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Trump Vomits Up Random List of Famous Americans to Be Honored in a Garden Though Several Are Foreigners

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Donald Trump is doing nothing in his last 48 hours but busy work. He just vomited up, like a cat’s hair ball, a random list of celebrities to be honored in something called a National Garden of Famous Americans.

OK. The list is totally random, just throwing in a lot of famous names from the past and recent past– he threw in Antonin Scalia. But LOL some of the people are not and were not Americans.

The foreigners include Ingrid Bergman, Hannah Arendt, Roberto Clemente, the Marquis de La Fayette, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Lorenzo de Zavala, Bernardo de Gálvez, and most assuredly, Christopher Columbus.

What does it matter? Biden will just rip this thing up. It’s meaningless and hilarious. He’s included Alex Trebek, which just about shows you Trump’s grasp of history. (Even Alex would be laughing.)

All of this is because  Trump is mad they took down statues of confederates. The whole thing is a joke considering Trump doesn’t know who most of these people were anyway.

Here’s the full list. All these people are supposed to get statues. PS Hannah Arendt is already calling her lawyer.

Ansel Adams, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Muhammad Ali, Luis Walter Alvarez, Susan B. Anthony, Hannah Arendt, Louis Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Crispus Attucks, John James Audubon, Lauren Bacall, Clara Barton, Todd Beamer, Alexander Graham Bell, Roy Benavidez, Ingrid Bergman, Irving Berlin, Humphrey Bogart, Daniel Boone, Norman Borlaug, William Bradford, Herb Brooks, Kobe Bryant, William F. Buckley, Jr., Sitting Bull, Frank Capra, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Carroll, John Carroll, George Washington Carver, Johnny Cash, Joshua Chamberlain, Whittaker Chambers, Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, Ray Charles, Julia Child, Gordon Chung-Hoon, William Clark, Henry Clay, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Roberto Clemente, Grover Cleveland, Red Cloud, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Nat King Cole, Samuel Colt, Christopher Columbus, Calvin Coolidge, James Fenimore Cooper, Davy Crockett, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Miles Davis, Dorothy Day, Joseph H. De Castro, Emily Dickinson, Walt Disney, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Jimmy Doolittle, Desmond Doss, Frederick Douglass, Herbert Henry Dow, Katharine Drexel, Peter Drucker, Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, Jonathan Edwards, Albert Einstein, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Duke Ellington, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Medgar Evers, David Farragut, the Marquis de La Fayette, Mary Fields, Henry Ford, George Fox, Aretha Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Milton Friedman, Robert Frost, Gabby Gabreski, Bernardo de Gálvez, Lou Gehrig, Theodor Seuss Geisel, Cass Gilbert, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Glenn, Barry Goldwater, Samuel Gompers, Alexander Goode, Carl Gorman, Billy Graham, Ulysses S. Grant, Nellie Gray, Nathanael Greene, Woody Guthrie, Nathan Hale, William Frederick “Bull” Halsey, Jr., Alexander Hamilton, Ira Hayes, Hans Christian Heg, Ernest Hemingway, Patrick Henry, Charlton Heston, Alfred Hitchcock, Billie Holiday, Bob Hope, Johns Hopkins, Grace Hopper, Sam Houston, Whitney Houston, Julia Ward Howe, Edwin Hubble, Daniel Inouye, Andrew Jackson, Robert H. Jackson, Mary Jackson, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, Katherine Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Chief Joseph, Elia Kazan, Helen Keller, John F. Kennedy, Francis Scott Key, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr., Russell Kirk, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Henry Knox, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Harper Lee, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Meriwether Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, Vince Lombardi, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Clare Boothe Luce, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, George Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, William Mayo, Christa McAuliffe, William McKinley, Louise McManus, Herman Melville, Thomas Merton, George P. Mitchell, Maria Mitchell, William “Billy” Mitchell, Samuel Morse, Lucretia Mott, John Muir, Audie Murphy, Edward Murrow, John Neumann, Annie Oakley, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, George S. Patton, Jr., Charles Willson Peale, William Penn, Oliver Hazard Perry, John J. Pershing, Edgar Allan Poe, Clark Poling, John Russell Pope, Elvis Presley, Jeannette Rankin, Ronald Reagan, Walter Reed, William Rehnquist, Paul Revere, Henry Hobson Richardson, Hyman Rickover, Sally Ride, Matthew Ridgway, Jackie Robinson, Norman Rockwell, Caesar Rodney, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Betsy Ross, Babe Ruth, Sacagawea, Jonas Salk, John Singer Sargent, Antonin Scalia, Norman Schwarzkopf, Junípero Serra, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Robert Gould Shaw, Fulton Sheen, Alan Shepard, Frank Sinatra, Margaret Chase Smith, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jimmy Stewart, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilbert Stuart, Anne Sullivan, William Howard Taft, Maria Tallchief, Maxwell Taylor, Tecumseh, Kateri Tekakwitha, Shirley Temple, Nikola Tesla, Jefferson Thomas, Henry David Thoreau, Jim Thorpe, Augustus Tolton, Alex Trebek, Harry S. Truman, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Dorothy Vaughan, C. T. Vivian, John von Neumann, Thomas Ustick Walter, Sam Walton, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, John Washington, John Wayne, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Phillis Wheatley, Walt Whitman, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Roger Williams, John Winthrop, Frank Lloyd Wright, Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Alvin C. York, Cy Young, and Lorenzo de Zavala.”

