam ahead.

Most acts get 45 minutes to perfect their performances– which are, after all, about 5 minutes long tops. But sources say both Madonna and Beyonce asked for and got 2 hours apiece. Katy Perry went just over her alotted time. “AC/DC nailed it in 20 minutes,” says a source.

Meantime, many acts are headed to the Beverly Hilton right now for Clive Davis’s big dinner and show. And several are coming from the Special Merit ceremony where Lifetime Achievement honors and the Trustees Awards are being handed out at the Wilshire Ebel Theater. In the rain!

More to come later this evening…

Rocker Alan Parsons Rebuffs Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters Request to Boycott Israel

Roger Friedman
-
5
Rocker Alan Parsons Rebuffs Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters Request to Boycott Israel

Crazy Roger Waters of Pink Floyd tried unsuccessfully to get international rock star Alan Parsons to boycott Israel. Waters belongs to BDS (I say it stands for Big Dumb you know whats) who think that getting artists to refuse to play in Israel will end the Middle East conflicts. Waters posted a letter to Facebook that he sent Parsons, lumping in Elvis Costello and Stephen Hawking as fellow boycotters. (I’ll bet if Hollywood knew Hawking was boycotting Israel, “The Theory of Everything” would be getting zero Oscar votes.)

Waters still doesn’t realize that his boycott of Israel only furthers anti-Semitism whether or not he himself is anti-Semitic.

As for me, I now urge everyone to buy or download music by the Alan Parsons project. Apparently Parsons sent Waters a scathing letter back, but asked him not to publish it. Parsons is going to play in Israel as planned. Waters thought that he could convince Parsons because back in the day Parsons was an engineer at EMI when Pink Floyd was recording there.

You do know that David Gilmour of the real Pink Floyd has nothing to do with Waters these days.

Before he started his own group, Parsons was the famed engineer on albums such as “Abbey Road” and “Dark Side of the Moon.” He launched the Alan Parsons Project in 1975 and has had 7 top 40 albums.

Waters spends his time on this foolish endeavor rather than work against Boko Harum, ISIS, or many other actual terrorist groups.

 

 

Brian Williams Out at NBC (At Least for Now) Lester Holt Takes Over Nightly News

Roger Friedman
-
0
Brian Williams Out at NBC (At Least for Now) Lester Holt Takes Over Nightly News

Brian Williams has sent this note to his colleagues at NBC. He says it’s for the next few days. But really, there’s every reason to believe he is done at Nightly News. Lester Holt replaces him starting now. Williams’ scandal is just everywhere, with no sense of abatement in the future.

“In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions.

“As managing editor of NBC Nightly News, I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days, and Lester Holt has kindly agreed to sit in for me to allow us to adequately deal with this issue. Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us.”

Exclusive Preview of Clive Davis Dinner: Pharrell, Meghan Trainor, Carole King, More

