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Sting first met Argentinian composer and performer Charly Garcia in 1988 at an Amnesty International concert.
Now after almost 40 years they’ve had a chance to make a record together. “In the City” marries Sting’s dazzling vocals (he’s never sounded better) with Garcia’s brilliantly catchy original song.
Argentine origin musician, and longtime member of Sting’s band, Dominic Miller recorded guitars on the track, while Diego López de Arcaute played drums.
Sting says: “It’s an honour to sing with Charly, so it was easy to do it with enthusiasm and from the heart. It was fun to arrange and combine the harmonies. They served the song, but they were also a fun musical message for him. Thank you, Charly, for your music and for inviting me to sing on this song with you.”
Garcia adds: “This collaboration came about naturally when we met up again in the dressing room before Sting’s show in Buenos Aires. I have always been a big fan of Sting’s sound and way of composing. ‘In the City’ was a song that I had already written and that – in addition to being in English – I thought would be perfect for his voice in the chorus. I was excited to hear him on my song.”
“In the City” is available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube etc.
Woody Allen’s written a remembrance of Diane Keaton which appears today in The Free Press.
Allen turns 90 on November 30th. In the last year or so he’s lost Keaton, Tony Roberts, and two close collaborators, Marshall Brickman and Doug McGrath — all much younger. It’s no fun getting old.
You can see Woody’s deep affection for Keaton in this piece. I’m told he did visit with her a few months ago when he went to Los Angeles to do Bill Maher’s TV show. But their unique partnership is one for the ages.
Here are some highlights:
“I first laid eyes on her lanky beauty at an audition and thought, If
Huckleberry Finn was a gorgeous young woman, he’d be Keaton. Fresh out of
Orange County, she flew to Manhattan to act, got a job as a coat check
girl, and was hired for a small part in the musical Hair, in which she
eventually had the lead.”
“For the first week of rehearsal we never spoke a word to one another.
She was shy, I was shy, and with two shy people things can get pretty
dull. Finally, by chance we took a break at the same moment and wound
up sharing a fast bite at some Eighth Avenue joint. That was our first
moment of personal contact. The upshot is that she was so charming,
so beautiful, so magical, that I questioned my sanity. I thought: Could I be in love so quickly?”
“As time went on I made movies for an audience of one, Diane Keaton. I
never read a single review of my work and cared only what Keaton had
to say about it. If she liked it, I counted the film as an artistic success.
“During the few years we lived together, she taught me so much.
Example: Before I met her I never heard of bulimia. We’d go to Knicks
games and after to Frankie and Johnnie’s for a steak. She’d put away a
sirloin, hash browns, marble cheesecake, and coffee. Then we’d get
home, and moments later she’d be toasting waffles or packing a huge
taco with pork. I would stand there, stunned. This slim actress ate like
Paul Bunyan. Only years later when she wrote a memoir did she
describe her eating disorder, but when I was experiencing it, I could only
think I’d never seen anyone eat like that outside of a documentary on
whales.”
“She went on to date a number of exciting men, all of them more
fascinating than I was. I went on to keep trying to make that great
masterpiece that I am still struggling with when I last looked. I kidded
Keaton that we’d wind up—she like Norma Desmond, me like Erich von
Stroheim, once her director, now her chauffeur. But the world is
constantly being redefined, and with Keaton’s passing it is redefined
once again. A few days ago the world was a place that included Diane
Keaton. Now it’s a world that does not. Hence, it’s a drearier world. Still, there are her movies. And her great laugh still echoes in my head.”
Like you, perhaps, I’ve received a couple of notices that the price of Disney Plus is rising soon by three bucks a month.
Now we may know why: they’ve made a deal with billionaire Taylor Swift for a six part docuseries called “Is There Anything Left to Know?”
On that date she will also drop on Disney Plus the full final show of the “Eras Tour” which includes a full performance of her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
This is all great, because what we need more than ever is more Taylor Swift. You can’t have enough of it!
Swift writes on Instagram: “It was the End of an Era and we knew it. We wanted to remember every moment leading up to the culmination of the most important and intense chapter of our lives, so we allowed filmmakers to capture this tour and all the stories woven throughout it as it wound down. And to film the final show in its entirety.”
