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Phil Spector’s in Jail, But His Stars Still Own Christmas (With Video Gift for You)

Roger Friedman
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Phil Spector’s in Jail, But His Stars Still Own Christmas (With Video Gift for You)

Phil Spector may be in jail, but that hasn’t stopped his two most famous stars–Ronnie Spector and Darlene Love–from carrying on their Christmas traditions of performing at B.B. King’s. The only difference now is that Ronnie and Darlene–who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this March–are now paid for their work.  Here’s Jim Bessman’s report from last weekend. Put on or download Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” the 1963 classic, and enjoy!

Friday night brought “Ronnie Spector’s Best Christmas Ever” and found The Ronettes’ lead singer in better voice than ever. Backed by a six-piece band (two keyboards, sax, bass, guitar and drums) and top female backup vocalists in Elaine Caswell and Jenni Muldaur, Spector approximated her ex-husband’s Wall of Sound productions on The Ronettes’ hit catalog, which as she showed at B.B.’s, is much bigger than the two best-known 1963 entries “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You.”

“(The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up,” “Do I Love You?,” “Walking In The Rain,” “I Can Hear Music” and “Paradise”–all Ronettes’ hits–were perfectly rendered, same with “Is This What I Get For Loving You?,” which was memorably covered by David Johansen. Spector’s appeal to the punk rock generation was also manifest in her cover of Johansen‘s fellow New York Doll Johnny Thunders‘ “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory” and Joey Ramone‘s “She Talks To Rainbows”–both recorded on her 1999 EP “She Talks To Rainbows,” which Ramone and her guitarist Daniel Rey co-produced.

Other covers saluted her acknowledged inspiration Frankie Lymon and Ronettes-influenced Amy Winehouse, and her friend John Lennon, whose “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” fit perfectly with the night’s Christmas theme. To that end, Spector also sang all her “Christmas Album” classics–“Sleigh Ride,” “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Frosty The Snowman”–a lit-up Frosty the Snowman prop smiling away throughout the show. She also let loose on “My Christmas Wish” from her new Christmas EP “Ronnie Spector’s Best Christmas Ever.” The new song featured her trademark “whoa-whoa”‘s, and she gave her low-cut top a little Christmas jiggle in perpetuating the teen male fantasies of the well-past-their-teens males in the SRO crowd.

While Ronnie Spector was embraced by the punks, Darlene Love has enjoyed more mainstream support from the likes of Phil Spector-influenced Bruce Springsteen, whose guitarist Little Steven van ZAndt introduced “Darlene Love’s Christmas Show” on Sunday night.

Rattling off her Spector-produced hits “Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home,” “(Today I  Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” “A Fine, Fine Boy” and “He’s A Rebel,” he alluded to her songs on Spector’s “Christmas Album” in declaring “It’s official–Christmas is here,” then hailed Love’s forthcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after proclaiming her the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singer ever, male or female.

Love lived up to the intro. Like Ronnie Spector, she was backed by a Wall of Sound-worthy band of two keyboards, sax, drums, percussion, two guitars, bass, and three top New York backup singers in Ula Hedwig, who’s sung with Love since Love moved to New York in 1981; jazz recording artist Catherine Russell, and Clayton Bryant, a regular at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar open mic nights, who also backs them in concert. Still on a high from last week’s induction announcement, Love began by returning to her roots with the gospel classic “Please Be Patient With Me,” then delivered the first of her Spector “Christmas Album” songs in “Marshmallow World”; she would also reprise her performances of the album’s “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and of course, its only original song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

She sang all the Little Steven-mentioned hits, too, as well as his “All Alone on Christmas,” which she performed on the “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” soundtrack. But she also thrilled with another wailing gospel-tinged tune in “I Know Where I’ve Been,” the inspirational showstopper she performed on Broadway in “Hairspray,” and Sam Cooke‘s anthemic “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which she did after noting the similarities in her and Cooke’s background. The full house was on its feet when she closed with “River Deep, Mountain High” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which, incidentally, she taped  for her annual spot on David Letterman‘s Christmas Eve show.

The only thing missing was The Crystals’ La La Brooks, the third female vocal star of Spector’s “Christmas Album,” who could have played Saturday night had she not already played B.B.’s in October–when Phil’s daughter Nicole came out to sing backup on The Crystals’ “Da Do Ron Ron.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXVcrWO5FCg

Amy Winehouse: Father Announces His Own New Year’s Eve Concert

Roger Friedman
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Amy Winehouse: Father Announces His Own New Year’s Eve Concert

Mitch Winehouse, father of disaster in progress Amy Winehouse, is set to perform his own New Year’s Eve concert in London.

