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UPDATES: “Plaza Suite” Tickets on Sale, Brandi Carlile to Play Elton John Event, UK Film Coming with Full Frontal

Roger Friedman
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UPDATES: “Plaza Suite” Tickets on Sale, Brandi Carlile to Play Elton John Event, UK Film Coming with Full Frontal

There’s a lot going on this morning.

“Plaza Suite” tickets are on sale. Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker star in the first ever revival of Neil Simon’s comedy. Previews begin at the end of this month, and the play opens on March 28th in New York at the Hudson Theater. (That’s the day after the Oscars!) John Benjamin Hickey, of the couple’s BFFs and a Tony winner, is directing. Tickets will sell out instantly, I am sure.

Brandi Carlile, the great Brandi Carlile, has signed on to play Elton John’s annual Oscar party for his AIDS Foundation fundraiser. This is March 27th in Los Angeles. Last year’s event was virtual, this year they’re back in person at the Pacific Design Center. There will be tons of celebrities. Usual guests include Sharon Stone, Steven Tyler, and Sting. No one misses this event, which usually features a lot of great chocolate desserts. Presenting Sponsors of the party include Elton John Eyewear a Walmart Exclusive, Christian Lundberg & R. Martin Chavez in partnership with Equality Utah, Bob and Tamar Manoukian, and Neuro Brands.

“David (Furnish) and I are so grateful to celebrate 30 years of the Foundation and especially grateful to Brandi Carlile and the many fabulous guests supporting us for another magnificent night in West Hollywood Park,” says Sir Elton John, Founder, Elton John AIDS Foundation. “Our success reflects the passion, commitment, and generosity of our supporters. Together, we are making a difference and bringing light and hope to people living with HIV around the world.”

PRINCE CHARLES GOES FULL FRONTAL Josh O’Connor won the Emmy Award for playing bonnie Prince Charles in “The Crown.” Now he’s fully in his birthday suit in “Mothering Sunday” with the very hot young actress Odessa Young.

Colin Firth, Olivia Colman, and Glenda Jackson co-star.“Mothering Sunday”  is written by Alice Birch, who adapted the screenplay from Graham Swift’s provocative best-selling novella of the same name. Eva Husson directs.

Colman, of course, played Queen Elizabeth in “The Crown” to Josh’s Charles. But she never saw him like this!

“Mothering Sunday” world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the London Film Festival, and was the centerpiece at the Hamptons International Film festival, where it made its U.S. premiere and was sold out.

Opening day is Friday, March 25th.

Legendary Music Stars Dionne Warwick and Sam Moore Part of Day Long Royalty Campaign at I Heart Radio Today

Roger Friedman
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Legendary Music Stars Dionne Warwick and Sam Moore Part of Day Long Royalty Campaign at I Heart Radio Today

We’ve been talking about this for 25 years: the music we here on the radio is free to broadcasters. They pay a royalty to the writers of hit songs but not to the performers. So the thousands of hit records played every day don’t generate money for the stars unless they wrote the songs. Those who didn’t write their songs range from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand, and everyone in between.

Today there’s a campaign going on outside I Heart Radio’s headquarters at Sixth Avenue near Canal Street. Mobile billboard trucks — featuring Dionne Warwick, Sam Moore, and Blake Morgan —  are encircling the corporate broadcaster’s NYC offices, calling on billion-dollar broadcaster to pay performers when their songs are played on AM/FM radio.

Dionne’s hits span several decades and include her Bacharach-David songs as well as her later hits in the 80s. Sam’s hits like “Soul Man” and “Hold On I’m Coming” are heard every day around the world but, like Dionne, he doesn’t get a royalty. Only the writers of the songs do.

Legislation has been floated in Congress for years, most recently supported by President Obama, to change this. But the corporate radio entities block it, they pay big bucks lobbying against it.

The trucks will be running all day from 10am to 4pm Eastern.

The demonstration follows last week’s House Judiciary hearing on the American Music Fairness Act, a bipartisan bill that would finally require broadcasters to compensate artists when their music is played on traditional AM/FM radio. Artist and activist Blake Morgan — who will also be featured on the mobile billboard trucks — recently wrote a letter on behalf of nearly 15,000 music fairness supporters to iHeart’s board of directors calling on them to end this injustice.
This latest activation brings the fight for music fairness directly to iHeartRadio’s doorstep and calls on the billion-dollar broadcaster to stop putting profits over artists and pay performers when their music is played on AM/FM radio.
Remember, this isn’t limited to Dionne, Sam, or Blake, or Sinatra, Midler, Bennett and Streisand. It’s almost EVERY Motown artist, for example. It’s Linda Ronstadt. And dozens and dozens of less well known singers and musicians. This is why the live concert business is so important to livelihoods: it’s the only way these people can earn any money from their famous recordings, by performing the songs live to ticket buyers.

