There’s no stopping Cicely Tyson. Winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in June does seem to have energized her even more than was–and that was something. Tyson has agreed to extend her stay on Broadway in “The Trip to Bountiful” through October 9th. She’s doing all 8 shows a week, too– both matinees. Being in the show obviously isn’t tiring her out. It’s giving her an adrenaline shot. Co-star Cuba Gooding recently joked to me: “We think she’s sleeping in the theater from Friday night through the Sunday matinee.” The production had already been extended once. This is a new five week add on– meaning 40 more performances. “Bountiful” is playing to healthy, if not overwhelming-sized, audiences at 63% a week. That means you can get tickets on the spur of the moment, either from TKTS on 47th St. or from websites like BroadwayBox.com.
Bob Dylan’s $22 Million Dollar Publishing Deal: Protest Songs Pay
EXCLUSIVE With the Coen Brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” coming out this year– a movie about the folk era that produced Bob Dylan in 1961– there’s going to be renewed interest in the genre. So it turns out that I’ve come across a 2010 music publishing contract extension for Dylan. And the fictional Llewyn Davis will really kick himself after reading it. Protest songs are quite lucrative. Dylan signed an extension in 2010 that puts him right now in the middle of a quietly executed $22 million deal. Not bad.
According to terms of the deal with Sony/ATV Music, Dylan gets a payout of $4.4 million every December from 2010 to 2014. It covers all hits hits from “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Just Like a Woman” to more recent hits like “Make You Feel My Love” and “Things Have Changed.”
***Take the poll–your favorite Bob Dylan song*** on the home page
The deal was signed based on some projects that worked out and others that didn’t. Dylan did release a new album last year. But a planned huge box set that was in the works was sidelined, perhaps permanently.
The deal was a safe one for Sony/ATV. According to the memo, Dylan had averaged $4 million a year from 2006 to 2010 anyway in publishing royalties. And that’s why songs that can “covered”– recorded by other artists– or played on radio and in various venues are so valuable. It’s hard to imagine what rappers like Jay Z and Kanye West make from publishing contracts since their tracks, beats, and samples are self-contained performances.
Will Smith’s Personally Funded School, Website, Shut Down
I posted a version of this on July 5th at midnight. But given the holiday, and now we’re all back– here it is again. Will and Jada Pinkett Smith put millions into this school. But the school right away attracted criticism for featuring Scientology curriculum. The first headmistress was replaced with a new one who was a major Scientologist. Much of the staff and board of directors were also Scientologists. The school is over. So is the school’s website. It was an abrupt closing because they were still raising money two months ago with fundraisers.
From July 5th: New Village Leadership Academy is no more. This was the private school started by Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith in 2008 with ties to Scientology. The intrepid Tony Ortega reported on his site www.tonyortega.org on Wednesday that he’d confirmed with several sources attached to the school that the Calabasas, California organization was kaput.
This must be a blow to the Smiths, especially with “After Earth” bombing at the box office.
Though the school may be closed, their website is still up. According to GuideStar.org, the non profit institution still has no Form 990 filed for 2012 But their 2011 filing shows that school chief Franca Campopiano, an avowed Scientologist, was making $200,000 a year. On website whyweprotest.org, an anonymous former parent wrote in: “This horrific institution has CLOSED! The star founders should be ashamed of the lies propagated by the unethical staff.”
Recently I reported that John Travolta had donated money to the school as a fellow Scientologist, from the charitable fund he started in his son Jett’s memory.
Because New Village still has not filed for 2012, it’s hard to say what their financial situation was. But in 2011, they claimed net assets of negative $284,931 and liabilities of $1,235,154.
The school ran from Kindergarten to 6th grade. If anyone has more info, please email me at roger@showbiz411.com. We’ll try and figure out where all the money went.
The shut down must have been sudden. Back on April 29th, New Village ran a week long fundraising auction on ebay. Some of the items included Will Smith’s suit from “Men in Black,” a Yamaha motorcycle owned by Jada, and a training session with Sugar Ray Leonard.
Box Office: “Despicable Me” Makes $100 Mil More than “Lone Ranger”
Imagine this scenario: “Despicable Me 2” opened on Wednesday, same as “The Lone Ranger.” And now the former film has made just about $100 million more than the latter. Yikes. “The Lone Ranger” will finish today with approximately 48.3 million. That’s at least $12 million less than Disney hoped for at the high, and over a million less than their low.
Oh well — the writing was on the wall when everyone saw the movie early last week. “Despicable Me 2” now has almost $300 million internationally, making it a welcome relief for Universal Pictures. But for Disney, as everyone has now noted, this is a serious disaster with repercussions.
But this is the summer of disasters. Just look at “White House Down” and “After Earth.” You can only hope that scripts, not just budgets, will be looked at a lot more closely in the future for big studio releases.
