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Remember “Electric Avenue”? Judge Declines to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Brought by Singer Eddy Grant for Using Record in Campaign Commercial

Roger Friedman
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Remember “Electric Avenue”? Judge Declines to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Donald Trump Brought by Singer Eddy Grant for Using Record in Campaign Commercial

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.

Review: Daniel Craig’s Final James Bond Movie, “No Time to Die,” Pulls Out All the Stops for an Explosive Finale…or a Cliffhanger

Roger Friedman
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Review: Daniel Craig’s Final James Bond Movie, “No Time to Die,” Pulls Out All the Stops for an Explosive Finale…or a Cliffhanger

BREAKING NEWS: DANIEL CRAIG TO STAR IN BROADWAY “MACBETH” NEXT SPRING

 

SPOILER ALERT (not big ones): The Daniel Craig era of James Bond comes to an explosive and shocking finale in the long awaited “No Time to Die.” I can’t tell you what happens, but this is the movie that will bring people back to theaters. It’s a long movie, but it’s never dull for a minute. You will be on the edge of your seats the entire time. It ends with what may be the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers, or a finale for the ages.

“No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s fifth and final Bond movie, was supposed to be released almost two years ago in November 2019. After many re-schedulings, the day has arrived. Today there have been simultaneous screenings in New York and Los Angeles for the press while at the same in London there’s a gala premiere at Royal Albert Hall.

“No Time to Die” has had other hardships, notably a change in director from Oscar winner Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) to Cary Joji Fukunaga. The final screenplay is from screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the latter a recent sensation for her TV series, “Fleabag.”

The movie brings back Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes  from previous Bond films. It also adds Oscar winner Rami Malek as Bond’s newest foe, plus Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas (who co-starred with Craig in “Knives Out”), Dali Benssalah, Billy Magnussen (in his second big role of the fall, after playing young Paulie Walnuts in “Many Saints of Newark”), and David Dencik.

The last time we saw James, at the end of “Spectre,” he was off on a happy romantic ending with beautiful Madeleine (Seydoux). Alas, they are forced to split up and we fast forward five years. Bond, retired from MI6 and unwanted by them (they sort of think he’s dead) is  called back into action by his old CIA pal, Felix Leiter (Wright), who he hasn’t seen for a couple of movies now. Leiter needs him to help find missing scientist Valdo Obruchev, a missing scientist (Dencik.)

When Bond meets up with Leiter, he’s got a CIA operative with him Logan Nash (played by the wily Billy Magnussen) who no one trusts because he smiles all the time. They send Bond on a mission to find Obruchev which of course has many twists and turns. The most fun of these is the reunion with Ana de Armas, a beautiful and fledgling spy in Havana. (No they do not have sex.) deArmas is as disarming as ever, and the pair’s jump into formal wear for a casino moment is well worth it.

This is a movie, the kind you have to see on a big screen. It’s long because it’s an epic, and it’s a summing up for Craig who first became James Bond in 2006 with “Casino Royale.” No other actor has had as long a run as Bond even though Sean Connery and Roger Moore sentimentally are just as identified with the character (no disrespect to Pierce Brosnan or Timothy Dalton).

“No Time to Die,” then, is a summing up of fifteen years of Craig and his association with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the daughter and step son of Albert Cubby Broccoli.  It’s the end of an era marked by a portrait of Dame Judi Dench as Craig’s memorable mentor, M. Not only does Wright’s Leiter come to say goodbye, but so does Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld (very subdued). Rami Malek, with facial prosthetics, is a perfectly slithery villain who’s so awful he makes his own skin crawl as well as ours.

If there’s a twist I can report it’s that during his absence from MI5, Bond has been replaced by a Black woman named Nomi, played with grace, intelligence, and energy by Lashana Lynch. M– Mallory aka Ralph Fiennes– has given her Bond’s number of 007. She is sensational, well written and fun but quite serious and deadly. She really needs her own offshoot movie or even an Amazon series. (When you see her and Bond together you want to make a “Two Jakes” kind of joke, “The Two 007s”).

I don’t know the books of Ian Fleming well enough, but he might have imagined James Bond finally getting a family, even if briefly, and a moment of human happiness. Other than “Skyfall,” this is Daniel Craig’s real acting achievement as Bond. You could tell that he was really showing off his chops here. Gone is all the campy fun, although the movie has quite few wry laughs. Craig is giving his Bond a send off that is most memorable and moving.

