Friday, December 19, 2025
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“Breaking Bad” Ending Song Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” Climbing iTunes, Amazon, Spotify Charts

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UPDATE Monday afternoon: Spotify says worldwide streaming of “Baby Blue” is up 9000 percent. Pete Ham and Mal Evans (and George Harrison) are smiling in heaven!

“Guess I got what I deserved.” That’s the first line of Badfinger’s 1972 hit “Baby Blue” produced by George Harrison and Todd Rundgren. It was the perfect song to end to “Breaking Bad,” summing up everything that happened to Walter White. The show went out with several bangs, and the inevitable end of Walter was accomplished by returning to an old plot line and characters from early in the series. “Baby Blue” is already number 27 on iTunes and 58 on amazon.com

Will it take off like “Don’t Stop Believing” after “The Sopranos” finale? That would be nice. “Baby Blue” comes Badfinger’s classic album “Straight Up” which also featured their hit “Day After Day.” Badfinger was the Apple Records house band. They were wonderful, but plagued by drugs and depression and ultimately suicide.

But “Baby Blue” was the perfect send off for Walt and friends. The “blue” refers to the blue meth, just another perk. The ending seemed pretty satisfying. Aaron Paul and Bob Odenkirk must be happy.

Joan Baez, Elvis Costello Headline Roots Show In Honor of New Coen Bros. Movie

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Joan Baez- a living, dancing, singing legend– and Elvis Costello– bard of New Wave rock– were the unlikely but perfectly matched headliners last night at Town Hall. The occasion was a concert to celebrate the folk music themes of Joel and Ethan Coen’s soon to be released movie “Inside Llewyn Davis.” T Bone Burnett– who’s just produced Elton John’s wonderful new “Diving Board” album– organized the evening with some of the movie’s stars taking part.

Oscar Isaac, a much buzzed about possible Oscar nominee, I think stunned the crowd by more than ably performing songs from the film and traditional songs with many of the professional musicians. Carey Mulligan sang and introduced acts, including husband Marcus Mumford. John Goodman, wearing a cowboy hat, was the unofficial emcee of the night. The whole thing was taped for a broadcast on Showtime on December 13th.

It was the rare time a promotional event transcended its purpose and rose to magical heights. The show was more bluegrass and country than actual folk of the Coens “Llewyn Davis” era, a kind of sequel to the Coen’s D.A. Pennebaker-Chris Hegedus directed documentary “Down from the Mountain.” Each act was perfectly curated by Burnett so that one after another it seemed everyone had stolen the show.

There were some standouts among the lesser known performers. In particular, the crowd went gaga for Rhiannon Giddens from a group called Carolina Chocolate Drops. This gorgeous young woman can sing and belt like a Broadway performer, plays an amazing fiddle, and is hot hot hot in a red dress. Trust me when I tell you she is about to explode. The CC Drops already have a Grammy from last year in folk music, but Rhiannon could take them much farther. They are signed to Nonesuch Records.

The other big revelation was a little known group that started in Boston and now straddles that city and New York. They’re called Lake Street Dive, and they’re fronted by singer Rachael Pearce.

More later today but kudos to the Punch Brothers, Avett Brothers, Secret Sister, Keb Mo, and the immortal Patti Smith.

Kanye West Deletes All His Jimmy Kimmel Twitter Rants

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I don’t know what this means exactly. But Kanye West has deleted all his now infamous Jimmy Kimmel Twitter rants. Unfortunately, the Tweets live on in Kimmel’s monologue from last week where they were all re-produced and immortalized on video. You can see them below. Obviously someone has reasoned with Kanye about this latest misadventure blew up into a tempest in a teapot. I like Kanye a lot but sometimes I feel sorry for him. It’s like his brain is misfiring and he can’t control it. Reminiscent of Martin Lawrence? May be…

 

Forget Gatsby– “Captain Phillips” Writer Adapting “The Last Tycoon” for TV

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EXCLUSIVE: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous unfinished novel, “The Last Tycoon,” may be coming to television soon. So says Billy Ray, the now hot as a pistol in demand screenwriter of “Captain Phillips.” Ray told our PAULA SCHWARTZ on Friday night that he’s working on adapting the novel for long form– either a mini series or more. Ray didn’t say who this would be for, but if the saga of Hollywood’s early big studio days doesn’t sound like an HBO project, I don’t know what does. Ray has an incredible list of would be projects thanks to his writing “The Hunger Games” first installment. Prior to that, his credits were scarce. He did write the much admired “Shattered Glass,” but not much else. Now among his coming projects is the Scorsese Sinatra movie, and about a half dozen high profile deals. Not bad.

Here is Paula’s report:

On the red carpet before the 6 p.m. New York Film Festival world premiere of “Captain Phillips,” Tom Hanks, who rushed to get into Alice Tully Hall on time, stopped in his tracks to chat with veteran New York Post celebrity reporter Cindy Adam. He told her a story – in which every journalist with a tape recorder and camera moved in to eavesdrop – about a phone conversation he had with President Obama, for whom he had narrated an election film.

