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Michael Jackson New Album: Rolling Stone Scams Its Readers

Roger Friedman
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19
Michael Jackson New Album: Rolling Stone Scams Its Readers

Rolling Stone–great about General McChrystal, wrong about Michael Jackson.

The magazine issued a story today about a new Michael Jackson album for November, with quotes from Frank DiLeo, Michael’s manager.

What RS doesn’t say is that the quotes attributed to DiLeo were given more than nine months ago, and answered to other questions. There’s nothing new. DiLeo tells me the last time he spoke to Rolling Stone was before the movie “This Is It” came out. “Everyone knows Sony’s putting out a new album, that’s not new,” says DiLeo. “No one from Rolling Stone spoke to me for that article.”

In fact, this column broke the story that there would be a new Jackson album several times. Jackson co-executor John McClain has been working on selecting tracks and mixing and re-recording.

But McClain is not Bruce Swedien, who was Jackson’s engineer in the studio for all of his famous recordings. McClain has nixed working with Swedien, I am told, which is not so good because Jackson’s unreleased record, “This Is It,” turned out to be a snore when it was prepared this way. McClain, a long time A&R man at A&M, is strong in artist signing and support but is not a record producer.

So tsk, tsk to Rolling Stone. Now we know how General McChrystal feels!

Idol: Forget JLO, Get a Supreme!

Roger Friedman
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9
Idol: Forget JLO, Get a Supreme!

Jennifer Lopez–she’s a nice person and a good actress, but a judge for singers? I don’t think so.

Reports today that JLO may join the “American Idol” judging staff this season would seem problematic. Lopez is well known within the industry for using a lot of, shall we say, augmentation for her singing.

Back when she had her big hit with Ja Rule, called “I’m Real,” Lopez was noted for using then back up singer Ashanti to supplement he vocals. Ashanti went on to have a lead singing career thanks to that episode.

Lopez’s recording career has gone straight downhill over the last few years as the problems with her voice have been harder and harder to cover up. She’s never part of any charity events or recordings that require unsupplemented singing. She’s’ never even guest starred on anyone else’s album, lent a background vocal, or recorded a duet with anyone other than Ja Rule or Marc Anthony.

While the other “American Idol” judges certainly aren’t required to sing–and haven’t–on the show, having a pop star who never sings or even hums might prove a bit embarrassing. A real singer might feel at home to encourage “AI” singers but showing them how to do it. But Lopez will be unlikely to do such a thing on the show.

Just a couple of months ago, Lopez received a humanitarian award with husband Marc Anthony from the Apollo Theater. That night, not only did Anthony sing, but so did Aretha Franklin–each of them spontaneously. Jamie Foxx sang, so did two other performers. Lopez was there, and in close promiximity to a microphone. But it was kind of a sad commentary that she had to back away from a live, spur of the moment warble.

It’s a little unclear why Lopez isn’t concentrating on her acting career right now. That’s where strength is, and how she got her start. But everyone wants to be a rock star, I guess. As for judging other rock stars, Lopez may have tough sledding if the competition doesn’t include calesthenic dancing.

By the way if “American Idol” is looking for a judge who can sing, knows her stuff, and has real history, why not Mary Wilson of The Supremes? Mary has turned out to the real Motown survivor, a UN goodwill ambassador, and a welcome presence on the international touring circuit. And, god bless her, she can sing her head off.  

And PS: With all the shakeups at “AI,” it does seem like the stabilizing force at the judges’ table will be Randy Jackson. It’s not that often that good guys finish first. But Randy–who works all the time as a producer even while handling “Idol” chores–is the real deal.

Chelsea Clinton Wedding: Cost $1 Million (Please)

Roger Friedman
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1
Chelsea Clinton Wedding: Cost $1 Million (Please)

I thought I’d stay out of the whole Chelsea Clinton wedding saga until I actually spoke to someone who knew what was going on. Almost everything that’s been reported, aside from the place and the designer of the wedding dress, has been wrong apparently.

For one thing, the wedding costs around a million dollars. Much of it has to do with security and the Clintons putting all the guests up around town in various hotels near Rhinebeck, New York.

“Five million dollars,” scoffed a mutual friend of Hillary Clinton and Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky. “You don’t know Hillary. That would never happen.”

