Julian Schnabel‘s “Miral” is being screened Monday night at the United Nations–and there is controversy galore. The film is being attacked by various groups for alleged anti-Semitism even though most people haven’t even seen it. I was in the audience last fall in Toronto, and I can tell you –being sensitive to anti-Semitism–that Schnabel’s film is nothing to worry about. Apparently there’s been a lot of pressure from the American Jewish Committee on the UN to cancel the screening, but it’s going forward, I hope, in peace. Jon Kilik, the producer of “Miral,” sent out a statement a little while ago. Kilik wrote: “We are surprised and saddened that the American Jewish Committee would pre-judge MIRAL and move to block the showing of the film. We made this film in order to encourage the very dialogue that the AJC seems to want to prevent. We hope the AJC will come to the premiere instead of trying to cancel it.” Julian Schnabel said: “I love the State of Israel. I believe in it, and my film is about preserving it, not hurting it. Understanding is part of the Jewish way and Jewish people are supposed to be good listeners. But, if we don’t listen to the other side, we can never have peace. Instead of saying ‘no,’ I ask the AJC to say ‘yes,’ see MIRAL and join the discussion.” The real story of “Miral,” by the way, is how Schabel fell for Palestinian novelist Rula Jabreal, who is gorgeous, and turned over his life to make a movie out of her story.
Charlie Sheen (Worth $70 Mil?) Will Donate $8.4 Thousand to Japan Relief
Charlie Sheen is nothing if not philanthropic. Sheen has announced on his website that he will donate $1 from every ticket sale to his two live shows to the Red Cross for Japan relief. Sheen’s made about $70 million so far from “Two and A Half Men” and just reportedly made a bid on a $7 million home. Nevertheless, he’s volunteering to take a tax credit and donate roughly $10,000 to Japan. How nice! There are about 4,800 seats at the Fox Theater in Detroit, and 3,600 seats at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago. If Sheen really has a paid sell out at each show, that should come to $8,400 for Japan. Of course, it’s possible his concert tour will expand. If he does 20 more cities at the same average size hall, Sheen would still be donating a tear drop for a tsunami. But it’s the thought that counts! Winning! But not if you’re in Japan. PS Charlie has also started selling rather ugly looking T shirts for $20 a pop.
Rock Hall Dinners Tonight: One for Jann Wenner, One for Everyone Else
How much does Jann Wenner sneer at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio? Tonight Wenner is hosting a pre -induction ceremony dinner (the annual event is tomorrow night at the Waldorf) for the inductees–Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love, Tom Waits, and Dr. John, plus Leon Russell and Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman–at the Spotted Pig restaurant in the West Village. The guest list includes Wenner’s inner circle and close pals, but excludes many members of the Board of the Directors of the Foundation. It also excludes people attached to the museum. They’re having a separate low key dinner at another locale for big museum donors.
Wenner’s dinner will include Joel Peresman, who runs the foundation for him and earns just under $400,000 despite the Rock Hall’s embarrassing failure at having a New York outpost (came and gone within a year). Peresman’s job is help pick the five inductees each year. According to the Rock Hall’s latest tax filing–which contains less information than ever– the Foundation still lists nothing given to musicians in need, and a mere $25,000 to “music scholarships” (no details). Other guests are sure to include Bono and the Edge, trapped in town by “Spider Man,” and assorted Wenner favorites like Yoko Ono and Keith Richards.
The choice of inductees was so screwed up this year that Dr. John, a great musician who is technically a “sideman,” gets in as a star while Leon Russell enters as a sideman having hit singles (“Tight Rope,” “Lady Blue”) and writing three rock classics: “A Song for You,” “Superstar,” and “This Masquerade.” Elton John, quite rightly, forced the issue to make sure Russell was in as something.
Still not in the Hall of Fame: everyone from Chubby Checker and Billy Preston to the Turtles, Chicago, the Moody Blues, Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, Mary Wells, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Neil Sedaka, Laura Nyro, Mitch Ryder, Carole King (as a performer), Cyndi Lauper, Bon Jovi, Sting (as a solo artist), and dozens more.
Last year I reported that Wenner, desperate to get more stars into the Hall, suggested the group cut the eligibility time down from 25 to 20 or 15 years. The idea was met with derision.
