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Elton John and Stevie Wonder together. Bliss. “Finish Line” is their first ever duet and it’s a hit, of course. So amazing to hear them together on a record, although Stevie did play harmonica on “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues” and they also appeared on “That’s What Friends Are For.”
But this is their first real single together. Bravo! It’s part of Elton’s chart renaissance. He has a huge hit right now with Dua Lipa in “Cold Heart.” He has another single with Charlie Puth.” And an album coming in three weeks called “The Lockdown Sessions.”
I thought Elton was retiring or something! Nonsense! And he’s having hip surgery this week. He’s still the most hip!
Note to Stevie Wonder: you need a new album, my friend. We miss you!
There was a lot of noise today about the temporary recasting of actor Marcus Coloma, a newer member of the cast of “General Hospital” on ABC.
Coloma was suddenly and without explanation not on today’s episode, replaced by another actor. “General Hospital” has had issues recently with actors getting COVID, and one actor< iIngo Rademacher, being a vocal anti-vaxxer.
But now it turns out that whatever sidelined Coloma, he has something else in his background of interest. For 15 years he’s been a major player in Hollywood’s creepy Scientology crowd.
He teaches acting at the “church” of Scientology, where he regularly advertises the “tools” he’s gleaned from the religious cult to gain success.
This hasn’t turned up in any of his interviews since joining the ABC soap. But the website truthaboutcientology.com shows that Coloma began taking classes in 2005 and his most recent class was a year ago. He’s taken about 20 courses over the 15 years.
Coloma’s worked his way to something called Class V Auditor. He’s also an “Operating Thetan” at Level V. In other words, he believes this mumbo jumbo and worships L. Ron Hubbard and Tom Cruise. It’s hard to imagine, but he believes in aliens.
There are few soap actors involved in Scientology including two from “The Young and the Restless”– Michelle Stafford and Sharon Case. There are more than a few in mainstream entertainment, from Tom Cruise and John Travolta to Jenna Elfman and Kirstie Alley. Some have left or escaped, like Jason Beghe of “Chicago PD” and Oscar winner Paul Haggis.
Most notable is Leah Remini, who’s won awards and Emmys for her outstanding documentary series about the cult. Other famous Scientologists in Hollywood are actress Elizabeth Moss, and Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson.
One thing is clear: Coloma’s character, if played by him, won’t be visiting the General Hospital shrink or spending time, as many characters do, in the nuthouse. Scientology doesn’t believe in psychiatry and regularly denounces it. (See Lawrence Wright’s documentary, “Going Clear,” and his book with the same title. Or check out Tony Ortega’s website.)
What isn’t clear: if Coloma has been vaccinated, or believes or doesn’t believe in the COVID vaccine. Scientology has not directly addressed their stance on the vaccine although there’s anecdotal evidence they’re against it. If a Scientology spokesperson wants to clarify the position about COVID vaccines, please email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
Britney Spears is free to wreck her life on her own terms.
In Los Angeles, Judge Brenda Penny has granted a petition by the singer’s new lawyer suspending Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, from his position as conservator of his daughter’s $60 million estate.
In court, Mathew S. Rosengart, who took over as the singer’s lawyer in July, saidL “This man does not belong in her life, your honor, for another day. Please hear the plea of my client.”
The court named John Zabel, a California account previously disparaged by Jamie Spear, as the temporary conservator of the singer’s finances. This was Britney’s request.
A date was set for November 12th to end officially this conservatorship that’s been in place for 13 years. Public pressure caused everyone involved to cave despite the evidence that Britney has mental issues and probably cannot run her own estate.
But she’s old enough to take that chance and succeed or fail on her own terms. Whatever happens now, it’s on her. As for her father, I’m there will be investigations into how he handled her money and how much he benefited from his position.
Zabel will be the new man in charge of working with Britney and her lawyers. His company is called Media Finance Structures, and he’s well known in the movie and entertainment business.
Monday night:”NCIS” led the network shows with 8.055 million viewers, a big number for TV these days.
But it’s also the lowest ever rating for “NCIS,” which was down 400,000 viewers from last week and 900,000 from its Season 18 season finale last May.
“NCIS” also introduced Gary Cole as Mark Harmon’s eventual successor. They’re not saying it but the audience knows that Gibbs is going to be in many fewer episodes for Season 19. Cole’s new character is going to run the show.
Will “NCIS” fall below 7 million next week? That’s still a good number most shows would be thrilled about. If this continues, season 20 will be the last. Also, “Law & Order” is being revived so it can break the “Gunsmoke” record of 20 seasons with number 21, maybe next spring. So “NCIS” will never be able to catch up.
The day after the 2022 Oscars might go to Joel Coen’s “Macbeth,” Daniel Craig– aka James Bond– will open on Broadway in “Macbeth” with Ruth Negga as Lady Macbeth.
Crazy huh?
Sam Gold is directing the production. Previews begin March 29th, so Oscar and Tony voters can be confused and compare the two productions. Why oh why?
There’s also a chance that Craig could get nominated for Best Actor in the Bond film, “No Time to Die,” which would mean he’d be on stage in New York during the month of Oscar voting. He certainly won’t be able to attend the Oscars, which is a mistake. He should be there this year even if presenting Best Film or something.
So this is really weird timing but I guess Craig wants a Tony nomination, and he’s sending that message.
