Friday, December 19, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1912

Phil Ramone, Famed Record Producer of Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Dies

Roger Friedman
-
40
Phil Ramone, Famed Record Producer of Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Dies

Exclusive UPDATE: Billy Joel says:

“I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented guy in my band. He was the guy that no one ever ever saw onstage.
He was with me as long as any of the musicians I ever played with – longer than most. So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him.
I have lost a dear friend – and my greatest mentor.The music world lost a giant today.”

Earlier: Heartbreaking: my friend, the friend of so many in the music business, has died at age 79. Phil had been in a New York hospital for the last few weeks, recovering from an aortic aneurysm. It’s just tragic. Phil produced the great music by Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Tony Bennett– all of whom had been keeping in touch with Phil’s family constantly over the last few weeks.

Phil had 14 Grammy awards– and not enough frankly. Just in the last two years he’d produced Tony Bennett’s “Duets II” and “Viva Duets,” as well as Paul Simon’s critically acclaimed “So Beautiful, So What” and was finishing up a new album with George Michael.

To say Phil was a musical genius, a gentleman, the sweetest and nicest guy–it’s all not enough. For years he’s been producing the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame show and it’s been such a great experience. This past winter, right before he became ill, Phil was honored by the Salvation Army for all of work in the last few years. He was so proud of organizing their kids’ orchestra. He was beaming when they played at the Marriott Marquis that night. And he was so thrilled that Aretha Franklin came to honor him as well.

All I can think of this afternoon is Phil in the studio recording the “Duets II” album in the summer of 2011. I came into see him, and it he was drenched in sweat. It was at least 100 degrees outside, and Aretha had asked that the air conditioning be turned off while she and Tony Bennett recorded “How Do You Keep the Music Playing.” Phil was wearing a light blue dress shirt, and all of it was wet by degrees. I said, “Phil are you all right?” He looked at me with that big smile. “Do ya see what’s going on in there?” he pointed to Aretha and Tony on other side of the glass. “I’m great. Hot. But great.”

Phil’s Grammys:

  • 2006 Producer, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic
  • 2005 Producer, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Tony Bennett The Art of Romance
  • 2004 Producer, Album of the Year, Ray Charles Genius Loves Company
  • 2004 Producer, Best Surround Sound Album, Ray Charles Genius Loves Company
  • 2004 Technical Grammy, for contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.
  • 2002 Producer – Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues
  • 1994 Producer – Best Musical Show Album, Passion
  • 1983 Composer – Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television Flashdance
  • 1980 Producer of the Year – Non-Classical
  • 1979 Producer, Album of the Year, 52nd Street
  • 1978 Producer, Record of the Year, Just The Way You Are
  • 1975 Producer, Album of the Year, Still Crazy After All These Years
  • 1969 Producer, Best Musical Show Album, Promises, Promises
  • 1964 Engineer, Best Engineered Recording (non- classical) Getz/Gilberto

Why Taylor Swift Is Not Going to Find a Happy Relationship Anytime Soon

Roger Friedman
-
22
Why Taylor Swift Is Not Going to Find a Happy Relationship Anytime Soon

Yes, I went to a Taylor Swift show last night. Judging by the audience of preteen girls at the Prudential Center in Newark, I doubt many of my colleagues have had this experience. My twin nieces, Hannah and Charlotte, turning 13 on Tuesday, wanted to see opening act Ed Sheeran. They had no interest in Swift, but since i paid for the tickets, I told them we had to do the whole thing.

Now, having seen her in arena, I can tell you why Taylor Swift will never find a happy relationship. In a minute. First the show: I don’t know who wrote it, directed, choreographed it, scripted it in within an inch of its life. But the Red tour show is not about rock and roll or even pop. It’s a humongous Broadway spectacle. Or a series of them.