Since Amy can’t-doesn’t-record or perform, someone’s got to do it.

Mitch apparently has released an album called “Rush of Love.” He’s going to sing the songs from it at Le Pigalle in Picadilly on December 31st. The show, including dinner and Champagne, is a reasonable 95 British pounds, or about $150.

Does Mitch know he’s cashing in on daughter Amy’s so called success? He does. Here are excerpts from his press announcement:

“No one is more aware than Mitch Winehouse of the accusation soon to be leveled at him.

“Well of course I wouldn’t be in this position without Amy,” he laughs indulgently, as if anyone could think differently or even see that fact as a negative, “but now the opportunity is there, why not take it? Who wouldn’t want to make an album?”

For Mitch Winehouse to cut a record called Rush of Love at the age of 60 is an unlikely twist of fate, especially one with a song selection revealing a real depth of knowledge and impeccable taste.

But It comes from a perfectly natural place and reveals the roots of his own, as well as his daughter’s musical inspiration.  This is no album of the usual Rat Pack standards – it is jazz, swing, crooning, if you like, but not pop.
Mitch has been a businessman, salesman and latterly a London cabbie. Until his daughter began persuading him to record 6 years ago, ‘singer’ was not a career move.

But while the kids listen to his daughter, Winehouse senior is taking them further back to the roots.

“Everyone likes this music, young and old,” he says, “but there is so much more that no one’s ever heard. I was looking up lyrics on the internet and came across Sinatra performances. The comments from young people underneath are all saying things like ‘this is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard, I didn’t know Sinatra could sing like this’. They only hear My Way these days.”

“Suddenly, I just want to perform,” he concludes, a little surprised at himself, “I want the chance.”

http://www.youtube.com/mitchwinehouse

PS Remember Amy? What a career! Her second album, the Grammy winning “Back to Black,” was released on October 30, 2006. Since then it’s been lots of real “Rehab,” tattoos, arrests, scandals, and bad hair days. A follow up album? Well, this is it.

Ten Best Films of 2010, and More: “King’s Speech” Is Best

Roger Friedman
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Ten Best Films of 2010, and More: “King’s Speech” Is Best

The top 10 films of 2010:

1. The King’s Speech 2. The Fighter 3. The Social Network 4. 127 Hours 5. Toy Story 3

6. Black Swan 7. Solitary Man

8. The Town 9. Inception 10. Rabbit Hole

plus 11. Blue Valentine 12. Please Give 13. Shutter Island 14. The Kids Are All Right 15. The Tillman Story

16. True Grit 17. Tamara Drewe 18. The Ghost Writer 19. The Kings of Pastry 20. Waiting for “Superman”

“127 Hours” Still Alive, Kicking: Studio Stands Fast

Roger Friedman
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“127 Hours” Still Alive, Kicking: Studio Stands Fast

Danny Boyle‘s extraordinary film, “127 Hours,” isn’t being forgotten or forsaken by Fox Searchlight.

The studio assures me that despite cutbacks in the number of theatres currently showing the film, “127” will get a second life beginning in January around the time of the Oscar nominations.

To that end, Fox Searchlight tells me they’ve started a new marketing campaign called “I Kept My Eyes Open for 127 Hours.” They’re featuring T shirts with the slogan and doing everything they can to lighten up the idea that the movie is grim. It’s not.

www.ikeptmyeyesopenfor127hours.com/

Also here’s a new commercial for the film, which I’ve put on my top 10 list for 2010.

http://fslav.wiredrive.com/presentation/projects/detail/720816/914379/8169664/?presentation=1d5a9ecc05dd2a5ca35d3852d7cd2efd

Let’s rally around “127 Hours.” If you’re serious about film, go check out this one, “Blue Valentine,” and “Rabbit Hole” during the holiday break!

Enrique Iglesias Samples Shirley Temple Classic In X Rated New Song

Roger Friedman
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Enrique Iglesias Samples Shirley Temple Classic In X Rated New Song

Enrique Iglesias is kind of at the low end of what’s left of the music business. A Ken doll following in the footsteps of his onerous father, Enrique has often invited skepticism about whether he’s actually singing at all. (Remember the Howard Stern incident?)

