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Nicki Minaj Won’t Clear Duet on Shunned Kanye West’s New Album, Song Appears Anyway on “Vultures” Hosted by YouTube Featuring Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson

Roger Friedman
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Nicki Minaj Won’t Clear Duet on Shunned Kanye West’s New Album, Song Appears Anyway on “Vultures” Hosted by YouTube Featuring Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson

Who are the real “Vultures” here?

Kanye West, noted antisemite, has dropped a new album called “Vultures” on YouTube.

The album features appearances by Nicki Minaj, Offset, Chris Brown, Freddie Gibbs, Future, Quavo, and Gap Band legend Charlie Wilson, who apparently don’t care that all of Kanye’s business ties were severed after his embrace of Hitler and antisemitism.

The Nicki Minaj duet, “New Body,” was recorded three years ago for a scrapped Kanye album, Minaj is not giving permission to use it now, she says, in a posted video (see below): “Now regarding Kanye, that train has left the station. No disrespect in any way, I just put out a brand new album. Why would I put out a song that’s been out for 3 years? Come on guys.”

No mainstream record label would distribute “Vultures” and YouTube doesn’t seem to mind either about what West has done. They’re hosting him. YouTube is owned by Google, which if it leaves “Vultures” up is giving its approval to West’s disgusting behavior.

Nicki’s situation seems to be fluid. I guess we’ll find out more on Friday. Meantime, Kanye uses an cover of a Backstreet Boys song written by Max Martin. It’s hard to imagine Martin gave him permission. And what the other credits are — we may have to wait to read the liner notes on the $40 vinyl. LOL. West is selling some kind of sock shoe on his website for two hundred dollars. There really is a sucker born every minute.

Madonna Fans Thought They Caused Lights to Flicker at Barclay Center, But It was Just a Con-Ed Substation Issue

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Fans Thought They Caused Lights to Flicker at Barclay Center, But It was Just a Con-Ed Substation Issue

Madonna fans can rest easy. They did not cause a Con Ed power dip in Brooklyn Thursday night.

Many fans went on social media suggesting their enthusiasm or Madonna’s actual electrical draw made the lights flicker at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn right before midnight.

But Con Ed says no, it was a problem at a local substation, and had nothing to do with Madonna’s Celebration Tour.

Many fans are calling the Celebration Tour “the late show.” On her first two nights in Brooklyn, Madonna didn’t start her show until 11pm, and it ended just after 1 am. The tickets calls for 8pm, which means a lot of the 14,000 fans who come early are there for six hours.

There’s a likelihood that Madonna and Live Nation are paying hefty union fees for this luxury. New York shows usually have to be wrapped by 11pm, otherwise the clock starts ticking. Drake is said to have paid $500K recently for a late show at Madison Square Garden. But you know, Madonna goes on when she goes on. In London, the O2 Arena just pulled the plug at 11pm, cutting short the show.

PS On Thursday night, actress Julia Garner was Madonna’s special sitting on a chair guest for the song “Vogue.” Garner was supposed to star in a movie Madonna was directing about her life, but it was cancelled by Universal Pictures.

All the Songs and Scores Eligible for the Oscars: From Diane Warren to Ryan Gosling, Lenny Kravitz, and Bruce Springsteen

Roger Friedman
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All the Songs and Scores Eligible for the Oscars: From Diane Warren to Ryan Gosling, Lenny Kravitz, and Bruce Springsteen

Here are all the songs and scores eligible for 2024 Oscars. It’s quite a list. If I could pick five songs and scores each, what would they be? I’ll bold face the ones I think have a shot.