Leah Sydney
-
0
Exclusive Preview of Clive Davis Dinner: Pharrell, Meghan Trainor, Carole King, More
Notes from rehearsals at the Bev Hilton for Clive Davis’s dinner– tonight:
Clive: “It never gets anything less than most vibrant and the pride in the music that is being created. We have an incredible lineup mixing new and establish artists.  All qualitative, It will be a night of incredible music.
It’s putting on a 3 hour show that brings you to the height of musical talent.  Taylor Swift called and told me how excited she is to come, Puffy, VP Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Cook.  The Billboard story, the six pages, just floored me.”
Clive is getting the NAACP award tonight.  He said: “Aretha, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, have gotten it before, it’s is very special.  I’ve been talking to them and really moved that the artists over the years, and the music that I’ve helped give birth to has had the affect on culture that it has. And I”m keeping at it.”
Pharrell Williams came in. He was quick and  sang ‘Get Lucky.’  He told me “I’m blessed  that Clive asked me here.” I’m excited about it all.”
Carole King was next, she was supposed to rehearse a number with Pharrell but she was stuck in traffic. She  was very apologetic to Clive and recounted the last time she saw him was ‘that very sad night’ referring to Whitney Houston’s untimely death in February 2012. Carole rehearsed “You Got A Friend” and “Beautiful.”
Funny moment. Joyce Moore , wife and manager of Sam Moore greeted Carole: “If my husband were here I know you would be feeling his tuchas.” Carole looked a bit incredulous, that’s when Joyce explained who she was, to which Carole then let out a huge laugh at the inside joke. Joyce later told me that “Sam and Carole were label mates at Atlantic and have been friend for 50 years. Sam has a great ass so when they see each other Carole likes to touch it.”
Band leader Rickey Minor told me , “This is an opportunity to celebrate music and music makers and the singers that sing the songs. Clive has a way of bringing everyone together so that everyone leaves their egos outside the door.  Everyone comes to celebrate him and each other in a non competitive way.  Pure celebration.”
Surviving Bee Gee Barry Gibb told me that, “I’m thrilled to be here and honestly a bit shocked that Clive asked me.” When I asked him how was he’s faring, he answered “You know I’m the eldest, it doesn’t make sense. I always thought we would go grow old together and talk about the old days. I still have the memories though and my brothers will always be with me.”
John Legend and Meghan Trainor rehearsed  “Like I’m Going to Lose You.” After they sang she said, “that sounds so freaking good.” Mary J Blige, Sam Smith and Smokey Robinson followed.
More to come — tonight–can’t wait–
photo of John Legend and Meghan Trainor, c 2015 Showbiz411

“Jupiter” Descending: Wachowski Film $16Mil Weekend Box Office Disaster

Roger Friedman
-
0
“Jupiter” Descending: Wachowski Film $16Mil Weekend Box Office Disaster

The numbers are coming in for last night. “Jupiter Ascending” did around $6.2 million for the night, with a projected $16 mil weekend. That’s a bigger box office disaster than most famous flops including “The Lone Ranger” and “After Earth.” They did around $25-$29 mil opening weekends, at least. The Wachowskis are headed to Netflix, kids. If they’re lucky. Hold on, for more…

“Seventh Son” did much worse with only $2.3 million on Friday for a $5 – $6 mil weekend. Universal takes bath, and holds its breath for “Fifty Shades of Grey” opening next Friday. That should whip the studio in shape.

Good news: “Sponge Bob” could rake in $40 million for Paramount. And “The Imitation Game” will hit $75 million by Monday.

Bob Dylan’s Big Night: Didn’t Play at MusiCares, Thanked the Byrds, Others for Making “Commercials” of His Songs

Roger Friedman
-
1
Bob Dylan’s Big Night: Didn’t Play at MusiCares, Thanked the Byrds, Others for Making “Commercials” of His Songs

Bob Dylan looked like the most miserable bar mitzvah boy in history last night as he received the MusiCares Person of the Year Award. A dozen or more famous musicians performed his songs for a tony crowd of movie and TV stars and music execs, but Dylan refused to join in at the end. Most MusiCares honorees– like last year’s Carole King, Paul McCartney, or Neil Young, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Bono– generally come out and give the audience a few numbers. Not Dylan. My spies say he barely sat in the ballroom at the LA Convention Center through a night that included performances by Springsteen, Crosby Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and others.

But Dylan did speak. He gave a 20 minute acceptance speech in which he thanked a bunch of different acts for covering his music and making him rich. They included the Byrds, Sonny & Cher, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, the Turtles, Peter Paul & Mary, Johnny Cash, Sonny & Cher, and the Staples Singers. Of a few he said: “They made some of my songs top-10 hits. But I wasn’t a pop songwriter. I never even wanted to be that. But it was good that it happened. Their versions of songs were like commercials. I didn’t really mind that. Because 50 years later my songs would be used for commercials. So that was good, too. I was glad it happened.”

