Friday, December 19, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 525

Ratings: “Saturday Night Live” Gets a Halloween Bounce from Jack Harlow, Tom Hanks, Bobby Moynihan “Drunk Uncle” Returns, So Does Cecily Strong

Roger Friedman
-
0
Ratings: “Saturday Night Live” Gets a Halloween Bounce from Jack Harlow, Tom Hanks, Bobby Moynihan “Drunk Uncle” Returns, So Does Cecily Strong

“Saturday Night Live” picked up around 400,000 viewers on Saturday from the previous week. total viewers were 4.1 million after three weeks lingering around 3.7 million.

Rapper Jack Harlow was the host and musical guest, but wiser heads prevailed. Tom Hanks was brought in as a stealth player, appearing as his popular David S. Pumpkins character.

Also, “SNL” album Bobby Moynihan turned as the Drunk Uncle and stole the show. All of this helped give the currently ailing show a Halloween bounce. (They should really get him to return full time. During Weekend Update, when he called Colin Jost “Seth,” it was a flash of brilliance. )

With all of this help, “SNL” seemed a little better than it had in recent weeks. The added return of Cecily Strong is huge. She is the show’s leading lady. But what they’re lacking is a leading man. When Hanks arrived, that was made obvious. Kenan Thompson is always brilliant comic relief. Mikey Day is also comic first. The show needs a Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, even a Beck Bennett.

Next up: Amy Schumer, who is a Star, whether you like her or not, as host. She will fill a lot of gaps.

Exclusive: See the Painting Legendary Artist David Hockey Created of Clive Davis for National Portrait Gallery

Roger Friedman
-
0
Exclusive: See the Painting Legendary Artist David Hockey Created of Clive Davis for National Portrait Gallery

When the National Portrait Galley of the Smithsonian chose music mogul and legend Clive Davis for their Portrait of a Nation collection this year, they needed a great artist to paint the picture. Davis called upon the amazing 90 year old famed painter, David Hockney. Here’s the fabulous result. This is quite stunning. Davis spent several days at Hockney’s studio in the UK last winter. Hockney was already a fan–he’s attended Clive’s pre-Grammy galas as the guest of another mutual friend, Joni Mitchell. Bravo!

On November 12th, all the portraits will be unveiled in Washington. Other honorees, include José Andrés,  Ava DuVernay, Marian Wright Edelman   Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Serena Williams    and
Venus Williams. The other exceptional artists included are Hugo Crosthwaite, Kenturah Davis, Kadir Nelson, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Robert Pruitt, and the Premiere of a Newly Acquired Photograph by Ruven Afanador.

None other than the dazzling Alicia Keys will present Clive with his portrait at the Smithsonian Event. Keys’s entire career was launched by Davis at his J Records in 2000, and the pair have remained close ever since. Alicia was just the surprise opening act at that the unveiling of David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center last week.

Here’s a video from the Smithsonian about the whole project:

Revealed: Matthew Perry Says His Parents Gave Him Phenobarbital in the First Two Months of His Life to Knock Him Out

Roger Friedman
-
0
Revealed: Matthew Perry Says His Parents Gave Him Phenobarbital in the First Two Months of His Life to Knock Him Out

So “Friends” star Matthew Perry’s book is out. We’ve heard a lot about his drug and alcohol addiction but given no reasons for it. He just had it. Diane Sawyer didn’t ask why– she was too busy talking.

Turns out, he writes, his parents gave him barbiturates to put him to sleep. As a baby. To put him to sleep. In his first month of life. Got that? Father was an actor and a model. Mother worked for Pierre Trudeau. They were not hillbillies. And yet…He makes one mistake in the first sentence following here. He didn’t take phenobarital. He was given it, by adults.

Did they create his drug addiction?

He writes:

“I’m told I took phenobarbital during the second month of my life, between the ages of thirty and sixty days. This is an important time in a baby’s development, especially when it comes to sleeping. (Fifty years later I still don’t sleep well.) Once the barbiturate was on board, I would just conk out. Apparently, I’d be crying, and the drug would hit, and I’d be knocked out, and this would cause my father to erupt in laughter. He wasn’t being cruel; stoned babies are funny.”

By the way he’s very charitable to these young parents. He says:

“I want to be very clear on this point. I do NOT blame my parents for this. Your child is crying all the time, clearly something is wrong, the doctor prescribes a drug, he’s not the only doctor who thinks it’s a good idea, you give the drug to the child, the child stops crying. It was a different time.”