Here is the Full text of Morgan’s letter

January 26, 2022

Bob Pittman

Chairman and CEO

iHeart Media, Inc.

32 Avenue of the Americas, Fl 2

New York, NY 10013

Dear Mr. Pittman:

I write to you on behalf of the undersigned: over 14,000 music makers and music lovers who have joined together to demand action in the name of basic fairness.

Like many of the signatories below, I’ve been a professional musician nearly all my life. I can claim an accomplished career, but I’m not what most would call a “star.” Few musicians are. Just as in other professions, the vast majority of working professionals in music are similarly middle class and the downward economic pressures we face affect us disproportionately.

The grass-roots #IRespectMusic campaign has grown to become the largest in the history of American Music––a campaign seeking cooperation from iHeart and other American broadcasters to right a century-old wrong. Simply put, it is time artists were paid for radio airplay in the United States. Isn’t being paid fairly for one’s work a bedrock American value?

We 14,000-plus Americans (from every Congressional district in the nation) think it is. Our efforts to raise awareness about this injustice were a driving force that led to the introduction of the American Music Fairness Act – legislation that is poised to right this wrong. We signatories understand the United States is the only democratic country in the world that doesn’t pay artists for radio airplay.

We signatories understand that paying artists for U.S. radio airplay would bring hundreds of millions of dollars back into the U.S. economy that is currently withheld by overseas broadcasters as punishment because U.S. broadcasters refuse to pay for AM/FM radio plays.

If you truly want to support local radio you should endorse the American Music Fairness Act, not oppose it, because the legislation specifically protects small broadcasters: stations grossing less than $1.5 million a year would have their annual royalty payment capped at $500, or $1.37 a day.

The artists among the undersigned have learned the painful lesson that music makers can’t pay their bills with “exposure” or “promotional value” that broadcasters offer in lieu of royalty payments. We understand the bill wouldn’t stifle “innovation,” on the contrary it would encourage it: Rock & Roll is an American innovation. Hip-Hop is an American innovation. Jazz, Blues, Country, Gospel, Bluegrass, and so many others are each distinct American innovations.

iHeart and other broadcasters––which generate billions of dollars in advertising revenue per year by playing our music on your radio stations––have never paid a penny to the artists who make your profits possible.

We’re writing to ask for your help to finally bring an end to this injustice. The times we find ourselves in are changing, rapidly, and Americans know and act on injustice when they see it.

It’s unjust to not pay people for their work while arguing that so-called “promotional value” is enough. By a 2-1 margin now, Americans say they’re more likely to discover music on streaming platforms than from AM/FM radio. Broadcasters’ decades-old “promotion” argument doesn’t even hold up in our modern world. It’s time iHeart and other broadcasters recognize they can no longer freely exploit our hard work for profit.

We hope iHeart can be part of the solution. In that spirit, we come to you with two requests:

  • Please take the time to meet with a group of music makers so we can directly explain to you how AM/FM performance royalties would have a profound impact on our lives. We stand ready to meet with you at the date, time, and place of your choosing.
  • We also urge you, as a member of the board of iHeart, to speak with your colleagues in the company’s management to help them understand why they are out of step with the nation’s growing desire to see working Americans paid fairly.

If you are willing to meet with a group of music makers, please contact me at blakemorgan@ecrmusicgroup.com. I’m sure as both the CEO and a member of the iHeart board, you strive to make a meaningful impact through your work. This is a tremendous opportunity to do just that, and to do it together. Lots of times we don’t know right from wrong, but lots of times we do, and this is one.

Music is one of the things America still makes that the world still wants. The people who make that music should be paid fairly for their work.

We hope you’ll join us.

Sincerely,

Blake Morgan

 

Bruce Willis Gets His Own Razzie Award Category for Making 8 Bad Low Budget Movies in One Year

Roger Friedman
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Bruce Willis Gets His Own Razzie Award Category for Making 8 Bad Low Budget Movies in One Year

The Razzie Awards nominations are out, and there’s a sad new category they invented just for this year.

