At 9:30am ET, the Rolling Stones will drop their new single, called “Angry,” and debut their first album of new material in 18 years. Watch Jimmy Fallon talk to them about “Hackney Diamonds” right here.
Trump Resumes Calling Special Prosecutor Jack Smith “Deranged,” Accuses Him of Tampering with Evidence
Donald Trump is back, and doubling down on antagonizing special prosecutor Jack Smith.
In a post last night, Trump called Smith “deranged” and accused him of tampering with evidence in the January 6th federal lawsuit against Trump.
This time, Smith responded by petitioning the court
that Trump had made “daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool.” Trump may wind up being gagged by the court, which probably wouldn’t mean anything. He ignores court orders and can’t keep his mouth shut — or his fingers off the phone.
Review: Eve Hewson (Bono’s Daughter) Finds What She’s Looking for in John Carney’s Extra Charming “Flora and Son”
A John Carney film, for me. is an event. “Once” was huge, my favorite is “Begin Again,” and “Sing Street” just gets better and better. Carney’s magic comes from finding the best off beat songwriters and using their talents to create his fairy tales about ordinary people who want to become — and sometimes it works out — rock stars.
“Flora and Son” is as charming and wonderful as the previous movies. a Dublin saga about a single mother — Eve Hewson — with a delinquent 14 year old son and an ex husband with some background in the music biz. Hewson’s Flora is an independent, wise Irish girl who curses, smokes, and drinks, has a heart of gold, and healthy passion for men. She grabs an acoustic guitar out of someone’s trash. has it restrung, and hands it to her son. She hopes he’ll take it up. When he rejects it, Flora — already a singer — figures she’ll take lessons.
The teacher comes via YouTube from Los Angeles — Jeff. a ne’er do well songwriter played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a Topanga Canyon minstrel on the edge of the record biz but has never struck gold. The two immediately begin flirting, and playing a lot of original songs written by Carney and mostly Gary Clark (who once steered the great real life band Danny Wilson).
Flora and Jeff communicate solely via FaceTime from L.A. to Dublin, only sharing non screen scenes when Carney lets Flora’s fantasy bring Jeff into her presence, Otherwise, it’s all wifi, and I had to check that Dublin apparently has excellent public wifi in their parks because Flora tends to sit outside when she’s chatting and playing with Jeff. I thought it was implausible, but it turns out to be possible.
Gordon-Levitt pulls Jeff off despite the limitations of being mostly on video. Jeff is charming and self-effacing and a very good musician. Oren Kinlan is a talented kid, the rare ingratiating kind who has a nice rapport with his parents and keeps it real as a troubled teen with music on his mind.
But the star of this show is Hewson, who comes equipped with music in her genes. If handled right, “Flora and Her Son” is her “Working Girl.” She’s in almost every scene, and carries the film from beginning to end with aplomb. Carney steers clear of most cliches, and lets the characters run the film rather than plot. Will Flora and Jeff have a happy ending in the digital age? It could go either way and still be alright. Meantime, the choice of songs — including Tom Waits’ “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You” — moves the film along happily just as it has in all the Carney films.
“Flora and Son” will debut at the Toronto Film Festival. I still remember how “Begin Again” — then called “Can a Song Save Your Life?” — turned the Ryerson Theater into a frenzy. I’m so sad the cast of “Flora” won’t be present to feel the love this time.
Rolling Stones Will Drop New Single, “Angry,” LIVE Tomorrow Morning Along with Album Announcement on YouTube
Set your clocks for 9:30am Wednesday.
That’s when the Rolling Stones will hit their YouTube channel with Jimmy Fallon. They’ll drop their new single, called “Angry,” from their first album of new music 18 years. called “Hackney Diamonds.”
The Stones already teased “Angry,” and the balance of the songs will be previewed tomorrow. Come back here at 9:30 to see the Fallon presentation.
Elvis Has Left the Festival: Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber Among Celebs Who Escaped from Muddy, Flooded Burning Man Debacle (Exclusive)
Elvis has left the building — literally.
Sources tell me that “Elvis” star Austin Butler and his girlfriend, Kaia Gerber — daughter of Cindy Crawford — were among the celebs who walked out of the catastrophe at the Burning Man Festival.
Already known is that Chris Rock and record producer Diplo escaped by jumping into a stranger’s truck.
Burning Man was hit by torrential rains that caused flooding and mud that made the original Woodstock look like a spa day. The festival was cancelled but no one could leave because the roads were blocked. A mass exodus is taking place now by foot and auto.
As for Butler, it’s unknown if he was forced to do his Elvis impression for whoever rescued him and Gerber. He probably did say, “Thank you, ma’am.” Gerber, om the other hand, may have had to promise a case of Casamigas Tequila to anyone who helped. Her dad, Rande Gerber, and George Clooney, own the brand!
PS If there had been no SAG or WGA strike, Butler would have been in Telluride where his new movie, “Bikeriders,” premiered this weekend.
CNBC Squawk Box Anchor Joe Kernen Says He Connected Taylor Swift to AMC Theaters for Concert Movie Run
CNBC’s Joe Kernen anchors Squawk Box on CNBC every morning and seems like a nice guy.
