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The Amazing Tony Bennett, Age 94, Reveals Alzheimer’s Diagnosis, Still Knows All the Songs, Has Twice Weekly Rehearsals

Roger Friedman
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The Amazing Tony Bennett, Age 94, Reveals Alzheimer’s Diagnosis, Still Knows All the Songs, Has Twice Weekly Rehearsals

Like a lot of you, I’ve just read John Colapinto’s story in the AARP Magazine about Tony Bennett. The beloved 94 year old singer has Alzheimer’s. His wife, Susan, says, he’s not the old Tony, and Colapinto confirms in the story that Tony is not that communicative anymore.

But the best and most poignant part of the story is that twice a week Tony’s accompanist comes over, they run through his 90 minute set as a rehearsal. Tony sings like he’s perfectly well, and remembers all the words. Just after his diagnosis, he recorded one more album with Lady Gaga — I’m assuming this is the Cole Porter album he told me about a while back. She’s known about his condition since 2016.

The diagnosis, according to the article, came in 2016. On August 3rd, his 90th birthday, I was lucky enough to attend Tony’s birthday party at the Rainbow Room. Dozens of celebrities came. As I wrote then: Paul McCartney and wife Nancy joined Tony and his wife Susan, plus Stevie at the main table. At the next table: Martin Scorsese with his daughter Francesca, Bruce Willis and wife Emma, John Travolta, Gayle King, Katie Couric and husband John. The great Harry Belafonte was there, so were Regis and Joy Philbin.

Lady Gaga performed. A month later, Tony taped a concert at Radio City, and the whole thing became his birthday TV special. That was far from his last show. The last time I saw Tony perform was in March 2019 at Radio City. It was a magnificent show considering he was three years into the diagnosis. It was so good I asked him backstage how he did it. He replied, without hesitation: “I love it!”

It should be remembered that Tony didn’t perform his second of two shows in June 2015 with Lady Gaga at Royal Albert Hall. It was said that he collapsed at rehearsal. I was assured that there was no soundcheck that day, he didn’t collapse, and just had a touch of flu. But for Tony, who never cancels, maybe that was the start of this thing.

It doesn’t matter. In the many years I’ve been lucky enough to know Tony and spend time with him, he’s always been so courtly and such a gentleman, so smart and articulate about not just his music and family, but his politics and his charities. He is erudite to a fault. He owes us nothing. He’s given everything, with a generous heart and spirit. He’s shown incredible humility for a man with the most enormous talent. We just wish him and his family peace, and send love.

Denzel Washington Has the #1 Movie This Weekend, So Disney Thought They’d Cash In and Re-release One of His Old Ones

Roger Friedman
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Denzel Washington Has the #1 Movie This Weekend, So Disney Thought They’d Cash In and Re-release One of His Old Ones

The number 1 movie this weekend was “The Little Things,” starring Denzel Washington and Jared Leto, from Warner Bros. It made about $4.8 million in 2,171 theatres. Like all new WB Movies it was also put on HBO Max.

Disney thought they’d cash in on a Denzel moment so they re-released “Remember the Titans” from 2000, for no special reason. It was just to confuse fans who were wandering around movie theaters. They picked up a mere $65.000 in 730 theaters, not really worth it in the end. The 20th anniversary of that film’s release was back in September. So what was the peg here?

“Wonder Woman 1984,” also from WB, previously on HBO Max, scooped up another $1 million bucks but couldn’t cross the $40 million line. Warner Media says HBO Max subs went through the roof when “WW84” was first shown, so maybe it was all worth it.

“News of the World” crossed $11 million. I hope Academy voters are watching this film at home. It should be one of the top 10 on their ballots including Nomadland, The Father, Soul, Minari, Chicago 7, Billie Holiday, Ma Rainey, One Night in Miami, Judas and the Black Messiah, and Sound of Metal. Two movies I really liked are sadly out of the conversation, but find them anyway: Let Them All Talk, and The Personal History of David Copperfield.

Sundance: “Mass” Is A Stone Cold Drama Acting Master Class for Quartet of Actors Including Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs

Roger Friedman
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Sundance: “Mass” Is A Stone Cold Drama Acting Master Class for Quartet of Actors Including Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs

Wanna see some acting? Like some real acting? Then you’ll have sit through the uncomfortable but searing “Mass,” written and directed by Fran Kranz.

Guess who he is? He’s the son-in-law of “Charlie’s Angels” star Jacklyn Smith. I met him a few years ago when he acted in “You Can’t Take it With You” on Broadway and stole the show. Ditto “Death of a Salesman.” Nice guy, very talented. I wondered what happened to him.

This is what happened: he’s written and directed a play for a quartet of actors that will find its way to Broadway after the movies and make a fortune. It’s easy to produce, and it’s important. And moving.

