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Rock Notes: Paul McCartney’s Been Holding Out on Us with More New Songs, Plus Michael McDonald Was Sexually Precocious at Age 14

Roger Friedman
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Rock Notes: Paul McCartney’s Been Holding Out on Us with More New Songs, Plus Michael McDonald Was Sexually Precocious at Age 14

Paul McCartney gave us “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” earlier this spring.

The raved about new album, produced by Andrew Watt, went straight to number 1. It also got Paul nominated for a Mercury Prize.

“Dungeon Lane” should be a Grammy nominee for Best Traditional Pop or Rock Album. Two of its tracks– “Days We Left Behind” and “Home to Us” — could be nominees, too.

But it turns out Paul’s been holding back on us. He had three more songs he didn’t release, plus a flipped version of “Home to Us,” his duet with Ringo Starr.

So he’s re-releasing the album next week with all four tracks. The other ones are called “City Fox,” “One Night Stand,” and “Chelsea Boots.” The new version of “Dungeon Lane” will come on LP and CD, with some cool new art, as well.

I still think Paul missed the boat by not releasing “Lost Horizon” as a single. But McCartney has never been wise about singles or outtakes. Don’t get me started…

What a Fool Believes: Michael McDonald — a solo star and member of the Doobie Brothers — has surprise news for us. Back in 1966, when he was 14, he got a 14 year old girl pregnant. It’s always the quiet ones, right? Very precocious, I’d say.

Well, now the “kid” has turned up and it’s quite a story. Apparently he matched with one of McDonald’s other kids on 23andMe. Michael Goessling knew he was adopted, but didn’t know that his biological dad was a rock star — or that he was from the same generation age wise.

There’s a happy ending. You can read about it here. But really, who knew Michael McDonald was literally takin’ to the streets at such a young age? By the way, Goessling seems like a great guy, but why wouldn’t he take after his father? (He also says he had a terrific childhood and life.)

PS MM first became known to us in 1973 on Steely Dan’s first album, “Can’t Buy a Thrill.” I don’t know which song to use for a pun — “Do it Again,” or “Reeling in the Years.”

UPDATED: Rolling Stones Unleash New Blues Unreleased Classic “Bad Luck Hideaway,” Along with Alexander Skarsgard Video “Mr. Charm”

Roger Friedman
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UPDATED: Rolling Stones Unleash New Blues Unreleased Classic “Bad Luck Hideaway,” Along with Alexander Skarsgard Video “Mr. Charm”

The Rolling Stones have finally released “Mr. Charm” as a video.

They should have done this months ago when “Foreign Tongues” was released.

They’ve also unleashed the unreleased song from “Foreign Tongues,” called “Bad Luck Hideaway.” It’s an instant blues classic. (Listen below)

Anyway, Alexander Skarsgard stars in the video, for which I have no other information except that it’s a great record. So is the album.

Look for “Foreign Tongues” to a Grammy nod for Best Rock Album, along with Paul McCartney’s “Boys of Dungeon Lane.”

Let’s hope so. To quote Chuck Berry, C’est la vie said the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Tom Cruise’s “Digger” Has Few Ticket Sales at NYC Theater with VistaVision Despite Being Filmed in that Format, Other Sales Very Soft

Roger Friedman
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Tom Cruise’s “Digger” Has Few Ticket Sales at NYC Theater with VistaVision Despite Being Filmed in that Format, Other Sales Very Soft

Tom Cruise has been making a big deal out of the way “Digger” was filmed.

The Alejandro Innaritu directed satire opens Thursday in most locations, and wide on Friday.

The Oscar winning director filmed it in something called VistaVision, for the ultimate viewing experience.

There are only a few VistaVision equipped theaters in the country, however. There’s one in New York, one in Boston, in Los Angeles. And one in London.

So far, however, the unique situation of seeing “Digger” in 35mm has not penetrated the movie audience psyche.

In New York and Boston almost no tickets have been sold.

At New York’s Regal Theater in Union Square, seat maps are almost completely open in their RPX theater. For Thursday night’s first prime time show at 7:30pm, only four tickets have been sold. (Color me shocked.)

