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How Doris Day Almost Didn’t Let Paul McCartney Interview Her

Roger Friedman
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How Doris Day Almost Didn’t Let Paul McCartney Interview Her

I’m thrilled to tell you that my interview with Doris Day, the legendary singer and movie star, has gone online at http://www.parade.com/celebrity/celebrity-parade/2011/12/doris-day.html.

I first started asking Doris’s publicist, Linda Dozoretz, for an interview at least 15 years ago. In those days, and still now, Liz Smith was always writing in her column that Doris deserved a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oscars. But it’s always been known that Doris doesn’t like to fly, and didn’t really want to leave her happy home in Carmel, California. A couple of years ago, sadly, Linda Dozoretz passed away and I thought an interview would never happen. But then late this summer came the announcement that Doris was releasing a “new” album.

A very nice man, Bob Bashara, who works with Doris’s animal rights foundation contacted me and said at last, an interview would be possible. I think I was more shocked than Doris when a great publicist in LA, Charley Walters, put together our phone call. The interview happened to follow by two hours the announcement that Doris’s famous recording of “Que Sera Sera” had been put into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She was thrilled to get the news that she was being included with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Cole Porter. (Doris already has two recordings in the Hall of Fame–“Secret Love” and “Sentimental Journey.”)

Our conversation was wide ranging. A little more of it will appear in Parade’s December 25th issue– a nice Christmas present. I asked Doris what it was like when Paul McCartney interviewed her this fall for a British newspaper. She laughed, and told me how she didn’t believe it was the ex Beatle on the phone–she thought it was a friend pulling her leg! Also, I was so impressed with Doris’s attitude about life–it really is “whatever will be, will be”–and not to cry over bad things that have happened in the past. What a great lady!

Broadway: Harry Connick Jr. Sings Reincarnation as Taxidermy

Roger Friedman
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0
Broadway: Harry Connick Jr. Sings Reincarnation as Taxidermy

“On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” only a ran a few months when it first opened on Broadway in 1965. It’s never been revived, and for good reason. Now, some misguided people have exhumed it, rewritten it to absurdity, and stuffed it like an owl on the mantelpiece. The show, with one memorable song–the title–is all about reincarnation. So director Michael Mayer and “choreographer” Joann Hunt have brought “On a Clear Day” back in the form of torture. It’s not just that all of it is quite awful, but that it looks so freakin’ cheap. The stage rarely looks like anything more than a test pattern (fail). The New York Times says it cost eight million dollars. Most of the money must have gone to Prozac prescriptions.

Luckily, star Harry Connick Jr. will emerge from this unscathed. That’s because he doesn’t seem to have much invested in it anyway. He just of oversees the catastrophe while trying not to get his hands dirty. (Wait! How can a show cost eight  million dollars when the star never has one costume change and just wears the same blue business suit for two and a half interminable hours?)

Peter Parnell is the main culprit here. He’s taken Alan Jay Lerner‘s book (the show has music by the late great Burton Lane), such as it was, and reconceived it with Michael Mayer as some kind of gay parable.  Now Dr. Mark Bruckner takes on a patient he describes stuffily to the audience as a “homosexual.” He then puts David (formerly Daisy in the original musical and movie–the latter played by Barbra Streisand) under hypnosis and falls in love with a long ago circa 1940s diva hidden in David’s psyche. So Dr. Mark is — in 2011, even though this is set in 1974–putting a patient under, and then sort of wooing and molesting the patient’s inner psyche or possible multiple personality. And singing about it. Of course, David’s confused. Isn’t hunky Dr. Mark straight? Who knows, really and who cares?

But oy my god–even though show now takes place in 1974 instead of 1965, Parnell has added several “inside” jokes that reference Streisand and “Funny Girl.” He also includes an inside joke about “Pippin.” (It was too inside for me.) He leaves in –or perhaps adds–a joke about Truman Capote that no one gets.

