Friday, December 19, 2025
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New York Rock Icon Garland Jeffreys Turns 70 Tonight with a Big Party-Show

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I can’t helieve Garland Jeffreys turns 70 today. Happy Birthday Garland. You look maybe 50. And Garland, a New York rock icon, plays the Highline Ballroom tonight to celebrate by jumping on tables and rocking the rafters with his amazing story-songs that combine delicious modern R&B and cutting edge rock. Garland burst onto the scene circa 1977 with Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Jackson. His debut was “Wild in the Streets,” still an inflammatory anthem of youth sung by a man who never seems to grow old. There have been lots of great records since then, but I do love his most recent album, “The King of In Between.” (There is promise of a new album this fall.) Garland is New York’s great success story. We’re so lucky to have him. And he’s just getting started!

Motion Picture Academy Invites 276 New Members Including Prince, JLO, Lena Dunham

I love the annual invite list from the Motion Picture Academy. This year is no exception. There are real veterans like Emmanuella Riva and Charles Grodin, a smattering of cool new young people like Lena Dunham amd Jack Huston (his uncle, aunt and grandfather have all been members), and oddities like Prince and Jennifer Lopez. It’s good to mix things up. Now all these people will be campaigned, sent DVDs, invited to countless parties and screenings, slept with, drugged and chauffeured around on sedan chairs. Check out the list of writers. It’s especially good. Welcome, everyone! And don’t let your dogs or maids vote your ballots!
The 2013 invitees are:

Actors
Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno”
Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface”
Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City”
Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid”
Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town”
Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator”
Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,” “Chaplin”
Lucy Liu – “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” “Chicago”
Jennifer Lopez – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “Selena”
Alma Martinez – “Born in East L.A.,” “Under Fire”
Emily Mortimer – “Hugo,” “Lars and the Real Girl”
Sandra Oh – “Rabbit Hole,” “Sideways”
Paula Patton – “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Michael Peña – “End of Watch,” “Crash”
Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour,” “Hiroshima, Mon Amour”
Jason Schwartzman – “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Rushmore”
Geno Silva – “Mulholland Drive,” “Amistad”
Danny Trejo – “Machete,” “Heat”
Chris Tucker – “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Rush Hour”

Cinematographers
Luca Bigazzi – “This Must Be the Place,” “Certified Copy”
Benoît Delhomme – “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” “The Proposition”
Simon Duggan – “The Great Gatsby,” “Killer Elite”
Greig Fraser – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Snow White and the Huntsman”
Jonathan Freeman – “Remember Me,” “Fifty Dead Men Walking”
Greg Gardiner – “Race to Witch Mountain,” “Elf”
Eric Gautier – “Into the Wild,” “The Motorcycle Diaries”
Agnès Godard – “Sister,” “Beau Travail”
Eduard Grau – “Buried,” “A Single Man”
Jess Hall – “The Spectacular Now,” “Brideshead Revisited”
Fred Kelemen – “The Turin Horse,” “The Man from London”
Mark Lee Ping Bing – “Norwegian Wood,” “In the Mood for Love”
Reed Morano – “Little Birds,” “Frozen River”
Oleg Mutu – “Beyond the Hills,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”
Alex Nepomniaschy – “Narc,” “Safe”
Christian Sebaldt – “Resident Evil: Apocalypse,” “Race to Space”
Ben Seresin – “World War Z,” “Unstoppable”
Adam Stone – “Mud,” “Take Shelter”
Checco Varese – “Girl in Progress,” “The Aura”
Ken Zunder – “Bending the Rules,” “That’s What I Am”

Costume Designers
Paco Delgado – “Les Misérables,” “Biutiful”
Sophie de Rakoff – “This Means War,” “Legally Blonde”
Carlo Poggioli – “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” “Cold Mountain”

Designers
Lori Balton – “Argo,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Judy Becker – “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Fighter”
Simon Bright – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Avatar”
Martin T. Charles – “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “The Artist”
David M. Crank – “The Master,” “Lincoln”
Stefan Paul Dechant – “Oz The Great and Powerful,” “True Grit”
Tracey A. Doyle – “The Muppets,” “21”
Anna Lynch-Robinson – “Les Misérables,” “An Education”
Maria Nay – “Identity Thief,” “Ray”
David Smith – “Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” “The Holiday”

