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Country Music Has a New Fake Crossover Pop Star: Fictional “River Cain,” AI, Suddenly Has Five Hit Singles and an Album on Charts

Roger Friedman
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Country Music Has a New Fake Crossover Pop Star: Fictional “River Cain,” AI, Suddenly Has Five Hit Singles and an Album on Charts

River Cain is the latest fake singer to infiltrate iTunes.

The AI created country singer has five singles on the iTunes chart including “Hell Out of Me” at number 3, and “Mama’s Boy” at number 4. He also has an album on that chart at number 55, and one coming September 4th.

The music was released in December, according to one entry, or this past April but has suddenly started its climb.

Whoever invented River Cain, his songs, picture, and publicity is gaming iTunes. They’re also working YouTube, where 12 videos are lodged under River Cain. The inventor of this also has made fake videos on Instagram as if “River Cain” appeared on singing competitions. This has generated all kinds of links on the internet– and again they are all FAKE.

River Cain follows a slew of fake artists who’ve already wasted chart positions on iTunes this year.

It’s unclear who his creator is, or if he’s also from the world of Dallas Ray Little, who invented Eddie Dalton, a fake R&B singer from whole cloth.

Country radio stations take note. River Cain will not be doing in-studio appearances unless his so called label, Storm Records, sends an actor.

We are living in a weird time.

“Grey’s Anatomy” Teases the Return of Sandra Oh as Cristina After 12 Years Away from Show, As Drama Inexplicably Enters 99th Season

Roger Friedman
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“Grey’s Anatomy” Teases the Return of Sandra Oh as Cristina After 12 Years Away from Show, As Drama Inexplicably Enters 99th Season

Is Sandra Oh returning to “Grey’s Anatomy”?

The show’s Instagram site is teasing the possibility. One episode? An arc? All season?

Oh was so popular as Cristina for the first 10 seasons of the drama.

But then “Grey’s” wrote her out, she went on to a big and movie and TV career.

Since then, “Grey’s” has killed off or abandoned most of its original cast. Ellen Pompeo is barely involved. The show keeps getting renewed by ABC because it’s very big in syndication and reruns. Netflix subscribers love it.

If Sandra is returning, that should be a shot in the arm for ratings, which are now down to 2 million viewers per episode on a good day.


Charts: K Pop Stray Kids In at Number 1 with Massive 362K Debut for “This and That,” Role Model No Role Model with Just 40K Opening

Roger Friedman
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Charts: K Pop Stray Kids In at Number 1 with Massive 362K Debut for “This and That,” Role Model No Role Model with Just 40K Opening

It’s those dog days of summer on the pop charts.

With just two weeks until the end of Grammy eligibility, new releases are getting in their last licks.

Stray Kids, the popular K Pop group, arrived at number 1 this week for an album called “This and That.” Well, they sold a whopping equivalent 362,000 copies almost all in physical sales. Fans love to download their albums, not just stream them. They’re not big on Spotify. But who cares?

The big American release this week came from Role Model, a strange pop guy who’s said weird things in interviews — like he wants to be a single father of a baby girl. Yikes. He also Dakota Johnson, who’s 8 years his senior.

Anyway, his album, called “Chuck Timely and the Hourglass,” really was a dud with just 40,000 copies in its opening week. Role Model’s real name is Tucker Pillsbury. He had a massive hit last time out with “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” — 271 million streams. But Chuck Timely, whoever he is, doesn’t have a hit single so far.

Other news: Carly Simon’s new album, “Comes in Waves,” shot straight to number 6 on iTunes yesterday. Physical CDs arrive this week to fulfill big back orders on amazon.com.

Also picking up speed at least: Steve Lacy’s “Oh Yeah” from the “Spider Man” movie. For a little while, fans of the movie didn’t realize the movie had an original song. But Lacy’s album has taken off, and so has the song. It’s number 2 on Spotify today.

Box Office: Oh, the Horror! Anne Hathaway’s Summer Comeback Complete as “End of Oak Street” and “The Odyssey” Join “Prada 2” for Hat Trick

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: Oh, the Horror! Anne Hathaway’s Summer Comeback Complete as “End of Oak Street” and “The Odyssey” Join “Prada 2” for Hat Trick

Yes, the summer was all about Tom Holland and Zendaya, and the married couple being in two hot films.

