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Cyndi Lauper Plans All Star Benefit Concert

Roger Friedman
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7
Cyndi Lauper Plans All Star Benefit Concert

Cyndi Lauper, one of our all time faves, is planning an all -star benefit concert for her True Colors Fund. “Home for the Holidays” will be held at the Beacon Theater, and underwritten by Deutsche Bank.

Lauper has been extremely active for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender teens. Now she’s organizing a show to raise money for her foundation. She’s announced a very artist friendly roster including Norah Jones, Amy Lee, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, Carson Kressley, Chely Wright, Skylar Grey, Vanessa Carlton, Angelique Kidjo, Harvey Fierstein, Deluka, Debbie Harry, Alan Cumming and Clay Aiken.

Cyndi says: “When I first learned that up to 40 percent of all homeless youth in this country identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender I was shocked and saddened. For far too long homeless youth have not received the attention, resources and funding necessary to bring an end to this epidemic. My hope is that through this inspiring evening of music and comedy we can raise awareness and much needed funds to help these young people.”

Tickets go on sale through Live Nation and Ticket master on Friday. And good for Cyndi. Her heart is always in the right place.

Casey Affleck to Play “Corrupt Midget” in Whitey Bulger Film

Roger Friedman
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5
Casey Affleck to Play “Corrupt Midget” in Whitey Bulger Film

Exclusive about the Whitey Bulger movie being put together by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Casey Affleck, nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in “Jesse James” a couple of years ago, tells me he will be in the film. Casey is going to play Whitey Bulger’s younger brother, Bill Bulger. Ben Affleck will direct the film, and star in it with Damon and Casey.

And that’s an interesting idea because Bill Bulger, now 77, has been a huge figure in the saga of his brother’s life.  Known as “Billy,” he’s also been dubbed “The Corrupt Midget” by Boston journalist Howie Carr because he stands five foot-five. (Casey will have to scrunch down a bit.) Frankly, the story of Billy is so good, Casey is likely to get another Oscar nomination.

While Whitey Bulger has been a fugitive career criminal and serial killer, brother Bill has long been a Massachusetts politician. Billy Bulger has been president of the Mass. state senate and also president of the University of Massachusetts. He has a law degree from Boston College, and fought in the Korean War. The two brothers managed to co-exist in the world as sort of a public ying and yang. Billy Bulger always maintained a public distance from his brother. But in 2003 he was forced to resign his position with UMass when it was discovered that he’d been in touch with Whitey. He still commands a $200,000 annual pension.

Boston journalists have always questioned Billy Bulger’s walking of a thin line between his world and that of his brother. It’s a little like John Gregory Dunne‘s famous novel (also a movie), “True Confessions.”

You can read all about the Bulgers at http://www.thebrothersbulger.com/ Having loved “The Town,” I can’t wait to see “The Bulgers” on screen. Bring it on.

PS Ironically, Damon was a star of “The Departed,” which told part of the Whitey Bulger story (Jack Nicholson played Whitey, famously). Graham King, who produced that Martin Scorsese movie, had also announced he was going to do a Bulger film. Maybe they can combine their efforts.

 

 

Eddie Murphy Gets a Comedy “Comeback” in “Tower Heist”

Roger Friedman
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0
Eddie Murphy Gets a Comedy “Comeback” in “Tower Heist”

Brett Ratner‘s “Tower Heist” is getting an old fashioned mega push from Universal Pictures, a studio desperate for a hit after a slow year. Will “Tower Heist” be a Universal and universal hit? I think so, judging from last night’s star studded four star no expense forgotten premiere at the Ziegfeld followed by a lavish party at the Museum of Modern Art. Eddie Murphy makes a killer comedy comeback in “Tower Heist,” and Matthew Broderick kind of steals a film that also stars — with lots of presence–Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Tea Leoni, Nina Arianda, Alan Alda, Marcia Jean Kurtz, and Judd Hirsch.

And I mean, you know it’s a big deal when both Edward Norton and former flame Courtney Love are in the room. Also present, and loving the whole thing, Sarah Jessica Parker (Mrs. Broderick) with son James, and Stiller’s wife, Christine Taylor, as well as his sister Amy. I spotted Tracy Morgan, the Olsen twins, and screenwriter James Toback.

Universal studio execs and top agents were also in plenitude. Producer Brian Grazer was in deep conversation with ABC News chief Ben Sherwood. (His talented wife, Karen Kehela, is a producer on the film.) New York rock legend Garland Jeffreys kept getting praise from everyone for his new album, “The King of Inbetween.” Gabby Sidibe, who has a hilarious role in the film as a Haitian housekeeper, proved she’s not just “Precious.”

My favorite quote of the night came from Donald Trump. “Tower Heist” uses his Trump International Hotel in Columbus Circle as its locale, but Trump decided not to put his name in the film. “There’s a heist!” he said. Such a thing would never happen on his watch. Alan Alda, playing a Bernie Madoff like tycoon, has a pool on the roof of the movie version of the building, called just The Tower. The movie pool has a gigantic $20 bill painting on its floor, too. “They gave me ideas,” Trump told me with a laugh.

George Clooney, Ben Affleck Steal the Show at Hollywood Film Awards

Roger Friedman
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0
George Clooney, Ben Affleck Steal the Show at Hollywood Film Awards

Our Leah Sydney is sending reports from the 15th Annual Hollywood Film Awards dinner in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton, where George Clooney has made a splash with girlfriend Stacey Keibler, and “everyone is thanking Harvey Weinstein,” Leah reports that Clooney — now the Hollywood vet– fixed the tie of “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius before he got on stage. Jean DuJardin, the movie’s star, joked, “Do I have to talk? It’s a silent movie, my English is  rusty.” It’s the coming out party for DuJardin, Hazanavicius, and Berenice Bejo–they’re meeting and greeting Hollywood establishment.

Starz Channel’s Chris Albrecht and Hollywoodnews.com’s Carlos Abreu have put together the night–with tons of stars. Clooney and Keibler, Glenn Close, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Paul Haggis, Ewan McGregor, Anne Hathaway–a breath of fresh air, Ben Affleck, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Stone and the gang from “The Help,” and so on all over the room.

A big hit of the Hollywood Film Festival is “Beginners,” with Christopher Plummer getting a lot of buzz for Best Supporting Actor. McGregor, presenting Plummer with an award: “I wondered if we would gel as father and son, I wondered if he would like my version of ‘The hills are alive.’ But he had me in tears the whole time.” Plummer was erudite and charming – he cracked the audience up when he looked at the video screen and saw himself large and looming over the hall. He said, with a smirk, “God, that is cruel to the face. I don’t look like that do I?”  Plummer continued, about “Beginners”: “I’ve never been so relaxed in front of a camera. Surely that is prize enough.”

Quentin Tarantino presented to screenwriter Diablo Cody–“When you saw Juno you knew you were in the presence of a new voice. It’s hard being a great writer in Hollywood. She’s in the class of Paddy Chayevsky and Wiliam Goldman.”  Tarantino quoted A.O. Scott’s New York Times review of “Jennifer’s Body.” Well, if you think Quentin Tarantino is a great writer, then Diablo Cody is a great writer.” He agreed.

There were more awards, including a standing ovation for Glenn Close–is this her year, for “Albert Nobbs”? And Hollywood veteran Don Murray presented to Michelle Williams for her work in “My Week with Marilyn.” Murray said: “I’m the last of the onscreen lovers of Marilyn Monroe.” He joked: “I’m just happy to have a body that works.”  Williams, nervous but sweet, said: “All that Marilyn Monroe ever really wanted was to be taken seriously as an actress. She never got the recognition she craved.”

Meantime, a bearded Ben Affleck  got a lot of laughs before he presented cinematographer Emmanuel Llubezki with an award. He told the crowd that just outside the Hilton a guy came up to him and said “Right this way, Mr. Bruckheimer.”

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

Roger Friedman
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4
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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8
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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10
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.

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