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The Motion Picture Academy Museum has called off Saturday’s annual gala.
“Out of respect for the devastating conflict and loss of life happening overseas, we have made the decision to postpone the Academy Museum gala this Saturday. We look forward to rescheduling at a later date. We thank everybody deeply for their support.”
This year’s gala honorees included Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and Sofia Coppola.
The guest was all A list with expected guests like Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Goldie Hawn.
But the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza makes it impossible to have a huge celebration. Earlier in the day the Academy Museum call off the red carpet. But now they’ve scuttled the whole event until sometime in the future. The Museum certainly needs this fundraiser to be a success but having it now is obviously unwise.
Right now, the Academy has also moved its Governors Awards to early January because of the SAG strike. But now that the studios have walked away from negotiations, the fear is that event will also have to be moved. It’s hard to imagine the SAG strike continuing past the end of the year, but the union is adamant that they must be paid fairly. The longer the studios hold out, the less chance of new content existing for 2024.
Tony winning beloved Broadway star Nathan Lane sat behind yours truly for two hours last at the star studded premiere of “Gutenberg! The Musical!” We talked before the show and during intermission. He never gave away why he was really there.
Then at the end of the show, stars Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells — who spend their time on stage auditioning a fake musical about Johann Gutenberg to unseen Broadway producers — ask for a real producer to help them. Up jumped Lane onto the stage where he introduced himself as Max Bialystock — his character from “The Producers.” Lane also exclaimed, “This show is fantastic. I had the same feeling when I saw Cats!”
The audience went wild laughing and clapping, although they’d been doing that all night anyway. In the house besides Lane were Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul having a “Breaking Bad” reunion, producer director JJ Abrams, and the stars’ “Book of Mormon” Tony wining co-star Nikki M. James, plus Busy Phillips, and Jane Krakowski and David Rockwell.
With all the bad stuff going on in the world, I needed a laugh last night. Gad and Rannells are fully invested in playing these two guys who’ve put all their money into the “Gutenberg” idea. They know almost nothing about the inventor of the printing press, and confuse it with a wine press. They say they did some Googling and came up with some “historical fiction.”
The whole premise is ridiculous, of course. They duo play dozens of characters by changing an array of yellow truckers’ hats with different names on them. They’ve given Gutenberg a Gal Friday named Helvetica, named for the type font. Gad wears that hat. The songs are throwaway mostly but advance the plot although at some point they admit they have no idea how to end the show.
There are lots of Broadway send ups, and explanations of how a show works, as well as spoofing of the price of tickets. (A car is sold so they can buy their first ever Broadway tickets.) Gad and Rannells starred in the original “Book of Mormon,” have gone to other things but remained close. Their real life friendship seeps into the characters, you can see how fond they are of each other. Their characters’ determination to pull off the loony “Gutenberg!” musical is underscored by their blissfully ignorant passion.
Stay til the end! Not just for the guest actor of the night (Lane was doing a one off) but also for the most expensive plot twist maybe in Broadway history. It lasts two seconds and cost a pretty penny, but makes the show very satisfying.
I’m told the Rolling Stones will come to New York next week to promote their excellent new album, “Hackney Diamonds.”
Each of the principals — Jagger, Richards, and Woods — will appear on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show separately, sources say. They will not be playing music, at least as of now. This makes sense because Fallon interviewed them live from London a few weeks ago when the album was unveiled.
I am told that there is a 99% chance the Stones will put on a live show in New York for fans next week. “It will be a small club, like a nightclub,” says an insider. The Apollo would make sense. I guess Terminal 5 would, too.
The Stones are famous for playing small clubs when they’re launching an album. They did it years ago in Toronto, and Chicago. They’ve done it twice in Los Angeles in the last decade. It’s New York’s turn!
The Stones know they have something special in “Hackney Diamonds.” I just hope I Heart Radio and other corporate radio entities will give it some radio play. The album is stuffed with hit singles. Why not go back to the old ways of radio just for this release? It may be the Stones’ last one.
Crazy Arab terrorists are threatening “Jihad Friday” in New York.
No one knows exactly what that means, but SAG AFTRA has called off picket lines today in NY and Los Angeles.
Many real estate offices have sent notices to their brokers not to come into their offices today.
SAG’s message to members: “The safety and security of our members, supporters and staff is our priority. In light of potential safety concerns that are unrelated to our ongoing strike there will be no SAG-AFTRA pickets in New York City on Friday, Oct. 13. Stay safe and see you on the picket lines next week.”
I’m told big realtors like Douglas Elliman, Corcoran, and Coldwell Banker have instructed their staffs not to come in. Other brokerage houses are leaving the decision up to their employees’ discretion.
Certainly security will be tightened all over New York today, especially on Broadway, Lincoln Center, and Madison Square Garden.
Jihadists announced a “Day of Rage” but let’s hope that was just bravado and nothing will come of it. It’s time for some peace.
It’s time to toast Sam Moore, the original and only Soul Man.
It’s Sam’s 88th birthday and he will be feted tonight in Miami, where he was born, by his wife of 40 years, Joyce Moore. and friends.
Sam was the guiding light behind the Grammy winning hit making duo Sam & Dave in the 60s. Their hits are played around the clock today and used in commercials and movies. They include “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” and “I Thank You,” among others.
