Billy Joel made his first late night talk show appearance in about 17 years last night on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. This means he missed most of David Letterman’s run and all of Jay Leno’s two runs. Why? Who knows? But here he is with Jimmy, and it’s brilliant:
Sting Adds Paul Simon, James Taylor, More Stars to Rainforest Concert
The Sting- Paul Simon show is not over. Simon is set join Sting at the annual Rainforest Foundation concert– this is the 25th anniversary– set for April 17th at Carnegie Hall. Simon isn’t the only act on the roster. The show will also feature James Taylor, Dionne Warwick, opera great Renee Fleming, hornmeister Chris Botti, and Ivy Levan. Ivy is a star in the making. She recently joined Sting on “Late Night with David Letterman” for a wild version of the Beatles “Drive My Car.”
To purchase tickets for the Silver anniversary celebration of the Rainforest Fund, please visit www.carnegiehall.org or call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. To purchase benefit tickets and packages, please email rainforest@eventassociatesinc.com or call 212-245-6570.
I am told the show– even before this list was known– was already on its way to being sold out. So hurry!
“Law & Order SVU” with Alec Baldwin Clobbered in Ratings
Alec Baldwin didn’t help the ratings of “Law & Order: SVU.” In fact he probably hurt them.
Although NBC heavily promoted Baldwin as guest star his appearance was not a draw for the favored show. “L&U SVU” finished a distant second in total viewers to CBS’s “Criminal Minds.” And in the key demo, it was third, following ABC’s “Modern Family.”
In January, “L&O” was hitting a 2.0 share in the key demo and scoring 7.5 million viewers without Alec. With Alec, the show did a 1.5 in the key demo and 5.82 million viewers. More than a million “L&O” fans tuned out that episode.
The answer may be that Baldwin is simply not a draw for ratings. “30 Rock” was never a high rated show. One insider suggests that women, who watch “Law & Order” for Mariska Hargitay as a strong female lead, don’t care for Baldwin’s recent much publicized antics. I won’t list them all here again.
In any case, the episode was very good, and Baldwin was excellent as a belligerent New York reporter cast in the memory of the late Mike McAlary. Maybe more people will see the rerun.
NY Post, UK Daily Mail Try to Kill L’Wren Scott After She Commits Suicide
Is there a hell? Is there some kind of punishment for real evil? There’d better be. In the last day and a half, both the New York Post’s Page Six and the Los Angeles bureau of the UK Daily Mail have tried to kill L’Wren Scott. Even though she’s dead. They’ve certainly done what they can to piss all over a women who never did anything to them, was loved and admired by her friends, and was obviously in so much terrible pain that she committed suicide on Monday.
The New York Post’s Page Six has declared that all the other members of the Rolling Stones “loathed” Scott and implied that they’re happy she’s dead. They compared her to Yoko Ono, even though Scott had nothing whatsoever to do with the Rolling Stones, never tried to sing on a record or appear in a Stones video. Ono is often accused–wrongly– of breaking up the Beatles. The Stones are very much together.
The whole story proposed by the Post is ludicrous. There are pictures of L’Wren Scott on Wire Image with Patti Hansen (Mrs. Keith Richards) and with Jagger’s children Jade, James, and Georgia. Everyone is smiling. Patti Hansen is embracing Scott and they each have big smiles. No one’s pointing a gun to anyone’s head.
It actually seems like there was a lot of respect among the disparate members of Mick Jagger’s family for Scott. Immediately after Scott’s death was announced, Bianca Jagger, Jade’s mother, Mick’s ex wife, Tweeted her condolences and asked for respect for her.
Meantime, the Daily Mail decided to quote the Post, then belittle Scott some more. A person, hardly a human, named Jan Moir, wrote that Scott was unknown to anyone in England. Moir says Scott was only famous because she was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, and basically, who cares anyway?
This Moir is just an idiot, and maybe there will be a quick route to hell for her. But seriously, as far back as 2000, L’Wren Scott was already the biggest name stylist in Hollywood. We featured her in Oscar magazines dating from 200o to 2004. It had nothing to do with Mick Jagger. Everyone knew her name even then.
Scott’s close friends are too upset to defend her. No one can speak for her yet, except Cathy Horyn’s lovely piece in the New York Times. But what is going on here? Why so much anger toward a woman who wasn’t really a celebrity, didn’t ask for anything, and died under the worst circumstances? Disgusting.
PS In the very same Daily Mail yesterday, pictures of Jerry Hall, Mick Jagger’s ex and mother of four of his children, hosted a baby shower for Jade Jagger’s pregnant 21 year old daughter. Jerry has no connection to Jade other than she was her step-mother 15 years ago. So why would she do that? Maybe because these people are human beings, not cardboard cutouts in someone’s imagination. I think these Jagger women are a lot smarter than the people who are making up stories about them, that’s for sure!
