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Media Mourning as Vice, Buzz Feed Lay Off Hundreds of Staffers As Coronavirus Chaos Claims More Jobs

Roger Friedman
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Media Mourning as Vice, Buzz Feed Lay Off Hundreds of Staffers As Coronavirus Chaos Claims More Jobs

The media world is taking big hits thanks to Corona virus.

This morning, VICE  Media laid off 155 staffers. The breakdown is 55 in the US and 100 abroad.

“The reality is that some tough decisions had to be made primarily around our digital teams,” CEO Nancy Dubuc said. “Currently, our digital organization accounts for around 50% of our headcount costs, but only brings in about 21% of our revenue. Looking at our business holistically, this imbalance needed to be addressed for the long-term health of our company.”

Yesterday, Conde Nast laid off and furloughed 200 people. Vanity Fair and Vogue are not producing ad revenue or circulation. Plus, with the arts on hold, there’s much less to write about. For Vogue, fashion photo shoots are on hiatus.

Buzz Feed is also in the process of laying off and furloughing whoever they can get away with. All of these media companies are also instituting deep pay cuts for the remaining employees, although Anna Wintour will still have a budget for sunglasses and haughtiness.

The media world was already in financial peril before COVID-19. The new situation, which won’t abate for some time, has only made it worse. If you’re reading this and thinking, Oh, good, I hate the media, you’re not getting it. The media is at the center of the economy. The ripple effect will come for all aspects of jobs and careers. Just count to 10.

For those who do get it, Vice, Buzz Feed, etc do great work. In this time of constant lies from the government, we need more reporting, not less. We need more uncovering of the awful truth Trump and his cronies have created. It’s Byzantine, and the damage will last long past November. Over 80,000 people have died on Trump’s watch (not counting deaths at the borders). Keep that in mind.

 

(Listen) Tracee Ellis Ross Does Mom Diana Ross Proud, Sings Like a Bird in First Song Release from “The High Note”

Roger Friedman
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(Listen) Tracee Ellis Ross Does Mom Diana Ross Proud, Sings Like a Bird in First Song Release from “The High Note”

Wow! I am so proud of Tracee Ellis Ross. She’s been a TV star for a long time, and a damn good actress on the small screen. But in “The High Note,” coming on May 29th, she plays a star diva who fans love for her greatest hits, but she wants more. Tracee SINGS several songs in the movie including “Love Myself,” and she’s great. She did all her own singing, which must be terrifying since her mother is Diana Ross.

Tracee’s sister Rhonda Kendrick Ross has had a singing career for years, but Tracee never attempted it in public. It turns out, she’s terrific. I hope radio stations will give this track and a couple of others from the movie a spin even though they’re not sung in little girl whispers by an 18 year old.

I have seen this movie but there’s an embargo on reviews until May 25th. I’m not allowed to say I like it yet. But I will soon! Bravo!

Now Playing: Katy Perry Gives Birth to “Daisies,” the First Single from Her Upcoming Fifth Album

Roger Friedman
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Now Playing: Katy Perry Gives Birth to “Daisies,” the First Single from Her Upcoming Fifth Album

Katy Perry, who’s about six months pregnant, debuted her new single called “Daisies” tonight. It’s from her fifth album, which comes out sometime this year either before or after she gives birth to the baby she’s having with Orlando Bloom. She’s had a few stray singles in the last few months, the biggest of which was “Never Worn White.”

Broadway: Disney’s Musical “Frozen” Will “Let it Go” After 825 Performances, Won’t Resume After Shows Come Back This Fall

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Disney’s Musical “Frozen” Will “Let it Go” After 825 Performances, Won’t Resume After Shows Come Back This Fall

The Broadway lockdown has claimed a victim: Disney’s “Frozen.” The party’s over. The show is closing up shop and not returning when Broadway returns– whenever that may be.

“Frozen” opened officially on March 22, 2018 and was a hit with audiences and mostly with reviewers. It wasn’t a Tony Award winning production, though, and in time sales did slow a bit. If the pandemic hadn’t hit, the producers would have kept it going, no doubt, for tourists. “Frozen” played 825 performances and 26 previews.

The show was basically built around the one song from the movie that everyone knew, “Let it go.” And now, they will let it go for good.

I will miss the crowds of parents with little girls dressed like Elsa running up and down 44th St. to the St. James Theater while we adults were trying to make our shows. I’m sure there will be a new show next year that will bring back the next generation of burgeoning theatergoers.

“Frozen” won’t be the only long running show to announce a closing. Many of the Great White Way’s older shows won’t be able to wait out the lockdown, which now runs at least through Labor Day if not longer. Marginal shows will go. But things like “Hamilton” and “The Lion King” will no doubt return.

The lockdown is tough tough tough for everyone– the producers, the theater owners, the actors, musicians, crews. When things start up again, there will be partying in the streets.

Jerry Seinfeld on How Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza: “I don’t know why he screamed on that line. It doesn’t matter. It’s funny. So funny.”

Roger Friedman
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Jerry Seinfeld on How Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza: “I don’t know why he screamed on that line. It doesn’t matter. It’s funny. So funny.”

Jerry Seinfeld gave an interview to Sirius XM’s Netflix is a Joke station today and talked about Jerry Stiller as Frank Constanza. Just a note: I’m so glad that Jerry and Anne are getting so much love all week from people everywhere. I was very lucky to know them. Particularly in the decade before Anne became ill, they came to a lot of Broadway openings and some movie premieres. They were friendly with the late actors Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson. Imagine this foursome, with a such history in theater and acting, and I got to hang out with them at these events. It was magic. Now they’re all in heaven, laughing, eating, putting on shows, entertaining themselves and each other. And we will never see the likes of them again.

Seinfeld, promoting his current (excellent) Netflix special said:

“You know, there was a writer on the show, Larry Charles, was the guy who came up with the idea– it was his thinking, we need, who should we get to play George’s father? And he kept saying, Jerry Stiller, Jerry Stiller. And I remember Stiller and Meara from the 60’s, but I hadn’t seen Jerry in a while and I just didn’t– and I thought, well, but he’s not bald. But Larry just kept mentioning him and finally we brought him in and he was so perfect. And those packages of just Jerry Stiller bits on my show are so unbelievably funny.

“What I loved about him is he so completes the George story. When you meet the father, you go, “Oh, now I understand why he’s like that.” It was the perfect finishing of the painting of George Costanza was Frank Costanza. He had the most amazing comedic stuff that he– we didn’t know if he was planning it or it just came out that way, or he couldn’t remember the line, or we didn’t know what it was, but we did not want to disturb it in any way. We never gave Jerry Stiller a note. I never adjusted his performance once.

“Whatever he did, that’s it. We’re putting that out there. I don’t know why he did it like that. I don’t know why he screamed on that line. It doesn’t matter. It’s funny. So funny. I am such a dedicated believer in if it’s funny, don’t touch it. I don’t care why it’s funny. I don’t care what the line was supposed to be. He said it that way, we’re doing it that way.”

I couldn’t embed it, but you can hear Jerry say these words here.

Read British Pop Star Joss Stone’s Haunting Poetic Tribute to R&B Star Betty Wright, Who Was Instrumental to Her Career

Roger Friedman
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Read British Pop Star Joss Stone’s Haunting Poetic Tribute to R&B Star Betty Wright, Who Was Instrumental to Her Career

The great singer-songwriter-producer Betty Wright died last week from cancer at age 66. Her death was a blow to many but especially to Joss Stone. The British born 33 year old has written a lovely poetic tribute to Betty, who co-produced and co-wrote her 2003 breakthrough album, “The Soul Session,” and the follow up in 2004, “Mind, Body, and Soul.” What a career Betty had– from her own hit singles in the 70s to three decades later with Joss. Her loss is immense, no less than Little Richard.

View this post on Instagram

How can she be gone when her spirit was so strong How can she not speak When her voice was never weak. How can she not dance When she always took the chance To be free How can this be true That I’ll never speak to you How can life be done Just like that, your over come How can you just leave When you taught me how to breathe And be free What will now become Of the world you doted on Who will take your throne If they have to do it alone So many lost with out your look There’s no song there’s no hook But your free How can you be kept Even though you left How can we make time when its no longer yours or mine How can we go back And fix all of those cracks to feel free How can I forget The moments I regret How can I not drink When my hearts about to sink How can I not weep When I am falling into sleep How can I not wonder If your the light and the thunder Now Your free ‘If I never see you again stone , know that I love you like one of my own’ Those words mean so much to me. Now your free …. Rest in peace Ms B , I hope you know how much you are loved xxx

A post shared by Joss Stone (@jossstone) on

Melissa Etheridge Says Her 21 Year Old Son Beckett Died of a Drug Overdose: “We struggle with what we could have done”

Roger Friedman
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Melissa Etheridge Says Her 21 Year Old Son Beckett Died of a Drug Overdose: “We struggle with what we could have done”

This is very sad news. Melissa Etheridge has announced her 21 year old son, Beckett, has died of a drug overdose. Beckett was one of two children Melissa had with Julie Cypher. David Crosby was the biological father. Etheridge and Cypher split up right after the children were born in 2001. Crosby, for what it’s worth, has had a lifetime of struggling with drugs. It sounds from Melissa’s post that Beckett struggled with drugs, too. There’s obviously a lot going on here. We can’t and shouldn’t judge. Tragic.