Where’s Mickey Mantle?

Critics Choice TV Nominations for March 7th Ceremony: “Ozark” and “The Crown” Lead with 6 Nods Each

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The Critics Choice Awards include TV and Movies. This year’s show on the CW Network is March 7th. This first list comprises all the TV categories. I must say, as a member of the Critics Choice, I’m pretty impressed with these nominations. Season 3 of “Ozark” was exceptional. All four actors–Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, and Tom Pelphrey– should win in their categories.

SERIES NOMINATIONS FOR THE 26TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS  

BEST DRAMA SERIES  

Better Call Saul (AMC)

The Crown (Netflix)

The Good Fight (CBS All Access)

Lovecraft Country (HBO)

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

Ozark (Netflix)

Perry Mason (HBO)

This Is Us (NBC)

 

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES  

Jason Bateman – Ozark (Netflix)

Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us (NBC)

Jonathan Majors – Lovecraft Country (HBO)

Josh O’Connor – The Crown (Netflix)

Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul (AMC)

Matthew Rhys – Perry Mason (HBO)  

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES  

Christine Baranski – The Good Fight (CBS All Access)

Olivia Colman – The Crown (Netflix)

Emma Corrin – The Crown (Netflix)

Claire Danes – Homeland (Showtime)

Laura Linney – Ozark (Netflix)

Jurnee Smollett – Lovecraft Country (HBO)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES  

Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul (AMC)

Justin Hartley – This Is Us (NBC)

John Lithgow – Perry Mason (HBO)

Tobias Menzies – The Crown (Netflix)

Tom Pelphrey – Ozark (Netflix)

Michael K. Williams – Lovecraft Country (HBO)  

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES  

Gillian Anderson – The Crown (Netflix)

Cynthia Erivo – The Outsider (HBO)

Julia Garner – Ozark (Netflix)

Janet McTeer – Ozark (Netflix)

Wunmi Mosaku – Lovecraft Country (HBO)

Rhea Seehorn – Better Call Saul (AMC)  

 

BEST COMEDY SERIES  

Better Things (FX)

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)

Mom (CBS)

PEN15 (Hulu)

Ramy (Hulu)

Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES  

Hank Azaria – Brockmire (IFC)

Matt Berry – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Nicholas Hoult – The Great (Hulu)

Eugene Levy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Ramy Youssef – Ramy (Hulu)

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES  

Pamela Adlon – Better Things (FX)  

Christina Applegate – Dead to Me (Netflix)

Kaley Cuoco – The Flight Attendant (HBO Max)

Natasia Demetriou – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Catherine O’Hara – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Issa Rae – Insecure (HBO)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES  

William Fichtner – Mom (CBS)

Harvey Guillén – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Daniel Levy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Alex Newell – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC)

Mark Proksch – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Andrew Rannells – Black Monday (Showtime)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES  

Lecy Goranson – The Conners (ABC)

Rita Moreno – One Day at a Time (Pop)

Annie Murphy – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Ashley Park – Emily in Paris (Netflix)

Jaime Pressly – Mom (CBS)

Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

 

BEST LIMITED SERIES  

I May Destroy You (HBO)

Mrs. America (FX)

Normal People (Hulu)

The Plot Against America (HBO)

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Small Axe (Amazon Studios)

The Undoing (HBO)

Unorthodox (Netflix)

 

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION  

Bad Education (HBO)  

Between the World and Me (HBO)

The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime)

Hamilton (Disney+)

Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios)

What the Constitution Means to Me (Amazon Studios)

 

BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION  

John Boyega – Small Axe (Amazon Studios)

Hugh Grant – The Undoing (HBO)

Paul Mescal – Normal People (Hulu)

Chris Rock – Fargo (FX)

Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much is True (HBO)

Morgan Spector – The Plot Against America (HBO)

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION  

Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America (FX)

Michaela Coel – I May Destroy You (HBO)

Daisy Edgar-Jones – Normal People (Hulu)

Shira Haas – Unorthodox (Netflix)

Anya Taylor-Joy – The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Tessa Thompson – Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION  

Daveed Diggs – The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

Joshua Caleb Johnson – The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

Dylan McDermott – Hollywood (Netflix)

Donald Sutherland – The Undoing (HBO)

Glynn Turman – Fargo (FX)

John Turturro – The Plot Against America (HBO)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION   

Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America (FX)

Betsy Brandt – Soulmates (AMC)

Marielle Heller – The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Margo Martindale – Mrs. America (FX)

Winona Ryder – The Plot Against America (HBO)

Tracey Ullman – Mrs. America (FX)

 

BEST TALK SHOW  

Desus & Mero (Showtime)

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)

The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBC/Syndicated)

Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

Red Table Talk (Facebook Watch)

 

BEST COMEDY SPECIAL  

Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty (Netflix)

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix)

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill (Netflix)

Marc Maron: End Times Fun (Netflix)

Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia (Netflix)

Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything (Netflix)

 

BEST SHORT FORM SERIES  

The Andy Cohen Diaries (Quibi)

Better Call Saul: Ethics Training with Kim Wexler (AMC/Youtube)

Mapleworth Murders (Quibi)

Nikki Fre$h (Quibi)

Reno 911! (Quibi)

Tooning Out the News (CBS All Access)  

Larry King’s 9 Lives: If All Goes Well, He Gets Out of the Hospital Tomorrow After A Month Battling COVID-19

EXCLUSIVE

Good news for a change. After nearly a month in the hospital, I’m told that Larry King will get sprung tomorrow and go home.