The “mass” here is a mass school shooting, and it seems that two couples must meet to discuss the aftermath of in which 10 children were killed. And the shooter, one of their fellow students. Ann Dowd and Reed Birney are parents of the shooter. Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs’s son was killed in the shooting. The latter couple wants no money. They want an explanation. What happened? Why did Hayden lose his mind and go on this shooting spree? What was the turning point in his life? They want their son, Evan, back. Unfortunately, Hayden’s parents have plenty of explanations and none. They tried to do everything right.

When the movie starts, it’s like a play that’s been opened to make a film. There’s a long preamble in which we arrive at an Episcopalian church that’s been chosen for this meeting. Only, we don’t know what the meeting will be, and don’t know for some time even after we meet the two couples. It’s all very Beckett or Ionesco, very existential. What’s happening? What is is that’s bringing this foursome to a table in a church office?

You know, we’re never going to get a satisfactory ending. Two young boys are dead. One killed the other, but it wasn’t “personal.” He was just shooting everyone. Yet it is personal to Evan’s parents. We’re deadlocked from the beginning. But Kranz’s script is unusually rich in the plumbing of this mathematical problem. And the actors are literally on fire. Ann Dowd will just break your heart. She and Isaacs, in opposite couples, are emotional wrecks. Birney and Plimpton are maybe more methodical, but they are equally devastated and devastating. The casting directors really deserve awards for assembling this foursome. They give a masterclass from which everyone could learn something.

See you all at the 2022 Oscars.

Clive Davis’s Amazing 5 Hour All Star Night of Stars Zoom Party With Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Gladys Knight, Beyonce

Roger Friedman
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Clive Davis’s Amazing 5 Hour All Star Night of Stars Zoom Party With Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Gladys Knight, Beyonce

Clive Davis couldn’t bring 2,000 stars and execs and celebrities to the Beverly Hilton tonight, so he put them on a Zoom call. All of them! Insane! It may have been the biggest Zoom call of all time!

Saturday night’s “call”/party, whatever– all the proceeds go to MusiCares and the Recording Academy. So Clive pulled out all the stops. His guests– I mean the people he interviewed through the five hour call included Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Carole King, Barry Gibb, Rod Stewart, who was hilarious, and the legend Gladys Knight. John Legend and Jennifer Hudson each sang live and wowed the crowd. Jamie Foxx was sensational.

And the crowd– yes, of the 2,000 people who watched the show, about 250 were in a “VIP” room and I was a fly on the wall. This group included LEGENDS, the heavy hitters of the music biz including all the label execs, plus — and this just in no order—Joni Mitchell, Dionne Warwick, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy,  Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock. Verdine White of Earth Wind and Fire, Carole Bayer Sager, Diane Warren, Jimmy Jam Harris. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, Nile Rodgers, Lou Adler, TONY ORLANDO, kids, David Foster and Katherine McPhee, Sam Moore and his wife Joyce Moore, Lisa Loeb, Cynthia Erivo, Rob Thomas, Rickey Minor– who gave a great interview about Whitney Houston, Peter Asher, Melissa Manchester, Alan Parsons, Clarence Avant, LORNA LUFT — hello!, the great Michele Lee, Charlie Puth, Ray Parker Jr, and I’m pretty sure Lindsey Buckingham was in there.

Who else? Lorraine Bracco, Katie Couric, Sherry Lansing, Richard Weitz and his daughter Demi, 90 year old Laugh In impresario George Schlatter, Broadway’s Andy Karl and wife Orfeh, Cameron Crowe, Ari Melber, Shep Gordon, Bryant Gumbel, Tyra Banks, Martha Stewart, agent of all time Arnold Stiefel, Robert Weir of the Grateful Dead, the great songwriter Lamont Dozier, and Atlantic Records’ Pete Ganbarg, Craig Kallman, and Julie Greenwald, and BYRON ALLEN.

I’ve missed some– and this thing is still going on at 11:26pm with Sean Combs giving an interview about he signed Bad Boy Records to Clive at BMG and launched a million hits.

Again, this was to benefit MusiCares, which needs funds to keep helping musicians through the pandemic. If you listen to music, you must send them money. Harvey Mason Jr. of the Academy explained how they created a COVID fund with Steve Boom of Amazon Music.

Bruce Springsteen told Clive tonight, “Fifty years ago you changed my life.” He wasn’t kidding. Alicia Keys and Carole King were charming. Rod Stewart was hilarious.

I think Clive might be turning 88 this spring. If you saw him interviewing stars for four and a half hours tonight, you’d give him a talk show. He literally surveyed the whole of pop, rock, and R&B tonight with the biggest acts. He’s going to do another one of these on March 13th, the actual night before the Grammys, and then he can turn the whole thing into documentary to benefit MusiCares.

What a night! And it was just Part one!

