Monday, December 22, 2025
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Hot Song Debut: G-Eazy with Incendiary Carlos Santana on Diane Warren’s “She’s Fire” is Radio Ready

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Listen to this! Carlos Santana plays a blistering guitar on Diane Warren’s “She’s Fire,” with a vocal from G-Eazy that just hit YouTube.

Songwriter extraordinaire Warren is coming with an album of her songs by a host of guest stars later next month. The album is called “The Cave Sessions, Volume 1.” The other artists include John Legend, Celine Dion, Ty Dolla $ign, LP and Darius Rucker.

We’re usually squawking away here about Diane Warren’s 12 Oscar nominations. But she’s written dozens of top 10 hits and number 1 hits like “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Rhythm of the Night.”

Now comes “She’s Fire” and it’s on fire!

Rupert Murdoch’s Knewz.com Folds After Less Than 2 Years, Shared Name with a Buffalo Polka Band

This will not come as knewz to anyone. Rupert Murdoch’s www.knewz.com has folded, closed up shop after less than 2 years.

You may not have known about knewz. If you snoozed, you…well, you know what I mean. This was the second attempt to launch a news website apart from the New York Post and other News Corp. sites that would be tabloidy and traffic in made up news. It was designed as a “news aggregator,” meant to take on the Drudge Report, the sixth highest ranked news site on the internet. Knewz.com was ranked number 7,425 on Alexa.com among all US websites.

The first was a right wing leaning site called Heatstreet.com. That site, before it also expired after a short run, had trouble with its url because it shared a name with a tattoo and piercing parlor in South Carolina. Knewz had an issue because some might have confused with a polka band of the same name from Buffalo, New York.

Both Heatstreet and Knewz were run by News Corp’s online wunderkind, Noah Kotch. He’s now run two spectacular failures for the company. What’s next is anyone’s guess: editor of the Wall Street Journal?

All that’s left of Knewz.com is this farewell on their landing page: “We started Knewz as an experiment in news aggregation because we wanted to gather a diverse range of quality journalism, to highlight all sides of every story and to protect and project provenance. We certainly had provenance, but not profits, and so we bid Knewz farewell. Thank you to the millions of Knewz users who saw the value of the service and supported our mission.”

 Here’s a musical farewell, polka style

Cannes 15 Minute Standing O for Wes Anderson’s “French Dispatch”: But Director Refuses to Give Press Conference

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UPDATE There was a 15 minute total standing ovation apparently. Originally it was said to be 9 minutes, but it went on and on according to my spies.

The French Dispatch has finally arrived in Cannes, a year late.

Director Wes Anderson brought an all star cast to the Croisette tonight but refused to give a press conference. The word is he was avoiding questions about his long time producer Scott Rudin, who has been made a pariah on Broadway for having a toxic work environment.

Todd McCarthy reviewed “The French Dispatch” for Deadline.com calling the director  “the king of twee.” McCarthy writes: This is Anderson in full flower, one that only grows in a rarified altitude… this is a film about and for The New Yorker constituency. If Anthony Lane doesn’t like it, there will be a price to pay. Searchlight Pictures probably shouldn’t even bother to release it in the red states, except maybe in Austin.”

Co-star Timothee Chalamet wore a designer suit that made him look like the Tin Man. The suit has gotten more attention on line than the movie.

Disney (Fox) Searchlight brought a lot of people for this premiere, so they spent some big bucks. Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Chalamet, etc are all four star travelers. Plus I’m sure there’s a big fancy dinner after the screening.

Frances McDormand did not attend. Apparently, there’s a sex scene between her and Chalamet that has set jaws dropping and tongues wagging. Not for the faint of heart.

Keep refreshing…

KPop Band BTS Sees New Single “Permission to Dance” Denied with Alarming Poor Sales, Fans Reject It

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I am not a BTS expert. But I know when fans aren’t excited or motivated.

That seems to be the case with the latest single dropped for summer by the KPop Korean boy band.

