Two new videos have gone up from “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark.” Here are the links. While they are promotional, they’re still pretty interesting. Previews begin this Sunday, November 28th at 6:30pm. It’s not opening night, but expect everyone who’s anyone to be there.
Paul Simon: Download New Free Christmas Single Here
Paul Simon– I told you last May that he was ready with a new album that would be great, that he was so excited about.
Now you can download for free, for the next four days, a new single called “Getting Ready for Christmas Day.” Just go to www.paulsimon.com and fill in your email address. You will receive a link instantly–and the song is terrific.
“Getting Ready for Christmas Day” is Paul Simon multimedia–he mixes his own music with a sampled 1941 track from Rev. J.M. Gates, preacher and gospel artist.
Paul Simon, archivist, is never less than fascinating: think of “Graceland” or “Loves Me Like a Rock.” No one is better at mashing up bits and pieces of older music, like found art, with his own new material.
Thanks for the gift, Paul. Look forward to the new album in the spring.
PS The Hear Music/Concord Records logo is now on Simon’s site. I guess that’s his way of saying the new album will be coming from them, and not Sony. It’s all good.
Leo vs. Leo: Two Studios in Oscar Dogfight for DiCaprio
Was Leonardo DiCaprio a Best Actor nominee in Martin Scorsese‘s “Shutter Island”?
Or was he a Best Actor nominee in Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”?
It’s an enviable position, and one in which DiCaprio has been before. He was nominated for “Blood Diamond” the same year he was great in Scorsese’s “The Departed.” But the former film won the campaign and the nomination.
Four years later, it looks like Scorsese will get the upper hand. There’s a big promo blitz for Leo in “Shutter Island.” Paramount has just bulked mailed a huge color brochure delineating DiCaprio’s movie career, culminating in “Shutter.” It’s war.
Which is a better film? Well, it depends on whom you ask. If anyone knew what actually happened in “Inception,” it would help. “Shutter Island”–while still a twisty mystery–does actually have a more solid premise.
Also interesting is the way the studios play it. Last time, with both “The Departed” and “Blood Diamond,” Leo was with Warner Bros. “Inception” is Warner’s. “Shutter” belongs to Paramount. But it does seem that Scorsese will be the trump card here. And “Shutter” screeners are already out. I just watched mine, and it plays great on big flat screen TV. It’s a terrific film. Of course, the “Inception” DVD should be pretty popular, as everyone tries to figure out the film.
DiCaprio is oft-nominated, but has never won an Oscar. He came close with “The Aviator.” Even with two films, he’s still running fourth or fifth back in a pack that includes Colin Firth, James Franco, Robert Duvall, and Mark Wahlberg.
David Duchovny Opens Off Broadway, Gets Surprise Visit from “X Files” Co-Star
David Duchovny got a big surprise tonight. For his opening off Broadway in Neil LaBute‘s “The Break of Noon,” former “X Files” costar Gillian Anderson flew in from England. She’d told him she’d come, but Duchovny looked shocked when he actually saw her. Talk about support!
Major points to Duchovny, famous for his TV and film work. He made his stage debut at the Lucille Lortel Theater– battling a cold. When the lights went up on Duchovny as a man who’s survived a deadly shoot out in his office, he is totally alone. He’s never done a play before anywhere, he told me later. Maybe in grade school.
The theater is small; you could tell had a bad cold. But in front of his wife, Tea Leoni, her parents, aunt and uncle, plus Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, Jessica Hecht, Eric Bogosian and an array of New York’s theaterati, Duchovny acquitted himself nicely. Even if he had to wipe his nose a few times during La Bute’s opening monologue.
Duchovny co-stars with Amanda Peet, and New York theater vets Tracee Chimo, and John Earl Jelks— all of whom make an excellent ensemble as the story of John Smith’s survival–a coworker has killed 37 people but spared him–unravels. In the process, Smith has a religious conversion, and LaBute walks carefully as he sends up but doesn’t mock John’s new found Christianity.
