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Shocker: Rocker Eddie van Halen Dies at 65 from Throat and Brain Cancer, Son Writes: “I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss”

Roger Friedman
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Shocker: Rocker Eddie van Halen Dies at 65 from Throat and Brain Cancer, Son Writes: “I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss”

Eddie van Halen has died from throat and brain cancer at age 65. Could things be any worse?

Such a lovely guy. I spent a great day with Eddie and then wife Valerie Bertinelli at their home 30 years ago. Eddie showed me his Tannoy speakers (he was very proud of them), we discussed home systems, and all the music we mutually loved.,

A few years ago I had the extraordinary experience of being front and center for a Van Halen concert at the tiniest possible club in Greenwich Village. They blew my ears out. There was never so much fun.

Eddie was the most sterling rock guitarist, blistering. All those Van Halen hits and records and album cuts that you cannot stop bouncing your head to, with those riffs rippling through them. This is just terrible news.

Dionne Warwick Performing a Mega Stream Concert October 16th: What the World Needs Now is…Dionne

Roger Friedman
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Dionne Warwick Performing a Mega Stream Concert October 16th: What the World Needs Now is…Dionne

Dionne Warwick must perform, and so she will. She’s got a mega streaming event on October 16th. Watch the video below. Tickets are only $5.99. Buy 10.

Dionne is a national treasure. She’s had more hits than you’ve had sneezes, for god’s sake! All those Bacharach-David songs including the original “I Say a Little Prayer.” Plus all those hits with Clive Davis. And then the whole “That’s What Friends Are For” story– she put it together. You cannot love this woman more.

Dionne loves to sing, so we’ve got to be there for her and her magnificent smokey voice. But you know, if there were a performance royalty for singers, then Dionne would have been PAID the last 50 years when her songs were played on the radio. She has received NOTHING, thank you. The writers got all the money. She’s had to make her money by live performance. So we MUST support her.

God bless Dionne Warwick!

Twitter Flags Donald Trump Tweet About Flu and COVID as “Misleading,” Should Do the Same with His Abortion Claims

Roger Friedman
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Twitter Flags Donald Trump Tweet About Flu and COVID as “Misleading,” Should Do the Same with His Abortion Claims

Twitter has labeled has misleading Donald Trump’s tweet about COVID and the flu. They said: This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.

Twitter should do the same about Trump’s tweets concerning abortion. They are completely wrong and they are desperate. They’re the last gasps of a man without physical or emotional oxygen. If he thinks scaring his base about abortion in the last three weeks before the election is going to work, he’s wrong.

But can we get back to the discussion from last week please: no taxes paid?

Ratings: “The Walking Dead” Returns (Why?) to Lowest Ratings Ever, Down 22% from Last Spring to Just 2.7 Million

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: “The Walking Dead” Returns (Why?) to Lowest Ratings Ever, Down 22% from Last Spring to Just 2.7 Million

“The Walking Dead” returned on Sunday night after a six month break. Why exactly, is my question?

The ratings now are embarrassing, the lowest ever. The show dropped 22% overall from last April, to 2.7 million viewers. The previous low was last March with 2.9 million.

In the key demo, “TWD” dropped to just 870,000 viewers. Young people are gone, bored, yawning at this point.

On top of this. AMC doubled down on their zombie business, introduced a spin off that followed, with just 1.6 million viewers. Isn’t this thing over? Just wrap it up already. It’s 10 seasons, let it go.

Talk about beating a dead horse. “The Walking Dead” was once a thing, a phenom, a powerhouse. Four years ago, they had 17 million viewers!  But when you’re getting lower ratings than a daytime soap, it’s time to say goodbye.

 

Ladies Night: Trailer for “The 355” Is Here, with Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz Heading All Star Cast of Female Spies

Roger Friedman
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Ladies Night: Trailer for “The 355” Is Here, with Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz Heading All Star Cast of Female Spies

When Jessica Chastain was organizing this film, I knew she was determined to pull off a big studio blockbuster with women in charge. And from the looks of the trailer for “The 355,” she’s done it. This is some gang, too: Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Bingbing Fan, plus Sebastian Stan and Edgar Ramirez. Directed by Simon Kinberg, who knows how to do these things. From Universal Pictures, one day, when we can see it on a big screen. Although this movie looks like it could have a great life on drive in screens!