Directors
Nikolaj Arcel – “A Royal Affair,” “Truth about Men”
Ava DuVernay* – “Middle of Nowhere,” “I Will Follow”
Paul Feig – “The Heat,” “Bridesmaids”
Catherine Hardwicke – “Twilight,” “Thirteen”
Kirk Jones – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “Waking Ned Devine”
Ken Kwapis – “Big Miracle,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”
Pablo Larraín – “No,” “Tony Manero”
Steve McQueen – “Shame,” “Hunger”
Kim Nguyen – “War Witch (Rebelle),” “City of Shadows”
Jafar Panahi* – “This Is Not a Film,” “The Circle”
Todd Phillips – “The Hangover,” “Old School”
Joachim Rønning – “Kon-Tiki,” “Max Manus”
Espen Sandberg – “Kon-Tiki,” “Max Manus”
Tim Story – “Think Like a Man,” “Fantastic Four”
Benh Zeitlin – “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Glory at Sea”

Documentary
Orlando Bagwell – “Citizen King,” “Malcolm X: Make It Plain”
Rebecca Cammisa – “God Is the Bigger Elvis,” “Which Way Home”
Yung Chang – “China Heavyweight,” “Up the Yangtze”
Michael Chin – “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,” “In the Shadow of the Stars”
Christine Choy – “In the Name of the Emperor,” “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”
Bonni Cohen – “The Island President,” “Wonders Are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic”
Eduardo Coutinho – “As Canções,” “Cabra Marcado Para Morrer (Twenty Years Later)”
Miriam Cutler – “Kings Point,” “Ethel”
Andrea Nix Fine – “Inocente,” “War/Dance”
Sean Fine – “Inocente,” “War/Dance”
Robert Frank – “Cocksucker Blues,” “Pull My Daisy”
William Greaves – “Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey,” “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One”
Lauren Greenfield – “The Queen of Versailles,” “Thin”
Patricio Guzmán – “Nostalgia for the Light,” “The Battle of Chile”
Vivien Hillgrove – “Symphony of the Soil,” “In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee”
Heddy Honigmann – “El Olvido (Oblivion),” “Crazy”
Vikram Jayanti – “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector,” “Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine”
Peter Kinoy – “Poverty Outlaw,” “When the Mountains Tremble”
Claude Lanzmann – “Le Rapport Karski (The Karski Report),” “Shoah”
Kim Longinotto – “Rough Aunties,” “Sisters in Law”
Stanley Nelson – “Freedom Riders,” “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple”
Jehane Noujaim – “Control Room,” “Startup.com”
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy – “Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret,” “Saving Face”
Marcel Ophuls – “Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie,” “The Sorrow and the Pity”
José Padilha – “Secrets of the Tribe,” “Bus 174 (Ônibus 174)”
Jafar Panahi* – “This Is Not a Film,” “The Circle”
Elise Pearlstein – “Last Call at the Oasis,” “Food, Inc.”
Raoul Peck – “Fatal Assistance (Assistance Mortelle),” “Lumumba: La Mort du Prophète”
Kevin Rafferty – “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29,” “The Atomic Cafe”
J. Ralph* – “Chasing Ice,” “Man on Wire”
Bob Richman – “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” “Waiting for ‘Superman'”
T. Woody Richman – “How to Survive a Plague,” “Fahrenheit 9/11”
Veronica Selver – “Berkeley in the Sixties,” “You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South”
Jon Shenk – “The Island President,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
Ricki Stern – “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “The Devil Came on Horseback”
Robert Stone – “Earth Days,” “Radio Bikini”
Annie Sundberg – “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “The Devil Came on Horseback”
Renee Tajima-Pena – “Who Killed Vincent Chin?,” “My America (Or Honk If You Love Buddha)”
Agnès Varda – “The Beaches of Agnès,” “The Gleaners and I”
Roger Ross Williams – “God Loves Uganda,” “Music by Prudence”
Pamela Yates – “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator,” “The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court”
Amy Ziering – “The Invisible War,” “Derrida”

