Saturday, December 20, 2025
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Elton John AIDS Dinner: Anderson Cooper Lunch Goes for $60K

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It looks like Dreamworks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg is going to have a lively lunch with Anderson Cooper.

Katzenberg spent $60,000 to dine with Cooper at Elton John’s annual AIDS Foundation dinner in New York.

Before the auction Cooper joked that the winner of the date wouldn’t get much “action” on a first date.

The crowd at Cipriani Wall Street–decked out in jewels and black tie–loved the joking around. They raised millions more for the charity. In the crowd were David Furnish, who puts the whole thing together and is quite amazing; Joanne Woodward; Tony Bennett; Hugh Jackman and wife Debra Lee Furness; Clive Davis; Nikki Haskell; “Gossip Girl” star Matthew Settle; Lorraine Bracco; Kevin Zegers; director Baz Luhrmann and costume designer wife Catherine Martin; Donna Karan; Bill and Tani Austin of the Starkey Hearing Foundation; and lots of well heeled fans who came to hear Elton put on a 45 minute solo acoustic set on piano with Leon Russell as a guest star.

And they got what they wanted: Elton dedicated “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” to the legendary Woodward, who he said he’d never met but always admired. The rest of the set was vintage Elton. He rocked the gigantic marble former bank with: “Sixty Years On” and “The Greatest Discovery” from his debut album–40th anniversary next month. “It feels like 40 minutes,” Elton said. And then: “Levon,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Philadelphia Freedom.” He played “When Love Is Dying,” an instant classic from the new album. All on piano, by himself, simply spectacular.

Then Sir Elton introduced Russell, calling him “my hero” and “my idol.” Russell sat down at the piano and played a little bit of “Amazing Grace,” and then a full version of the most celebrated song he’s written, “A Song For You.” Russell’s white hair is like spun silk or cotton candy.  It seemed electrified and flew around a bit in the light. Leon Russell has never been so appreciated.

Last night, as tonight at the Beacon Theater, Cameron Crowe is filming for some kind of documentary. And tonight’s show, with Elton and Leon debuting their extraordinary album, “The Union,” is going to be the hottest ticket anywhere.

Jon Hamm Movie “Friends with Kids” Tipped Here in August!

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http://tinyurl.com/2dw54ej

Well, well.

Lots of “exclusives” today about the Jon Hamm-Jennifer Westfeldt movie, “Friends with Kids.”

The couple told me all about it, yes–exclusively–on August 29th, the night of the Emmy Awards. It was printed above the next day.

At the time the couple–Westfeldt wrote and will direct–had Kristen Wiig signed. They were hoping for Anne Hathaway. Sadly, it didn’t work out. And the role went to Megan Fox.

Adam Scott, who’s always good in everything, will round out the equation of two couples.

Mike Nichols is producing, and John Sloss of Cinetic is behind it all.

This “exclusive” business is getting tiresome. Since none of the people who claim it actually have it!


Keith Richards: Sex, Drugs, and How I Wrote the Songs

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We may have to re-title Keith Richards’ autobiography, now called “Life.”

It should be called “You’ll Never Rock in this Town Again.”

After reading the excerpts in Rolling Stone and the Times of London, it’s pretty clear he’s left no Stone unturned.

Richards (with collaborator James Fox) has named every name and told every story. There isn’t a person who isn’t spared, a nasty trait or memory that hasn’t been remembered.

For a who guy did massive amounts of drugs for over four decades, Richards has startlingly clear recall.

Already in the press is his evaluation of Mick Jagger as a deficient lover with his, er, small equipment.

But Jagger will be angrier no doubt at Richards’ descriptions of composing the Rolling Stones catalog of songs. Most of them–maybe all with a couple of exceptions–are credited “Jagger-Richards.”

But in the excerpt that’s been released, Keith begins an anecdote with “I wrote Gimme Shelter on a stormy day, sitting in Robert Fraser’s apartment in Mount Street.”

That’s just one of the instances when Keith, whose solo albums, let’s face it, have eclipsed Jagger’s most shockingly, takes credit for authorship.

And then there’s the sex. He smartly refers to the Rolling Stones’ seminal era of partying, circa 1967, as “Peyton Place.” Let’s see if we can get this straight. Keith more or less steals beautiful Anita Pallenberg from bandmate Brian Jones. She also goes on to sleep with Mick. Simultaneously, Keith has a one-off with Mick’s girl, Marianne Faithfull.

