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Legendary Borscht Belt Comic Freddie Roman, 85, Dies, The Last of a Great Generation of Jewish Humor

Roger Friedman
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Legendary Borscht Belt Comic Freddie Roman, 85, Dies, The Last of a Great Generation of Jewish Humor

Alan King, Don Rickles, Jackie Mason, Shecky Greene. They were among the legendary giants of Borscht belt Jewish humor. What was the Borscht belt? It was the group of hotels and clubs in the Catskills to which Jews flocked in the 50s and 60s.

These comedians were so funny they spilled out onto The Ed Sullivan Show. Some went on to even bigger things. Others remained tied to their core audience. The greatest of these guys was Freddie Roman. He’s been ill for a long time, living in Florida. On Saturday he died at age 85.

Freddie worked the circuit of clubs, events, and so on. He was a beloved act in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. He also picked up the torch at the Friars Club when Alan King died and served two terms as Dean. (That Friars Club is now a memory, it’s dead. People keep asking me, and I can tell you, it’s gone.) Freddie was a toastmaster, a genial presence who unlike Rickles didn’t insult anyone. His jokes just hit home and you loved him for it.

Freddie conceived and wrote a hit Broadway show, “Catskills on Broadway,” that played 453 performances from 1991-93. The audiences couldn’t get enough of it and the show cemented Roman’s place in comic history.

Here’s the thing about Freddie Roman. You could call him at home and book a date. He was a mensch, always accessible. God bless him. I’m sure he’s already doing shtick with Alan King, and asking for lean pastrami at the Carnegie Deli in the sky. Freddie, you were a treasure and you will be missed.

Leonardo DiCaprio Visits Famed Soho Restaurant in Clamped Down Baseball Cap But Everyone Knew It Was Him

Roger Friedman
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Leonardo DiCaprio Visits Famed Soho Restaurant in Clamped Down Baseball Cap But Everyone Knew It Was Him

Balthazar restaurant owner Keith McNally is famous for his candid Instagram posts. A few days ago he reprinted his manager’s report from the great Soho eatery. Leonardo DiCaprio came in with his manager (maybe Rick Yorn) with his trademark baseball cap clamped down on his head so he could be incognito. But everyone recognizes him, the hat draws more attention. Here’s the report. And below, a photo of Leo at Martin Scorsese’s 80th birthday party from last week. Scorsese’s daughter Francesca, also celebrating a birthday, posted a pic of Leo and also one of herself Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie.

The report:

“One of the highlights of the day today was that Leonardo DiCaprio came in as a walk-in today just after we finished brunch service. His agent checked him in at the door and I seated him and his guest for transition on table 61. He came in disguise with a mask and a baseball cap. Despite being incognito, he was still very recognizable. Especially by starstruck guests. Some of the staff including me (I’m embarrassed to say!), wanted to do something VERY SPECIAL for Leonardo, but you were quite adamant that we do Absolutely Nothing for him, so we didn’t. Which is kind of a pity, but you’re boss. (FOR NOW!) Just joking!”

Box Office: “Wakanda” Business Booming with No Competition as Most Everything Else Falls

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Wakanda” Business Booming with No Competition as Most Everything Else Falls

Friday’s box office laid out a path to glory for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Steaming past $300 mil domestically, “WF” was actually up 1% over last Friday. Nature abhors a vacuum and that’s what we’ve got since Hollywood is offering nothing for counter programming.

The only movie that would fit that bill is the George Clooney-Julia Roberts romcom, “Ticket to Paradise.” An unlikely hit, the travelogue is up around $65 million despite being available on video on demand. Not bad!

But everything else, all the small movies that would be part of awards talk, have failed. Universal has had a bad time with “Tar,” ” She Said,” and “Armageddon Time” — the latter made just a million bucks and is already out of circulation. Disney’s “Strange World” is doing no business, and the cannibal movie, “Bones and All,” is probably causing some executives to be chewed out.

Two successes, though: “The Fabelmans” went up to 600 theaters and hit its numbers. And “The Menu” from Searchlight is a hit.

keep refreshing…

RIP Irene Cara, 63, Grammy and Oscar Winning Singer of Two Iconic Hits, “Flashdance” and “Fame” of the 1980s

Roger Friedman
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RIP Irene Cara, 63, Grammy and Oscar Winning Singer of Two Iconic Hits, “Flashdance” and “Fame” of the 1980s

Irene Cara has died at age 63 in Miami. Cara rose to fame quickly with the Alan Parker movie, “Fame.” She sang the theme song, which became a massive hit that has lived on and on for over 40 years. Lightning struck twice when she recorded the theme to “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” which became an even bigger hit soon after and is still played every day. For that song, Cara won an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe.