Larry, 87, has been battling COVID-19 since at least December 20th in Cedars Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles. He was briefly in the ICU until Cedars ran out of room there for critical patients.

The broadcast legend has a lot of underlying conditions: He had a heart attack in 1987 and open heart surgery. In 2019, he had stents put in to clear blockages. In 2020, he had a stroke that nearly killed him. He also deals with Diabetes 2.

You could say Larry’s had seven wives and nine Lives. His current wife (he had eight marriages, two to the same woman), Shawn Southwick, is divorcing him, maybe. So far, she’s been very involved in his recovery. Larry and Shawn have two sons, Chance and Cannon. Larry has another living son, Larry Jr. His two other adult children, Chaia and Andy, died last year tragically within a short time of each other, from cancer.

That Larry is going home is a miracle, a real good news story. He’ll have to lay off the chopped herring for a while, on those deliveries from Nate n Al’s in Beverly Hills. Larry, stick with the matzoh ball soup! And no pastrami, no matter how lean!

 

Cate Blanchett on Playing Phyllis Schlafly in FX’s “Mrs. America”: “She’s a polarizing figure, and she continues to be even after her death”

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Cate Blanchett stars as Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative icon and staunch anti-feminist who led the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment,” in the 9-part FX Series “Mrs. America,” which aired last spring.
The star-studded cast, who play leaders in the 1970’s feminist movement, include Margo Martindale (Bella Abzug), Tracey Ullman (Betty Friedan), Uzo Aduba (Shirley Chisholm) and Rose Byrne (Gloria Steinem).
Recently, Variety hosted an awards screening of the episode “Shirley,” about Chisholm’s historic run for president. (Aduba took home the Emmy for best supporting actress for the episode, directed by the terrific Amma Assante.) After the screening, the show’s stars, along with screenwriter Tanya Barfield and creator/screenwriter Dahvi Waller, participated in a virtual Q&A.
Kate Arthur, an editor at large at Variety who moderated the Q&A, asked Waller to respond to critical comments Steinem made about the show during  a podcast for England’s Hay Festival in May.  Steinem complained the show set the women up in a sort of catfight. “The problem with this ridiculous show is it makes it seem as if women are our own worst enemies, which prevents us from recognizing who our worst enemies are… I’m sure the actors in it are fine. It’s just the thrust of the story that’s the problem.”
“I actually have a lot of respect for Gloria Steinem,” said Waller. “She’s a feminist icon, and I’m really proud of the series that we made… We have the possibility of real radical change and really transforming our society. But we need to understand what we’re up against. We need to understand the reactionary forces, both economic and political, and they always work hand in hand. As we show in the series, they try to stop change, because change while it’s wonderful is also very disruptive. And you know, a lot of people don’t like disruption as we see in this pandemic. It’s scary.”
Blanchett was asked if was it daunting to play Schlafly, a historical figure in recent memory.
“It was daunting in a way I think to play someone who is as polarizing as her. But I think it’s always a pleasure to play someone who actually lived and had an impact, positive or negative on the world around you because there’s so much to draw on, but you have to ask yourself, what is your function in the narrative you’re telling? It’s not a documentary… There’s so many extraordinary characters who make up this tapestry. So you need to work out what your function is in it…And actually I was very pleased, I think, ultimately to leave it behind, because I think a life lived to stop things, to prevent things is a very negative space to exist in. And I was very pleased to check that in, because I much prefer a life that is about listening rather than preventing conversation and preventing change.”
“She’s a polarizing figure, and she continues to be even after her death. And my mother said to when, when I told her about the project, she was really excited about it. ‘Who are you going to play?’ And I said, ‘I’m playing Phyllis Schlafly.’ And she said, ‘How can you play someone like that? How can you give air time to that?’ Because I need to know what makes someone like that tick. And the wonderful thing about this being a series, a limited series is that Schlafly became the through line through which she gave air to a multifarious array of female perspectives of which she was one, and which broke apart, this notion that women are a monolith and we all think the same way, or we should all think the same way.
And I think it’s a very challenging thing for us to realize that there are people who do not think like us, who do not value the things that base that we value. And so I found it very challenging and isolating and lonely and bewildering and frustrating. But the hardest thing for me to do was not to bring my own sense of judgment because I knew that I was part of a series that was giving rise to a really important, relevant, contemporary conversation about the notion of equality. We see right now in the world in which we’re walking out into, is that a mask, people’s personal health has been politicized. And I wanted to know why the notion of equality was so politicized. What was so political about being equal? I still don’t know that I’ve got to the bottom of someone like Phyllis.
I think that the series is a jumping off point for an audience. It’s not the be-all and end-all. I think that it opens a whole array of questions, and that’s the point of making a series like this, is that you say, “What do you think? Where do you stand? Now that you know, this moment of recent history, what are you going to do with this information? And how does that help you dissect the world in which you’re currently living in? Men, women, everyone of all political and gender persuasions, what do we do with this? And I’m still in that space.
And for me personally… playing Phyllis was part of trying to reverse engineer how we’ve got here. And it was wanting to know about the rise of the Evangelical Right, and the immense polarization of discourse in what I thought was a democracy.
And Phyllis is a big part of that, an uncredited part of that actually, ironically, and someone who subscribed to the patriarchy, but yet didn’t achieve what she wanted to achieve by herself personally. So, I found it very challenging to play, but at no point did I think it was my job to place my own political points of view on that so I thought that way would make the series small and that I thought it was, you would have a much more robust and perhaps uglier discussion, but an important discussion, if I didn’t tell an audience what to think.”
What interested her most about Phyllis and “Mrs. America”?
“I wanted to be part of the conversation. I think, like a lot of people, I was reeling from the process and the results of the 2016 election in America, and wanted to understand how we got to a point where people seemed to be, women seemed to be, voting against their own self-interest. I had only heard about Phyllis Schlafly as an elderly woman” who had been a conservative voice in the 70’s and that Trump attended her funeral. “And I thought, who is this person and why is she not in the tip of everyone’s lips? She’s a clearly incredibly important to the Republican party currently and to Trump in particular. And she’s got a massive following. And so I went down that rabbit hole, but was it my desire to be part of it is there’s no reason to delve back into history, whether it’s deep history or recent history of like Mrs. America, unless it reveals something about the times in which we live. And I had this profound sense of living in Groundhog Day, every day we were on set. The word, the phrase is that the situations we found ourselves in as characters seem to be just literally mirroring the things that were happening in politics and society in America generally. So that was my drive.”
How did she find Phyllis, her accent and physicality, even the set of her jaw is so precise?
 “Well, I couldn’t probably talk like that. (Mimics her accent.) It wouldn’t really been appropriate, but unlike Bella or Betty or even Gloria, if you go back and try and find lots of interviews with them, they’re very difficult to find, but you search for Phyllis Schlafly and you get this encyclopedic array of interviews. Her archive is enormous. And so I literally trolled through, I think probably every television, radio interview she ever gave. And it was just, it was fascinating for me to watch how loose and fast she was with fact and fiction. And it was sort of at a terrifying speed… But in the end, you want to understand, well, I did anyway, just sort on a selfish level, I wanted to know what made her tick. And I found that there was a terrifying need to be right. And a profound need to make the world in her own image and the fear of change. And I think that, if you look at evolution, the species that have avoided adapting to change, inevitable change, have always become extinct. And, so I was thinking about those things as I trolled through her archive.”