Keith is just merciless about Mick, as you’ll see (here’s the full quote):

But, you know, while you were doing that, I was knocking Marianne, man. While you’re missing it, I’m kissing it. In fact, I had to leave the premises rather abruptly when the cat came back. Hey, it was our only time, hot and sweaty. We were just there in, as Mick calls it in Let Me Down Slow, the afterglow, my head nestled between those two beautiful jugs. And we heard his car drive up, and there was a big flurry, and I did one out the window, got my shoes, out the window through the garden, and I realised I’d left my socks. Well, he’s not the sort of guy to look for socks. Marianne and I still have this joke. She sends me messages: “I still can’t find your socks.”
Anita’s a gambler. But a gambler sometimes makes the wrong bets. The idea of status quo to Anita, in those days, was verboten. Everything must change. And we’re not married, we’re free, whatever. You’re free as long as you let me know what’s going on. Anyway, she had no fun with the tiny todger. I know he’s got an enormous pair of balls, but it doesn’t quite fill the gap, does it? It didn’t surprise me. In a way I kind of expected it. ”

Keith and Anita went on to have three kids together. One died in fancy; two are now adults. (Thanks to sharp-eyed readers for the correction!) Let’s hope everyone has a good sense of humor because with the exception of Brian Jones, they are still alive and very much kicking.

Barbara Billingsley, 94, Always June Cleaver

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All day Saturday there was an outpouring of love and nostalgia for Barbara Billingsley. The actress was 94, and will forever be remembered for her role as June Cleaver, America’s favorite mom, on “Leave it to Beaver.”

“Beaver” ran from 1957 to 1963. It still resonates a half century later.

Billingsley’s most famous repeated line: “Ward, I’m worried about the Beaver.”

And it was her cameo in “Airplane!” that solidified Billingsley’s place in American culture. She talked jive with two passengers, and made history all over again.

“Cut me some slack, Jack!”

I often thought Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward, were giving their delivery a little sarcasm. Their performances are so good you can read anything into them that you want.

Thanks for everything Barbara. You will never be forgotten.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKfS3udCCx0

Jackass 3D Has a $50M-Plus Weekend

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Forget “The Social Network.” “Wall Street 2.” Even “Life as We Know It.”

The biggest hit of the fall belongs to Johnny Knoxville and Paramount.

“Jackass 3D” took in $21 million on Friday night. That’s almost three times the amount that any of those other movies did on their first nights.

If you build it, they will come. And in this case, the power of sheer stupidity won.

God Bless.  I just hope this isn’t some omen politically. Now watch the Knoxville fans who’ll campaign for the movie to get an Oscar nomination!

On Yahoo!, “J3D” got an average rank of C+ from the critics. But you wait: Meryl Streep will be calling on Monday to get into Part 4.

Meanwhile, among the current, ahem. adult releases, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” is bottoming out. Even with all the press, Oliver Stone’s film has fizzled badly. It’s too bad. If this movie had been released last spring as planned I think it might have done a lot better.

Again, as I say over and over: if Anchor Bay/Starz would launch a real Oscar campaign for Michael Douglas in “Solitary Man,” they’d have a real shot. Otherwise, Johnny Knoxville is going to come storming in.

I only have one good Johnny Knoxville story. Several years ago I was leaving the Soho Grand Hotel after a movie premiere party. He got on the elevator carrying a bunched up roll of sheets. When we got to the lobby, Knoxville sped out of the elevator and the front door of the hotel, turned north ino the darkness and disappeared.

NYC Thursday Night: Mark Rylance Conquers Broadway (Again)

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I can’t really tell from Ben Brantley‘s review in the New York Times whether he liked “La Bete” or not. But the sizzling play opened on Broadway last night and Mark Rylance gave a tour de force performance. He is just sensational as Valere, and audiences will love David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley (famous from “Absolutely Fabulous”).

Early on in David Hirson‘s 1991 play, Rylance makes his appearance and gives what amounts to a 30 minute comic monologue. It only seems like a dialogue because Hyde Pierce, who is with him on the scene, manages to take his character’s stunned silence and turn it into conversation. By the time Lumley enters–and she has some spectacular entry–the audience is mesmerized and exhausted.

It’s the second time in a row for Rylance and director Matthew Warchus. Their last hit was “Boeing Boeing” in 2008.

In last night’s audience were Angela Lansbury, Marian Seldes, Matthew Broderick, Christine Baranski, Kathleen Marshall, and Cynthia Nixon at least. Not bad for a very rainy night on Broadway. And the set for this show is so compelling, there were lots of stragglers hanging around the stage after the curtain fell. I caught Victor Garber (from “Alias” and so many other things) in deep conversation with Seldes.

