Mick Jagger has a new single out today.
But a few days ago, the Rolling Stones dropped a lyric video to their 1969 cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Don’t Know Why.”
And I don’t know why. And I also don’t know why this track was never on a proper album. It finally turned up on a miscellaneous ABKCO album “Metamorphosis” in 1975. (Fans: I’m using a current photo. I know this wasn’t the group at the time.)
Here’s the new video:
Mick Jagger must be getting antsy not being on the road in the studio with the Rolling Stones. He’s dropped a new single this morning, with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. The lyrics are all about COVID, masks, and the vaccine, which Mick is promoting. He’s sending up the anti-vaxxers.
Mick is rocking! And the single is great! I love it!
Remember, the last Rolling Stones single– which went to number 1– was called “Living in a Ghost Town.”
PS The Rolling Stones released a new lyric video this week
Mick writes:
“I wanted to share this song that I wrote about eventually coming out of lockdown, with some much needed optimism – thank you to Dave Grohl for jumping on drums, bass and guitar, it was a lot of fun working with you on this – hope you all enjoy Eazy Sleazy !”
LYRICS —
WE TOOK IT ON THE CHIN
THE NUMBERS WERE SO GRIM
BOSSED AROUND BY PRICKS
STIFFEN UPPER LIPS
PACING IN THE YARD
YOU’RE TRYING TO TAKE THE MICK
YOU MUST THINK IM REALLY THICK
LOOKING AT THE GRAPHS WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS
CANCEL ALL THE TOURS FOOTBALLS FAKE APPLAUSE
NO MORE TRAVEL BROCHURES
VIRTUAL PREMIERES
IVE GOT NOTHING LEFT TO WEAR
LOOKING OUT FROM THESE PRISON WALLS
YOU GOT TO ROB PETER IF YOU’RE PAYING PAUL
BUT ITS EASY EASY EVERYTHING’S GONNA GET REALLY FREAKY
ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT
SOON IT LL BE BE A MEMORY YOU’RE TRYING TO REMEMBER TO FORGET
THATS A PRETTY MASK
BUT NEVER TAKE A CHANCE TIK TOK STUPID DANCE
TOOK A SAMBA CLASS I LANDED ON MY ASS
TRYING TO WRITE A TUNE YOU BETTER HOOK ME UP TO ZOOM
SEE MY PONCEY BOOKS TEACH MYSELF TO COOK
WAY TOO MUCH TV ITS LOBOTOMISING ME
THINK IVE PUT ON WEIGHT
ILL HAVE ANOTHER DRINK THEN ILL CLEAN THE KITCHEN SINK
WE ESCAPED FROM THE PRISON WALLS
OPEN THE WINDOWS AND OPEN THE DOORS
BUT ITS EASY EASY
EVERYTHING S GONNA GET REALLY FREAKY
ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT
ITS GONNA BE A GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
EASY SLEAZY ITS GONNA BE SMOOTH AND GREASY
YEAH EASY BELIEVE ME
ITL’L ONLY BE A MEMORY YOU’RE TRYING TO REMEMBER
TO FORGET
SHOOTING THE VACCINE BILL GATES IS IN MY BLOODSTREAM
ITS MIND CONTROL
THE EARTH IS FLAT AND COLD ITS NEVER WARMING UP
THE ARCTICS TURNED TO SLUSH
THE SECOND COMINGS LATE
THERES ALIENS IN THE DEEP STATE
WE’LL ESCAPE FROM THESE PRISON WALLS
NOW WERE OUT OF THESE PRISON WALLS
YOU GOTTA PAY PETER IF YOU’RE ROBBING PAUL
BUT ITS EASY EASY EVERYTHING S GONNA BE REALLY FREAKY
ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT
WERE ALL HEADED BACK TO PARADISE
YEAH EASY BELIEVE ME
ITL’L BE A MEMORY YOU’RE TRYING TO REMEMBER TO FORGET
EASY CHEESY EVERYONE SING PLEASE PLEASE ME
ITL’L BE A MEMORY YOU’RE TRING TO REMEMBER TO FORGET
Dua Lipa is performing at Elton John and David Furnish’s Oscar party– and for once everyone can go, albeit virtually.
Tickets are just 20 bucks, the show is April 25th right before the Oscars from 7 to 8pm. Buy tickets here. It’s all for the very successful and important Elton John AIDS Foundation, which continues to the leader among celebrity charities.
This will be the best pre-Oscars show ever. It’s sort of cool that the pandemic has forced so many things to go virtual and become very egalitarian.
Back in 2013, we called this album “Art poop.”