UPDATED Right Wing Parler is Back on the Internet, Domain Registered with the Monsters, Couple Who Run Controversial Washington State Web Company

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UPDATED CNN reports that Parler— the right wing alternative to Twitter– is back on the Internet, even though Amazon’s web hosting service dropped them like a hot potato.

Parler’s domain name is now registered by Epik, a controversial Washington state web companye owned by Robert Monster.

Epik has been said to be home to other right wing, neo-Nazi platforms like Gab and 8Chan. Their whole horrible history is here at Wikipedia.

The Monsters have gotten very rich espousing hate. According to Wikipedia, Monster got his start literally in diapers. He worked on the Pampers brand for Procter & Gamble, started his own company, then got fired and went off on his own.

Robert Davis, a spokesman for Epik, said the company does not provide Parler’s web hosting.
Epik, he said, has a zero-tolerance approach to fighting racism, “and actively denounces any activities utilized to create hardship for others based on skin color, ethnicity, origin, or belief system.”

The Huffington Post profiled him in 2018.

The Monsters are flashy, too. Back in 2007, Rob Monster gave his wife, Jill, a Christmas gift: a $200,000 card for 25 hours of travel on a Cessna private jet. So you can imagine that he’s gotten much wealthier now, capitalizing on evil.

From Business Insider: Parler finding “refuge” with Epik, as Vice reported, comes after the company’s history of hosting far-right content. Gab, a far-right Facebook alternative, and Bitchute, a far-right YouTube alternative, both operate with Epik. The company previously hosted 8chan, now 8kun, the fringe message board that has been popular among violent extremists. Infowars, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ website, is also registered with Epik.

And so it goes. PS One upside to this story. Robert Monster doesn’t show up as a big political contributor, but a Zora Monster, who’s either his mother or ex wife, gives plentifully to Democratic candidates. She’s not so much of a Monster, after all.

 

 

Ronnie Spector on the Passing of Phil: “He was a brilliant producer, but a lousy husband…not able to function outside the recording studio”

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Ronnie Bennett became Ronnie Spector when she married her producer in the 1960s. He brought her to tremendous fame and treated her very badly. Even today, anything she performs of his live still earns him 50%. She’s tied to Phil through eternity after lawsuits and decades of negotiations.

Here’s what she wrote today on Facebook. Below that is Ronnie post-Phil, a career she can be very proud of:

“It’s a sad day for music and a sad day for me.
When I was working with Phil Spector, watching him create in the recording studio, I knew I was working with the very best. He was in complete control, directing everyone. So much to love about those days.
Meeting him and falling in love was like a fairytale.
The magical music we were able to make together, was inspired by our love. I loved him madly, and gave my heart and soul to him.
As I said many times while he was alive, he was a brilliant producer, but a lousy husband.
Unfortunately Phil was not able to live and function outside of the recording studio.
Darkness set in, many lives were damaged.
I still smile whenever I hear the music we made together, and always will. The music will be forever
Phil Spector 1939-2021”

Darlene Love on Phil Spector: “I feel a sigh of relief but emptiness too…If it weren’t for Phil Spector there would never be a DARLENE LOVE”

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Darlene Love made dozens of hit records with Phil Spector. Some were under her name, some were under the names of groups that didn’t identify her. She wasn’t paid well, and in recent decades she had to sue him to get royalties. He wasn’t good to her as a human or a person, but in the big picture, he caused her to be a star.