Dylan took pot shots at lots of other artists, and even got a jab in at late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun:

“Ahmet Ertegun didn’t think much of my songs, but Sam Phillips did. Ahmet founded Atlantic Records. He produced great records: Ray Charles, Ray Brown, LaVern Baker, just to name a few. There were some great records there. No question about it. But Sam Phillips, he recorded Elvis and Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, radical artists that shook the very essence of humanity. Revolution and style and scope, every shape and color. Radical to the bone. Songs that cut you to the bone. Renegades in all degrees. Doing songs that would never decay and still resound to this day. Oh, yeah. I would rather have Sam Phillips’ blessing any day.”

Dylan grimaced through every photograph, most of them taken with NARAS president Neil Portnow and real US former president Jimmy Carter.

Some people, like Ringo Starr, who didn’t perform, enjoyed the night more than Dylan.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Had a great nightat music cares everyone was great and Bob Dylan is a star peace and love R

Brian Williams Mocked on Social Networks as Scandal Erodes Trust, Anchor Takes Leave

Roger Friedman
-
0
Brian Williams Mocked on Social Networks as Scandal Erodes Trust, Anchor Takes Leave

UPDATE Brian Williams will be replaced by Lester Holt this week. And, I predict, permanently.

EARLIER The Brian Williams scandal is turning into a big social media problem for NBC. Williams, since he admitted to lying about being shot at in helicopter in Iraq in 2003, is being mocked viciously on Twitter and Facebook.

But Joe Klein, writing on Time.com, posted an essay defending Williams tonight: “Accept Brian Williams Apology.” Klein writes: “The judgments about whether the NBC anchor should be fired, from pundits who never saw the inside of a chinook helicopter, are self-righteous and gagging.”


Recounting his own faulty memory as a war correspondent, Klein writes: “I understand Brian Williams’ predicament. Our memories are not very reliable, especially in life-and-death situations. Part of it is, yes, our need to aggrandize the risks we take; part of it is our minds’ reaction to fear. Part of it is that journalism involves story-telling and sometimes the story gets carried away with itself. Mistakes are made.”

Still, NBC is in trouble. The nightly news anchor must be trusted so that in an emergency viewers will turn to him or to her. Williams is now under more fire than he was in that helicopter. Dan Rather was undermined in this way long before the scandal that caused his ouster. Beginning with his “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” episode, Rather became a punchline. The rock group REM had a hit using that phrase– Rather said he heard it from two muggers–and that was the beginning of the end.

Every pundit is now wondering who NBC could send to pitch in for Williams, by the way. Katie Couric ain’t happening. Jake Tapper is under contract to CNN. NBC does have a great second liner ready to fill in– Harry Smith. This is a real newsman, no fooling around. If Williams needs a break, I’d send in Harry Smith in a minute.

Rosie O’Donnell Leaving “The View,” Splits from Wife; Joy Behar May Return

Roger Friedman
-
0
Rosie O’Donnell Leaving “The View,” Splits from Wife; Joy Behar May Return

Rosie O’Donnell is leaving “The View” and has split from wife Michelle Rounds. Page Six got the scoop tonight. This may explain Rosie’s behavior on “The View” since it started again last fall. Almost immediately after the show she and Rounds, who nearly died last year from a rare condition, split up.

Rosie has five children– four with former partner/wife Kelly Carpenter, and a baby with Rounds. That she’s leaving the show is not a shock since she and Whoopi Goldberg have not gotten along since Day 1. But it’s clear that O’Donnell was dealing with too much stress at home to participate in a daily live show.

More to come. But for Rosie, this is just a chapter in a long career. I fully expect to see her doing her comedy act, touring, and writing, appearing on ABC Family’s “The Fosters,” and so on.

Now comes the question: is “The View” doomed? Rosie Perez is now doing her Broadway show. This leaves Whoopi and Nicolle Wallace. Last week Joy Behar returned for a test; I can tell you it’s very possible she’ll come back as a full time maybe or something.