Google’s Eric Schmidt Sets Up $100K Japan Matching Fund
Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy have set up an enormously generous plan to help the people of Japan: a $100,000 matching fund for the relief effort after the devastating earthquakes and tsunami. They’re also asking people everywhere to send out this tweet: Help #Japan recover. Retweet this to give $10 today. @EricSchmidt will match first $100K. RT2Give $10. The money can be sent via CitizenEffect through this email address: http://rt2give.com/ You can also read all about CitizenEffect at http://www.citizeneffect.org/projects/japan-earthquake-relief-fund
Obviously, the $100,000 match is for corporate donors or well-heeled ones. But any size donation is welcome, and it all goes to the American Red Cross relief in Japan.
Spider Man to Shut Down for Four Weeks to Retool; New Opening June 14th
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” will shut down for four weeks, from April 19th to May 11, for retooling. Performances will resume on May 12th. A new opening night (maybe you never know…) is set for June 14th, two days after the Tony Awards. The show will not be eligible for the Tonys, which is too bad for Patrick Page, who plays the Green Goblin so well. Julie Taymor remains a mystery credit wise. A press release says she will not be with the show on a day to day basis. Right now performances will continue through April 17th. Will the show come back with the same cast? Who knows? I sure hope that Jennifer Damiano, TV Carpio, Patrick Page and Michael Mulheren all return. It could very well be that Reeve Carney leaves, but the answer, like so much of “Spider Man” remains hanging in the air.
Stiller and Meara Philosophy: “Life is a Rental”
So we shlepped out to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens last night for the only two people who could get us there: Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. The New Yorker’s Ben Greenman served as moderator as Jerry and Anne reminisced free form, and hilariously, about their long career(s). There were clips of their early appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and from Jerry’s classic “Seinfeld” shows as Frank Costanza, and from Anne’s numerous sitcom turns on “Rhoda” and “Archie Bunker’s Place.” I used to love Jerry and Anne’s radio commercials for Blue Nun when I was in high school. They are abnormally funny and still play off each other like a well rehearsed symphony of jokes.
Meara–whom Ed Sullivan mispronounced “Mara”– always throws in philosophical, funny observations. Realizing many of the people they were mentioning–like Rodney Dangerfield and Henry Morgan–were long gone, Meara said, “Life is a rental.” So true. Why didn’t they correct Sullivan on the pronunciation? “We were scared to death of him. He was like someone sent from the Vatican,” Jerry said. The show was only supposed be to an hour, ran at least ten minutes longer, and could have gone on all night. Most of it was about their tough tour circa 1963 of small cities after early success in Greenwich Village nightclubs. “We bombed everywhere, every night,” Jerry said, remembering how they dragged their kids, Ben and Amy, around the country.
“Cleveland,” Anne said. “Stay out. St. Louis, it was very hip then. It was the first time I heard someone say they were going back to their ‘pad.’ I thought it was a feminine thing.”
“F—!” WTF? The F Word Comes Into the Mainstream
It didn’t start with Melissa Leo on the Oscars. But when she dropped the F bomb during her acceptance speech two weeks ago, everyone sat up and paid attention. But frankly, the F word has made a big leap into the mainstream recently. Cee Lo Green has had a big hit with “F— You.” Then Gywneth Paltrow jumped in and the song had to be cleaned up to the soccer mom-ish “Forget You.” But the Cee Lo version is the one everyone wants whether or not radio plays it. Lily Allen has her song called “F— You,” not to be left out. I do think all of them got the idea from Aimee Mann who warbled “You f—ed it up” in one of her early songs.
Then we have Enrique Iglesias, eking out yet another nasal, tonally indifferent song with “Tonight I’m F–ing You.” Hate it, but it’s catchy as hell and not nearly as good when it’s “Tonight I’m Loving You.” F that! Soon comes a Broadway play, believe it or not, called “The Motherf–cker in the Hat.” The New York Times just puts an underscore in place of the offending word. And there’s more: Green Day‘s new live CD is called “Awesome as — ” you know what.
It’s nothing new, really. One of Harry Nilsson‘s best songs, from the early 70s, was called “You’re Breaking My Heart (So F– You).” Rappers and hiphoppers have long used the F word and lots worse in their material. Of course, most of us don’t hear that stuff, so we have no idea how bad it’s gotten on CDs with the “explicit language” labels. This is different. Now the F word is out in the open. Of course, newspapers and magazines and legit websites won’t print it. Gawker doesn’t mind; they’ve been obsessed with something called a “f—saw” for weeks. I’m pretty sure it’s just so they can use the word; it builds traffic, no doubt.
