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The constantly in the tabs subject says she has reunited with her mom, Lynne Spears, after three years of turmoil, lawsuits, estrangement, and acrimony. I know, I couldn’t sleep worrying about this situation.
Britney blamed her mother for taking her father’s side in her conservatorship. The whole family has been at war. Britney says:
“My sweet mama showed up at my door step yesterday after 3 years … it’s been such a long time … with family there’s always things that need to be worked out … but time heals all wounds !!! And after being able to communicate what I’ve held in for an extremely long time, I feel so blessed we were able to try to make things RIGHT !!! I love 💕 you so much !!! Psss… I’m so blessed we can have coffee together after 14 years !!! Let’s go shopping afterwards !!!”
Nice to see this whole period will end in shopping. Maybe Mom can help repair Britney’s relationships with her sons.
It’s hard to imagine how Jennifer Lawrence got here.
She received an Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.” She was acclaimed for movies like “Winter’s Bone,” “Joy,” and “American Hustle.” She made money from the “Hunger Games” and “X Men” series.
But now here’s the trailer for a coarse, vulgar stupid comedy she stars in next month called “No Hard Feelings.” I’ll bet even Tara Reid took a hard pass. What a shame.
Pictures are going up from the annual amFAR dinner in Cannes. How the mighty have fallen. The sorry lot walking the red carpet feature Elon Musk’s mother and a bunch of models.
Gone are the days of Elton John, Liz Taylor, Calvin Klein, and so on. Not seen anywhere is the group’s former cheerleader, Sharon Stone. They treated her badly over and over. She’s gone.
I’m sure Mrs. Musk is a lovely person, and will donate a lot of money, but she’s not the high powered kind of celebrity amFAR boasted in the 2000s. No, those people wised up a long time ago. They saw CEO Kevin Frost’s $600,000 paycheck. They saw declining revenue while salaries sky rocketed. And they were buh bye.
One the scene as usual is elusive “global fundraiser” Milutin Gatsby. Sort of a made up person who for years was listed on amFAR’s site, and then also worked for Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation but doesn’t anymore, “Gatsby” arrived in a crushed blue velvet suit.
Last week, I was told that there’s a group of people working on a documentary about amFAR’s shenanigans. I hope it’s true. If I get more intel, I’ll spill.
If you were silly enough to to the Eden Roc this year, keep this in mind: according to their 2020-21 Form 990 Tax Return, amFAR listed $11.3 million in salaries. Fourteen people had six figure salaries that came to $3.1 million.
They gave only $6.3 million in grants to medical programs, universities, and other charitable organizations. Their revenue less expenses came to MINUS $4 million.
Dr. Mathilde Krim is spinning in her grave.
Fundraising expenses were $5 million.
Maybe that includes bringing a big staff to Cannes and watching them swan around town delivering invites in chauffeur driven cars. I don’t know.
They paid some guy from Brooklyn named Michael Nevin — very cool, very hip, posed for the Times in a black suit, barefoot — $120,000 to do “art curation.” He told the NY Times in 2010: “When I was 17, I worked for one day as a museum docent at the Pollock Krasner house, but quit because I wanted to surf every day.”
According to the Form 990, it cost amFAR $1.2 million to rent the Eden Roc space. It also cost $2.1 million for entertainment, and $3.1 million for “other direct expenses.”
Total net income from fundraising in 2020-21: MINUS $7 million. That’s negatif in Eurotrash talk.
CNN is desperate. They don’t know what to do. Not one of their metered shows scores scores more than 550,000 viewers per segment.
This means everyone from Anderson Cooper to Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, all the news shows. The average on Tuesday night was less than 500,000.
Meantime, MSNBC is doing three times that number. So is Fox News, despite being hobbled.
CNN has already invited wrath from its viewers by having a Town Hall with Donald Trump. It was disgraceful, but it brought in 3 million people.
So now what? More broadcasting of lies in town halls with Mike Pence first, then Nikki Haley. Connor Roy might be next!
And while Dana Bash and Jake Tapper are like Cronkite and Murrow compared to Kaitlan Collins. the network chiefs are watching them to make sure the Republican agenda is sold. It’s shameful.
Will the Fox News audience come back for these events? Or will CNN lose more of their core audience? And will they care? (I don’t think so, it’s just 500,000 people.)
Who will be the first anchor or reporter to say “no” and just exit this mess? Integrity is never popular in TV.
You’ll notice Chris Wallace is staying away from this stuff. He’s learned his lessons the hard way.
Legendary record producer Richard Perry had already had dozens of hits in the 1970s with acts like Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Leo Sayer, and the Pointer Sisters.
He writes in his memoir, “Cloud Nine,” that Tina Turner came onto his radar again in 1977 years after meeting her with Ike Turner.