But he said this morning on his show that he connected Taylor Swift’s father, Scott Swift, with AMC Movie Theaters which resulted in the deal that brought AMC Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie.
Kernen tells Puck’s Matt Belloni that he first tried to introduce Scott Swift to Universal Pictures. whose parent company owns CNBC, but that didn’t work out. Kernen says he’s known both Scott Swift and AMC’s Adam Aron for ten years each.
For AMC, the result is their stock — which fell off a cliff this summer — stabilized and rose in price. The Eras Tour movie is looking at a $100 million opening weekend on October 13th. Kernen says he’s not getting a commission or kickback, but he did make AMC stockholders — the people he speaks to on TV every day — richer.
CNBC’s Joe Kernen revealed himself as the friend I wrote about who introduced @taylorswift13’s dad to @CEOAdam, which led to her movie deal with AMC…. https://t.co/ROJrMTCpRI
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) September 5, 2023
Elon Musk Says He Has “no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League” to Bring Back Advertisers
All day long — well all the time — Twitter accounts have been begging Elon Musk to take antisemitic accounts from the platform.
He doesn’t do it.
Musk says he won’t tolerate antisemitism but TwitterX whatever is filled with them. Musk claims the Anti-Defamation League is causing advertisers to not spent money on the platform. therefore putting him in financial peril.
He suggests that his new solution is not to remove the offending accounts but to sue the ADL for defamation. He’s blaming the Jews for boycotting ad spends on Twitter X — openly now.
To make a case against the ADL. Musk is retweeting or reposting articles critical of the group from Jewish publications like Tablet.com. He’s also basically calling Mark Zuckerberg a coward for “caving” into Stop Hate groups– using an article from Politico. Musk posted: “The Facebook caved to far left pressure groups and now allows them to silently dictate policy in exchange for ad money”
I don’t think this will convince anyone that such a lawsuit would be a wise idea.
On the other hand, how will this affect Tesla stock? Does he care? And what about more defections from TwitterX? So many people of importance have left. Musk seems not to notice.
RIP Gary Wright, Singer of Hits “Dream Weaver,” “Love is Alive” Played on All of George Harrison’s Albums, Ringo’s First 2 Hits
Gary Wright has died at age 80. He’d been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s Disease several years ago.
Wright was a member of the band Spooky Tooth until he went solo in the early 70s. He had two massive hits, “Dream Weaver,” and “Love is Alive,” in 1975, which are still heard all the time on oldies radio.
Gary Wright also had a Beatles connection. A gifted keyboardist, he played on George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” album and on all of George’s solo albums He also worked, through George, on Ringo Starr’s first two hits, “Back Off Boogaloo” and “It Don’t Come Easy.” He toured with Ringo and His All Starr Band many times.
Wright, who lived in Rancho Palos Verdes, California and was American — despite all his UK music connections. He was a big supporter of Barack Obama, and let Obama’s campaign use “Dream Weaver” as a campaign song.
A real talent, Wright is already getting Twitter tributes from lots of stars. One from singer songwriter Stephen Bishop is below. Condolences to his family but his music lives on!
It is with great sadness that I received the news of my dear friend Gary Wright’s passing. The attached photos hold precious memories from the very first and last time we shared the stage together, alongside our mutual musical pal John Ford Coley. Gary’s vibrant personality and… pic.twitter.com/r7bwnIhKME
— Stephen Bishop (@BishSongs) September 4, 2023
Trump Has to Go Back 16 Years to Find an Act of Generosity He Can Boast About on Social Media
This is pretty funny.
Donald Trump has to go back 16 years — to 2007 — find an act of generosity on his part that he can boast about on social media.
Today Trump reminds us that he gave a $10,000 check to a New York hero in 2007. That’s the last time he may have done anything nice for anyone.
Since then he’s maligned Mexicans, people from “shithole” states, disabled journalists, all immigrants, he’s thrown paper towels at Puerto Ricans after a hurricane. and so on. —
Venice: Raves for Woody Allen’s New Film, “Coup de Chance” from Variety, Wrap, UK Papers — And Standing Ovations
The reviews are coming for Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance” and they are raves. Mostly.
Variety, The Wrap, UK papers like The Guardian and The Telegraph are all — very rightly so — calling it Woody’s best movie in years. They’re right, too. It’s a tight 90 minute murder mystery with a surprise ending that will blow you away. There are also phenomenal performances.
As Woody and wife Soon Yi arrived in the theater, the place erupted in a standing ovation.
The only thumbs down are coming from female critics who aren’t even reviewing the movie.
Glenn Kenny of the New York Times already Tweeted his rave for “Coup de Chance.” He wrote: “Coup de Chance” is NOT “Match Point” redux. It’s framed in a substantially different way. And it’s universes better. Those are TWO points of dissimilarity.
“Coup de Chance” already has international distributors and a French release date.N Now an American distributor with cojones is going to have take this on and buck the tide of misplaced anger toward Woody Allen over something that never happened but has grown into a game of telephone. The people repeating it on social media are as dumb as the Trump supporters.