Congrats to Jessica, who is a powerhouse, and was completely overlooked for “Molly’s Game.” She’s our future in this movie world!

Here’s the press release:

When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Oscar®-nominated actress Jessica Chastain) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger, In the Fade), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Oscar® winner Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), who is tracking their every move.

As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the wealth and glamour of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.

The film also stars Sebastian Stan (Avengers: Endgame) and Edgar Ramírez (The Girl on the Train).

The 355 is directed by genre-defying filmmaker Simon Kinberg (writer-director-producer of Dark Phoenix, producer of Deadpool and The Martian and writer-producer of the X-Men films), from a script by Theresa Rebeck (NBC’s Smash, Trouble) and Kinberg, and is produced by Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Chastain’s Freckle Films and by Kinberg for his Genre Films. The film is executive produced by Richard Hewitt (Bohemian Rhapsody).

Mondadori Owned Italian Magazine Giant Grazia Arrives in the US Courtesy of a Former Tabloid Editor Reborn

Roger Friedman
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Mondadori Owned Italian Magazine Giant Grazia Arrives in the US Courtesy of a Former Tabloid Editor Reborn

Dylan Howard is back. The one time editor of the National Enquirer, and former chief exec to David Pecker at the languished American Media, is reborn. And this time, it’s a good thing.

Howard has licensed Grazia, the famous and glossy Italian celebrity-fashion magazine, from Italian heavyweight publisher Mondadori. The website is up. Quarterly print magazines are coming.

And they’re not kidding around: Kim Kardashian is on the cover of the first digital issue. In the celebrity world right now, she’s the main “get,” no?

“The arrival of Grazia in the United States is a highly significant event, the first time an all-Italian fashion magazine lands on the US market with a formula that gives a perfect answer to the new needs of readers, users and businesses. In today’s historical juncture, it bears witness to the strength of a brand that has always stood at the forefront, becoming an icon of international renown, leveraging on its authoritative content and incomparable identity,” said Ernesto Mauri, CEO of the Mondadori Group.”

For Howard, this is the biggest comeback since Lazarus. With Pecker he was involved in the Jeff Bezos scandal and also the catch-and-kill efforts involving Playboy model Karen McDougal. He was named in a variety of lawsuits. But upon leaving AMI, Howard produced a series of tabloid-style books about tabloidy subjects like Michael Jackson, Jeffrey Epstein, Princess Diana and so on all which garnered tons of headlines and publicity. A full pivot followed.

So, welcome Grazia, which looks pretty classy and elegant and is bound to shake things up in a very changing world of celebrity publishing. And that Mondadori name– take it seriously, kids. They are loaded.

 

Trump, High on Steroids, Returns to White House from Hospital and Sounds Crazy: “Maybe I’m Immune, I Don’t Know”

Roger Friedman
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Trump, High on Steroids, Returns to White House from Hospital and Sounds Crazy: “Maybe I’m Immune, I Don’t Know”

This is a man high on steroids, making no sense. Donald Trump returned to the White House from the hospital tonight, hopped up on steroids. He declared: “Maybe I’m immune, I don’t know.”

He is NOT immune. He was hospitalized Friday night in an emergency. He is COVID positive. He’s fighting a deadly virus. Doctors have him on extraordinarily strong drugs. His behavior is an AFFRONT to anyone who lost close friends and family this year to COVID.

Tellingly, his own wife didn’t come to the hospital to get him or meet him when he arrived. Not one family member was in evidence. On top of that, Trump — who is highly contagious– removed his mask once he got to the White House.He has no respect for the people around. About 20 have already contracted the virus. He’s a miserable SOB.

 

Exclusive: Grammys Pandemic Pivot as Show Won’t Have An Audience, MusiCares Person of the Year Goes Digital

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Grammys Pandemic Pivot as Show Won’t Have An Audience, MusiCares Person of the Year Goes Digital

No one’s having an easy time of it in showbiz, least of all the various groups that have to put on awards shows.

I spoke to Harvey Mason Jr. tonight, he’s the acting head of the Recording Academy while a search committee convenes to find a permanent chief after surviving the Deborah Dugan debacle last winter. The Academy is having its own woes.