Cara co-wrote the lyrics to “Flashdance” with famed producer Giorgio Moroder and drummer Keith Forsey. For a couple of years after, Cara had minor hits, but her chart days were over by 1985.

But Cara didn’t write “Fame” so there was not much money in it for her beyond the initial sales of the records. With “Flashdance,” she split the writing credit three ways. When “Fame” and “Flashdance” are heard on the radio, only the writers get paid. For commercials she would have been paid a small fee if anything. And that made her career an uphill battle. Legislation is constantly being proposed to get performers their royalties. Imagine what her life would have been like if that had been the case.

Rest in peace.

RIP The Great Charles Koppelman, 82, Legendary Music Man, Once Managed Michael Jackson, Oversaw Prince’s Estate

Roger Friedman
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RIP The Great Charles Koppelman, 82, Legendary Music Man, Once Managed Michael Jackson, Oversaw Prince’s Estate

I am so sorry to hear of the death of the great Charles Koppelman. He was one of the true stars of the music industry, a mogul who shunned the spotlight but had a great impact on the culture. My condolences to his family including son Brian, who writes and produces “Billions,” daughters Jennifer Hutt and Stacy Koppelman Fritz.

You will see long obits for Charles because he started out in the era of the Brill Building as a writer-producer-publisher. Eventually in the mid 70s he became a huge publisher through his firm. The Entertainment Company, in which he partnered with Marty Bandier (late the CEO of Sony Music Publishing). The Entertainment Company logo was printed on dozens of hits at Columbia Records including Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer’s “Enough Is Enough.”

Let me jump ahead here. In the late 80s Charles’s wife, Bunny, heard Phoebe Snow singing what became an iconic Bloomingdale’s commercial on TV. Phoebe’s career had been in a lull for some time. Charles had started SBK Records with Bandier, and signed her up. The result was a comeback album called “Something Real.” SBK also piled on hits from plenty of other artists including Smokey Robinson and Boy George. The publishing side of the business was so successful that they sold SBK Entertainment to EMI for $300 million (SBK had been formed from the ashes of what was then called CBS Songs).

Charles was a music publishing visionary and so respected that when Michael Jackson ran into real trouble in the early 2000s, he chose Koppelman to co-manage him. Koppelman and his partner, Al Malnik, almost rescued Jackson until he was conned by brother Randy and the Nation of Islam into a convoluted deal. But it was Charles who helped me navigate Michael’s business dealings in those days and I will always be grateful to him. Years later Charles also helped manage Prince’s interests. He also at different times ran Steve Madden’s shoe business when he was in jail and Martha Stewart’s Omnimedia.

Charles Koppelman was one of the great gentlemen of the music business, and he will be sorely missed.

Jennifer Lopez is Releasing a New Album in 2023 Whether You Like it Or Not

Roger Friedman
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Jennifer Lopez is Releasing a New Album in 2023 Whether You Like it Or Not

Jennifer Lopez, aka JLo, won’t get the message. She’s a great dancer, an ok actress, but recording star?

Her last album, released in 2014, sold just 81,000 copies. That should have been a sign.

But no, JLo persists. She announced today she will release a new album in 2023 called “This is Me…Now.” So get ready.

“This is Me…Now” will be released on LA Reid’s Hitco Records, possible via Warner Music. The announcement today comes exactly 20 years after her last actual hit album, “This is Me…Then.” Since then she’s recorded several albums that have sold an average of about 250,000 copies apiece or less.

Lopez is not a great singer. On TV shows, at least, she’s famous for lip synching. On records, she’s often been accused of mixing her voice with other singers to make it sound better. That was certainly the case years ago when Ashanti was her singer on “I’m Real,” her big hit with Ja Rule.

There’s a tracklist of upcoming songs, but no credits yet (they will all have Lopez as co-writer, don’t worry). One of them is called “Letter to Ben,” because the marriage to Ben Affleck must be exploited in some way.

Brace yourselves…

Stop the Presses! Netflix Reports Box Office Grosses for Second Time Ever! “Glass Onion” a Hit in Very Small Release

Roger Friedman
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Stop the Presses! Netflix Reports Box Office Grosses for Second Time Ever! “Glass Onion” a Hit in Very Small Release

I just did a spit take. Netflix has reported box office grosses, maybe for the first time ever. (No , it’s the second time. The first was a move no one ever heard of called “After Ever Happy.” It made $900K in the US and $12 million internationally.)