In the latest episode of his weird career, Enrique has just released a new record called “Tonight (I’m  F—ing You).” That’s right. Taking Cee Lo Green even further, the teen pop idol has just gone for it. Since he has the insights of a gnat on all his other records, there’s not much left for Iglesias to sing about. So he sings the “F word” away, as if it were just another bouncy tune in his repertoire of nonsense.

But get this: jammed into the new video for “Tonight (I’m F—in’ You)” is a sample of Shirley Temple‘s classic record, “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” I’m sure Enrique has no idea who she is, but Shirley Temple Black is a former US Ambassador and US Chief Protocol officer. She was also the most famous child star of all time. I’m sure neither she nor the estates of the composers of that song would be thrilled to know what they’ve been tossed into.

In the video, the scene cuts from Enrique singing this coarse, low class (class tells, doesn’t it?) love song to rapper Ludacris sitting in a limo. The driver has just changed the radio station from “Tonight” to “Good Ship.” Ludacris tells him change it back. Ha ha!

Sidney Clare and Richard A. Whiting wrote “Good Ship.” Whiting died young, but his daughter, Margaret Whiting, now 86, went on to become a famous singer. Clare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary for inventing the term “rock and roll.” They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

I don’t want to sound like Tipper Gore on a high moral horse here, but don’t record companies have some responsibility for good taste? It’s not like Iglesias is a rapper who’s defined by vulgarity. He’s a rich kid with questionable abilities who’s stooped low to make a buck. Yuck.

http://www.twitvid.com/3EAG6

Happy Birthday, Jane Fonda–73 and Getting Younger

Roger Friedman
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Happy Birthday, Jane Fonda–73 and Getting Younger

I’ve just been watching Jane Fonda‘s clips from her December 2nd appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She’s amazing. Watch them on www.janefonda.com

Yesterday, Jane turned a very young 73. It’s hard to imagine that I met her when she was 44. She’s changed, of course, but only for the better. Yes, she’s made mistakes, and talked about them openly. She’s always been daring and passionate in her politics, and her outlook on life.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,768,00.html?r_src=ramp

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,772,00.html (third story down)

She’s just finished writing a book on aging. And this month she’s released a slew of new DVDs for working out–for baby boomers, senior citizens, and next, for young people with new, young instructors.

In the 1970s and early 80s, Fonda — who is Hollywood royalty – was also the greatest American actress. She won two Oscars–for “Klute” and for “Coming Home.” I do think she was cheated on “Julia.” Her other landmarks films of that time include “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” “Electric Horseman,” “The China Syndrome,” “On Golden Pond,” “Comes a Horseman,” “Nine to Five.” With so much interest in Jeff Bridges right now, check out the 1986 Sidney Lumet film, “The Morning After.” The movie didn’t quite work, but it produced Jane’s 7th Oscar nomination.

Now Jane is “shacked up” (as she says) with multi Grammy winning producer Richard Perry, the man who’s responsible for monster hits like Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” Harry Nilsson’s “Without You.” Ringo Starr’s “Photograph,” the Pointer Sisters’ “Jump,” and even Rod Stewart’s latest standards CD. She’s kept Ted Turner as a friend, has raised a successful family, and never stops allowing her intellectual curiosity to grow.

Happy birthday, Jane!

PS Check out Jane’s important foundation, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention at  http://www.gcapp.org/

Michael Jackson’s New Album Finishes at Number 3 in US, But It’s an International Hit

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson’s New Album Finishes at Number 3 in US, But It’s an International Hit

Michael Jackson‘s “Michael” album enters the charts at number 3 this week, right behind Taylor Swift and Susan Boyle.

“Michael” sold 224,000 copies, about 25,000 less than the two women.

On the other hand, “Michael” was the highest debut album of the week according to hitsdailydouble.com. It outsold new CDs by R. Kelly and P Diddy by more than 100,000 copies. Around the world, however, Sony says it’s an international hit. (See further below.)

However, Jackson’s last album, “Invincible,” sold 363,000 copies in its first week, back on October 30, 2001.

Given the modest amount of money that went into marketing “Michael” and the huge sums wasted on P Diddy, you could say “Michael” is even a bigger hit.

What it lacks, though, is a break out hit. And the album still has not overcome the stigma of Jackson’s vocals possibly not being his–and they are.

