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If you believe Melania Trump is pro-abortion, I’ve got a condo for you in the lost city of Atlantis.
Melania posted a video yesterday and leaked part of her little book in which she seemed to favoring abortion and women’s rights. If this were true, it would be in total discord to Donald Trump’s beliefs.
Don’t believe it for a minute. Donald Trump proudly destroyed Roe v Wade. He does not believe in a woman’s sovereignty over her own body. What he is great at is misdirection.
Don’t fall for it. The Trumps are used car salesmen, right off Queens Boulevard.
Pink Floyd has made part 1 of a huge deal with Sony.
The long disbanded group sold its master recordings and likeness including its name and that pig to Sony for $400 million. This includes one of the biggest albums of all time, “Dark Side of the Moon,” and “The Wall.” Sony can now commission musicals, touring shows, all kinds of live experiences using those incredibly well known titles.
Sony Music used $400 million of the $700 million it got from Apollo Management to pull off the deal.
The deal does not cover publishing, which could bring as much or more for songs like “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Money,” and deep cuts like “Comfortably Numb.” The publishing catalog is huge.
All the deal makers in the music have been after Pink Floyd for years. But the three main members — David Gilmour and Nick Mason — have been at odds with Roger Waters ever since he became an outspoken antisemite. Waters is now a pariah in the real world, though he thinks of himself as an activist.
I’m sure the publishing announcement will come soon, and bring the total to almost a billion dollars. It’s quite the payout.
It took less than 2 weeks for the new collection to vanish entirely. What a mess!
“143” yielded no hits but had expensive videos as accompaniment. The writing was on the wall mid summer when the singles came tumbling out and flopped one after another.
Total sales came to about 38,000 CDs and downloads. With streaming the number is 65,000.
No thought whatsoever went into this project. Perry used Dr. Luke as her producer for the whole album including, ironically, a song called “Woman’s World.” This seemed inappropriate considering Dr. Luke drew the ire of all female singers when Kesha accused him of rape, among other things.
The videos for “143” were ridiculous and pointless. They just showed Perry living large with her movie star boyfriend, Orlando Bloom.
Perry is on tour now around the world, and will reap millions. When she gets to the US she’ll have no record to tour behind, which is always a mistake. She’ll need a hot young opening act to help draw at arenas.
After all those years on “American Idol,” Katy had a chance to make a huge comeback. But she blew it, and it’s not even clear if she understands that.
NY Times Op Ed columnist published a piece this morning about last night’s debate.
But he wrote it a week ago before seeing the debate.
The piece, called “Vance’s Dominant Debate Performance Shows Why He’s Trump’s Running Mate” is coded from 9/25/24. Mark Elliott, who has a Twitter X account, captured the code today. The Times didn’t even try to pretend Douthat wrote the piece favoring Vance.
Of course, because it was a week ago, Douthat wouldn’t have known that Vance would lie for 90 minutes, then refuse to ackowledge Donald Trump lost the election.
This isn’t any kind of trick. I checked the Times just now and the code stands. The editorial was written on September 25th.
Disgraceful. The Times has fallen so far, I’m surprised anyone is taking it seriously on the election, Israel, almost any world subject.
Hey, @nytopinion, why would you publish a Ross Douthat column written a week ago before the debate was even finished???? (And, therefore, didn't mention that Vance wouldn't accept the results of the 2020 election?) pic.twitter.com/uHtQZSy1cZ
JD Vance, running with Donald Trump for vice president, screwed the pooch last night on the CBS Veep debate.
CBS’s Norah O’Donnall and Margaret Brennan for some reason left October 6th til the end of a 90 minute debate that was otherwise unremarkable. In real time people complained Tim Walz was a nice guy who wasn’t making an impression.
But theh the moment came when Vance had to ask if he’d have followed Mike Pence’s actions and certify the election, or do Trump’s bidding. Walz, like a great tennis player, smashed the ball. Did Vance think Trump lost the 2020 election?
Vance wouldn’t say, which actually also means he doesn’t think Joe Biden is president.
It was a fatal blow for Vance, who before that appeared before that to be like a lying psychopath from a Ryan Murphy teleplay. (Evan Peters could get an Emmy playing him.)
This man can never be vice president or be in a position to succeed doddering Donald Trump. He wasn’t tricked, this wasn’t rigged, the fix wasn’t in. He said what he believed. He’s a treasonist.
We need to make this clip of JD Vance refusing to say Trump lost the 2020 election go viral. pic.twitter.com/vhiZ8SKowS
The forever Shiv Roy of “Succession” is bringing her one woman “Picture of Dorian Gray” here in March 2025. Get the Tony Award shined up!
Snook plays 26 characters in this extraordinary production from the Sydney Theater Company and its director, Kip Williams.
“It was a singular privilege to bring The Picture of Dorian Gray to life in London and I am thrilled we will be able to share this astonishing production with audiences in New York,” Snook says in a statement. “From Oscar Wilde’s timeless words to the masterful reinterpretation Kip Williams has created, this tale of virtue, corruption, vanity and repercussion is an electrifying journey for me as much as for the audiences and I am filled with anticipation as we continue on this ambitious creative endeavor.”
