Live from Stockholm, ABBA put on a worldwide event for their superfans. They are a rare breed, certainly.
Two new songs, videos– “Don’t Shut Me Down” and “I Still Have Faith in You.”
The group debuted their first new song since 1982, “I Still Have Faith In You,” a ballad mostly sung by the women.
There’s a video made from animated avatars of themselves from years ago. A little creepy.
“The Many Saints of Newark” are coming to the Upper West Side.
David Chase’s prequel to “The Sopranos” will get a worldwide premiere at New York’s Beacon Theater on September 22nd. The Tribeca (formerly Film) Festival is hosting it.
(Tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com, although every time I tried to log in via Firefox the site would not sell me tickets. Try using Explorer or Chrome. It seems a little fishy. The initial pricing was $106 for orchestra, then it jumped to $166. Wait see what happens next.)
Alessandro Nivola stars as Dickie Moltisanti (in Italian: Many Saints) father of Christopher (in English: christuphuh). As a young man Tony Soprano was raised by Dickie, then Tony returned the favor after Dickie was killed and acted a father to Christopher. Of course, in the end Tony killed the kid, played by Michael Imperioli. But you know, families….
I’m excited about Vera Farmiga playing Tony’s mother, Livia. And the press is all over Michael Gandolfini as young Tony. The movie debuts in theaters and on HBO Max on October 1st. Boy, do we need this movie to be good!
Next Thursday, September 9th there will be a worldwide observation of the 50th anniversary of John Lennon’s “Imagine” album.
“Imagine” was actually released in October 1971. But 9/9 seems appropriate for Lennon, who wrote “Revolution No. 9,” #9 Dream,” and was born on 10/9 and died on 12/9.
Anyway the family has selected 9/9/21. Yoko & Sean Ono Lennon, the Estate of John Lennon and Universal Music Group will host a Global Party.
At 11:30am PDT/2:30 pm EDT/7:30 pm BST on September 9, fans around the world are invited to watch the Imagine film together, either online or in person at participating venues. Yoko Ono Lennon, Mercury Studios and partners including The Coda Collection, Hard Rock and Music Venue Trust will make the film available for free, while Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess’ hugely popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party will host a simultaneous online Listening Party event.
Yoko & Sean Ono Lennon, the Estate of John Lennon and Universal Music Group will host a Global Party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John’s “Imagine” song, album and film on September 9. The event will honor one of the most famous and beloved songs and universal messages in music history.
“John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other,” says Yoko. “The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together. We have this oneness and ‘the whole world would eventually become one’ is the sense that we will all be very happy together. All these instructions are for people for how to spend eternity, because we have lots of time.”
The unique global status of “Imagine” was emphasized yet again during the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where it was reimagined by the celebrated composer Hans Zimmer for a worldwide audience in the hundreds of millions. It began the celebrations for both the Olympics and the song’s own golden anniversary.
John & Yoko’s Imagine, one of the first full-length conceptual music films, was also released in 1971 and contains all the songs from John’s Imagine album; four from Yoko’s Fly; and a few additional pieces. In 2018, under Yoko’s supervision, the film was completely reassembled to HD in 2018 from the original 16mm negative reels and cleaned and digitally restored frame-by-frame with the audio completely remixed in 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos by triple Grammy-award winning engineer and mixer, Paul Hicks.
Confirmed participants for Tim’s Twitter Listening Party are: Yoko Ono Lennon; the Estates of John Lennon, George Harrison and Nicky Hopkins; plus Sean Ono Lennon, bassist Klaus Voormann, drummer Alan White, cameraman Nic Knowland, factotum Dan Richter, and MC Tim Burgess, with more to be announced soon. (Paul? Ringo? Julian?)
ABBA Makes their big announcement Thursday at 12:45pm right here via Youtube. New Music? New tour of avatars? Anyone speaking to each other? We’ll get the whole story all together. ABBA fans will go crazy. People who speak Hebrew will think we’re discussing their fathers. Should be fun!
In the meantime, the brilliant Steve Leeds, now a big deal at Sirius XM, told me about booking ABBA on their first American TV show in 1976. He was working at Atlantic Records where they’d been signed by Jerry Greenberg. All Steve could get them on originally was “Wonderama,” the beloved New York kids show hosted then by Bob McAllister. The rest is history.
Here’s the clip:
Lots of new music news in addition to the release of Sting’s single, “If It’s Love.”
Elton John has made a whole new album to go along with his hit single “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa. “The Lockdown Sessions” is a collection of 16 songs, all Elton John collaborations, with some of the biggest, most exciting artists in the world today including: Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, SG Lewis, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Surfaces, Years & Years, Young Thug, and more.
Release date is October 22nd.
Elton says: “The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”
Tracklist:
Tracklist
1. Elton John & Dua Lipa – Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)
2. Elton John, Young Thug & Nicki Minaj – Always Love You
3. Surfaces feat. Elton John – Learn To Fly
4. Elton John & Charlie Puth – After All
5. Rina Sawayama & Elton John – Chosen Family
6. Gorillaz feat. Elton John & 6LACK – The Pink Phantom
7. Elton John & Years & Years – It’s a sin (global reach mix)
8. Miley Cyrus feat. WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith – Nothing Else Matters
9. Elton John & SG Lewis – Orbit
10. Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Simple Things
11. Jimmie Allen & Elton John – Beauty In The Bones
12. Lil Nas X feat. Elton John – One Of Me
13. Elton John & Eddie Vedder – E-Ticket
14. Elton John & Stevie Wonder – Finish Line
15. Elton John & Stevie Nicks – Stolen Car
16. Glen Campbell & Elton John – I’m Not Gonna Miss You
For a minute there it looked like Lady Gaga could get two Oscar nominations again this season, but those hopes have been dashed.
Paramount just moved Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun Maverick” to Memorial Day weekend 2022 and along with it the song Lady Gaga wrote for the movie.
Gaga still has a shot at Best Actress for her role in “House of Gucci.” Maybe she’s got a song in that film!
Paramount has basically shut down for the rest of 2021. They not only moved “Maverick” out of 2021, but also the new “Jackass” movie. They have nothing on their schedule now. Moving “Maverick” to May 2022 means they will have two huge Tom Cruise movies next year, with “Mission Impossible 7” following in November.
The reasoning behind moving “Maverick” is that theaters are still not wide open audiences are ambivalent about returning during the Delta variant. But I’ve also heard rumblings from the “Maverick” world for some time that director Joseph Kosinski– who made Cruise’s not such a hit “Oblivion” in 2013– was having problems keeping control of the movie away from Tom and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Some issues may not be settled yet.
So Paramount survives 2021 with just one hit, “A Quiet Place, Part 2,” and banks on Tom Cruise heavily to save 2022.
PS A lot of the actors must be disappointed. At least Val Kilmer, we know he’s got his documentary, everyone loves it. But where is Glen Powell? The poor guy is waiting to be a star already!
Kanye West’s “Donda” will land big when the week’s sales are counted up on Friday morning.
Sunday through now sales are at 192K, almost all streaming. Hitsdailydouble is predicting 350,000 total. Only 50,000 of that will be paid downloads. There are no CDs.
If Kanye had released on Friday at midnight he’d had have had two extra days, bringing him closer to 500,000. So we have to factor that in.
Still, these days 350,000 is a huge debut, even if most it is from streaming.
If CDs are released, there will be another wave of sales. If a single catches on, that will help, too. So far the singles are streaming but no one’s downloading them.
On Thursday night, though, “Donda” runs into Drake’s new “Certified Lover Boy” album. Then things get tricky!
This is just what the doctor ordered in the middle of hurricanes, viruses, and wars: something light and catchy from Sting. “If It’s Love” is the first single from his album of all new material, “The Bridge,” coming in November. I love the chorus on this song. You won’t be able to get it out of your head. And what a pleasure to hear Sting’s voice, which only gets richer and more melodic.
PS And just in time for Grammy voting for Best Pop Vocal.
The Bridge Track Listing:
1. Rushing Water
2. If It’s Love
3. The Book of Numbers
4. Loving You
5. Harmony Road
6. For Her Love
7. The Hills on the Border
8. Captain Bateman
9. The Bells of St. Thomas
10. The Bridge
11. Waters of Tyne (Deluxe bonus track)
12. Captain Bateman’s Basement (Deluxe bonus track)
13. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (Deluxe bonus track)
*(Japanese exclusive bonus track)
14. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City
Showbiz411.com had a great August, thanks to everyone who read and clicked and chimed in.
Now comes the fall season, and even if it’s still not what it’s supposed to be, we always start September with this song. One of the great pleasures of writing this site and meeting up with music pals is knowing Verdine White, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson of Earth Wind & Fire. There are no better people. Their music (all credit due to Verdine’s late great brother Maurice) is magic. How can you not love the group that gave us “Let’s Groove Tonight,” “Shining Star,” “Keep You Head to the Sky,” and the one song I know every sound in and word of, “That’s the Way of the World.” (I told Philip last week there’s a 10 state ban on me singing it in public!)
PS Maurice also wrote “Best of My Love” for the Emotions. When Mariah Carey stole it and called “Emotions,” Maurice told em: “I’ve heard of sampling, but they took the whole buffet!”
Do you remember, 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night
Remember
How the stars stole the night away, oh yeah
Hey, hey, hey
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du, ba-du
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du, ba-du
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du-da, yeah
My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love
Remember
How we knew love was here to stay
Now December
Found the love we shared in September
Only blue talk and love
Remember
True love we share today
Hey, hey, hey
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, golden dreams were shiny days
The bell was ringing, oh, oh
Our souls was singing
Do you remember, never a cloudy day, yow
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, golden dreams were shiny days
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: White Maurice / Willis Alta Sherral / Mc Kay Albert Phillip
September lyrics © Emi April Music Inc., Steel Chest Music, Irving Music Inc.
After scandals and controversies previously unknown to “Jeopardy!” During the Alex Trebek era, Executive Producer Mike Richards is out.
After a full investigation, Richards is also out at “Wheel of Fortune,” fired by Sony TV.
Here’s the note to the staffs of both shows from Suzanne Prete, of SONY:
Dear Team,
I’m writing to let you know that Mike will no longer be serving as EP of Wheel and Jeopardy! effective immediately. We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.
Michael Davies from Embassy Row has agreed to help with production on an interim basis until further notice. Michael and I will work together with all of you in the weeks ahead to ensure that production remains on schedule and we do not miss a beat as we head into the new season.
I know this has been a challenging time for the entire team, and I want to thank you all for your cooperation and professionalism over these last few weeks. As Ravi mentioned last week, I will be more involved in the day-to-day on our shows moving forward and I am looking forward to working closely with all of you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.
Sincerely,
Suzanne