“Check this out,” Hanks told Cindy Adams – who will kill me for repeating this story – he told Adams he spoke to the President, who asked him what he was up to. “And I said, Well Boss.” Here Hanks paused and turned to Cindy, “Not bad, uh?” he joked. “I’m doing a thing that you figured into,” and then went on to tell the President about the film and the real-life story about the kidnapping by Somali pirates. The punch line involved the President complaining to Hanks, “Let me get this straight? Pirates? With everything else that’s going on, the economy, war, I got to deal with pirates now?”

On the red carpet I got a chance to chat with screenwriter Billy Ray, who was with his daughter Mia. “I didn’t have to invent anything,” he said in discussing one of the big draws in doing the film. He also had access to Captain Phillips whenever he needed him, either by e-mail or phone.

I mentioned to Ray that I was surprised how moved I was by the film because it had a political dimension I didn’t expect. He portrays the Somali pirates as desperate men with few options: vicious warlords demand they kidnap ships for ransom, and they can no longer fish since international conglomerates have stripped their oceans bare of fish.

“From the beginning we were very determined that we didn’t want cardboard bad guys,” Ray told me. He said he and director Paula Greengrass wanted fully dimensional characters. “Not so much that audiences can sympathize but so that audiences can understand and maybe recognize a piece of human behavior in those characters and that was very important to me and very important to Paul.”

Another thing screenwriter and director agreed on was their star. “From the time I started writing he was the only actor I had in my head. He was the only guy I could imagine playing the part. He was the dream actor for the part. And then we got him!”

As for what’s next, Ray, who is sure to be nominated for a best screenplay Oscar, told me “he’s jumping into television. I’m going to be adapting the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, ‘The Last Tycoon’ as a series.” The 1970’s movie that starred Robert De Niro was miscast and dry. How will he breath life into it I asked?  

“But this will be television,” he told me. “The book is spectacular and we’re going to have years to tell the story. We’re going to be able to tell it like it’s a novel and we get to write that novel. You know Fitzgerald died when he was writing it. We get to finish it for him. It’s a great opportunity.”

No star or actors are attached to the project yet he told me.

As for “Captain Phillips,” Ray told me the biggest challenge in bringing it to the screen was doing “honor to the behavior to these men, these merchant mariners who had survived this thing that I think would have killed me. I wanted to make sure that we shone a light on them that was appropriate in terms of the dignity in which they carried themselves and I’m confident that I did.”

Tom Hanks Leaves “Captain Phillips” Premiere — and NYC– Early Because of the Tax Man

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EXCLUSIVE Tom Hanks did the strangest thing on Friday night at the New York Film Festival: he skipped the traditional bows at the end of the screening at Alice Tully Hall for his “Captain Phillips.” Director Paul Greengrass appeared at the film’s conclusion and waved to the audience from lit box above our heads with his remarkable Somali actors who play pirates at sea. But Hanks was MIA, and he didn’t attend the big party that followed at the Harvard Club. This is completely unlike Hanks, who never fails to support his films, loves parties, and never tires of chatting with fans.

So where was he?

Sources tell me that Hanks is a victim of the Tax Man. He owns homes in California and New York state. But his principal domicile is California. That means he can only spend 183 days a year at his apartment in New York. There are no exceptions for celebrities at the IRS. And Hanks has spent roughly 149 days in New York this year already between rehearsing for and appearing in “Lucky Guy” on Broadway. His days are running out, it was explained to me. And Hanks still has to open “Captain Phillips” properly on October 10th, And he has “Saving Mr Banks” coming from Disney in December.

In order to do publicity, Hanks is going to have ration his days in New York very carefully. So his New York Film Festival appearance had to be extremely limited. He had to get back to Los Angeles pronto on Friday. And let me tell you, I was reading about this: the IRS is very strict. Apparently they really watch the whole bicoastal thing with actors, singers, celebs of all kinds. It’s the price you pay for being rich and famous.

Hanks did miss seeing a lot of friends who were looking for him at the Harvard Club including his “Lucky Guy” director George C. Wolfe.

So Tom, you are excused. We’re glad you could give us the day! PS The 149 days for “Lucky Guy” were worth it, anyway!

Review: Tom Hanks Gives Sony the Hit They Need in “Captain Phillips”

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Sony Pictures has had a bad summer, let’s face it. But Paul Greengrass’s “Captain Phillips” starring Tom Hanks is just what the doctor ordered. The truth story of how Captain Richard Phillips survived his boat’s 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates is going to be a box office hit and an Oscar nominee in several categories.

Hanks gives one of his best performances ever as Phillips, a very unshowy hero who kept his cool when Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama cargo ship in the Somali channel. The movie is uniformly well cast and very exciting even though we know the outcome. Last night Phillips and many of his crew were on hand for the opening of the New York Film Festival.