Now Phil is dead. Darlene posted to Facebook, where she’s a regular visitor:

“I’m feeling a range of different emotions right now. I feel a sigh of relief but emptiness too. Another chapter in my life has come to an end. A truly sad ending to a brilliant music pioneer. I will say, if it weren’t for Phil there would never be a DARLENE LOVE. 💔🙏

One Direction Down: “Nobody is Listening” to Zayn Malik’s New Album, Sold 1,800 Copies on Debut

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As we might have guessed, truly Nobody Is Listening to Zayn Malik’s third solo album.

The former One Direction singer released the collection called “Nobody is Listening” before midnight on Friday. Since then he’s sold 1,800 copies.

If we add in streaming of one single. “Vibez,” he’s up to 8,000. But the 1,800 tells the tale of demand for CDs and paid downloads. There is none.

None of the tracks have appeared on AppleMusic, either. They couldn’t even get Zane Lowe to help Zayn Malik. I mean, that was the ace in a hole, no? Zane Plays Zayn. Not happening.

Also, who calls their album “Nobody is Listening”? It’s an engraved invitation to mockery.

The album isn’t very good. It clocks in at at around 35 minutes and shows little effort went into its composition. Here’s a guy with a big fan following off of One Direction, who makes videos and songs that have no meaning but lots of sex references and the ‘f’ word so he guarantees young girls are shooed away. He has no adult themes. So who does he think his audience is?

It’s possible he doesn’t care. Maybe his deal with One Direction made him so much money that he’s self-sustaining. So these releases are just to fulfill a contract, I suppose.

It’s all in-zayn.

Phil Spector Dead: Rock and Roll Genius Was Also a Madman Who Was In Prison for 2003 Murder of Actress

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Phil Spector, inventor of the Wall of Sound, rock and roll genius, is dead at age 81 after contracting COVID. Spector was serving a life sentence in prison for killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

Spector can be remembered as a real genius, too, but also a mad man. His genius in music can’t be underestimated, but his personal life was a wreck. He was evil on many levels, not paying his performers who eventually chased him through the courts. Among his “victims” are also survivors like his ex wife Ronnie Bennett Spector, and Darlene Love, who proved that only the strong survive.

But Clarkson wasn’t so lucky. She went home with him on February 3, 2003, where he showed off his guns. In the process he killed Clarkson by putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger. I wrote about the murder almost from the moment it was reported by the police. Here is that story. Clarkson was so lovely and naive, the pain from her death no doubt resonates with her family and friends to this day.

I met Phil Spector a few times over the years. Once was at the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction at the Waldorf. Another time was on my birthday at Elaine’s, in 1997, when he arrived with a table of armed body guards. He was also sporting a holster. Elaine Kaufman sent them all to a back table, and then sent me to talk to them. Phil was charming and remembered our previous meeting, but made sure — like an old West sheriff — to expose that holster.

He was the darling of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Jann Wenner — who idolized him — for his work on the Beatles “Let it Be” album, and for launching Ronnie and the Ronettes, Darlene Love under many group names, for producing Tina Turner’s “River Deep Mountain High,” for creating the Wall of Sound galaxy of musicians that included Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Sonny and Cher, and famous side musicians like Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine and so on.

Over the 50 or 60 years since the Wall of Sound and the Wrecking Crew– that galaxy — came to be, it’s been often imitated, resurrected, and cited as an influence. Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven van Zandt are certainly two of its disciples, and there are so many more. After “Let it Be,” John Lennon stuck with Spector for many of his solo records. Lennon’s girlfriend, May Pang, has often recalled how Spector played with guns in the studio, once shooting holes in the ceiling. George Harrison also used Spector for his “All Things Must Pass” classic album set.

The Spector hits most known are the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” among hundreds. And there would be no Christmas without Spector’s “Christmas” album, a recording box of holiday confections. None of that can be erased. But neither can the total craziness, madness, and, yes, evil.

Here’s a great documentary, and a couple of clips:

Hollywood Music in Media Awards to Honor Kenny Loggins, Feature Two Nominations for Diane Warren

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Kenny Loggins will be honored at this year’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards for among other things, “Footloose.”The nominees, as follow, will awarded on January 27th virtually. You get a good idea here of the potential Best Songs and Scores for the Academy Awards. Diane Warren has not one but TWO nominees below, for “Free” from “The One and Only Ivan,” and “Seen” from “The Life Ahead.” Which one will make it to the Oscars? Both? Who knows? Diane has 11 Oscar nominations and is waiting for her win!

Among the original scores, two really have impressed me: the ones for “Minari” and for “Pieces of a Woman.” Also, the music from “Tenet,” and from “Soul,” of course.