There are 18 songs including a duet with Sheeran and a guest spot. Last night that went to Pat Monahan of Train, whom Swift called “my favorite singer from my favorite band.” I know, I am an old curmudgeon, but I did do a spit take. “Special guests” in my day meant Eric Clapton, Or Elvis Costello. And they sang a song from a Ford commercial. Eeee.

Anyway.

Most of the 18 numbers have total costume and lighting specifics on the scale of, say, “Les Miseables.” Or more. Swift makes countless costume changes, all stunning. The dancers- there are many– and singers– lots of them too– never sit down for more than two hours. They are very talented. The band is bland, and I’m not even convinced they were all playing their instruments live. They’re so incidental that Swift never introduces them. Whatever was country about Swift is gone. Her music has been rearranged into institutional 80s New Wave pop. The arrangements are clunky. Her own songs from older albums sound better solo, on acoustic guitar. But that’s just a small segment now.

Swift comes across like a QVC hostess. She is endlessly self promoting, listing all her awards for the audience, her so called accomplishments, her many successes. At one point she says that she and the audience have “a lot in common”– but she doesn’t mean several homes, celebrity boyfriends, and millions of dollars. She means that the audience, like her, is obsessed with Taylor Swift. She is disingenuous even to the eye of a New York 13 year old. And she often stands on stage, backlit, flirting with the large video screens.

But: the show is almost overly entertaining. It’s sort of brilliant in its nonstop, ceaseless attack. The detail work and the production are superb. Swift comes off like an actress playing Taylor Swift in a musical. You get the sense there is no there “there.” At what, 23, she is already beyond the pale. But the thousands of girls in the audience love her. I mean, love her. They adore her. They are transfixed. She is the realization of all their fantasies.

It’s the physicality of the show that made me realize, she cannot go back. Taylor Swift is now the G rated Madonna. She flies across the arena suspended from the ceiling on an open platform. She walks out in the middle of the audience sort of on a crane, barefoot. She swings around on a cherry picker (the same one Tina Turner used about 10 years ago in her mid 60s.)

By the time she reaches the end of this extravaganza, Swift is standing at the top of a huge staircase. She is wearing a top hat and is dressed like Sergeant Pepper’s cheerleader in red and gold. Some 20,000 people are speady before her screaming so loudly that you cannot hear anything. Imagine the adrenaline at this point pulsating through her. She tells the audience– it’s scripted but true –“I can’t believe you know all the words to all the songs.” They do, they really do, even though the songs are largely meaningless.

She is not Joni or Carly or Carole. She plays guitar well enough, but fakes piano miserably (like Justin Timberlake). She is a brand, and there is tons of merchandise. But she is also an entertainer.  And she’s superb at it. You know movies are next. This is inevitable. She’s so ready for her closeup she’s already taking it. But a boyfriend who can measure up to the rush of being Taylor Swift? She’s asking too much. I think she will realize that soon.

Ed Sheeran? I like him. He’s sort of this year’s James Blunt or Jason Mraz. He plays amplified acoustic guitar really well, and is a good, athletic singer. He sort of sing-raps. One thing I didn’t understand: he put down the guitar mid-song and the music kept playing. Who was playing it? Compared to Swift’s show, Sheeran’s is like something from Folk City. The two acts complement each other.

Barbara Walters “Is Not Leaving the News, the News is Leaving Barbara Walters”

Roger Friedman
-
1
Barbara Walters “Is Not Leaving the News, the News is Leaving Barbara Walters”

It should be wild on Monday’s edition of “The View.” Over the weekend, Barbara Walters is fighting with ABC over their ambush announcement yesterday that Walters would retire at the end of the 2014 season. Walters had only told friends that she was leaving ABC News. She planned to stay on “The View” and in control of it. Insiders at “The View,” as well as friends, were stunned by the leaked item on Deadline.com yesterday.