Up at Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theater, there’s no seat map, but you can purchase 40 tickets at a time — ten each in four categories — for every performance.

Ticketing is much better at Los Angeles’s The Grove, where most VistaVision showings are marked Almost Full.  “Digger” will have a curious audience at least in Hollywood for a day or so.

Overall, though, ticket sales for “Digger” are softer than normal for a Tom Cruise movie.

At The Grove, for example, the regular IMAX shows are less than 50% sold so far, on Saturday, October 3rd.

Things are better in New York, at the AMC Lincoln Square IMAX. They’re not sold out, but close to it, starting Thursday night October 1st.

But Lincoln Square — the most popular movie theater in America — is an outlier because of its location on the Upper West Side.

Down at Union Square, where one of the theaters is VistaVision, there are loads of seats at all hours on all days.

Estimates now are for a $12-$15 million weekend.

 

“Grey’s Anatomy” May Finally Be Drawing to a Close with Just 13 Episodes Set for Its 23rd Season: Only 3 Original Cast Members Left

Roger Friedman
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“Grey’s Anatomy” May Finally Be Drawing to a Close with Just 13 Episodes Set for Its 23rd Season: Only 3 Original Cast Members Left

This may be curtains for “Grey’s Anatomy.”

The upcoming 23rd season of the hospital soap opera will only have 13 episodes. Last season the number was 18. In the old days, “Greys” made 27 episodes. It was down to 20 by 2018.

It’s not a surprise since the series has been moved to the graveyard shift on Thursdays at 10pm. Even though “Greys” reruns are a hit on Netflix, and ABC owns the show, there’s no life left in it.

Only three actors remain from the original season: Ellen Pompeo (who’s not in all the episodes this year), James Pickens Jr, and Chandra Wilson.

Otherwise, the series has meandered around for years. Ratings are down to around 2 million viewers per episode — about what daytime soap “General Hospital” gets on a daily basis.

The new and possible final season features a lot of new, young, low paid cast members. Let’s wish them well. They may be the last class of residents at Grey Sloan Hospital.

Watch: Woody Allen at Madrid Press Conference for 51st Movie: “It Has to Live Up to My Expectations, But I’ll Do My Best!”

Roger Friedman
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Watch: Woody Allen at Madrid Press Conference for 51st Movie: “It Has to Live Up to My Expectations, But I’ll Do My Best!”

Woody Allen is amazing.

At 90, he’s arrived in Madrid to make his 51st movie. The working title is “Madrid,” he says, but that won’t the final name.

This morning he participated in a press conference where he was welcomed to the city and introduced two of his main actors. The cast includes Marton Csokas, Jemima Kirke, Jakob Oftebro, Peter Vives and Alexi Wasser. Shooting begins next week. The plot is being kept under wraps.

Needless to say, the people in the filled auditorium gave Woody — whose legacy resume includes Annie Hall, Manhattan, Midnight in Paris, Coup de Chance, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Bullets Over Broadway, Blue Jasmine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Bananas, and so many more, a warm welcome!

Paul McCartney Explains Meaning of Album Title “Rubber Soul” on 50th Anniversary Box Set That Includes Unreleased John Lennon Song

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney Explains Meaning of Album Title “Rubber Soul” on 50th Anniversary Box Set That Includes Unreleased John Lennon Song

The Beatles are dropping the extraordinary 50th anniversary box set of “Rubber Soul” at midnight Thursday.

Giles Martin has remixed the original album, and the team also salvaged a bunch of demos and rehearsals. That disc, in particular, of the four CDs, is of the most interest.

Plus, there’s an unreleased John Lennon recording of his song, “Little Girl,” from that early era.

The collection comes in several configurations in CD, LP, and so on. They all contain lavish books and all kinds of artifacts.

Paul McCartney explains how the band chose the title “Rubber Soul”:

“As we always did, the four of us would sit around
and discuss what we should call the new album.
We would go through many possibilities before we landed on something that we all felt summed up our mood at the time. Because we had always
been interested in double meanings – like the name
of our group, The Beatles – we hit upon Rubber
Soul. We liked that it mentioned the modern music
trend and at the same time had a tongue-in-cheek
reference to the bottom of a shoe.”