Broadway: Disney’s “Aladdin” Is A Surprise Throwback Hit
Well, I am surprised. Even though I laughed out loud at the 1992 animated “Aladdin” with Robin Williams, I didn’t think I wanted to see it as a Disney-fied musical. I was wrong. “Aladdin” — directed by Casey Nicholaw (“Book of Mormon”) is the best Disney live musical since “Beauty and the Beast.” It’s alternately charming and spicy, with plenty for kids and a lot for adults. Plus it has an amazing score by Alan Menken with the late Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. They use all of the songs that were in the animated film plus a bunch that weren’t included.
And there’s a nicer surprise in the form of James Monroe Iglehart, who plays the Genie (Robin Williams’ part from the movie) like Luther Vandross in Las Vegas. Last seen on Broadway in “Memphis,” Iglehart is absolutely superb in every way. Of course, this big man puts fear into the audience right away as he tap dances (learned for this show), and swirls around the stage effortlessly. I thought he might induce a heart attack. But he is the motor that enlivens “Aladdin” and he’s on his way to a Best Featured Performer at the Tonys, etc.
When the Genie performs “Friend Like Me” late in the first act, the audience cannot help but be on its feet. Yes, I know opening night is full of friends and family. But I think this happen every time. It’s an old fashioned Broadway show stopper. And you don’t want to Aladdin and the Princess’s magic carpet ride. It’s a little bit of theater magic. Even the most jaded adults around me were asking “How do they do that?” while the actors sang “A Whole New World.”
The rest of the cast is also enchanting, starting with Adam Jacobs as Aladdin, and on through several excellent character actors–Brian Gonzalez, Jonathan Freeman (playing Jafar live after playing him in the 1992 movie), and Don Darryl Rivera. Then there’s Aladdin’s trio of pals, who nearly stop the show with their own clever number in Act 2–Jonathan Schwartz, Brandon O’Neill, and again Brian Gonzalez.
A special added treat: the Sultan is played by veteran actor Clifton Davis, whose real claim to writing the great Jackson 5-Gloria Gaynor hit “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
And yes, the audience ate it up, including Sting and Trudie Styler, Tina Fey with husband and daughter, Al Roker and Deborah Roberts with their two kids. I happened to be sitting across the aisle from Broadway legends Joel Grey and Harvey Fierstein and I can tell you they loved “Aladdin”– Harvey was sitting behind Joel and kept hitting him as they cracked up.
That’s because “Aladdin” is very much a real musical, with songs you can sing, an overture, wonderful costumes and sets, and energetic, pleasing performances. It’s not just for kids, adults will dig it. It’s refreshing after months of darkness.
So throw “Aladdin” into the Tony pool along with “Beautiful,” “Bullets over Broadway,” “Rocky,” and maybe “If/Then” and definitely “A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder.” A good season after all.
Great Mark Ruffalo-Keira Knightley Film Gets Strange Name Change, to Close Tribeca
The best film seen at last fall’s Toronto Film Fest was John Carney’s “Can a Song Save Your Life?” Now for some reason it’s been re-titled “Begin Again.” Why? The original title summed up the unique tone of what could be a big hit and an awards contender next fall. The other news is that “Can a Song Save Your Life”– er, “Begin Again”– will close the Tribeca Film Festival.
I’m worried about this film. With wonderful, catchy songs by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, this movie — from the director of “Once”– is a charmer beyond all limits. Ruffalo plays a crazy former record exec down on his luck who’s discovered Knightley. It’s set in New York, making it “Once”-like with a new flavor. There’s an unexpectedly terrific performance from the ubiquitous Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and “The Voice.”
Last fall, everyone at Toronto was excited about this film. So we’ll “Begin Again” — whatever that means– and hope that Tribeca will start to build word of mouth for this gem.
“Mad Men” First Trailer Teases “Unfamiliar Journeys” to Sunny L.A.
Is everyone going west in the final season of “Mad Men”? The new trailer for the first part of the last season certainly makes it seem like it. Don, Megan, Betty, Pete, and Roger are all seen in airports in bright sunshine. It looks like it was shot in a suburban LA airport, too, maybe Long Beach. It still looks like the 1960s there. The song playing is “Breakdown” by Alice Russell, a cool current white British soul singer. The lyrics include the phrase “unfamiliar journeys.” We do know that someone is supposed to go to L.A. from Sterling Cooper. A lot of shows go west in their final seasons– think “I Love Lucy.”