Sony sort of screwed this up from the beginning. The version of “Breaking News” that was put on the website for streaming in November didn’t sound like Michael Jackson. It was in fact the wrong mix. This led the rabid Jackson fans to scream that they were being fooled.

It’s too bad: “Breaking News” is a great single. On the album, it’s clearly Michael Jackson singing all the way through the lead. Jackson fans are denying themselves a real treat if they think otherwise.

The real first single, “Hold My Hand,” with Akon, has not been a crowd pleaser.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I do think Sony rushed the release. They had no marketing campaign, no focus, and a lot of negativity to overcome. If they’d waited til spring, some more thought could have gone into how to launch this CD.

“Michael” has plenty of potential singles. “Monster,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Another Day” are all great. But Sony’s going to have to implement some out of the box thinking to make them happen.

Around the world, “Michael” is a different story. Here’s a press release from Sony:

# MICHAEL shipped Platinum in 14 territories including the United States, UK, Germany, France (2x), Italy (3x), Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belgium, Czech Republic (4x), Canada, Korea and the Middle East.
# The album debuted at #1 in Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden.
# And on top of the # 1 album chart entry in Germany, sales of MICHAEL broke the country’s 2010’s first-week record with over 85,000 units sold.
# Opening week sales of more than 113,000 in the U.K. scored the biggest opening week for a new Michael Jackson studio album since ‘Dangerous’ nearly 20 years ago.
# In Japan, the album is the fourth Michael Jackson album to ever debut in the top 3, joining Bad, Thriller and last year’s “This Is It” companion album.
# The album is in the top five in Belgium (#2), US (#3), Japan (#3), the UK (#4), France (#4), Denmark (#4). In the US, the album shipped platinum and debuted at #3 of the Billboard Album chart with just under 230,000 copies sold.
# The album went Gold in 17 territories on arrival in Japan, China, Australia, Ireland, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, India, Philippines and Taiwan.

“Spider Man” Is A ‘Go’ For Tonight: Union, OSHA Approve

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man” Is A ‘Go’ For Tonight: Union, OSHA Approve

“Spider Man” is on again.

The Broadway show will skip just one performance and resume tonight.

Both Actors Equity and OSHA have cleared the show. Monday night’s accident was attributed to human error.

The show will go on, and good vibes and get well wishes are sent to actor Christopher Tierney.

Now if only local bloggers would calm down. Today someone over at Gawker really over reacted. The blog read like a transcript from “Airplane.”

“Spider Man” will open February 7, 2011 despite the naysayers.

Here’s the statement issued by Actors Equity yesterday:

“Actors’ Equity worked today with the Department of Labor, OSHA and the production to determine that the cause of the accident at last night’s performance of Spider-Man was, in fact, human error. Further protocols are now being implemented, including redundancies recommended by Equity, the DOL and OSHA, to address this situation as well as other elements of the production. Equity continues to vigilantly monitor the production for the safety of its members.”

I think the union did a pretty swift job of responding to the accident and then getting the show in line with them. Considering the emotional state of some of the press, they probably thought they were walking into some gigantic mess. Far from it.

Is Fox Searchlight Bailing on “127 Hours”? Save This Film

Roger Friedman
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Is Fox Searchlight Bailing on “127 Hours”? Save This Film

Danny Boyle‘s “127 Hours” is one of the best movies of 2010, or any year.

UPDATE Studio says it will expand release in January and renew PR efforts with gusto.

From earlier;
But botched marketing and what seems to be fear on the part of the studio is about kill this movie. I’m surprised Fox Searchlight, which won the Oscar with Boyle for “Slumdog Millionaire,” doesn’t try to solve this problem. If they let “127” go, that means three of their four releases this fall–including “Conviction” and “Never Let Me Go”–each very good films–didn’t connect with audiences. Only “Black Swan” has proved a hit.

On Thursday last week, “127 Hours” was playing in over 400 theaters. By Friday, it was in just 307 locations. The highly praised film has taken in less than $10 million since its November opening.

Now, with Oscar heavyweights coming in, “127 Hours” looks doomed. Fox Searchlight, emboldened by the success of “Black Swan,” may be cutting its losses.

“127 Hours” has suffered from a bad rep from Day 1. There isn’t a person I’ve met who doesn’t say: “I’m too scared to see that movie. I don’t want to see someone cut off their arm.”