It’s kind of mindblowing that this was the turn The Beatles took in 1965 after three years of unprecedented success as a pop band. McCartney refers to it as “our new music.” And this was after all those hits, from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to “Help!” and “A Hard Days Night.”

What I found impressive, as usual, is the remix is absolutely sterling. Fanatics will nitpick but the clarity and richness of the sound gives “Rubber Soul” a new life. There will be some who prefer the 2009 version but I appreciated what Giles Martin did here. Part of this set is a mono recording of “Rubber Soul,” which I dare say most aficionados will prefer.

Each Beatles box set has a surprise disc that I put into heavy rotation, like the Esher recordings from The White Album or the Glyn Johns remix of “Let it Be.” The new mono “Rubber Soul” separate from the 2009 one in the mono box) goes right into heavy rotation.

Come back tomorrow night at midnight for the premiere of “Little Girl.”

Trump Attacks Fox News, Says “MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like Them” Repeats Claim He Won 3 Elections, But His AI Disputes

Roger Friedman
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Trump Attacks Fox News, Says “MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like Them” Repeats Claim He Won 3 Elections, But His AI Disputes

It’s another day in the neighborhood of the surreal for Donald Trump.

On Truth Social, he’s attacking Fox News, saying MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like them.

He also reiterates his worn out claim that he “won three elections.”

However, his own AI on America.gov says Joe Biden won the 2020 election. They also show that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016.
https://www.showbiz411.com/2026/09/29/donald-trumps-new-website-america-gov-states-he-lost-to-joe-biden-in-2020-and-hillary-won-popular-vote-in-2016-by-2-million-votes

Tom Cruise, Warner Bros. Social Media Campaign for “Digger” Poor Reviews and Apathetic Response: “You Know What? F Those People”

Roger Friedman
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Tom Cruise, Warner Bros. Social Media Campaign for “Digger” Poor Reviews and Apathetic Response: “You Know What? F Those People”

“You know what? Fck those people!”

That’s what Tom Cruise as “Digger” says in a social media post from Warner Bros.

That’s their response to lukewarm reviews and apathy so far from ticket buyers. The movie starts today in previews.

“Digger” was filmed in something called VistaVision, which isn’t IMAX. It’s 35mm and horizontal for maximum effect. There are only three VistaVision screens in the US: Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. So far ticket sales in Boston and New York are light. They’re a little better in LA.

In Boston, Coolidge Corner Theater is installing the hardware to begin shows tomorrow. About half the seats are sold for tomorrow night’s prime time show. Many fewer at other screenings.

Except for NYC’s AMC Lincoln Square, sales look light in most other places for regular or even IMAX.

But hey — F*ck those people!

Tom Cruise’s “Digger” Debuts on Rotten Tomatoes with a Scary 52% Among Critics with Some Scathing Reviews, Star Doing Desperate PR

Roger Friedman
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0
Tom Cruise’s “Digger” Debuts on Rotten Tomatoes with a Scary 52% Among Critics with Some Scathing Reviews, Star Doing Desperate PR

When I finished watching Tom Cruise’s new movie, “Digger,” 10 days ago, I had a very bad reaction.

I actually said to someone outside the theater that I thought something bad had happened to during the screening.

There wasn’t a lot of buzz on “Digger” before the screening. The trailers and clips were headscratchers. Tom Cruise, our biggest movie star, was dressed like like Colonel Sanders from KFC. John Goodman looked like he’d been taxidermied (if that’s a word). One of our great actors, he seemed as though he was mimicking himself from “The Hudsucker Proxy.”

You wouldn’t think of Tom Cruise dressing up like Slim Pickens from “Dr. Strangelove,” or sounding like a hillbilly. Not Maverick from “Top Gun,” or the sly kid from “Risky Business,” or super spy Ethan Hunt from “Mission Impossible.

And then there were the filmmakers. Alejandro Innaritu and Emmanuel Lubezki. I was no fan of “The Revenant,” but they’d made a lot of good films.

So I braced myself for “Digger,” hoping that it had all worked out.

Alas, it didn’t.