2020 MUSIC IN VISUAL MEDIA NOMINATIONS

ORIGINAL SCORE – FEATURE FILM
DA 5 BLOODS (Netflix) – Terence Blanchard
THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE) (Netflix) – Gabriel Yared
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (Netflix) – Branford Marsalis
MANK (Netflix) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
THE MIDNIGHT SKY (Netflix) – Alexandre Desplat
NEWS OF THE WORLD (Universal Pictures / Netflix) – James Newton Howard
PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) – Howard Shore
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (Netflix) – Daniel Pemberton

ORIGINAL SCORE – INDEPENDENT FILM
THE 24TH (Vertical Entertainment) – Alex Heffes
AMMONITE (Neon) – Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann
THE GLORIAS (LD Entertainment / Roadside Attractions) – Elliot Goldenthal
MINARI (A24) – Emile Mosseri
SHIRLEY (Neon) – Tamar-kali
WILD MOUNTAIN THYME (Bleecker Street Media) – Amelia Warner

ORIGINAL SCORE – ANIMATED FILM
THE CROODS: A NEW AGE (Universal Pictures) – Mark Mothersbaugh
ONWARD (Walt Disney Studios) – Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna
SHAUN THE SHEEP: FARMAGEDDON (Netflix) – Tom Howe
SOUL (Walt Disney Studios) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
WOLFWALKERS (GKIDS Films) – Bruno Coulais, Kila

ORIGINAL SCORE – SCI-FI/FANTASY
THE NEW MUTANTS (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Disney+) – Mark Snow
THE OLD GUARD (Netflix) – Volker Bertelmann, Dustin O’Halloran
PALM SPRINGS (Neon) – Matthew Compton
TENET (Warner Bros. / HBO Max) – Ludwig Göransson
WONDER WOMAN 1984 (Warner Bros. / HBO Max) – Hans Zimmer

ORIGINAL SCORE – HORROR FILM
ANTEBELLUM (Lionsgate Films) – Nate Wonder, Roman GianArthur
THE DARK AND THE WICKED (RLJE Films / Shudder) – Tom Schraeder
THE EMPTY MAN (Walt Disney Studios) – Christopher Young, Lustmord
THE INVISIBLE MAN (Universal Pictures) – Benjamin Wallfisch
SWALLOW (IFC Films) – Nathan Halpern

ORIGINAL SCORE – DOCUMENTARY
ATHLETE A (Netflix) – Jeff Beal
CRIP CAMP (Netflix) – Bear McCreary
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET (Netflix) – Steven Price
JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE (Magnolia Pictures / Participant) – Tamar-kali
RISING PHOENIX (Netflix) – Daniel Pemberton

ORIGINAL SONG – FEATURE FILM
“Fight for You” from JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH – Written by H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas. Performed by H.E.R. (Warner Bros. / HBO Max)
“Hear My Voice” from THE TRIAL OF CHICAGO 7 – Written by Daniel Pemberton, Celeste. Performed by Celeste (Netflix)
“Húsavík (Hometown)” from EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA – Written by Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson, Fat Max Gsus. Performed by Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Molly Sandén (Netflix)
“The Plan” from TENET – Written by Jacques Webster II, Ebony Naomi Oshunrinde, Ludwig Göransson. Performed by Travis Scott (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment / HBO Max)
“Poverty Porn” from THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION – Written by Radha Blank, Khrysis. Performed by RadhaMUSPrime (Netflix)
“Seen (Io Si)” from THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE) – Written by Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi. Performed by Laura Pausini (Netflix)
“Speak Now” from ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Written by Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Ashworth. Performed by Leslie Odom Jr. (Amazon Studios)
“Tigress & Tweed” from THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY – Written by Raphael Saadiq, Andra Day. Performed by Andra Day (Hulu)

ORIGINAL SONG – INDEPENDENT FILM
“Everybody Cries” from THE OUTPOST – Written by Rod Lurie, Larry Groupé, Rita Wilson. Performed by Rita Wilson (Screen Media Films)
“I’ll Be Singing” from WILD MOUNTAIN THYME – Written by Amelia Warner, John Patrick Shanley. Performed by Sinéad O’Connor (Bleecker Street Media)
“Rain Song” from MINARI – Written by Emile Mosseri, Stefanie Hong. Performed by Yeri Han (A24)
“Staring At A Mountain” from NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS – Written by Sharon van Etten. Performed by Sharon Van Etten (Focus Features / HBO Max)

ORIGINAL SONG – ANIMATED FILM
“Carried Me With You” from ONWARD – Written by Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth. Performed by Brandi Carlile (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Disney+)
“Feel the Thunder” from THE CROODS: A NEW AGE – Written by Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim and Ariel Rechtshaid. Performed by HAIM (Universal Pictures)
“Free” from THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN – Written by Diane Warren. Performed by Charlie Puth (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Disney+)
“Just Sing” from TROLLS WORLD TOUR – Written by Max Martin, Justin Timberlake, Ludwig Göransson, Sarah Aarons (Universal Studios)
“Rocket to the Moon” from OVER THE MOON – Written by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield, Helen Park. Performed by Cathy Ang (Netflix)
“Stand for Hope – When I Stand with You” from TWO BY TWO: OVERBOARD! – Written by Eímear Noone. Performed by Sibéal (Entertainment One)