It’s Worst Performances by Bruce Willis in a 3032 Movie. It’s not just one or two, but EIGHT different movies. That’s right, the former box office star of “Die Hard” and “The Sixth Sense” was featured — albeit briefly — in 8 different low budget, “B” movies that went straight to video and to foreign markets where knowledge of the English language isn’t necessary.

In all these films, Willis barely speaks and is shown intermittently. He gets second billing credit to washed up, younger action stars, too, which is embarrassing. It’s unclear if Willis has any idea what’s going on. In recent years there have been reports of cognitive difficulties, trouble remembering lines or understanding situations. That can be the only reason for his frightening career decline.

This all began in 2015 when Willis was hired to be in a Broadway stage production of the movie, “Misery,” with Laurie Metcalf. He was playing the James Caan role. At the same time he was supposed to star in Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society.” The Broadway run was cut short by terrible reviews. Willis was said to be “sleeping through” the show, and he missed performances. For the Woody Allen movie, he worked on set for one day and was replaced the next by Steve Carell. The reason was Willis could not remember lines.

Then there was this regrettable appearance on Stephen Colbert in 2015, which was pre-taped and used a stunt double.

There was also this strange 2010 appearance on “Between Two Ferns” which was supposed to be ironic satire, but there’s some underlying weirdness that was an omen.

Willis’s next movie is coming February 25th. “Gasoline Alley” is yet another crap fest in which Willis plays third banana to Luke Wilson and Devon Sawa. It’s the first of another seven or eight junk Willis movies we’ll see in 2022. All of them boast at least 20 or more “producers” who are really investors who want to see their names on movie screens.

What Willis gets out of all this is not money, certainly, since little is made, and he has plenty from real estate investment and past multi million dollar salaries. Just being part of a movie, if only for a couple of days or a week keeps him busy, out of the house and on location somewhere. But he doesn’t do much press, I think, because he can’t. And when he does, the former bad boy seems subdued and indeed somnolent.

So a whole category of Razzies. Not even Nicholas Cage has that. Quite an achievement.

42nd Annual RAZZIE® Award Nominations

WORST PERFORMANCE by BRUCE WILLIS in a 2021 MOVIE

(Special Category)

Bruce Willis / American Siege
Bruce Willis / Apex
Bruce Willis / Cosmic Sin
Bruce Willis / Deadlock
Bruce Willis / Fortress
Bruce Willis / Midnight in the Switchgrass
Bruce Willis / Out of Death
Bruce Willis / Survive the Game

WORST PICTURE

Diana the Musical (The Netflix Version)
Infinite
Karen
Space Jam: A New Legacy
The Woman in the Window

WORST ACTOR

Scott Eastwood / Dangerous
Roe Hartrampf (As Prince Charles) Diana the Musical
LeBron James / Space Jam: A New Legacy
Ben Platt / Dear Evan Hansen
Mark Wahlberg / Infinite

WORST ACTRESS

Amy Adams / The Woman in the Window
Jeanna de Waal / Diana the Musical
Megan Fox / Midnight in the Switchgrass
Taryn Manning / Karen
Ruby Rose / Vanquish

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams / Dear Evan Hansen
Sophie Cookson / Infinite
Erin Davie (As Camilla) Diana the Musical
Judy Kaye (As BOTH Queen Elizabeth & Barbara Cartland) Diana the Musical
Taryn Manning / Every Last One of Them

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Ben Affleck / The Last Duel
Nick Cannon / The Misfits
Mel Gibson / Dangerous
Gareth Keegan (As James Hewitt, the Muscle-Bound Horse Trainer)
Diana the Musical
Jared Leto / House of Gucci

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

Any Klutzy Cast Member & Any Lamely Lyricized (or Choreographed)
Musical Number / Diana the Musical
LeBron James & Any Warner Cartoon Character (or Time-Warner Product) He
Dribbles on / Space Jam: A New Legacy
Jared Leto & EITHER His 17-Pound Latex Face, His Geeky Clothes or
His Ridiculous Accent / House of Gucci
Ben Platt & Any Other Character Who Acts Like Platt
Singing 24-7 is Normal / Dear Evan Hansen
Tom & Jerry (aka Itchy & Scratchy) Tom & Jerry the Movie

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL

Karen (Inadvertent Remake of Cruella deVil)
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Tom & Jerry the Movie
Twist (Rap remake of Oliver Twist)
The Woman in the Window (Rip-Off of Rear Window)