But one insider told me: “Whoever is planting these stories knows we’re always dark on Friday. They plant the story on Thursday knowing there’s no show the next day.” Indeed, the leaked story about Joy Behar, also on complicit Deadline, was on Thursday March 7th. It was the exact same set up.

A friend of Walters told me: “Barbara’s not leaving the news. The news is leaving her. They just have no respect for her or for anyone anymore. They’ve moved Nightline to the middle of the night. And when Diane Sawyer’s contract is up, you can expect her to leave as well.”

Walters is 83 years old, and basically in good shape except for her chicken pox and blood clot this past winter. She’s outstayed even the older men–Ted Koppel was kicked out of ABC News long ago, and is now over at NBC. The truth is, young news programmers and executives don’t want old people on their shows. And no one ever expected this generation of broadcasters to live so long, and so well.

“Nothing is set in stone,” says a Walters friend. “It’s not over til it’s over.”

“American Idol” Hits Series Low, In Danger of Dropping Below 10 Million Viewers

Roger Friedman
-
3
“American Idol” Hits Series Low, In Danger of Dropping Below 10 Million Viewers

“American Idol” hit a series low on Thursday night, dropping to a 2.7 in the key demo and 11.03 million viewers. If 10 million is the benchmark for disaster, then it’s just around the corner. At this rate, the moment could come earlier than May 8th, when “The Voice” will put a show up against an episode of “Idol.” Of course “Idol” won the night last night anyway, beating a lot of weak shows and reruns. Advertisers will look at the sheer numbers and see that of all people watching TV last night, most of them were seeing “Idol.” But still– every week “Idol” sinks lower and lower. And in the key demo, “The Voice” is killing it already and it’s only been back for one week. That 2.7 means “Idol” is skewing older and older– not the audience that buys and downloads music. It’s more or less tying with “Grey’s Anatomy” (which should have  been cancelled eons ago) and Kerry Washington’s cool “Scandal.” Now let’s see how “The Voice” does this coming Monday.

Daniel Craig Drops Out of George Clooney Movie for…Love?

Roger Friedman
-
1
Daniel Craig Drops Out of George Clooney Movie for…Love?

There’s news today– courtesy of my pal Baz Bamigboye in the UK Daily Mail– that Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are definitely headed to Broadway this fall. IN fact Baz says they’ve found their “third” for Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal”– Rafe Spall, the hot young actor who is also the son of favorite Brit star Timothy Spall. Mike Nichols will direct the trio, and Daniel will watch his real life wife playing his fictional wife, having an affair with Spall. It has all the makings of a Liz Taylor-Richard Burton scenario.

But the Weisz-Craigs do want to spend all their time together. Daniel had agreed to be part of a big all star ensemble in George Clooney’s “Monuments Men.” He dropped out suddenly in February and was replaced by Matt Damon. Some thought this was because Daniel didn’t want to be part of a crowd. “MM” is like an “Ocean’s Eleven” caper, except with a real history. Craig, they said, wanted to be the star.

Now I’m hearing that his exit was just because he didn’t want to work. After all, DC made a fortune on “Skyfall,” and has more to come with the next two James Bond movies. Friends in the UK say Weisz has turned down a lot of offers for work simply to be with 007 at their own Skyfall in upstate New York.

So now neither Craig nor Weisz has a project scheduled until October and Broadway. By that time they should be sick of each other (just kidding) and ready for some good volleys on stage!

PS This hot couple met making what turned out to be a terrible movie, “Dream House.” It was a nightmare. Just FYI.

AMBUSH! Did ABC Just “Leno” Barbara Walters? She Has No Plans to Retire from “The View”

Roger Friedman
-
138
AMBUSH! Did ABC Just “Leno” Barbara Walters? She Has No Plans to Retire from “The View”

UPDATE: Barbara Walters was totally ambushed by ABC today, my sources say. And the reality is, if she were even contemplating retirement of some kind, either Liz Smith or Cindy Adams would have reported it first. Now every media outlet has picked up this crazy story, and it’s quickly becoming “fact.” Stay turned to see if Walters rebuts. Interesting timing too since “The View” is not live tomorrow, but taped for Good Friday. ABC really played it well.