News Corp in 21st Century: Kills WWOR’s Only Newscast
After 20 years, Brenda Blackmon is off the air. Very quietly, Fox News aka News Corp aka 21st Century Fox has cancelled the 10pm newscast on WWOR-TV, aka My9, on Channel 9 in New York. This leaves WWOR, already in hot water with the FCC and media groups for almost no local or public affairs coverage, with a weekly half hour issues show on Sunday morning.
Once called WOR TV, Channel 9 in New York was famous for the Mets, “Romper Room,” and Morton Downey, Jr. Fox bought in 2001 even though they already owned Channel 5, WNEW, now known as Fox 5. The late night news with Blackmon and — most recently– Harry Martin — was the only local live show they had remaining.
Blackmon won all kinds of awards for local reporting during her 20 year run as the anchor of Channel 9 news. In addition to hard news, she also handled entertainment. Last year she scored the first interview with Cissy Houston after Whitney’s death–long before the big networks.
Now they say a half hour canned show called “Chasing New Jersey” will air at 11pm. Martin will go to Fox5. Blackmon, an award winning journalist and much respected, has been reassigned to the Bermuda Triangle.
WWOR has had license problems under its Fox regime since at least 2007. Late senator Frank Lautenberg was among those leading the charge at the FCC questioning Fox News’s “duopoly”– owning two local stations in a major market, as well as the New York Post.
The license was renewed based on WWOR promising to concentrate on news for northern New Jersey. Media watchdog groups petitioned the FCC saying the station wasn’t fulfilling that duty and had few actual employees in New Jersey. The station had moved to New Jersey from New York years earlier, pre-Fox, in another dispute with the government.
Now that the newscast is gone, and My9 is relegated to syndicated reruns of sitcoms and reality shows, expect the critics– like Voice for New Jersey– to get much louder.
Hamptons: Where You Run into the Governor at Dinner
Only in the Hamptons, kids: that’s where you run into New York governor Andrew Cuomo at dinner. He and his lady friend Sandra Lee were having dinner with BMI Music chief Del Bryant and his beautiful wife Carolyn at the famed Nick and Toni’s late last night. Cuomo stopped and chatted with us on his way out, and was in an all around good mood. They may have gone to Audra McDonald’s show at Guild Hall, but I never got to ask them.
Nick and Toni’s, started more than 25 years ago by the late (and great) Jeff Salaway and his wife Toni Ross, just had its first major facelift. The food is still great. And manager Bonnie Munshin was unflappable at the end of what she called “a long week.” The new look takes a few minutes of adjustment. The tables are a little higher and the tablecloths are gone. Most surprisingly, the little outside entrance porch has been turned into a formal structure. Change is hard. We’ll all survive.
Meantime, both Debra Messing and Mariska Hargitay were in the audience on Friday night at Guild Hall for a screening of “Gasland II.” The anti-fracking documentary airs on HBO this coming week. Alec Baldwin hosted the event and emceed the Q&A with the movie’s director who played the banjo at the end of the night. Messing was alone; Hargitay came with actor husband Peter Hermann.
And while the “Gasland II” screening was going on, Mike Myers commanded a table at hot spot Sotta Sopra in Amagansett. We missed him, of course. Drat! Anyway, the wonderful manager, Rose, told us Myers was low key but funny and entertained everyone around him. Sotta Sopra has become a celeb magnet in Amagansett, with neighbor Baldwin a regular customer. Besides good food and vibe, the other attraction that it’s open late. A pizza bar functions until 3am. I’ll keep that in mind when Leon Russell plays the Stephen Talkhouse down the street in a couple of weeks.
I always avoided the play “The Mystery of Irma Vep.” I don’t know why, but it just never seemed like it was for me. The comedy by late Charles Ludlam is one of the most performed plays in the U.S. Last night I finally saw it at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. It’s very, very funny. Who knew? (Apparently not me.) ‘Irma Vep’ is an anagram for ‘vampire.’ Again, who knew?
In the audience, award winning playwright Terrence McNally. And the great New York actress Joan Copeland, whose brother was the late playwright Arthur Miller. Copeland told me she drove over from Amagansett on her own, and we talked about the incredible traffic at intermission. Later I found out she’s 91 years old! I mean, is this possible? God bless her. She looks and seems about 20 years younger!
“Lone Ranger” Financial Disaster: Will Disney Heads Roll Again?
“The Lone Ranger” will not even hit $50 mil for its five day holiday release, from Wednesday-through-Sunday. With costs at around $250 million, it looks like the Gore Verbinski-Johnny Depp collaboration will cause another complete write down– a la “John Carter” from two years ago.
When that movie tanked, the fallout was painful. Disney had major layoffs, some of which are still reverberating. Studio head Rich Ross was ousted, and replaced by Warner Bros.’ amiable and smart Alan Horn.
The question is: so now what?
