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New Shakespeare Film: The Really Bad News, and A Little Good News

Roger Friedman
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New Shakespeare Film: The Really Bad News, and A Little Good News

Roland Emmerich’s “Anonymous” opens this week. It should be called “Preposterous.” The film makes a case that William Shakespeare didn’t write his plays. Instead, the Earl of Oxford, aka Edward DeVere, is put forth as the playwright. Shakespeare is merely a stooge, who fronts for someone else. Yes, it convoluted. It makes no sense. And in “Anonymous,” DeVere is also the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth I. This is the very bad news.

Shakespeare’s scholarly defenders are on the rampage about the movie, weighing in everywhere, especially the New York Times. I will give you two excellent links that discuss this mess. One was from yesterday’s Times Magazine, which rightly lays out a time line that makes the whole thing impossible. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/wouldnt-it-be-cool-if-shakespeare-wasnt-shakespeare.html?src=me&ref=magazine. The other is from the paper itself. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/opinion/hollywood-dishonors-the-bard.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=shakespeare&st=cse

Honestly, “Anonymous” would seem like a total waste of time except for the actors. Rhys Ifans plays DeVere, and it’s hist first real stab at playing an adult, a person of substance, and nobility. He’s quite wonderful. So are Vanessa Redgrave and her real life actress daughter Joely Richardson playing Elizabeth as an older and younger ruler, respectively. I was especially impressed with Richardson, who has for too laboted in the shadows of her famous family. She’s just great.

And there’s more: Edward Hogg is a real find as Robert Cecil, scowling and scheming around the court. Rafe Spall, son of Timothy Spall, is a fun young Shakespeare. Most especially, there are two major cameos by the Tony Award winning Mark Rylance that make up for all the movie’s crazy historical deficiencies.

But holy moley: what a mess is “Anonymous.” It’s absolutely useless as a historic artifact, taking liberties in every scene. Then there’s the script, which is not possible to follow without GPS. When Ifans, the Redgraves, or Rylance turn up you want to ask them for directions. Listen, kids, Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets. Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK. And Roland Emmerich, a nice man, should stick to disaster movies. Even the aliens from “Independence Day,” his best film, knew “Romeo and Juliet” and “Macbeth” were not written in one week.

What Bob Dylan Told Steve Jobs About Songwriting

Roger Friedman
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What Bob Dylan Told Steve Jobs About Songwriting

Bob Dylan was Steve Jobs‘s idol. In his new authorized biography from Simon & Schuster, Jobs tells Walter Isaacson about his 2004 meeting with Dylan. This led to Jobs becoming Dylan’s unofficial archivist, and issuing Dylan’s massive digital catalog in 2007. Jobs, weirdly, also wound up having a three year romantic relationship with Dylan’s early lover, singer Joan Baez.

Jobs told Isaacson: “We sat on the patio outside his room and talked for two hours. I was really nervous, because he was one of my heroes. And I was also afraid that he wouldn’t be really smart anymore, that he’d be a caricature of himself, like happens to a lot of people. But I was delighted. He was as sharp as a tack. He was everything I’d hoped. He was really open and honest. He was just telling me about his life and about writing his songs. He said, “They just came through me, it wasn’t like I was having to compose them. That doesn’t happen anymore, I just can’t write them that way anymore.” Then he paused and said to me with his raspy voice and little smile, “But I still can sing them.”

John Lennon Was Steve Jobs’s Favorite Beatle, Loved “Strawberry Fields”

Roger Friedman
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17
John Lennon Was Steve Jobs’s Favorite Beatle, Loved “Strawberry Fields”

John Lennon was Steve Jobs‘s favorite Beatle. So says Jobs’s biographer Walter Isaacson in his authorized bio of Jobs, out today from Simon & Schuster. Of course, Jobs named his company Apple after the Beatles’ Apple Corps Records. Then of course, Jobs wound up settling lawsuits with the Beatles by paying them $500 million in 2007 (not for the ITunes downloads, just to settle 23 years of suits regarding the companies’ names and businesses).

Listening to a bootleg of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Jobs told Isaacson: “It’s a complex song, and it’s fascinating to watch the creative process as they went back and forth and finally created it over a few months. Lennon was always my favorite Beatle. [He laughs as Lennon stops during the first take and makes the band go back and revise a chord.] Did you hear that little detour they took? It didn’t work, so they went back and started from where they were. It’s so raw in this version. It actually makes them sound like mere mortals. You could actually imagine other people doing this, up to this version. Maybe not writing and conceiving it, but certainly playing it. Yet they just didn’t stop. They were such perfectionists they kept it going and going.