Sundance Record Broken as “CODA,” Film About Singing Teen from Deaf Family, Breaks Record with $25 Mil Sale

Roger Friedman
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Sundance Record Broken as “CODA,” Film About Singing Teen from Deaf Family, Breaks Record with $25 Mil Sale

Apple has gotten to the core of Sundance.

The computer/phone company with a burgeoning film firm broke the Sundance record today. They bought “CODA” for $25 million.

They broke last year’s record of $22.5 million for “Palm Springs” bought by Neon and Hulu.

I told you in my review that “CODA” was big. Directed by Sian Heder and based on a French film, “CODA” stands for Child of Deaf Adults. In this case, the child is 18 year old British actress and singer Emilia Jones, who plays a teen who can sing like a bird. Only problem is her parents and brother are deaf, and can’t hear her.

Heder set her version among fishermen in Glouchester, Mass., and this gives the film a lot richness and texture. Luckily, she shied away from having a lot Boston accents. But the warmth of the characters and the situation– of course, the girl joins the high school choir, is discovered to be a phenom, and tries out for Berklee School of Music– add up to a home run of a film that everyone will enjoy.

Co-stars in the film include Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, and 21 year old Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, of “Sing Street” fame. “CODA” will be a major player in 2022 awards season, if we ever finish the 2021 awards season. I do hope Apple puts this film in theaters and doesn’t just relegate it to TV screens and computers. It deserves a big setting.

I can’t wait to see who picks up the soundtrack, and who signs these kids to record contracts.

PS You have to realize how Apple, Amazon, and Netflix have so changed the way deals are done now at places like Sundance. Those companies have unlimited cash. Plunking down $25 million is pocket change for them. It’s very different than when Miramax, or Fine Line, etc– the O.G. indie film companies– battled to get product. They were sweating it. Very new world we have here.

Lockdown Blues: As Van Morrison Backs Lawsuit Against Irish Government, Eric Clapton Erases “Stand and Deliver” from Social Media

Roger Friedman
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Lockdown Blues: As Van Morrison Backs Lawsuit Against Irish Government, Eric Clapton Erases “Stand and Deliver” from Social Media

It’s only seven weeks since Eric Clapton foolishly released his recording of a Van Morrison song called “Stand and Deliver.”

It was not an anthem for Uber Eats. The song decries the lockdown in the UK and Ireland, urging everyone to go back to clubs to hear live music.

Morrison, who has unwisely gotten involved in questioning the validity of COVID regulations, has heart in the right place but his head up his you know what. His song compares the lockdown to slavery. Really.

Morrison remains committed to the cause. He’s backed a lawsuit against the government of Northern Ireland over their “blanket ban” on live performances. On Twitter, Morrison says: “There were some very misleading stories in the press in recent days. For clarity, the legal action refers to allowing musicians to legally return to work once lockdowns are lifted and once it is safe to do so.”

But that makes no sense. When the lockdowns are over, everyone will return to work.

Interestingly, Clapton has remained mum about the legal action. He’s also cleaned his social media of all reference to it, also, after enduring proper criticism. His Instagram and Facebook pages are absent any sign of “Stand and Deliver,” and his website makes zero mention of it. It’s as if the whole thing never happened.

Of course, “Stand and Deliver” remains on YouTube and on streaming services. But no one really cares. The two YouTube videos have  a combined roughly 500,000 views, which ain’t much in terms of pop music. Actual sales are nil — less than 4,000 including streaming since December 4, 2020. There’s still time for Clapton to repurpose the song for Uber Eats!

Broadway Hit Musical “Dear Evan Hansen” Coming to Movies in September But Will It Come Back to Broadway?

Roger Friedman
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Broadway Hit Musical “Dear Evan Hansen” Coming to Movies in September But Will It Come Back to Broadway?

“Dear Evan Hansen” is already a movie.

While we were buying toilet paper, Universal spent the last few months shooting the Tony winning Broadway musical as a film this September.

Ben Platt returns as Evan, the boy who lied, with an all-star cast subbing in for the Broadway performers. Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Danny Pino are in the cast.

Stephen Chbosky directed the pic from a script by Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for the stage musical, with music and lyrics by “La La Land” Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce for their Universal-based Marc Platt Productions. Michael Bederman, Levenson, Pasek and Paul and the executive producers. If they get Oscar nominations, Marc Platt and Ben Platt will be the first father-son duo at the awards maybe ever.

“Dear Evan Hansen” opened on December 4, 2016 on Broadway and played through mid March 2020. That’s a short time before a movie is usually made from a hit show. But who knows if the theatrical version will return next summer or fall? And wouldn’t the movie siphon off the legit audience?

Anyway, that’s the plan, although nothing is written in concrete, as we know.