But Anne Hathaway is giving the pair a run for their money.

The Oscar winner has been in three of the biggest films of 2026 so far with this weekend’s release of “The End of Oak Street.”

The dinosaur heavy horror film made $8 million from Thursday previews and Friday’s opening. Very positive reviews should propel it to a $20 million weekend, which will be just fine considering the low budget.

Hathaway also stars in “The Odyssey,” now headed to $500 million by Tuesday. And let’s not forget “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which only made $692 million worldwide this spring. Hathaway is back, big time!

Also at the box office yesterday: “Spider Man: Brand New Day” is still spinning its web, getting closer to $800 million the is weekend. Last night, believe it or not, the take was NINETEEN million dollars! There’s no end in sight. Anne Hathaway isn’t even in that one!

New clunkers include “One Night Only” and “Super Troopers 3,” each of which is playing to mostly empty rooms, or people who need the air conditioning but have seen “Spider Man” so much they can act out the whole movie at home!

No numbers in yet for either “Late Fame,” playing in 2 theaters, and lovely. Or “Tony,” which is on the backburner until we hear more.

UPDATE Frankie Valli Insists Not Ending Career, Brother Recants: “I Apologize, I misunderstood, I was under the impression my brother was retiring”

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Frankie Valli Insists Not Ending Career, Brother Recants: “I Apologize, I misunderstood, I was under the impression my brother was retiring”

UPDATED

I’m not surprised.

Frankie Valli issued a terse one sentence response to his brother Bobby’s post.

Frankie wrote on Twitter: “In spite of what you might have heard, I am not retired.”

Bobby responded on Facebook: “I apologize, I was misinformed. I was under the impression my brother Frankie was retiring. Hoping for him to have a speedy recovery. to continue his illustrious career!”

We learned a lot today. Frankie thinks at 92 he’s still going to do the circuit singing “My Eyes Adore You.” If you see him doing that, call the police. He should absolutely not be working unless he plans to die on stage — which is always possible.

Frankie married his fourth wife, Jackie Jacobs, three years ago. She’s 30 years his junior and should be insisting on it.

Meantime, we learned a little about Bobby Valli courtesy of his Facebook page. He’s an unrepentant MAGA who rails against immigration — even though the Valli’s came here from Italy. His Facebook page is filled with hate filled rants on the subject, and also voting fraud. He actually believes immigrants will bring Sharia law to the US. (See below.)

Bobby, as evidenced from his social media, spends his time performing Four Seasons songs at backyard barbecues.

And that was Friday. Let’s try and forget any of this happened.

Legendary Singer Frankie Valli’s Brother Says There’s a “Possibility” Four Seasons Great Will Stop Touring, Maybe to Force the Issue of 92 Year Old Star’s Retirement

Roger Friedman
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Legendary Singer Frankie Valli’s Brother Says There’s a “Possibility” Four Seasons Great Will Stop Touring, Maybe to Force the Issue of 92 Year Old Star’s Retirement

Lots of reports today that Frankie Valli’s brother announced the famed singer’s retirement.

Not true, really.

Bobby Valli says in his post “there’s a possibility that Frankie will stop touring.”

Frankie, who’s 92, only recently came off the road. His farewell tour was cancelled.

I can tell you this from seeing and speaking to Frankie a lot in the last couple of years: the legendary leader of the Four Seasons is very frail. He can barely move or speak. On stage, he lip syncs to his great records like “Sherry” and “Walk Like a Man.”

Frankie Valli should have retired two or three years ago, but I believe he was being sent out to do gigs not exactly against his will, but by people who liked the cash. Frankie’s money always came from live performance. He didn’t write those songs. The one time he made some money was from “Jersey Boys” on Broadway, touring, and the movie.

So I’m guessing that Bobby is concerned, and trying put an end to this charade. Better that Frankie is home and comfortable after 70 plus years on stage. He’s an amazing fellow, with a big heart, and a great legacy. It would be nice now to get some rest, and enjoy all the success.