ORIGINAL SONG – DOCUMENTARY
“The Future” from THE WAY I SEE IT – Written by Aloe Blacc. Performed by Aloe Blacc (Focus Features)
“How Can I Tell You?” From NASRIN – Written by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty. Performed by Angélique Kidjo (Virgil Films & Entertainment)
“Never Break” from GIVING VOICE – Written by John Legend, Nasri Atweh, Benjamin Hudson McIldowie, Greg Wells, John Stephens. Performed by John Legend. (Netflix)
“Only The Young” from MISS AMERICANA – Written by Taylor Swift, Joel Little. Performed by Taylor Swift (Netflix)
“See What You’ve Done” from BELLY OF THE BEAST – Written by Mary J. Blige, Nova Wav, DJ Camper. Performed by Mary J. Blige (PBS)
“Turntables” from ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY – Written by Janelle Monáe. Performed by Janelle Monáe (Amazon)

ORIGINAL SCORE – INDEPENDENT FILM (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ALL AGAINST ALL (Fivia) – Kristian Sensini
BLACK BEACH (eOne Films Spain) – Arturo Cardelus
BLIZZARD OF SOULS (DVĒSEĻU PUTENIS) (Access – A / Pandastorm) – Lolita Ritmanis
SUMMER KNIGHT (China Film Administration) – Min He
ZERØ (Nemesis Media) – Ricardo Curto

ORIGINAL SCORE – TV MOVIE / STREAMED
BAD EDUCATION (HBO) – Michael Abels
BAD HAIR (Hulu) – Kris Bowers
CLOUDS (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Disney+) – Brian Tyler
EVIL EYE (Amazon Prime Video) – Ronit Kirchman
FEARLESS – A NETFLIX ORIGINAL (Netflix) – Anne-Kathrin Dern
SYLVIE’S LOVE (Amazon Studios) – Fabrice Lecomte

MUSIC DOCUMENTARY / SPECIAL PROGRAM
THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART – Produced by Jeanne Elfant Festa, Mark Monroe, Nigel Sinclair. Directed by Frank Marshall (HBO Documentary Films / HBO Max)
COACHELLA: 20 YEARS IN THE DESERT – Produced by Michael W. Abbott, Andrew Klein, Skip Paige and Chris Perkel. Directed by Chris Perkel & Drew Thomas (YouTube Originals)
THE GO GO’S – Produced by Eimhear O’Neill, Corey Russell, Trevor Birney. Directed by Alison Ellwood (ShowTime Networks)
MISS AMERICANA – Produced by Morgan Neville, Christine O’Malley and Caitrin Rogers. Directed by Lana Wilson (Netflix)
SONG EXPLODER – Produced by Caryn Capotosto, Bryan Younce. Directed by Nicola Marsh & Morgan Neville (Netflix)

ORIGINAL SCORE – TV SHOW/LIMITED SERIES
BRIDGERTON (Netflix) – Kris Bowers
THE CROWN (Netflix) – Martin Phipps
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY (HBO / HBO Max) – Laura Karpman, Raphael Saadiq
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (Netflix) – Carlos Rafael Rivera
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (CBS / CBS All Access) – Jeff Russo
TED LASSO (Apple TV+) – Tom Howe, Marcus Mumford

ORIGINAL SCORE – DOCUMENTARY TV SERIES
BELUSHI (Showtime) – Tree Adams
THE DEVIL NEXT DOOR (Netflix) – Antonio Pinto, Eduardo Aram
LENOX HILL (Netflix) – Uri Frost
MCMILLION$ (Netflix) – Pinar Toprak
NIGHT ON EARTH (Netflix) – Edmund Butt
TIGER KING: MURDER, MAYHEM AND MADNESS (Netflix) – Mark Mothersbaugh, John Enroth, Albert Fox, Robert Mothersbaugh

MAIN TITLE THEME – TV SHOW/LIMITED SERIES
HOLLYWOOD (Netflix) – Nathan Barr
HUNTERS (Amazon) – Trevor Gureckis
MARVEL’S 616 (Disney) – Jeremy Turner
P-VALLEY (Starz!) – Terrica Alexander aka Jucee Froot, Katori Hall
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (Netflix) – Carlos Rafael Rivera
THE WITCHER (Netflix) – Sonya Belousova & Giona Ostinelli

ORIGINAL SONG – TV SHOW/LIMITED SERIES
“All For Us” from EUPHORIA – Written by Timothy Lee McKenzie aka Labrinth. Performed by Zendaya & Labrinth (HBO / HBO Max)
“The Eddy” from THE EDDY – Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber. Performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig on vocals. (Netflix)
“One Less Angel” from THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL – Written by Thomas Mizer, Curtis Moore. Performed by Darius de Haas (Amazon Prime Video)
“Out There” from SEVEN WORLDS, ONE PLANET – Written by Sia, Hans Zimmer, Christopher Braide. Performed by Sia (BBC America)
“Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” from THE WITCHER – Written by Sonya Belousova, Giona Ostinelli, Jenny Klein. Performed by Joey Batey (Netflix)
“Tulsa, 1921 – Catch the Fire” from LOVECRAFT COUNTRY – Written by Laura Karpman, Raphael Saadiq. Performed by Janai Brugger (HBO / HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING MUSIC SUPERVISION – FILM
Angela Leus – TROLLS WORLD TOUR (Universal Studios)
Bonnie Greenberg – THE LIFE AHEAD (LA VITA DAVANTI A SE) (Netflix)
Guy C. Routte – THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION (Netflix)
Linda Cohen – THE HIGH NOTE (Focus Features)
Lynn Fainchtein – THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY (Hulu)
Sue Jacobs – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Focus Features)
Tom MacDougall – SOUL (Walt Disney Studios)

OUTSTANDING MUSIC SUPERVISION – TELEVISION
Angela Vicari – THE EDDY (Netflix)
Gabe Hilfer – OZARK (Netflix)
Jen Malone – THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Netflix)
Matt Biffa – SEX EDUCATION (Netflix)
Nora Felder – BETTER THINGS SEASON 3 (Hulu)
Stephanie Diaz-Matos, Sarah Bromberg – P-VALLEY (Starz!)