At one point, Amanda Peet’s character–playing John’s ex wife–demands from him, “I want the truth.” It sounded like a line from the “X Files.” Anderson told me she got a good laugh when she heard it.
Duchovny told me later he’s no longer terrified when he steps on the stage. Still, it takes a lot of courage to do what he’s challenged himself with. Luckily, it goes very well. The short run ends December 22nd, when the rest of the cast heads to L.A. What about Duchovny? “I’m staying here,” he said. “I have a family.”
Tea Leoni, standing just to his side, nodded happily in agreement.
American Music Awards: The Usual Embarrassment, Save for Bon Jovi and Santana
Yes, I do feel like an old curmudgeon now.
Watching the “American Music Awards” — granted using DVR and going back and forth, not in real time by any means– was torture. No one’s ever respected this hoary broadcast, but this year it seemed more cynical and calculated than usual.
Luckily, for the audience, too, Bon Jovi awakened the crowd at the Nokia Theater from their group coma. The group seemed like the first to sing live, without corps of dancers, fireworks, and other paraphernalia to mask their insufficiencies. Once Bon Jovi worked its way through its new single, you could see the audience actually leap up and start dancing to “You Give Love A Bad Name” (corrected–sorry!) and “It’s My Life.” It was like a jolt of plasma.
What the Nokia crowd–and people at home–had to endure was just a parade of such severe, manipulative phoniness you wonder why anyone does care about the music business. Of course, the height of all this now is Justin Bieber, the 16 year old vertically challenged kewpie doll who may have Duracell batteries planted in his back. Was it a wonder he won everything? His “team” was stationed in the front row to welcome him with hugs and high fives for every statue. He thanked Michael Jackson. Yikes.
Bieber, by the way, did one number seated in front a grand piano he pretended to play. The camera never did get around to the keys. And when he suddenly jumped up, the piano continued uninterrupted. Brilliant!
But you know, that’s the AMAs. Like the People’s Choice Awards, they just soldier on year after year. Does anyone wonder who chooses these “nominees”? And why the winners are the only ones who show up? That is, except for “Best Artist.” (Ahem.) Katy Perry looked suitably horrified when Bieber beat her even for that award. Her new husband, comic actor Russell Brand, had a most bemused expression. Eminem and Lady GaGa didn’t show. Kesha was probably happy just to be there.
Just before the end of the show, when the audience had likely wilted, Carlos Santana showed up with Gavin Rossdale. They peeled the paint off the walls on “Bang a Gong (Get it On).” For the second time in the excruciating three hours, life bloomed. But if the record companies are wondering where all the sales went, the AMAs were the proof they’ve needed.
And yes, the Beatles’ albums now take up half the top 20 on ITunes.
By the way: in keeping with tradition, none of last night’s performers are likely to be featured on the real awards show for music, the Grammys. That’s the unwritten law of the land.
John Lennon PBS Film: Here’s the Real Story
Monday night, finally, the screening of “LennonNYC” on PBS. This is the John Lennon film by Michael Epstein film you’ve heard so much about. Only one thing: as a document about Lennon’s life in New York and the US from 1970-1980, the film does much to erase May Pang’s role in his life. She was Lennon’s lover and confidante. These days, she’s a popular and beloved figure on the New York music scene.
Beatle fans will always debate certain arguments: Paul vs. John, Yoko vs. the Beatles. Let’s face it, despite being a talented avant garde artist and an interesting musical artist, Ono is hated by Beatles fans. She’s blamed for breaking up the Beatles and looking all the while like a dark figure from hell. In the film “Let it Be” she looks like death hovering over the group.
As a widow, Ono has done all she can to rewrite her history with Lennon. Even if Epstein (and isn’t it weird that his name is Epstein–the Beatles’ manager was Brian Epstein) didn’t give Ono official editorial control, she’s as in charge of “LennonNYC” as she was of the awful John musical that died on Broadway a few seasons ago.
