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Aretha Franklin Visits, Sings Along to “Baby It’s You” on Broadway

Roger Friedman
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What a night for the cast of Broadway’s “Baby, It’s You”! The one and only Queen of Soul, Miss Aretha Franklin, arrived a couple of minutes late at the Broadhurst Theater and had to wait –with her guests–at the top of the aisle until the first scene was over. Then Aretha and her gang of 8 (including boyfriend Willie Wilkerson and singer Fonzie Thornton) quickly took their seats in the fourth row, center, and settled in to enjoy the proceedings. During much of the show about the Shirelles and Scepter Records founder Florence Greenberg, Aretha could be heard singing along to the hit songs or reminiscing about various acts highlighted in the terrific musical including pals like Dionne Warwick and Chuck Jackson.

It didn’t take too long before not a few of the audience members realized who in their midst and began whispering about their good fortune. Indeed, after the show, Franklin and co. got stuck in front of the Broadhurst waiting for her car–the driver had edged up West 44th St. towards the show “Memphis” which was just getting out. Suddenly a huge group of people five deep encircled Franklin and friends, with people cheering and shouting, “We love you!” Franklin was moved and waved to one and all.

By the way, she’s lost a good amount of weight and looks great. Contrary to reports of her imminent death in the National Enquirer, Franklin is in town for a bit this month to take classical piano lessons and enjoy New York. She performs July 27th at Jones Beach. Her album, “A Woman Falling Out of Love,” has been a huge hit for Walmart.com and Wal Mart stores.

Oh yes, she told me she loved “Baby It’s You,” especially the choreography. “I didn’t know Florence Greenberg,” she said, “or her story. But I certainly know Chuck and Dionne.” When one of the actresses came forward to sing “I Say A Little Prayer” during the encore, the girl looked like she was going to faint when she spotted Aretha in the audience. Franklin, of course, had a big hit with that song with a much different arrangement than the Dionne Warwick version back in the early 70s.

Kristen Wiig Next Film: Scooped Here on June 3rd

Roger Friedman
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Hello, Hollywood Reporter. This column told you on June 3rd the name of Kristen Wiig’s new film and its directors. Read much? This is what I wrote on June 3rd, 2011:

“Saturday Night Live” star Kristen Wiig is finally coming into her own. After appearing in many movies, and of course the late night TV show, Wiig has finally hit it big with “Bridesmaids.” The unassuming actress was almost astonished when I mentioned to her last night–over dinner at the St. Regis Hotel for the Museum of the Moving Image–that she’s a movie star. “That’s what you say,” Wiig laughed. But now that “Bridesmaids” has put her at the top of the box office, Wiig isn’t resting on her laurels. She’s producing a dramedy called “Imogene,” in which she’ll star. She told me financing is just coming together for the film, which will be directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (“American Splendor”). The couple specializes in off beat characters–witness “American Splendor” and their recent “Cinema Verite” for HBO. The plan is to shoot the film this summer, while “SNL” is on hiatus. Then, with any luck, we’ll see her back on the comedy show this fall.

Lady Gaga Sells a Mere 30K CDs, As Record Biz Slows More

Roger Friedman
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Reports of revived CD sales are highly exaggerated. According to the numbers collected on hitsdailydouble.com, last week is pretty bad for the music industry. Summer used to be a time when kids had to have their music. But last week the top 10 totaled less than 500,000 copies sold of anything. Lady Gaga‘s “Born this Way” was down to 30,000 units. That’s not enough to pay for anyone to carry her rapidly cracking egg.

The number 1 CD, Beyonce‘s “4,” made the grade with a mere 111,000 copies. The only bright spot was Adele, as usual, clocking in at number 2 with 79,000. I’m not sure if anyone’s explained this to her, but Adele is the record business right now. Other than Adele, who’s also selling copies of her “19” album (yes everyone’s just numbering their CDs for titles–this generation can’t remember titles like “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” or “Songs in the Key of Life”– the next hit album will be called LOL) everyone else is at a standstill. Both new generation “American Idol” (Scotty McCreery) and old (David Cook) are just about tied with 13,000 copies each.

To his credit, Barry Manilow sold 10,230 copies of a CD full of original material on a small label and finished at number 36. The next big release, fingers crossed, will be country singer Blake Shelton this week. But other than that, it’s not such a promising release schedule.

NY Post, Fox News Mostly Ignoring Murdoch-News of the World Hacking Scandal

Roger Friedman
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If your only source of information is Rupert Murdoch‘s New York Post or Foxnews.com, then here’s some news you have missed: Murdoch has been forced to close his London based 168 year old News of the World tabloid. The reason is that the editors and reporters are involved in a huge scandal that involves them having hacked into the phone calls and messages of celebrities as well as regular people and even some dead ones. They may have also hacked the former prime minister Gordon Brown, and enlisted the help of the Queen’s Police. In the UK, Murdoch’s Times of London is covering the story right up to the minute.

But here in New York, the Murdoch owned Post is simply ignoring the whole thing. There was a brief mention the other day that News of the World was closing. But today’s story about the scandal is written passively with an oblique headline and found on the Post website only by doing an advanced search. That leads to buried links to stories from other sources, even the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal and papers in Australia. There are some video links on the Post site to Reuters.

On Foxnews.com: mentions in the World News section, but nothing on the front page.

Readers of The Post and Foxnews.com may not know, for example, that Rupert and James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks have been summoned to Parliament to explain what’s happened. And Post readers don’t know that current prime minister David Cameron is now encouraging Murdoch to step back from his bid to take full control of BSkyB. According to the AP: “Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said the government would vote with the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday to support a motion calling on Murdoch and his News Corp. to withdraw the $12 billion bid for highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB.”

On the other hand, local police reporter Jamie Schram has a good story in the Post today about a Warner Music employee who’s charged with ripping the record company off for $700,000. So you can’t have everything!

R&B Star Maxwell Heads to Lee Daniels’s “Paperboy”

Roger Friedman
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Lee Daniels’s follow up to “Precious” is starting to get interesting. Daniels is adding R&B star Maxwell, a multi-Grammy nominee and award winner, to his cast for “The Paperboy.” Maxwell, who’s 37, is also getting ready to launch a new album at Columbia Records sometime this fall. So he’s about to get hot again. Maxwell’s last album, “Black Summers Night,” was a bestseller in 2009. Now he’s following the lead of Lenny Kravitz, who made his acting debut in “Precious.” Maxwell (real name Maxwell Rivera) was a guest last night at the premiere dinner at Circo for “Sarah’s Key,” arriving with actress Malin Ackerman. Once the owner of a huge Afro, the singer is now going very Don Draper meets Smokey Robinson circa 1962, with a sharp hair cut, 60s classes, close cropped beard and slim suit. He says people keep telling him he should play Marvin Gaye. “But frankly, Jesse L. Martin should have that wrapped up,” admits Maxwell. Still, for a Sam Cooke or Jackie Wilson movie, this is your man, Hollywood. “The Paperboy” already boasts an eclectic cast with Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConnaughey, and Zac Efron.

Kirsten Dunst, Courtney Love Upstage “Harry Potter” Premiere

Roger Friedman
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Call it “Harry Potter and the Deathly Premiere.” Inside Avery Fisher Hall it wasn’t so easy digging up celebrities outside the cast of the final Potter episode. Whoopi Goldberg was the biggest deal, and we spotted Seth Green. Actor Noah Emmerich brought his kids. Outside on the red carpet, fotogs got shots of Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker with son James, but they must have been seated someplace very special: no one saw them in the theater. Warner Bros. took over the whole plaza in front of Lincoln Center, but there was no sign of the “Harry Potter” superstars like Maggie Smith, Ralph Fiennes, or Michael Gambon. It’s too bad they didn’t follow the format laid out for the “Lord of the Rings” series. Ah, well. I did see some of Daniel Radcliffe’s “How to Succeed” Broadway pals.

It was a good thing, then, that Peggy Siegal had not one but two premieres last night while “Harry Potter” plodded along (set for a 6:30 pm start it was still in process at 6:50). Diane von Furstenberg, Courtney Love, Regis and Joy Philbin, Malin Ackerman, and famed R&B singer Maxwell were among the stars who showed up at a screening of the lovely and moving film, “Sarah’s Key,” with a dinner that followed at Osteria del Circo. Legendary restaurateur Sirio Maccione looked wide eyed as this A list poured into Circo along with Harvey Weinstein and a big group from St. Martin’s Press, which turned “Sarah’s Key” into an international bestseller. Other guests included BAFTA founder Freddie Hancock and Broadway producer Jean Doumanian, who was celebrating good financial news about “The Mother—- in the Hat.” It’s recouped its investment.

I’ll tell you more about “Sarah’s Key” soon, because it opens next Friday, July 22nd. Suffice to say that it’s the one “serious” film of the summer, a magnificent rendering of the Holocaust themed novel upon which it’s based. Kristen Scott Thomas is wonderful and so are the many lesser well known actors who brought last night’s audience to tears.

Meanwhile, we caught up with Kirsten Dunst at the party for Erroll Morris’s documentary, “Tabloid,” held at a cool strip and dance club down on the West Side Highway. This was a far cry from Circo! Kirsten won Best Actress in Cannes for “Melancholia,” a very intense drama. So she’s in New York to film a comedy, “Bachelorette,” directed by Leslye Headland and co-starring Lizzie Caplan. And PS Kirsten has good music taste. She’s dating Jason Boesel, former drummer from Rilo Kiley who’s still playing with the eminently talented Jenny Lewis. Rock on!

Has Larry David “Curbed” Cheryl Hines for Good?

Roger Friedman
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Sunday night’s premiere of Larry David‘s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”–the eighth season premiere–was called “The Divorce.” In it, Larry and Cheryl finally signed their divorce papers. It would seem like Cheryl Hines‘ place in the comedy series has become a bit precarious. She is not in the three episodes that have been shown to the press. That leaves just six more. For those who were hoping that fictional Larry and Cheryl would reunite, it doesn’t seem likely. Real Larry David has based his divorce from Cheryl on his divorce from ex wife Laurie David. They’re certainly not getting back together. And fictional Larry doesn’t look too unhappy. In a few episodes, the show shifts to New York, I’m told because Larry’s manager Jeff and his coarsely hilarious wife Susie must go there for business. Larry follows for no exact reason. Where does that leave Hines? One show insider told me at last week’s premiere not to count her out. “Cheryl is the only woman who really gets Larry,” the source said of the fictional characters.

Singer George Michael: Did Murdoch Chief Tell Him Police Were Sources?

Roger Friedman
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Singer George Michael–more in the news lately for his personal problems than his music career–is back in the headlines. He may have information about the phone hacking scandal that’s hacking away at Rupert Murdoch‘s empire. “Careless Whisper” was Michael’s biggest hit, but now some careful tweeting on his account has gotten the attention of British authorities.

On July 7th, Michael tweeted of Murdoch’s head of News International: “Rebekah Brooks sat two feet from me in my own home and told me that it was never the public that came to them with information on celebrities, and that the Police always got there first. I think thats enough to be going on with. (Don’t ask me how she got there)….” Now Michael says in a new tweet that the British police have contacted his lawyer about this remark. This should get interesting. Michael, often a subject of British tabloids thanks to his many public exploits, is no fan of Murdoch or News of the World.

Michael notes that he’s not trying to absolve himself of all his past troubles. But he seems to be onto something and is taking glee in Murdoch’s troubles: “This thing is going to have legs, people. And not the pretty kind. :)” He also tweets about “The two photographers who sat outside my house in their cars night after night for several years….Were regularly seen with computers open on their laps. I presumed for years that i was under surveilance.”

Wikipedia Gets Another $3 Mil from Sloan Foundation

Roger Friedman
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0

Wikipedia doesn’t run on love and good vibes. It takes money to keep the Encyclopedia Brittanica of the millenium running. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation–which also gives out a lot of money to filmmakers–just donated another $3 mil to Wikimedia Foundation, the group that supports Wikipedia. Here’s the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 11, 2011 – The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropic grantmaking institution that supports science, technology and economic institutions, announced today that it will award a grant of $3 million (USD) to the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia. This is the second grant of this amount awarded to the Wikimedia Foundation from the Sloan Foundation’s Universal Access to Knowledge component of its Digital Information Technology program. The Wikimedia Foundation is delighted to have received this vote of continued confidence in its work. 

The Sloan Foundation’s first grant of $3 million, awarded from 2008 through 2010, is the largest single grant ever received by the Wikimedia Foundation. These funds bootstrapped the organization so that it could grow its core operations to support and sustain Wikipedia as a high-quality free knowledge resource. The new funds will support Wikimedia’s strategic plan that focuses on increasing Wikipedia’s quality, increasing the number and demographic diversity of its editors, and reaching more readers, particularly in the global south.
“Three years ago, at a time when cultural elites were ambivalent about Wikipedia, the Sloan Foundation took a risk by supporting us. I will always be grateful to Sloan for its courage in doing that,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Today the academic community in particular has begun to appreciate Wikipedia, and is starting to work closely with us to make it even better. I’m grateful to Sloan for sending an important signal that helped make that happen, and I’m thrilled at this renewed expression of confidence in our work.”
“We are delighted to support Wikimedia in developing and sustaining its educational mission while continuously improving quality, diversity and access to knowledge for people everywhere,” said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Wikipedia embodies the ideal values of the world wide web and we are proud to be part of this bold endeavor to use the wisdom and the altruism of the crowd to create the biggest, most up-to-date and most open global encyclopedia in human history.”

 

Jett Travolta Foundation: 10 Percent Goes to Scientology

Roger Friedman
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You may wonder whatever happened to the Jett Travolta Foundation. The 16 year old autistic son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston died after hitting his head during a seizure in the Bahamas on January 2, 2009. Since then, a foundation set up in his name has given away roughly $56,000 according to the organization’s Form 990 filings.

The 2009 filing doesn’t list specifics, but the newest filing–for 2010–shows that 14 separate donations were made in Jett’s name on March 23, 2010. Of the group totaling $27,850, one — for $2,500–was made to a Scientology detox charity in Ocala, Florida. The others included $5,000 apiece to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the No Limits Limbs Loss Foundation, and $2,500 to the Marion County Sheriff’s Foundation in Ocala, Florida–where the Travoltas live.

The Travoltas also gave $250 to the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Foundation — it’s a disease affecting loose joints and hyperelastic skin–but nothing for autism research (Travolta told the Bahamas police in their report that Jett was autistic) or Kawasaki Syndrome, which the couple always insisted was the illness that afflicted their son. Other donations included $2,500 to Central Florida Community College for a scholarship in Jett’s memory. In February 2010 the Travoltas held a fundraising screening for their Foundation; some of the proceeds went to the Scientology detox for firefighters in their community. http://www.cf.edu/news/archive/Travoltatickets011910.htm

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