This one’s a no brainer, kids. Snook burned right through “Succession” as the conflicted Lady Macbeth of the series. These tickets will sell out before I’m finished typing!
Remember when he retired in 2017 and went off to be a farmer? He was dressing in overalls for effect.
Well. he’s un-retiring to be in a film directed by his son, Ronan, 26, whose mother is writer-director Rebecca Miller.
“Anemone,” Focus Features says, “explores the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds.”
DDL has three Oscars, and is probably the finest actor of his generation. His retirement was confounding, but much of his career decisions have been. He once took a year off to cobble shoes in Florence, Italy.
Good, bad, nepo baby, who cares? Great to have DDL back. He won’t do interviews. But if someone asked him where he’s been he’d say, “Did I miss anything?” He wasn’t going to do a romcom or join the MCU. So the answer is “no.
Netflix has been pulling out all the stops this weekend for its two two New York Film Festival offerings, “Maria,” and “Emilia Perez.”
Their ace in the hand? Angelina Jolie, gorgeous, smart, tabloid draw, and former Oscar winner. You can’t do better than that.
Jolie plays opera legend in Maria Callas in Maria, the latest diva-centric project from director Pablo Larrain. Last night, Netflix took over Cipriani 42nd St. and filled it with thousands of roses.
“You won’t have to count them,” said our Netflix host as Jolie, wearing a white chiffon gown worthy of a Greek goddess, arrived to greet fans, speaking to each one and posing for photos, statuesque on platform heels for hours.
Jolie, normally shy with press, is talking to everybody. She’s running for Best Actress and counting on the kindness of strangers to restrain themselves from asking about her vicious, never ending divorce from Brad Pitt. But once you’re in her aura, there’s no chance of it. Otherwise, like Malefecent, she’d banish you — and you don’t want that!
Some congratulated her for her work on human rights—in fact, she’s just back from Sudan. Others for her children’s book on the subject. Still others for being an action hero, and for her work as a director. Her latest project is “Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek. It’s hard for her not to have an opinion while filming. Celebrated cinematographer Ed Lachman told us she was ‘difficult,’ often re-directing Larrain’s direction. But “It was all to the good,” he said. Lachman makes sure you never get tired of looking at her.
It’s a good news, bad news year for Robert Downey Jr.
The former “Iron Man” won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar this year for “Oppenheimer.” It was a moment that capped an unusual career that took him from jail to making millions with Marvel Pictures. His “Oppenheimer” turn was flawless.
Now he’s come to Broadway for the first time, on stage in a new play called “McNeal” at Lincoln Center. The run sold out fast, and the anticipation was high.
Alas, the reviews last night were dismal. Downey is described as charming, but the play is just a vehicle for a star to get on stage. Ten major outlets panned it, a few were so-so. There was one positive note from a minor outlet.
“McNeal” is about an author who uses AI to write a hit novel from his dead wife’s papers. The New York Post said it was like the Glenn Close movie, “The Wife,” but instead called “The WiFi.” Clever.
The NY Times said: “Timely but turgid, it rarely rises to drama; in a neat recapitulation of current fears about technology, its humans, hardly credible as such, have been almost entirely replaced by ideas.”
It’s a closed run, and making more than a million bucks a week, so Lincoln Center doesn’t care if Downey is reading the phone book. But the play will drift in the abyss when it closes. It won’t transfer to a real Broadway theater, and no awards are coming. Downey will have had his year in the finer arts, and return to Marvel with new credentials.
LCT must have anticipated the fall out. They had a closed opening night party and few celebs in the audience, although Steven Spielberg brought his family. Let’s hope he’s not making “The WiFi” into a film.
The late great Tony Bennett recorded a duet with Lady Gaga years ago and immediately got the whole picture: she’s an extraordinary jazz singer.
The idea seemed odd to all of us who knew Gaga from her “Fame” album, hit singles, and meat dresses.
But Tony knew, and they went to to make two albums together and tour the world.
Now Gaga’s silky tones are caressing 11 song standards and two original numbers for her “Harlequin” album, soundtrack to “Joker: Folie a Deux,” coming this week.
It won’t matter if the movie is good or bad. The album is phenomenal and will be a big player at the Grammy Awards. Along with her hit Bruno Mars duet, “Die with a Smile,” Gaga has snatched all the attention away from a dozen or so chanteuses who thought they had the year locked up.
“Harlequin” went straight to number 1 on Friday morning’s iTunes chart and will stay there for some time.
Gaga has two original songs on this album of covers: “Happy Mistake”and “Folie a Deux.” The rest are covers of jazz standards, the kind she recorded with Tony Bennett. So how will she make money from the sales of “Harlequin” since publishing — writing the songs — is where you get revenue?
The answer is, she’s added her name to the credits of four of the songs. And not just hers, but her fiancee, Michael Polansky, a tech investor heretofore not known for his songwriting ability. They’ve attached their names to Nacio Herb Brown’s “Good Morning,” Harold Arlen’s “Get Happy,” the traditional song, “Oh When the Saints,” and Cy Coleman’s “If My Friends Could See Me Now.”
It’s very unusual for old songs to get added writers unless the recording artist obtained a license to sample it. But Cy Coleman’s publisher says that hasn’t happened.