Executives
Holly Bario
Jeb Brody
Eric d’Arbeloff
Dean C. Hallett
Lynn Harris
Jeff Ivers
Jonathan King
Robert Kirby
Dylan Leiner
Nick Meyer
Andrew Millstein
Hannah Minghella
Angela Morrison
Brian Roberts
Mark Roybal
Tucker Tooley
Kevin Tsujihara

Film Editors
Michael Berenbaum – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “Sex and the City”
Jeff Freeman – “Ted,” “Cruel Intentions”
James Haygood – “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Fight Club”
Stuart Levy – “Savages,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”
Mary Jo Markey – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Super 8”

Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Luisa Abel – “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception”
Anne Aulenta-Spira – “The Place beyond the Pines,” “Drive”
Terry Baliel – “The Dark Knight Rises,” “J. Edgar”
Thomas Floutz – “The Call,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
Kay Georgiou – “Promised Land,” “Lincoln”
Bernadette Mazur – “Men in Black 3,” “The Campaign”
Kim Santantonio – “Gangster Squad,” “Frost/Nixon”
Lisa Tomblin – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”
Kelvin R. Trahan – “Argo,” “Memoirs of a Geisha”
Lisa Westcott – “Les Misérables,” “Shakespeare in Love”

Members-at-Large
Victoria Alonso
Fred Baron
Ben Bray
Pieter Jan Brugge
Jackie Burch
Leo Davis
Susie Figgis
Lori Furie
Glenn S. Gainor
Joe Gareri
Lance Gilbert
Andy Gill
Mindy Marin
Laray Mayfield
Jeanne McCarthy
Neil Meron
Gary Powell
Ned Price
Michelle Satter
Stefan Sonnenfeld
Cindy Tolan
Brent Woolsey

Music
Ramiro Belgardt – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Lincoln”
Ramin Djawadi – “Safe House,” “Iron Man”
Jennifer Dunnington – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Hugo”
Siedah Garrett – “Rio,” “Dreamgirls”
Joe Hisaishi – “Ponyo,” “Spirited Away”
Henry Jackman – “This Is the End,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Cliff Martinez – “Drive,” “Traffic”
Prince – “Purple Rain,” “Happy Feet”
J. Ralph* – “Chasing Ice,” “Man on Wire”
Aaron Lael Zigman – “Peeples,” “Sex and the City”

Producers
Stefan Arndt – “Amour,” “The White Ribbon”
Jason Blum – “The Purge,” “Paranormal Activity”
Finola Dwyer – “Quartet,” “An Education”
Jack Giarraputo – “Anger Management,” “The Wedding Singer”
Veit Heiduschka – “Amour,” “The White Ribbon”
Lloyd Levin – “Green Zone,” “Watchmen”
Julie Lynn – “Albert Nobbs,” “Nine Lives”
Margaret Menegoz – “Amour,” “The White Ribbon”
Andrea Sperling – “Smashed,” “Like Crazy”

Public Relations
Rachel Cadden
Theresa Cross
Jeff S. Elefterion
Julie Fontaine
Jackson George
Anne Globe
Michael Lawson
Dennis O’Connor
Blair Rich
John G. Sabel

Short Films and Feature Animation
Marc Bertrand – “Gloria Victoria,” “Hollow Land”
Bryan Buckley – “Asad,” “The Wake-Up Caller”
Shawn Christensen – “Curfew,” “Brink”
Eric Darnell – “Madagascar,” “Shrek”
John C. Donkin – “Ice Age Continental Drift,” “Gone Nutty”
Ken Duncan – “9,” “Shark Tale”
Danielle Feinberg – “Brave,” “WALL-E”
Sam Fell – “ParaNorman,” “The Tale of Despereaux”
Matt Groening – “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare,'” “The Simpsons Movie”
Vicky Jenson – “Shark Tale,” “Shrek”
Travis Knight – “ParaNorman,” “Coraline”
Steve May – “Brave,” “Up”
Rich Moore – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”
Robert Neuman – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Tangled”
Brandon Oldenburg – “Rise of the Guardians,” “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”
PES – “Fresh Guacamole,” “Western Spaghetti”
Steve Pilcher – “Brave,” “Shrek the Third”
Normand Roger – “Hollow Land,” “The Banquet of the Concubine”
Clark Spencer – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Bolt”

