Bette Midler hasn’t made a new record in some time. But it turns out her voice has never been better.
Midler has released a short, hilarious video send up of “If I Only Had a Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz.”
The new lyrics are a hoot. And you know what? Bette sounds terrific. She should be recording more, anyway!
Thumbs down to autocracy!!#VoteBlue2024ProtectDemocracy
Tell your friends!! RT & SHARE!! pic.twitter.com/BTUIhvLrwo— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 2, 2024
Of the classic 70s films, Robert Towne’s stand out as the most legendary. Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” and Hal Ashby’s “Shampoo” are among them.
Towne has reportedly died at age 89 in Los Angeles. In just the last week there was talk of a prequel miniseries to “Chinatown” for streaming.
Lee Grant, who won an Oscar for “Shampoo,” said on Twitter: “Shaken to hear that Robert Towne has left us. His life, like the characters he created, was incisive, iconoclastic, & entirely originally. He gave me the gift of “Shampoo”. He gave all of us the gift of his words & his films. There isn’t another like him. There won’t be again.”
Jack Nicholson, who starred so famously as Jake Gittes in “Chinatown,” probably won’t be able to give a statement. Ashby died a while ago. Polanski is likely asleep in Paris.
Towne’s uncredited work is almost as impressive as the films with his byline. He worked on “The Godfather,” “Marathon Man,” and “The Parallax View,” for example. His fingerprints are all over all the now classic films of the 70s.
Screenwriter Billy Ray says on Twitter: “Nominated for Best Screenplay 3 years in a row. Wrote the “We’ll get there, Pop” scene in The Godfather. A legend. A friend. He once let me hold his Chinatown Oscar. What a career. Now he’s w Alvin Sargent & Bill Goldman & all the other giants.”
Towne won 1 Oscar for “Chinatown,” and was nominated three other times including for “The Last Detail,” “Shampoo,” and “Greystoke.” His screenplays were the most textured and beautifully shaped stories, far beyond anything we see now. They were like great pieces of music.
His most famous line?
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
RIP.
I told you last October that Hipgnosis Music Publishing, built by Merc Mercuriadis, was in severe trouble.
It took all these months but now it appear Mercuriadis — a larger than life personality — has been ousted from the company. His last day is July 8th.
A lot of rock stars were persuaded to sell their music catalogs to Hipgnosis by Mercuriadis, who was very charming and persuasive. Hipgnosis’s artists include all-stars like Barry Manilow, Neil Young, Carole Bayer Sager, Journey, Lindsay Buckingham, Chrissie Hynde, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Stewart and his Eurythmics songs.
As you may recall, we went through a critical period during and right the pandemic when musicians panicked about monetization. With live performance suddenly halted, selling the rights to the songs became a lightning bolt trend. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Fleetwood Mac, etc were commanding upwards of $300 million for their catalogs in sales to other publishers.
But there’s a problem: all those catalogs have to be monetized. The songs have to be licensed for movies, TV, commercials, etc by these companies like Hipgnosis, Sony, Universal, et al. and that hasn’t proven as easy as it looked. This resulted in calls I got last summer and fall that artists weren’t getting paid the money they’d been promised. I’m told most were, however.
Blackstone Group held the strings to the Hipgnosis arrangement, and they obviously have had enough controversy. In February, Mercuriadis stepped down from running the day to day operations. But now it looks like he’s out completely. He says in a prepared statement that he will continue to fight for the rights of songwriters. We are sure to see him again in the music biz.
Someone may ultimately write a book about what happened with Hipgnosis. In May Concord Music — the company that was owned by the late Norman Lear — rescinded a $1.4 billion take over bid because the couldn’t get a grip on this truly “merc”-urial situation.
Ann Wilson of Heart has announced she’s been diagnosed with cancer. She’s having chemo, so the Heart tour has been postponed.
As a big Heart fan, I am so sorry to hear this. Wishing Ann a speedy and full recovery!
Ann Wilson has that amazing voice that is juxtaposed by sister Nancy’s wailing guitar. They are very special to the history of rock and roll, starting with “Magic Man” and lasting for four decades.
Here’s one of Heart’s incredible performances:
If no one goes to the first film in a series, will they be interested in the sequel?
That’s the question today for Kevin Costner’s “Horizon.”
After a pretty disappointing weekend take of $11 million, the three hour Civil War drama didn’t pick up any steam yesterday.
Monday box office numbers were down 62% to just $1.2 million from Sunday. It remains to be seen if an adult audience will sample “Horizon” during the week, especially on July 4th.
And then what? Warner Bros. has to decide if they’ll put the August sequel on streaming, either day and date with theatrical, or shortly thereafter. It’s a tough call. But in the end, “Horizon” might find it audience on Max — just as it was originally intended, as a mini series.
The JLo-Ben Affleck marriage is ending its run.
The theatrical run apparently ended a few month ago. Now it’s going to be pulled from streaming. So to speak.
Keith McNally, owner of the great Balthazar restaurant in New York’s Soho, reports that Lopez was in last night with friends. His house manager wrote:
“For better or for worse, the one and only Jennifer Lopez came in as a party of 6. It was a last minute reservation and most of my large tables were already sat so J.Lo and I created an odd, but cozy 6 top in the 40s. I had a proper 6 top available but she opted for her creation. They had a nice time and were easy and quick.”
Lopez is on her way back to Los Angeles after a vacation in Italy and appearances in Paris. As you do, in these situations. Her children are presumably with their father, singer Marc Anthony.
Affleck is in LA, taking care of his children with ex wife Jennifer Garner. This poor guy is being stalked by paparazzi. LEAVE HIM ALONE, for God’s sake. According to reports, he’s moved all of his stuff out of the $60 million mansion he bought with Lopez. He’s been living in a rented house. Other reports say all the “art” from the mansion has been auctioned off privately.
Who gets custody of Dunkin Donuts? That’s what I want to know!
So the party is over. It was short but sour. We are watching the end credits. Was it fun while it lasted? Not sure. There’s a rumor JLo is moving to New York. She loves attention, and the Manhattan press is happy to provide it!
As the couple once said in “Gigli”: “Gobble gobble.”
If you want to see “Merrily We Roll Along” on Broadway this week, be prepared to pony up.
The revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical is seeing ticket prices up to over $5,200 on StubHub. Lower prices range from $500 tonight to well over $1,000 by Thursday!
Last performance is July 7th. Not only did “Merrily” win Best Revival of a Musical, but Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe each won Tony Awards for acting in the musical.
Last week’s gross was a shocking $2,321,807.00. Sondheim is no doubt paying close attention from heaven. “Merrily” was a flop when it was first produced in 1981. It was Sondheim’s first show after the blockbuster, “Sweeney Todd.” But no one liked it, and “Merrily” closed after two weeks.
This production has been extended twice. What a grand success. And it’s been filmed by the same people who filmed “Hamilton” for posterity, so we’ll be seeing it on streaming for a lot of money one day soon.
Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” — starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, with Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe — is the Opening Film of the 81st Venice Film Festival.
Now, I’m jealous.
Circle August 28th for the big reveal of what happened to Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz and her family including mom played by O’Hara and daughter played by Jenna Ortega.
Not in this one: Jeffrey Jones, who played Winona’s dad. He’s died off screen and won’t even come back as a ghost.
This sequel is a long time coming. The original film was released in 1988. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis starred as a young couple who died in an accident but were haunting their house. The Deetzes bought the house, but only Lydia could see them.
Since then, the movie has become a cult classic. It was turned into a hit Broadway show. The original film has only become more engaging over the three plus decades.
Will “BB” recapture the charm of the original? I’ll bet it does. Will we hear Harry Belafonte singing “Day O?” We better. Will this be a monster box office release? (Let’s hope Burton doesn’t make his “Sweeney Todd” mistake again!)
Warner Bros. releases “”BB” in the US on the Thursday following Labor Day weekend, September 5th.
Very exciting!
Disney and Hulu say “The Bear” Season 3 scored 5.4 million views in its first four days of release.
There’s no way to translate this statement to English. Hulu doesn’t reveal actual numbers, there’s no Nielsen to track it. And what does 5.4 million views mean? Ten minutes of watching the show?
I’ve watched six of the ten episodes of the new season. There are times when “The Bear” is so dazzling, it jumps onto every best TV list. There are other times when it feels like some filler is going on, covered by pastry.
“The Bear” is not a comedy, it’s a drama. For awards shows purposes, the drama somehow got listed as something humorous. It has some light moments, but this show is not a comedy. If it were, then “Hill Street Blues” and “Succession” could be put in that category.
This season is using a lot of time gimmicks to tell its story. We get backstory, we flash around, it’s like “Lost” in a kitchen. After all, a fourth season was filmed simultaneously. The series will probably run five seasons. The plot is thin, so it has to be spread out like remoulade sauce. This is a show about characters, and the exploration of them.
Episode 6 concerns line cook Tina, played so beautifully by Liza Colon-Zayas. She’s been amazing right along, but now we get a back story of how she arrived at The Beef, met Michael (Jon Bernthal) who eventually killed himself, and the rest of the crowd.
Colon-Zayas should get an Emmy Award for this episode and she may, but “The Bear” is a full season behind the Emmys. Meaning, this September’s Emmys is for last season, not this one. So she’ll have to wait until September 2025. She gives a masterclass in empathy as Tina loses her office job — which she’s had for 15 years — and after many rejections meets Michael by accident. Her exchange with Bernthal is one for the ages. He’s just as good.
I’m trying to savor “The Bear,” so I’m watching it two episodes at a time. There’s a lot less plot this time around, but more to chew on, so to speak!
Joe Biden spoke at the White House at 7:45pm. He forcefully addressed today’s horror decision by the Trump selected Supreme Court.
Biden is right on every subject. If Trump gets elected in November, America as we know it will cease to exist. Who would have ever thought this was possible? That this moron who we knew in New York would turn out to be the most dangerous person in the history of the country.