“This made a big impression on me when I was in my thirties. You could just tell how much they worked at this. They did a bundle of work between each of these recordings. They kept sending it back to make it closer to perfect. [As he listens to the third take, he points out how the instrumentation has gotten more complex.] The way we build stuff at Apple is often this way. Even the number of models we’d make of a new notebook or iPod. We would start off with a version and then begin refining and refining, doing detailed models of the design, or the buttons, or how a function operates. It’s a lot of work, but in the end it just gets better, and soon it’s like, “Wow, how did they do that?!? Where are the screws?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA

Steve Jobs Gave Famous Novelist Sister Fashion Advice, Designer Clothes

Roger Friedman
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1
Steve Jobs Gave Famous Novelist Sister Fashion Advice, Designer Clothes

Much will be coming out from Walter Isaacson‘s authorized biography of Apple founder Steve Jobs today. His full sister was novelist Mona Simpson, whose debut novel, “Anywhere But Here,” chronicled her own strange childhood with their mother. Later, after meeting Jobs in 1986, Simpson based another novel, called “A Regular Guy,” on her newfound brother. Isaacson writes in the new biography that Jobs, who was thrilled to meet Simpson, disapproved of the way she dressed. He didn’t like her to dress like “a struggling novelist.”

One day a box arrived from the designer Issey Miyake.  Isaacson writes: “He’d gone shopping for me,” Simpson said, “and he’d picked out great things, exactly my size, in flattering colors.” There was one pantsuit that he had particularly liked, and the shipment included three of them, all identical. Jobs told Isaacson: “I still remember those first suits I sent Mona. They were linen pants and tops in a pale grayish green that looked beautiful with her reddish hair.”

Jobs had also wanted to improve the looks of his much older girlfriend, famed singer Joan Baez. He once showed her a red dress at a Ralph Lauren  Polo store, Baez tells Isaacson, and told her she should buy it. He didn’t pick it up himself for her, however. He did gift her with an early Apple Macintosh word processor.

PS According to Isaacson, Simpson and Jobs were full siblings, children of Joanne Simpson and Syrian born Abdulfattah “John” Jandali, who abandoned them. Steve was famous put up for adoption. In the end, Isaacson writes, Jobs became close to both his biological sister and mother. As for the father, they never met officially. But Jandali told Mona Simpson that Jobs had once eaten in a restaurant he’d managed, they’d met (not knowing their relationship), and that Jobs had been “a big tipper.”

Madonna: All that Charity and Kabbalah, and a Homeless Brother

Roger Friedman
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Madonna: All that Charity and Kabbalah, and a Homeless Brother

Madonna’s eldest brother, Tony (Silvio) Ciccone Jr, is homeless. If you didn’t see the stories over the weekend, Tony is living under a bridge in Traverse City, Michigan. Apparently he lost his job at his father’s 15 year winery, Ciccone Vineyards, in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The winery has terrible reviews anyway, and frankly, who in the world would drink wine made in Michigan? Certainly not Madonna, who tosses hydrangeas back in the face of a fan because she can’t stand ’em.

So no one knows if Tony Jr. is a bad guy, a thief, drunk, or what. Or maybe he just had a spat with his father (Silvio–Tony Sr.), brother Mario, and stepmother Joan, who run the business. Even  so, now it’s an international story. Madonna must be worth $200 million. She has homes everywhere and even picked up two kids to adopt from Malawi in Africa because she had so much money. But her brother is living, according to one report, “with vermin.”

On the website for Ciccone Vineyards, it reads: “The eldest of his three sons, Silvio Jr., can be seen helping him from time to time in the cellar.”

So is this the work of Kabbalah teachings? Wasn’t Kabbalah supposed to make Madonna more spiritual and full of heart? Of course, she did promise to build a school in Malawi for orphans. But after clearing the land of its villagers, she reneged on that deal. In fact, since her Raising Malawi charity was exposed a poorly run fraud, there’s been nary a word about that school. There also is still no federal tax filing for 2010 on record for Raising Malawi or Ray of Light, Madonna’s personal foundation.

No one is responsible for every adult member of their family. But Madonna lives life large. She’d do well to keep her house in order, especially as she gone into other homes (hello, Malawi) and given her opinion of them. On the p.r. front, this is an epic fail.