WORST DIRECTOR

Christopher Ashley / Diana the Musical
Stephen Chbosky / Dear Evan Hansen
“Coke” Daniels / Karen
Renny Harlin / The Misfits
Joe Wright / The Woman in the Window

WORST SCREENPLAY

Diana the Musical / Script by Joe DiPietro, Music and Lyrics by DiPietro
and David Bryan
Karen / Written by “Coke” Daniels
The Misfits / Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Robert Henny,
Screen Story by Henny
Twist / Written by John Wrathall & Sally Collett, Additional Material
by Matthew Parkhill, Michael Lindley, Tom Grass & Kevin Lehane,
from an “Original Idea” by David & Keith Lynch and Simon Thomas
The Woman in the Window / Screenplay by Tracy Letts, from
the Novel by A.J. Finn

NOMINATIONS per PICTURE

Diana the Musical (9 Nominations, including Worst Picture, Actor & Actress)
Karen (5 Nominations, including Picture, Actress, Screenplay & Director)
The Woman in the Window (5 Nominations, including Picture, Actress
& Remake/Rip-Off)
Space Jam: A New Legacy (4 Nominations, including Picture, Actor
& Screen Couple)
Infinite (3 Nominations, including Worst Picture, Actor & Supporting Actress)
The Misfits (3 Nominations, including Supporting Actor, Director & Screenplay)

“Rust” Never Sleeps: Alec Baldwin Making Another Low Budget B Movie in Small Town 3 Months After Halyna Hutchins Death

Roger Friedman
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“Rust” Never Sleeps: Alec Baldwin Making Another Low Budget B Movie in Small Town 3 Months After Halyna Hutchins Death

“Rust” never sleeps.

On the set of a low budget movie shot in a small town back on October 21st, the cinematographer was accidentally shot dead by the star.

The movie was “Rust,” the star was Alec Baldwin, and the dead woman was Halyna Hutchins. Production was cancelled, Hutchins left a 9 year old son, and Baldwin ran around fighting with people in Vermont.

Three and a half months later, Baldwin is back to work. This time it’s another low budget movie shooting in the hinterlands of England, a village called Alton in the district of Hampshire. The movie is called 97 Minutes, and you’ve never heard of the producers, the director, or the screenwriter. No one has. Can there be a big payday here? Unlikely? Will there be guns? “97 Minutes” is about a hijacked plane. No other cast or crew has been listed. The movie is budgeted for a meager $7 million.

We only know this because Alec went for a walk in Alton on a gray, cold looking,rainy Sunday and shot a video while expounding on small town life.

Here’s the description of the movie: A hijacked 767 will crash in just 97 minutes when its fuel runs out. Against the strong will of NSA Deputy Toyin, NSA Director Hawkins prepares to have the plane shot down before it does any catastrophic damage on the ground, leaving the fate of the innocent passengers in the hands of Tyler, one of the alleged hijackers on board who is an undercover Interpol agent – or is he?

 And life, you see, goes on. (PS If I’d been stuck in a house with six kids under the age of 10 for 90 days, I’d take a small budget movie anywhere. I mean that in the best way.)

Does Off Broadway Have Another “Hamilton”? One May Be Brewing with “Black No More” Starring Lillias White and Brandon Victor Dixon

Regina Weinreich
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Does Off Broadway Have Another “Hamilton”? One May Be Brewing with “Black No More” Starring Lillias White and Brandon Victor Dixon

Is there a new “Hamilton” brewing out there, off Broadway? Some say “Black No More,” a musical adaptation of George S. Schuyler’s Afrofuturist 1931 Harlem Renaissance novel, has the feel of something that may go off the charts in the manner of “Hamilton.”

A new production from The New Group, “Black No More” features a stellar Broadway cast led by powerhouse Tony winning vocalist Lillias White, and Tony-Emmy-Grammy nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, of “Hamilton” and “Jesus Christ Superstar fame.” The show’s ensemble of excellent singers and dancers tell a tale of contrasts: the exciting free, artsy denizen of Harlem vs. the racist “crackers” of Atlanta and how they handle their Black folk.

Needless to say, whites do not fare well in this scenario, despite the efforts of fine performances by such actors as Theo Stockman as the chief villain Ashby Givens. A young man named Max (Dixon), after a night of flirtation with a white woman (Jennifer Damiano, a Broadway star at this point) in a Harlem club, is persuaded to follow a dream of pursuing her by taking advantage of the opportunity to become white.