Sam is the last of all the greats sung about in “Sweet Soul Music” by Arthur Conley. He’s been much imitated, especially by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and later Jim Belushi, as The Blues Brothers.
On his own, Sam has sung for all the living presidents, as well as George H. W. Bush. He’s performed at the Kennedy Center countless times, and was Eddie Murphy’s choice as performer at a special awards ceremony there.
Bruce Springsteen is maybe his biggest fan, asking Sam to join him recently on his “Only the Strong Survive” collection as featured vocalist. They may have more surprises in the future.
I met Sam in 1999 and featured him in the film I made with Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker called “Only the Strong Survive.” We traveled to Cannes and other festivals and cemented our friendship. He has the biggest heart imaginable but he loves to gossip and get in trouble! It’s been an absolute honor for me the last almost 25 years to say I’m friends with Sam Moore.
Happy birthday, Sam! And here’s to many more!
PS Last week, Sam helped the Rock Hall in Cleveland break ground on a new wing. He’s been a member since it began!
Taylor Swift and AMC may have miscalculated adding previews tonight at the last minute for The Eras Tour movie.
According to the AMC website, most theaters are only a quarter full with advance sales — or not sold at all.
The reason is “The Eras Tour” is three hours long. Tonight is a school night. Even if kids went at 6pm, that means being at the theater by 5:30pm and staying until 9pm. In the suburbs, that means an entire evening. Homework? Sleep?
Most of these tween girls have already bought tickets for the weekend. Unless there’s a big Walk Up energy tonight, tomorrow’s numbers may not reflect that predicted $100 million weekend.
Keith McNally, owner of hot spots like Balthazar and Pastis, says in a new post “Lies have been spread about me on Social Media causing my restaurants to lose a big chunk of their business.’
McNally reveals he’s head death threats, including one to “chop my head off.”
McNally misspoke in the heat of the moment on Saturday when he wrote on Instagram: “The more Utterly Repugnant the facts, the Greater the responsibility to Listen to the other side.”
McNally made a mistake. No one wants to listen, and he should have stayed out of it. We are in the heat of rhetoric now because the retaliation for hideous crimes is just as bad if not worse than what has already happened.
He’s right about his business. You can see it on Resy. Reservations are being cancelled at his places, particularly Morandi. Only the Minetta Tavern seems to be thriving, which is too bad– I was hoping it would be quiet for a change. You need the cone of silence to eat in there!
Seriously, McNally really stepped in it, as they say. He writes: “I did Not equate Palestine with Hamas. I was crystal clear in today’s post that my reference was to the Palestinians. “SILENCE GIVES CONSENT.” Plato.”
McNally is smart, he doesn’t need my advice. But I would make a big donation to UJA right now, and contribute supplies to organizations sending care packages to Israel. He’s got to look at the bigger picture, and fast, before the Balthazar Salad is a thing of the past!
SAG AFTRA says the studios have walked away from negotiations. The word is that the studios don’t want to ante up on a percentage of streaming profits for the actors. Streaming is so unlike regular TV and movies. The content is available 24/7, not just when offered officially.
SAG is right. The streamers are learning the same lesson that has faced music streaming and downloading for years. The people who created the content want to be paid every time someone uses it.
Hollywood is in limbo. We are three months out from awards season in January. We’re two months out from a holiday break which begins around December 15th and lasts two to three weeks. The studios must come to a reasonable agreement and get Hollywood back to work — especially as all streamers are raising subscription prices as we speak.
It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer. (1/11) pic.twitter.com/nd2PfpDH4F
Taylor Swift is a mistress of manipulation, that’s for sure.
She can play her fans like a fiddle, Stradivarius style.
For weeks AMC Theaters insisted there would be no previews of Swift’s “Eras Tour” movie. They said the concert film would open on Friday only. I can show you the emails.
Then, suddenly, around 7pm Wednesday night. AMC announced the movie would start playing on Thursday night.
The Eras Tour film will launch tonight at 6pm on the east coast, everywhere in the country, and with multiple showings. This was not spur of the moment. This was a decision already known but held til now.
This is like Swift saying a piece of merchandise is only available for 48 hours. This is a concoction of the Swift marketing team to get the teenage girls frenzy buying up more and more crap.
But this whole approach may backfire for AMC and Swift. Since the fans already bought seats from Friday going forward, the Thursday tickets so far are not selling very well. I see mostly empty theaters Thursday at 6 and 7pm. Thursday preview numbers may come in lower than hoped for.
PS Swift turned up at her “premiere” in LA Wednesday night, spoke to the audience in the theater but didn’t take press questions and said nothing about the massive violence against women and children in Israel. She dare not for fear of push back from fringe wokesters.
Drake’s new album, “For All the Dogs,” is expected to end the week with 420,000 copies sold.
That will be the only album to sell more than 100,000 copies this week as record sales are generally way down this summer and fall.
The Pet Shop Boys will be happy since their “West End Girls” is sampled in one of the Drake songs but was never cleared or paid for. The better Drake does, the more they can ask for. Or demand.
The record biz is really looking for a smash hit this fall. Next up is the Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” on October 20th. It’s a great record. Hopefully young people who want to hear the genuine deal will scoop it up, as well as older fans.