“In 1981, Tina got her solo act together including assembling a great band, plus her own version of The Ikettes, the name that Ike had given the backup singers who danced and sang behind Tina. The most exciting event of all was the announcement of Tina Turner’s official opening at a new club in New York, The Roxy, owned by an old friend of mine, Jerry Brandt. I happened to be in New York with Rod Stewart on the weekend of her opening, and we were both eager to see Tina’s debut. Her show was off the charts! She had assembled some inspired choices in material: Prince’s “Let’s Pretend We’re Married,” a completely unique interpretation of the Beatles’s “Help” (done as a soulful ballad), and her outstanding cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” which became a big hit in the U.K.
After the show, I immediately went to her dressing room where I complimented her performance, for it truly was something special. I then told her, “Maybe the time is right for us to finally get together and make some music,” which is exactly what we did! I was beyond excited at the thought of signing Tina to Planet Records. We even started recording before we had a contract.
Two songs that we initially cutwere: “Johnny and Mary” by Robert Palmer, featured in the movie “Summer Lovers,” and The Beatles’ “Help,” which brought the house down in the aforementioned solo debut. A crew from ABC’s “20/20” came down to the studio to film us recording. If there was any validation needed to confirm that it was really happening, this was it!
There was, however, one bump in the road. Since Tina had a Top 10 Record in the UK with a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” her previous label, EMI, was reluctant to release her in that territory. Therefore, I needed executive approval to close the deal if it was anything less than worldwide. And since the UK would not be part of the deal, RCA was shuffling their feet in getting back to me promptly. Two weeks went by and I finally decided that come hell or high water, I was going to make sure that RCA didn’t blow this deal. When I got back to Tina’s manager, Roger Davies, I discovered that, much to my chagrin, he had signed her to EMI Worldwide.”
Perry went back to producing hits with the aforementioned groups as well as “To All the Girls I Loved Before ” for Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias, and Diane Warren’s “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge. But he and Tina had a happy ending, When her album, “Private Dancer” won four Grammy Awards in 1985, it was Perry she asked to accompany her to the ceremony. Perry concludes: “I was the first person on my feet to lead the standing ovation.” They remained friends to the end.
Anita Pallenberg died in 2017 at age 75, but her life as an actress and a muse to the Rolling Stones lives on in a sensational new documentary called “Anita.” It’s directed by Alexis Bloom and Svetana Zill. “Anita” premiered in Cannes on Monday night.
Bloom is not a newcomer to touching biographies. She and husband Fisher Stevens made a wonderful film about Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, called “Bright Lights” in 2016 which also screened in Cannes. Pallenberg’s name may ring with meaning for fans of the Rolling Stones. She’s thought of primarily as the mother of three of Keith Richards’ children, although the third, Tara, died a crib death. Their son, Marlon, and daughter, Angela, take part in the film, as does Richards. Marianne Faithfull is featured as well.
The big foundation for this film is a recently discovered partial manuscript of a memoir found among Anita’s things. This was a revelation since Pallenberg had always sworn she’d never write a book. So Zill and Bloom enlisted Scarlett Johansson to read parts of the book so the film is told in the first person, interspersed with interviews and never before seen home movies. Johansson’s voice reflects Pallenberg’s rock and roll attitude but also her warmth.
As a rock and roll souvenir, “Anita” stands on its own and must be seen. Pallenberg’s story is a missing piece of the Rolling Stones puzzle. Originally she was Brian Jones’ girlfriend for two years, from 1965 to 1967. Then she partnered up with Keith and their relationship lasted until 1980.
German and Italian, she was a hot young actress in the early 70s. But she loved the rock and roll life. Her influence on the Stones was huge. She even sang back up on “Sympathy for the Devil.” Zill and Bloom are very adept weaving Anita’s story through the Stones’ to get a full appreciation how she was almost a counterbalance to Faithfull in the development of the Stones’ career. (It’s 2023 and they’re putting the finishing touches on a new album, so this is important.)
Among the movies she appeared in: “Barbarella,” (although her voice was dubbed) and a Stones documentary in 1968 from Jean Luc Godard. Pallenberg made her way through the 60s not only as an adjunct to Richards but as a favorite of Andy Warhol. She was a real “It girl.”
Unfortunately, a lot of what people remember is a tragic death of a 17 year old teenager named Scott Cantrell. He killed himself with a handgun in Richards and Pallenberg’s bed at their home in South Salem, New York. Keith wasn’t home, and there may have been a sexual relationship. Ultimately, the death was ruled a suicide. But it brought an end to their common law marriage, and created more mythology around the Stones’ rock and roll life.
What Zill and Bloom do is set Anita’s story straight, and through her own words and interviews with others humanize Pallenberg forever. It’s a job well done. Here’s hoping a good distributor feels the same way.
The news is not a total shock. She’d been ill for some time. But it’s still heartbreaking. She was one of the most gifted performers of all time. She became a role model for women after leaving her abusive husband, Ike Turner, in the late 1970s, and starting over.
After a huge success with Ike that culminated in their cover version of “Proud Mary,” Tina built a new life and soared the charts with songs like “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” From then on, she was a superstar, selling out arenas, winning dozens of awards, and creating millions of new fans.