Against the protests of his friends—great work by Tamika Lawrence as Buni and Ephraim Sykes as Agamemno, — Max follows the science of Dr. Junius Crookman (Tariq Trotter) whose name says it all. To the credit of this production, the audience is moved to suspend disbelief. And Dixon takes on whiteness to a fault, changing his name from Max to Matthew. He follows his dream girl to Atlanta, and is so persuasive a speaker against black culture, he becomes a leader in the community, and marries his dream. Be careful what you wish for.

There’s a lot of star power here. Scott Ellis is the director. Tariq Trotter of the Roots wrote the lyrics to the songs and the music with Anthony Tidd, Daryl Waters, and James Poyser (also of the Roots). John Ridley, who won the Academy Award for his “12 Years a Slave” screenplay. wrote the book.  He’s also in the cast. At a talk back after a preview s week, Trotter of The Roots said  he took his first meeting about writing the music and lyrics for “Black No More” on the very day he saw “Hamilton” at the Public Theater.

The Roots’ MC further explained the work’s grounding in the history of American music—actually rap and hip hop, and his determination to explore Black experience. To that end, he never intended to play the role of Dr. Junius Crookman, a satiric figure determined to sell the science of making people of color white. But the actors who he imagined would play this strange figure—he named only one, the late Michael K. Williams — did not embrace “time,” as he called it (translation:  they didn’t respect respecting a rehearsal schedule). But he does not condemn: he knows lots of people like that, he said.

 

RIP Mary Ryan Munisteri, Soap Opera Writer and Inspiration for “Ryan’s Hope” Character Mary Ryan

Roger Friedman
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RIP Mary Ryan Munisteri, Soap Opera Writer and Inspiration for “Ryan’s Hope” Character Mary Ryan

Fans of “Ryan’s Hope,” the beloved (and Emmy winning) ABC soap opera from the 70s and 80s, may not realize it, but there were real Ryans.

The soap concentrated on an Irish American family on the Upper West Side, the Ryans, who owned a bar. Their children included a writer and a politician. The writer was named Mary Ryan, played by newcomer Kate Mulgrew, who was incredibly popular and has had an enormously successful career including playing the commander of a Star Trek spaceship and playing Mrs. Columbo.

The real Mary Ryan was a person. Sadly she has died at age 82. She was writing partners with her best friend, Claire Labine, who created the show and borrowed the Ryan name (and a lot of their story) for the soap.

Mary Ryan Munisteri was a headwriter on “Ryan’s Hope” for many years, and also worked as headwriter on other shows like “Guiding Light,” “General Hospital,” “Love of Life,” and “As the World Turns.” According to her biography, she earned a dozen Daytime Emmy awards on writing teams. She  also won a best writing Emmy Award for the short film “Mandy’s Grandmother” (starring Maureen O’Sullivan), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film.

On a personal note I never knew Mary Ryan Munisteri. But her name was spoken in our house in the 1960s and 70s because her mother-in-law, Inez Munisteri (Mary later divorced her first husband) was great friends from the 1930s on with my grandmother, Marion Davis Becker. Small world. I hope they’re all catching up and having a good time in the cosmos.

Vindication: New Motown Collection from the Supremes Features 14 Mary Wilson Solo Tracks, None by Diana Ross

Roger Friedman
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Vindication: New Motown Collection from the Supremes Features 14 Mary Wilson Solo Tracks, None by Diana Ross

At last, Mary Wilson is vindicated as the great singer of The Supremes.

A new Supremes collection, called “The Motown Anthology,” features 14 solo tracks from Wilson, redefining her role in the group and in pop history. It arrives on March 4th.

Mary died last year suddenly from a massive heart attack. She was 76, and one of my favorite people. I featured her in the documentary, “Only the Strong Survive,” as she toured endlessly, cut off from the Supremes legacy by Diana Ross and Berry Gordy for telling the truth of her life in her memoir, “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.”

This new “Anthology” showcases Mary. There are no solo tracks from Ross, who cut the final Supremes single, “Someday We’ll Be Together,” without Mary or Cindy Birdsong but using studio singers. Mary didn’t even know the song existed until she heard it on the radio in 1969. But on tour– as we recorded in the documentary– she sang and made it her own.