The main thing is that now, with all the roles inside out, Harry Connick Jr. gets to sing the theme song at the end of the show. Luckily, since the song was written for a woman, Broadway newcomer Jessie Muehler arrives and cleans up the mess of the show. Muehler has the most unforgiving task of the cast: to not copy Stresiand while looking and sounding like Liza Minnelli (whose father, Vincent, directed the Streisand movie). Producers of another show should give her a second chance. She has got great potential.

Oh well: Connick’s charm and star appeal seemed to be enough on Saturday night to cover up the show’s many deficiencies. And there is always the score. But why oh why did Connick pull out of next spring’s “Nice Work If You Can Get It” in favor of this? It’s a mystery.

PS Will all the bad reviews kill “On a Clear Day”? Probably not. Coming right behind it is “Bonnie and Clyde” from the insufferable Frank Wildhorn. The long knives are being sharpened for that one.

 

“The Artist,” “Descendants,” Brad Pitt Win More Awards

Roger Friedman
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2
“The Artist,” “Descendants,” Brad Pitt Win More Awards

Things are shaping up just as I thought they would: more kudos and awards for “The Artist” this weekend. The silent black and white film added awards from the Boston Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online. Director Michel Hazanavicius also added Best Director nods from those groups. The San Francisco Film Critics went for Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life,” however, because, well, they’re in San Francisco and everyone’s a little woozy out there. The American Film Institute picked its 10 best films but gave “The Artist” a special award because it’s not American made (although it was made in America and about America). They also gave a foreign award to the “Harry Potter” series, which makes sense.

The Los Angeles Film Critics gave “The Descendants”  Best film, and Malick best director. That group, which is not very press friendly, now guarantees a pretty weird and empty red carpet since Malick won’t show. Neither will legend Doris Day, who’s not coming to pick up her Lifetime Achievement Award. (She doesn’t fly and doesn’t like to leave her home in Carmel, California.) They also chose a best actress no one’s ever heard of instead of giving something to Meryl Streep, Michele Williams, Viola Davis, Glenn Close or Lizzie Olsen, Tilda Swinton, or Rooney Mara. They’re so avant garde!

Remember, “The Artist” also has the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle award, too. And they have acting nods to Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Jessica Chastain, and Albert Brooks. I do wish someone would give Berenice Beho a supporting actress nod for “The Artist,” though I do think she’ll wind up with an Oscar nomination.

Washington DC critics had previously gone for “The Artist,” Martin Scorsese (director), George Clooney, and Michelle Williams.

PS No awards support so far, not even from AFI, for Stephen Daldry’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” And almost nothing for the David Fincher remake of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Only last year Fincher won every city with “The Social Network.”

American Film Institute:

Special Awards to “The Artist” and “Harry Potter” series

in alphabetical order:

Bridesmaids
The  Descendants
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

New York Film Critics Online:

Best Picture: “The Artist”
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Best Actor: Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”
     Runners-up: Michael Fassbender, “Shame” and Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
     Runner-up: Viola Davis, “The Help”
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
Best Foreign-Language Film: “A Separation”
Best Documentary: “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
Best Animated Feature: “The Adventures of Tintin”
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”
Best Use of Music: Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”
Best Ensemble Cast: “Bridesmaids”
Best Debut Director: Joe Cornish, “Attack the Block”
Breakthrough Performer: Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life,” “The Help,” “The Debt,” “Take Shelter,” “Texas Killing Fields,” “Coriolanus”

 Los Angeles Film Critics:

Best film: “The Descendants”

Best director: Terrence Malick

Best actor: Michael Fassbender, for his work in “A Dangerous Method,” “Jane Eyre,” “Shame” and “X-Men: First Class.”

Runner-Up: Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter.”

Best Actress: Yun Jung-hee, in the South Korean film “Poetry.”

Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst, “Melancholia.”

Best Documentary/Nonfiction film: “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” by Werner Herzog.

Runner-Up: “The Arbor” by Clio Barnard.

Best screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation.”

Runner-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants.”

Best supporting actress: Jessica Chastain, who was recognized for her work in six films — “Coriolanus,” “The Debt,” “The Help,” “Take Shelter,” “Texas Killing Fields” and “The Tree of Life.”