Mason is like King George VI after his brother King Edward suddenly abdicated. And like George, he’s had his challenges. A few days ago the Academy laid off 13 full time staffers, including some top people. Nine were from the Academy itself, four from MusiCares, the Grammys’ charitable arm. It wasn’t easy.

Mason told me, “It was very hard to part ways with long time members of the Academy.” But he had to do it as part of a reorganization that’s been going on all year. For one thing, it will also make things easier for a new CEO to start with a pared down group. (It sounds like the search committee is making progress.)

The bigger news from the Grammys is harder to swallow for the public and for music lovers, but reality bites this year. The obvious headline is that the Grammys, set for January 31st on CBS, will be presented without a live audience. “That seems to be the track we’re on,” Mason said, because of restrictions at the Staples Center and in Los Angeles. Another track might be to have the show somewhere else, but really, no arena will be inviting in 15,000 strangers this winter. We have to accept what we cannot change.

Also considerably altered will be the MusiCares Person of the Year dinner. A gala for 3,000 people at the Los Angeles Convention Center isn’t possible or feasible. But somehow the event will be presented, probably in a virtual/digital form, because the revenue from it is so important. MusiCares takes care of musicians in need of medical help, financial assistance, a wide variety of things. With the pandemic destroying incomes this year, MusiCares must raise as much money as possible. Mason did not tell me who the honoree might be this year. But whoever it is, MusiCares can still put on one of its amazing tribute shows without anyone getting sick.

(Harvey didn’t ask me, but why not get a few past recipients to be People of the Year this time around? Sting, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Aerosmith, The Eagles, Elton John, Paul McCartney. Just an idea.)

I’m not worried about the Grammys. The new Executive Producer is Ben Winston, who produces James Corden’s lively and entertaining nightly late night talk show. Winston knows how to make performances pop in this new format. The Grammys and all its ancillary events will soldier on. And the return in 2022 will be all the sweeter.

Meantime, circle your calendar for October 16th on PBS for “Grammy Salute to Legends,” which I’m told is sensational.

Oscars 2020: “Ammonite” is the Festival Non Festival Movie No One Wants Us to See Until It’s Too Late

Roger Friedman
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Oscars 2020: “Ammonite” is the Festival Non Festival Movie No One Wants Us to See Until It’s Too Late

As the very odd little 2021 Oscar race continues to look for entries, one film is the weirdest of them all: Francis Lee’s “Ammonite.”

What’s with this “Ammonite”? We know Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet have a sex scene. It’s practically been painted for us in day glo colors.

“Ammonite” has 30 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so someone’s seen it, and rating of 80%. Neon Films is releasing it and hoping for Oscar nominations for Ronan and Winslet and maybe Fiona Shaw. With the scarcity of films, and roles for actresses, “Ammonite” would seem like a good candidate to supply those categories.

The Lee film was also put into festivals, like Toronto and this weekend’s Hamptons Film Festival. But the movie has become sort of the non-entry. In each case, press is not allowed to access the film digitally. You were either in Toronto (impossible thanks to border issues) or you’re supposed to be in a car at a drive in in the Hamptons this Friday. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait and see it when (and if) it’s released next month.

This is very unusual. You wonder if there had been regular press at the festivals if “Ammonite” would have been available  at all. And what’s the big fuss? The lesbian scene? Been there, done that.

In Best Actress, “Ammonite” will not be a piece of cake. We already have Frances McDormand in the lead, Jennifer Hudson as a strong hopeful, and maybe Halle Berry. I’d include Olivia Colman from “The Father.” So Neon will have to choose between its leading ladies for lead and supporting. I’d guess Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for “The Reader,” will go in the former, and Saoirse will go in supporting.

 

Movies Moved Again: “Dune” Not Soon, Warner Bros. Moving Another Blockbuster From This Christmas to 2021

Roger Friedman
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Movies Moved Again: “Dune” Not Soon, Warner Bros. Moving Another Blockbuster From This Christmas to 2021

We won’t see “Dune” soon.

Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster remake of David Lynch’s “Dune” is moving from December 2020 to October 2021.

There are almost no movies left for Christmas season. This is why Regal Theaters have thrown in the paper towel.

What’s next? We don’t have much left for the Oscars, and even the films that are still on schedules for January are looking precarious. Can we have an awards season with so few candidates?

Stay tuned…

 

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