Their “Permission to Dance” has been denied. The single is number 1 right now on iTunes after a Friday release. But according to Buzz Angle/Alpha Data, total sales through Saturday night were just under 70,000 copies. Most of that came from streaming.

That’s an anemic number compared to BTS’s “Butter,” released two months ago. “Butter” is up around 900,000 plus in sales, a fifth of that from paid downloads and CD singles. “Butter” was a massive hit and still is. But “Permission to Dance” has been snubbed by the hardcore BTS corps.

Is it just overload after “Butter” was spread over everything in its path? Or has BTS changed sounds with “Permission” only to alienate fans? The latter is likely as the group– now owned by marital scandal plagued Scooter Braun — is being accused of going mainstream for Western marketing purposes.

“Permission to Dance,” unlike past BTS singles, is written by Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid, and Jenna Andrews. That’s a very generic pop committee. It could have been recorded by a dozen different acts, which is very much the case these days with a lot of songs. They’re auctioned off to the highest bidder. So BTS won the auction but lost the audience.

What’s very telling is that right now there’s no sign of BTS on the Z100 playlist or bestsellers. The biggest pop station in the country, owned by I Heart Radio, is devoid of all BTS mention. And the singles chart, which is usually ballot-stuffed by BTS fans, is remarkably quiet. We’ll keep an eye on this change in BTS fan devotion.

Box Office First: Marvel’s “Black Widow” Made $60 Mil from Disney Plus, $140 Million Including Theaters, $215 Million Total Opening

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Scarlett Johansson might reconsider making another “Black Widow” movie.

Disney was unusually forthcoming with its box office report today for the Marvel movie.

They released the info that “Black Widow” made $60 million on Disney Plus, where subscribers had to pay $30 extra to see it on the service. That’s two million people who checked it out from home.

At the box office, “Black Widow” made another $80 million. That brings the US domestic number to $140 million. Wow.

The Disney Plus number is important because so far the studio has not told us what its other releases have done based on the extra fee. None of the studios have fessed up their streaming numbers. But Disney must be pretty thrilled with that $60 million.

Add international box office, the grand total for the weekend was $215 million. Disney-Marvel broke even and made some dough in their first weekend. From here on, it’s gravy. Of course, “Black Widow” jumps forward at the very end with a post-credits scene that falls in the timeline after “Avengers Endgame.”

But the writers can always cook up another story for Natasha. Fans will go along with anything they can imagine. Scarlett, however, may not want to jump around anymore after playing Natasha in many films. We’ll see…

Monday Music Magic: NY’s Legendary Dennis Elsas Celebrates 50th Anniversary on the Radio on WFUV

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The summer of 1971 — it’s not just the 50th anniversary of all those famous albums we’ve been talking about this year. It’s the also the 50th anniversary of New York’s beloved music personality, Dennis Elsas. Monday marks his fifth consistent decade as the Rock n Roll Whisperer.

On Monday, Elsas is  celebrating LIVE from 4 to 7 pm on WFUV-FM here in New York, all over the world on the station’s app. More on the anniversary show in a minute.

I’ve been listening to Dennis my entire life. I can’t believe he’s 73 now and has four grandchildren. Where did the time go? For 30 years, he was one of the Mt. Rushmore voices on New York’s WNEW-FM, 102.7, with Scott Muni, Pete Fornatale, Alison Steele, Vin Scelsa, and so on.

Then Dennis, a visionary, moved to public radio on WFUV and Sirius XM where he hosts several shows including one I’m addicted to the on Beatles channel, 49.

Because he started in the summer, Dennis makes 50 before Jim Kerr, this fall, who started on WPLJ (and is now on Q104.3 and Sirius). I was 13 when these guys hit the FM airwaves, and I was just making the transition from Cousin Brucie and Dan Ingram on WABC. Those were the days. We were dependent then on these guys (and Alison, and Carol Miller and Meg Griffin) talking us through the music. There was no Walkman, or iPod, or Spotify. They played us the records and we learned them. It was Rock Studies 101.