He’s been on Broadway a couple of times in the last ten years, in “Betrayal” and in a two hander with Hugh Jackman.
But why try to top the Coen “Macbeth” with Denzel Washington? That’s a lot of the Scottish play for anyone, even the most Macbeth-ish fans. The Coen “Macbeth” is going to have Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Director, and Screenplay noms for the Oscars plus all crafts. Even if it makes 2 cents at the box office, it’s a classic film. The producers of the Broadway production should have waited til the fall, I think.
No disrespect to “Moulin Rouge,” but if “Girl from the North Country” had been included in that Tony Awards on Sunday, things might have been different.
The Bob Dylan inspired musical actually opened to raves on Broadway but was excluded from the 2020 abridged Tony Awards. Weird. They had a great opening night but it was right as the pandemic was unfolding.
Now “Girl” is returning with its original cast and trio of insanely gifted stars: Mare Winningham, Jay O. Sanders, and Marc Kudisch, plus Matt McGrath, Broadway’s MVP. Performances resume October 13th. You must see this musical. It’s going to win the Tony next June.
I never thought of these two, Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp, working together. But New Jersey meets Indiana in their first collaboration, “Wasted Days,” dropped strangely on a Wednesday at midnight. PS It’s a terrific single very catchy, and unapologetically them.
I like Dick Wolf. He’s obviously a success and a survivor. He told NBC last winter that if they canceled “Manifest,” he’d give them a third hour of “Law & Order” to go with “SVU”and “Organized Crime.” He said it would be called “For the Defense,” and focus on defense lawyers.
Wolf hired Carol Mendelsohn, late of “CSI” to develop the show. But no one ever developed it. And when the time came to pony up, Wolf blamed Mendelsohn for no show.
Insiders tell me that “For the Defense,” however, was all Wolf’s idea, and that he never thought it through. “You can’t have the police be wrong in every story,” said one observer. “It’s all Law, no Order. It breaks the whole theme of the shows.”
Wolf’s mistake meant “Manifest” went to Netflix after a public outcry, and NBC was left without a third hour to give Wolf a block on Thursday nights. NBC has since been scrambling to fill the time.
So no surprise today that Wolf has announced that next fall he’s bringing back the original “Law & Order.” Who’ll be in it? Chris Noth is otherwise occupied on “The Equalizer,” but he’d be a likely candidate to join the show. Wolf could make it up to Paul Sorvino, so good in the early shows almost three decades ago. Sam Waterston is available. And Linus Roache, who was kind of screwed during the show’s final seasons. Plus, where is Jesse L. Martin?
The “L&O/Wolf” people I spoke to over the summer must be cackling with this news. Mendelsohn was thrown under the bus when “For the Defense” couldn’t come up with a script or characters. The new show, as many pointed out, was just the Law without the Order. Now Wolf can try again to build his Thursday block.
Loser, loser, loser. Donald Trump is a loser all the time.
United State District Judge John G. Koeltl has now ruled against Trump and his campaign for using Eddy Grant’s hit record, “Electric Avenue” without Grant’s permission in campaign commercial.
Grant and his publishing company sued the Trump campaign for copyright infringement. The campaign made a motion to dismiss. Judge Koeltl denied it.
Grant can move forward. He’s using top intellectual property lawyer Brian Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLP, who will eat Trump and his people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The judge writes in his opinion, issued yesterday: “On August 12, 2020, at or about 9:35 p.m., former President Trump published a Tweet from his personal Twitter account containing a fifty-five-second animated video. The video endorsed former President Trump’s 2020 presidential reelection campaign and sought to denigrate the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nominee, now-President Joseph R. Biden. The video begins with a depiction of a high-speed red train bearing the words “Trump Pence KAG [Keep America Great] 2020.”
“After the red train passes, the beginning of Electric Avenue can be heard clearly, along with an excerpt of a speech by President Biden. Around the same time, a slow-moving handcar, operated by an animated likeness of President Biden, comes into view bearing the words “Biden President: Your Hair Smells Terrific.” The video~in particular the contrast between the trains and the unflattering nature of the excerpted language from President Biden~appears intended to criticize President Biden and depict the strength of former President Trump’s campaign. Grant’s song can be heard beginning at around the fifteen-second mark of the video, and continues through the duration of the fifty-five second video. “
The Trump campaign said their use of “Electric Avenue” was fair use. The court said no, loudly. The judge wrote:
“The defendants did not receive a license or Grant’s permission to use the song in connection with the animated video. In fact, one day after the Tweet was published, Grant advised the defendants by letter about the defendants’ perceived unauthorized use of Grant’s copyrights, and demanded that the defendants cease and desist from further infringing conduct.
“The creator of the video here made a wholesale copy of a substantial portion of Grant’s music in order to make the animation more entertaining. The video did not parody the music or transform it in any way. The video’s overarching political purpose does not automatically make this use transformative, and the other fair use factors also favor the plaintiffs at this stage. Accordingly, the defendants have failed to demonstrate fair use as a matter of law. The defendants may reassert their fair use defense at the summary judgment stage when there is a more developed factual record.”
The “Electric Avenue” lawsuit is just one of many involving Trump and his flagrant disregard of copyright law. He’s used dozens of songs without permission, just raising the ire of the artists, the copyright holders, and the fans of the artists involved.
There was a lot of noise today about the temporary recasting of actor Marcus Coloma, a newer member of the cast of “General Hospital” on ABC.