Nevertheless:

“There are baby pictures of me where you can tell I’m just completely fucking zonked, nodding like an addict at the age of seven weeks. Which is oddly appropriate for a kid born the day after Woodstock ended, I guess. I was being needy; I was not the cute smiling baby everyone was hoping for. I’ll just take this and shut the fuck up. Ironically, barbiturates and I have had a very strange relationship over the years. People would be surprised to know that I have mostly been sober since 2001. Save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps over the years.

“When these mishaps occur, if you want to be sober, which I always did, you’d be given drugs to help you along. What drug may you ask? You guessed it: phenobarbital! Barbiturates calm you down as you try to get “whatever other shit is in your body out; and hey, I started taking one at thirty days old, so as an adult I just picked up where I’d left off. When I’m at a detox, I’m very needy and uncomfortable—I’m sorry to say I’m the worst patient in the world.”

Guillermo del Toro Speaks About “Pinocchio”: “Nobody in this goddam movie is cool or hip.  We went for humanity, pain, memory and loss”

Leah Sydney
-
0
Guillermo del Toro Speaks About “Pinocchio”: “Nobody in this goddam movie is cool or hip.  We went for humanity, pain, memory and loss”

Guillermo del Toro sure has his fans and they showed him their enthusiastic cinematic love at the first LA screening this past week of his stop-motion adaptation of “Pinocchio.” The screening was at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills and played to a rapturous, packed house for the final day of the fifth edition of Animation is Film Festival.

After being introduced by Festival director, Matt Kaszanek, del Toro explained his film’s arduous journey.  “What you are about to see we started 15 years ago.  Around 2006 we started to talk about this movie, in 2008 we were full on.  Little by little, we got the thing that you get most in Hollywood, which is no! We got that no again and again. 

‘My feeling is that every time you have the opportunity to do a movie, you shouldn’t waste that opportunity by doing something that anyone has tried before. It’s a privilege that you’ll never know if you are going to make another movie.  I never know, I guarantee you that.  The whole team went for this, we never wavered.  This film took this long because we wanted to push the thematical, emotional and performance animation to a place that we hoped that would be helpful in moving the bar. 

“Why am I saying this?  Because animation is not a genre for kids.  We know that.  People ask me if this is for kids. I say no, but kids can watch it if their parents talk to them.  It’s not a homogenized, pasteurized yogurt that they can consume immediately.  It’s time to break with the crap that much of animation has been. We tried to rebel against cool and hip.  Nobody in this goddam movie is cool or hip.  We went for humanity, pain, memory and loss. We tried to tackle themes that hurt.  But this movie also has the largest beating and loving heart possible. 

“For me this movie is a huge hug to the world.  We need it.  We need love and empathy and to see each other.  In the world there is pain, and when we make stories, we have to account for that pain.  we embarked on this thinking we can deliver something beautiful.  When we animate the ordinary, it will be extraordinary.” 

Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” is a soulful, whimsical, dark and heartbreakingly exquisite take on the classic tale.  His stop motion breathes brilliant poignant life into rotten wood.  The actors providing the voices including Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, John Turturro and the rest are all superb.  Alexandre Desplat’s score and songs, many co-written by del Toro himself, are equally buoyant and heart wrenching.  The films perfection shines a luminous light on the imperfect.  Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” is a magical masterpiece. 

Netflix will release “Pinocchio” in theaters this November before it hits Netflix in December.

The Beatles’ “Revolver” is Number 1, 2, 7, and 8 on Amazon For a Reason: It’s Brilliant

Roger Friedman
-
0
The Beatles’ “Revolver” is Number 1, 2, 7, and 8 on Amazon For a Reason: It’s Brilliant

Yes, “Revolver” is back. It’s past the 50th anniversary of 1966, but the Beatles put out so much classic, amazing music in such a short time that they couldn’t get all the 50th reissues out fast enough.

Well, we had the remixed number 1s, the 50th of “Sgt Pepper,” the White Album, “Abbey Road,” and “Let it Be” with the ‘Get Back’ documentary. All that’s left really is “Revolver,” and the album that preceded it, “Rubber Soul.”

Currently, “Revolver” Super Deluxe is holding down the number 1, 2, 7, and 8 positions on Amazon’s best seller list. There’s a very good reason.

For some, “Revolver” is even more sacrosanct than “Sgt. Pepper.” Going back to it now is a blessing. Even going back to the 2009 remaster of “Rubber Soul” is very enlightening. The Beatles had finally gotten some control over US vs UK albums, straightened out running orders, etc. — although some “Revolver” tracks were issued early on the US “Yesterday and Today” butcher baby album. Alas.

Of course, everything was remastered in the 2009 black box set plus the white Mono box, and the US albums. It’s all piling up.

The glories of the new “Revolver” set exist in the two demo CDs. There’s also a remixed version of the album — spectacular sound — and a new mono disc. Their sound is so good they made my phone glow on Spotify.