Yes, the dress is from Vera Wang.

The groom will have two best men, his brothers. Marc Mezvinsky has an interesting family set up. He is one of 11 siblings. His mother adopted two daughters (one from Korea, one from Vietnam) before he was born. His father had four children. When his parents married, they had Marc and his brother. They adopted three more boys from Vietnam. The parents are now divorced.

The family is devoutly Jewish. The wedding will be presided over by the Mezvisnky’s rabbi and a Clinton family minister. There are no plans for Chelsea to convert to Judaism at this time. But she’s been attending seders and High Holiday services and the like for the last few years, says a close friend. Bill and Hillary have been to at least one Mezvinsky seder.

How Jewish are the Mezvinsky’s? Well, all the kids have been raised in that faith. A friend told me that a few years ago, the biological father of one of the adopted kids turned up and wanted to take him — the boy– on a trip. “The boy said, I can’t go then. I’m being bar mitzvahed that weekend.”

As for the guest list, the only celebrity who reasonably might attend is Barbra Streisand. The Clintons are also close to Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw. They are expecting close friends who have also been strong supporters, like Alan and Susan Patricof. Many close friends of each set of parents have been excluded.

“The wedding is really about family and Chelsea and Marc’s friends.” Also, do the math: the Mezvinsky’s core family is 13. Exponentially, they have a lot of people on their botton line.

Definitely coming: Roger Clinton, plus Hillary’s mother Dorothy and her brother Hugh, and his family. But there are a lot of people who might have been invited two or three years ago who aren’t on the list now: Al and Tipper Gore, Ron Burkle, etc.

You can surmise that Huma Abedin, Hillary’s right hand person, who just married Rep. Anthony Weiner, will be there–the Clintons were just involved in their wedding. Hillary has had two big staffs- as senator and as Secretary of State. Bill has a big staff, too. Count all them in plus spouses or dates.

More to come, I’m sure. It’s going to be Rumor Weekend.

Sharon Stone’s Family Going Postal Over Thieves

Roger Friedman
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3
Sharon Stone’s Family Going Postal Over Thieves

Sharon Stone’s sister Kelly, and Kelly’s husband Bruce, are none too happy with the LAPD and the U.S. Postal Service.

About six weeks ago, Kelly and Bruce got a new neighbor, and since then they’ve been having all kinds of problems.

The reason is the neighbor is Dr. David Jentsch, the famed UCLA neuroscientist who advocates animal testing. Dr. Jentsch is so unpopular with the Animal Liberation Brigade, an extremist group, that last year he found his car fire bombed in his driveway. “The activists thought he was in it,” says a rueful Bruce.

Apparently, the bombing and other violent activities caused Jentsch to move–right next door to Kelly and Bruce in a Los Angeles suburb. Since then they’ve had nothing but trouble. The main problem right now is that their mail has been stolen at least once, maybe more times. How do they know? It turns out Jentsch is protected by LAPD, who observe his home and watch for malfeasance. Bruce says they actually caught vandals on their cameras stealing the family’s mail. But they won’t do anything about it.

“It’s out of their jurisdiction,” Bruce says. “They told us to call the Postal Police. But they won’t do anything about it either.”

Enter private investigator Paul Barresi, who once worked for Anthony Pellicano and is a keen tracker. Barresi took the gathered evidence and has apparently found the people behind the incident. But again, he — Barresi–even says the Postal Police won’t touch the case.

The case is complicated, too, by the fact that Kelly has had a stalker in the past, and so has her movie star sister. “So we don’t know if the trouble is coming from a stalker or from one of Jentsch’s enemies,” Bruce says.

By the way, this is why I’ve always said people are safer in big cities than in the suburbs. But that’s another story.

The irony is that Jentsch, Bruce says, has an armed security guard at his house–while the Stones are vulnerable. “People have been peering in through our windows, and sneaking around.” The family, with three kids, is hopeful that with some publicity, the local authorities will launch an investigation.

As for animal testing, all I know is I had three cats over a period of 25 years. They did tons of homework but failed almost every test. They couldn’t even count how many hours had passed between feedings. I say, pass-fail if nothing else. Grades are superfluous.

Twelve: Gossip Girls Type Movie is Less than Zero

Roger Friedman
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4
Twelve: Gossip Girls Type Movie is Less than Zero

Is it really time for the release of “Twelve”? The Joel Schumacher mistake is probably the worst movie of 2010.

