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Rushdie was once under an Iranian “fatwa” for his novel, The Satanic Verses. He always had security with him for public appearances in case a crazy person attempted something like this. It’s unclear if his attacker was motivated by religious zealotry or was just violent and insane.
JUST IN: Author Salman Rushdie’s alleged attacker has been identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, officials say. Rushdie was stabbed “at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.” https://t.co/TML9Ty3QS0pic.twitter.com/3W3xcZtZUs
I first saw Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe perform together at Boston’s Orpheum Theater in 1978, Mink Deville was also on the bill. At time, Lowe was producing Elvis’s albums– he’d go on to do quite a few– and his own hit record, “Pure Pop for Now People” –titled “Jesus of Cool” everywhere but America.
Last night the pair reunited under a magical full moon at Pier 17’s rooftop venue at the South Street Seaport. (May I say that I’ve never encountered as friendly a staff as the one at Pier 17? They seem to be on happy pills.)
I think the only other time I saw Elvis and Nick together was in 1989 at CW Post College on Long Island. So it’s been a while. (I was in grade school and had to get up early!)
These guys are not kids anymore. Lowe is 73 and sporting a full wavy head of gray hair. Costello turns 68 later this month. Costello’s band, the Imposters (formerly the Attractions) are his contemporaries. Additionally, Costello is promoting an EP of six songs with his teenage bandmate from 1972, Alan Mayes, who’s English but lives in Austin, Texas and plays the bar circuit there.
So it was a night of reunions, young men who have aged into fine musicians, showing off skills that are almost as lost as scriveners’ penmanship or competition kite flying.
Lowe and his group (oddly masked, not for COVID, don’t know why) Los Straitjackets turned in a relaxed but enthusiastic set that included some of his nicest songs. “Cruel to Be Kind,” a song I heard in 1978 faster and poppier, has taken on a kind of elegance. “You Inspire Me,” from a later period, remains a stunning ballad. Where Lowe was once “the Basher,” meaning he thrashed his guitar to make power pop, he’s now more comfortable almost as a crooner. (Oh, for his rockabiliy days with Dave Edmunds as Rockpile!)
Costello and his gang — Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher, plus their ringer, so to speak, Texas guitarist Charlie Sexton — are indefatigable. They handle punk, new wave, jazz, country and R&B without missing a beat. Newer songs like “Hetty O’Hara Confidential” continue to grow in richness. Somehow they also find nuances in “Watching the Detectives” that expose what we couldn’t get in 1977 when it was released, the underpinnings of all those genres. And the Raymond Chandler riff — “She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake” — is still pungent.
Costello has added Nicole Atkins, a terrifically talented female vocalist to his latest album, “The Boy Named If.” Her voice recalls Carlene Carter combined with Bonnie Raitt. When they sang a duet called “Still Too Soon to Know,” the audience, not knowing that well — an obscure track from the 1994 album, “Brutal Youth” — and waiting for a greatest hit. was swooped up by the emotion.
The show was punctuated by Lowe returning for duets on “Indoor Fireworks” and his own “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding” the latter was much more deliberate and detailed than Costello’s usual pounding reverie. I missed the trademark drum thunder, but this version served Lowe well since he is the actual author.
Mayes also made an appearance as Costello is over the moon about their reunion. They sang two Nick Lowe songs from their EP, “Surrender to the Rhythm” (a catchy precursor to Lowe’s later standard, “So It Goes”) and a very Poco-esque number called “I’m Ahead If I Can Quit While I’m Behind“that kind of captures Lowe’s love of country music and the irony of clever lyrics.
There were no songs from Costello’s Grammy winning masterpiece, “Look Now,” or his all time great album, “Imperial Bedroom.” He such a big, deep catalog that if you want to hear songs like “All This Useless Beauty” or a favorite rocker like “Clubland,” you;ve got to find it for yourself. Luckily he’ll return next February for 10 shows at the Gramercy Theater, where he promises to play 200 different songs.
In the meantime, don’t miss this chapter in the long, brilliant Costello saga.
Was Eric Adams preparing for a day dealing with murder, homelessness, a failed economy? Was he persuading commercial landlords to lower their prices so retail stores would return to the city? Was dealing with a homeless drunk woman defecating on a Greenwich Village stoop? (I was, thanks, Eric.)