Real Housewives: Beverly Hills Show Might Add Faye Resnick, Infamous from OJ Simpson Case
I don’t write about the Real Housewives of anything. I’ve never seen one second of any of their shows and I’m now starting now. But Radar Online is reporting that the Beverly Hills show is considering adding 56 year old Faye Resnick to their lineup to juice up the story lines with tension. That should do it.
We are just two months away from the 20th anniversary of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. It happened in June 1994. Hard to believe no? And that’s how we all met Faye Resnick. She cashed in on the murder of her so called “best friend” by publishing a ‘book’. The book detailed Faye’s supposed lesbian relationship with Nicole, their partying and drug taking.
Their other best friend was Kris Kardashian Jenner. You get the picture. They were not what we’d call the Mensa crowd.
Resnick was never a ‘housewife’ as far as I remember. Her back story, which I wrote about in New York magazine, was something out of a soap opera. She was Erica Kane, Alexis Carrington, and Anna Nicole Smith rolled into one. By 1994 she’d already been married three times. Number 2 was a guy named Fadi Halabi, with whom she has a daughter. When I wrote my story, Halabi was a fugitive on a 1983 narcotics possession charge. Number 3 was Paul Resnick, whose daughter told Faye was the worst of her dad’s five wives. In 1989,during that marriage, police were summoned to the Resnick home when Faye shot a gun into her TV set.
But the best part of her history involved a couple named Robert and Pearl Gibson. Resnick inveigled herself into their marriage with terrible results. The couple split, and Faye moved in with Pearl Gibson and her kids. She stayed for six months. until Pearl called the police and accused Faye of assaulting her. Resnick moved in the boyfriend Dr. Christian Reichardt, but they split when her drug problems got worse. That’s when she moved in with Nicole Simpson. She claimed to have bedded Nicole, got a $60,000 advance from a low rent publisher, and the rest is history. The last time I saw her was in the late 90s when she had glommed onto Kathy and Rick Hilton, Paris’s parents.
Would Faye Resnick bring drama to the “Real Housewives”? Undoubtedly. But it would be melo, not mellow, that’s for sure.
My original story — which I see over the years was picked over by web scavengers — still can be read at http://tinyurl.com/klv3zdz
Rolling Stones Keith, Ronnie, and Charlie: “We’re Pulling Together for Mick”
The other members of the Rolling Stones offered these quotes today about the death of L’Wren Scott and the cancellation of their Australian tour. Actually none of the quotes mention L’Wren at all. But they do promise to get back on tour as soon as possible. It’s only rock and roll. I admire their lack of artifice.
Keith Richards:
“No-one saw this coming…Mick’s always been my soul brother and we love him…we’re thick as thieves and we’re all feeling for the man…we really hate to disappoint our fans but we’ll see everyone really soon.”
Ronnie Wood:
“This is such terrible news and right now the important thing is that we are all pulling together to offer Mick our support and help him through this sad time. Without a doubt we intend to be back out on that stage as soon as we can”.
Charlie Watts:
“Needless to say we are all completely shocked but our first thought is to support Mick at this awful time. We intend to come back to Australia and New Zealand as soon as it proves possible.”
Charlie Sheen’s Watch Dealer BFF Sued by John Mayer Over Fake Rolexes
Remember Charlie Sheen’s big meltdown, #WINNING, and all that? The guy at his side all the time was his BFF then, Bob Maron. Maron is the watch dealer to the stars in Hollywood, selling them ridiculously high priced trinkets.
Well, singer-guitar player John Mayer is suing Maron. He alleges that among the $5 million worth of Rolex watches– yes, five million dollars worth of timepieces–he’s found that they all have fake parts.
Mayer discovered this, he says in a lawsuit filed yesterday, when he sent 7 of the watches to Rolex for cleaning and repairs. Rolex told him they were, essentially, counterfeits. Now he wants $656,000 back for the ones that weren’t kosher.
According to the complaint, Maron became a close buddy of Mayer’s, taking family trips with him and going on tour with him. His watch dealer.
Sound familiar? Maron was velcro’d to Charlie Sheen during his descent into madness a few years ago. He answered all calls, set up all deals, ran his Twitter accounts. When Sheen made his famous “broadcasts” from Live Stream, it was Maron calling the shots.
I am always surprised when I see clueless celebs letting certain people into their inner circles. You know it’s going to end badly. I’ve seen it with everyone from Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson to a lot of today’s biggest stars.
Back when all that was happening I wrote a story about Maron making money off of, all people, Gandhi. http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/03/08/charlie-sheen-best-friendadvisor-made-money-off-of-gandhi
Mayer’s complaint notes that Maron has always held himself out as a graduate of Harvard University and of UCLA Law School.
Maybe Charlie Sheen should have all the watches Maron sold him checked out too.