OUTSTANDING MUSIC SUPERVISION – VIDEO GAME
Alex Hackford, Peter Scaturro, Keith Leary – GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
Sam Marshall, Marc Senasac, Jonathan Mayer – CONCRETE GENIE
Scott Hanau, Alex Hackford, Rob Goodson – MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES
Square-Enix Sound Division – FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE
Scott Hanau, Rob Goodson, Scott Shoemaker – THE LAST OF US PART II

ORIGINAL SCORE – SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
AURA – Sturdivant Adams
MIME YOUR MANNERS – Corey Wallace
SCRIBBLINGS – Nolan Markey
STICKS AND STONES – Daniel Markovich
THE WRONG ROCK – Grant Kirkhope
TO GERARD – Layla Minoui

ORIGINAL SCORE – SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
A BATHROOM ON DRAKE – Dave Catalano
DEFENSELESS – J. M. Quintana Cámara
IMAGINE SYMPHONY LIVE – Chris Thomas
MY PEOPLE, MY COUNTRY – Zhiyi Wang
THE FIRST COLOR – Annie Rosevear
THE WATER WALKER – Jay Wadley, Trevor Gureckis, Adam Weiss (Found Objects)

ORIGINAL SCORE – VIDEO GAME
ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA – Jesper Kyd, Sarah Schachner, Einar Selvik
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA – Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi
HADES – Darren Korb
MARVEL’S AVENGERS – Bobby Tahouri
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALAS – John Paesano
ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS – Gareth Coker
STAR WARS: SQUADRONS – Gordy Haab
THE LAST OF US PART II – Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle

ORIGINAL SONG – VIDEO GAME
“In the Blood” from HADES. Written by Darren Korb. Performed by Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett
“Weeping Dawn” from BALDUR’S GATE 3 – Written by Borislav Slavov. Performed by Vesela Delcheva and Budapest Studio Orchestra
“Renegade” from ARKNIGHTS OST – Written by Jason Walsh. Performed by Substantial and X.ARI
“The Baddest” from LEAGUE OF LEGENDS – Written by Riot Music Team and Bekuh BOOM; Vocals by SOYEON of (G)I-DLE, MIYEON of (G)I-DLE, Bea Miller, and Wolftyla
“I’m Ready” from MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALAS – Written by Jaden Smith, Josiah Bell, Omarr Rambert, Alex Hackford. Vocals by Jaden Smith
“The Way of the Ghost” from GHOST OF TSUSHIMA – Written by Ilan Eshkeri, Jenny Plant. Vocal by Clare Uchima
“BB’s Theme” from DEATH STRANDING – Written by Ludvig Forssell. Vocal by Jenny Plant

SONG/SCORE – MOBILE VIDEO GAME
CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE – Wilbert Roget, II; Guillaume Roussel
GAME FOR PEACE – Theme by Brian Tyler, Score by Austin Wintory, Obadiah Brown-Beach, Steven Grove, David Westbom
GARENA FREE FIRE – Nobuko Toda, Ludvig Forssell
HONOR OF KINGS – Edouard Brenneisen, Daniel James
KINGDOM CRAFT – Lei Huang, Matthew Carl Earl
MYTHGARD – John Robert Matz

SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA (Lakeshore Records)
BILL & TED: FACE THE MUSIC (Lakeshore Records)
JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY (Atlantic Records)
ONWARD (Walt Disney Records)
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Capitol Records)
SOUL (Walt Disney Records)
THE EDDY (Sony Classical)

MUSIC VIDEO (INDEPENDENT)
Carla Patullo – Apotheke
Hooked Like Helen – Liar
Jamie Alimorad – Brighter Days
JayQ The Legend – Body Talk Remix
Olivia Rox – Galileo
Riotron – Dark Highway
The National Parks – Wildflower
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Is This The Real World?
Wouter Kellerman and Mzansi Youth Choir – The Climb

LIVE CONCERT FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Shawn Mendes: Live in Concert (Netflix)

SONG/SCORE – TRAILER
DUNE trailer – Music Supervisor/Music Director: Stephanie Koury. Music Score by Hans Zimmer. Eclipse written by Roger Waters.

SONG/SCORE – COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT
“Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)” Kinder Bueno – TV commercial:
Song written by Rainer Pietsch & Amanda Lear. Produced & composed by Jake Warren. Performed by Alice Ella.

MAIN TITLE – TV SHOW (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
DOFAAT BEIRUT – Amir Hedayah (Lebanon)

ORIGINAL SONG – SHORT FILM
“Brave” from THE GREAT ARTIST – Written by Jon Altham, Pia Toscano, Matthew Postlethwaite. Vocal by Pia Toscano