All good nods to the production. The set pieces are very, very intense with plenty of blood rushing excitement. Fukanaga fills the role of Bond director, bringing inventiveness to each situation. I always love it when the Aston Martin used as a character, and in this movie, even the car gets bravura wrap up moments.

Is this the cliffhanger of all cliffhanger? You better believe it.

Congrats to all on an enormous send off.

 

 

Ratings: NFL, Forgetting Kaepernick and Kneeling, Returns to Huge Sunday Numbers of Old

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: NFL, Forgetting Kaepernick and Kneeling, Returns to Huge Sunday Numbers of Old

Colin Kaepernick? Kneeling? That’s so 2018.

The NFL is back! Memories are short, people want to get out of the house, and if not, settle in for a good old football game.

Sunday’s ratings for the NFL were huge for three networks: CBS, NBC, and Fox. Not for ABC, which go tackled over and over carrying the BS Global Citizen concert special at 7pm and got 1.6 million viewers.

At 1pm, over 14 million people sat down to CBS to see a bunch of games play out.

Over on Fox, 12.5 million fans got into their Barcaloungers and poured a few beers for the first set of games. For the second set, at 4:30, 22,6 million people were watching. And 10 million hung on for overtime coverage.

Back on NBC, at 8:30pm, just under 20 million people ignored “The Simpsons” premiere on Fox and the Tony Awards on CBS at 9pm. They watched the Packers defeat the 49ers decisively.

All eyes Sunday were on football. That the Tony’s even got 2.7 million viewers is a miracle.

During the last four years, the NFL has been in a serious slump. Encouraged by the Former Guy in the White House, there was a negative vibe about the NFL. For a few minutes, some people had a conscience about the way Colin Kaepernick was treated. But then, hey, time passed. Kap still isn’t playing football, but the hot dogs are hot, and the beer is cold, and what else are we going to do.

America is still a great country. Pictured: winner of the day, Roger Goodell.

Pop Hit 50 Years Old: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1970 “Fortunate Son” Has Sold Almost 1 Million Copies This Year via Streaming

Roger Friedman
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Pop Hit 50 Years Old: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1970 “Fortunate Son” Has Sold Almost 1 Million Copies This Year via Streaming

If you know an explanation for this phenomenon, let me know. showbiz411@gmail.com.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” has sold via streaming the equivalent of 822,000 copies this year. They will sell 1 million copies before the end of 2021.

What?

The song was released in 1970.

CCR, fronted by John Fogerty, has been out of business since 1976. They formed in the mid 60s. Their “20 Greatest Hits” album, issued in 1976, has sold well all year. It’s currently at 112,000 copies. Roughly half were CDs and paid downloads. The album is currently NUMBER 1 of all Amazon’s CDs and vinyl. Hello?

Their second best selling track is “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” Runner up is “Bad Moon Rising.”

Fogerty took a long break after CCR broke up. He was angry because his record company was sold to producer Saul Zaentz, who tied Fogerty up in litigation for a decade. In the late 80s Fogerty re-emerged with “Centerfield” and had a few more hits. His “Proud Mary” became a rock staple, and a classic hit covered by Ike and Tina Turner.

Why the group is selling like crazy is a mystery. Maybe it’s the universe returning the favor to them after Zaentz made their lives so miserable. Whatever it is, it’s a good thing that new generations are enjoying the swampy country funk that made CCR such a hit during their original run.

 

 

Stevie van Zandt Reveals in New Book Not All Stars Were Nelson Mandela Supporters: Issues with Paul Simon, Whitney Houston

Roger Friedman
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Stevie van Zandt Reveals in New Book Not All Stars Were Nelson Mandela Supporters: Issues with Paul Simon, Whitney Houston

Before 1987, few people in America knew who Nelson Mandela was or was in support of him. The South African leader had been in prison since 1962, so for 25 years he was not well known outside of certain circles.

Little Steven van Zandt was among those who did know about Mandela. The E Street Band leader first became involved with anti-apartheid movement through his boycott of the Sun City resort, a major strike at the evil of apartheid.

In his very detailed new memoir, “Unrequited Infatuations,”  the politically passionate van Zandt recalls that in helping to organize the famous June 1988 Freedom Concert for Mandela at London’s Wembley Stadium, he ran into issues with some of the performers. The concert was billed as a 70th birthday show so as not to scare TV networks and advertisers. But van Zandt recalls it was really an all star show seeking Mandela’s freedom from prison.

Not everyone was in agreement. van Zandt writes:

I was surprised an American network picked up on it at all. The consensus among the mainstream media was that Mandela was a terrorist
and a Communist. And not just among the right wing. Famous liberal
Paul Simon once cornered me at a party and asked how I could be supporting this Mandela character when he was obviously a Communist.
“Really, Paulie?” I said. “You sure?”
“Yes,” he said. “My friend Henry Kissinger explained it all to me. Just
follow the money!”
“Well, Paul, I know you and Henry are students of revolution, but I
have news for the both of you. People fighting for freedom outnumbered
by a better-supplied enemy don’t really care where the money comes
from. And by the way, your buddy Kissinger is not only an unindicted war
criminal but was with the Dulles brothers in the early fifties overthrowing
Mosaddegh in Iran and installing the shah. That’s the direct cause of half
of the real terrorism on the planet to this day. So when you see him, please
tell your friend Henry to stick his Nobel Peace Prize up his fuckin’ ass.

Simon, of course, quickly came around.  van Zandt writes he was amused two years later when Mandela came to New York to raise money for his run for President of South Africa. Simon was so much on board that a photo of him and Mandela appeared in all the newspapers. He writes: “I guess Paul Simon got over that whole scary dangerous Communist thing.”

Another big issue was the appearance of Whitney Houston. Some performers didn’t want her on the show, van Zandt recalls, but she was needed to broaden Mandela’s appeal.

I happened to be in the office with the promoter, Jim Kerr, and Peter Gabriel
when Whitney Houston’s Manager came in. “We thought this was about
celebrating a birthday, but we’re hearing lots of politics from the stage.
We don’t want any part of it. We want the Free Nelson Mandela posters
covered up or Whitney doesn’t go on!” He stormed out.
Whoa!
We looked at each other in shock. I spoke first. “Throw that bitch the
fuck off this show right now!”
“We can’t,” the promoter said. “We sold the show to the networks
with her on it.”
“Let ’em complain!” I said.
Jim, or maybe Peter, spoke up. “She was the only request from
Mandela personally. They had a poster of her in prison and all the prisoners . . . fell in love with her.”
We let her perform. It makes me nauseous seeing the documentaries
since then proclaiming her as a proud activist who fought against apartheid all her life.

Houston, of course, also came around despite the manager’s interference.

van Zandt recalls: The American network edited out everything I said onstage and
trimmed whatever politics they could in general. Fox, of course. But the
telecast was enormously successful and helped cement Mandela’s status
as a world leader and one of the good guys.

Ratings for Tony Awards Terrible But Who Cares, Global Citizen Concert a Real Bust

Roger Friedman
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Ratings for Tony Awards Terrible But Who Cares, Global Citizen Concert a Real Bust

The Tony Awards on CBS had pretty bad ratings, just 2.65 million people. And who cares? The two hour show from 9 to 11pm was beautifully produced and well worth watching again. But CBS had it all screwed up by not just broadcasting in real time across the country. Also, the Paramount Plus feed was apparently a mess on the west coast for people not using Roku. (We had no trouble with it.)

The Tony Awards offered all the biggest stars doing their best work so that wasn’t an issue. The producers, Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, made lemonade out of lemons. After all, only 16 shows were eligible. Half of them were bad, the other half had closed. All the Best Score nominees were plays, not musicals. How ridiculous is that? “A Christmas Carol,” a seasonal entry, won a bunch of awards it would never have won. But the producers made it work.

On another ratings front, the scammish Global Citizen concert scored just 1.55 million viewers showing clips from their egregious day of spending millions on rock stars and nothing on the poor or the hungry. The rock stars are using Global Citizen to look like activists and get attention for their music. The Global Citizen execs are using the rock stars for big salaries and hobnobbing. The whole thing is absurd.

 

We Were Right: “SNL” Adds Three New Players (Named Here), But MVP Beck Bennett is Exiting Show

Roger Friedman
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We Were Right: “SNL” Adds Three New Players (Named Here), But MVP Beck Bennett is Exiting Show

I told you over the weekend “Saturday Night Live” was adding three new players. I named them. They are Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman aka Sarah Squirm.

But the bad news is Beck Bennett, an MVP Leading man who’s played everyone from Mike Pence to Vladimir Putin, is leaving. He will be sorely missed.

Everyone else from the main cast is returning including Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Kenan Thompson. Even Pete Davidson. Also out with Bennett is featured player Lauren Holt.