Is this turn of events a good thing? George Carlin must be smiling. Wikipedia has a fairly good entry on the word, and I’m sure the OED does, too. But it’s coarse, and vulgar. It’s meant to shock, although by this time how shocking can it be? Using ‘f–” is, I guess, the last taboo since thanks to talk shows and South Park there’s nothing left really. (Bestiality? Incest? Necrophilia? Old hat.) Shocking? For Melissa Leo, it was an exultation. For the so-called songwriters, and maybe even the playwright, maybe a little lazy with a language that has so much more to offer. Better to keep it to the web standard: WTF?
LAPD Search for Firearms–Charlie Sheen Tweets: “All Reports Are False”
UPDATE: Charlie Sheen tweets: “the LAPD were AWESOME. Absolute pros! they can protect and serve this Warlock anytime!!! c” Earlier Thursday evening: Reports from various news sources in Los Angeles say that Charlie Sheen’s house has been raided by the LAPD. The police department says they’re looking for firearms. They may be looking for unlicensed weapons. Sheen’s Tweet master Bob Maron has sent out a message: “all good here on homefront. all reports false. I’ll explain more very soon.” This may have to do with custody. Earlier today Sheen struck a custody deal with ex wife Brooke Mueller over their kids. Meanwhile, in other Sheen news: he announced one man shows in Chicago and Detroit. He also patted himself on the back for his last UStream broadcast. More to come…Just another night in Hollywood!
Charlie Sheen’s Lawsuit May Be on Tiger Juice, Too
Charlie Sheen has filed suit against the trolls– Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre, creator of “Two and A Half Men.” Hollywood legal pitbull Marty Singer wrote the suit, which contains prose so purple that Prince would blush reading it. Basically, Singer has pinned the blame for the entire mess on Lorre, claiming that Sheen was the whole show, that everyone profited because of Sheen, and now that Lorre doesn’t like him, he’s chucking him out. (Pun intended.)
Singer–based on Sheen’s ranting– is so myopic that he really thinks no one else contributed to the TV show’s success. It’s all Charlie. But Singer’s arguments don’t stand up to the naked eye. For one thing, Sheen’s “rehab”–which Warner Bros. requested–consisted of Sheen at home, ditching professional advice. He himself has said on several occasions that he “blinked” and cured himself. Will that stand up in court? This is all hyperbolic legal mush.
Singer — and Sheen– like to point out that Lorre had trouble with stars before Sheen: Roseanne Barr, Cybill Shepherd, and Brett Butler. True enough. The first and the last were difficult and chemical problems. Shepherd was tough on everyone, including co-star Christine Baranski, who got along fine with Lorre. Indeed. Lorre had no issues with John Goodman and Laurie Metcalfe on “Roseanne” or Baranski and Alan Rosenberg on “Cybill.” There are no reports of problems on “The Big Bang Theory” or “Mike and Molly.” And so far, after 8 seasons, Lorre’s had no issues with Jon Cryer.
Sheen, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to get it. He wasn’t suspended or fired until he started attacking his bosses–nationally, vocally, constantly. They extended his contract before that happened. Right or wrong, they looked the other way through his arrests, divorces, custody battles. They even supported him. But when he turned on them. they retaliated. Losing!
What Sheen doesn’t get: a new actor on “Men” will not be named Charlie. It’s easy enough to have Jon Cryer open the door to a new player and say, “Charlie has been taken captive by a bunch of goddesses in Alaska. We’ll miss him.” End of story. Introduce new guy–missing brother, cousin, friend. And move on.
“American Idiot” Broadway Run Ending with Green Day Leader 3 Week Run
“American Idiot” is closing on Broadway after one year of performances on April 24th. To commemorate the end, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong is coming back for the last three weeks. This was such a cool, fun show, I’m sorry to see it leave. But “American Idiot” has been on life support for some time. The only weeks when it does business now is when Armstrong is in the cast. Who could have guessed that Armstrong, a late generation “punk” rocker, would turn out to be a Broadway star? Or that this album would have made for such a good stage show? Interestingly. Green Day is getting ready for a new live CD on March 14th called “Awesome as F–.” The CD is one Warner/Reprise, but the LP– vinyl– comes from their own Adeline Records label. It’s no wonder Warner Music Group is for sale.