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Billy Joel Salutes Garth Brooks, Says He’s Happy Not Working

Roger Friedman
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Billy Joel is the most frustrating artist I know. His last album, “The River of Dreams,” is almost twenty years old. Billy doesn’t care. He told me last night at the smashing Songwriters Hall of Fame induction dinner and show that he’s happy doing nothing. Cold sober, Billy — one of our great talents– told me that his double hip replacement surgery has been such a big success that he doesn’t want to work. “I was in pain for so long. Also, I walked with a limp. Now I know why. I’m so happy that I feel like doing nothing.” Billy told me that he’s just not in a mind to write songs. He’s happy working on instrumental pieces. “I’ve written a lot of hymns,” he said.

So Billy does still like to play the piano and perform. He came to the Songwriters to induct pal Garth Brooks–and then joined Brooks at the piano playing and singing Garth’s song. “Shameless.” He sported a black cowboy hat. “That’s a cool lid you got on,” said a surprised Brooks.

It was the usual historic night at SHOF, the best music night of the year save for Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy dinner. Highlights included Sam Moore and Bill Medley–the soul man and the righteous brother–performing “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” as a tribute to legendary songwriting husband and wife Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Boz Scaggs and honoree Allen Toussaint did three of the latter’s song including “What Do You Want the Girl to Do?” which had an elegant, elegiac quality that showcased the intimacy of the evening. Trisha Yearwood sang a medley of Bacharach and David songs to honor Hal David. “Sopranos” star Dominic Chianese serenaded the crowd of 700 people with “It Was A Very Good Year,” then introduced the 92 year old author, Ervin Drake, who must be showering in the fountain of youth.

There was a lot more: Leon Russell performed “A Song for You” and was inducted. This is a big year for Leon. Dwight Yoakam inducted him and performed Russell’s Carpenters hit, “Superstar.” Chrissie Hynde started the night, wearing a chic yellow jacket covered in black squiggles, over jeans, boots and a tshirt. She sang “I’ll Stand By You” as a tribute to songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who in turn performed an eccentric version of their Madonna hit, “Like a Virgin.” Kelly, who thanked his many ex wives, has a falsetto that could lead the Stylistics. They thanked Chrissie for showing up for them, coming in from London. They made a veiled reference to Madonna, who has snubbed them in the past even though they wrote her biggest hit. They also wrote “True Colors” for Cyndi Lauper, and “Eternal Flame” for the Bangles.

The great show was produced by Linda Moran and Phil Ramone, with lots more too: Chaka Khan, who missed rehearsal, wandered in and belted out “I’m Every Woman,” after getting her award from that song’s co-author Valerie Simpson. Jerry Ragovoy (“Time is On My Side,” “Piece of My Heart”), Sire Records founder Seymour Stein, famed producer Russ Titelman, and Bernie Taupin were among those in the audience. Skylar Grey performed a medley of hits by John Bettis, who was honored for his long resume including three hits with the Carpenters (“Yesterday Once More”).

And PS there were many shout outs through the night to Bill and Tani Austin, owners of Starkey Hearing, for their incredible charitable work around the world. Leon Russell even dedicated his award to them.

 

photo c2011 Showbiz411/Ann Lawlor

Broadway “Spider Man”: At Least Two Romances in Cast

Roger Friedman
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I told you yesterday (and Page Six must have read it) that “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” stars Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano are a couple in real life, too. Well, why not? As I said yesterday, these “Spider Man” actors have been stuck together like lab rats for a year. During the spring, they rehearsed one show for three hours a day and then performed another at night. Romance has infected the cast like the poison spider that bites Peter Parker. Also a couple are the principal understudies–I’m told Matthew James Thomas, who alternates for Carney, and Kristen Martin, who understudies Damiano, are hooked up. Meantime, the “Turn off the Dark” soundtrack has hit amazon, and it’s pretty interesting. Bono and The Edge perform the very Wh0-like song, “Picture This,” with Carney and Damiano on secondary vocals. Same for Bono and Edge on an alternate version of “Rise Above.” Edge also is featured playing guitat on “Sinisterio,” although it seems to have to the old lyrics–“set yourself on fire” has been reworded in the actual show so as not to inspire self-immolation. P.S. Another column got this wrong: T.V. Carpio, who plays Arachne, did make it into Bono’s private party-within-a-private-party- within- a- party on opening night. She only went outside the big blue curtain to say hello to friends who weren’t allowed in.

Media Mogul David Geffen Wasn’t “Born Yesterday”

Roger Friedman
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David Geffen is a busy man. He’s obviously too busy to watch an entire play. Last night he left the revival of “Born Yesterday” at the intermission. Geffen, accompanied by a handsome young man, tore out of the theater at the break, jumped into a highly polished large new black Mercedes with a female driver at the wheel, and sped off into the night. Maybe he didn’t like the snacks. He couldn’t not have enjoyed the performances of Nina Arianda, Robert Sean Leonard, and Jim Belushi. The whole cast is top notch, and Arianda steals the show as Billie Dawn, the part originated by Judy Holliday and then made fresh again by Madeline Kahn.

This edition of “Born Yesterday,” directed by Doug Hughes and with a gorgeous set by John Lee Beatty. The show may close soon–business is so-so and dependent on half price ticket sales. A better press push and some advertising might help. It would be great if audiences started flocking to the Cort Theater to see great –and funny — work done. The play, of course, was written by the legendary Garson Kanin. David Geffen may have left, but actor Stephen Spinella-– of “Angels in America” fame–was sitting right next to us, and loved it. What’s not to love? See Nina Arianda now, so you can one day say, I say Nina Arianda in “Born Yesterday.”

PS At least Geffen stayed until the intermission. Barbara Walters walked out of “Spider Man” a half hour into its first act on Tuesday night. Is this a trend?

Woody Allen Must Think He’s Time Traveled — to 1977

Roger Friedman
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In “Midnight in Paris.” Owen Wilson time travels back to Paris in the 1920s. The film’s famed director, Woody Allen, must think he’s time travelved– back to 1977.

Woody--75 years old–hasn’t been this popular since he released “Annie Hall” in 1977. He may think he’s time traveled back to that era. His “Midnight in Paris” has now earned over $14 million in the U.S., and $32.2 million worldwide. At the rate it’s going, “Midnight in Paris” will be Woody’s biggest hit ever. Ever. Who’d-a thunk it? Even with “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” and “Match Point” in Woody’s recent group of films, nothing prepared anyone for this. Owen Wilson is no doubt a help. But it’s the movie itself– people love “Midnight in Paris.” It’s Woody’s first ever across the board crowd pleaser.

Next up for Woody, besides his Rome movie, is a one act play that will run with one-acters by Elaine May and Ethan Coen. I’m told that Woody’s and Ethan’s plays will share casts because of their large sizes. Marlo Thomas is still set just for Elaine May’s contribution. John Turturro, a Coen buddy, directs all three under the name “Relatively Speaking,” next fall on Broadway. By the way. if you’re enjoying all the great little moments in “Midnight in Paris”: at the Tony Awards, Nina Arianda, who plays Michael Sheen‘s odd wife, told me that she and Sheen just improv’d their whole bit, especially Arianda’s character’s propensity for saying French words twice because she thinks she’s mispronounced them. Genius!

Sony Music: Doug Morris Arrives July 5th, L.A. Reid Follows

Roger Friedman
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Doug Morris won’t officially take over at Sony Music until July 5th even though his contract says July 1st. This has to do with prior commitments for the July 4th vacation. Then, just as I told you on March 16th, L.A. Reid follows and joins Morris to run Epic Records. Right now Reid off with the “X Factor” crew judging contestants. Meanwhile, elsewhere at Sony, Peter Edge is expected to run the RCA end of things, while Tom Corson still presides at the company. Basically, Universal and Sony have swapped staffs, with RCA-J-Arista’s Larry Jackson having already moved to Interscope. What fun! Artists will go back and forth. It’s expected that Mariah Carey, upon releasing her last album at Universal, will head back to Sony with Reid. There, she can rejoin her old catalog, Confusing? Sure. That’s why we love it! And meanwhile, Sony has the lead in the race between the two companies with Adele being the hit of the year. And yes, maybe, Sylvia Rhone will turn up somewhere at Sony after leaving Universal Motown recently. It’s all in the game, as Tommy Edwards once put it so succinctly. Meanwhile, no one says a word about Rick Rubin.

Lady Gaga Falls to Number 2, Sales Drop Another 38%

Roger Friedman
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It looks like Lady Gaga’s amazon sale really exhausted her audience. “Born this Way” sold only 105,000 in its second week. It dropped 38% from the previous week according to hitsdailydouble.com. That put it at Number 2, behind Adele’s “21” album. This is quite stunning since some Universal record execs I spoke to on Monday thought they’d hit at least 125,000. But “Born this Way” has already gone through four singles, and none of them except the title track ever got breakthrough attention. The amazon did two days of 99 cent sales, and the basic audience for Gaga bought the album–an album they would have bought anyway for $11.99. Of course, many point out that amazon paid the full wholesale fare on those albums and took the loss. But not really. Amazon scored by bringing new customers into their stores and to their Cloud service. The loser is indeed Lady Gaga and Interscope. “Born this Way” isn’t going to have “legs.” Instead of spending a year or six months on the charts, it’s headed to an eight week flameout. Meantime, the Broadway score album for “The Book of Mormon,” now the Tony winning Best Musical, came in at number 3 in its debut with 58,000 copies sold on smallish Razor & Tie. Not bad.

Oscar Shocker: Academy Says Best Picture Could Be Five to Ten Nominees

Roger Friedman
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Here’s a little shocked from the Motion Picture Academy. They said tonight that they won’t guarantee the Best Picture category will have 10 nominees. They’ll just guarantee five, and that whatever comes after in the voting has to meet a minimum number of votes. This means that there could be 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 nominees in that category. And no one will know how many until the nomination announcements are made. So in the past, people with films in contention could tell during the announcements if they were in or out based on alphabetical order. You also knew that five, and then more recently, ten, titles would be announced. Now after seven titles, the presenters could just say, “That’s it.” EKG machines, defibrillators and ambulances will have to be standing by at many homes then when the Oscar nominations are made on January 24, 2012. I suspect the Percocet supply in Beverly Hills will be drained since it’s 5:30 in the morning. Here in New York, concierge doctors will be on call.

Here’s the press release:

Beverly Hills, CA (June 14, 2011) – The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement.  The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category.  That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5.  After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis.  “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit.  If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.

Other rules changes approved by the Board include:

In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category.   Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved, refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category.  In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated.  When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.

In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders.  The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category  was increased from three to five.

Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories.  The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.

Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees.  The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Bono, Man of the People as Long as He Picks the People

Roger Friedman
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And so the “Spider Man” after party meant what seemed like thousands of people tried to jam into the Bowl Mor lanes on West 44th St. The queue ran up the block from BowlMor to the corner of Broadway. Ah, for the days when Broadway premieres were at Tavern on the Green or Sardi’s. This was what is called in polite society a ‘Rat f—.’ Once inside Bowl Mor, the story became so much more intriguing.

There was, of course, a private space that required a red wrist band. If you could make it in, you might find members of the cast or crew. But a turn around the bend showed a different set up– a large blue curtain that walled off a private party within the private space. This was for Bono and The Edge, who’d earlier entertained former President Bill Clinton, Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro, Jay Z, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a dazed looking Steve Martin and a few other dignitaries in a private room over at the Foxwoods Theater. Now here they were, again choosing entrants like Cindy Crawford, and rejecting others.

Interestingly, the producers of “Spider Man” were not in the blue-curtained room. Michael Cohl and his people were camped out in the main private space, in front of the blue curtain. Beyond the curtain, it’s unclear really who Bono and Edge were so hot to be with, although it was more about keeping people than having them in.

At the theater there many celebs, most of whom did not attempt to enter Bowl Mor of left shortly after arrival: Jimmy Fallon, Trudie Styler, Julian Lennon, Regis and Joy Philbin, Lou Reed, Spike Lee, Glen Hansard, John McEnroe and Patty Smyth. Gayle King. Helena Christensen, Liam Neeson, director Fred Schepisi, Harvey Weinstein, Sir Howard Stringer, Ben Vereen, Amy Irving, Jane Rose, Lesley Stahl (who had some kind of confusion about her tickets) and Joan Hamburg were a few of the names.

Before the show: Shelley Lazar, the great rock impresario who everyone loves, slipped and fell on the stairs in the orchestra section. She may have broken her wrist. Ron and Ellin Delsener offered to accompany her to the hospital because they’re great people. Here’s hoping Shelley’s ok.

During the show: Barbara Walters got up and left during the first act. It was quite a scene because she took her two seatmates with her. Then the seatmates, two women all dolled up, returned ten minutes later with Walters. She had turned off the dark.

“Spider Man” Producers Made it Hard for Taymor at Premiere

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” finally opened last night, and it is better. There’s no question that some needed editing, rearranging, and adding of a couple of key scenes has helped improve the show tremendously. However, it is still the work of Julie Taymor, more than ever, that carries the day. Pity then that the production wasn’t kind enough to offer Taymor a seat for opening night.

During the day, I am told, she was actually told not to come to the opening night.

At the last minute, a member of the crew came up with a pair of house seats. Taymor sat in Row T, center, and watched as her work of eight years was “reimagined.” Yikes. She toughed it out, though, and was the last person introduced on stage during the curtain call–after just about anyone who’d worked on the show excluding the ushers had been welcomed up there. Taymor is one class to do this, but she has the support of her cast.

Not on stage was choreographer Daniel Ezralow, much of whose creative work has been maimed by replacement Chase Brock. Brock has managed to make the show more banal than ever, replaced Ezralow’s inspired dances with a lot of blandness. Yikes II.

Taymor, meanwhile, did not attend the after party.

So what is “Spider Man” like now? Well, the good news is that Patrick Page is all over the show as the Green Goblin and Dr. Osbourne. He is wonderful. The talented T.V. Carpio is still Arachne, and she opens the show with Taymor’s stunning “weaving” set piece. From then on, Arachne is used for good instead of evil. Carpio, like the rest of this amazing cast, has simply adapted. Very defined and better than ever are Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano, as Peter Parker and Mary Jane. (They are apparently a couple off stage now, too, but why not? They’ve “lived together” for months like lab rats.) Each of them has grown in their roles, Carney, especially. After all, he was a rock singer when he came to “Spider Man.” Now he’s also an actor, acrobat, and aerialist.

One song has been added, called “Freak Like Me.” It sounds a little like Bono warmed over “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The good songs from the original version–“Rise Above,” “Say it Now,” “Boy Falls from the Sky”–have been punched up by a better sound system. The show has dropped the dancing shoes number and significantly reduced the dancing storm troopers. Also, there used to a song bit with a refrain “set yourself on fire.” I never understood it. Now it’s gone. That’s really good.

A lot of dialogue has been added to clarify relationships. Peter and Mary Jane’s romance has been given a shot of humor. Peter no longer hates Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Mary Jane’s home life no longer seems like she’s being abused. The heaviness and grimness of the story has been lightened up. A lot. Cringe inducing moments, like when Aunt May chides Peter for not picking up her medicine, and then explains the word “facetious” to him, are gone.

So there are vast improvements. “Spider Man” is now a well built spectacle that should translate well into places like Las Vegas. It is still too long in the first act, and slow to build a head of steam. But it’s a visual treat, and plenty entertaining. I’ve seen it six times. That is all, folks. That is all.

Exclusive: Stevie Wonder Plans Two New Albums

Roger Friedman
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The amazing Stevie Wonder, 61 years young and kicking it at the Apollo last night, told me he wants to do new albums. This may come as a bit of news to the folks from his record company. Last night, Universal Music’s Barry Weiss, Steve Bartels, and Motown Records general manager Pat Monaco all came to see Stevie, and got a few minutes with him backstage. It’s been six long years since Stevie’s last album, “A Time 2 Love,” and everyone–fans, Universal Motown–wants a new one. So what will it be? Stevie told me he has two projects in mind–a gospel album, and a remixed collection of his unreleased material. “I want to call it ‘I Remember Me,'” Wonder told me. Meanwhile, you might be interested to know what Stevie likes to talk about when he’s relaxing: peace, love, and understanding. On stage at the Apollo, he spoke eloquently about universal health care, accessibility for the disabled, as well as his nostalgia for the Apollo. “There’s no reason why this country can’t be the most accessible in the world. I do believe in health care.” He talked about a friend who he met in school, who’s blind and now can’t afford care. “Don’t get fooled by stupidity,” Stevie said.

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