Mick Jagger is performing with Raphael Saadiq at the Grammys in memory of Solomon Burke. Jagger last performed at the Grammys 25 years ago. He and the Rolling Stones obviously owe their careers to American R&B, they’d be the first to tell us that. The Solomon Burke tribute is very nice, although the late rotund soul singer was more admired for his style than his actual chart hits. Solomon’s famous stage prop was a huge gold throne, a cape and a crown. Maybe Mick will don those items as a salute. Strangely, Keith Richards is not in this mix. Are they even speaking after Keith’s book lacerated Mick? You’d think Keith would be celebrating Solomon up there, too…
…Roberta Flack is being mistreated at the Dakota. I was very chagrined to read this in the New York Times. Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. is suing the famed New York apartment house. claiming racism. They wouldn’t let him buy another apartment, he says. He and Roberta are just about the only minority owners in the place. (Yoko doesn’t count, she came in with John originally and after all, her husband was murdered in the entry.) Who in the world would be stupid enough to mock or be unkind to Roberta Flack? It’s just unthinkable. And The Dakotans are supposed to be so sophisticated! Fletcher’s brother, Geoffrey, won an Oscar for writing “Precious.” That doesn’t impress the secretive Dakota board, I guess. Neither does the $80 million that Harvard grad Alphonse is worth. (No? Wow. I think we’re all impressed. Really.) Last spring, Fletcher gave the most elegant cocktail party for his brother, by the way. This whole thing is really bad, bad news for the Dakota board…
…Thelma Adams is the playful film critic and writer for US Weekly, and she’s a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. In her spare time she’s written a novel, called “Playdate.” It’s not about children. It’s about the parents messing around with each other. So far “Playdate,” which has Thelma’s comic voice clearly at its center, has been compared to “Little Children.” It’s that mixed in with “Desperate Housewives” and Susan Isaacs. On Monday night, our pal Warner Bros. pr guru Debbie Nathin managed to get all the publicists and editors and writers in town to lay down arms temporarily and raise a glass to Thelma. Congrats! Get “Playdate” on amazon.com or at a bookstore if you still know where one is…
