The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner and show on Thursday (at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center) is a disaster in the making. Cat Stevens finally said he’d come from the UK, but now his visa is up in the air. He’s waiting to hear if he’ll be approved. According to sources, no one has been consulted who would induct the singer now known as Yusuf Islam.

This year the original managers of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, respectively Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham, are finally being inducted. I’m told no one from Epstein’s family has been invited or is attending.

Worse, Oldham is not coming, and is starting to speak out about his unhappiness. Sources say he was told that if he came, he’d have to have his speech approved in advance. He was also offered only two tickets. Today the LA Times’s Randy Lewis summarized Oldham’s situation, citing comments he’s made during a talk in Berlin and on Cleveland.com

Today Oldham Tweeted:

@futurerocklgnds like brian epstein i was not consulted as regards this matter & like dear brian i will not be going.

— Andrew Loog Oldham (@loogoldham) April 4, 2014

On top of all that, Linda Ronstadt isn’t coming. Nirvana won’t perform. And KISS is already not performing. But now Paul Stanley is accusing various members of the group of anti-Semitism, among other things.

No trip to Brooklyn is worth all this. Watch the show on HBO later this month.

Remember the whole flap over Kirstie Alley‘s diet company? I told you it was connected to Scientology. Kirstie freaked out on the Today show. Then a woman in Hollywood sued her, saying Organic Liaisons was lying about its promises and promotions.

According to the National Enquirer, Alley had to pay $130,000 to Marina Abramyan for false claims. She also had to stop using a claim of “Proven Products” on her labels. It turned out that most of Kirstie’s brief weight loss came from working out on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Now Kirstie has sold whatever was left of Organic Liaisons to her old employer, Jenny Craig. And Alley, overweight again despite Organic Liaisons, has signed on again as a Jenny Craig spokeswoman. She’s already in trouble for saying the 20 to 30 pounds she has to lose “isn’t circus fat.” Circus performers are crying foul.

The Organic Liaisons website no longer sells anything. Jenny Craig says they’re going to offer one of Kirstie’s products, a juice drink with vitamins. But basically, the party is over. Goodbye Organic Liaisons. Even Scientology couldn’t save you.

Now everyone, get dancing!

I always loved this crazy video:

ABC will retire Barbara Walters on May 16th, in the middle of sweeps. They won’t let her finish out the season for ‘The View,” which usually wraps up around June 30. “The View” has new episodes during July sweeps, as well. But ABC is anxious to finish up Walters’ retirement. They’re not even letting her stay until the end of May!

You may remember the whole scenario last year. ABC leaked that Walters would retire before she had a chance to say anything. Then she said on The View that she’d make her own announcement at her own time, and had nothing to say at the moment.

Subsequently, I spoke to Barbara, who said she had no intention of retiring from anything. Those were her words verbatim.

But ABC had other ideas. Now they’ve also announced they’re named the New York Broadcast Center after Walters. I wonder if the announcer on Diane Sawyer’s evening news will say, “From the Barbara Walters news center in New York” at the start of every show. Seems unlikely.

Today’s ABC News press release says Walters may return to the air occasionally “as the news warrants.” I think that means when Henry Kissinger finally checks out.

Will Barbara really disappear from our screens? She’s addicted to celebrity and broadcasting. Look at Larry King, now doing infomercials and a talk show on a UHF station. Of course, she does turn 85 soon. But age will not stop Barbara Walters.

The cover of “Ghost Stories,” the new album from Coldplay, is supposed to tell us something about Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s “conscious uncoupling.” It’s also an interesting marketing tool. The image is of a heart broken into two pieces- and each piece, I think, is an angel’s wing. Illustrated on each wing is something like the story of the Gwynnie and Chris. In one scene, I think Gwyneth is wearing a headband and work out clothes. This has to be a direct reference to frescoes I’ve seen in Italian churches. Or to Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical” video. The cover can also function as a logo for branding the divorce. How long before you can buy this on a $500 chain on goop.com?

Here’s Coldplay’s cool and expensive new video for “Magic”:

Mickey Rooney is dead, and I am very sorry. Just four weeks ago at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, Mickey’s son and daughter in law brought him by wheelchair and propped him up on a couch. Mickey didn’t look well. He looked terrible in fact. We spoke for a few minutes, or rather, he listened. I’d known Mickey and his wife Jan for years. I was surprised to learn on Oscar night, from Mickey’s daughter-in-law, that after 30 years Jan was gone. Somehow, they’d become divorced and Mickey was now living with his son and the daughter in law. I have no doubt this contributed to Mickey’s rapid decline. He loved Jan, and they had had a ball together.

I have no idea where Jan is now.

Mickey was a bon vivant, a raconteur, and a lover of the ladies. He was married 8 times, and that was just for show. He always a gleam in his eye, a sparkle. He’d been the biggest movie star in the world.  Imagine that he’d fought Frank Sinatra for Ava Gardner. He was adored by Judy Garland. As Andy Hardy in his early movies– what were really forerunners of a sitcom series–Mickey charmed every girl, charmed his fictional elderly father, Judge Hardy, and everyone around him. He had what they used to call a “winning way.” No one could say ‘no’ to him.

For years I’d see Mickey and Jan on the red carpet at the Oscars. Then one year I didn’t. I was concerned, and called his manager. A few minutes later, Mickey called. We caught up, Jan got on the phone, they told me all about performing at the one year Michael Jackson anniversary event at the Beverly Hilton.

While we chatted, my mother called in on call waiting. I told Mickey and Jan it was her birthday. They said, almost in unison, “Put her on! We’ll sing to her!” Both of my parents got on the line, and Mickey and Jan– who had a little song and dance act, just blew them away. It was surreal, and so much fun. And they really meant it with all their hearts.

I don’t know what’s become of Jan. If anyone does, they should send a message through this column. I will really miss Mickey. He was a last link to real Hollywood. He really ‘got’ it, too. He’d been up, and he’d been down. And he’d been up again. He knew that it was all fleeting. But once, he was king.

By the way, two things saved Mickey and prolonged, or resuscitated his career. First he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Black Stallion” in the late 70s. Then he became a Broadway star with Ann Miller in “Sugar Babies.” He was a master of reinvention. He knew that if you wanted to stick around, you had to keep coming up with new stuff. It’s a good lesson for everyone.

Here’s all of “Love Laughs at Andy Hardy: