The Weeknd is starting off 2022 with a new album.
Abel Tesfaye is dropping “Dawn FM” this Friday, his first new album since his mega hit “After Hours.” The new album has an eclectic group of guest stars including Quincy Jones, Jim Carrey, and Tyler the Creator.
No word yet on a track list, etc or even a lead track. But “Dawn FM” will put an end to Adele’s run at number 1 for good. And it’s a welcome surprise to start the new year. We need more previously unknown releases!
Big ch-ch-changes in the world of David Bowie music. The whole kit and caboodle has gone to Warner Chappell Music Publishing and Warner Music for $250 million according to reports.
Warner’s gets everything, the records and the songs. It’s the latest deal for the rights to legacy rock stars.
Bowie was with RCA for most of his heyday, then made a deal in 1997 with EMI, which became Capitol and is now Universal. So moving to Warner’s completes his hat trick of being with all the majors.
The Bowie catalog is highly marketable. Right now, “Is There Life on Mars?” is being used heavily thanks to the movie “Licorice Pizza.” Songs like “Heroes” and “Let’s Dance” are in constant demand. There are dozens more including “Space Oddity,” “Young Americans,” and so on. We’ll be hearing them in commercials and in movies for the rest of our natural lives.
The Bowie estate goes to his widow, the supermodel, Iman, their daughter, and presumably Bowie’s son, film director Duncan Jones.
Broadway is reeling from the Omicron disaster.
The new musical “Mrs. Doubtfire,” based on the film, is going on a 9 week hiatus to save itself from closing completely. It was announced just before midnight last night that the show, which has mixed reviews, will re-open in March.
Meantime, I can tell you that just from looking at its Ticketmaster seat maps, “MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical” will have to do something similar if it expects ever to open on Broadway. Right now, the Neil Simon Theater is 80% unsold going into January. Two shows, on Wednesday night, January 19th, and the following Wednesday, the 26th, have already been canceled due to lack of sales.
“MJ” is supposed to open February 1st, but right now shows on January 31st and February 2nd are almsot completely unsold. Michael Jackson fans will freak out when they read this, but this news has nothing to do with Jackson, his reputation, or the media. It’s all about Broadway theatergoers not being ready to return to theaters until the pandemic is resolved.
“Mrs. Doubtfire” and “MJ” aren’t the only shows in trouble. In London, Andrew Lloyd Weber has shut down his “Cinderella.” In Toronto, “Come from Away” has stopped. In Los Angeles, “Hamilton” is taking the month of January off. In New York, there will be other shutdowns as Omicron and COVID ravage the month and maybe even February. The whole thing stinks. Even now, “The Music Man” — the hottest new hit — is on a break until later this week.
It’s going to a winter of tremendous discontent for the performing arts. For shows to go on hiatus and hope to return, they’re going to need government bail out money immediately. The closing of a show like “Mrs. Doubtfire” means 115 people are laid off from the show itself. But that doesn’t calculate what happens to outside vendors who depend on the show’s daily running, or the restaurants and businesses in theater district.
It was back in 2007 that Peter Asher, an old friend, told me he was staging a reunion of Carole King and James Taylor at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. I flew out to Los Angeles and went to the shows on November 27, 28, and 29, 2007. Somewhere in the Fox News.com vault I have a column.I’ll put it up if I can find it.
This was to commemorate James and Carole’s shows in 1971, when Carole was basically introduced as a hit solo act on the heels of Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” album taking off. Of course, “Tapestry” came next, James had a hit with “You’ve Got a Friend,” and his “Mud Slide Slim” album was a hit.
You know, after this big hubbub in ’71, James and Carole went their separate ways. They did not collaborate again. James married Carly Simon, and they became a duo. Carole had five or six more hit albums through the mid to late 70s.
So bringing them back together in 2007 was unusual. It was all because of Peter Asher, don’t let anyone tell you anything otherwise. He filmed those 2007 shows, too. And they finally became a DVD in 2010 after much hassling with Carole. Then Carole and James went on tour together.
Here’s what Peter wrote me when I asked him about this last week:
Well, I never like to look like one of those people who try take credit for everything – but there is certainly some truth to what you are saying! I mean, James was a Carole King fan as well – but I was one of those people who knew pretty much all her songs! Gordon and I used to sing “Crying in the Rain” at every show we ever did. It was Danny Kortchmar who introduced me to Carole (when I made it out to LA) and I asked her to come over to my house to meet James, who was staying with me (I was his manager at that point of course). I suggested they sit down and play together (Carole confirms this specifically – I have video!) and it worked even better than I was hoping. So yes, I asked her whether she would play on the album we were about to make – and she assented. When the record was a hit I asked each member of the little band who had played on it to join us for a week at the Troubadour and they all did so.”
I interviewed Carole circa 1993 when she was not much in vogue and a mediocre album coming out. She was not friendly. She brought her mother to the interview. She said nasty things about Neil Sedaka and didn’t want to talk about the Brill Building days. When the interview came out in the New York Daily News she fired her publicist, a very warm and lovely person. It was a mess.
I was shocked when Carole agreed to have a musical about her life on “Broadway.” But Doug McGrath wrote a fantastic book, and the songs were just there waiting to be used. It was a smash hit. Carole didn’t come to the opening, but she warmed up to it once the checks started coming in. Then she started making appearances at the Sondheim Theater. It was amusing, at least to me.
There’s no question that Carole is one of the top songwriters of our lives. Her songs all hold up. Her albums “Music,” “Rhymes and Reasons,” “Fantasy,” and “Nightingale” are all as good as “Tapestry.” All her Gerry Goffin songs are classics. She deserves all accolades.
James Taylor: I’m surprised no one’s written a book about him yet. He’s also, obviously, immensely talented and incredibly influential. I remember asking him on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard, summer of ’78, why he stopped working with Carole. He shrugged and said, “You know, Carole, she just goes her own way.”
I’m looking forward to Frank Marshall’s new documentary about these two
Marjorie Taylor Greene has been silenced.
In a very right move, Twitter has suspended the crazy Georgia congresswoman from spouting disinformation via her social media account. All other social media outlets should do the same immediately.
Greene isn’t just crazy. It’s easy to make fun of her stupidity. But she’s also dangerous. She stands for everything that is unAmerican. She’s racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-science. She disseminates lies that seep into the psyches of the uneducated and unsuspecting.
The Twitter ban is over Greene’s spreading of misinformation about COVID-19. But it’s not a complete ban. She she still has access to her government account. When Twitter turns that one off, we’ll be rid of her at least on this platform.
But look at her December 24th Tweet on that account. It reads: “Let us celebrate the true reason for the season, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ! Merry Christmas, Northwest Georgia!” Greene doesn’t care that there’s a separation between church and State. She is a miserable redneck who must be unseated in her next election, if not removed by Congress before then.
Here’s Twitter’s statement:
Records are made to be broken in movie land.
This weekend, “Spider Man: No Way Home” hit $610 million in the US, putting it at number 10 on the all time box office list.
Very soon, “No Way Home” will surpass “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “The Avengers.” If Spidey keeps going, it could approach “Black Panther” at $700 million.
Its only obstacles will be COVID and the return of school this week. The webslinger numbers are certainly slowing down after having a landmark run during the holidays.
At this rate, we are destined to have more “Spider Man” movies without a doubt over the next 7 years.
Considering that the original number 1 movie of all time, “ET: The Extra Terrestrial,” is now number 24 on the list, it’s pretty great that Steven Spielberg was never persuaded to make a sequel. An “ET 2” and “ET 3” would have put him at the top of the list. I’m surprised no one’s pitched a modern version with Drew Barrymore as the mom.
The other big ticket from this holiday was “Sing 2,” now just under $90 million. Universal should be pleased. It was good programming for families who had to get out of the house. Everything else was kind of blah, with adults obviously concerned about going to theatres with Omicron prevalent. “West Side Story” is still a notch under $30 million and “Belfast” hasn’t hit $7 million yet. They were the best films of 2021.
and just like that…Mariah Carey is gone from the charts…
Back on November 3rd, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” appeared at number 25 on the iTunes charts. Carey hadn’t been on the top 100 all year, since Christmas 2020.