And yet, the so called arm cutting scene– performed in real life by Aron Ralston and on screen by James Franco— is minimally and artfully shown. It comes toward the end of an exhilarating and hopeful film. Plus, everyone knows that in real life, Ralston lived, thrived and is still a hiker and extreme mountaineer.

It’s going to be up to Academy voters to save “127 Hours” and include it as one of the ten Best Picture nominees next month.

Last month I wrote about this situation on the Huffington Post. Here’s the essay:

Have movie audiences suddenly become big wusses?
Lately, everyone I know is telling me they don’t want to see James Franco cut off his arm in “127 Hours.”
“Oh, I couldn’t watch that,” is the typical response from men and women alike.
It doesn’t matter to that the scene lasts less than two minutes, is handled skillfully, and that the rest of Danny Boyle’s extraordinary film is a rocking adventure. When I saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival, I thought younger audiences in particular would flock to it. Here’s a story of survival, extreme elements, man vs. nature. And the great thing is, the real life guy who had to cut the arm off not only survived, but is a media star.
But wait: back in 2001, Hannibal Lecter carved off the top of Ray Liotta’s head and ate his brains on screen with a soup spoon. Ridley Scott’s “Hannibal” made $58 million in its first weekend.
No one said a word except pass the popcorn.
There have been seven “Saw” Movies, in six years. One of them was in 3D. They’ve made a total of about $500 million.
In one of the films, a character called Kramer was given the name “The Jigsaw Killer” (or “Jigsaw”), according to Wikipedia, “because he removed a puzzle-piece-shaped chunk of flesh from those who did not escape his traps.”
Nice huh?
It would be a shame if audiences stayed away from “127 Hours.” For one thing, they’d be missing James Franco’s much hailed performance as Aron Ralston. Danny Boyle said to me recently, “You realize that we filmed most of it on a soundstage. James could have gotten up, gone to the bathroom, gotten a sandwich, if he wanted to.”
The amazing thing about Franco’s performance is that is he so invested in it, we never once think of Boyle’s advisory. Ralston’s situation is real for Franco, and real for the audience. He cannot move the boulder that is pinning his arm to the wall of the canyon. It’s a rare accomplishment. And all Franco/Ralston’s fantasies of flight give the situation all the more tension.
And those scenes—the fantasies, the early scenes with Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn, the memories of Ralston’s parents—do a lot to alleviate the claustrophobia of the canyon. “127 Hours” is not just a movie about confinement and amputation. It’s got plenty of light and humor. Boyle – director of “Slumdog Millionaire”—is an entertainer. He keeps “127 Hours” spinning with video embellishments designed to explain the character, move the plot, and keep the audience from squirming. It’s the coolest film of the Oscar season for those reasons alone.
But really, let’s man up, people: if you can tolerate “Hannibal” or “Saw” you can “127 Hours.”
As I like to say, most actors would cut off their right arms to work with Danny Boyle, and get those reviews. For god’s sake, let’s lighten up!

Spider Man Accident on Broadway: Actor Suffers Broken Ribs, Bleeding After 26 Foot Fall

Roger Friedman
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3
Spider Man Accident on Broadway: Actor Suffers Broken Ribs, Bleeding After 26 Foot Fall

“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” is going to need its own hospital wing at this point.

Last night, at the end of the show, Christopher Tierney, 31, a stunt double for star Reeve Carney, fell into the orchestra pit. The show’s main song is called, ironically, “Boy Falls from the Sky.”

Tierney is in Bellevue Hospital with broken ribs. He’s being watched, according to my source, because there was bleeding after he fell 26 feet.

When Tierney fell he was not flying. “This had nothing to do with aerial stuff,” says my source. “He was on the big ramp that rises 14 feet. We’re trying to figure out how he fell.” Tierney was harnessed and tethered. But it’s clear from a video that the tether snapped and Tierney free fell right off the ramp.

“Spider Man” usually doesn’t have a Monday night performance, but this week’s schedule was altered by the holidays. There was no performance set for tonight away. There are two tomorrow. And Tierney does have an understudy.

Right now, OSHA is at the Foxwoods Theater conducting an investigation.

Still, this latest mishap has shaken everyone in the company. Not only that: an audience member was illegally filming the entire show last night. Videos are popping up on the internet. An eight second clip can be found on the New York Times website. (On cnn.com you have sit through a 30 second commercial before seeing their interview with audience members.)

“We’re doing things in the dark here,” says a source, “and that makes it more difficult. The theater is a dangerous place.”

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