Sound
Bobbi Banks – “The Call,” “Hustle & Flow”
Jose Antonio Garcia – “Argo,” “Babel”
Simon Hayes – “Les Misérables,” “X-Men: First Class”
Edward J. Hernandez – “Real Steel,” “Basic Instinct”
Daniel S. Irwin – “Prometheus,” “Little Children”
Drew Kunin – “Life of Pi,” “Lost in Translation”
Michael W. Mitchell – “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Matrix Reloaded”
Tom Ozanich – “Project X,” “Kill Bill: Vol. 2”
Mark Paterson – “Les Misérables,” “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”
Richard Pryke – “127 Hours,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Erin Michael Rettig – “A Good Day to Die Hard,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”
Ann Scibelli – “Prometheus,” “Inglourious Basterds”
Brian T. Slack – “Chéri,” “Crossover”
Bruce Tanis – “Gangster Squad,” “X-Men: First Class”
F. Elmo Weber – “Identity Thief,” “The Kids Are All Right”
Christopher T. Welch – “Silver Linings Playbook,” “(500) Days of Summer”
Dave Whitehead – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “District 9”
Stuart Wilson – “Skyfall,” “War Horse”

Visual Effects
Jason Bayever – “Life of Pi,” “The Wolfman”
Mark Breakspear – “The Great Gatsby,” “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Brennan – “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “Minority Report”
Tony Clark – “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
David Clayton – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Avatar”
Michael Dawson – “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Devil’s Double”
Erik-Jan De Boer – “Life of Pi,” “Night at the Museum”
Donald R. Elliott – “Life of Pi,” “Seabiscuit”
John Goodson – “Red Tails,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Charley Henley – “Prometheus,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
John McLeod – “Django Unchained,” “The Aviator”
Mark Noel – “Oz The Great and Powerful,” “Transformers”
David Prescott – “Transformers,” “X-Men”
Guillaume Rocheron – “Life of Pi,” “Sucker Punch”
Wendy Rogers – “Puss in Boots,” “Shrek”
David Alexander Smith – “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Matrix Reloaded”
Wayne Stables – “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Avatar”
Richard Stammers – “Prometheus,” “Angels & Demons”
Richard Stutsman – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Independence Day”
Christopher Townsend – “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Day after Tomorrow”
Stephan Trojansky – “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Hereafter”
David Watkins – “Ali,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”
Jeff White – “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
Trevor Wood – “Prometheus,” “The Golden Compass”

Writers
Jessica Bendinger – “Aquamarine,” “Bring It On”
Reggie Rock Bythewood – “Notorious,” “Get on the Bus”
Tina Gordon Chism – “Peeples,” “Drumline”
Julie Delpy – “Before Midnight,” “2 Days in Paris”
Lena Dunham – “Nobody Walks,” “Tiny Furniture”
Ava DuVernay* – “Middle of Nowhere,” “I Will Follow”
John Gatins – “Flight,” “Coach Carter”
John Hamburg – “I Love You, Man,” “Meet the Parents”
John Lee Hancock – “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Blind Side”
Rian Johnson – “Looper,” “Brick”
Jeff Nichols – “Mud,” “Take Shelter”
Sarah Polley – “Take This Waltz,” “Away from Her”
Chris Terrio – “Argo,” “Heights”

Associates
Lorrie Bartlett
Paul Bronfman
Markham L. Goldstein
Robert Harvey
Gregory S. Laemmle
Sandra Marsh
Adam Schweitzer
Kimberly Snyder
Matthew L. Snyder
Les Zellan

Three individuals (noted above by an asterisk) have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches. These individuals must select one branch upon accepting membership.

Each year Academy members may sponsor one candidate for membership within their branch. New member application reviews take place in the spring. Applications for the coming year must be received by March 20, 2014.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.

Alec Baldwin’s Wife Didn’t Tweet During Funeral: Reporter Confused Time Zones

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As far as I can tell, Hilaria Thomas Baldwin didn’t Tweet during James Gandolfini’s funeral. I think the reporter for the Daily Mail, who is in Los Angeles, got the time zones confused. According to the time stamps on Hilaria’s Tweets, which are clearly marked for anyone to see, she Tweeted before and after the service. She re-Tweeted Rachel Ray, but the time stamp on that Tweet was from the original Tweet which Ray had sent out.

The funeral ran from 10:05am-to about 11:30am. Hilaria has a Tweet at 11:47am about making smoothies. I know that I was out of the church by 11:55am and I left after they did. I stopped and had long talks with Vince and Maureen Curatola, and with Aida Turturro.

The time stamps for the rest of Hilaria’s Tweets are 1:17pm and 2:09pm. I think the reporter thought these were at 10:17am and 11:09am. They were– but translated into his time zone. The funeral was long over by then.

Hilaria: The poor woman is seven months pregnant. It was sweltering in the church. I spoke to the Baldwins a few minutes before the service. She already looked like she was suffering from the heat. They had no air conditioning in St. John the Divine, just big fans that didn’t help. Occasionally there was a breeze.

Of course, I can’t address Alec Baldwin’s response. He clearly has anger management issues. But this constant nitpicking on people by so-called reporters with nothing better do must stop. I don’t know Hilaria Baldwin beyond small talk. But she seems like a very nice person. She certainly doesn’t deserve this treatment.

Bert and Ernie Gay? New Yorker Magazine Cover References Banned Short Film (See Video)

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The New Yorker magazine has gone where almost no one has dared to go before. The new cover depicts Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street” lovingly watching the Supreme Court on TV rule in favor of gay marriage. Bert and Ernie gay? When director Peter Spears went there in his 2002 short film “Ernest and Bertram,” Childrens’ Television Workshop shut him down instantly. I know because I was in the new yorker coveraudience at the Eccles Theater at Sundance the one and only time it was shown. I wrote about it a few minutes later. CTW sent a cease and desist letter over copyright violation. I’d be surprised if CTW doesn’t do the same for The New Yorker. Anyway. it turns out “Ernest and Bertram” has been on YouTube all this time. Here it is. And frankly more timely than ever:

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Alec Baldwin Twitter Account Removed After F Bomb Meltdown

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UPDATE: 9am: Well, the story has taken off, of course. The Twitter account is gone. Again, I don’t think it’s possible that anyone was Tweeting from James Gandolfini’s funeral. I do believe Alec’s story that they left early. It was extremely hot in the church, there wasn’t even a breeze. It’s more than likely they departed through the side door.

UPDATE 3am: Alec Baldwin‘s account has been removed from Twitter after his diatribe against a Daily Mail reporter dropped F bombs like he was the Enola Gay over Hiroshima. I don’t blame him for being angry, but he just over does it. Some of the Tweets remain in their non-formatted state below.

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EARLIER: In the last few minutes (10:44pm EST) Alec Baldwin has gone bat-shit crazy on Twitter against a Daily Mail reporter. Baldwin is FURIOUS with someone named George Stark who published a piece in the Mail Online about his wife, Hilaria, herself Tweeting allegedly during James Gandolfini’s funeral. I’m kind of laughing, and it’s all kind of sad. For one thing, I saw the Baldwins at the funeral. I don’t think she was doing any such thing. No one in that church was on a phone. It would have been too upsetting and obvious; we were also sitting like sardines. I just don’t believe it. Also, I ran into the Baldwins when I was walking home the other night. They were genuinely very sad about Gandolfini. In one of these Tweets, Alec writes: “How much of this shit are people supposed to take? With these fucking blatant lies EVERY DAY.” He’s right. But he’s got to learn to cool it somehow.

 

 

 

Zach Braff to Star in Musical Bullets over Broadway

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Zach Braff will make his Broadway debut in the musical version of Woody Allen’s “Bullets over Broadway,” Susan Stroman directs and choreographs. Woody Allen wrote the book based on his original screenplay with Doug McGrath. Vincent Pastore from The Sopranos costars in the Chazz. Palminteri role. Woody’s sister Letty Aronson and Elaine May’s regular producer, Julian Schlossberg, are producing. Lenny Wolpe, Betsy Wolfe, Helene Yorke and Brooks Ashmanskas are also in the cast.

More casting is imminent. William Ivey Long, god bless him, is doing the costumes. “Bullets Over Broadway” will open on April 10, 2014 at the best theater in New York, the St. James (once home to “The Producers” and “Hello, Dolly!” among others).