Runner-up: Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs.”

Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners.”

Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, “Young Adult.”

Best cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life.”

Runner-up: Cao Yu, “City of Life and Death.”

Best music/score: The Chemical Brothers, “Hanna.”

Runner-up: Cliff Martinez, “Drive.”

Best production design: Dante Ferretti, “Hugo.”

Runner-up: Maria Djurkovic, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”

Best Independent, Experimental: “Spark of Being.” Directed by Bill Morrison, it’s a re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,: using images culled from archives around the world.

San Francisco Film Critics:

Best Picture
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Terrence Malick for “The Tree of Life”

Best Original Screenplay
J.C. Chandor for “Margin Call”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actor
Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks for “Drive”

Best Supporting Actress
Vanessa Redgrave for “Coriolanus”

Best Animated Feature
“Rango”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Certified Copy”

Best Documentary
“Tabloid”

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of Life”

Marlon Riggs Award for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community
National Film Preservation Foundation, in recognition of for its work in the preservation and dissemination of endangered, culturally significant films

Special Citation for under-appreciated independent cinema
“The Mill and the Cross”

Boston Film Critics:

Best Picture: “The Artist”
     Runners-up: “Hugo” and “Margaret”
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
     Runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Best Actor: Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
     Runners-up: George Clooney, “The Descendants” and Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Best Actress: Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”
     Runner-up: Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, “Drive”
     Runner-up: Max Von Sydow, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
     Runner-up: Jeannie Berlin, “Margaret”
Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, “Moneyball”
     Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, “Margaret”
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Tree of Life”
     Runner-up: Robert Richardson, “Hugo”
Best Documentary: “Project Nim”
     Runner-up: “Bill Cunningham New York”
Best Foreign-Language Film: “Incendies”
     Runners-up: “A Separation” and “Poetry”
Best Animated Film: “Rango”
Best Film Editing:  Christian Marclay, “The Clock”
     Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, “Hugo”
Best New Filmmaker: Sean Durkin, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
     Runner-up: J.C. Chandor, “Margin Call”
Best Ensemble Cast: “Carnage”
     Runner-up: “Margaret”
Best Use of Music in a Film: (tie) “Drive” and “The Artist”
     Runner-up: “The Descendants”
Special Commendations:
Ben Fowlie, Sara Archambault and Sean Flynn of DocYard
The Museum of Fine Arts for “The Clock”
The Brattle Film Foundation
Best Rediscoveries:
“The Shooting” at the Harvard Film Achive
“The Makota Sisters” at the Museum of Fine Arts
“Deep End” at the HFA
“Days and Nights in the Forest” at the HFA
“Children of Hiroshima” at the HFA

 

 

Michael Jackson’s Daughter Paris: “Hollywood” Fundraising Bait

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson’s Daughter Paris: “Hollywood” Fundraising Bait

Paris Jackson–if she wanted to be in the movies, you’d think her grandmother would take her to Steven Spielberg or someone reputable or high class in Hollywood. Instead, Paris, who’s 13, is now being exploited for a movie that has no funding, a producer with no production credits, and a cast that includes such sterling movie actors as Larry King, his wife Shawn, and Joey Fatone of NSync. The website for “Lundon’s Bridge” has already been set up with Paris’s picture prominently featured.

And there’s a FUNDRAISING button on the website–the guy, Stephen Sobisky, doesn’t actually have the money to make his three part fantasy adventure. He’s using Paris as bait. And Katherine Jackson, the ill equipped grandma, has no clue. But let’s get this straight. Sobisky is a visual effects supervisor for B movies. He has not produced or directed one major motion picture. As we’ve learned from the recent “Gotti” mess, the rest of this is hogwash. Where are the Jackson kids’ lawyer? Where is a guardian? Sobisky will now fish around the world using Paris Jackson to try and raise money. And the little girl probably thinks this is going to happen, and be a big deal. Oy vey.

And please! “Fifty percent will be donated to schools”–really, what schools? What are they talking about? Fifty percent of what? It’s a shonda, as you say in Yiddish.