 

Retiring at 84: Kris Kristofferson, Famed Songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee,” Acclaimed Actor, Renaissance Man

Roger Friedman
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Retiring at 84: Kris Kristofferson, Famed Songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee,” Acclaimed Actor, Renaissance Man

Kris Kristofferson is calling it a day.

The famed singer-songwriter and actor is retiring now at age 84. He deserves some downtime after a stellar career- make that two or three!

Kris is the accomplished and successful singer songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make it Through the Night.” among other hits.

He’s also a movie star, with credits like “A Star is Born” with Barbra Streisand, and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” One of his great roles was starring in James Ivory’s “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries.” Kris was featured in the infamous “Heaven’s Gate,” starred opposite Jane Fonda in “Rollover,” and co-starred in “Semi Tough” with Burt Reynolds and Jill Clayburgh.

Kris is a Renaissance man. He’s also a multi-tasker. He is one of the few in Hollywood who has done everything well.

Unfortunately he doesn’t remember a lot of it. I wrote in 2014 that Kris suffered from a form of dementia called “Puglistica.” He has severe memory loss from years of head injuries from boxing and football when he was younger. This is no joke. He remembers his songs and is able to play them pretty well. He knows his family. But memories of his career are almost all gone.

But between his diagnosis and the pandemic last year, he was still touring and recording, and acting. His wife of more than 35 years, Lisa, has run the show and let Kris do what he does best. But now they’ve hired an estate manager, and they’re coming off the road for good. He will still have 85th birthday celebrations in June.

Remember the Tony Awards? Now They’re Going to Vote in March for Nominations from Last October

Roger Friedman
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Remember the Tony Awards? Now They’re Going to Vote in March for Nominations from Last October

This is turning into pretty good theater.

The 2019-2020 Broadway season never really happened, remember? It stopped on March 13th because of the pandemic. A few shows had opened, mostly mediocre. The really good ones were either in previews or just about to start them. They never launched.

Broadway shut down before “Company,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Sing Street,” and so on went into limbo.

Six months later, the Tony Awards decided to announce nominees drawn from the 16 mostly mediocre shows, like “Moulin Rouge” and “Tina: The Musical.” Good performances, not great shows.

There was only nominee for Best Actor in a Musical. Aaron Tveit, of “Moulin Rouge,” come on down!

On New Year’s Eve, I wrote that we closed the year without winners or a ceremony.

Now, it seems, there will be voting for those nominations between March 1st and March 15th. And then? Who knows?

I do feel sorry for the producers, and everyone else who has lost livelihoods, and for Adrienne Warren, who deserved an award for playing Tina Turner. But the Tony Awards appear to be adrift. There’s no clear idea of what to do, and no one’s doing it. Will they announce winners from this vote? Will anyone care?

So far, this is a musical closing out of town.

Sundance Review: Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is Like a Box of Fine Chocolates, with Unseen Performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Other Stars

Roger Friedman
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Sundance Review: Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is Like a Box of Fine Chocolates, with Unseen Performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Other Stars

There was a Harlem Cultural Festival in New York in the summer of 1969. Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Sly Stone, the 5th Dimension, and Nina Simone were among the performers. It was filmed, and then the footage was put away for 50 years.

Now Amir Questlove Thompson of the Roots and the Tonight Show has found the film and made a two hour documentary called “Summer of Soul: When the Revolution Couldn’t Be Televised.” It’s literally like a box of designer chocolates, just one tasty bite after another. I felt like it was made for me personally.

The performers are beyond outstanding. The only problem is there are too many of them, and after a while the message of the film is lost. Questlove and his team of editors (who did an amazing job) are trying to fit everything into that box. This movie needs to be cut by a half hour. I learned this the hard way when I made “Only the Strong Survive” with Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker in 2002. The trick is to stick to your story even when there are so many riches available. Some of this could be on the DVD.

But that doesn’t take away from Thompson’s mission. He’s got all this incredible footage of Stevie, Gladys, the 5th Dimension– who are so underappreciated, Nina Simone, David Ruffin solo, and many instrumentalists, not to mention Sly and the Family Stone at their peak, and so much more. This is the Black Woodstock. Thompson intersperses the musicians’ backstories with historical perspective of the time and culture. There’s a lot of information, not to mention reminisces of concertgoers a half century later. All of it is gold, although some of it has more carats than others.

Just a note on Stevie: this footage is of historical importance because he’s on the verge here of becoming the adult star who turned out a half dozen Grammy winning classic albums starting two years later. You see him performing every instrument already, it’s pure genius. It’s like a sketchbook for what’s come with “Superstition” and “Higher Ground,” etc.

Stevie says in a narration, “I never wanted to let fear put my dreams to sleep.” That right there should be the jumping off point for his own documentary.

Anyway, a little second draft-ing, tightening, and contemplating will make “Summer of Soul” even better and a must see I hope in theaters, not just cable and platforms. Great work.

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