Some interesting notes: According to Playbill, the show had a tryout last week. I guess it worked because they’ve scheduled a four week lab this fall prior to the winter previews. And there are no new songs— all the songs are from the 20s and 30s. That should make entering “BOB” as a mew musical a little problematic. How peculiar. “BOB” will be like a Gershwin “new” musical.

Weekend Box Office Surprise: Funny Female Cops Set to Take “White House” Down

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Friday is shaping up as an interesting night in box office history. Paul Feig’s female buddy cop comedy “The Heat” looks like it’s going to take “White House Down” down. First of all, “The Heat” is far better reviewed. It has a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. “WHD” meantime has a 50%. And that’s it’s high mark. It’s been lower.

Our own LEAH SYDNEY loved it. Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are are going to give Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum a run for their money. Here’s what she reports back:

Prepare to have a grin on your face for two hours as two gifted actresses/comediennes– the always game powerhouse Melissa McCarthy and the ever quippy Sandra Bullock– are highly entertaining in the estrogen version of the buddy comedy, “The Heat.”  Melissa pays a filthy mouthed Boston cop who is fearless in her take no prisoners’ attitude, which extends to her family, including her perpetually messed up brother, played by the always-reliable Michael Rappaport. Sandra plays a prim perfectionist FBI agent who has her own difficult history. Their instant combativeness/affection set the tone for consistent laughs throughout the film.

The plot is simple; the ladies are chasing the drug dealer bad guys.  These gifted gals milk everything they can with their expert timing, pitch perfect chemistry and the truly clever and funny bone script by Katie Dippold doesn’t hurt.  Director Paul Feig, who helmed the McCarthy hit “Bridesmaids” two summers ago, again deftly handles these two ladies throughout their many adventures, from an undercover night of drinking, to being caught and tied up by the bad guys and extricating themselves from that.

McCarthy is fearless in her willingness to do whatever it takes to get to the funny and her in your face comedy works perfectly with Sandra’s appealing self-deprecation.  Where so many of these so called summer comedies just seem slapped together, ‘Heat’ stands out for just being bottom line, really funny, and smart. You know this is the first of many episodes in these ladies’ lives. Kudos to Sandra Bullock. She is literally the mother of career reinvention.

James Gandolfini Gave Black T Shirts to Sopranos Cast and Crew: “Only the Good Die Young”

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New Jersey governor Chris Christie and most of the Sopranos said goodbye to James Gandolfini today at the magnificent Cathedral of St John the Divine. Joining Edie Falco and Lorraine Bracco were show creator David Chase, who said in his eulogy that he’d envisioned a scene with Tony Soprano set to Joan Osbourne’s “What if God Were One of Us.” Gandolfini’s widow Deborah spoke briefly but mostly rocked the couple’s 8 month old daughter back and forth in the front row.

The many actors luminaries ranged from Steve Carell, Brian Williams, Dick Cavett, Chris Noth, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, and Julianna Margulies to a slew of Sopranos; Aida Turturro, Dominic Chianese, Vince Curatola, Federico Castellucci, Michael Imperioli, Joe Pantoliano, Annabella Sciorra, Jerry Adler, and Tony Sirico to Gandolfini’s recent Broadway castmates Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden. A tearful Maureen van Zandt stood in for husband Steve who’s on tour with Bruce Springsteen in Europe.

Hollywood was represented by Brad Grey and Jeff Bewkes. HBO “produced” the massive funeral which comprised hundreds of mourners with grace and elegance.

Another speaker, Tommy Richardson, asked the entire congregation to stand and hug each other. Gandolfini liked to hug he said “too hard and too long.”

Veronica Lupu, the show’s script supervisor, wore a black t shirt she said Gandolfini had given to the whole cast and crew. It read; The Sopranos 1997-2007 “only the good die young.”

Chase wrote his obit in the form of a letter to Gandolfini, calling him “my brother” and speaking for the cast. He recalled that when they shot the pilot on location in New Jersey it was hot and humid. “Jimmy was sitting there with his pants rolled up and a handkerchief on his forehead.” Chase said, that when he saw him there “I was filled with love.”