At the Sundance Film Festival last January, most of the press walked out of the screening, either from disgust or anger, long before the film finished.

It’s “Gossip Girl” without wit or coherence.

That TV show’s Chace Crawford, with his eyebrows, plays a drug dealer on New York’s Upper East Side who caters to rich kids. And from how the movie reads, all the rich kids on the Upper East Side are doing drugs, having wild sex, and partying like it’s 1999.

I can’t even imagine what the audience at last night’s “Cinema Society” screening thought while they were strapped into their seats. (“Cinema Society” gets all the really good movies.) A low end (no pun intended ) underwear company had to sponsor the event.

I’ve tried to block most of “Twelve”–it’s the ame of a drug the whole gang wants, like Ecstasy but better– from my memory. But I do recall that Kiefer Sutherland narrates the film like he’s in “Dragnet.” And Emma Roberts, Julia’s niece, is the so called heroine.

“Twelve” is really just a bad version of “Less Than Zero,” some 25 years later, without even Robert Downey Jr.

No one wanted “Twelve” at Sundance, so its distributor is the curiously misspelled Hannover House. On their website they brag about once having published a book distastefully called “Blood, Money and Power: How LBJ killed JFK.” You get the picture. Yuck.

John Lennon Gets 70th Birthday Gift from Weinsteins

Roger Friedman
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2
John Lennon Gets 70th Birthday Gift from Weinsteins

John Lennon‘s getting a terrific 70th birthday gift from Harvey Weinstein.

The Weinstein Company is going to release “Nowhere Boy,” the critically acclaimed film about Lennon’s early life with mom and aunt in Liverpool, on October 8th. That’s the day before Lennon would have become a septugenarian.

“Nowhere Boy” is directed by Sam Taylor Wood the 43 year old filmmaker who just two weeks ago gave birth (Sam’s a gal) to a child she’s had with the movie’s star. Aaron Johnson, who plays young Lennon in the film, is a ripe 20 years old. During the course of making “Nowhere Boy,” Taylor-Wood, who has two children, left her husband for Johnson. You say want a revolution? There it is.

But the scandal has died down in London, and “Nowhere Boy” already had its UK release. It received glowing reviews. Now the film will be part of a whole Lennon celebration scheduled for early October. Also being readied is a 30th anniversary “unplugged” edition of Lennon and Ono’s “Double Fantasy” album, which was released just before Lennon was murdered in cold blood by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. Chapman is eligible for parole right now, but Ono is objecting to it–as we all should–strenuously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4

Madonna: Chaos on Set of Her Film on the Windsors

Roger Friedman
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8
Madonna: Chaos on Set of Her Film on the Windsors

Madonna‘s directing her first feature film in the United Kingdom. The word is, it’s a mess. Are we surprised? “The crew turnover is constant,” says one source. Says another: “The movie may be brilliant, but it’s unlikely anyone working on it will to live to see it finished.”

Madonna is “micro managing everything.” they say. “Everything has to be approved by her. Everything.”

Madonna Louise Ciccone from the Detroit area is now such an Anglophile that she is obsessed with the saga of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. In case you’ve never seen or read “Edward and Mrs. Simpson,” and haven’t studied this history: King Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry an American commoner, Wallis Simpson. She was already married at the time. Edward’s brother George ascended to the throne, thus setting the stage for the current occupants of Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth is Edward’s niece.

I’ve just read the January draft of “W.E.” which is said to have been revised many times over since then. But the basic premise is still in place. Madonna and Alek Keshishian have written the Windsor story as if it were “Wally and Wallis”–as in “Julie and Julia” — or “The Hours.” The script cuts back and forth between a modern young woman named Wally and the imagined events of the distant past with Wallis Simpson. Eventually they meet–impossibly–as contemporary Wally draws strength from Wallis.

To make matters more stressful, Wally even goes to London and finds Mohammed el-Fayed, the real guy, and convinces him to let her read Wallis Simpson’s letters. (He owns them now.) I don’t know if Mohammed el-Fayed is in the shooting script, but if he is, Madonna is unlikely to be partying with the Queen any time soon. el-Fayed is famously the owner of Harrod’s and father of the late Dodi Fayed, who died with Princess Diana. Queen Elizabeth is well known for her distaste of el-Fayed, to be sure.