PS The book this is all based on, “Lundon’s Bridge.” is such a classic it’s self published by a journeyman Hollywood bit player named Dennis Christen. It’s currently ranked around number 86,000 on amazon.com with three reviews.

Janet Jackson, call your agents!

http://www.lundons.com/fundraising.html

SEC Trouble for High Living “127 Hours” Movie and Record Producer

Roger Friedman
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0
SEC Trouble for High Living “127 Hours” Movie and Record Producer

There may be no more “haute living” for Philip and Lisa Marie Falcone. The New York Times reports that Falcone, a big hedge fund manager here in New York, is in major trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission. What the Times doesn’t report is that Falcone and his wife Lisa Marie had been  turning themselves into movie and pop music producers. The Falcones have four films on their resume: “127 Hours” with James Franco, “Win Win” with Paul Giamatti, “Mother and Child,” with Annette Bening and Naomi Watts, and the upcoming Reese Witherspoon film, “Mud.” Lisa Marie Falcone was featured last year in Bloomberg BusinessWeek (pictured here). She had started a firm called Everest Entertainment.

Now husband Philip’s Harbinger Fund, which is the source from which all his movie money springs, has been served with warnings of investigation by the SEC. According to the Everest website, the Falcones also seem to be underwriting a new all star album by hip hop/pop producer Swizz Beatz, who’s also the husband of Alicia Keys. The album’s title is “Haute Living.” The Falcones have also been very publicly involved in raising money and hosting big celebrity events for the High Line park, the former railroad track that runs along the lower west side that boats gardens and art installations. They’re each on the High Line’s board of directors. They made headlines by announcing a $10 million donation to the High Line. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/10-million-gift-for-high-line-project/

Harbinger has been served with a “Wells notice” by the SEC. The Times quotes the SEC report that there may be “violations of the federal securities laws’ anti-fraud provisions in connection with matters previously disclosed and an additional matter regarding the circumstances and disclosure related to agreements with certain fund investors.” Apparently there are questions about a $113 million loan to himself from a wireless project called Lightsquared. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/harbinger-and-falcone-said-to-face-u-s-inquiry/

And there have been other questions raised by Republican politicians over donations made by Falcone to their campaigns. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/falcone-under-fire-from-republicans-over-lightsquared/ A quick review shows that between 2007 and 2010, Falcone donated $107,000 to a variety of candidates in both parties who may have had some bearing on Lightsquared’s future. Some of the politicians subsequently returned the money. But most kept it. Big chunks went to the Republican National Committee of Minnesota, and to the national senate committees of both parties.

The Falcones paid $49 million for the mansion previously owned by Penthouse owner Bob Guccione. According to reports they spent around $10 million on renovations.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_39/b4196062574602.htm

photo via Bloomberg Business Week

Madonna Thinks History of Hitler, Wallis Simpson, England is Just a Rumor

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Thinks History of Hitler, Wallis Simpson, England is Just a Rumor

About twelve minutes into “W.E.,” Madonna‘s paean to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, there’s an argument whether the ex-royal couple were Nazis and-or Nazi sympathizers. “It’s based on rumor,” says the popstar/singer’s stand in character played by Abbe Cornish. Then she blabs something about empirical evidence. Apparently, sometime in the making of “W.E.” Madonna learned the word empirical. She did not learn the word fact. Madonna does what suits her based on her own ideas. Facts are just a nuisance. Her African documentary, “I Am Because We Are,” was her limited view of Malawi, the truth and facts be damned. Now she’s re-writing history so it doesn’t interfere with her screwy notions.

Here’s the story about the former King of England, who abdicated to marry Mrs. Simpson: they made a trip to Nazi Germany and met Hitler in 1937. It’s widely documented. If Madonna doesn’t want to read about this, there are pictures. The couple was not there because the Duke “was desperate to avoid war.” He had already given up his job as King, and was basically on a life long bender. Once they made the trip to Germany, King George VI–the stutterer from “The King’s Speech” — pretty much banished them to Nassau in the Bahamas. Indeed, there are numerous books and reports of the couple continuing to socialize with fascists. It’s not a rumor.