Earlier: A couple of stories popped up this afternoon in Hollywood columns claiming Barbara Walters was set to announce her retirement. Ha ha. It seems ABC News may have done to Walters what they did to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and what NBC just did to Jay Leno and Matt Lauer. My source says that Walters had only discussed retiring officially from ABC News, not “The View.” She actually owns a piece of that show.

also read: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/03/29/barbara-walters-is-not-leaving-the-news-the-news-is-leaving-barbara-walters

But ABC may have decided that the only way to make Walters retire was to announce it and see what happened. It’s too convenient that the two stories were published within a half hour of each other. I’m no particular fan of Walters, but this seemed pretty blatant today. I called a close friend of hers who said, “Barbara has been talking to them about retiring from the news side, but not entertainment.” Indeed, the Walters everyone knows would never, ever completely retire from television. It’s her life.

These stories today were also well timed by someone at ABC who knew that Walters’ personal publicist, Cindi Berger, was out of the country, traveling, and on business elsewhere. Berger’s office was surprised by the afternoon ambush. But this is the Machiavellian way networks conduct themselves these days.

PS Any ABC insider “knowledgeable about the situation” insists that Walters was not ambushed, and that this is exactly what she wanted.

“American Idol” Hits Wednesday Low as “The Voice” Conquers Youth Audience

Roger Friedman
-
1
“American Idol” Hits Wednesday Low as “The Voice” Conquers Youth Audience

Poor “American Idol.” What the heck? Last night’s installment hit a ratings low for Wednesdays– 3.1 in the key demo. “Idol” won the night in millions of viewers, but in its second hour the key 18-49 audience switched over to “Modern Family.” That 3.1 was a drop from last Wednesday’s 3.5, and 3.8 the week before. On top of that, “The Voice” returned to NBC on Monday and Tuesday, scoring a 4.9 and a 4.1, respectively.

Young people–the ones who buy and download music–are watching “The Voice.” Indeed, on Tuesday “The Voice” had better key demos than the two “NCIS” shows that it ran against. (The NCIS audience is 50 and up.)

Tonight “Idol” celebrates its 450th episode with lots of stars performing including Keith Urban. So I will watch it, and expect many millions will too. But they do need a Mariah Carey performance desperately. And soon.

Writers Guild Chooses Super Bowl Eve For 2014 Awards

Roger Friedman
-
0
Writers Guild Chooses Super Bowl Eve For 2014 Awards

Faced with many challenges for finding a free weekend night next winter, the Writers Guild has settled on a date for their awards show. Why, it’s Saturday February 1st, which is also the night before the Super Bowl in New York City. Maybe the WGA needs a marketing consultant. But really, even some of the nominees may choose to be in New York at Super Bowl parties, and not at the Edison Ballroom (yikes).

Super Bowl in New York is like Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve and the end of the world all rolled into one. There will so much hype and wildness I doubt very much anyone except the mothers of the nominees will be invested in the Writers Guild East ceremony–especially since the Guild doesn’t even have a closed circuit camera set up so the two coasts can participate simultaneously. (I do think that’s been possible since the late 1950s.)

Anyway, what can they do? Saturdays January 18th and 25th are taken up with the SAGs and the DGA, respectively. I would have gone with Sunday January 26th, the night of the Grammy Awards. But no one asked me.

Motown’s First Act Might Have Been…Doris Day!

Roger Friedman
-
2

One important thing I gleaned from an early preview performance last night on Broadway of “Motown: The Musical’: Doris Day could have been its first act, way before The Supremes or Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. A young Berry Gordy was writing songs and pitching them to Jackie Wilson — and he actually had some hits like “Reet Petite.” But Gordy really wanted to sell a song to Doris Day. She’s not what you think of when you think Motown. But Gordy wrote a song for her and sent it, naively, to “Doris Day– Hollywood” in what they used to call ‘the mail.’ He didn’t get an answer.

