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Neverland NOT Sold, Certainly Not to Designer

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch has not — NOT — been sold to designer Christian Audigier. It still belongs to Michael’s estate and Colony Capital LLC.

How did this story get legs? Audigier may have purchased the Holmby Hills estate where Michael died. At least, he’s telling people he did. When Jackson died, Audigier — which is French for publicity vacuum — took huge billboards out in L.A. saying goodbye to Michael. He’s gone on TV proclaiming that they were good pals and working on a line of clothes together in secret.

Whatever.

Anyway, Audigier — who’s responsible for the pedestrian Ed Hardy line of clothes — has not, however, bought Neverland. The 2,900-acre ranch remains as is, awaiting some decision from the Jackson estate and Colony about what will happen. In all likelihood, it will be marketed next year and sold off. There’s nothing left in the house. It’s all gone.

Meantime, Michael’s brother Randy has issued some kind of statement complaining about news organizations that tried to film Michael’s funeral on Thursday night. Randy says it was a private family affair. And of course, it’s being sold to A&E for profit.

Other observations from the funeral on Thursday night: Rebbie Jackson would not go anywhere near her father, Joseph, and as such ceded her monitoring of Michael’s three kids. Janet Jackson shepherded the kids through the service.

Beatles Dominate Charts, 40 Years Later

Roger Friedman
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Amazon.com is listing not one or two but seven Beatles albums in its Top 20 CDs.

Is it 1969 or 2009?

The CDs — the first remastered since the original Beatles digital discs were issued in 1987 — won’t be released until Tuesday. The next day — 09/09/09 — is officially Beatles marketing day as the group’s “Rock Band” video game is launched.

But for those of who, god forbid, don’t care much about video games but are audio-centric, Tuesday is the day. Amazon’s listing right now has Susan Boyle’s unreleased album at No. 1, Whitney Houston’s comeback at No. 2, and then the Beatles — “Abbey Road,” “Sgt. Pepper,” “The White Album,” “Let it Be,” “Past Masters” and “Magical Mystery Tour” have squeezed out the new Jay-Z album and several other new releases. Coming up fast behind them are the rest of the Fab Four’s catalog: “Rubber Soul,” “Revolver,” “Meet the Beatles,” etc.

What’s going to be interesting about all this is that the whole Beatles catalog comes out on Tuesday individually and also in two boxed sets — mono and stereo. Beatles purists want their music in mono. Capitol already released mono versions of the first four albums on CDs a couple of years ago with the stereo versions. But fans will be expected now to disregard all that. That’s easy since those mixes apparently weren’t from George Martin’s original tapes. These are. Like most Beatles fanatics, I’ve preordered everything.

So get ready for an avalanche of Beatlemania. And lots of Beatles radio play. How utterly sad and ironic that Sony/ATV Music Publishing is enjoying boom times now that partner’Michael Jackson is dead.

Robert De Niro: This Could Be His Comeback Year

Roger Friedman
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Fans of Robert De Niro have been hopeful for a long time that he’d be back in the Oscar game. This year our wishes may come true.

After eons of bad action films, hit comedies (the “Meet the Parents” trilogy) and strange stuff like “Stardust,” the word is that De Niro has a winner.

“Everybody’s Fine,” is a remake of a Giuseppe Tornatore Italian film, directed by Kirk Jones (”Waking Ned Devine”). De Niro plays the father of Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale. Melissa Leo is featured. In the film, De Niro visits each of the adult children, trying to discover their relationships. Sources say the film is not an update of “About Schmidt.”

The main thing, early viewers say, is that De Niro does his best dramatic work in years. There’s Oscar buzz galore, which can only be good news for De Niro. It’s been a long time since the two Academy Award winner (”Godfather II,” “Raging Bull”) had this much positive talk — not since the 1995-96 period of “Heat,” “Marvin’s Room” and “Casino.”

De Niro’s Oscar nominations (other than his wins) were for “Cape Fear,” “Awakenings,” “The Deer Hunter” and “Taxi Driver.” Believe it or not, he was not nominated for “Goodfellas” or “The King of Comedy.” Go figure.

‘Guiding Light’ Murdered, and There’s a Killer

Roger Friedman
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Every soap opera tells at least one good murder story a year. Next week, the soap “Guiding Light” is the victim. There are several killers.

In today’s’New York Times, executive producer Ellen Wheeler says some comical things about how she has presided over the show’s death. But the truth is, as with Michael Jackson, the last person in the room is the prime suspect. Even though other doctors came and went, all giving Michael dangerous prescriptions, the police are investigating Dr. Conrad Murray.