“W.E.” is filming now. You can bet Madonna will try and get it into Cannes next May. The waiting, as Tom Petty sings, is the hardest part.

Patricia Clarkson Takes The Lead in “Cairo Time”

Roger Friedman
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2
Patricia Clarkson Takes The Lead in “Cairo Time”

Patty Clarkson–that’s what her friends call her, not Patricia–is the elegant, sexy, smart actress who’s gotten her first lead role at age 50. Well, she shot “Cairo Time” when she was 48, but it’s being released next Friday after she’s rounded that infamous corner.

I wish she would stop telling people she’s 50, but she’s proud of it. Some people just grow into an age. If you saw her Oscar nominated performance in “Pieces of April” or her award winning work in “The Station Agent” or her hilarious, triumphant turn in Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works” you know age doesn’t matter.

And it runs in the family: her mom, Jackie Clarkson, was just re-elected to the New Orleans City Council for the 5th time since 2000. She’s been a popular Louisiana lawmaker for 20 years.

We got to meet Jackie, and one of Patty’s four sisters, Jacquelyn, at the premiere dinner for “Cairo Time” Monday night at the Plaza Athenee. The swanky dinner included New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, plus Patty’s bff Amy Ryan, Amy’s husband Eric Slovin, as well as the great Hoda Kotb from the Today Show, travel writer Peter Greenberg (who should still be on the Today show but isn’t), filmmaker Ken Burns, casting director and producer Amanda Mackey, actor Giancarlo Esposito, Laurie Dhue, writer extraordinaire Joan Juliet Buck,  Pace Gallery owners Arne and Millie Glimcher and Al Roker and Deborah Roberts. (It was all put together by Peggy Siegal by remote control; she’s somewhere on a yacht in the Aegean!)

IFC prez Jonathan Sehring proudly introduced the film first at Cinema 3, with Patty, director Ruba Nadda (another beauty) and co-star Alexander Siddig, who’s pictured here with Patty. Siddig, next up in Julian Schnabel‘s “Miral”–he’s the only man in the movie. The women at the dinner treated him like he was the only man at the Plaza Athenee, frankly. Siddig is best known to American audiences as Dr. Bashir from 173 episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”

In “Cairo Time,” Clarkson is absolutely mesmerizing as an American wife who arrives in the heat of an Egyptian summer to meet her longtime husband. She’s jet lagged and overwhelmed. The husband, temporarily out of town, sends a friend–played by Siddig–to escort her around. You can guess what happens next, sort of. A lot of it involves the pyramids. But I will be Sphinx-like about the plot. Clarkson is note perfect as she prowls Cairo–shot so beautifully you want to go there–and warding off advances of Egyptian men who don’t see many blondes in sun dresses.

Clarkson is next up in three more movies–she’s always in “three more movies”–but “Cairo Time” is special to her. It’s the first time she carries a film. I doubt it will be the last!

(pictures c2010 Ann Lawlor)

Ken Starr’s Teen Daughters Sneaked Into Bail Hearing EXCLUSIVE

Roger Friedman
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1
Ken Starr’s Teen Daughters Sneaked Into Bail Hearing EXCLUSIVE

Jailed Hollywood money manager Ken Starr got a nice surprise yesterday: his teenage daughters managed to get into his bail hearing. They had a visit in the courtroom before bail was set for $10 million. None of the reporters in the courtroom or press outside realized the girls were there. In the courtroom they tried to hug their dad–whom they hadn’t seen since before his arrest on June 1st–but bailiffs reminded them there’s no physical contact with the prisoner.

Starr is being held in the Manhattan Correctional Center. He was indicted on 21 counts of fraud totaling at least $59 million. His clients included a galaxy of stars from Uma Thurman and Neil Simon to Courtney Sale Ross, Carly Simon, and Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer.

Starr’s kids didn’t tell their mother, Marisa Vucci Starr, that they were going to the hearing. They told her they were visiting friends in the city. Instead, the girls, 17 and 15 years old, took the train in from Syosset and arrived with Starr’s current wife, Diane Passage, dressed in matching outfits picked from the closet of a friend. It’s unknown if they ‘fessed up once they got home.