But the revelations are in the demos. There was a lot made in the press last week about the plaintive, folky version of “Yellow Submarine,” which is fine. But I am more obsessed with the evolution of songs like “Got to Get You into My Life” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” Plus, I’m sorry, listening to the instrumental track for “Paperback Writer,” I hear bits of “Jumping Jack Flash” very clearly. Is it a coincidence Mick Jagger visited the Beatles in the studio? No. And two years later came Jumping Jack.

Giles Martin used Peter Jackson’s music process as he and Sam Okell put this all together. They have turned Beatles remixing into a transcendent art. They’ve done as much as humanly possible to make the Beatles bright and shiny for future generations. Even if the 2009 remasters were enough for you, the attention and love these guys have given the whole catalog is more than commendable. I now wait for the final piece of this puzzle– “Rubber Soul.” The whole thing has been a blessing.

What these Beatles did in just seven or eight years continues to be mind blowing. There was magic in the air, the hand of God was involved, it’s not normal, none of it. The more you listen, the more the mixes and demos illustrate the genius that just grows deeper and richer by the year.

Oh yes, and there’s also the iconic Klaus Voormann cover.

Billboard Says Taylor Swift Has All Top 10 Singles, But Actual Sales Total is Sadly Anemic

Roger Friedman
-
0
Billboard Says Taylor Swift Has All Top 10 Singles, But Actual Sales Total is Sadly Anemic

Billboard is all excited. They’ve awarded the entire top 10 singles to Taylor Swift. It’s the first time one artist has had all of the top 10.

But it’s a sad victory. The total sales for the 10 singles comes to fewer than 70,000. Yes, lots of streaming. But when they count all streaming, sales, and airplay, it’s nothing.

It used to be, not that long ago, that singles would sell a million copies in one week. Not anymore. The record business is so hobbled, and has changed so much, that total sales of 21,400 is all you need.

That single, called “Question???,” only made number 7 because Billboard used streaming numbers to determine number 1. That distinction went to “Anti-Hero,” which only had sales of 13,400.

In the great chart days, the Beatles had the top 5 singles. Sales then were well over 70,000.

Well, it’s a great PR stunt on behalf of Billboard and Swift, and it will get her into some book of records. But not a Book of Records.

Bruce Springsteen Tells Howard Stern He’ll Never Retire Unless He’s Incapacitated: “I Can Do the Broadway Show Forever,” Reveals He Was with Clarence Clemons When He Died

Roger Friedman
-
0
Bruce Springsteen Tells Howard Stern He’ll Never Retire Unless He’s Incapacitated: “I Can Do the Broadway Show Forever,” Reveals He Was with Clarence Clemons When He Died

This morning Howard Stern has had an extraordinary interview with Bruce Springsteen, just perfect.

Bruce tells Howard that he’ll never retired “unless I’m incapacitated.” Springsteen says he can his Broadway show “forever,” and that he has enough “different kinds of music” that will allow him to keep going even if not in stadiums.

Springsteen said he was “very lucky” that his songs “Fire,” “Blinded by the Light.” and “Because the Night” were covered by the Pointer Sisters, Manfred Mann, Patti Smith, because “they weren’t going to be hits for me.” He told Stern when David Bowie recorded two of his songs a famous Philly studio, Bruce took the bus from Asbury Park to Philadelphia to hear him do it.

Bruce tells Howard that he was with Clarence Clemons when he died. Clarence was in a coma, and dying from cancer. Bruce played “Land of Hope and Dreams” on his guitar in Clarence’s room. “His brother was there, his nephew Jake and a few other people. It was just a tiny little space…”

During the Stern hour or so, Bruce played several songs live. He called “Tougher than the Rest,” which he performs live usually with wife Patti Scialfa, his best love song. He also cited Clive Davis for prodding him to write “Spirit in the Night” and “Blinded by the Light.” He played parts of “Rosalita” and talked about the real life mother who tried to get a restraining order against him when she was just 15. “And I was the most mild mannered 15 year old ever,” Bruce said. He played “It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City” for Stern, remembering how he auditioned for John Hammond at CBS Records. “I was homeless,” he said, “living in a sleeping bag on my buddy’s floor.”

Springsteen also talks a lot about depression and love. He did a lot of therapy. He called his first divorce “devastating.” He said that he had to do the work to learn how to be loved. “You’ve got to take your ass there, and your mind will follow.” He adds:
Patti and I were both outsiders.”

Bruce is playing an acoustic version of “Born to Run” on his guitar. It’s sensational, of course.

Springsteen is recording a new album at home right now, sounds like another album of covers.

Amazing interview which you can listen to on SiriusXM, even on their app not just in the car!

keep refreshing…

Review: Oscar Buzzed Danielle Deadwyler as Emmett Till’s Mother in “Till” is a Powerhouse for the Ages

Leah Sydney
-
0
Review: Oscar Buzzed Danielle Deadwyler as Emmett Till’s Mother in “Till” is a Powerhouse for the Ages

Dame Helen Mirren introduced the film “Till” this past Friday night at CAA. Headquarters. In her most regal way she emoted to the packed crowd that, “I watched the film last night and it obviously it is still with me in the most profound way. “Till” will be with me for the rest of my life.“ “

Till” which is now in theaters, tells the story of the 1955 lynching of 14 year old Emmett Till in Mississippi and the actions of his devoted mother Mamie Till Mobley played by the amazing Danielle Deadwyler. Her bravery and courage literally galvanized the modern civil rights movement.

“Till” is out in theaters now is engrossing, enraging, heart wrenching, added to that an awards worthy masterful performance from Danielle Deadwyler and Mirren is right, it will stay with you. Our friend Pete Hammond moderated the Q & A after the screening. Director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu explained that “this was an opportunity to center her for her rightful place in history. For without Mamie Till Mobley the world wouldn’t have known who Emmett Till was. Black women are so often erased in general, but especially from history. I felt this was way to correct and/or challenge that.”

The film does not focus on the brutality of the act but rather what Mamie did to avenge her son. (Think of this: we are still talking about Emmett Till today in 2022.) Chukwu went on to say that, “The film I always wanted to make is essentially a character study, about Mamie’s emotional journey and perspective, her origin story of how she became the catalyst for the modern American civil rights movement. I also wanted this film to be a love story between a mother and her child. And not showing the physical violence in this film is a way that I show care for the story for the audiences and for myself.”

Deadwyler said of her journey to the role that, “It was a nerve wrecking thing, a slow process. I read the script in thirds. It takes that kind of reverence and that kind of intentional consideration because it is that significant. Because I have known this event; this horror for the bulk of my life. I considered that in my personal DNA. We wanted to mine the truth of her experience, the public and private nature of this black woman’s life.”

Well Chinonye and Danielle and team most certainly did that and their efforts will surely garner awards kudos. Whoopi Goldberg, also a producer on the film, is terrific as Emmett’s grandmother, as well as Jalyn Hall as Emmett, Frankie Faison as his grandfather and the rest of the cast. Mamie’s activism and defiance along with her vulnerability and strength and her profound grief and love for her son, most definitely makes “Till” powerhouse viewing.

United Artists Will Kill “Till,” Their 2023 Oscar Release, Despite Great Reviews No Business

Roger Friedman
-
0
United Artists Will Kill “Till,” Their 2023 Oscar Release, Despite Great Reviews No Business

I’ve never seen the movie, “Till.” The people who run publicity at United Artists Releasing have never offered to show it to me. I haven’t had time to get to a theater yet, but our Leah Sydney loved it, and reviewed it. (See her review here.)

Danielle Deadwyler has received universal acclaim for playing Emmett Till’s mother. But that won’t matter if UAR can’t communicate this film to Academy members and critics. Last year they blew a whole slate of films, from “Respect” to “House of Gucci” to “Licorice Pizza.” They have no idea what they’re doing, and they keep doing it.

“Till” is playing in over 2,000 theaters. This past weekend it made only $2.8 million. The total after 3 weeks is just $3.6 million. UAR will kill “Till.” That seems to be their goal. What a mess. PS The movie is directed by Chinonye Chukwu, who directed a wonderful small film a couple of years ago called “Clemency,” starring Alfre Woodard. She should be pretty upset.

More: Kanye West Calls Instagram Owner Mark Zuckerberg “Masa,” Says Must Get Contracts Fair or “Die Trying”

Roger Friedman
-
0
More: Kanye West Calls Instagram Owner Mark Zuckerberg “Masa,” Says Must Get Contracts Fair or “Die Trying”

At about 7:20pm tonight Kanye West posted to Instagram (italics are mine):
The entire entertainment business changes noooooowwww on Donda in Jesus name #lovespeech I was told to remove a word from this post and I did Please oh please masa Zuckerberg Don’t cancel my wittle black voice of opinion I know I don’t say everything #redmedia forces people to think feel and say My shadow banned instagram is all I got left

West is mocking, not seeking contrition. He is completely panicked and rightly so. Someone in his camp has to reach him. He attaches a text message with someone who suggest he leave the US to calm things down. West writes: “I’m staying in America. I gotta get the Jewish business people to make the contracts fair. Or die trying.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ye (@kanyewest)

1...524525526...2,323Page 525 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com