Now the reviews have dropped. One hundred and eleven of them on Rotten Tomatoes, where the score is 52%. And that’s being kind. A lot of reviewers panned the movie but gave it a ‘fresh’ tomato simply because it’s well made and attractive. But if you read into the reviews, it’s a different story.

Some are just eviscerating. I actually went out of my way to soften the blow. I didn’t want to use the word “unwatchable.” But a lot of my peers did, and worse.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise — a Sphinx when it comes to interviews — has appeared in a lot of formats and said nothing. When he speaks, it’s like white noise. He can’t mention his children, or his religion. He lives in some kind of time capsule. In the old days, he’d never have done afternoon talk shows. But I guess he’s desperate at this point.

“Digger” opens in previews tonight. I have no idea how the box office will look Friday morning. Will diehard Cruise fans ignore the reviews and go anyway? And how will they feel after 20 minutes or so? Like I did? Like you’re at the wrong party and there’s no way to excuse yourself.

I guess we’re about to find out.

Flower Power: Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Dolly Parton, George Harrison, More Blossom in Jill Brooke’s Stunning Holiday Book, “Genius of Flowers”

Taylor Swift Won’t Show You New Video for Free, Keeps it Off YouTube, Only Available on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes for a Fee

Sylvester Stallone aka Rocky Gets a Book Party 37 Floors Above Fifth Avenue at Swanky Club — Far from His Humble Roots (Exclusive)

Roger Friedman
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Sylvester Stallone aka Rocky Gets a Book Party 37 Floors Above Fifth Avenue at Swanky Club — Far from His Humble Roots (Exclusive)

Sylvester Stallone is celebrating the first volume of his memoirs.

The book is called “The Steps,” released today and already number 7 on amazon. It’s all about his life up to the time he made “Rocky” in 1975.

Stallone’s pals threw him quite a book party tonight at a swanky private club called Coco’s at Colette on the 37th floor of what we used to call the GM Building. It overlooks the Apple store and the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue.

(Back in my very much younger days you could go into the showroom on the ground floor and try sitting in the new Chevy’s and Oldsmobiles. Years later, FAO Schwarz took over the opposite corner. For a while Donald Trump had had his name emblazoned on the facade in gold.)

So this is a far cry from the Oliver Twist -like childhood Stallone describes in “The Steps.” He lived with his family on Ninth Avenue in a Hell’s Kitchen cold water flat. As a baby he slept in a drawer in a dresser, no crib.

Stallone writes: “As the name suggests, it had no hot water, which made washing dishes almost impossible. Getting into the bathtub, especially in the winter, was brutal, so it was not done too often. My mother would boil water on the gas stove to mix with the freezing bath water and give me a quick sponge bath. When it wasn’t being used for its intended purpose, which was most of the time, we laid a piece of plywood on top of the small tub.”

He recalls, “One time, I asked my father for a cat. He said if I wanted a pet I could play with the pink baby mice that
snuck through the steel wool and got stuck on the flypaper under the sink.”

So now Stallone, 80, Oscar winner for “Rocky” 50 years ago, international movie star, recent ex Trump Hollywood ambassador, is being interviewed by Fox News’s Bret Baier at Colette in a club where monthly dues are $5,000 after a $7,000 initiation fee. He’s come a ;ong way.

In the crowd at Colette was Stallone’s wife, Jennifer, their three beautiful daughters and some of the richest people from what’s known as “the Palm Beach Crowd.” They include New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, billionaire John Paulson, CBS’s Gayle King, former Trump cabinet member Wilbur Ross, NY Jets owner Woody Johnson, famed designer Tommy Hilfiger, Hudson News owner Jimmy Cohen, and not me. (Thanks, to my spy.)

I’m told there was a huge, sumptuous cake depicting the famous scene of Rocky running up the steps at the Philadelphia Art Museum. (I’m hopeful someone took a picture.)

Stallone — who will come to New York to shoot his “Tulsa King” TV series soon — is overwhelmed. Not only by the book, but by the movie “I Play Rocky,” which Peter Farrelly directed about the hardships the actor-writer-producer went through getting “Rocky” made. There’s already serious talk about awards, and big box office.

As for the movie, Stallone told guests he really liked it.

Stallone, as ever, keeping it real.

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