Eligible Songs

“American Symphony”: “It Never Went Away”
“Asteroid City”: “Dear Alien Who Art in Heaven”
“Barbie”: “Dance the Night,” “I’m Just Ken,” “What Was I Made For”
“The Beanie Bubble”: “This”
“Bella”: “The Easy Way”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”: “Everything’s Gonna Be Fine”
“The Boy and the Heron”: “Spinning Globe”
“Carmen”: “Slip Away”
“Champions”: “Tell Somebody That You Love Them Right Now”
“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”: “My Sweet Baby”
“The Color Purple”: “Superpower,” “Keep It Movin’”
“Creed III”: “Blood, Sweat & Tears”
“Dicks: The Musical”: “Out Alpha the Alpha”
“Dreamin’ Wild”: “A Dream Is Beautiful”
“Drift”: “It Would Be”
“Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”: “Wings of Time”
“80 for Brady”: “Gonna Be You”
“Elemental”: “Steal the Show”
“The Face of the Faceless”: “Barala Tribal Song,” “Ek Sapna Mera Suhana,” “Jalta Hai Suraj”

“Flamin’ Hot”: “The Fire Inside”
“Flora and Son”: “High Life,” “Meet in the Middle”
“A Good Person”: “The Best Part,” “I Hate Myself,” “Stardust”
“Heart of Stone”: “Quiet”
“Here. Is. Better”: “A Little More Time”
“The Home Fairy”: “Amar em Segredo”
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”: “Can’t Catch Me Now”
“The Inventor”: “From This Tiny Seed”
“The Iron Claw”: “Live That Way Forever”
“Jacob the Baker”: “Better Times”
“Joe Haladin: The Case of the Missing Sister”: “It’s Precious We Have It Today”
“John Wick: Chapter 4”: “Eye for an Eye”
“Journey to Bethlehem”: “Mother to a Savior and King”
“Killers of the Flower Moon:”: “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)”
“King Coal”: “King Coal”
“Knights of Santiago”: “Las Navas de Tolosa”
“Leo”: “When I Was Ten”
“The Little Mermaid”: “For the First Time,” “The Scuttlebutt,” “Wild Uncharted Waters”
“The Magician’s Elephant”: “Found”
“M3gan”: “Tell Me Your Dreams”
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”: “We’re All Together”
“My Love Affair With Marriage”: “Lion / My Love Affair With Marriage”
“Nimona”: “T-Rex”
“Nyad”: “Find a Way”
“Origin”: “Falling Into Place,” “I Am”
“Orlando, My Political Biography”: “Pharma Coliberation”
“Our Son”: “Always Be My Man”
“Past Lives”: “Quiet Eyes”
“PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie”: “Down Like That,” “Learning to Fly”
“The Peasants”: “End of Summer”
“Prisoner’s Daughter”: “Shotgun Clown”
“Radical”: “Sader”
“The Road Dog”: “Remember Me”
“Ruby Gelman, Teenage Kraken”: “Rise,” “This Moment”
“Rustin”: “Road to Freedom”
“Saving Ana”: “Missing Children”
“Scream VI”: “In My Head,” “Still Alive”
“She Came to Me”: “Addicted to Romance”
“Silver Dollar Road”: “Wounded Heart”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”: “Am I Dreaming”
“Spinning Gold”: “Greatest Time”
“The Starling Girl”: “Ace Up My Sleeve”
“State of the Unity”: “One Mile,” “Songbird,” “Hides”
“Stephen Curry Underrated”: “Lil Fish, Big Pond”
“Strays”: “All of You”
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”: “Peaches”
“Suzume”: “Kanata Haluka.” “Suzume”
“Sweetwater”: “Taking Me Higher”
“Theater Camp”: “Camp Isn’t Home”
“They Cloned Tyrone”: “Drunk AF”
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”: “On My Soul”
“Trolls Band Together”: “Better Place (Reunion)”
“Uncharitable”: “All of Our Dreams”
“We Dare to Dream”: “Don’t Need to Sleep”
“Wish”: “I’m a Star,” “This Is the Thanks I Get?!,” “This Wish”
“Wonka”: “A World of Your Own”

Eligible Scores

All of Us Strangers

American Fiction

American Symphony

Anselm

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

Baby Ruby

Barbie

The Beanie Bubble

Beau Is Afraid

Big George Foreman

Blue Beetle

Blue Jean

Book Club: The Next Chapter

Bottoms

The Boy and the Heron

The Boys in the Boat

The Burial

Butcher’s Crossing

Carmen

Cassandro

Chevalier

Cocaine Bear

The Color Purple

Common Ground

The Creator

Creed III

Daliland

The Deepest Breath

Dicks: The Musical

Dream Scenario

Dreamin’ Wild

Drift

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

80 for Brady

Eileen

Elemental

The End We Start From

The Equalizer 3

Every Body

The Face of the Faceless

Ferrari

Fingernails

Five Nights at Freddie’s

Flamin’ Hot

The Flash

Foe

Fool’s Paradise

Freud’s Last Session

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Golda

Good Grief

A Good Person

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Hadik

A Haunting in Venice

Heart of Stone

Here. Is. Better.