I guess they’re happy that “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” has made $3.88 million in two days. The film is playing for one week in 600 theaters.

This is the equivalent of a press release from the Kremlin, or Kim Jong Un reporting how many enemies and family members he killed over the weekend. Amazing.

Reports from theaters show that “Glass Onion” showings are at least 80% full. My advice: as long as you’re in the theater, go see “The Fabelmans.” That’s how I saw these two movies in Toronto, back to back, and it was an excellent double feature!

Box Office Carnage for Timothee Chalamet Cannibal Movie: Audience Finds ChompCom Indigestible for Holidays

Roger Friedman
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Box Office Carnage for Timothee Chalamet Cannibal Movie: Audience Finds ChompCom Indigestible for Holidays

FRIDAY UPDATE: Thanksgiving diners found the movie indigestible. Dropped a whopping 53%, took in only $430,000 on Thursday.

EARLIER: “Bones and All” is dead at the box office.

Did I say in my review that Timothee Chalamet reveals in the film that he killed and ate his own father? Spoiler alert. At that point, you’ll be wretching.

“Bones and All” expanded on Wednesday to 2,727 theaters and made just $921,168. The total for six days in release is now just over $1 million. This movie is dead. The audience couldn’t swallow it without retching.

What could have been clever is so off putting there’s no place for “Bones and All” to go. Strange that cannibalism was so “in” this year. Another film, “Fresh,” starring Sebastian Stan, was just as disgusting if not more so. I’d say they’re tied. No one wants to sit in a theater and see people munching away on human flesh, fake blood flying, bones crunching, etc.

What are Mark Rylance and Michael Stuhlbarg doing in this movie? It couldn’t have been a payday.

Kanye West Posts 19th Nervous Breakdown: Voices Support for White Supremacist Nick Fuentes, Says Trump Severely Denigrated Kim Kardashian in Meeting, Asked Trump Why He Didn’t Free J6 Rioters?

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Posts 19th Nervous Breakdown: Voices Support for White Supremacist Nick Fuentes, Says Trump Severely Denigrated Kim Kardashian in Meeting, Asked Trump Why He Didn’t Free J6 Rioters?

Kanye West’s Thanksgiving Tweets are part of his 19th nervous breakdown. Now pushing his “Ye 2024” presidential run, Kanye posted one Tweet claiming Adidas has frozen his accounts and is suing him for $275 million.

West can be seen in the video below voicing support for white supremacist Nick Fuentes, calling him a “loyalist,” saying Trump really likes him. (Fuentes has suggested in videos that the Army just go in and kill all the Blacks.)

West says in the video when he met with Trump he said, “Why when you had the chance didn’t you free the January 6th-ers?”

In the other Tweet Kanye recalls to a toadie his meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Kanye says Trump told him not to run for president because he will lose. He also called Kim Kardashian a name that had to be bleeped from the video. West responded, “Hey, that’s the mother of my children.”

From this video, it appears Kanye wants some kind of approbation from Trump, who he even offered his running mate position to as a peace offering.

Here are two of the Tweets. There’s a third one issued in the last hour that includes a clip from Tucker Carlson. I can’t post it because I can’t stand Carlson, but you can find it if it’s important to you.

What’s clear is that Kanye West is going down in flames. No one can stop him from self destructing. If he weren’t an anti-semite racist you might feel sorry for him. He’s clickbait but soon things are going to be much worse for him.

Bruce Springsteen Calls R&B Legend Sam Moore “The Greatest Living Soul Singer Right Now” on Seth Meyers

Roger Friedman
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Bruce Springsteen Calls R&B Legend Sam Moore “The Greatest Living Soul Singer Right Now” on Seth Meyers

R&B legend and Rock Hall of Famer Sam Moore is featured on Bruce Springsteen’s new album. Last night Bruce sang Sam’s praises on Seth Meyers. See the video below, you can find those comments beginning at 4:34.

This Thanksgiving I give thanks for a lot of things, but also to Bruce for saying all these wonderful things. Sam & Dave were forgotten for a bit in the mid to late 70s after having such massive hits in the 1960s. “The Blues Brothers” brought them back, but Sam Moore didn’t get the proper recognition as a solo singer until later on. He’s since sung for all the living presidents and has been a regular at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Sam sang on Bruce’s “Human Touch” album and is also featured on various live performances. Bruce guest starred in 2006 on Sam’s “Overnight Sensational” album. Their friendship has been long and fruitful.

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