Etheridge wrote on Facebook:

“Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction. My son Beckett, who was just 21, struggled to overcome his addiction and finally succumbed to it today. He will be missed by those who loved him, his family and friends.
My heart is broken. I am grateful for those who have reached out with condolences and I feel their love and sincere grief.
We struggle with what else we could have done to save him, and in the end we know he is out of the pain now.
I will sing again, soon. It has always healed me. – Melissa”

Hollywood Bowl Cancels 2020 Season Despite Being Outdoors, Summer in Los Angeles is Cancelled

Roger Friedman
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Hollywood Bowl Cancels 2020 Season Despite Being Outdoors, Summer in Los Angeles is Cancelled

The Hollywood Bowl has cancelled its summer season with the LA Philharmonic, and all other performances. This, despite the Bowl being outside. They don’t want the crowds to infect each other. So summer in L.A. is over. If all outdoor performances in Los Angeles and New York as well other cities are cancelled, we are really like Pepperland after the Blue Meanies took over. Sgt Pepper and the band are frozen in time on the bandshell. Only this time, the Beatles can’t save us.

Surprise! Woody Allen’s Very Funny “Rainy Day in New York” Has Made $20 Mil Worldwide, with UK Release Coming

Roger Friedman
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Surprise! Woody Allen’s Very Funny “Rainy Day in New York” Has Made $20 Mil Worldwide, with UK Release Coming

I told you Woody Allen’s “Rainy Day in New York” was very very good some months ago.

Now I can tell you that according to boxofficemojo.com, the comedy starring Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez and Elle Fanning has made $21 million around the world. It opens next in the UK. I’m sure Australia will embrace it, too!

“Rainy Day” still has no US distributor because, because because…And right now, of course, no theaters are open. But this fall, someone with a little vision should pick this film up. The leads are super, and there’s a wonderful star turn by Cherry Jones.

I know, when #MeToo started, a lot of actors were cornered into saying they’d never work with Woody again. But now that his memoir, “Apropos of Nothing,” has stated his case and explained his side of things, it’s time to move on.

I do have it on good authority that Chalamet has seen the film, and loved it. He is said to have remarked he thought it was his best work so far. I totally agree. Elle Fanning is always good, she’s lovely in this and very funny. Selena is the revelation. What a film career she could have playing a smart cookie in smart comedies.

Here’s my original review of “Rainy Day.” Let’s get this film into theaters before 2020 is over.

Watch Trailer for Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein Documentary Series “Filthy Rich” Debuting May 27th

Roger Friedman
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Watch Trailer for Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein Documentary Series “Filthy Rich” Debuting May 27th

The Netflix documentary series about Jeffrey Epstein debuts on May 27th. “Filthy Rich” is directed by Lisa Bryant
written by Peter Landesman. Executive Producers are Joe Berlinger, Lisa Bryant, Jon Doran, Jon Kamen, Bill McClane, James Patterson, Peter Landesman, Bill Robinson, Leopoldo Gout.

From the press release: Leading up to his 2019 arrest, mysterious tycoon Jeffrey Epstein was accused of abusing women and underage girls for decades, assembling a network of enablers to help carry out and cover up his crimes. Epstein came from humble beginnings yet managed to lie and manipulate his way to the top of the financial world. He eventually gained tremendous wealth and power while running an international sex trafficking ring. The serial sex abuser made a secret plea deal with the government in 2008 avoiding a potential life sentence and continued to abuse women. With their frightening firsthand accounts, Epstein’s accusers are the leading voices in director Lisa Bryant’s four-part docuseries JEFFREY EPSTEIN: FILTHY RICH. By revealing their emotional scars, some for the very first time, the sisterhood of survivors intend to stop predators — and the American justice system — from silencing the next generation. A RadicalMedia and James Patterson Entertainment production made in association with Third Eye Motion Picture Company, the series is executive produced by Joe Berlinger (Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes).

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