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Barron Trump, 19, Detached, Sullen Trotted Out on New Year’s Eve As Vanilla Ice Gets Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller Dancing

Roger Friedman
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Barron Trump, 19, Detached, Sullen Trotted Out on New Year’s Eve As Vanilla Ice Gets Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller Dancing

Donald and Melania are evil, but let’s put that aside.

Barron Trump made an appearance at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve. He looked like a hostage. Catatonic, dressed in a Trump blue suit, he stood by his parents with him grim visage. Unsmiling, unaccompanied, Barron is the epitome of incel sadness.

When Trump was first elected, I was told by the parent of a student at his then New York grammar school that Barron spoke with a heavy Slovenian accent. He’d be raised by Melania’s parents on a separate floor of Trump Tower. The parent told me Barron was widely known to have learning disabilities.

Now Barron has disappeared from his second year at college. He’s being stored like winter jam either at the White House or one of Trump’s homes. No one has ever heard his voice, not in the 10 years since Trump became president the first time. In Melania’s upcoming documentary — coming January 26th — he makes a very brief appearance and doesn’t speak.

Look at this video below. Why don’t the Trumps just tell the truth about Barron? It would actually buy them some sympathy. There’s some very wrong here, and nothing is being done about it.

PS Where is his little friend, Bo Loudon? This kid, a year younger and two feet shorter, is supposed to be his best friend and companion (I mean this in a platonic way). Barron has no one his age to play with. He looks bereft.

On a separate note, entertainment at Mar-a-Lago was hasbeen Vanilla Ice, revived from the early 90s for his David Bowie/Queen one off hit “Ice Ice Baby.” He was hired so dog killer Kristi Noem and hostile space alien Stephen Miller could sing the word “Ice” loudly. They’re so clever!


New CBS Evening News Anchor Mocked for Videos Promising to “Ignore Academics and Elites,” People on Street Don’t Know His Name

Roger Friedman
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New CBS Evening News Anchor Mocked for Videos Promising to “Ignore Academics and Elites,” People on Street Don’t Know His Name

What’s worse of Tony Dokoupil two new posts?

The new anchor of the CBS Evening News gave a speech on Twitter today saying his new broadcast would get away from using analysis of “academics and elites.”

The video is being much mocked for good reason. This is Dokoupil unabashedly puppeting the words of the new CBS News management run by Bari Weiss with strings pulled by new owner David Ellison, himself a hollow echo of Trump.

Dokoupil says: “On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”

CBS News has not missed the story very much in its 80 years of existence. Now they don’t want experts? Who will they rely on now? Fox News sources? Government press releases? The mind boggles for how this newscast will look when it returns on January 5th.

This would be the most embarrassing way to start a new CBS News anchor’s run except for a prior post in which Dokoupil roaming around Grand Central Station asking commuters if they know who he is. They do not. He asks strangers if they know how to pronounce his name. They do not.

This lame, pathetic exercise just underscores what a mistake all of this is, relying on a former hair model from a third rated morning news show to take over the hallowed seat of Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Katie Couric, and even Norah O’Donnell.

Cronkite was dubbed “the most trusted man in the world.” Now the title of anchor is being reduced to a joke.

The two videos are below.

“Stranger Things” Finale Crashes Netflix, Spectacular Ending After 9 Years, 5 Seasons, Wraps Story with Blazing Production

Roger Friedman
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The first episode of “Stranger Things” aired in July 2016.

Nine years later, it ended tonight after five seasons with a spectacular finale. Fans got what they wanted in a two hour wrap up episode that dotted every ‘i’ and crossed every ‘t’.

Some spoilers are obvious: the Scooby Doo gang finally defeated Vecna, destroyed the Upside Down, and brought order to Hawkins, Indiana.

All the characters got happy endings with the exception — maybe — of Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, who is either not turning Twelve or living in a far off land.

Many of the young actors are assured of future careers. Gaten Mattarazo has already been on Broadway, as has Sadie Sink. Maya Hawke’s career is booming. Finn Wolfhard ditto, and he just directed a music video for George Harrison’s classic, “Give Me Love.” Fourteen year old New Zealand actress Nell Fisher, new to the show this season as Holly Wheeler, is a possible breakout star. Holly managed to introduce two new tropes in the fifth season– her devotion to “A Wrinkle in Time” and her reference of Little Red Riding Hood.

The final episode was about a half hour too long, in reality, but no one cares. After nine years of battling demogorgons and trying to explain the often convoluted plot as the episodes zipped along, The Duffer Brothers deserved a decent send off.

Somewhere out there must exist a full book of “Stranger Things” Easter eggs referencing Dungeons and Dragpns, Spielberg, and dozens more nods from movies, TV, games, and books. They kind of whiz by like Jeopardy! answers — by the time you spit out the answer, we’re on to the next question.