I met and talked to one of them who lamented that five days had to be squeezed into two hours. But Shane Murphy concurred that “Captain Phillips” is pretty much spot on. It certainly conveys the terror of what happened to Phillips and his crew. But Greengrass’s direction and camera work — as in “United 93”– add elements of suspense that make the film entertaining.

Greengrass also managed to make the Somali pirates– all played by Somali actors who live in Minneapolis–less villains than victims themselves. They’re bad guys but you sort of like them. Barkhad Abdi is a stand out. So is Michael Chernus as Murphy.

Some in the jaded NYFF audience thought the film was a little rah-rah America. Usually I’m the cynic. But I really really liked “Captain Phillips.”

Keep refreshing for updates…

Exclusive: Alicia Keys Settled “Girl On Fire” Suit with “Lonely Girl” Songwriters

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So: last December I told you that Alicia Keys et al. were sued by songwriter Earl Shuman. He and his songwriting partner had written the classic hit “Hey There Lonely Girl,” which was a big hit for Eddie Holman in 1969-70. Toward the end of “Girl on Fire,” Alicia sings a couplet from the chorus of “Hey There Lonely Girl.” It’s the melody and the lyrics. They’re not credited or cleared, and Shuman and his late partner weren’t paid.

I did wonder what happened. The situation is a lot like the Nirvana sample in Jay Z and Justin Timberlake’s “Holy Grail.” Only they paid for it and credited the group when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” pops up for no reason in their song.

Now I see that Keys et al. quietly settled with Shuman back in April and the lawsuit filed in the Central District Court of California was withdrawn. I had heard that Keys et al. had paid Shuman. It’s unknown whether Shuman will get his name added to the credits.

Keys is a prolific sampler and borrower of music. Her biggest hits are all based on pre-existing songs. “Empire State of Mind” comes from The Moments’ “Love on a Two Way Street.” “You Don’t Know My Name” comes from an obscure song by The Main Ingredient. And so on. In “Girl On Fire,” Keys also samples a drum riff from Billy Squiers. She had already used it once before in 2007 for another song.

Nevertheless “Girl on Fire” remains a track that’s held up for almost a year. It should be nominated for Record of the Year because the idea is original. I just wish Keys, who is so talented, would stop all the sampling. It undermines her legacy as a composer. She doesn’t need it.

Viacom’s Sumner Redstone Gave $850K to Group Putting on Central Park Concert

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Exclusive: First we had the story of Sumner Redstone‘s gal pal giving over $1 million to Global Poverty Project, the group putting on tomorrow’s all-star show in Central Park. Then GPP put the Sumner Redstone Foundation on their materials as a sponsor of the show. Now I’ve learned that Redstone’s Foundation donated $850,000 in 2012 to the group. The donation can be found in the Sumner Redstone Foundation’s latest tax filing.

For all that money I hope Redstone and Malia Anderlin, his lady friend, get some good VIP Seats to see and hear Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and John Legend.

Luckily, the map for the Global Citizen concert in Central Park on Saturday shows exactly where the VIP section will be.

It’s hard to know what is motivating Redstone. Peace? Prosperity? Global Poverty Project and Global Citizen are advocacy groups. They do not donate money to poor people. They just get the word out that poor and hungry people exist, and that we should all do something about it. In 2011, they spent about a million on advertising, and another $600,000 on salaries and travel.

Music Biz Legend Irving Azoff to Jimmy Kimmel: “Kanye Kicked Your Ass”

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No less a music biz legend than Irving Azoff has come to the defense of Kanye West in the Jimmy Kimmel story. Azoff just posted this to Twitter:

 

 

and


Seriously no one knows what the ‘big time’ is than Azoff. He ran Live Nation and Front Line Management, has managed the Eagles, Steely Dan and lots of other big names– many of whom he created.

Kanye, meantime, has reported comments made by a friend of his (maybe from fashion world) called Jibril Durimel.

Robin Williams Is New King of TV, Scores Twice as Many Viewers as Michael J. Fox, X Factor

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Almost 16 million people watched Robin Williams’ new comedy on CBS last night. The Oscar winner and extremely funny comedian’s first TV sitcom, “The Crazy Ones,” had 15.6 total viewers. It was the second most watched show on Thursday night behind the season premiere of “The Big Bang Theory.”

Williams’ show scored a whopping 4.0 in the desired key demo 18-49 as well. Williams also brought in twice as many eyes as Michael J. Fox over on NBC (a good show by the way that should be moved to another time slot).

And Williams had two and a half times as many viewers as “The X Factor.” Simon Cowell’s competition show on Fox has 6 million fans. Sometimes it’s a little more, but basically there are 6 million regular viewers.

Completely in trouble last night was the return of “Glee.” They scored 5.17 million viewers total. They were the fourth place show in their timeslot and didn’t score so well with young people. Did Cory Monteith’s death turn off the audience? The memorial tribute show will probably get big ratings as viewers say goodbye to Finn. But after that, “Glee” may be done.