As for the rest of W.E: it’s a movie about things. Madonna, like Oprah, likes stuff. “W.E.” is like a gorgeous shopping catalog, the kind guys throw out and women consume. There’s a painstaking precision to every tea cup and hairbrush. The people look like cardboard cut outs, or models from one of Madonna’s videos. The whole film has the look of a Chanel commercial, or Elizabeth Taylor‘s White Diamonds. I think my favorite character is Ernest Simpson, Wallis’s second husband, who’s being cuckolded and knows it. The Duke, ex King Edward, makes the people on “The Bold and the Beautiful” look deep. Andrea Riseborough puts her all into Wallis Simpson, but it’s like diving into a glass of water from a great height.

And speaking of height: somehow the Duke of Windsor, who five foot seven, is now a strapping six foot three. And a bottle blond.

Why is Madonna so interested in this dreadful woman and her idiot husband? It makes no sense. She’s not an intellectual, but she has street smarts. On the other hand, like Oprah, she was raised with very little. All this splendor must seem enviable. How can Abbe Cornish’s Wally — Madonna’s present day doppelganger who’s also obsessed with Wallis Simpson–resist leaving her marriage for a Sotheby’s security guard? He has a million dollar loft in Brooklyn with a baby grand piano and leather club chairs. Of course, first she has to exit her Park Avenue mausoleum. But life is so much richer in the outer boroughs.

And where does she go, besides Brooklyn? Only a receptionist in an art gallery, Wally gets an appointment in Paris with Mohammed el Fayed to read the unpublished letters of the Duke and Duchess. She’s not a journalist or a lettered academic. She’s really just a stalker. It’s hilarious. Better still, she says in their untouched Paris suite, and tries on all their things. So this is a fable. But it looks good, even if it makes not a drop of sense.

Matt Lauer Replaced by Ryan Seacrest? How About Some Swamp Land?

Roger Friedman
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0
Matt Lauer Replaced by Ryan Seacrest? How About Some Swamp Land?

Matt Lauer isn’t going to be replaced by Ryan Seacrest on the “Today” show. That’s certainly the observation of a couple of insiders on the situation that was reported–er, planted–yesterday. But the plant worked, and the Seacrest story played everywhere, beautifully. Hey, I like Ryan Seacrest. He’s a fun deejay and does a fine job on “American Idol” and “Dick Clark’s Rockin New Years Eve.” But no one expects him to interview presidents and heads of state, or even vice presidents.

Let’s get real. Comcast, which owns NBC now, is trying to rattle Lauer and his agent as they begin negotiations. Lauer, I’m told, is asking for a lot more than his $12-$15 million to stay with “Today” when his contract ends next year. Seacrest, new to the Comcast family, is playing along. So be it. But that whole mishegos yesterday was to test a lot of different waters at the same time.

But here’s the reality–Lauer can certainly see what the future is if he leaves “Today.” Look at Bryant Gumbel, who lives in broadcasting ether along with Joan Lunden, David Hartman, and his old pal, Jane Pauley. So he’s going to make a deal. Plus, “Today” falls under NBC News, not entertainment. And NBC News is not going to turn over “Today” after 50 years to the host of “American Idol.” J. Fred Muggs will spin in his grave.

So please, Wall Street Journal, where’s the sense? Get it together. But Kim Kardashian to replace Ann Curry? Now, that story might have legs!

Claire Huxtable’s Kid is a Star in Broadway “Stick Fly”

Roger Friedman
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1
Claire Huxtable’s Kid is a Star in Broadway “Stick Fly”

I’m completely appalled by the glee the New York Post’s theater columnist takes in reporting how badly some shows are doing on Broadway. Enough with the negativity. There are so many terrific plays this season. And two of them, both directed by Kenny Leon, are by African American playwrights with almost all black actors. One, of course, is “The Mountaintop” with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett.