So back to Monday’s show. Click here. Elsas has gone way back in his archives to the beginning. We’ll hear clips from his interviews with at the very least John Lennon, Julian Lennon, Elton John, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Mick Jagger, Mel Brooks, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Clarence Clemons, Ringo, Elvis Costello, Grace Slick, Judy Collins, Jerry Garcia, and John Fogerty.

Dennis doesn’t like to name a favorite all time record or song. The Beatles, he says, are his top group. “Obviously.” Obviously. His tag line is “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” so he does favor the Bob Seger song. A guilty favorite? He says, “ELO, Mr. Blue Sky, it’s a song of such intimate joy.” He’s right. Great choice. He points out that single has elements of the Beatles as well as the Drifters’ “When My Little Girl is Smiling.” (I actually hear some of ELO’s “Living Thing” in there, too.)

Elsas has outlived many of his contemporaries actuarialy and career wise. Of all of them, he says, he misses Scott Muni the most. “I grew up listening to him and then he hired me,” Dennis observes.

So we’ll hang tight Monday afternoon, listening to WFUV any way we can (here’s the link for the live stream app). And here’s to Dennis doing ten more years because it’s true, Rock and Roll Never Forgets!

 

 

Scooter Braun Marriage Trouble: Did Taylor Swift Leave Clues in Songs? Justin Bieber Faces Second Mentor Personal Debacle

The news overnight that rock star manager Scooter Braun’s publicly happy marriage was in tatters may not have been news to Taylor Swift.

Fans were quick to point out that Swift, who knows and sees all, had the goods on her mortal enemy last year and maybe even earlier, and laid out the clues in songs.

The most recent example was on the album “Folklore,” released just a year ago. In the song “Mad Woman,” Swift sings:

I’m taking my time, taking my time
‘Cause you took everything from me
Watching you climb, watching you climb
Over people like me
The master of spin has a couple side flings
Good wives always know
She should be mad, should be scathing like me

Swift was furious about Braun buying her recording masters from Big Machine Records, and then selling them to an investment firm. The feud has intensified since Taylor has re-recorded her catalog so the original recordings are useless and worthless.

In 2020, on the album, “Lover,” Swift not only recorded a song called “The Man,” but dressed in drag to play a male executive who was pretending to be a great family man. Was that Scooter? She sang:

They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to
And that would be ok
For me to do
Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you

So Swift clearly knew from her dealings with Braun things about his personal life, and presented them so they were open secrets.

Page Six and TMZ’s reports that Braun’s wife, Yael, mother of his three children, is separating from him is certainly a bombshell. Braun has gone to great lengths to portray a happy marriage and family on social media. But as recently as last week there were rumors in Page Six that he’d been cheating possibly with a reality star and spending time in sex clubs. The same rumors turned up in online gossip site, Deux Moi.

As thick as Justin Bieber is, the similarities of these new developments cant be lost on him. It was less than a year ago that his religious and spiritual leader, Carl Lentz of Hillsong Church, was exposed as a philanderer. The Church fired him, as did Bieber. As revelations of Lentz’s double life came out, things just got worse and worse.

If Braun’s separation does turn into a divorce, a lot is at stake. Based on the money he’s made manager Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato, his net worth is said to be around $400 million. That doesn’t factor in his company’s recent merger with the group that owns Korean KPop boyband BTS. Wife Yael could walk away with quite a haul, putting her right behind Mrs. Bezos and Mrs. Gates as top Single to Mingle.

And where is Hollywood divorce super lawyer Laura Wasser? This may be the beginning of a long, hot summer.

Cannes: Raves for Sean Penn’s “Flag Day,” on the Croisette, First Film He’s Directed Himself In

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UPDATE:  My spies say “Flag Day” played very well, getting a hearty standing ovation. “Everyone liked it a lot,” says my observer. “Dylan Penn acquitted herself well.” One person who was in the Palais said they had to run to the bathroom and ran back they were so eager to see what happened.

Reviews in the UK papers are very positive. MGM should be very pleased. A summer released will be a solid hit. Reviewer Peter Bradshaw says online “Sean Penn…has still got it!”

Variety: “the movie hits such a universal nerve.” Owen Gleiberman seconds it, with a very positive review.