The Holdovers

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Inside

The Inventor

Invisible Beauty

The Iron Claw

It Ain’t Over

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

John Wick: Chapter 4

Journey to Bethlehem

Jules

The Killer

Killers of the Flower Moon

Knock at the Cabin

Landscape With Invisible Hand

The League

Leave the World Behind

Leo

The Lesson

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Mafia Mamma

The Magician’s Elephant

The Marvels

Master Gardener

Migration

A Million Miles Away

The Miracle Club

Miranda’s Victim

The Monkey King

Monster

The Mother

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

My Love Affair With Marriage

Napoleon

Nimona

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture

The Nun II

Nyad

Once Within a Time

Oppenheimer

Origin

Past Lives

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie

The Peasants

The Persian Version

The Pigeon Tunnel

Polite Society

Poor Things

The Promised Land

Radical

Reptile

Ruby Gelman, Teenage Kraken

Rustin

Saltburn

Scream VI

Sharper

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

She Came to Me

Shortcomings

Silver Dollar Road

Sitting in Bars with Cake

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood

Society of the Snow

A Song Film By Kishi Bashi: “Omoiyari”

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Stamped from the beginning

Starbright

The Starling Girl

State of the Unity

Stephen Curry: Underrated

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Story Ave

Strays

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Suzume

Sweetwater

The Teachers’ Lounge

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Tetris

They Cloned Tyrone

A Thousand and One

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

2018 (Everyone Is a Hero)

Walid

War Pony

What Happens Later

Wish

Your Fat Friend

The Zone of Interest

London Report: Three “Stranger Things” Prequels Could Be Running on Broadway Over the Next Decade

Roger Friedman
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London Report: Three “Stranger Things” Prequels Could Be Running on Broadway Over the Next Decade

You tmigboye hought “Stranger Things” was wrapping up after five seasons.
Um, no.

A “Stranger Things” prequel theater production opened in London tonight. Deadline.com’s Baz Bamigboye is raving about it. And why not? Stephen Daldry directed it.

The play, called “The First Shadow,” will likely come to New York in fall 2024 or spring 2025. Baz says it will be followed by two more, making a trilogy. That means in six to eight years, Broadway could have Stranger Things mania.

Tonight’s opening in London had a star studded audience. Matthew Modine, David Harbour, and Cara Buono from the TV show were there along with Lily Allen, Hugh Jackman, Lulu, James McAvoy, Emma Corrin, Jennifer Garner, Daniel Dae Kim, Ed McVey, Thomasin McKenzie, Himesh Patel, and Jonathan Pryce.

Most importantly, The Duffer Brothers, who created all this, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos were front and center.

If you thought Times Square was spooky before, get ready for this!

Exclusive: High Blood Pressure Put Patti Smith in Italian Hospital, But She’s On Her Way Home Saturday

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: High Blood Pressure Put Patti Smith in Italian Hospital, But She’s On Her Way Home Saturday

Good news: Patti Smith is coming home. My sources say Patti will fly home on Saturday after being waylaid in an Italian hospital.

Initially there was word she had bronchitis. But now I’d told Patti also had high blood pressure that had to be treated. Luckily it was caught quickly and Patti is on the mend.

Patti is one of our great, indomitable spirits, and one of my personal favorite people. A proud member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she is an essential American cultural voice. She was once considered a punk and a rebel, but now she is an Esteemed Artist. I hope one day she’ll get a Kennedy Center honor.

Below is her Instagram post thanking everyone at the hospital. I don’t know how many of her US fans know this, but Patti is a huge star in Florence, Italy. She performs there regularly, is beloved, and sometimes just busks around on the streets. They love her and we do, too!