PS I know some other performers in similar situations, kept on the road when they should be home smelling the roses. It’s hard to say goodbye to the adulation and applause, but there comesa time when it must be done.

Exclusive: Vanity Fair Cover Sweepstakes as Search for Celebrity Proves Difficult, Famed Fashion Designer Could Be Last Minute Choice

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Vanity Fair Cover Sweepstakes as Search for Celebrity Proves Difficult, Famed Fashion Designer Could Be Last Minute Choice

Getting cover subjects for magazines has never been trickier.

Vogue just got outplayed on its September cover by Vogue Uk with Nicole Kidman on their cover, and Elle here in the US with Rihanna. Each one is a statement photo with a lot of buzz and heat.

In the US? Vogue was reduced to the young stars of a subpar TV show called “The Shards.”

Now we get to Vanity Fair, which has struggled with cover subjects since Graydon Carter and his team moved on.

Under the latest editor, Mark Guiducci, the covers have been…pedestrian. The stories have been like press releases, and the photos extremely dull. They moved their Hollywood issue to last December, and couldn’t get any women. It was all male actors. Teyana Taylor, Margaret Qualley, and Kylie Jenner were duds. Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz was on the June cover, if you can believe it. The magazine sank to the bottom in July with Lisa, KPOP star of the group Blackpink.

You ask, Who the f are these people? (And don’t get me wrong, I love Teyana Taylor.)

(Many moons ago, when I had a job securing celebrities for covers, I had a nightmare. I dreamt that the cover of my magazine was just a picture of trees. It was a forest. I awoke in a sweat. I know how hard this is!)

Sources insist to me that finding a September cover subject has been a nightmare. A source whom I trust claims that Vanity Fair had pop star Miley Cyrus booked for her first new album from Atlantic Records.

But then “Miley changed her mind,” they said, leaving Vanity Fair in the lurch. What to do?

I’ve been told that Vanity Fair may have to go with fashion designer Marc Jacobs on the cover. Maybe the cover photo would be of Jacobs sandwiched in between two beautiful models. But that’s not how you start the fall season, certainly not for a celebrity magazine.

In the old days, Tina Brown or Graydon Carter would have had Tom Cruise on the September cover, for his new movie, “Digger.” They would settle for a puff piece just to get the picture and the promise of some minor gossip. But so far, Cruise has not sat down for anyone.

Who else? How about Brad Pitt? Well, Esquire has him — making headlines about his sobriety. Cate Blanchett is on the front of Harper’s Bazaar UK, looking stunning.

So Marc Jacobs? Vanity Fair’s PR would only tell me the cover is coming on August 24th. We will wait and see if they can do better.

UPDATE: Bette Midler Remembers Mark Rydell, 97, Who Directed Her in “The Rose,” Oscar Nominated for “On Golden Pond,” Started as Hit Actor on “As the World Turns,

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE: Bette Midler Remembers Mark Rydell, 97, Who Directed Her in “The Rose,” Oscar Nominated for “On Golden Pond,” Started as Hit Actor on “As the World Turns,

UPDATE: Mark Rydell, who directed Bette Midler to an Oscar nomination in her first film, “The Rose,” writes on Instagram: “He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys. Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories. RIP.”

EARLIER: So sorry to hear Mark Rydell has passed away

The famed director and actor was 97, and living in the Motion Picture home in Woodland Hills.

Rydell was one half of the first soap opera super couple, Jeff and Penny, on “As the World Turns,” circa 1960. (Rosemary Prinz, aka Penny, is still alive.)

He appeared in a lot of prime time TV at that time before becoming a full time director of nighttime shows.

Rydell got into movies with hit films like “Cinderella Liberty” and “Harry and Walter Go to New York,” each starring his friend, Elliot Gould. In 1980, he was nominated for Best Director of “On Golden Pond,” which won Best Picture.

His other movies included Bette Midler in “The Rose,” and a pre-scandal Mel Gibson in “The River.”

In his later years, Rydell appeared as an actor again, in films like Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending.”

Rydell’s wife, Joanna Linville, died in 2021. Their grandson is married to Billie Lourd, daughter of CAA chief Bryan Lourd and the late Carrie Fisher (and granddaughter of Debbie Reynolds).