The result was a book, “I Tina” and then the movie using the song’s title starring Angela Bassett. They were each huge hits. A signature song, “Simply the Best,” came to characterize her. She was simply the best. She broke every mold. She was inspiration to everyone. Eventually her story became a hit Broadway musical called “Tina: The Musical.” Adrienne Warren won the Tony Award for playing Tina. I was there on opening night when the great Tina — was who was very fragile — was led down the aisle by Oprah Winfrey. Later she appeared on stage to the roar of the adoring crowd.
Like Aretha Franklin before her, Tina Turner will never ever be forgotten.
On Monday night, Maddow ate Sean Hannity’s lunch ratings wise. The MSNBC star rated 2.33 million viewers.
Hannity? Just 1.7 million.
That’s a difference of 600,000 viewers.
Maddow has beaten Hannity in the past, but that was in the throes of the 2020 election when Trump was completely out of control, his lies were pouring in, and Biden was clearly going to win.
This time, it’s different. Hannity’s on the hot seat because of the $787 million Fox News loss to Dominion Voting, as well as rafts of conspiracy theories he’s perpetuated. Hannity also ignores the the daily news subjects, veering off into bewildering fictions.
The other issue is that Hannity has lost his lead in ratings grabber, the other conspiracist, Tucker Carlson. Tucker’s hour has collapsed since he left, reducing Hannity to rubble, so the lead in is wounded. When Hannity hits at 9pm, he’s not cresting in on Tucker’s old numbers.
Fox News is said to be moving Hannity into the 8pm slot now hosted by miscellaneous Fox employees. Will that work for him? He’s in the twilight of his career at this point, so maybe he’ll accept the “family hour” on TV for a year or so until he can gracefully go fishing.
Meantime, CNN has no ratings to speak of since the Trump Town Hall. On Monday while this race was going on, CNN had just 395K viewers at 9pm. The farm report would be a better choice.
No question, hands down, Graydon Carter bested everyone in Cannes party land last night.
The owner and editor in chief of Air Mail put his old magazine, Vanity Fair, to shame with a star studded list of guests at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc.
Carter grabbed the Holy Trinity of stars with Leonardo di Caprio, Martin Scorsese, and Robert De Niro celebrating their huge success with “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Carter co-hosted the party with Warner Discovery owner and chief David Zaslav. The pair welcomed Sting and his activist-actress-stunner wife Trudie Styler, plus Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Lily Rose Depp, Jason Statham and even Boy George turned up!
The sheer star power Carter drew certainly put Vanity Fair on notice. The magazine he edited for two decades threw their own soiree at the Eden Roc on Saturday night and attracted almost no A listers.
But the Warners/Air Mail gala will stand out as the highlight of Cannes 2023.
Other names include John C. Reilly, Paul Dano, famed photographer Brigitte Lacombe, members of the late Grace Kelly’s royal Monaco family, Daphne Guinness, Eva Longoria, director Sam Levinson, and singer Adam Lambert. And they’re are more names coming, I assure you! It was quite a night following the Cannes premiere of Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” opened the Palais to cheers!
You know, a Leo sighting is like a papal blessing on a social event. A couple of nights earlier, Di Caprio attended the Better World Fund gala the Hotel Carlton where he came to support the rainforest. The dinner, given by Akbaraly Foundation, assisted by Amazônia Fund Alliance program co-founder and renowned organizer Thierry Klemeniuk, raised substantial funds and featured indigenous dignitaries who were flown in especially for the lively — and moving — evening. One of the speakers was “Succession” star and filmmaker Fisher Stevens, who attended with his director wife, Alexis Bloom. (More on them coming soon.)
What’s interesting about Leo is that he’s not slouching around in his baseball cap clamped down on hishead. He’s been promoting “Killers of the Flower Moon” with zest probably because he knows how “exceptionalle” it is. He’s going to have a big Fall come award season!
Leo wrote on Instagram:”I was honored to spend time with Sônia Guajajara, Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Célia Xakriabá, Member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, and Lily Gladstone, Actor in Killers of the Flower Moon at the event in Cannes, France to support the Indigenous people leading the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. My organization @rewild and our partners stand with Brazil’s +900,000 Indigenous people from 300 Indigenous groups.”
keep refreshing!
Leonardo Di Caprio with indigenous leaders of Brazel taken by Paul Empson for Amazonia Fund Alliance.
What is up with linear ratings on the HBO home channel for “Succession”?
It’s the most talked about show on television. But the story of the infighting Roy family can’t get more than 780,000 viewers on the channel.
On streaming, (HBO) Max claims around 1 million more. But they’re not showing themselves on the cable box.
“Succession” is better than Emmys. It’s sublime. I know this Sunday’s show will be a blowout.
Meantime, the finale is so hot HBO didnt send out press screeners this week. We’re all going to watch the end together. And start screaming it wasn’t the way we imagined it.
What if cousin Greg gets the company? What if it’s someone we never thought of at all? It’s a 90 minute episode, too. There could be time jumps or flash forwards.