Monday Ratings: Rachel Maddow-Lawrence O’Donnell Keep Their Streak Up, Dunk on Hannity-Fox

Roger Friedman
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Monday Ratings: Rachel Maddow-Lawrence O’Donnell Keep Their Streak Up, Dunk on Hannity-Fox

Rachel Maddow continued her winning streak this past Monday.

Maddow’s weekly MSNBC appearance wiped out Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

Following Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell nosed out Greg Gutfeld on Fox.

Maddow is magic for MSNBC. But some of their offerings need help. Jesse Watters, who is basically a jackal, got twice the numbers of Jen Psaki, a wise, smart, speaker.

Thanks to Maddow, MSNBC was only a small number behind Fox on Monday.

CNN? It just keeps dragging on, with an average of about 500,000 viewers through the night. There are ways out of this sandtrap, but they just don’t want to take them.

Larry David Will End “Curb Your Enthusiasm” With Season 12, 23 Years After It All Started

Roger Friedman
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Larry David Will End “Curb Your Enthusiasm” With Season 12, 23 Years After It All Started

The end is near for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” After 23 years and 12 seasons Larry David says the hilarious series is finally wrapping up.

Larry David says: “As ‘Curb’ comes to an end, I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this ‘Larry David’ persona and become the person God intended me to be – the thoughtful, kind, caring, considerate human being I was until I got derailed by portraying this malignant character.”

LOL. Well, that might be possible. But it seems like “Curb” could go on forever!

The final series will drop on February 4th. How will it all end? Since David obviously knew this was the end, maybe we’ll see some people from previous seasons, stories wrapped up. How about a return to Palestinian Chicken? The timing couldn’t be better.

Exclusive: George Clooney A List Premiere for Thrilling “The Boys in the Boat” — Star Will Make Next Movie with Noah Baumbach (UDPATED)

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: George Clooney A List Premiere for Thrilling “The Boys in the Boat” — Star Will Make Next Movie with Noah Baumbach (UDPATED)

UPDATED THURSDAY NIGHT: After I published this scoop at 1:18pm Thursday, it turned into chum in the water. Four hours later, “exclusives” were claimed everywhere about Clooney and Baumbach making a film for Netflix with Adam Sandler. You’re welcome, everyone!

1:15pm Thursday: The splashiest deal in New York last night?

An exclusive A list premiere at the Museum of Modern Art for George Clooney’s new film, “The Boys in the Boat.”

The screening was followed by a swanky party at the Polo restaurant, where corned beef sandwiches cost about 40 bucks at a regular dinner. The In Crowd loves it there.

Among the guests (besides George’s smart, glamorous wife Amal) were “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig with husband, director-writer Noah Baumbach (who also co-wrote the massive “Barbie” hit movie.)

I can tell that this hot filmdom couple’s presence was not only because they like George. Clooney will star in Baumbach’s next film, maybe for Netflix, where Baumbach previously had his great “Meyerowitz Stories.”

Amazon is very high on Clooney with “The Boys in Boat” and rightly so. The story of the American rowing team winning the 1936 Olympics in Berlin is a superbly exciting sports film, and Clooney’s best directing effort in some time. I thought it was outstanding. “The Boys in the Boat” opens wide Christmas Day, and it’s a great entertainment you can take the whole family to without fear of inappropriate material.

Amazon Studios are so keen on George that no less than their president, Jennifer Salke, came cross country for the event. That’s a big deal. Also spotted: CAA co-chief Bryan Lourd.

Other guests included “Elvis” star Austin Butler with his girlfriend, Kaia Gerber — she’s like Clooney’s god-daughter (her parents are Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber), plus Katie Couric, a sunglassed Anna Wintour, producer Jean Doumanian, and journalist Jill Brooke, from flowerpowerdaily.com.

You could tell “The Boys in the Boat” was going to be good because George did not give a long, windy introduction. He just welcomed the crowd, and said Let’s see it. Afterwards we met his sizzling young cast including Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern, Luke Slattery, and the Grace Kelly-like Hadley Robinson (who’d be great in a remake of “Chinatown” with Kirsten Dunst).

