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Benson Boone is finding out about the “sophomore jinx.”
The follow up to his “Beautiful Things” album — “Fireworks and Rollerblades” — which has sold 2.2 million — has been a bust.
“American Heart” sales have been heart-breaking. Just 42,144 downloads and CDs. A total of 282,172 copies including streaming. Fans did not flip out for “American Heart,” although Benson flipped, and flopped. The album is now at 39 on iTunes top albums.
Meanwhile, “Beautiful Things” — with over 9 million copies sold (including 2.6 million downloads) — remains in the iTunes top 10 this week. It won’t go away, more than a year after its release. It seems to grow stronger by the week while Boone’s new singles are met with apathy.
“Beautiful Things” has turned into Boone’s “Call Me Maybe,” and a lot of other one-off hits that lodge on the radio and the charts permanently. Why? Who knows?
“American Heart” was released with a full heart, based on Boone’s initial success. But the songs were few — 10 — and seemingly pedestrian pop. None of them caught fire. And now they will vanish while “Beautiful Things” just keeps going.
The same may be happening to the current number 1 single, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary.” The song and the album are indeed ordinary, but the single has stuck like crazy and pulled along an album that is not memorable. Warren should learn a lesson from Benson Boone if he’s planning another record.
Boone is 23 and has made a fortune from the first song. He’s also toured like crazy, doing acrobatic flips that make the audience go crazy. How long can he keep that up? He’ll have to come back with a third album that shows actual musical skill or he will wind up in carnivals. We don’t want that to happen, do we?
The 2025 Toronto International Film Festival selections are here.
Particularly interesting is a film called “Nuremberg,” about the famous trial of Nazis. It’s directed by James Vanderbilt, member of the Gilded Age Vanderbilts, a cousin of Anderson Cooper. Among his credits are writing two “Spider Man” movies and two installments from the “Scream” franchise. “Nuremberg” stars Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, and Richard E. Grant.
Hot on the list is Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” with Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Christoph Waltz. Apparently, this is Netflix’s shot at an Oscar this season. The advance buzz has been excellent.
Lots of other films including one by Scarlett Johansson, another by Alex Winter of “Bill and Ted” fame. Winter will be on Broadway this fall in “Waiting for Godot” with Keanu Reeves. (Yes, really.)
I’m looking forward to “Ballad of a Small Player” starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, directed by Edward Berger (“Conclave”).
2025 Galas (in alphabetical order):
* previously announced
*A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France North American Premiere
Adulthood | Alex Winter | USA World Premiere
Driver’s Ed | Bobby Farrelly | USA World Premiere
Eleanor the Great | Scarlett Johansson | USA North American Premiere
Eternity | David Freyne | USA World Premiere
Fuze| David Mackenzie | United Kingdom World Premiere
Glenrothan| Brian Cox | United Kingdom World Premiere
Good Fortune| Aziz Ansari | USA World Premiere
*Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | United Kingdom Canadian Premiere
*Homebound| Neeraj Ghaywan | India North American Premiere
*John Candy: I Like Me | Colin Hanks | USA World Premiere
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery | Ally Pankiw | Canada World Premiere
Every day Donald Trump pushes a diversion away from the Epstein scandal.
It really is like throwing uncooked pasta against the wall to see what sticks.
Rosie O’Donnell citizenship? That’s so one week ago.
Today, Trump is huffing and puffing for the Washington Commanders to change their name back to the Redskins. If they don’t, he’ll punish them. Same for the Cleveland Guardians, back to the Indians.
Offensive? Yes, that’s the point. Will this make people stop talking about the Epstein files, and Trump’s allegiance to the dead child trafficker? No.
Donnie, try harder! What a moron. He’s so interested in pigskin because it’s so like his.
A year ago, Francis Ford Coppola — the legendary director of “The Godfather” movies and “Apocalypse Now” — the object of mockery.
FFC had made his labor of love, “Megalopolis,” about a visionary and an architect at war over how to remake a city destroyed by an apocalypse. No wanted to see the two hour eighteen minute movie even with its illustrious cast includingA dam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, and Aubrey Plaza. He couldn’t get a distributor after a ruinous screening for friends in April 2024.
He took the movie to Cannes, where no one knew what to make of it. And then he waited waited waited until Lions Gate agreed to distribute the complex and often daunting self proclaimed masterpiece.
Coppola had staked $100 million of his own money on the project. But after it made just $7.6 million in US theaters, Lionsgate called it a day, removed it from viewing, and handed “Megalopolis” back to Coppola.