The annual Christmas cash in began. And now, on January 1st, it’s over. “All I Want” is gone from the charts. It reached number 1 around Christmas but, like other novelty holiday songs, it’s vanished into thin air. The Carey Christmas cash in is over.
It was mighty prescient of Mariah’s writer, Walter Afanasieff, to fashion a song for her that sounded like it was right off Phil Spector’s Christmas album. If you didn’t know it was Mariah singing you’d think it was Darlene Love or Ronnie Spector circa 1961. The production is very similar. Afanasieff did a good job.
Carey doesn’t sell records anymore. She’s in the same boat as a lot of legacy artists who release new music to deaf ears. This winter, Diana Ross, Alicia Keys and Rod Stewart were among those with that situation. So having “All I Want” is all gravy, a terrific annuity. And once the holiday season is over, so is the song.
Til next November then…
NBC will rerun “SNL” tonight with Betty White as host from 2010 as a tribute to the late great star.
At the time there was a petition signed by 1 million people to get her on the show. The monologue is below.
Betty was the oldest guest host of the show, and she pulled it off with aplomb.
Jay Z is the musical guest. The show aired May 8, 2010. Even if you can see it all on YouTube, tune in tonight so the ratings are high– a fitting memorial.
They want us to note this is real SNL at 11:30pm, not the rerun at 10pm.
People went to the movies last night, on New Year’s Eve. At least, they went to one movie.
“Spider Man: No Way Home” raked in another $15 million, and heads to a total of $600 million by Sunday night. The party is slowing down, of course, because at this point anyone who wanted to see the three Peter Parkers has seen it. But there will be a push toward $700 million. We’ll see how far that gets.
In the process of scaling box office heights, “No Way Home” made 15 times as much as “Matrix:Resurrections” last night. “Matrix 4” aka stands at $28 million. They will crack $30 million this weekend, but Warner’s has lost millions here even with HBO Max showings. “Matrix 5” will be performed in wheelchairs and walkers, a la the old lady dance number in “The Producers.”
Welcome to 2022. We are days away from seeing “355,” and “Ocean’s” type movie Jessica Chastain has put together. Reviewers see it at the last minute before its release. I’m sure it’s fun. And that’s all it has to be.
Three weeks before her 100th birthday, Betty White has died. She was 99 and 9/10.
A huge animal activist, Betty was probably the most beloved of all Hollywood celebrities. An actress with numerous awards for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Golden Girls,” she’d become famous on the game show “Password,” when she met her husband, Allen Ludden.
Rest in peace, sweet Betty. My God, how bright heaven must be right now.
— 😷💉 Valerie Bertinelli (@Wolfiesmom) December 31, 2021
Betty won five Primetime Emmy Awards: two for playing Sue Anne Nivens, the Happy Homemaker, on “MTM.” Two more for playing ditzy Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls.” And one more for guest hosting “Saturday Night Live” in 2010 after a public outcry to get her on the show. She had over a dozen nominations throughout her career, her last three being in 2012, 2014, and 2015 for a reality show she hosted. Her first Emmy nomination was in 1951!
What a life she lived. Her marriage to Ludden was cut short when he died of cancer and she never remarried. She just refocused her life on her animal activism, which was known worldwide. And in 1974, with Cloris Leachman leaving “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as acerbic Phyllis, White was introduced as man-crazy Happy Homemaker Sue Anne Nivens, a Martha Stewart before her time. Producers were so jarred by White’s makeover from “Password” princess to edge Sue Anne they hired her immediately.
A few years later, White’s other high point came when she joined Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan in “The Golden Girls.” Her Rose was from Minnesota, was Norwegian, and had endless, pointless, and hilarious stories about growing up with that background. With those two shows, White left her mark permanently on the history and culture of television.
Two days ago People magazine ran a funny story about Betty and her “The Proposal” co-star Ryan Reynolds. I doubt Betty was giving quotes or interviews, but it was still cute. And the perfect way to exit.
I’m absolutely sick of the media exploiting past relationships just to drive clicks. https://t.co/xV8v2vVvXB
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) December 30, 2021