A 44-page booklet comes with the CD package and offers detailed track annotations, and exclusive tributes to Mary from such fellow stars, notables, and admirers as Dionne Warwick, Darlene Love, Otis Williams, Duke Fakir, Martha Reeves, Claudette Robinson, Brian and Edward Holland, Paul McCartney, Rita Coolidge, Merry Clayton, Brenda Russell, Blinky Williams, and RuPaul. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has written a special appreciation for the unique release.

Mary triumphed over the Motown PR machine in the end. She worked tirelessly for artists’ rights, and for the rights of all musicians who’d had their legacies taken away in legal disputes over names of famous groups like the Supremes, Platters, Drifters, and so on. She was so smart, too: Mary kept all the Supremes’ gowns and lent them out as a museum exhibit on a very popular national tour.

Mary was fiercely independent and knew her worth. When Ross wanted her to join a Supremes 40th anniversary Mary declined because she’d be paid a fraction of what Diana was receiving. She was never going to be second fiddle. When Gordy latched onto Ross as the Supremes’ lead singer, knocking Mary to back up status, Supremes records were mixed to highlight Ross’s voice. But years ago a new CD of Supremes songs was released in which the original intended mixes brought out Mary’s contribution. Now this collection offers alternative mixes that really demonstrate Mary as a power house.

 

The full tracklist of the 2CD edition is:
Disc 1
Pretty Baby (Mono Single Version) – The Primettes
Baby Don’t Go (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
The Tears (Stereo Mix) – The Supremes
Our Day Will Come (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Come And Get These Memories (Alternate Mix) – Diana Ross & The Supremes
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Live at The Frontier January 13, 1970) – Diana Ross & The Supremes
Falling In Love With Love (Live at The Frontier January 13, 1970)- Diana Ross & The Supremes
Send Him To Me – The Supremes
If You Let Me Baby – The Supremes
Son Of A Preacher Man – The Supremes
Witchi Tai To – The Supremes
Touch (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Floy Joy (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
Automatically Sunshine (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
I Keep It Hid (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Can We Love Again (Outtake) – The Supremes
Early Morning Love (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
You Turn Me Around (2021 Alternate Mix) – The Supremes
You’re What’s Missing In My Life (2021 Alternate Mix Edit) – The Supremes
Don’t Let My Teardrops Bother You (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Till The Boat Sails Away (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
I Don’t Want To Lose You (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes

Disc 2

We Should Be Closer Together (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
You Are The Heart Of Me (2021 Alternate Vocal and Mix) – The Supremes
Anytime At All – Mary Wilson
Red Hot – Mary Wilson
I’ve Got What You Need – Mary Wilson
You Make Me Feel So Good – Mary Wilson
(I Love A) Warm Summer Night – Mary Wilson
Pick Up The Pieces – Mary Wilson
You’re The Light That Guides My Way – Mary Wilson
Midnight Dancer – Mary Wilson
Save Me (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Love Talk (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Green River (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
You Danced My Heart Around The Stars (The Gus Dudgeon Sessions) – Mary Wilson
Why Can’t We All Get Along – Mary Wilson
Red Hot (The Eric Kupper Remix) – Mary Wilson

 

Belated Obit: Dick Sequerra, Genius of Audio Hifi, Died Last October at Age 92, Made Marantz a Household Name

Roger Friedman
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Belated Obit: Dick Sequerra, Genius of Audio Hifi, Died Last October at Age 92, Made Marantz a Household Name

This is a belated obit, but one that’s necessary. I had just read about the death of John Koss, the man who made stereo headphones popular in the 1960s. I wondered what had happened to Dick Sequerra, one of the trailblazers in audio hifi equipment. It seems he died without an obituary or funeral back in October 2021. He was 92 years old.

Sequerra was a legendary name in the audio business. He didn’t give many interviews, but you can read the one he gave to Stereophile in 2009 here.

Dick was famous for being a boy wonder in the business when audio hifi was just becoming a thing. In the 1960s he worked with Saul Marantz to make Marantz Electronics a household name. Dick was already famous for his speakers and his tuners. Back before there was satellite radio and streaming, etc. people heard music from radio stations on FM tuners. Sequerra invented Marantz’s 10B, a famous tuner that plugged into home pre-amps and integrated amplifiers. Now besides record albums and cassette tapes, you had a way of bringing the FM signal into your house through high end audio.