The worst omission in “LennonNYC” is that of May Pang. Yes, she’s interviewed, but there’s no mention that she was Lennon’s lover. Cynthia Lennon wrote in her own memoir a couple of years ago that John continued to see May even after he went back to Yoko in late 1974 and through the time baby Sean was born (October 1975) for two more years. “The last time we saw each other was in ”78-79,” May told me. And they saw each other again in 1980 before Lennon died. They were always in touch with each other.
It’s really wild, actually, that Epstein is comfortable letting all this slide by–as if it never happened. He’s allowed Ono to minimize Pang and make it seem like she was a fun companion or something. This is completely idiotic.
Lennon’s biggest solo hit during the early 1970s was his “Walls and Bridges” album. It’s May Pang‘s voice singing backup on “#9 Dream.” It was Pang who encouraged Lennon’s friendships with Elton John and his possible reunion with Paul McCartney. All of that’s omitted from this film. What a shame. But Pang has chronicled her time with Lennon in a 1983 memoir that she’ll update soon, and a book of photographs that really tells the story of that period. They’re each available on amazon.com.
As for the rest of “LennonNYC”: there’s some great home video and pictures, courtesy of Ono. The material with Sean in the last year of Lennon’s life is terribly moving. The film’s lump in the throat is John telling Sean “See you in the morning.” All of the inner circle provides elucidation, including Bob Gruen, Roy Cicala, Earl Slick, and Jack Douglas.
But a lot of “LennonNYC” is suspect biography. Too bad. After 40 years, you’d think we could have gotten the real story at last.
(See more below about Lennon’s 1974 Thanksgiving show with Elton John.)
Flashback: May Pang Recalls John Lennon’s Famous 1974 Thanksgiving Show with Elton John
After all these years I asked May Pang about John Lennon‘s surprise visit to Elton John‘s 1974 Thanksgiving show at Madison Square Garden. The date was November 28, 1974. I remember it well since I went to the show the next night. You see, I was 17, and it was Thanksgiving. We knew there was no way the parents would let us go that night. All day Friday there was press from the night before. Alas, no Lennon on Friday. The magic was gone.
May recalls that Elton had taken the S.S. France from England to New York. Cynthia Lennon and Julian were also on the boat. Elton came and recorded the piano parts on John’s song, “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.” They made a deal that if the single hit #1, John would have to come and perform at an Elton John show.
When the record hit #1 right away, Elton called. “He said, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but we agreed,” Pang recalls. “So we went up to Boston with Elton and watched his show from backstage. Just to see how it worked.”
Then the plan was to choose songs for the New York show. “John said, Let’s do I Saw Her Standing There,’ May says. “He said, It’s Paul [McCartney]‘s song, but it’s ok.’ They did that, Whatever Gets You Thru the Night, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.’
Prior to the show, May recalls, everyone went to Thanksgiving dinner at Linda Stein’s house. There was an after party at the Pierre Hotel. And why was Yoko there? “Yoko called us every day. One day I said to her, John is going to play with Elton John at the Garden. We invited her.”
John, May says, made sure she– Pang–was on stage and in sight when he went on with Elton John. “He said he’d be alright if he could see me dancing.”
“The Fighter” vs. “The Town”: Will 2010 Oscars Take Two Boston Films?
Ever since “Good Will Hunting,” Hollywood loves a Boston accent.
The sharper the accent, the fewer hard r’s, the better for everyone.
It was just a few seasons ago that Martin Scorsese‘s “The Departed”– or “The Dep-ah-ted”–won the award for Best Picture.
We’ve also also had Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River” and Ben Affleck’s “Gone Baby Gone” starring brother Casey.
Earlier this fall, Affleck returned with “The Town.” It’s a great film that did surprisingly well at the box office. Affleck, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner were all good. Blake Lively was a pleasant surprise.