Horn is not going anywhere. “The Lone Ranger” was already in process when he arrived. If you recall, the film was abruptly cancelled by Disney on August 12, 2011 because they said the budget was too big. But remember– they were dealing with Depp and Verbinski, who give them the still thriving “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Two months later, in October 2011, “Lone Ranger” was back in the saddle. Looking at it now, it’s unclear what they cut from that budget. The movie is a bloated mess.
Disney has always had problems with live action movies. They lucked out with “The Help” a couple of years ago. But otherwise, it’s slow going. Their heyday of Bette Midler comedies like “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” becomes more and more a distant memory.
The studio gets two more shots this year. “Frozen” is animated and like “Monsters University” should have no problems. But in live action it’s all down to “Saving Mr. Banks” with Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney himself. “Mr. Banks” is set for Christmas with Oscar aspirations. By December, though, “The Lone Ranger” failure will be reverberating in the Disney back offices– and hopefully not with more pink slips.
“Mad Men” Rumor: Someone Will Die in a Chevy Vega
This is just a rumor, heard around town in New York law firms. The rumor is that someone from “Mad Men”–not necessarily Don Draper, but maybe Pete and who knows?– will meet his end in a Chevy Vega at the series’ end. As fans know, Sterling Cooper has been working on the Vega account. The car hasn’t become a model yet in late 1968. When the sixth season just ended, “Mad Men” was coming to the end of ’68.
It’s presumed that the show picks up in 1969. But again, no one knows. And that’s significant because 1971 was the launch of the Vega, which got great reviews and Car of the Year awards. Unfortunately it was a better ad campaign than a car. Vega owners had numerous problems, and there were lots of accidents. The car’s run ended in 1977.
The story I heard is that a New York law firm is working out the details with Lions Gate for someone in the agency to perish with a Vega. Bob Benson would be the excellent choice. And ironic since he forced his way on to the account and made Pete look stupid in the process. Chevy has already gotten kicked around like crazy by “Mad Men.” It could be they’re trying to protect themselves.
Google Glass: First Public Fight Caught Live?
EXCLUSIVE Our old pal and sometime videographer Chris Barrett is sporting a pair of Google Glasses these days. Last night in Wildwood, New Jersey Chris caught what might be the first ever live fist fight and police arrest with Google Glasses.
Chris tells me he put on the glasses a few minutes before the fight began. Only one person on the crowded boardwalk asked if he was wearing Google glasses. “Otherwise, no one bothered me. I was able to get much closer with the glasses than if I had had a camera. I even got up behind a cop and he didn’t say a word to me.”
The battery lasted an hour, Chris says, and was able to film everything. “This is just the beginning,” he says. “There are going to be privacy issues. But when you’re out in public, what can people do?”
We’ll have some more updates from Chris soon as his adventures with Google Glasses continue.
Jay Z Album is Free But It’s Not Exactly Yours to Own
Jay Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” — I was finally able to download it this morning after a DefJam rep suggested I update the app on my Samsung Galaxy SIII. It worked. All the “songs” — rather, tracks– came tumbling down into my phone. But not into the Music Player. Into the app itself. It’s not clear that the tracks can move from the Samsung device they’re downloaded into to a computer and then off into the world. And there are now hundreds of posts on the internet about people not being able to download the tracks at all. Again, it does seem that going back into Google Play and updating the app does the trick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t account for the privacy issues that are incurred. The app asks the user to ok a total incursion into the host phone. Really, at this point, who cares? We’re all in a million data banks.
“Magna Carta Holy Grail” is what you’d expect from Jay Z and from hip hop in general in 2013. Long gone are raps about poverty, mistreatment, and survival. It’s all about Things: Jay Z wants a Picasso, he sings about Sothebys and Christie’s auction houses, name drops Lichtenstein. How accessible this is to anyone, let alone the hip hop audience, remains to be seen. Clothing designer Tom Ford gets a song named for him– Ford is Jay Z’s tailor. He’s the most overpriced designer in the world.
The explicit version of “MCHG” is what comes from Samsung, including massive repetitions of the “N” word. This is probably naïve to say, but really — don’t use the word at all, to anyone, from anyone, if you don’t want it embedded in the culture. This word should have died a long time ago. Rappers have kept it alive.
The “songs” aren’t really songs. They’re abrasive, they’re screeds, occasionally punctuated by a sample of an old piece of music. But I do really, really like the title track “Holy Grail” sung by Justin Timberlake and written by his team. Lose the expletive laden rap part and “Holy Grail” is a song I’d rather hear J.T. sing than almost anything on “20/20.” Maybe a song only version will show up on Timberlake’s fall “20/20 part 2” album.
So now that “Magna Carta” is out via Samsung, we’ll have to wait and see if fans buy it themselves next week when it’s really released. That’s what Jay Z and DefJam are hoping for, and that’s what will get them on the charts. Meanwhile, the web is filled with links to illegal downloads. That may not matter either. Jay Z is well aware that selling tickets to live shows is where the money is. His tour with Timberlake is the key to this marketing plan. They play Yankee Stadium later this month.