What next? No streaming, no DVDs. Nothing. Coppola refused to put “Megalopolis” on phones or laptops, it shouldn’t be seen that way. If you look up the movie on Amazon.com, a warning comes up that says “rights expired.”
So now, the Oscar winning director is taking “Megalopolis” on the road. He’s booked five large theaters in five venues across the country via Live Nation. First stop is this Wednesday at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY with a Q&A following the show.
There’s even a special musical performance by Grace Vanderwaal, who contributed two songs to the movie and appears in it as Vesta Sweetwater, a young, virginal pop star.
And guess what? Coppola has made the audience an offer they’re no refusing. “Megalopolis” is sold out. Everywhere. There are about a dozen seats left in each of the theaters in Chicago, Denver, Dallas, and San Francisco. The “Megalopolis” tour is a success.
This should be no surprise to anyone. Coppola has a history of PT Barnum like live extravaganzas. Back in the day, he sent his dad, Carmine Coppola, out on the road with a full orchestra playing in front of Abel Gance’s classic silent film, “Napoleon.” It was an enormous hit.
What could be a surprise at the screenings: who gets to come out live on stage for the moment when a human being must ask questions of a character on the screen? Will it be Coppola, an audience member, or a surprise cast member who wasn’t too emotionally rattled by the original release?
The cities Coppola and his people have chosen have discerning film audiences who I guess want to see what all the fuss is about. Where could he go next? Manhattan or Boston? Austin, Texas? What about the Dolby Theater in Hollywood? That would be the height of irony since that’s the home of the Academy Awards.
Why, Steak ‘n’ Shake. I told you in March, when Trump lackey Robert Kennedy Jr visited one of their outlets, that the cheesy fast food chain is owned by a top Republican Trump donor who will anything he’s told.
That’s Iranian-American rich guy Sandar Bilgari, a big Trump backer and donor. He’s also an oil magnate who sits right in Trump’s pocket. It’s no coincidence that Steak ‘n Shake is fake.
Bilgari also owns Trump-friendly Cracker Barrel, the HQ of red state dining. As I wrote in March, Wikipedia says Biglari controls First Guard Insurance, Abraxas Petroleum, Southern Oil of Louisiana, Southern Pioneer Insurance and the Western Sizzlin’ corporation, which are subsidiaries of Biglari Holdings. Biglari is also founder, chairman and CEO of Biglari Capital, the general partner to The Lion Fund.
As I told you this week, sugar cane replacing less expensive high fructose syrup — they have the same nutritional value by the way, don’t let lackey Kennedy tell you otherwise — is all for another top Republican donor who owns all the sugar cane fields.
Eileen Fulton was the first soap star, long before Susan Lucci.
She played Lisa Miller Hughes (and a lot of last names after that) on CBS’s “As the World Turns” from 1960 to the show’s end in 2010. Lisa was the first bad girl on soaps, setting the mold for Erica Kane and all the others who followed.
Fulton was a celebrity in New York, as well. She had a full time publicist like movie stars — and unlike soap actors — who kept her in the Post and Daily News with amazing regularity. Fulton performed in cabaret clubs often, singing for her legions of fans. She wrote two books, and in 1966 she was briefly spun off into a CBS nighttime soap with her name above the title.
This was a time when soaps had millions of viewers every afternoon who hung on Lisa’s adventures. Fulton even recorded a song called “As the World Turns” that was a minor hit in the early 60s. She was great at promoting herself, which made “As the World Turns” number 1 for more than a decade.
As time went on, new bad girls arrived in the fictional town of Oakdale, but Lisa was their role model. She was the original diva as she plowed through more marriages than Elizabeth Taylor with a sense of humor and grace. Petulant, strong headed Lisa knew her mind and nothing would dissuade her from getting what she wanted. Fulton adapted through decades of new writers and directors, Procter & Gamble executives, and changing attitudes in the audience.
“As the World Turns” was broadcast live from CBS’s studios on 524 , where the cast could be seen roaming the halls as all the different incarnations of CBS Morning News came and went. They were on the famously on the air when Walter Cronkite broke in with the news of the Kennedy assassination. The Gayle King version had better do something nice for Eileen Fulton this week. She was the steadiest anchor they had for decades.
“Superman” picked up another $16 mil last night. Today it crosses the $200 mil mark and by tomorrow could be around $220 million. Nicely done.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that “Smurfs” made just $4 million and is looking at a sad $12 million weekend. Where are all the kids? Why aren’t they crowding theaters? Rihanna is part of this film!
A24’s “Eddington” is Deadington. Ari Aster’s movie about a small town conflict over COVID is finding the small minuscule audience that his last movie, “Beau is Afraid,” had. Joaqin Phoenix had better go back to making normal films with name directors. Why keep making these movies?
Let’s all try and see “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” from Sony Pictures Classics. It’s supposed to very good. We’ll talk tomorrow.
Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch.
But as one Twitter account observed, Trump filed ‘pro se,’ meaning he’s going to represent himself in court.
Did no lawyer want to take this case on? It’s nice to know Trump isn’t so busy as King that he has time to try a $10 billion case. He’s not even a lawyer.
Hilarious. Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal over their report that he once sent sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein a raunchy birthday card. He insists it isn’t true. But this could be his undoing, finally.
Wait til WSJ presents the birthday card and all the discovery in this case.
I hope you guys have your popcorn ready. Apparently, trump is going to represent himself in court. pic.twitter.com/WT72lqqjr5
Last night HBO aired part 1 of Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin’s revealing Billy Joel documentary called “And So It Goes.”
It was two and a half hours long, and I could watch it again, frankly.
A lot of people must have tuned in because this morning no less than SEVEN Billy Joel albums are on the iTunes Top 100 including greatest hits packages, “The Stranger,” “52nd St,” and “Glass Houses.”
The second part will air next Friday night, July 25th.
This is quite a tribute to Billy, who’s home, recovering from having fluid on the brain.
For someone who hasn’t released a new album since 1993, the whole story is kind of amazing. But Billy’s music resonates through generations, it never gets old, just better. I heard “My Life” on the radio the other day, and it sounded fresh as a daisy. Part of the credit goes to my old friend, late producer Phil Ramone. But it’s really the magic of Billy combining pop, R&B, jazz, doo wop, and showtunes.
The HBO doc is pretty comprehensive, but it skips over a few periods just for the sake of time. I was lucky enough to see Billy perform at the tiny Cellar Door in Washington in April 1976. It was just him on piano, and I can still remember him playing the piano intro to “Angry Young Man” like it was yesterday. The doc sort of wipes out the period between “Turnstiles” and “The Stranger,” but Billy was having a tough time then. Little did he know that, like Bruce Springsteen, was about to break wide open.
If you missed the show last night, the doc can be found on the HBO VOD on the TV and probably on HBO Max as well. It’s a winner, and one that will definitely be in the mix this fall for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
PS I could watch Part 2 now, but I’m going to wait until next Friday and savor the whole experience! If you thought there was drama in Part 1 with that first wife, Elizabeth, wait til we hear the story of how her brother, Frank, stole millions from Billy. It’s quite a tale.
New York, NY – One of the great joys of concertgoing is seeing fabulously gifted people doing fabulous things, and on Sunday, July 20, New York City music fans will experience that and more when internationally acclaimed singing star Deborah Silver makes her hotly anticipated return to the main stage at the famed Birdland Jazz Club. Tickets are availableHERE.
Silver, a two-time #1 Billboard vocalist, renowned for her impeccable velvet tone and dazzling stage presence, as well as her wonderfully creative jazz interpretations across genres, celebrates the glamour and elegance of music’s golden eras. Hailed by Quincy Jones as “the real deal,” she continues to win hearts across the globe.
She comes to Birdland hot on the heels of her recent album,Basie Rocks!, which debuted at #1 on Luminate’s Traditional Jazz chart. But as the title suggest, there’s nothing traditional about Basie Rocks!, on which Silver is joined by The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra for a dynamic and swinging reimagining of timeless rock songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, and Peter Frampton, among others, as magnificent jazz standards.
At Birdland, Silver will perform selections from Basie Rocks! as well as enduring favorites from the Great American Songbook (along with a few other surprises). She will be joined by an all-star band featuring Scotty Barnhart (Director of The Count Basie Orchestra) along with legends Patrick Bartley and Wycliffe Gordon, under the music direction of Tedd Firth.
“I’m thrilled and honored to return to Birdland,” Silver says. “It’s got such history and prestige – all you have to do is say its name, and people everywhere know it’s the place to be. I can’t wait to perform my new show for my New York City fans, and it will be incredible to be on stage with such brilliant musicians, all of whom I call my friends. Let’s go!”