I did this interview in the summer of 1993 as a freelancer for the NY Daily News magazine.
Unfortunately, the Daily News from that era is not digitized. But we’ll try and digitize this soon.
Diane picked the Columbia Bar and Grill on Sunset Blvd. I don’t think it’s been there for a long time. The occasion was the release of Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” It was right after Woody had gone through the whole Mia Farrow scandal. Diane stood by hin 100%, and always did afterwards. She was a loyal, loving friend.
Keaton was so much fun, and whenever we saw each other for the next 30 years she’d stop and say hello, and we’d catch up. She was a remarkable person. Like everyone in the world, I will miss her forever.
And look at all the people in this interview who got on the phone with me. They were extremely generous with their time.
Diane Keaton by Roger Friedman c2025. All rights reserved.
For ten days she’s had the top 13 spots on Spotify with every track from “Life of a Showgirl” album.
But the wall of hits has been breached by the K Pop hit, “Golden,” which has on its down sold over 3 million copies thanks to streaming.
“Golden” is from the soundtrack to the massive Netflix hit, “Demon Hunters.” Several of the singles from “Demon Hunters” have occupied to the bulk of the Spotify top 20 over the last few months.
The singles have been bigger than the album. The anime movie is pretty much unknown to the general public, although it obviously has an audience. The movie was released into theaters for two days — August 23rd and 24th — and made $19 million. It’s on Netflx now. What’s it about? I don’t have any idea. Demon hunting, I guess.
Korean Pop remains a mystifying part of the culture. On Friday, the hapless Zayn Malik formerly of One Direction released a single with Blackpink singer Jisoo and it’s gone to number on iTunes. At this rate, a K Pop singer could release a record with a hula hoop and revive the craze.
Maybe Monday’s Taylor Swift announcement is that she’s going K Pop. That’s all that’s left.
Jennifer Lopez is an international star. Bill Condon is a much awarded director fine films.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” is a remake of a movie with name recognition. Critics reviews are at 77%, not terrible.
And yet, the movie made just one million dollars this weekend. One million dollars. It’s not possible. Call the police. Call in the FBI.
But this company, Roadhouse Attractions, mishandled this film so badly that it had no public awareness. It might as well have not existed. Whatever it cost– $50 million? — is now a total write off.
This is a spectacular failure. It’s worse than the recent “Spinal Tap 2.”
What a disaster. Why did Roadhouse — which I call Roadkill — even bother to release this movie? They did not promotion. I’ve never received even a press release or email about it. The NY premiere was a hasty, stealth deal that became all about Ben Affleck’s appearance at his ex-wife’s side. No effort was made to connect the movie to the Broadway musical it’s based on, or the previous movie.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” features other actors besides Lopez. Diego Luna is the star of the wildly popular “Andor” on TV. An actor unknown to us, named Tonatiuh, had been getting a lot of buzz from the few people who saw the film in advance. Nothing was done to promote them.
It’s time for a full scale Congressional investigation into the non-release of movies.
I’ll tell you a story about Roadkill Attractions. Among the movies they’ve thrown under the bus over the years was Robert Redford in a one-hander called “All is Lost” in 2013. It should have been a huge moment for Redford, he was that good, he deserved an Oscar nomination. Roadkill snuffed it. Ditto the Brian Wilson movie, “Love and Mercy,” which never had a chance.
I know we all think Jennifer Lopez is overexposed. But she’s a hard worker, and has plenty of talents. She deserved better than this, so did Condon.
He thinks Joe Biden was president on January 6, 2021. He says on social media:
“THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. If this is so, which it is, a lot of very good people will be owed big apologies. What a SCAM – DO SOMETHING!!! President DJT”
This is totally untrue. Trump was president until Biden was sworn in on January 20th.
Contrary to internet rumors, the president-elect does not take control of the FBI before being sworn in. Anything else is a flat out lie or “alternative fact.”
Trump had an MRI Friday at Walter Reed hospital. He has seemed demented for months. This statement seems like proof. Will Jake Tapper or any of the people who attacked Biden for his mental state look into this? Probably not.
There’s not much left for Taylor Swift to do after the past week.
She sold 4 million copies of her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” She was all over the media. She broke countless records.