Lady Gaga’s “ArtPOP,” was a released then and it was kind of a disaster. Overblown, pretentious, “ArtPOP” was wrapped up in Gaga’s obsession with artist Jeff Koons, and just seemed out of touch. The only hit from that album, “Do What U Want with My Body,” with the now incarcerated R Kelly, has been removed from the downloadable version. (And from Spotify.)
But superfans have persisted, and this morning, thanks to a petition and social media campaign, “ArtPOP” is number 2 on iTunes. These fans want a sequel.
Gaga has only just released her “Chromatica” album in the last year. Will “ArtPOP 2” be her next solo project? Her actual next album is a Cole Porter duets collection with Tony Bennett. That’s what I want to hear!
She writes on Twitter:
The good news for “Bridgerton” fans: the show has been renewed for Seasons 3 and 4 by Netflix.
The bad news: Seasons 2, 3, and 4 will be without one of the actors all the fans swooned over. Regé-Jean Page is out. He already said he wasn’t returning for Season 2, and presumably that means for Seasons 3 and 4.
Life will go on. The focus of the show will change because it’s based on books that don’t include his character. But if the ratings are bad in Season 2, or Page doesn’t turn out to be a movie star, you never know, we may see Simon Basset sneak back into town.
The real trick for “Bridgerton” will be the casting as the stories change and characters come and go, just like in a soap opera. Which it is. There are nine “books” in the “Bridgerton” series by Julia Quinn, and it seems like four more in a sequel series, so this could drag on for some time with or without Page. Then, of course, there will undoubtedly be the movie,or two, and a Broadway musical.
The wealthy Forman family of Los Angeles is shutting down the 300 theater chain including the ArcLight and Pacific Theaters. For good.
This includes the 58 year old historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.
It’s a ploy as landlords to see what they can get for the real estate. Someone, maybe Netflix, will swoop in and save the Cinerama Dome, no doubt.
But the other 300 theaters are in peril. With theaters shut for the pandemic, Decurion– the Formans’ corporation — is losing money. If you saw the mansion Christopher Forman lives in, which he bought for $27 million in 2007, you’d see why preserving cinema isn’t of much interest.
This is a tragedy. Even if a white knight comes in, this is a blow to the theater business.
Here’s Forman’s Bel Air mansion. Think he’s got a screening room in there? Closing it down? Nah.
Hey LA, we know what it’s like. We lost the Ziegfeld and many others in recent years. It’s a shock.
Here’s the chain’s lame statement:
After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations.
This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.
To all the Pacific and ArcLight employees who have devoted their professional lives to making our theaters the very best places in the world to see movies: we are grateful for your service and your dedication to our customers.
To our guests and members of the film industry who have made going to the movies such a magical experience over the years: our deepest thanks. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you.
Stevie Wonder, one of my heroes, posted a long Tweet expressing his frustration over the latest police violence against Blacks.
Like Stevie, I was infuriated by the killing in Minnesota of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.
Then we saw the video of excessive force and basically, racism, against Lt. Caron Nazario during a stop in Windsor, Virginia. It’s despicable behavior.
Stevie wants to leave the U.S. but we need him. His singing voice and his speaking voice. He has always been a leader, and this is no time to abdicate.
Here’s what he wrote on Twitter today:
How many more Black lives will be lost at the hands of police? This is why we need police reform.
Why is the police chief making a conclusion after he refuses to discuss details? We need police reform. A mistake???? How does this happen?? We need police reform.
Expired license plates?? We need police reform. Black people in this country are dying at the hands of police. Anybody confused?
I remember an accidental police shooting in Minnesota four years ago. A Black police officer accidentally shot and killed a white woman. The police officer immediately stated it was an accident and apologized to the family.
He was tried and convicted of 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter. The judge refused any leniency and sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in prison. He was the first Minnesota police man to be convicted of an on duty shooting in recent years.
Black police- white victim-justice was swift and stiff. Another unintentional police shooting last night – White police and Black victim. What will justice serve this time? A police chief who had made a conclusion without discussing any facts? Will the police officer apologize?
Will the judge ignore leniency? Will this Black victim and his family in Minnesota see swift and stiff punishment? Does this system need reform? Do the math.
President Joe Biden said his prayers are with the family of Daunte Wright, a Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Minnesota, adding that federal resources are in the area to help maintain peace and calm https://t.co/nGVyb55hYy pic.twitter.com/B7SR2ZsKV6
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 12, 2021
The heirs of Prince may be fighting among themselves, but they should happy about all their recent publicity.
Thanks to a big promotional segment on Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” sales took off big time.
