http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z6CCacSAVY
Janet Jackson was just super Wednesday night on “American Idol.” Looked great, sounded great. If this is the new direction for her career, she’s all set. Somewhere, Michael was smiling.
Money Advisor in $30 Mil Ponzi Scheme Had Friends and Clients in High Places
EXCLUSIVE
Ken Starr--not the Ken Starr from Whitewater–has been charged by federal prosecutors with a $30 million Ponzi scheme.
Starr is a money manager for dozens of Hollywood names. Sources tell me this investigation has been proceeding for some time, with many of his former clients settling cases with him to get their money back before Starr was hauled away in handcuffs today.
One of his victims was Joan Stanton, the original voice of Lois Lane on the radio. Stanton is also the now deceased widow of Volkswagen magnate Arthur Stanton. In 1987, Joan Stanton inherited $87 million from her husband. By the time she died, little of it was left. Starr was her financial adviser.
Joan Stanton’s heirs wound up settling with Starr, I am told, in a backstage Upper East Side money scandal that was little publicized when it was first discovered.
But in 2008, Stanton’s family sued Starr. What proceeded from there was an official investigation. Names of Starr’s clients include Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer, Uma Thurman, David Blaine, and literally dozens of other celebrities.
Starr has always been a steady presence on the social scene, regularly attending premieres and award shows with his second wife, Diane Passage, a former pole dancer and stripper from the famous gentleman’s club Scores. The couple is also known for throwing their own lavish parties. Starr is also a regular at Michael’s, the Manhattan lunch spot for the A list.
Starr’s close friends and associates include Marvin Rosen, former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Andy Stein, former New York City Council president. Stein was arrested today as well.
PS Tons of pics of Starr, Stein, Rosen and friends at Rob Rich’s photo site: http://tinyurl.com/36zdjys
When it’s all sorted out, you can expect a stunning list of recognizable names whom Starr allegedly bilked. It’s all of the New York glitterati who trusted him. Actors, directors, writers, producers. Henry Kissinger and Caroline Kennedy are also on his list of clients.
More to come…
Greta van Susteren is a Hypocrite about Sarah Palin
Greta van Susteren has posted a picture of Sarah Palin‘s new badly built fence on her blog (no link, sorry). The wobbly structure, which angles up off the ground enough to leave room for a crawl-through, is designed to ward off journalist Joe McGinnis. He’s rented the house next door for five months.
van Susteren captions the fence picture: “To protect against the Wasilla stalker.”
Greta, nominally a journalist for quasi-news organization Fox News, seems to forget that McGinnis is simply a journalist. he’s not breaking any laws, or stalking anyone. He’s writing about Palin. And Palin has obviously lost control over the situation.
But van Susteren is a hypocrite. Her husband, Washington DC attorney John Coale, a prominent Scientologist, worked for Palin through the 2008 election. It’s possible he’s still on her payroll. Thanks to the relationship, Palin gave her first exclusive post-election interview to … Greta. Surprise!
No one expects Fox News to be objective when it comes to supporting Republicans, but this is ridiculous. After all, in her pursuit of tabloid stories for her Fox show, van Susteren and her people have certainly done far more than rent a house next to a subject they were reporting on, whether it was something to do with Natalee Holloway in Aruba or Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas.
If McGinnis had moved in next to the Clintons in Westchester, New York, van Susteren would be praising his moxie and inventiveness.
But good work, ladies. You’ve raised the profile of McGinnis’s book three thousand percent! And it’s not even written yet.
PS John Coale has taken at least fifteen Scientology courses, the most recent in 2005 according to this informative site:
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/j/john-p.-coale.html
One more thing: Glenn Beck is quoted as saying he won’t have any more Random House authors on his show because he’s so mad at McGinnis. Beck had authors in the first place? From Random House? His fans read books? I think this may a win for Random House.
Will Sex and the City 2 Be Critic Proof and Box Office Gold?
“Sex and the City 2” has some of the worst reviews ever in recent memory–especially for what’s billed as a romantic comedy.
Currently, it’s rating a 3.7 out of 10 on rottentomatoes.com. Most critics just hated it. But will that matter when it opens today?
I sat through it on Monday night, and will say this: it is just way too long. All I kept thinking was: If only Harvey Weinstein had been in charge, 30 minutes of this nonsense would be gone.