Steve Pond: “The film is messy, not seamless, but it finds a way to work. And for Sean Penn the director, it’s both a family affair and a return to Cannes that is also something of, yes, a return to form.”

IndieWire: “In her first major lead role, Dylan Penn delivers a hard-edged performance steeped in a blend of frustration and simmering rage that eventually gives way to confidence as her character grows up…The movie has few tricks on offer but above all, delivers a solid reminder of Penn’s filmmaking talent, and welcome evidence that it runs in the family.”

keep refreshing…

 

EARLIER

Tonight at 10pm in Cannes, Sean Penn brings his latest directorial effort, “Flag Day,” to the Croisette. It’s the first time he’s directed himself in a movie, and his co-star his his daughter with Robin Wright, Dylan Penn.

MGM will release “Flag Day” in the US next month. The movie is based on the memoir “Flim Flam Man,” by Jennifer Vogel, who is played in the movie by Dylan. Sean plays her father, John Vogel, a notorious counterfeiter. They couldn’t use that title for the movie because there’s a really famous 1967 film called “The Flim Flam Man.”

Penn has nothing to prove as a director. His past accomplishments include “Into the Wild” and “The Pledge,” and “The Indian Runner,” all highly respected still watchable indie films. He had one dud, called “The Last Face,” but no matter: the two time Oscar winning actor is a quick study and knows how to make a good movie.

So we’ll be waiting at 6pm Eastern to see how the Palais audience responded to “Flag Day.” As I wrote this, there is a contingent of around 70 people who worked on the movie sitting through the premiere, so the applause will be loud no matter what!

Marvel’s “Black Widow” Takes $39 Million Opening Nights, Heads to $80 Mil Weekend

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Scarlett Johansson is having a nice week.

Marvel’s “Black Widow” made $26 million Friday night, on top of a $13 million Thursday preview evening.

The total of $39 million is a whopping success, meaning the weekend looks good for at least $80 million.

Plus, Scarlett just announced she’s having a second child, this time with third husband, Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live.”

You can’t do better than that!

On the opposite side of the box office, “In the Heights” is whittling down to its last weekend, with just 785 theaters. They may not cross the $29 million mark. Sad story.

 

Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” Doc Sputtered at Box Office During the Week, Footage Was Used On TV in 1969

Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” was not an out of the box hit when it opened last Friday, July 2nd.

According to the website the-numbers.com, “Summer of Soul” made just $247,318 on its opening night and went downhill from there. By Thursday it took in just $81,633, for a total of just over $1 million in six days.

At the same time it’s playing on Hulu, which may have drawn off potential audience members. How it will do this weekend remains a mystery and may stay that way since Searchlight doesn’t report weekend numbers anymore.

“Summer of Soul” is an archivist’s documentary, bringing together footage from the  Harlem Musical Festival which ran for several weeks in Mt. Morris Park in the summer of 1969 before the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York.

There are some real gems of performances from Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the 5th Dimension, Sly & the Family Stone, etc.

At the time those artists signed releases and may or may not have been paid. The footage existed all these years, and was made into a CBS special for TV that aired in 1969. There were also TV specials made from the footage for various foreign countries. So the footage existed and was used. It wasn’t “lost” as it was described.

What Questlove has done is take the footage and add interviews with some contemporaries and a few people from the old days who were there. But “Summer of Soul” isn’t exactly new. It’s updated from the original CBS special.

It would also be nice to know if the musicians are being paid now from whatever money is earned. When I made “Only the Strong Survive” with Pennebaker Hegedus Films in 2002, we made sure the artists involved were paid. It should be the whole gestalt of “Summer of Soul.” But so far Cberyl Ruffin, daughter of Temptations singer David Ruffin, has indicated no effort has been made in that direction. I hope Searchlight remedies that as soon as possible.

So by all means, watch “Summer of Soul” on Hulu and enjoy it. Imagine that Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight, already stars, are still on the precipice of their monster successes of the 1970s.

Here’s an announcement from Broadcasting and Cable sent by an astute reader: