As we approach midnight and the Taylor Swift-Kanye West death cage match, here’s a look back at their feud, the history of enmity that began with Kanye jumping on the stage at the 2009 Video Music Awards. Tonight it will be “Donda” vs. “Folklore” as the two recording artists release new albums head to head. And the winner is Universal Music Group, which has both albums and makes all the money from this once of a lifetime publicity.
Bill and Ted’s Latest Adventure Will Be Video on Demand Beginning September 1st as Theaters Remain Mostly Closed in Major Markets
Bill and Ted have had many adventures over the years. But they will “Face the Music” on September 1st in theaters and on streaming video on demand.
The Keanu Reeves-Alex Winter comedy sequel from United Artists has set its plan in place as a result of theaters being mostly closed in major markets.
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is directed by Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest), from a screenplay by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) – and produced by Scott Kroopf, Alex Lebovici, and Steve Ponce.
The great Holland Taylor (yay!!!!) and Saturday Night Live’s Beck Bennett are in the cast that includes Kid Cudi, of course.
The VOD part suggests another $20 ticket, but moviegoers are getting used to this. And considering movie tickets are $10, popcorn and all that comes to $20 plus maybe a babysitter, etc. if you have four people social distancing in a living room it all works out!
In the movie Bill and Ted time travel, maybe back to 2016 when we weren’t being held hostage by a mad man, or forward to 2021 when Biden is president and the pandemic is over. Sounds promising!
Taylor Swift Is Dropping a Surprise Album Tonight Going Head to Head (Possibly) with Mortal Enemy Kanye West’s New Release
Taylor Swift has just dealt Kanye West a real blow. She’s surprise dropping a new album at the same time his “Donda” is supposed to be coming out. Could she have known under the Universal umbrella that Kanye was shooting for this date? Is it a coincidence or planned? Wow. This is like a death cage match!
I was wondering why Universal dropped the iTunes price for Taylor Swift’s “Lover” album this week. It suddenly shot back into the top 10. Now we know. Taylor is releasing a surprise new album tonight called “Folklore.” It comes with a video for the first single, called “Cardigan,” cinematography by three time Oscar nominee Rodrigo Prieto. Do we need an expensive new sweater on the hottest week of the summer?
Ironically, she couldn’t have planned it, this will knock Kanye West, her mortal enemy, off the headlines. Good work, Taylor!
Taylor has a lot of collaborators on the album including, of course, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner of the group The National. Their respective statements are below.
Remember: Taylor was planning for four big concerts this summer, mega shows at stadiums. But because of the pandemic she’s been stuck inside, writing and recording. According to Dessner they began in late April and it all went very quickly. It sounds like the National is very involved, too.
Best Idea Yet: Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin Movie “Respect” to MLK Birthday Weekend 2021
Here’s the best idea yet in movie marketing and it might be just a fluke.
Jennifer Hudson’s Aretha Franklin movie, “Respect,” has been moved from late December to January 15th, 2021. In other words, to Martin Luther King’s actual birthday and the start of a three holiday weekend.
This is because of the pandemic, but wow– what serendipity. Aretha sang and marched for Dr. King, who often stayed with the Franklins at Aretha’s father’s invitation.
I’ve been nervous about this movie– for the music but for how the story will play out. But now I feel like this is a good sign, the best, because by chance the film has been forced onto this important and magical date. From what we’ve seen in the trailer, JHud is guaranteed an Oscar nomination already. If director Liesl Tommy has got it right, with a screenplay based on Callie Khouri’s original layout. “Respect” will shape up as a major hit.
How lucky that the closed theaters forced the Academy to move the eligibility date for the Oscars to February 28th, and the broadcast to April 25th. And in the Golden Globes, “Respect” will be going up against “West Side Story” in the comedy/musical category. We have to wait for awards season, but it will be worth it!
BTW if you’re wondering, “Respect” takes Aretha through the 70s and her 1st incredible career with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, and Tom Dowd. One day there will be a whole second movie of her career Renaissance with Clive Davis beginning in 1980 and I’m sure it will be called “Freeway of Love.”
See JHud sizzle:
The Empire Strikes Back: Kim Kardashian, Under Siege from Bipolar Husband, Asks for Compassion and Understanding
The Empire Strikes Back: Kim Kardashian, here cast as Palpatine, is asking for compassion for her husband, Luke Skywalker, I mean Kanye West, as he self destructs in the lead up to a possible album release on Thursday night. Will she get hold of him? Will someone take the phone from his hand? Is this all being recorded for their TV show? Will there be a sex tape? (Organ music.) Stay tuned…
Kanye’s 99th Nervous Breakdown: Calls Mother-in-Law “Kris Jong Un,” Says Family Tried to Commit Him with 5150 Hold
Kanye West‘s 99th nervous breakdown continues apace. Working up to his album release on Friday (maybe, who knows, maybe he’s imagining it), Kanye has continued his Twitter rant marathon. In these deleted tweets from last night he calls his mother in law “Kris Jong Un” and claims his family tried to commit him with a 5150 hold. He also thinks wife Kim Kardashian is having an affair with Meek Mill.
Meantime, the Kardashian PR feed has noticed that the family of avaricious, self-promoters has uniformly “unfollowed” their pal, Scottie Pippin’s estranged wife, Larsa. Is it true? Is this all made up for the new seas on of “Keeping up with the Addams Family”? Who knows? These people would say they tried to abort one of their kids to get ratings.