Sequerra left Marantz in the 1970s. He started and lost his own company. called Day Sequerra. Then he started R Sequerra Audio. His home speakers, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to many thousands, became cult favorites. In 1989, my friend Bruce MacDonald– who 33 years later is a veteran audiophile, wrote to Dick about getting a pair of his rare ribbon speakers. That’s when I first heard the name. We became two of his many devotees. Bruce still has three piece set, handcrafted by Dick, and I still use my Met 7.7’s which have a glorious full sound.

I got to know Dick in the 2000s, visiting his home in Connecticut and his factory. He was a real life Mr. Wizard at time when more and more people were moving toward small speakers, portable systems. iPhone type music heard through little earplugs. As the systems shrank, so did the music. But it was Dick who was responsible for building nd maintaining the studio at New York’s classical premier music station WNCN.

With the return of vinyl, it’s possible the new generation will want to hear their music properly. Alas, there isn’t much left of Sequerra stock (I asked wife, Ilene, about it- there may be some errant pieces coming available this year). You can look on ebay or audio swap sites and find Dick’s Met 7 speakers at bargains. Buy them. They will blow your mind. Even the little ones.

Dick leaves his wife, Ilene, and two adult children. I don’t think there’s an Audio Pioneers Hall of Fame, but there should be. Back before digital, we worshiped the names on name plates of stereo equipment. This was when you sat and listened to music, from classical to jazz, to Broadway show, crooners, big bands, and complex rock and roll recordings (there is no such thing now). Dick Sequerra was at the top of that list.

UPDATED Box Office: $150 Mil “Moonfall” Sees the Sky Fall with Just $10 Mil, “Jackass” Rings in $23.5 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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UPDATED Box Office: $150 Mil “Moonfall” Sees the Sky Fall with Just $10 Mil, “Jackass” Rings in $23.5 Mil Weekend

SUNDAY UPDATE: “Moonfall” total $10.5 million, “Jackass Forever” made jackasses of us all with $23 million. “Spider Man: No Way Home” now bearing down on number 3 all time box office record. Will happen next week.

 

SATURDAY Imagine Adele singing”it’s the moonfall, the moonfall!”

Well, the sky fell last night when “Moonfall,” the Roland Emmerich sci-fi space opera, took in just $2.7 million. Adding Thursday previews the opening total is $3.4 million. This movie cost at least $150 million.

To the moon, Alice!

Contrast that with $8 mil Friday for “Jackass Forever,” a movie made by jackasses for jackasses. And everyone seems to like it. Total for the opening is $9.6 million. So the producers are themselves no jackasses.

Here’s my one Johnny Knoxville anecdote: I was coming down on the elevator at the Soho Grand hotel, mid 2000s. Doors opened and Johnny Knoxville gets on. He’s not really dressed for public consumption. And he’s holding a big wad of sheets in his hands. We get down to the lobby, doors open, he runs out in front of me through the hotel doors and out into the street. I thought he was headed for a limo, but instead he turned and ran up West Broadway into the night.

Did he kill someone? Was that the evidence? Was there a body part in the sheets and he was trying to get rid of it? One thing’s for sure, there were no cameras around. It wasn’t a stunt for his TV show. If anyone has a clue, give me a holler at showbiz411@gmail.com

Maybe it was millions of box office dollars.

Anyway, “Moonfall” is a bust. It won’t make $10 mil for the weekend. The sky is really falling.

 

“Farewell” Actress Awkwafina Bids Her Own Farewell, to Twitter: “I’ll see you in a few years– per my therapist”

Roger Friedman
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“Farewell” Actress Awkwafina Bids Her Own Farewell, to Twitter: “I’ll see you in a few years– per my therapist”

Just now, beloved and unique actress from “The Farewell,” Awkwafina, posted two notices. One was an editorial but the next one seems to have been her own farewell — to Twitter

“Well, I’ll see you in a few years, Twitter – per my therapist. To my fans, thank you for continuing to love and support someone who wishes they could be a better person for you. I apologize if I ever fell short, in anything I did. You’re in my heart always”

The editorial is below.

Since Nora Lum, her real name, has erased all her Tweets going back two years, I don’t know what happened to hasten her exit. But obviously it was something bad, which is no surprise on the rough and tumble platform. What a shame. Lum is a sweetheart, and so talented. Someone owes her a big apology.

PS Lum just DM’d me: “I just need a social detox.” Hey don’t we all? Very healthy plan!

Around 9am Saturday:

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