The other new play opened last night. Lydia Diamond‘s comedy “Stick Fly” premiered at the Cort with five terrific actors: Ruben Santiago Hudson, Tracie Thoms, Mekhi Phifer, Dule Hill, Rosie Benton, and Condola Rashad. If the last name sounds familiar it’s because she’s the daughter of Phylicia Rashad (a great dramatic actress and Mrs. Huxtable from the Cosby Show) and sports announcer Ahmad Rashad. It’s her Broadway debut, and she’s a smash hit out of the gate.

“Stick Fly,” of course, attracted an A list crowd for its premiere, from Condola’s parents to Spike Lee and wife Tonya Lee Lewis, Taraji P. Henson, Malik Yoba, Gayle King. LaTanya Richardson (wife of Samuel L.), Alicia Keys with Swizz Beatz and her mom Terria (Alicia composed incidental music for the play and put her name on the marquee to help sell tickets) and so on.

So we have two original plays on Broadway written by young African American women. This nothing short of amazing and wonderful. And while the plays are not yet at the level of August Wilson or Eugene O’Neill, they are just fine, very entertaining, and extremely worthy of being seen. “The Mountaintop” has big stars. “Stick Fly” boasts five sensational actors all of whom bear seeing. Of course, Ruben Santiago Hudson is a James Earl Jones in the making by now. He’s quirky and and poignant as Dr. LeVay, father of a well to do black clan who’ve gathered on Martha’s Vineyard for a summer weekend of revelations. I’m already a huge fan of Tracie Thoms and Mekhi Phifer. Dule Hill comes from the show “Psych.” He and Phifer have great rapport as brothers, sons of Dr. LeVay. And Rosie Benton is surprisingly snappy as the white girl who’s wandered into the LeVay’s many dysfunctions.

But watch out for Condola Rashad. She’s yet another second generation actress on Broadway right now–just down the street from Lily Rabe in “Seminar”–who’s going to wow crowds. But go see these two plays this holiday season–and prove the negative tonguelashers wrong.

“Gotti” Movie: Ted Field Close to Deal With Summit?

Roger Friedman
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0
“Gotti” Movie: Ted Field Close to Deal With Summit?

Exclusive: The long-aborning “Gotti” movie — to be directed by Barry Levinson — may have a new life. I am told that new producer Ted Field, who’s come in to save Marco Fiore (aka Marc Fiore), has been negotiating distribution rights with Summit Entertainment. Summit, home to the “Twilight” series, would be a good home for “Gotti.” But Field is still a long way off from pre-production. He still has to raise the money Fiore has squandered, pay all the bills, settle with Joe Pesci on his lawsuit, and get his house in order. At this point, everyone involved with “Gotti” is skeptical. Certainly, there are still issues with Salvatore Carpanzano, the man Fiore announced was executive producer and who was supposed to supply financing. In the meantime, Levinson, stars John Travolta and Al Pacino, and screenwriter James Toback, wait on tenterhooks for Field to save the day.

Music World Mourns Dobie Gray, Howard Tate, Barbara Orbison

Roger Friedman
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1
Music World Mourns Dobie Gray, Howard Tate, Barbara Orbison

Two greats from the R&B and pop world died on Tuesday. Dobie Gray is probably better known for his record, “Drift Away,” than a lot of bands with more (and blander) hits. “Drift Away” is probably one of the most played records in the world. The 1973 hit just went on and on as a success. In 2003, Uncle Kracker re-recorded it, but it’s Dobie’s original version that remains the classic. A few years earlier, Dobie had another major hit with “The In Crowd.” Dobie, you’re always in the in crowd. Rest in peace.

Howard Tate, another R&B vet, extremely underrated and underappreciated, also passed away on Tuesday. His records are considered R&B classics. I’ve put “Ain’t Nobody Home” in the video player below. Check him out on YouTube, also.

I’ve also put Roy Orbison‘s duet with KD Lang on “Crying” in the fourth box on the video player. This is a tribute to Barbara Orbison, who died tragically on December 6th after a short, fierce bout with pancreatic cancer. Barbara was so devoted to keeping Roy’s flame burning after his untimely death 23 years ago at age 52. And weirdly, Barbara died on the anniversary of Roy’s death. We already miss her so much!

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