 

(Trailer) A Hollywood “Almost Famous” as Bradley Cooper Plays Jon Peters in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” Based On Producer Gary Goetzman’s Childhood

Roger Friedman
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(Trailer) A Hollywood “Almost Famous” as Bradley Cooper Plays Jon Peters in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” Based On Producer Gary Goetzman’s Childhood

Paul Thomas Anderson’s falsely named “Soggy Bottom” has a real title and a trailer.

Now it’s called “Licorice Pizza,” and as I told you exclusively weeks ago, the movie is based on the teen years of Hollywood producer Gary Goetzman, now Tom Hanks’s producing partner. Goetzman had a career as a child actor.

PTA heard Goetzman’s stories and turned them into a film instead of rock version of “Almost Famous.” Cooper Hoffman, son of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman, plays Gary.

Bradley Cooper plays real life Jon Peters, who went from being a hairdresser to Barbra Streisand’s boyfriend, to Hollywood producer. Warren Beatty played a version of him in “Shampoo.” In the trailer he tells Hoffman how to pronounce “Streisand.”

The whole trailer has a very Wonder Years feel to it. For PTA it would be a very sentimental film, different than his past work. But it looks very promising.

“Licorice Pizza” was the name of a famous LA record store in the 70s.

 

Tony Awards Pt 2: “Moulin Rouge,” “The Inheritance” win Best Musical, Play, In Memoriam Segment Shines with Mitchell, O’Hara, and Lewis

Roger Friedman
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Tony Awards Pt 2: “Moulin Rouge,” “The Inheritance” win Best Musical, Play, In Memoriam Segment Shines with Mitchell, O’Hara, and Lewis

Part 2 of the Tonys went on a little too long, but overall the show on CBS was a success.

“The Inheritance” won Best Play. “Moulin Rouge” was Best Musical. “Slave Play” got nothing, which I think is great because it was basically porn. So there.

The duets segment culminated in a huge moment with Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell singing from “Ragtime.” They were brilliant.

Stokes-Mitchell, and Kelli O’Hara and Norm Lewis were especially terrific during an emotional and long In Memoriam for 2020 and 2021 that I think included everyone who passed away. Having Mitchell sing “The Impossible Dream” was a lovely touch. He sang it from his apartment window during the height of the pandemic for all the first responders, nurses and doctors.

The 2020-21 Tony Awards are over. All in all, the four hours were splendid. They should get Emmys. They made a very good lemonade from lemons. No complaints. The ratings? Who cares? There was a lot of competition. But if you love Broadway, the whole thing was worth it.

Tony Awards Part 1: Jennifer Holliday Steals the Show, Adrienne Warren Best Actress, Aaron Tveit Best Actor in a Musical

Roger Friedman
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Tony Awards Part 1: Jennifer Holliday Steals the Show, Adrienne Warren Best Actress, Aaron Tveit Best Actor in a Musical

The first two hours of the abridged 2020 Tony Awards, shown in September 2021, were well produced, an intimate affair with a lot of heart, if a little odd.

All of the 2020 Tony Awards from an abbreviated season were handed out except Best Musical, Play and Revival of a Play. They were left for the CBS special at 9pm. Everything else was handed out on Paramount Plus, but just on the East Coast. On the West Coast, everyone was complaining. They’ll see it later.

The big winner was not any of the nominees, but Jennifer Holliday who brought the house down and the audience to their feet singing her Tony hit from 1981, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from “Dreamgirls.”

The audience at the Winter Garden still isn’t over it.

Some of the awards were silly. Some wouldn’t have happened if the 2020 season had proceeded properly. All the shows nominated for Best Score were plays, not musicals. Huh? “A Christmas Carol” is a seasonal production that wouldn’t have won so many awards. But why quibble? Broadway’s back, what happened happened, and we’ll all live.

The main thing is all the main acting awards were spot on. Danny Burstein won after 7 tries, Lois Smith won after 60 years. Many congrats to both of them. Adrienne Warren finally got her award for playing Tina Turner. The universe is happy. And PS Everyone loves David Grier.

Kudos to Audra McDonald, who should host everything.

74th ANNUAL TONY AWARDS WINNERS LIST

Best Play, The Inheritance

Best Revival of a Play, A Soldier’s Story

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Lois Smith, The Inheritance

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Best Costume Design of a Play
Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Best Sound Design of a Play
Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Carol
Music: Christopher Nightingale

Best Book of a Musical
Jagged Little Pill
Diablo Cody

Best Orchestrations
Katie Kresek, Charlie Rosen, Matt Stine and Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

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