Thursday, December 18, 2025
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UPDATED “Donda” Disaster: Kanye Claims Universal Music Dropped Album Without Permission

Kanye West took to Instagram this afternoon and claimed Universal Music dropped his “Donda” album without permission.

Good for them. You could hear Lucian Grainge say “Enough with the mishegos.”

Kanye also claimed DaBaby’s manager blocked release of the track “Jail 2.” It wasn’t included on the original release but it’s out now, and on the iTunes chart at 25. The whole thing may be a set up. Who knows?

Universal had to get “Donda” out already. On Thursday they’re dropping Drake’s new album. They have to keep the trains running on schedule.

Who knows what beef Kanye has now? He also says they didn’t release a track called “Jail 2.” So he’ll have a bonus track up his sleeve. With 27 tracks on “Donda,” no one will miss it.

Kanye is not finding sympathy for the fans. Three delays for “Donda” was enough. The fans wanted it. He’s lucky he has fans at this point. And only someone with a number 1 would complain. Plus, considering he’s been hawking a $200 listening device for the album, I think he knew it was coming sooner rather than later.

 

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Oh, Mr. Grant: RIP God Bless Beloved Award Winning Actor and Activist Ed Asner, 91

God Bless Ed Asner. The beloved actor and activist has died at age 91.

Asner will be known forever as Lou Grant, the crusty TV producer and then newspaper from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and from it sequel, “Lou Grant.” But he had a long career before and after Lou, and won kudos for many roles including the animated film, “Up.”

He won 7 Emmy Awards and was nominated 9 other times.

Condolences to his family and friends. Now all but Betty White, improbably, from “MTM,” are gone. Ed’s family posted to Twitter at around 1:45pm this afternoon. “We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you.”

I had many, many encounters with Ed over the years. Back in 2014, Ed came up to Fairfield, Connecticut to Sacred Heart University for a Sunday afternoon Q&A, where he was his usual jovial and gruff self. But there were plenty of other times, too, and he always so effusive and interested in talking about politics and show business. A lifelong Democrat, he was voluble on liberal subjects. He was a vocal member of the Screen Actors Guild, and his influence was key to their every election. He was president of SAG from 1981 to 1985.

He was also outspoken about US affairs, and considered the cancellation of “Lou Grant” was linked to his public criticism of the Reagan Administration. (He was right. The show was high rated, but CBS scuttled him.)

Anyway, there are myriad interviews and accounts of Asner’s life. He was a giant, and he will be sorely missed.

The crazy thing is he will be remembered for this exchange with Mary Tyler Moore on the first episode of their sitcom.

 

Is Kanye Forgiven for “Slavery is a choice” and His Trump Endorsements, White House Meetings, Failed Presidential Run?

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And so here is “Donda,” a PR spectacle for the summer of 2021.

It’s a hit, and it’s pretty good, the tracks are excellent, highly listenable and accessible.

But now: how short are memories?

It was only a year ago that Kanye West was running for president, supporting Donald Trump, meeting him in the Oval Office.

It was May 2018 when Kanye announced that “slavery is a choice.”

Everyone was outraged as Kanye melted down, carried on, ranted on Twitter like a loony toon.

Is all forgiven? Do we forgive and forget and just move on? “Donda” will be a referendum on short term memory loss.

Stay tuned…

Kanye UPDATE “Donda” is Number 1 on iTunes, Also on a $200 Remix Device, Here are the Credits

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“Donda” is here, it’s very good. It’s on streaming services and on iTunes for download. It’s already number 1.

It’s also on Kanye‘s website in a $200 device you can buy called a Stem Player. A small round beige object with lights, the device offers you a chance to remix the album at your discretion. There’s 8 gigabytes on it, and the website says you can add your own music. I’m not sure if that means you can also delete “Donda” and make it an expensive MP3 player.

Hell Freezes Over, Pigs Fly: Kanye West Releases “Donda” Album to Streaming Services, Sort of

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After weeks of delays and three listening sessions in stadiums, Kanye West has released his “Donda” album, sort of.

Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and “Donda” has turned up on streaming services. Sort of. On Spotify there are different versions, in different orders, as playlists. On Apple’s iTunes, there’s a different version.

No word came this morning from Kanye’s record label. The thing has just appeared. There are lots of guest artists and no credits, so who knows what the samples are yet or how this thing is made. Lawyers will be poring over it.

“Donda” comes as hurricane “Ida” lands in New Orleans. Seems right. There’s a track called “Off the Grid,” which was supposed to be the name of Sean Puffy Combs’s new album next month. Coincidence?

“Remote Control” is very catchy. It’s still to be seen who actually wrote it.

Stay tuned…

 

 

Beatles: Listen Here to Three Remixed, Rare, or Unreleased Tracks from the “Let it Be” 50th Anniversary Album and “Get Back” Movie

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Sorry, friends. I didn’t realize we could listen to three remixed and rare tracks from the “Let It Be” anniversary album coming in October. That little pieces of news was buried in yesterday’s announcement. Hence, the few plays on YouTube. But these are a BIG deal.

So we have the 2021 remixed “Let It Be.” Then “Don’t Let Me Down” first performance from the famous rooftop concert. And then Glyn Johns’s unreleased remix of “For You Blue.”


Tighten Up, Kids: The Amazing Archie Bell Is Having a Live Birthday Telethon Next Sunday

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Archie Bell, I’ve never met him. I love his music. Archie Bell & the Drells, there’s nothing better. His “Tighten Up” is an eternal classic of soul and jazz, a joyous, ebullient celebration of life.

Next Sunday, September 5th, the Continental Club in Houston is having a live telethon on Facebook Live to raise money for Archie. He’s been recovering from a stroke earlier this year and is excited about visiting with his friends and fans at the Continental Club Houston on Sunday, September 5 from 2 to 5 pm.

Donations either online or at the door for Archie’s medical expenses are both encouraged and greatly appreciated. Suggested minimum donation is $10 but listen, donate a hundred bucks. If you’re a music fan, you owe it to the universe.

I’ll have more on this during the week. Archie, we’re there for you!

 

Netflix Picks Up NBC-Cancelled “Manifest” for 20 New Episodes and a Resolution of Cliffhanger

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Where is flight 828? On Netflix! The deal is done. “Manifest” will have a fourth season on the streaming platform. The cliffhanger will be resolved. NBC looks pretty lame for cancelling the show in the first place.

I’m proud to say this column had the original scoop that “Manifest” was not dead and would return in some form. What a mess! NBC cancelled “Manifest” because Dick Wolf promised them another hour of “Law & Order” branded TV. Then Wolf forgot to develop a show. By that time, “Manifest” was already a hit n Netflix. And that’s where the deal was made.

 

Mel Brooks, 95, Zooms Into Hilarious East Hampton Celebration of “The Producers” with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick

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Mel Brooks may be 95 years young but that didn’t stop him from Zooming into East Hampton’s Guild Hall celebration of his musical “The Producers” last night.

Starved for Broadway’s reopening, a happy crowd packed Guild Hall for an evening of clips and anecdotes about “The Producers,” the winner of the most Tony awards of any musical in history.

On a panel introduced by choreographer Susan Stroman, a winner of 5 Tonys herself, the show’s stars Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, and Brad Oscar quipped and reminisced about the play’s Chicago debut, and the run on Broadway, shut down for 3 days in the aftermath of 9/11, but then it was Rudy Guiliani who urged everyone to get back to work. People did not know whether it was appropriate to laugh, said Oscar. And of course, the show offered the audience a way to grieve less for a two-hour period, Stroman remembered. Nathan Lane performed, but scheduled for a vacation, he decided to take, joking, “If I cancel my vacation, the terrorists won.”

And so the evening went with Lane recounting his first encounter with Mel Brooks in a swimming pool at the Ritz in Paris. Anne Bancroft, finished with her swim, went up to her room, and Lane thought, Mel Brooks is in the pool with me instead of with Anne Bancroft. He also remembered that it was Harvey Weinstein, a backer at the time, who read the all-important New York Times review at the opening night party . . . “and then went off to pee in a flower pot” . . . conflating the producer’s crimes with another #Metoo accusee. Matthew Broderick remembered people coming to the door, every performance someone else would show up, Al Gore, for example. Lane said Clinton came, shook hands, but kept his eyes on Cady Huffman, the show’s splendid Ulla. But they were all in awe when Gene Wilder, the original Leopold Bloom, stopped by.

As if anyone needed to be reminded of how great this show is, clips of Mel Brooks recording his song “That Face,” telling how it was Anne Bancroft who encouraged him: “She was the angel on my shoulder,” and beaming at how wonderful Broderick was in that duet with Huffman. Or the incredible “Springtime for Hitler” number where Stroman’s choreography shines as the dancers do a swastika formation a la Busby Berkley. The showstoppers of the night were the live performances: first, Brad Oscar in his original Nazi helmet—“Every Jewish boy has to have Nazi paraphernalia,” he said. And then Lane and Broderick doing “Like Him,” sweetly renewing the Bialystock and Bloom friendship, their heads touching.

And then there was Mel himself looming over the John Drew Theater, zoomed in with failing audio but speaking and gesticulating nonetheless. He was God bestowing his blessings and love to an evening that could have gone on –for a few more hours at least.

Backstage, while everyone was considering which bar might still be open for a nightcap -— I think they settled on The Maidstone —- Broderick said his return to Broadway in the two-year delayed Plaza Suite would occur in February. That should give us enough time, right?

Eric Clapton Doubles Down on the Crazy, Releases Another Anti-Vax Song for Tour, Says Nothing about Charlie Watts

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The tragedy of Eric Clapton continues.

(On Twitter, Clapton has said not a word about the death of Rolling Stones legend Charlie Watts, whom he knew for 50 or 60 years. Not a peep.)

Clapton says he had a terrible reaction to his COVID vaccination. His response is to urge the public not to get vaccinated. This makes no sense, and is dangerous.

Clapton was a drug addict for years before cleaning himself up and becoming a rehab advocate. But the damage he did to his body is unknown. And the effect of any medication on him would be certainly much different than the average healthy human being.

What he’s doing now is dangerous and stupid. He’s issued a second anti-vax single, this one called This Has Gotta Stop. He’s right: what has to stop his idiotic behavior and poor judgement.

There’s also a very poorly thought out lyric in this song. One of the lines is “Thinking of my kids, what’s left of them.” Clapton’s son, Conor, died famously, tragically falling out a window at age 4 in 1991. Clapton subsequently had a hit single, one of the biggest of his career, “Tears in Heaven.” That line in the song seems very glib and kind of cruel.

My own father died last December from COVID before there was a vaccine. I wish to God he’d lived long enough to get the shots. I do find the anti-vaxxers completely repulsive in their selfishness and short sightedness. When I raced to get my mother her vaccination last March I had no idea that there might be people who would be against it. But mental illness has overtaken our society in many realms. That’s what’s gotta stop.