But can the Oscars take two Boston movies in one season? Soon to come is David O. Russell‘s “The Fighter.” Unlike Affleck, Russell is not from the Boston area. You could say Affleck has him a leg up on hometown sympathy.
But Russell has Mark Wahlberg, the flip side of the Afflecks (Ben and Casey) and Matt Damon. His gang didn’t go to Harvard. As Wahlberg says whenever gets the chance, nearly everyone he went to school with is either dead or in jail. He’s not kidding.
“The Fighter” is also based on a real person, local boxer Micky Ward, and his eccentric family. Eccentric really helps here, too, because the two supporting performances are the kind spectacular showings that Oscar voters will love. Melissa Leo, so good in “Frozen River” a couple of years ago, is outstanding as Micky’s ambitious mom. And Christian Bale, who should write a book about gaining and losing weight on a whim, wears Micky’s brother, Dickie, tighter than his Batman suit. This is nothing to say of top notch work by Amy Adams and Wahlberg himself.
If there’s room for only Boston flick on this year’s Oscar card, I’m going to bet it’s for “The Fighter.” That’s going to sting for Affleck–after all, it’s his town. But fighting and the Oscars are similar in that they’re both about luck and timing.
PS Now just watch the Boston Film Critics give their award to “The King’s Speech” or “The Social Network.” Hah! Won’t that be a freakin’ laugh?
Sheryl Crow to Kids in Audience: “Is Your Dad Single?”
Sheryl Crow put on a live show Thursday night for the venerable Samuel Waxman Cancer Research charity. This is a big annual event that brings in deep pockets from Wall Street. By the looks of things, the group took in between $3 and $4 million during the evening. Not bad.
But it was Crow’s performance that everyone waited around for, and she didn’t disappoint. The cancer survivor brought her whole band, with back up singers, and keyboardist, and played for nearly an hour. (Not for free, either.)
Most of the set was cover songs, which seemed to put her in a good mood. Her own “You’re My Favorite Mistake” rocked harder than expected. It was only toward the end of the non-encore show that she tossed in more recognizable hits like “If It Makes You Happy” and “All I Wanna Do (Is Have Some Fun).”
(Some said she was already back in one of her two Manhattan apartments before the backup singers were in their dressing rooms.
During an early number though, Crow found some kids at the foot of the heavily guarded (ridiculously so for a private event) stage. She leaned down and said to one kid, “How old are you? I’ll be a cougar. I’m 48.” She then joked, “Is your dad single?”
Note to Sheryl: if you’re really shopping for dates while on the road, brush up that road crew and security you’ve got. They’re no way to meet people.
Keith Urban’s Dedication to Nicole Kidman: “I Continue to Be Brought to My Knees”
Keith Urban has a new album out, the excellent–if too short–“Get Closer.”
And he dedicates it, of course, to his wife, Nicole Kidman.
Keith writes:
“Nicole Mary–i continue to be brought to my knees by this love of ours…I am in awe of how this blessed family we are creating stretches and fearlessly opens my vulnerable heart…and I just want to be a better man, for you, and father for our heavenly Sunday Rose, and have you go to sleep every night knowing that no one has ever, or will ever, love you as much I do…and all we need is faith…”
Urban has always been pitched as a country singer. Of course he and his blessed family are based in Nashville. But after listening to “Get Closer,” I’d say he’s really more in the vein of the Eagles or Southern California country. On “Get Closer” he reminds me more of Dan Fogelberg than Johnny Cash. The songs are tremendously catchy country rock. My only concern is there are only eight of them. Four more would have been perfect. But we’ll have to take what we can get.
On the other hand, “Get Closer” has no filler. Urban doesn’t write all the songs, which is nice; a few of them are from Nashville songwriters (which must make the local publishers very happy). He wrote “Long Hot Summer” with Richard Marx, and a few others with his partner, Darrell Brown. I also really liked a non-Urban number called “Without You,” which could cross over to pop radio. (Think out of the box, guys.) All the songs are full of characters and conversation, just like a movie (hey Nicole). Well done.