Rolling Stones: New Music Publisher Can’t Get No Satisfaction

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Wow. Talk about misleading stories. Even the New York Post got this kinda wrong this morning. Many eons ago, the Rolling Stones parked their music publishing with the late Allen Klein and his ABKCO Records. And all these years later, ABKCO– which also administers Sam Cooke’s catalog–still owns all the primary hits of the Stones from “Satisfaction” to “Honky Tonk Women” and even “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses.” They have everything from 1963 to 1971.

Yesterday upstart BMG Music Publishing announced that it had grabbed the Stones’ catalog, and the lemmings just headlined it that. But BMG got the lesser Stones songs, from 1971 on. In ’71 the Stones moved to Atlantic Records, where their biggest hits were “Miss You,” “Shattered,” and “Start Me Up.”  Their next era, which BMG also got, includes the “Steel Wheels” and “Bridges to Babylon” albums and a lot of songs you can’t readily name. The Stones play only a smattering of those songs in concert.

Here’s a statement from ABKCO:

In light of today’s announcement by BMG concerning its involvement in music publishing interests in songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, ABKCO Music, Inc. wishes to reiterate that ABKCO, and ABKCO alone, owns and controls 100% of the worldwide copyright to the original 1963-1971 publishing catalog of Jagger/Richards Rolling Stones compositions.

ABKCO CEO Jody Klein stated that the BMG announcement “has no relevance whatsoever to ABKCO’s ongoing role in its ownership or control of all existing copyrights, including such seminal titles as ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and others from that period as has been the case for more than 40 years.”

“We wish BMG all the best with their new endeavor but it must be noted that ABKCO, a wholly owned independent entertainment company, remains the sole source of rights and licensing for these compositions along with the corresponding master recordings by The Rolling Stones.  It is unfortunate that BMG’s statement may have led some to conclude otherwise.”

Michael Jackson Trial: Add AEG to the List of People He Thought Were Trying to “Kill” Him

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I appreciate the testimony of Michael Jackson’s eldest son, Prince. Today he testified that Michael told him AEG executives “were trying to kill him.” You can tell Prince is a good kid. But he came into the Jackson story in late chapters. Prince, your father thought everyone was trying to kill him. The AEG people were just the latest. Michael distrusted just about everyone around him. Anyone with whom he found himself in a contractual situation was considered an enemy. Any authority figure was “trying to kill him.”

Let’s just go back to the 2001, after “Invincible” came out. Jackson was convinced Tommy Mottola was the devil, a racist who had it in for him. Mottola, the head of SonyMusic then, was no picnic, let’s face it. But he’d waited seven years for a Michael Jackson album. Jackson stole the “Invincible” tapes and wouldn’t release them until Mottola secured him a cameo in “Men in Black II.” Then Michael wanted to undercut “Invincible” with a separate charity single and Mottola refused.

By 2003, Jackson had turned over his finances and management to Miami lawyer Al Malnik and veteran music exec Charles Koppleman. They saved him at a moment when he almost went under financially. When Jackson was arrested in November 2003, he installed the Nation of Islam and never spoke to Malnik or Koppelman again. He told friends that he thought they were trying to steal the Beatles catalog from him.

Jackson was a musical genius, but he was disloyal and capricious. In 2005 he allowed his longtime press aide Bob Jones be dismissed without warning or severance. Now he was the enemy.

When the trial was over, Jackson accepted the hospitality of Prince Abdullah of Bahrain, who bankrolled a long visit. Michael signed a contract with the Prince and announced a record label. He also took $7 million in cash as an advance. When he got the money, he bolted Bahrain and left the Prince high and dry.

Were AEG executives trying to “kill” him? No. Jackson was in financial peril after his trial but he refused to work or make any money. Several times he let his parents’ home go into foreclosure. The mortgage was held for a while by a dentist and a group of investors. Jackson was deeply in debt, had no cash. He let Neverland sink into red ink until it was taken over by Colony Capital.

Jackson accepted the offer from AEG because, like other human beings, he needed to generate income. No one put a gun to his head. And if anyone wanted him alive, it was AEG and Randy Phillips. They just had no idea what he was up to when they weren’t looking.

So Prince made for good theater, and he’s a good son in a tragic situation. But let’s not overdo it. Michael Jackson was the captain of his own ship.