I can’t tell you too much about “Motown” yet because the creators are still tinkering with it. I will tell every seat is sold, and the joint is jumping. They’ve packed at least 60 songs into the show including two written by Gordy for Jackie Wilson, and one or two new songs. But let’s say 57 of them are Motown classics, heard in snippets to full length versions. This is not an easy show to pull off because “Motown” had so many acts, and the acts were groups as well as solos, and they each have separate stories. You do pretty much see or hear everyone who was ever involved with the company, which is amazing.

The show is extremely well cast, from the young lady who plays Diana Ross down to the little boy we saw last night who re-creates little Michael Jackson. The show now — it may change– even has a quick tribute to Rick James. Also, I found it interesting that Gordy, who wrote the book for the show based on his autobiography, can be unsparing about his own failures even while celebrating his many successes.

“Motown” is going to be a monster hit — actually it is already. I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done on April 14th. And yes, there is a “Doris Day” singer who croons that early Gordy tune. Clever.

PS Quite a gang for late theater supper last night at Bar Centrale: Chris Rock and Zack Braff, plus Richard Kind, Bobby Cannavale, and Joey Slotnick after a performance of “The Big Knife.” And everyone’s talking about how good almost all the new shows are. A very solid Broadway season.

NBC “Today” and “Tonight” PR Catastrophes Are the Same, For a Reason

Roger Friedman
-
71
NBC “Today” and “Tonight” PR Catastrophes Are the Same, For a Reason

There’s a lot of explosive talk today about Matt Lauer leaving the Today show. It began with a New York magazine piece, continued into a second story on Deadline.com about NBC reaching out to Anderson Cooper to replace him, and has now echoed into the New York Times. The connection I still haven’t seen: that what’s going on with “Today” show this week is what happened to the “Tonight” show last week. Both shows are on NBC, and the signals being sent, however awkwardly, are coming from the same place: the new management.

As an NBC expert pointed to out to me today: Comcast wants all the old people out. I don’t mean senior citizens, although maybe that’s so. But they want a fresh look to a dead network. And that means Jay Leno and Matt Lauer. “Remember, the “New” NBC aka Comcast wants to get away from the old. Look at Fallon,” says my expert.

Also look at Elisabeth Hasselbeck at ABC’s “The View.” She will make her own exit announcement in April or early May. But what got leaked earlier this month was a smoke signal. It was a warning that Hasselbeck was done. Network executives never say things to talent’s face. They “let it be known.” And this was the month a lot was made known. March is going out like a lion.

The Cooper-Lauer thing? My expert says Cooper is probably ready to go to “Today.” His CNN show is endangered by changes taking place over there. Jake Tapper is the new ‘it guy’ at CNN. Cooper no doubt senses that. Chris Cuomo is also going to big man on campus over there. His CBS gig at 60 Minutes is by lend lease, and it just end.

And Matt Lauer? Even though I suggested this was all crazy, I was told “not so.” “Matt wants out. He knows everyone blames him for Ann Curry. If NBC wanted to buy him out, or move him somewhere else on the network, he’d jump at the chance,” says my NBC expert. “Matt has one foot out the door,” says my insider. “[This plan]– yes, it makes sense.”

Meanwhile, one week after NBC staged its public war with Jay Leno by using the press, Leno has calmed down, and is now talking succession with the brass. A week from now, Lauer, will probably do the same thing.

Tonight, Today.

What’s next? Someone tested the waters a couple of weeks ago suggesting that Kathie Gifford and Hoda Kotb were at each other’s throats, and that someone wanted to move to LA. These stories are not complete fiction. My guess is they can be traced back to very related areas.

1...1,9111,9121,913...2,323Page 1,912 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com