Madonna, btw, is on the outs with brother Christopher, who wrote a book about her. She’s closest to sister Melanie, who’s married to record producer Joe Henry. Mario, who now runs the winery, is her half brother, born to her father and step mother Joan after her own mother died.

Paul McCartney NYC Wedding Party: Yoko, Keith, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel

Roger Friedman
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2
Paul McCartney NYC Wedding Party: Yoko, Keith, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel

Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell had an all star wedding reception party for rockers last night at the Bowery Hotel. Yoko Ono and son Sean Lennon were there, as well as Elvis Costello, Martin Scorsese, Ron Delsener, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Keith Richards and Patti Hansen, “Little” Steven van Zandt, and James Taylor, David Geffen, plus actor Steve Buscemi were among the guests, as well as Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The latter must be a Beatles fan, as he usually spends his weekends in Bermuda. Barbara Walters, a distant cousin of Shevell, was a guest as well. Others who made the cut included designer Ralph Lauren with his wife Ricki, their son David his wife Lauren Bush Lauren, plus the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, and Joe Walsh of the Eagles and Rosanna Scotto of Fox5. All of Paul’s kids were there. James McCartney made a beautiful toast, according to sources. So did Nancy’s son, Arlen. “It was low key and had a real family feel, too.” Music was supplied by a deejay. The party ran from 8pm past 1am.

The only big local rock star who wasn’t there was Sting, who had a show in Boston.

Many of the guests probably ate early or looked for late night cheeseburgers following the party. That’s because all Paul McCartney events are strictly vegetarian.

McCartney, as I revealed earlier, has recorded a new album of standards and new songs with producer Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall. It’s set for a spring release.

Earlier that evening, van Zandt celebrated the 500th broadcast of his “Underground Garage” radio show at the Hard Rock Cafe, with Buscemi as a guest, as well as Darlene Love, Jesse Malin, and Debbie Harry. None of them performed, but Garland Jeffreys did two songs from his new album, “The King of In Between,” which is going into the pre-nomination Grammy voting in the Best Rock Album category. The members of Green Day also came for a brief interview, then took over the small green room in the back with their obnoxious body guards.

Meanwhile, uptown, Marlo Thomas celebrated her second night on Broadway with rave reviews for “Relatively Speaking.” She and hubby Phil Donahue entertained ten guests for dinner including her producer brother Tony Thomas at Crown restaurant on Madison Avenue.

Leah Sydney’s LA Not So Confidential: “Weeds” Star Gets Yummy

Roger Friedman
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0
Leah Sydney’s LA Not So Confidential: “Weeds” Star Gets Yummy

Meital Dohan— you may have seen her sexy scenes on “Weeds.” Tonight she gives her first ever live performance of sexy debut single “Yummy Boyz,” at midnight, on October 21, at Club Eleven’s weekly “Fresh Friday” party in West Hollywood. In anticipation of Meital’s debut “Yummy Boyz” performance at the Grindr party, this sassy songstress is giving away a free download of the exclusive “Yummy Boyz” Chew Fu Grindr Remix on her website www.meitaldohan.com/grindr. The free download launched on October 6 and is available for one month only. Additionally on select dates leading up to the event, Grindr will also be sending a live stream with a free download of the “Yummy Boyz” Chew Fu Grindr Remix to its million plus members worldwide.

Meital’s debut live show of “Yummy Boyz” will definitely be a show to remember. Merging sexy and clever with a bit of humor, Meital will captivate the audience with a building montage of climaxing visuals, her over the top wardrobe (or lack thereof!) and a finale that will absolutely blow your mind!

Most recently, Meital posted her latest webisode “Meital’s Fitness Wisdom” on her YouTube Channel and it quickly became the #23 top rated video of the week of September 19 and has over 250,000 views to date. This hilarious and sexified video will give you a little sweet taste of what to expect in her upcoming, debut performance of “Yummy Boyz.”

Meital’s single “Yummy Boyz” and 6 remixes by some of the hottest mixers including Chew Fu, Danny Verde, Dark Intensity and Electrolightz are available now on iTunes.

At Vanity Fair and MOCA’s “West Hollywood Library Murals” event, one of  the artists who painted the mural, street artist Shepard Fairey, who just designed the Times Square invitation featuring Angela Davis for “Occupy Wall Street,” and is known for his iconic Barack Obama “Hope” poster, talking shop with Beverly Hills based plastic surgeon Dr. Randal Haworth, himself an internationally recognized artist. Powerhouse young LA based attorney Ben Meiselas then impressing Shepard and artist Kenny Scharf with his knowledge of street art.

Speaking about art, accomplished artist Kimberly Brooks, wife of Albert Brooks, chatting with Los Angeles real estate investor Mara Granderson at the opening of her exhibit “Thread” at the Taylor De Cordoba Gallery in Los Angeles.

Director/Producer McG chatting with Cambio’s Nathan Coyle at the premiere of their new online series “Aim High” at Trousdale in Beverly Hills.

Celebrity Stylist George Blodwell and “Life & Style’s” West Coast Bureau Chief Heidi Parker, clinking champagne glasses with the tres chic Parisian couple Sally and Michel Perrin, at a soiree for their Beverly Hills Perrin Paris Boutique.

Jon Lovitz, cracking up photographer Michael Caulfield, who was among those honored  at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood at the opening event for the Beverly Hills Film, TV &  New Media Festival.

Directors Phillip Noyce and David Cronenberg in a confab at Cronenberg’s premiere of his fantastic new film, “A Dangerous Method,” at the Academy in Beverly Hills.

At the American Express Platinum Card Lunch at Bouchon in Beverly Hills, Michael Chow, owner of Mr. Chow’s, eating lunch himself right next to the private room where the event took place.

STK, in their private room in West Hollywood, hosted the Habitual Denim event.  Vida, owner of The Vida Emanuel European Day Spa in Beverly Hills,  popped in.

“Dexter”  star James Remar and  “Raising Hope’s”  Martha Plimpton, separately checking out the new hip Century Day and Night Spa, Los Angeles’s premier Korean spa.

“Mad Men’s” Pat Bethune,  “Weed’s” Guillermo Diaz  and Bob Newhart’s old co-star Marcia Wallace at Celebrity Hair Stylist Steve Lococo’s B2V salon in West Hollywood to raise money for the Breast Cancer Care and Research Fund.

Soap star Mary Beth Evans, who’s currently starring in “Murder at the Howard Johnson’s,” with co-stars Patrick Munoz and John Coppola, greeting some of her “Days of our Lives” castmates there to cheer her on, along at the Studio C Artists performing space  along Theatre Row in Hollywood.


Paul McCartney: Next Album Standards, with Diana Krall

Roger Friedman
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0
Paul McCartney: Next Album Standards, with Diana Krall

Exclusive: Paul McCartney‘s next album: he’ll celebrate his 70th birthday next year with a CD of standards. He’s been recording with Diana Krall and her jazz musicians. Tommy LiPuma, the legendary Warner Bros. producer of George Benson and Miles Davis, Anita Baker, and Dr. John, is guiding the project. Sources tell me that the album contains standards–‘But not the usual ones’– and some new songs Paul wrote just for this record. Paul knows Krall, of course. He’s recorded a lot with her husband, Elvis Costello. Meantime, look for the Beatles’ exclusive deal with ITunes to expire sometime in the next few months. The one year anniversary is November 16th. Amazon ships its Kindle Fire the day before. Look for Amazon to jump on the Beatles downloads ASAP for new Kindle owners. As for Paul, he’s now had successful reissues of “McCartney” and “Band on the Run.” Let’s hope “Ram” is on its way. And a box set.

Woody Allen Play Opening Is A Hit with A List Audience

Roger Friedman
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Woody Allen Play Opening Is A Hit with A List Audience

The trio of one act plays called “Relatively Speaking” is a hit–opening last night on Broadway with contributions from Woody Allen, Elaine May, and Ethan Coen. And it’s really a hit– sold out, funny, and in demand despite efforts by the New York Post’s theater columnist to kill it or cause trouble. Marlo Thomas is beyond wonderful in Elaine May‘s “George Is Dead.”

And Woody’s cast — with Steve Guttenberg knocking it out of the park, and appearances by Woody all stars like Julie Kavner and Caroline Aaron, not to mention Grant Shaud (Miles from “Murphy Brown”), Richard Libertini and Mark Linn Baker  — had em rolling in the aisles. You know a Broadway opening is big if both Liz Smith and Cindy Adams are in the audience. Not only that, but two of Woody’s famous leading men–Tony Roberts and Michael Murphy–showed up, as well as Richard Kind, Phil Donahue (Marlo’s hubby), Joel Coen and Frances McDormand, Jeannie Berlin (Elaine’s actress daughter), Angela Lansbury, director Doug McGrath (who co-wrote “Manhattan Murder Mystery) and Marshall Brickman (co-author of “Annie Hall”), Kathy Griffin, and so on.

Woody and wife Soon Yi didn’t sit through the show, but they were at the after party at Bryant Park Grill where Woody quizzed Kavner on the evening. He’s been giving “notes” and stage directions to the actors after every performance, fine tuning “Honeymoon Hotel.” It plays a like a scene out of the Marx Brothers’ “A Night at the Opera,” with characters pouring into a tacky roadside motel room.

Before the curtain went up: Ethan Coen paced around at the top of the aisle. “Are you nervous?” I asked. He could barely move his facial muscles. “You once put a man in a wood chipper,” I said. “Relax.” His “Talking Cure,” opens the night, and is less “shticky” than the other plays. It is extremely funny, with Jason Kravits (of “Boston Legal”) and the exceptional Danny Hoch going at it as a prison inmate and his shrink.

At intermission: Phil Donahue mixed and mingled. By then, Marlo had already done her star turn. Her character is a riot, and must be seen. At one point, the character is watching TV through the night and several TV theme songs are played–“Dick van Dyke,” “Andy Griffith Show”– alas, no “That Girl.” Jus to see Marlo as a bewilderingly wealthy woman child try to stuff a pillow into a pillow case without the help of her nanny is worth the whole night.

I asked Woody how he felt about “Midnight in Paris” being such a huge hit. “You don’t know. There were plenty of the films that I thought would do well, and didn’t.” He is genuinely perplexed, but grateful.

Julie Kavner, on a break from “The Simpsons,” said, “He’s having a great time.” She should know–she’s been in several of Woody’s films including “Alice” and “New York Stories.”

Rolling Stones Finally Releasing Song About Claudine Longet

Roger Friedman
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1
Rolling Stones Finally Releasing Song About Claudine Longet

When the Rolling Stones release their super deluxe anniversary edition of “Some Girls” next month, it will have quite a few unreleased tracks. One of them, called “Claudine,” is about Andy Williams‘s ex-wife Claudine Longet. Williams, the Michael Buble of his day, married beautiful and very young Claudine Longet. A gorgeous French singer and actress, Claudine married Andy in 1961 at the age of 19. He was 34, which seemed old then, and he was fifteen years senior to her. They were a golden couple. But in March 1976, Claudine shot and killed her boyfriend, professional skiier “Spider” Sabich. It was quite the scandal. Longet received a misdemeanor conviction and retired. She wound up marrying her defense attorney. Also of note: Claudine and Andy were good friends of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. They were with them on the tragic night in June 1968 when RFK was assassinated. Why did Mick and Keith write a song about Claudine? She was hot and it was the early 70s.  The new “Some Girls” also contains another unreleased song, which will be a single, “No Spare Parts.” Both songs are included below.

PS “Some Girls” featured two massive Stones hits, “Miss You” and “Beast of Burden.” Here’are some quotes from the Stones about the late Billy Preston’s contribution to “Miss You.”

The idea for those (bass) lines came from Billy Preston, actually. We’d cut a rough demo a year or so earlier after a recording session. I’d already gone home, and Billy picked up my old bass when they started running through that song. He started doing that bit because it seemed to be the style of his left hand. So when we finally came to do the tune, the boys said, Why don’t you work around Billy’s idea? So I listened to it once and heard that basic run and took it from there. It took some changing and polishing, but the basic idea was Billy’s.
– Bill Wyman, 1978

(W)e still work closely on songs. It still comes together even when we haven’t seen each other for months. We help each other on songs like Miss You which came together during the 1976 tour of Europe. A lot of our songs take a long time to come out.
– Keith Richards, 1979

I got that together with Billy Preston, actually. Yeah, Billy had shown me the four-on-the-floor bass-drum part, and I would just play the guitar. I remember playing that in the El Mocambo club when Keith was on trial in Toronto for whatever he was doing. We were supposed to be there making this live record… I was still writing it, actually. We were just in rehearsal.
– Mick Jagger, 1995

During the rehearsal of the El Mocambo gig I wrote the song Miss You. So I remember that ’cause I was waiting for everyone in the band to turn up and I was with Billy Preston, and Billy Preston was playing the kick drum and I was always playing the guitar and I wrote Miss You on that so I remember that moment very well.
– Mick Jagger, 2001

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8IOKKG_PAQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khg6Y93nFjU

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