Prince’s never released 2010 album, “Welcome 2 America,” set for July, has soared to number 2 on amazon’s album chart. And that’s just the single CD. The deluxe album package, priced at ninety nine dollars, is number 5!
At the same time, Prince’s “Purple Rain” album jumped to number 36 on iTunes.
So the Prince estate should be feeling very royal right now. And what if “Welcome 2 America” is a little disappointing? Well, what isn’t these days?
Here’s Jon Wertheim’s excellent piece.
The Oscars are shaping up for April 25th on ABC. Producers have announced their first group of presenters, all big names, and very multi cultural.
More names are coming, of course. I don’t know why, but I was hoping for Awkwafina. Also, now that Rosie Perez has pointed out that she’s never been asked to do anything, the one time Oscar nominee– whom we all adore– should be included, no?
Anyway, here’s the first group:
Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Bong Joon Ho, Don Cheadle, Bryan Cranston, Laura Dern, Harrison Ford, Regina King, Marlee Matlin, Rita Moreno, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Renée Zellweger and Zendaya.
“In keeping with our awards-show-as-a-movie approach, we’ve assembled a truly stellar cast of stars,” said producers Jesse Collins, Stacy Sher and Steven Soderbergh. “There’s so much wattage here, sunglasses may be required.”
Have you movie fans seen “Time” yet? Garrett Bradley’s film is the best documentary of 2021, and is nominated for the Academy Award.
For the next two weeks you can see it for free on Amazon Prime and YouTube. Starting right now.
Fox Rich is the real life star of the year, and so his her husband, Rob. I know everyone thinks the octopus is cute. but “Time” and “Crip Camp” were the best docs of the year.
And PS Dick Johnson still isn’t dead. So forget that one.
“Time” is free! Watch it! Garrett Bradley could be the first black woman to win Best Documentary. Wouldn’t that be something?>
A press release adds this: The film will return to theaters starting on Friday, April 16 in New York at the Village East, Los Angeles at The Landmark, and San Francisco at the Embarcadero. If Time wins, it would be history-making as it marks the first time ever a Black female director would win an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
“Time” is the most honored documentary of the year, since the film’s world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where Garrett Bradley won the Best Director award for US Documentary Competition. She and the film continues to garner notable accolades including a Gotham award, National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Black Film Critics Circle, as well as directing awards at Doc NYC and the IDA Awards.
Fox Rich is a fighter. The entrepreneur, abolitionist and mother of six boys has spent the last two decades campaigning for the release of her husband, Rob G. Rich, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a robbery they both committed in the early 90s in a moment of desperation. Combining the video diaries Fox has recorded for Rob over the years with intimate glimpses of her present-day life, director Garrett Bradley paints a mesmerizing portrait of the resilience and radical love necessary to prevail over the endless separations of the country’s prison-industrial complex.
Time cross-cuts footage from the past and present, framing it with a lyrical voiceover from Fox and her sons to provide a uniquely intimate perspective into the long-term costs of incarceration: the children who grow up without fathers, and the mothers who are forced to become caregivers and legal experts all at once. It also reveals how families sustain themselves on sheer faith to prevail over the endless separations of the prison-industrial complex — a remnant of the legacy of slavery. The film’s gorgeous black-and-white cinematography and symphonic rhythm lend an epic quality to Fox and Rob’s story — a story not just of strife, but also of radical, resilient love.
As Bill Gates noted in his review on Gates Notes, http://gatesnot.es/Time-documentary, “This is one of the most intimate movies I have ever seen. It records events that are almost unbearably emotional. There is one scene at the end that is unlike anything I had ever seen before in a documentary…If Time wins the Oscar this year, it will be the first documentary directed by a Black woman to do so. Garrett Bradley’s talent makes her worthy of that milestone.”
Time is directed by Garrett Bradley (Alone, America) and produced by Lauren Domino (The Earth Is Humming, America), Kellen Quinn (Midnight Family, Brimstone & Glory), and Garrett Bradley. Executive producers are Laurene Powell Jobs (The Price of Free, A Thousand Cuts), Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for ‘Superman,’ An Inconvenient Truth – 2014 Academy Award winner for Best Feature Documentary), Nicole Stott (Searching for Sugar Man, Restrepo), Rahdi Taylor (Minding the Gap, I Am Not Your Negro), and Kathleen Lingo (Walk Run Cha Cha, 4.1 Miles). Co-executive producers are Jonathan Silberberg (Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, “Iconoclasts”) and Shannon Dill (Inheritance, He Named Me Malala).
Time will stream at no cost starting on Monday, April 12 on Prime Video and on YouTube.