The nicest touch in the last episode — letting Winona Ryder, aka Joyce Byers, bring the monstrous Vecna to his end. The adults were the hardest characters to keep writing season after season. But the Duffers really pulled out all the stops to make Winona, David Harbour, Cara Buono, and Bret Gelman get as much airtime as the “kids” (they are now young adults).

A lot of people went to theaters Wednesday night to see the finale on the big screen. I wish I’d been able to do that. The production values of this show are stunning. They should be seen on the largest screen possible. They’re not just Emmy worthy but Oscar worthy, really.

“Stranger Things” will do down in TV history as something of an outlier, a project that will resonate for years to come.

Broadway: “Stranger Things” Play Breaks Box Office Record Thanks to Show Finale, Tom Felton Casts $3 Mil Spell Over “Harry Potter”

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: “Stranger Things” Play Breaks Box Office Record Thanks to Show Finale, Tom Felton Casts $3 Mil Spell Over “Harry Potter”

Broadway is suddenly booming, which is good news for everyone.

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” was doing lackluster business all year until…

The TV series ends tomorrow night. New episodes dropped on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The result: “First Shadow” broke the box office record at the Marriott Marquis Theater over the holiday. It took in $2.5 million over the last nine days. I really liked this play — amazing special effects — but it never gained traction. Now, fans want to see it!

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is making $3 million a week now, after scraping by for eons. What changed? Suddenly, Tom Felton, Dracoy Malfoy from the movies, has joined the cast. The last four weeks have brought droves into the theater. “Cursed Child” started out as two plays, then was merged into one, sort of sank into a TKTS booth malaise, and now it’s back!

Again, also, great special effects.

Of course, “Wicked” is off the charts as the movie, “For Good,” has driven sales over the top. Two weeks ago they were up to $3 million, from an average of about $2.4 million. The movies are now working to bring back theater audiences, lots of new ones who are just catching up!

keep refreshing…

Exclusive: Major Kennedy Center Donor is “Taking Back Million Dollar-Plus Legacy,” Says Retired Colonel, US Army Chief of Staff (Video)

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Major Kennedy Center Donor is “Taking Back Million Dollar-Plus Legacy,” Says Retired Colonel, US Army Chief of Staff (Video)

A major donor to the Kennedy Center is leaving the “circle,” the list of top donors.

This “very wealthy woman” is also taking back the $1 million legacy she planned to leave the Kennedy Center in her estate.

This is according to a TikTok post from a pretty reliable source, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson. He’s US Army (Ret.)-fmr. Chief of Staff, under US Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell.

This is all because of the Trump takeover of the Kennedy Center, and his renaming it in his own honor.

Trump has insisted that he’s raised millions from right wing benefactors. But so far there’s no proof of that. And to what end would they be donating? Ticket sales are kaput, acts are canceling shows, no Broadway shows are coming in for the next months.

Col. Wilkerson says Trump is actively destroying the Kennedy Center in his video. He’s right. He says, in actually reasonable way, that Trump is the “agency of the devil.”

I’ve left messages and emails for Col. Wilkerson, who runs a TikTok called Dialogues01.

@dialogueworks01

Donors pull out of the Kennedy Center, agency of the devil

♬ som original – Dialogue Works

Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, Nat King Cole, Phil Spector Christmas Albums Outsold by a Soft Spoken Man Who Died in 1977

Roger Friedman
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Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, Nat King Cole, Phil Spector Christmas Albums Outsold by a Soft Spoken Man Who Died in 1977

Old chestnuts keep on roasting.

Guess whose Christmas album outsold Mariah Carey and Michael Buble? Also Phil Spector and Nat King Cole?

Hint: he made movies with Bob Hope and played a priest in a famous holiday film.

The answer is redacted but I’ll give it you anyway: Bing Crosby.

Da Bingster.

True! Taylor Swift was number 1 on Friday blah blah blah.

But number 2 was Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas with 115K copies sold — mostly streaming equivalent.

Mariah was number 6 with 77K sold — also mostly streaming.

Bing died in 1977 which is like almost 50 years ago. But his fans were listening to him sing “White Christmas” more than ever.

“White Christmas” for decades held the record for most bought single. The song was written by the great Irving Berlin, who was Jewish, btw.

Coming in third was Michael Buble, followed by Nat King Cole, and Phil Spector.

After Mariah, a strong seventh place was held by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, with A Charlie Brown Christmas. Amazing!

There are 28 songs on Ultimate Bing Crosby but he didn’t write any of them. He doesn’t get publishing royalties. But maybe his daughter, Mary, who killed JR Ewing (don’t ask), will get a cut of sales.

Yes, Bing played a priest in the classic “Bells of St. Mary’s” in 1945. In 1954, he starred in “White Christmas” and sang that infernal song!

But his best movies were with Bob Hope. Look ’em up. They’re classics and fresh as daisies.

Kennedy Center, Once Home to Broadway Hits, Has Just 1 Show Coming for Next Six Months, Plus NY Year’s Eve Show Cancels

Roger Friedman
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Kennedy Center, Once Home to Broadway Hits, Has Just 1 Show Coming for Next Six Months, Plus NY Year’s Eve Show Cancels
UPDATE: There will be no New Year’s Eve for fans of The Cookers at the Kennedy Center.

The Cookers, a music ensemble, have abruptly canceled their shows at the Kennedy Center over the change of name to Trump Kennedy Center.

More acts are following suit including suit.

“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice. Some of us have been making this music for many decades, and that history still shapes us,” the Cookers jazz ensemble said in a statement.

EARLIER: The Kennedy Center is going to be very quiet this winter and spring.

The only show of note coming in for the next six months is a national tour of “Chicago,” from March 29th.

Otherwise, the famed institution will just be home to its subscription series with the symphony and ballet. They’ll have a bunch of minor events that aren’t exactly major attractions.

Already, Southern Alabama singer Kristy Lee has canceled her show for January 14th. Why? The breaking point was Donald Trump’s name change of the Center, hotly objected to by all sane people.

(The way it looks now, the fake www.trumpkennedycenter.org may have more Broadway shows, all invented, like The Epstein Dancers!)

The coming months will be in stark contrast to the 2023-24 season, which featured Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Larson’s “tick, tick… BOOM!”; the 1960 Tony Award–winning Best Musical, “Bye Bye Birdie”; and the 1982 Tony Award–winning Best Musical, “Nine.” They also staged the Temptations musical “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Back to The Future,” “Funny Girl,” “Company,” and “Girl from the North Country,” among others.

This year was supposed to bring “Hamilton” to the Kennedy Center, but Lin-Manuel Miranda and the producers backed out earlier this year when Donald Trump took over and replaced the board with his stooges.

One act that will appear at the Kennedy Center this month is Shen Yun, the Chinese theatrical extravaganza. They are already the subject of much controversy. When they performed last year there was a bomb threat at the theater. Also, their CFO is still in hot water. I told you in June 2024 that Shen Yun was caught in accusations of a money laundering scheme that included the Epoch Times and Chinese dissidents Falun Gong. The chief financial officer was indicted by the Justice Department for laundering $67 million. The case has not been resolved.

Even with Trump’s proposed new marble armrests it doesn’t seem possible for the Kennedy Center to go on this way. The Center’s chief, Trump lackey Dickie Grenell, is presiding over a Titanic situation, rearranging the deck chairs while the ship sinks. Even Trump’s deep pocketed new donors will expect some kind of Broadway entertainment this year. Here’s some news for them: it’s not coming.

Exclusive: Miley Cyrus Has a Great Best Song Candidate This Year for “Avatar,” But She Almost Had One Recently Until It Got Pulled

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Miley Cyrus Has a Great Best Song Candidate This Year for “Avatar,” But She Almost Had One Recently Until It Got Pulled

I’m just reading about Miley Cyrus and her “Avatar” song this year.

The song is “Dream as One,” and it’s most certainly in the running for Best Song at the Oscars. Mark Ronson helped write and produce it. Her label should be pushing it as a single.

Miley tells the Hollywood Reporter that she went out pitching herself for a song in a movie this year. There’s nothing wrong with that, everyone does it. She was smart to go to the Oscars last year and tell anyone who’d listen she was available.

I will you tell this much exclusively: in the last few years, Miley had a Best Song recorded and ready and slotted into a hit movie. Sources say if the song had been in the movie, as planned, she would have had her nomination.

At the last minute, however, a player in the production decided they had to have another singer, and a whole new song. This shows you how capricious it is in Hollywood, to be a big star like Miley Cyrus and to see all agreements cast aside. Her song was out, and a new one was in. Maybe one day we’ll hear the song that didn’t make it.

The Universe was obviously angered by this turn of events. To make up for it, Miley got “Flowers,” which was the biggest hit of 2023 and won the Grammy Award. “Flowers” is one of those once-in-a-lifetime lightning strikes hit that will last forever. It was the cosmic make up for another Hollywood deal gone sour.

What was the movie, or the song? It doesn’t matter now. The story is about Miley’s resilience and determination to not let it stop her.

Even if “Avatar Fire and Ash” isn’t nominated for Best Picture, “Dream as One” is right at the top of every list. It definitely shows that Miley Cyrus should be performing on the Oscars (if they do that again) soon.

“Marty Supreme” Starring Timothee Chalamet Paddles $28 Mil in 10 Days Despite Tina Brown Snarking Real Life Subject as “Maddening Rando”

Roger Friedman
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“Marty Supreme” Starring Timothee Chalamet Paddles $28 Mil in 10 Days Despite Tina Brown Snarking Real Life Subject as “Maddening Rando”

Tina Brown, the founding editor of the real Vanity Fair, didn’t like Marty Reisman much.

She says on Substack that he was a “maddening rando” who stuck like “a burr” to the side of her late husband, famed editor Harold Evans, who liked to play ping pong with him.

Nevertheless, other people seem to like Marty a lot. The movie based loosely on his life, called “Marty Supreme,” is a hit. (Vanity Fair should have featured him when he was alive, he probably knew some of the dictators and murderers they wrote about!)

Josh Safdie’s brilliant film, starring Timothee Chalamet as the renamed Marty Mauser, has made $28 million since its limited release on December 19th.

Most of that has been over this weekend.

“Marty Supreme” from A24 cost $70 million, not including the massive marketing campaign that’s gone on for several weeks.

Audiences in the big cities, especially New York and Los Angeles, are mad for “Marty,” even if Brown didn’t like him.

Chalamet is headed to an Oscar nomination and maybe a win if the Academy can get past the viral videos, $250 Marty jackets, and Kylie Jenner.

There could be a sequel to “Marty” if Chalamet ages in the next few years. The current movie is based on a book — stupidly out of print — that Reisman wrote in the 70s called “The Money Player: The confessions of America’s greatest table tennis champion and hustler.” The one copy left on Amazon is selling for $1,999.

Reisman got to know Evans when he was peddling the sequel, which seems to be as yet unpublished. Evans turned it down, but someone would certainly scoop it up now, and a second movie would be of some interest.

My friend Mark Simone, top rated NY radio personality at 710WOR, knew Marty and used to eat with him at the legendary Patsy’s on Eighth Avenue in the 1980s. (The picture here is of Mark — with a Tom Selleck mustache — and Marty on the right. Yes, that’s also legendary comedian Jackie Mason, who apparently loved Marty.) He tells me that Reisman was quite the character, if not a little annoying (no surprise).

More than a few people knew Reisman in real life, and if you Google him you’ll see plenty of recollections of the “maddening rando.”

Trump Kennedy Center Website Goes Live, Except It’s Owned by Satirist, Comedy Writer and Activist: Epstein Dancers Next!

Roger Friedman
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Trump Kennedy Center Website Goes Live, Except It’s Owned by Satirist, Comedy Writer and Activist: Epstein Dancers Next!

The Trump Kennedy Center website is now live on the internet.

Only one thing: it’s not owned by the US government, the Kennedy Center, or Donald Trump.

www.trumpkennedycenter.org is registered to a former comedy writer for “South Park” who’s also a political activist.

He also owns www.trumpkennedycenter.com, although that one doesn’t have a design or information yet.

The Washington Post was first to feature this news that Toby Morton, who has other writing credits, had added the site’s url to his portfolio of sites named for public figures.

But now TrumpKennedyCenter’s site is live, and kicking.

According to the site, the next booking is The Epstein Dancers. “Ring in the New Year” with them. On the site, Morton announces:

COMING JAN 2026 A Sacred Continuation of Purpose Beginning January 2026, TrumpKennedyCenter.org enters a new era of devotion, unity, and inherited authority. ​We exist to preserve what must endure, to honor what must not be questioned, and to gather those who understand that greatness is not chosen, it is recognized.​Here, tradition is not remembered. It is maintained.

Ceremonies, recognitions, and sanctioned appearances will be revealed in due time.

How is this going to work out? It’s unlikely anyone will be able to pry the urls away from Morton. He’s got them, and he’s going to keep them. The dot-org site is funny, but the dot-com one may prove an issue for MAGA patrons who want to see what’s going on at Donald Trump’s ruined arts institution.

(This, of course, is unlikely, since MAGA wouldn’t be interested in anything even the “Kennedy Center” has to offer.)

What will be funny is Morton adding actual events, and real ads, which is entirely possible. His sites — like Moms4Liberty.org — are just like The Onion — or in olden days, Mad Magazine (he was a writer for MAD TV), or the great work from the people who brought us Not the New York Times during the 1978 newspaper strike, or not Not the Bible — Chris Cerf, George and Freddy Plimpton, Rusty Unger, and Tony Hendra. (I still LOL at “The Having Section.”)

Can’t wait to see what Toby Morton does with his sites. And how much traffic they get. Maybe they can book “Hamilton,” a musical about blenders!

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