Kanye remains in Wyoming, which he obviously bought and developed to get away from the Kardashians, because who wouldn’t? With theaters closed, no Broadway or new movies, soap operas in reruns, this is all we’ve got now, kids.
LOL Mick Jagger Has Little Memory of Jimmy Page Playing on Demo, But Keith Richards Recalls It Perfectly
Keith Richards was literally high as a kite 20 years or more. Mick Jagger rarely did drugs, or so he says. But Keith has clear recollections of everything that happened to them. Mick remembers nada. Jagger has said as much when people ask him writing a book. Keith, however, wrote a hilarious, detailed book called “Life.”
Now the Rolling Stones have released a demo track they did with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page in 1973 for “Goat’s Head Soup.” The song is called “Scarlet.” In the press release, we get two quotes. They crystallize this memory issue. The quote are pretty funny.
Mick Jagger commented: “I remember first jamming this with Jimmy and Keith in Ronnie’s basement studio. It was a great session.”
Keith Richards added: ‘’My recollection is we walked in at the end of a Zeppelin session. They were just leaving, and we were booked in next and I believe that Jimmy decided to stay. We weren’t actually cutting it as a track, it was basically for a demo, a demonstration, you know, just to get the feel of it, but it came out well, with a line up like that, you know, we better use it.‘’
Jimmy Page said nothing. I wonder if he knows they’ve released “Scarlet” or if they’re going to pay him. Also on the track: Blind Faith’s Rick Grech (d. 1980).
Anyway, new “Goats Head Soup” box set September 4th. I’m really looking forward to it, nearly as much as “Sticky Fingers” update from several years ago with Eric Clapton playing on “Brown Sugar.”
Madonna Promotes Anti Semite Louis Farrakhan on Instagram Despite Her Many Claims That She’s “Jewish” Because of Her Millions in Donations to Kabbalah
Madonna:
Now she’s promoting anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan on Instagram. This despite the fact that she carries on about “being Jewish” and claiming Jewish holidays, using Hebrew as stage ornaments because she’s the main investor in the Kabbalah cult of Los Angeles.
The video below she posted as a teaser for Farrakhan’s July 4th speech that was broadcast only by Puff Daddy’s Revolt TV. The speech, the whole thing, is revolting.
In the speech Madonna touted on Instagram, Farrakhan called Jews “Satan” and promoted an anti-Israel conspiracy theory.
Madonna is like Dr. Tim Whatley from “Seinfeld.” She wants to be Jewish for the jokes. But even members of Kabbalah should be upset that their celebrity benefactress is endorsing speeches by a man who would like to annihilate them.
According to writer Shiryn Ghermezian, over the weekend Madonna also posted and deleted from social media several endorsements of Palestine with the hashtag #istandwithpalestine.
It’s not like any of this matters anymore. Madonna’s tour was a series of disasters, and her records don’t sell anymore. But she’s still influential to some extent as a celebrity, and she’s dangerously stupid.
Post Meltdown, Kanye Welcomes Comedian Dave Chappelle to Wyoming Ranch: “You Are a ‘Godsend and a True Friend”
After his meltdown last night on Twitter, Kanye West– promoting his new album– welcomed fellow mental illness warrior Dave Chappelle to his ranch in Wyoming.
Chappelle, in 2005, checked himself into a mental health clinic in South Africa after walking away from his TV and millions of dollars. It took a long time, but in recent years he’s made a phenomenal comeback to show biz on his own terms.
Kanye needed to see a pal. He wrote on Twitter: “THANK YOU DAVE FOR HOPPING ON A JET TO COME SEE ME DOING WELL DAVE YOU ARE A GOD SEND AND A TRUE FRIEND ALL LOVE”
Kanye also welcomed two guys named 88 MNOP, who no one seems to know, and thanked them for each dressing in orange.
This will be a week of stunts and outbursts leading up to the release of “Donda” on Thursday night. There is, however, no more about running for president. Meanwhile, daughter North West is negotiating to write a book called “I Was Almost Aborted by Kanye West.”
THANK YOU DAVE FOR HOPPING ON A JET TO COME SEE ME DOING WELL DAVE YOU ARE A GOD SEND AND A TRUE FRIEND ALL LOVE 🕊 pic.twitter.com/ddLA0E9eLK
— ye (@kanyewest) July 21, 2020
THANK YOU 88 MNOP FOR JOINING ME AT OUR RANCH IN CODY IT’S SO GOOD TO HAVE REAL ONES AROUND Oh AND THEY BOTH WEARING ORANGE pic.twitter.com/qaAwQjvC3O
— ye (@kanyewest) July 21, 2020
All About the New Album? Kanye West’s Nightlong Twitter Rant Attacking Wife, Mother in Law, Others Ends with Posting of Tracklist
What’s it all about, Kanye?
As I said on Sunday and again last night, it’s all about the Benjamins. Money, honey.
After a nightlong Twitter rant (read previous posts) attacking his wife, mother-in-law, melting down, slagging Shia LaBeouf, Kanye finally got to the point:
“Imma stay with the music.”
Then he tweeted the tracklist for his new album, called “Donda,” named for his mother. It drops on Friday.
Kanye’s disastrous appearance in South Carolina, his non campaign for president, the reveal that he almost aborted his first child, and was almost aborted himself– all of it, who knows? Was it just for the album? Was it a bipolar meltdown under the pressure of releasing the album? On the tracklist, you can see that some of the tracks were just finished in the last 48 hours. Maybe that’s what send him over the edge.
In any case, “Donda” is coming, the West Wing is not, and we’ll stay tuned for further developments.