What makes “The Boys in the Boat” so timely is that the American Olympic team went to Berlin at a time when Hitler was securing his power. The sight of him being defeated by Americans is very satisfying. The swastikas adoring pillars at the Olympic site should be a warning to us all right now: if we’re not careful, this can happen again.

Meanwhile, Clooney revels in the training of the rowers– all of whom are actors who had to go through the whole process. How good are they now? George told me when I caught up with him: “They were posting such good numbers in training and rehearsal, the guys were looking around to compete for real. They found a race near us, but I persuaded them not to try it!”

Barbra Streisand Will Get Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG This Winter at Annual Show

Roger Friedman
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Barbra Streisand Will Get Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG This Winter at Annual Show

SAG will give its annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Barbra Streisand this winter.

Streisand is currently on the best sellers lists with her 992 page book, “My Name is…Barbra.” The SAG Award is for her many films in which she acted or directed or both.

The SAG Awards will be presented on Netflix on February 24th.

“Ever since I was a young girl sitting in the Loew’s Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, I dreamed of being one of those actresses I saw on the screen,” Streisand, 81, said in a statement. “The movies were a portal to a world I could only imagine. Even though I was an unlikely candidate, somehow my dream came true. This award is especially meaningful to me because it comes from my fellow actors, whom I so admire.”

Streisand definitely deserves this award. She’s persisted in a man’s world, bucking the system to get her work done. It was not easy by a long shot. More power to her!

As for the SAG Awards, they used to be a good predictor of the Oscars. It’s unclear if they still are. But the Best Ensemble Award gives an idea of what will be named Best Picture. This year’s Best Ensemble nominees should be drawn from a list including Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Air, The Color Purple, and Poor Things. Anyway that’s my guess.

Review: “The Crown” Comes to a Bittersweet End After Six Seasons as Prince Philip Says to Queen Elizabeth, “The good news is, the party’s over”

Roger Friedman
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Review: “The Crown” Comes to a Bittersweet End After Six Seasons as Prince Philip Says to Queen Elizabeth, “The good news is, the party’s over”

I know you will want to skip to the final episode of “The Crown” when the remainder of season 6 drops this morning.

Please don’t! Watch it in order so the buildup to the inevitable, bittersweet ending can grab you by the throat. If you’ve been a fan of this series, the final few episodes bring the series to a glorious and sad ending.

Much of Season has already been taken up by Charles and Diana, and the latter’s death. Now we get high school age William and Harry, how they adapt to the death, to Diana, and to Charles’s marriage to Camilla. This is the take away from all that: no actress can make Camilla attractive or likeable. Olivia Williams certainly tries here. But it’s a thankless job.

“The Crown” telling us almost nothing about Ann, Andrew or Edward. There’s no Koo Stark or Randy Andy or Fergie sucking toes. That’s why “The Crown” now becomes real historical fiction, with imagined conversations, the clanking of chains through the palaces, and a heavy dollop of Tony Blair. The series which relied so much on newsreels and actual accounts of events takes a sharp turn into soap opera.

Other than the final episode, the two that really stand out are one about the Queen facing the changing public’s attitude toward the monarchy, and another about Princess Margaret’s sad, final days. Lesley Manville is deeply moving as Margaret. Peter Morgan does a lot to portray the sisters’ relationship from the day their father died til the end.

What does permeate the final episodes is a frostiness between Elizabeth and Philip. You get the feeling that she loved him but she’s pretty much had it with him. When he dies, it’s almost a relief. Morgan allows the Queen some self reflection, and we get a chance to go back to her Claire Foy youth for one untold episode when Elizabeth was at a crossroads choosing between public duty and her own needs.

Imelda Staunton looks and sounds more like Foy than Olivia Colman, although both former Queens do turn up at the end in Elizabeth’s memory. But Staunton could not look more like the idea of the real Elizabeth, and hues closer to our original feeling for her under Foy, just with more gravitas. She leaves a deep impression, as the excellent Jonathan Pryce says — in his final, no doubt award winning speech that defines not just the moment but all of our feelings about the Crown– “The good news is, the party’s over.” We know she stayed as long as she could to prevent what happens after the series, what we now know to be the vicious battering of everything Elizabeth worked for in her 70 year reign.

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