And that’s not all that happened yesterday at the Starr hearing but was not reported anywhere. Only in this column.

Reports that Passage is “destitute” are completely incorrect. For the time being, she is still living in the $5.5 million condo Starr purchased in April right before his arrest. I am told that she has been fully cooperative with prosecutors in the case, as well.

If Starr were to raise his $10 million bail, he would not be returning to that apartment. Instead, Starr’s brothers have kept up the rent on the East 79th St. luxury rental where Ken and Diane lived until they moved into the condo. “It’s all ready for him,” says a source.

Yesterday’s hearing produced very little of news value. “Starr’s bail was always going to be $10 million.” says a source. “The $2 million figure offered by Flora Edwards [his defense attorney] was not realistic.”

Judge Shira Sheindlin–who has a reputation for being very hard-nosed–wasn’t so thrilled when she heard that the bail was going to include assets provided by Starr’s brothers including their houses. The brothers’ wives would be required to sign off on any agreements. And from what I’m told, that’s not going to happen.

(Ken Starr here pictured with Planet Hollywood owner Keith Barish. They each paid multi million settlements in a case settled before Starr was indicted to the estate of Joan Stanton.)

‘The Lion’ Sleeps Tonight

Roger Friedman
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0
‘The Lion’ Sleeps Tonight

Well, I waited. I never said a word about how truly horrible my visits to the new, “hip” restaurant The Lion had been. I held my tongue because the place was new, and hadn’t officially been reviewed. But I detested everything about it.

And now Sam Sifton, in the New York Times, has given The Lion one star and pretty much summed up its awfulness. I can’t say I’m surprised.

http://events.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/dining/reviews/28rest.html?hp

The Lion is an offshoot of the terrific Waverly Inn. Chef John DeLucie, who I like very much, decamped from the Waverly with two of its good customers: Dan Abrams, who is the legal analyst for the Today show, and Dave Zinczenko, of Men’s Health magazines and many books about how to get good abs.

They took over and gutted a very nice neighborhood restaurant in a town house on West Ninth Street that I can see from my living room windows. The restaurant was for many years called Bondini’s, and then just Village. The guys wanted to make it bigger and better than The Waverly. This seemed impossible.

In the spring, they held test dinners, a common practice. The meal is free, you just tip the waiter. But it was a disaster, My reservation–which I know I made–was not on the books. I was treated with hostility, and my guests were hungry. It was already after 9:30pm. There were no celebrities in the place, which is the hallmark of the Waverly. Every 15 minutes a new promise was made of a table. Each was a lie. We left, and went to the Waverly for dinner.

Two months later, a new attempt. A reservation was made. The four of us were ushered to a table in the bar area. They call this little space The Tavern. Well, it’s just a few tables packed into the bar. If you draw the table closest to the bar, you’re supposed to eat with the derrieres of barflies in your face. Or even worse, their gigantic hangbags. It’s very unpleasant. But no one associated with the joint cared. It’s hard to imagine they even heard our complaints. The Lion is the loudest place I’ve ever been in. I considered asking for the Cone of Silence, but no one was old enough to know what I was talking about.

Most obnoxious is the man who stands outside, perched on the steps in front of the Lion. He’s there to ask this question: “May I help you?” to those who might dare to approach the front door. If you say, I’m coming in for a drink, he responds, Do you have a reservation? If the answer is no, you’re told you’re not welcome. I’m not even sure if this is legal.

If this were going on in a dark back corner, away from crowds, it might be one thing. But The Lion and the Korean deli where I buy cat food and orange juice share a wall. Real world meets surreal world. Where the Waverly went out of its way to make the neighbors happy, the Lion is just a nuisance and headache. You don’t want to go in, and you wish Bondini’s would magically return.

And then of course, why would you go in? The noise level is horrid, there’s no space. And the customers are no draw: not famous, and not even interesting. It’s real estate brokers and hedge fund managers. The real stars are over at the Waverly, which hasn’t missed a beat. And the chicken pot pie is always good, even in the summer.

PS Had recent, four star meals at both Babbo and the Gotham Bar and Grill recently. Everything from service to food to atmosphere was beyond superlative. Babbo is hard to get in to, but well worth it. The Gotham is now a landmark. Who needs the tsuris of a place like the Lion?

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