“La Bete” only runs through February, so catch it as soon as possible. This is the kind of Broadway show where you’ll want to be able to say you saw it, and impress the people who missed it or couldn’t get in.

Bill O’Reilly Gets His Comeuppance on “The View”

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Bill O’Reilly–who really sounds completely nuts sometimes–got his due on “The View” today.

Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar got up and walked off the set during an interview that all the ladies were having with O’Reilly. He said that Muslims caused 9-11.

He didn’t say extremists. And he stuck to his guns. “Muslims killed us on 9-11.”

Whoopi said, “Bullshit.” And left. Joy went with her.

Barbara Walters then chastised O’Reilly and told him to apologize to the Muslim community. He did, but he didn’t mean it. He’s really an oaf and a boor. When I made occasional appearances on his show, he used to just yell questions that he didn’t really want the answers to. Roger Ailes has empowered him, despite all his scandals. Yikes.

One more thing, Bill: your assertion about “70 percent of Americans don’t want the Mosque”–is a tired, pointless, divisive argument. I live two miles from the Ground Zero and watched the events of 9-11 from my living room. Two of my friends were missing all day. The husband of a friend died in the collapse of the towers. Hundreds of grieving people wandered this neighborhood for two weeks passing out fliers and hoping to see their loved ones. This is not a national referendum. It’s up to New Yorkers, if anyone, to voice an opinion about the Mosque. All these other opinions are nice but they are irrelevant.

Anyway, Whoopi and Joy returned. But good for them. It’s enough already. Peace.

Chairman of the Board Member General Johnson Dies at 69

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Just a day after celebrating Sam Moore‘s 75th birthday, and a few days after the passing of Solomon Burke, General Johnson has died.

He was the writer and often lead singer for a group called Chairmen of the Board. Their hits included “Pay to the Piper,” “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” “Finders Keepers,” and “You’ve Got Me Dangling on a String.”

Chairmen of the Board was really supposed to be what the Temptations were to Motown for Invictus Records circa 1970. That was the label started by legendary Motown/Four Tops writers Holland, Dozier, Holland after they split from Motown. Johnson wrote hits for other Invictus acts, notably “Bring the Boys Home” and a trio of hits for the Honey Cone: “Want Ads,” “Stick Up (Highway Robbery),” and the essential–my favorite– “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show.”  He also had a hit on “Patches” for singer Clarence Carter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJT4GwWzKU

Johnson came from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he and the band were into what they called Beach Music. HDH lured them to Detroit, where they had their big success with those singles. Here’s what Johnson says on his website:

“In 1968, 1 moved to Detroit, Michigan to further my career with Invictus Records. As a member of The Chairmen of the Board, I experienced and enjoyed international success as a songwriter and an artist. My success in such a short period of time magnified the business dealings with my recording and management companies. Soon, business disagreements deteriorated our musical relationship and eventually terminated our successful venture. In 1974, 1 left Invictus.”

His singing was a little like that of my old favorite Billy Stewart. He used kind of a stutter and a staccato phrasing to make the songs stand out. It worked. Thanks, General, for leaving those little masterpieces behind.

Colbert-Stewart Rallies Want Cat Stevens

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The Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert rallies in Washington DC are starting to pick up musical artists.

I’m told that the rallies, set for October 30th, have already booked Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

More names are coming. But the organizers also have asked for Cat Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam. The famed 70s pop singer is deciding whether or not to accept the invitation.

Toby Keith and the magnificent Mavis Staples are also said to be on the list for both rallies, which will be on the Mall in Washington DC and are semi serious send ups of the idiotic Sarah Palin-Glenn Beck rally of a few weeks ago.

Ozzy Osbourne’s Surprising John Lennon Video Tribute

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Ozzy Osbourne turns out to be a rabid John Lennon fan. Who knew?

Last week, Ozzy recorded the less well known song “How?” for Amnesty International. Then, he and director Ernie Fritz made this video in four hours on the streets of Manhattan.

The project was shepherded of course by Martin Lewis, our reliable Beatles macher. Lewis picked up the phone and called Sharon Osbourne, who, he says, was “amazingly gracious and cooperative.”

Sharon, I see, is being used as the main draw for CBS’s likely to be awful rip off of “The View” coming next week. It’s a smart move. She’s the only one of those women I actually would tune in for. When the show is cancelled, Sharon should move over to “The View” and spice things up!

Anyway, here’s “How.” Good work, Ozzy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awOcbVoS4yE