No, Eric Adams was partying hard at 1 am this morning at a place called Bar 13. It’s a multilevel lounge on East 13th St. and University Place where young people go to dance and date. (Is he married? I’m a little unclear about that.)
Bar 13 features reggae on one floor, rap on another, and last night a private birthday party on the 3rd floor. And that’s where Swaggering Eric had his picture taken. He’s wearing a track suit, just like Ed Koch, Mike Bloomberg, and John Lindsay used to do when they were out clubbing at 1am.
We are in a lot of trouble. PS I’m sure that’s a cup of water in his hand.
Cinematic icon and long time animal activist Diane Keaton got her hands and feet cemented in the forecourt of the famed TCL Chinese Theater Thursday morning. The 1978 Oscar winner for Best Actress in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.” Keaton currently is seen in the film “Mack & Rita” and is reuniting with her “Book Club” pals Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen for “Book Club 2-The Next Chapter” which will be open Mother’s Day Weekend in May, 2023.
Keaton, accompanied by her children — son Duke, 22, and daughter, Dexter, 27– was effervescent even in the blazing hot sun. And, of course, Diane was still ever the fashionista in black and white with a black hat, carefully taking off her shoes which she quipped were “too expensive to get dirty” showing her way cool polka dot black and beige socks. Diane joked about the oppressive heat, but then true to form, she gamely dunked her feet in the famed, famous cement.
Keaton is a long time animal activist. She’s on the board of the Social Compassion In Legislation, aka SCIL, which promotes legislation to protect animals. She’s needed now more than ever following the collapse and beating in NYC this week of carriage horse Ryder. Ryder collapsed from the oppressive heat, was beaten by his driver, all the while being filmed and yelled at by passersby.
The video of the incident has gone viral, sparking outrage. Animal advocates have long called for the horses, whom they rightly say have been suffering for years, be replaced with electronic vehicles. Mayor Eric Adams has said he does not support a carriage ban. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio had said he would ban it but never came through on his promise. The video is trending and Kendall Jenner, with her 253 million followers on Instagram, just ramped up the furor with her post.
Jenner is not the first celebrity to point out the issues of horse carriages in New York. Many years ago, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger protested the continued use of horses dragging tourists around in extreme heat and cold. For a long time this column was ambivalent about the horses as long as they were well cared for. But time has passed, and this incident with Ryder is the breaking point. It’s time to retire the Central Park horses, put them out to pasture, and stop abusing them as playthings for tourists. There is no actual New Yorker who takes those infernal carriage rides anyway. It’s time to put this to an end.
I am heartbroken for Anne Heche and her children. Her publicist says she is not expected to survive the terrible car crash and subsequent fire that put her in a coma with massive burns.
The statement: “Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive.”
However Heche wound up in the accident — it looks now like she had cocaine and fentanyl in her system — her death will be tragic. She’s an enormously talented actress with a big heart and a lot of courage. She just lived her life the way she wanted. She’s also the mother of two sons who will be bereft without her.
This is a tough one. I’ve known John Eastman a long time. He was one of the smartest, kindest, and best people I met over the years covering the music business. He died on Tuesday at age 83 after a short fight with pancreatic cancer.
John was the brother of Linda Eastman McCartney, Paul’s first and famous wife. His father, Lee, was something of a genius and he groomed John to take over as lawyer and consigliere for Paul. John steered Paul through the Beatles’ break up, his solo career, and all the Beatles ventures that have come through the years.
It was John Eastman who welcomed me as a reporter, and explained a lot of what was going on to keep it all in focus. But John was also a great family man, low key, soft spoken and often compared to Robert Redford in looks.
Paul posted a tribute to John on social media, which is below. He wrote: “Words can hardly describe his passion for life and our affection for this amazing man.” My condolences to John’s family and his enormous circle of friends. May his memory be a blessing.
PS One of John Eastman’s great achievements was rescuing Billy Joel from legal trouble. Here’s a link.
My dear brother-in-law, John Eastman, has passed away. Having known each other for over 50 years it is an extremely sad time for me, and our families.
John was a great man. One of the nicest and smartest people I have had the good luck to have known in my life. pic.twitter.com/Zgjkpa4H2b
This is to update my earlier story from last night.
Sources tell me no money was exchanged in the settlement of the class action law suit brought by fans who didn’t believe Michael Jackson sang the vocals on “the Cascio songs.”
These were songs recorded by Michael in the summer of 2007 at the home of his friends, the Cascios, in New Jersey. Eddie Cascio and his friend James Porte wrote and recorded the songs with Porte’s vocals. Then when Michael and his family came to visit the Cascios, Michael re-recorded the lead vocals.
A few ardent fans who resented the Cascios refused to believe Michael recorded the vocals, and sued the Estate. Vocal experts testified that it was Michael’s voice. Michael’s manager, Frank DiLeo, also believed it, and so did most of the inner circle. But the fans persisted, and poisoned the release of an album containing three of the songs.
Now the Estate has settled the lawsuit to get rid of it. I’m told no one money was paid to the fans. Their satisfaction was realized in having the three songs removed streaming services. It’s unclear if the songs can be removed from the existing CDs of “Michael.” Also, there are at least seven other recordings. I’m glad I heard them back in 2010, when I first announced their existence. For other Michael Jackson fans, their censoring is unfortunate. A few people who manipulated the system have denied the larger Jackson fan base to decide on their own.
Metallica, Charlie Puth, Jonas Brothers, MÅNESKIN, Mariah Carey, Mickey Guyton and Rosalía.
That’s the line up for the annual Central Park Show put on by Global Citizen. The date is September 24th.
Seemingly gone is Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, who was once their ambassador but seems to have caught on to the real story, that Global Citizen does nothing for the poor or hungry in the world. It just has rock concerts with deep pocketed sponsors. The executive team of Global Citizen makes a fortune, at least $400,000 apiece for the CEO, Hugh Evans, and his top exec, six figure salaries for staffers. On their Form 990 IRS filing for 2020, Global Citizen lists $13.8 million, an increase from 2019’s $10.5 million. By contrast, their own charitable donations were $850K to Head Count, which deals in voter registration; another $50K to another voter advocacy group, and only $148K to the United Nations Foundation.
Global Citizen is one of the best cons in charity history. The money they get from corporate sponsors doesn’t go to feeding anyone in the world except themselves and their own partners. For example, in 2020 they spent TEN MILLION DOLLARS on outside consultants to produce the rock concerts. TEN MILLION DOLLARS. What if the corporate sponsors had just donated that money to world hunger organizations?
You thought Andrew Cuomo and Chris Cuomo were having a bad year.
So is Rivers Cuomo. He’s the not-related lead singer for the cult rock group, Weezer. They had planned on having a week of shows at the cavernous Broadway Theater on Broadway this September. But they couldn’t sell tickets. And now the shows are cancelled.
The shows were described on their website: “In celebration of Weezer’s innovative new SZNZ project – a collection of four EPs matching each season – each night’s show will not only correspond with a different season’s EP, but will see the band reaching deep into their catalog to play a unique set of Weezer classics, many of which have not been played in years. A fifth night of shows will be a mix of all the songs from SZNZ and Weezer fan favorites from the previous four nights.”
Rivers announced the cancellation on social media. He wrote: “I just learned that our Broadway shows have been cancelled (due to low ticket sales and unbelievably high expenses.) I’m very sorry to be telling you this now after we’ve already invested so much time, thought, and emotion. Extra apologies to those of you who cleared schedules and made travel plans to be with us. Thanks to @Broadway Producer for all your hard work and great ideas. I loved where we were going and I hope we can find a way to resurrect our vision.”
What a shame. But it’s a sign of the economy, certainly, and wariness of COVID that still lingers.
Elvis Costello is on tour right now, with Nick Lowe.
But next February he’ll “sit down” at New York’s Gramercy Theater for a 10 night run. He announced it on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show tonight.
Costello says he’ll play 200 different songs over the ten nights, from his very deep 45 year old catalog.
Costello has an EP out right now called “The Resurrection of Rusty,” with his teenage years bandmate, Alan Mayes.
But the Costello album of 2022, “The Boy Named If,” is his big release of the year. It’s an A plus record full of sensational songs. Look for it to be nominated in Traditional Pop for the 2023 Grammys.