Yet, the ubiquitous singer is restless. She’s making a special announcement Monday morning on “Good Morning America.”
So what could it be? She’s already said she’s not going on tour since the Eras tour also broke records and made her a billionaire.
Maybe she’s got “Showgirl” Pt. 2 coming this week. The album has only 12 tracks, which is nothing for a compulsive artist like Swift. She’s probably 12 more songs ready, and plans on breaking a new record.
Other choices: giving all her money to charity? Retirement? Running for president or even Congress? Bailing out the government? Co-hosting “Live with Kelly and Mark”?
There’s no limit to what Taylor Swift could be doing on “GMA.” One thing is clear, she’s not going away.
TOMORROW: We’re keep it with an exclusive Taylor Swift announcement! Tune in ONLY on GMA! pic.twitter.com/YCfb5enMuf
The great soul man R&B legend, rock star, singer of country and gospel, left us on January 10th of this year. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him, and ditto his legions of fans, friends, and admirers.
The star of the Sixties super duo Sam & Dave can still be heard ’round the clock on Sirius XM’s Soul Town, and on oldies radio around the world. New generations might not know his name, but they know his voice and his songs: “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” “I Thank You,” “When Something is Wrong with My Baby.”
I met Sam and his wife Joyce in 1999 at the annual Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards dinner. It was destiny. Sam starred in my documentary, “Only the Strong Survive,” which was shown in Cannes in 2002. He and Joyce roomed with the late filmmaker DA Pennebaker his director wife, Chris Hegedus. The friendships never ended.
Sam was sometimes confused with Sam Cooke, who was killed in 1964. That Sam had wanted our Sam to join his singing group. They were friends but Sam Moore knew he was a star. When he and Dave Prater became partners, their star exploded. On Atlantic Records via Stax they became international sensations.
Sam had a bad few years after the duo busted up, but his next was almost better. First he was rediscovered by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who based “The Blues Brothers” on Sam & Dave. Then Bruce Springsteen, Sam’s most ardent fan, declared him “The Greatest Living Soul Singer on the Planet.” The accolades poured in, and Sam — thanks to wife Joyce — never stopped doing what he loved right up til the end.
Everyone who knew Sam has great stories because he loved to talk and reminisce. He dug the music world gossip. It was easy to crack him up and he gave back as good as he got. If you were interested in classic music history, Sam knew where all the bodies were buried and he’d tell us. “Oh, Roger,” he’d say in his Southern drawl, shaking his head. “You don’t know!”
We really thought we’d have a big 90th birthday party. But it wasn’t mean to be. Joyce is doing something today, and there will be a gospel brunch in Sam’s memory sometime soon. Sam didn’t like to sing unless he was being paid — after decades of rip offs. But a couple of times he sang “Happy Birthday” to me over the phone. There’s no recording but it’s in my head and in the universe for all time.
Sam, I really, really miss you, your humor, coverage, wisdom, strong convictions and lasting loyalty. What a privilege it was to celebrate so many birthdays with you over the years. Today, we’re having a cranberry juice toast to you, and listening to your incredible legacy.
Here’s a clip of Sam singing with the Isaac Hayes band (they were brothers, Isaac wrote the Sam & Dave hits) filmed in 1999 by Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker and illegally on YouTube. The filming was done at NJPAC in Newark, Isaac was there, and it one of the top 10 moments in my life. Sam is beyond outstanding.
The White House admitted today that Donald Trump had “advanced imaging” during second health check up of the year.
“Advanced imaging” means either an MRI or a CT scan, as most Americans know. You don’t get that in a normal physical.
It’s right there in the letter issued by The White House, right at the beginning.
You don’t receive “advanced imaging” as a preventative measure either. You get it if there’s suspicion of blocked arteries, stroke, or incipient racism.
Trump has spent months falling asleep during events. His speeches are frequently a mishmash of words. He forgets names all the time. He walks unsteadily. Lately he’s been talking about getting into heaven. (Not happening.)
What’s really going on? Will we see the actual reports from those tests? Stay tuned…
And as always we ask: where is Barron Trump? The 19 year old has not been seen in public in more than six months. He doesn’t attend even the events his father goes to that are reasonably fun, or non political. Sporting events, for example, that most 19 years old would jump at a chance to see…