Grammy Trustees Award Goes to Richard Perry, Most Successful Pop Producer of 70s and 80s

Roger Friedman
-
0
Grammy Trustees Award Goes to Richard Perry, Most Successful Pop Producer of 70s and 80s

Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”? Ringo Starr’s “Photograph”? Leo Sayer’s “When I Need You”? How about Rod Stewart’s resurgence over five volumes of American song classics? What do they all have in common? Richard Perry. The producer of most of Carly and Ringo’s hits, not to mention the Pointer Sisters’ huge run in the late 70s and early 80s. Add in Barbra Streisand’s one rock hit, “Stoney End,” as well as a classic Fats Domino album called “Fats Is Back.”

Perry has made a lot of hits– Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson’s “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night,” Art Garfunkel’s “All I Know,” Ray Charles’s top 10 version of “A Song for You”– but I like a lot of the album cuts he did for these famous artists. Check out Harry Nilsson’s “Lottery Song” from the album Son of Schmilsson– Richard had already had a monster hit with Nilsson Schmilsson and three big hits including “Without You,” “Coconut,” and “Jump into the Fire.”

The Lottery Song – by Harry Nilsson from Hip Quotient on Vimeo.

Perry is also the only producer who can say he staged a quasi Beatles reunion. It happened on the “Ringo” album in 1972 when John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney all wrote songs for what would become a landmark collection. Every Beatles fan has the “Ringo” album as a cherished landmark. It was also Perry who convinced Mick Jagger to put backing vocals on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” It was quite a coup in 1972, and the record has become one of Simon’s and Perry’s lasting classics for 42 years.

Perry will get his Trustees Award tomorrow in L.A. along with famed songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and richard-perryradio legend George Wein. He’s also hard at work on his memoirs, full of juicy anecdotes about all the artists he’s put on the charts, and his long history as top of the pops. I’ve read some of it and it’s both funny and intimate. Some smart publisher should be scooping it up soon!

Will he divulge his secret recipe for the rich cushiony sound of all his hits? I don’t think so. A couple of years ago I was listening to Richard record Carly Simon singing a cover of “So Into You” for an album that may come out one day. I sort of haphazardly asked, when I heard his trademark production, “How does he do that?” Simon replied: “Oh don’t you know? He–…” Perry cut her right off. “Don’t tell him!” I had to laugh. These are trademark secrets. (And we thought we had no secrets.)

Congratulations, Richard. Here’s a video of my favorite Perry production, one of the very best radio singles ever produced. The dynamics of Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” are so warm and dramatic, and musical, nothing stands up to them even to this day:

Cover photo of Richard with long time significant other, Jane Fonda.

SCANDAL! InStyle Magazine Alters Kerry Washington’s Color, Features For Cover

Roger Friedman
-
0
SCANDAL! InStyle Magazine Alters Kerry Washington’s Color, Features For Cover

Call it Fifty Shades of Black! When Kerry Washington was on the cover of InStyle’s Weddings issue, she looked like her beautiful self. Gorgeous, as usual. And black. Now she’s on the cover of the magazine’s regular March issue. She’s white, with completely different features. It’s a scandal. Someone call Olivia Pope.

The InStyle editors are blaming it on “lighting.” And that’s a joke since the magazine prides itself on their photos. Didn’t they approve the cover? (Yes.) Couldn’t they have re-shot it once they saw the prints? (Yes.)
unknown
Most magazines don’t put black actresses on their cover. It’s an unwritten rule in publishing. Believe it or not, Vogue is one of the few that goes against the grain all the time. Anna Wintour gets kudos for regularly featuring black models, as well as singers like Beyonce.

The rule against blacks on the cover is the unsaid reason that Oprah Winfrey has always appeared on the over of her O Magazine. Most months she’s the only African American face on a newsstand.

On InStyle’s cover, Washington’s features are completely altered. She’s unrecognizable. What would Olivia Pope, her super PR star character on “Scandal” do about this? Kick some ass I’d say. Fortunately, InStyle has no Olivia Pope. On Instagram, Washington’s fans are furious. There’s no way to spin out of that.

1...1,6641,6651,666...2,326Page 1,665 of 2,326

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com