May his memory be a blessing.

The $6 Million Forbes Scandal, as Recounted by Former “Law & Order” Writer Whose Son Worked for the Magazine for 15 Years

Roger Friedman
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The $6 Million Forbes Scandal, as Recounted by Former “Law & Order” Writer Whose Son Worked for the Magazine for 15 Years

Suzanne O’Malley was a much admired screenwriter and journalist for “Law & Order” for years.

Her son worked for Forbes for 15 years.

So O’Malley has a lot to say about the new scandal at Forbes involving the dismissal of editor in chief Randall Lane. According to the NY Times, Lane took a secret $6 million gift from a firm associated with Forbes. When the magazine found out, they fired him. Lane, it seems, gets to keep the money!

Anyway, I respect O’Malley’s thoughts on the subject, which you’ll see below. I like the story about Lane ordering expensive sheets for himself. It must have been hard to be a lowly paid journo constantly writing about all these rich people and their glossy lives. Lane wanted to be them, I guess.

PS You can also read Forbes’s response to the Lane firing here.

Golden Globes Total Civil War, Hilarious Saga of the Empire vs. Dissidents, Shady Operations, and a Dead End Lawsuit

Roger Friedman
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Golden Globes Total Civil War, Hilarious Saga of the Empire vs. Dissidents, Shady Operations, and a Dead End Lawsuit

The story of the Golden Globes is funnier than any movie they could nominate for Best Comedy.

Today, Page Six’s Tatiana Siegel reports that the old Hollywood Foreign Press Association — which now calls itself the Golden Globe (no ‘s’) Foundation, fired its CEO Gregory Goeckner.

You can think of this group as the dissidents, who are not in power anyway. And Goeckner was already gone, so I don’t know how they fired him.

On top of that Siegel worked for decades for Penske Media, which owns the actual Golden Globes with Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries.

Penske and Boehly bought the Globes from the highly corrupt, racist Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which everyone thought then disbanded. Penske and Boehly took a few of the old members, added hundreds more voters, and reinvented the Globes with a TV show from Dick Clark Productions, which the media company also owns.

But the HFPA never went away. They took their 501c3, dropped the ‘s’ in Golden Globes, and kept going like a shadow organization. I told you a couple of months ago that these old veterans of free trips, gifts, dinners, and swag filed suit against Penske saying they didn’t understand the terms of their sale.

Of course, the old HFPA can stamp their feet and “fire” whomever they like, but they have no TV show. And that’s what this is all about. Penske owns the Globes name, and Dick Clark Productions. They have the deal with CBS for a show in January. Those awards will be voted on by their own people. The HFPA, or whatever it calls itself, has no standing. Penske will prevail.

But is all very funny. Really, the whole thing should disappear. It’s devolved into chaos.

As for the Golden Globe Foundation: its most recent tax filing ends June 30, 2024. They claim to have $119 million in net assets, with $70 million in revenue for that year. That’s a lot of money for “movie critics.” That label is a joke in itself. The listed president on the tax form is Henry Arnaud, a cheese ball who posts a lot of pictures of himself with celebrities on Instagram and gave himself the nickname “Mr. Hollywood” there and on YouTube. The pictures are evidently proof of his existence.

You can’t blame Arnaud. He’s just the latest iteration of decades of mad dictators who’ve made their names on the backs of actual achievers in Hollywood. Their only accomplishments have been feeding off the work of others, bad or good, pretending they hold sway in a crumbling kingdom.

According to the tax filing, Arnaud was paying himself $115,010. Total salaries of the main players came to $400,000. The group gave grants totaling $5,000. Total expenses (apart from salaries) were over $500,000 — most of it spent on travel. Why is anyone still giving them money? It’s a headscratcher.

How will this all end? Penske and Dick Clark Productions will go on with their Golden Globes show on CBS. The HFPA lawsuit will be snuffed out. But getting to that point will be an adventure.

Oh, and more thing: the new Golden Globes has been looking high and low for voters — not members, just voters. They made a big push this past spring to lure critics from the Critics Choice Association, whose own TV show will be broadcast live a week before the Globes and has far more substance. (I can say that because I’m a member!)

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