The girls’ trip to Abu Dhabi is excruciating, and something out of era when “Road to Morocco” could milk all kinds of burka jokes. You would think four sophisticated women from New York City, who used to seeing multi-culturalism, would be more savvy when arriving in a foreign country. They act like rubes and hicks.
The other problem is the gay wedding at the beginning of the film. It’s ridiculous, over the top (that’s an understatement) and irrelevant. Plus, the characters who are marrying have always hated each other. Liza Minnelli is, well, Liza Minnelli.
What works: I liked the individual stories more than most, especially Charlotte’s. For once Kristin Davis is given something a little meaty, and she’s good. And Kim Cattrall‘s Samantha is always fun. She’s a caricature, and Cattrall plays it for all it’s worth.
But here are the larger questions: why not bring in some younger acolytes for this gang to train and mentor? Make the movie more timely.Where is the young new struggling columnist who challenges Carrie, or a publicist who wants Samantha’s clients? That’s the real New York.
Also, how is it possible that there are still no people of color or another background in their lives? Aside from an Asian American shopgirl in the beginning, I can’t think of anyone. It’s absurd, especially since Jennifer Hudson (who was in the first movie) and Leona Lewis sing the original song over the titles.
Isn’t it possible that in 2010 Carrie, et al would make friends with Kerry Washington or Sanaa Lathan or Gabrielle Union, Joy Bryant? You know what have been funny: running into an alternate universe black “Sex and the City” quadrangle led by Queen Latifah and discovering how much they had in common.
In Radio City Music Hall, the audience went wild. Standing ovations, screaming, the whole thing. This was all the way up through th e balconies. The unendurable trip to the Middle East didn’t seem to bother them, either.
So now what? We’ll watch the “SATC 2” box office tonight and tomorrow to see what happens. My guess: the audience will not care one way or another. The brand is bigger than the boos. The original film did $26 mil on its opening Friday, which was right after Memorial Day weekend. The three day total was $57 million. The good betting says SATC2 bests those numbers. And it’s not even in 3D.
Don Hill’s Redux; Bebe Buell; African Scorseses; Memphis Toast; Soap Scrub
Rock club Don Hill’s in the news. I told you on April 19th that Paul Sevigny and Nur Khan of Kenmare restaurant fame were planning on turning the punk emporium into a classy joint. http://tinyurl.com/35t6z9z It took the New York Post more than a month to say the same thing, without mentioning where the story came from…
…Don Hill’s unofficial queen of rock, Bebe Buell, has a new album called “Sugar,” with a major national release on June 15th. A week later she plays the Roxy in West Hollywood on Sunset…The album is already featured at www.newburycomics.com along with another favorite of this column, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals…
…Five Ethiopian filmmakers got the experience of a lifetime and a culture jolt during the Cannes Film Festival. They were brought to Monaco by the International Emerging Film Talent Association. Their short documentaries were shown at the University of Monaco, and they were wined and dined Monte Carlo style. The filmmakers had never left Ethiopia before, and suddenly found themselves in James Bond country. Amazing. It’s all part of IEFTA’s continuing program to bring filmmaking to Africa…
The cast of Broadway’s “Memphis” — including Tony nominees Montego Glover and Chad Kimball–celebrated with a big dinner on Monday night…”Memphis” is the likely Best Musical of 2010. The Tony’s are on CBS June 13th…Did you know that one of the producers and behind the scenes movers and shakers is Lorraine Alterman Boyle, widow of the great actor Peter Boyle? Lorraine was once a premiere rock journalist and knows good music better than anyone…
…Disney is shutting down SoapNet, which supported ABC’s remaining soaps, and replacing it with a 24 hour preschool children’s cable channel. Yes, three year-olds are up from 7pm to 7am, and need entertainment! This is just one more way for ABC and Disney to show their lack of support for their soaps. But sleepless toddlers with remotes applaud the decision!….
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Hot New Film Shows Doctors Without Borders, Literally
Did you ever wonder what those Doctors Without Borders actually do? Now we know, thanks to director Mark Hopkins.
“Living in Emergency” is Hopkins’ unprecedented documentary about Medecins sans Frontieres, the French group that translates in Doctors without Borders. We finally got a chance to see Hopkins’ work –shortlisted for an Oscar– last night at a private screening, and let me tell you–“ER” at its most vibrant is like “Mary Poppins” compared to this stuff.
Hopkins followed missions to the Congo and to Liberia, where a couple of new doctors and a couple of seasoned ones attempted to be of help saving lives, performing unbelievable surgeries, and seeing patients whose illnesses challenged all normal diagnoses. “Living in Emergency” is not for the faint of heart. Brains are drilled, limbs are removed, and a large intestine is shoved back inside a woman. Blood splatters everywhere. Squalor is a way of life.
At last night’s screening we met two of the doctors in the film, Dr. Arnaud Jeannin, and Dr. Kiara Lepora. It should be noted that Hopkins managed to find the most attractive doctors, both female and male. They could easily be stars of a reality show. NBC would be smart to turn this movie into a series, if they could get these docs to return.
ABut that’s part of the problem. Many of the doctors don’t get past one mission. The work is just too harrowing. Alcoholism and other issues linger. Dr. Jeannin, who should be played by Gerard Butler, has taken a leave of absence after 10 years to work and live in Paris helping his sister launch a cosmetics business. Dr. Lepora (think an Italian Helena Bonham Carter) is doing research in Washington, DC after seven years of saving lives in Africa.(The movie is very frank, too, about their personal lives. Says Dr. Lepora in the film: “Is there a lot of sex? Yes.”)
Two other docs are featured– Dr. Tom Kreuger, of Tennessee, and Dr. Chris Brasher, who describes himself as “homeless”–he’s sort of a permanent Hawkeye Pierce of Doctors Without Borders. One other doctor is featured, an Australian named Davinder Gill, who is charming and young but cracks under the pressure.
The guests at the screening certainly had a lot to talk about afterward. The eclectic group included actress Mamie Gummer, Dr. Jon LaPook, newcaster Jim Rosenfield and wife Dana Conroy, writer Joan Juliet Buck, Bob Balaban and Lynn Grossman, and media expert Gerry Byrne with his beautiful wife, Liz. The film gets it theatrical release next month. You can read about it at www.livinginemergency.com.
Sarah Palin: Cage Rattled, She Freaks Out About Reporter’s Move
It wasn’t enough that publicity hound Sarah Palin could see Russia from her kitchen window. Now she can see Joe McGinnis, the respected journalist and author of a great book about Alaska, “Going to Extremes.”
McGinnis, in proud journalistic fashion, has gone to extremes himself. To write about Palin for an unauthorized biography, he’s moved into the house next door. This is dedication: he’s going to live in Wasilla, Alaska for five months. Let’s give him a Pulitzer now.
How do we know McGinnis has moved in? The decision has totally rattled Palin’s cage. She issued an after midnight warning to him on Facebook. Talk about ‘doth protest too much.’ She freaked. It’s McGinnis 1, Palin 0. The text of Palin’s entry is below.
McGinnis is a real journalist in the old fashioned sense, which obviously scares the hoo-ha out of the Palins. He is famous for his 1969 book, “The Selling of the President 1968.” It’s still a great read, ripping apart Richard Nixon. And his “Fatal Vision,” which became a great TV movie, remains a true crime thriller breakthrough about how Jeffrey MacDonald killed his family in cold blood.
I had to laugh when I heard what McGinnis had done. It was a brilliant move, just like that little fandango last week when enterprising James Hibberd of the Hollywood Reporter waltzed undetected into the dress rehearsal for NBC’s fall show announcements and reported their schedule early. He was subsequently banned from the formal ceremony. This is called reporting, using shoe leather. Nicely done.
Joe McGinnis, good luck. And good luck to the Palins. This should be interesting. I’ll buy that book the minute it’s done.
Here’s Palin’s Facebook entry:
Spring has sprung in Alaska, and with this beautiful season comes the news today that the Palins have a new neighbor! Welcome, Joe McGinniss!
Yes, that Joe McGinniss. Here he is – about 15 feet away on the neighbor’s rented deck overlooking my children’s play area and my kitchen window. Maybe we’ll welcome him with a homemade blueberry pie tomorrow so he’ll know how friendly Alaskans are.
We found out the good news today. Upon my family’s return this morning from endorsement rallies and speeches in the Lower 48 states, I finally got the chance to tackle my garden and lawn this evening! So, putting on the shorts and tank top to catch that too-brief northern summer sun and placing a giddy Trig in his toddler backpack for a lawn-mowing adventure, I looked up in surprise to see a “new neighbor” overlooking my property just a stone’s throw away. Needless to say, our outdoor adventure ended quickly after Todd went to introduce himself to the stranger who was peering in…
Joe announced to Todd that he’s moved in right next door to us. He’s rented the place for the next five months or so. He moved up all the way from Massachusetts to live right next to us – while he writes a book about me. Knowing of his many other scathing pieces of “journalism” (including the bizarre anti-Palin administration oil development pieces that resulted in my Department of Natural Resources announcing that his work is the most twisted energy-related yellow journalism they’d ever encountered), we’re sure to have a doozey to look forward to with this treasure he’s penning. Wonder what kind of material he’ll gather while overlooking Piper’s bedroom, my little garden, and the family’s swimming hole?
Welcome, Joe! It’ll be a great summer – come borrow a cup of sugar if ever you need some sweetener. And you know what they say about “fences make for good neighbors”? Well, we’ll get started on that tall fence tomorrow, and I’ll try to keep Trig’s squeals down to a quiet giggle so we don’t disturb your peaceful summer. Enjoy!
– Sarah Palin
Sex and City Actresses Headed to UK Stage
Those “Sex and the City” actresses can’t stop working.
I am told that Cynthia Nixon is headed to London’s West End in July to perform in “As Bees in Honey Drown.” The Tony winning actress will bring her whole brood to London and set up shop as soon as the official announcement is made. Nixon appeared in the opriginal 1997 production of “As Bees,” but not in the starring role. She’s also won a Grammy and an Emmy.
Kim Cattrall, already a West End hit with Noel Coward’s “Private Lives.” Now she’s readying “Antony and Cleopatra” for Liverpool, the city of her birth. “A and C” will open in October.
Yes, Kim was born in Liverpool but grew up in Canada near Vancouver. Maybe that’s why her accent is so good in Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer.” I give Kim a lot of credit. She never stops challenging herself as an actress, and always comes out on top!
Rolling Stones Gather Gold: Top of the Charts Again
The Rolling Stones are back at the top of the charts.
Thirty eight years after it first was issued, “Exile on Main Street” will be the second best selling CD of the week. The reissue of the 1972 classic is a hit, finishing just behind the “Glee” soundtrack.
A second “Exile” CD, called “Rarities” and featuring new tracks that the Stones left off the original album but have now finished, will also be in the top 10 or so when all the sales for last week are counted.
Still to come is the DVD of “Stones in Exile,” which hits stores in mid June. It will also be included in a deluxe “Exile” package.
Now that “Exile” is a hit, expect the Stones to milk their post-1971 catalog which was recently licensed to Universal Music Group. That includes 1971’s “Sticky Fingers,” 1978’s “Some Girls,” and 1981’s “Tattoo You.” In between there are very good albums like “It’s Only Rock and Roll” and “Goats Head Soup.”
The success of “Exile” and, earlier, “Get Your Ya Ya’s Out” (from their ABKCO catalog) means the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band is finally figuring out how to market its old material a la the Beatles. Collectors will want to have it all, and there’s plenty of it.
The “Rarities” album or the full “Exile” is certainly worth having simply for the new old tracks like “Plundered My Soul” and “I’m Just Signifying.” Great stuff. And the “Stones in Exile” DVD, which we saw in Cannes, will be worth the wait.
Suzanne Somers Scores Huge Book Promotion with “SATC 2”
Suzanne Somers — as someone whose weight goes up and down, I have come to agree with a lot of her dieting theories. She’s smarter than you think and still cute as a button.
She’s scored a big coup with “Sex and the City 2.” One of her 19 books on health and nutrition, “Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness,” is heavily featured in the movie that opens on Thursday. And I do mean, heavily featured. Kim Cattrall‘s Samantha–who announces that she’s “fifty-f-ing-two” and going through menopause–declares that she lives by it. She hands it to everyone in the movie. Forget Oprah. This is a book publisher’s dream. By the end of the movie, women are exchanging copies of “Breakthrough,” with the cover very prominent.
Somers and her husband manager Alan Hamel were at the big “SATC 2” premiere last night; I ran into them at the swell Lincoln Center party with the Arnold Kopelsons. Suzanne told me, “The producers called and asked, Would I mind if they used the book? I said, Sure.” She laughed. (I think this is a true story. I’ve never seen a product plug like this; who knows?)
Somers is a cancer survivor, a recovering everything, and a TV icon from “Three’s Company.” She’s a Hollywood survivor, too. You want to high five her when you see her. “I’m working on my 20th book,” she said. Her books have covered dieting and all kinds of women’s issues. She is often criticized, mostly by doctors, I think, who are jealous of all the ink she gets. But really: you know she’d be one of Samantha’s clients. Bravo!