Plenty of bad executive producers lorded over “Guiding Light” before Ellen Wheeler got there. Their names were Michael Laibson, Paul Rauch, and Jill Farren Phelps. They killed off popular characters, ordered ridiculous stories, and, in particular, went so far to clone the show’s main character. Yes, that’s right, human cloning, And no one at Procter & Gamble, which owns the show, had the good sense to stop them.

Lots of’other bad things happened, too. The popular actor on the show, Michael Zaslow, became ill with ALS. Rather than embrace and honor him, the show kicked him to the curb. It was miserable.

But Ellen Wheeler is the culprit in the final murder. A year and a half ago, not long after she took over the dying program, she threw out the sets, the video editors and the breakdown writers. The show was suddenly being filmed with shaky handheld cameras. The sound was terrible. There were no production values. The sets were “found” buildings in Peapack, N.J. They were ugly, awful. The people of Peapack should have sued. Their town could not have looked worse on television.

It was clear that under Wheeler, there was no rehearsal, and no respect for the actors, forget the fans. The ratings simply tanked. Wheeler did nothing to correct the situation. She just made it worse, adding loud rock music to scenes. It was impossible to hear the dialogue. It was equally difficult to watch scenes — you thought the camera operators had Parkinson’s Disease.

Procter & Gamble used to produce several soaps under the name Procter & Gamble Productions. When “Guiding Light” is done, they will be down to one: “As the World Turns.” The company changed the name of its production company to TeleNext to distance its big brands (Crest, Pampers and half the stuff in grocery stores) from the anger of soap fans. There’s a theory that P&G has been trying to get out of soap production for the past 10 years, since they canceled “Another World.” P&G is a monolith. They don’t comment on anything. But “World Turns” is definitely in their sights now.

As for Wheeler, her comments in today’s Times show that she is simply clueless, or deluded. She says, fans communicated to her that they liked the new format. This is highly unlikely, unless they were related to her. “Guiding Light,” is dead, and she killed it. If P&G/TeleNext lets her near “World Turns.” we won’t need Agatha Christie to figure out what happens next.

Jackson Funeral Travesty: Ex-Con 1st Speaker

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson can now spin in his own grave.

The first speaker at the travesty-like funeral he got last night was Leonard Rowe, the ex-con, self-proclaimed concert promoter who serves as lackey to Joseph Jackson and instigator of lawsuits against the singer.

The service, at Forest Lawn Glendale, was sparsely attended. Jackson would be pleased to have seen Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor in the small seating area. Lisa Marie Presley reportedly was a guest. Jackson’s second wife, Debbie Rowe‘did the classy thing and stayed away. Other guests included Clifton Davis, who wrote the Jackson 5 hit, “Never Can Say Goodbye,” and Suzanne de Passe.

Diane Sawyer, Almost 64, to Replace Charles Gibson, 66

Roger Friedman
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Diane Sawyer is kicking Charles Gibson out of the anchor seat on ABC’s evening news broadcast.

diane sawyer Diane Sawyer, Almost 64, to Replace Charles Gibson, 66Gibson, who’s 66, is being made to retire. Sawyer, a relative youngster, will be 64 when she takes the reins in December.

Don’t be fooled by this announcement. Gibson is not ready to leave. Sawyer, however, is. She and Gibson became co-anchors of “Good Morning America” in 1999, when the show was on the ropes. She said then that she would do it for a few months. It’s been almost 11 years. In that time, she saw Gibson leave and take the national news anchor job in 2006. You can only imagine the relative seething that has occurred since then.

Don’t get me wrong: I love Diane Sawyer. I love Charlie Gibson. ABC News was in a tough position. Sawyer has been finished with “Good Morning America” for years, but held on. This news arrangement is definitely part of her contract renegotiation.

The big winner here, by the way? Katie Couric. More than a decade younger, and with a solid, running start, Couric could wind up in the No. 1 spot among the three network news anchors. After the fierce drubbing she took in the press when she started at CBS Evening News, that would be the sweetest irony of all.

Hamptons A-list: Robert Klein, Candice Bergen, and Taquitos

Roger Friedman
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The Hamptons are racing to its/their Labor Day season finale, with plenty of Bentleys and Maseratis rolling up and down Rte 27 Montauk Highway, and just enough names to keep things interesting.

On Monday night, the brilliant comedian Robert Klein sold out the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor with his one-man show. Klein’s timing is laser sharp, his political jokes were tailored to the local liberal crowd, and he did not disappoint. He now starts his show with a hilarious song for Barack Obama, warning him to keep his you-know-what in his pants lest he become a Bill Clinton and let a whole generation topple. Later, he goes through his recent screen credits, listing roles playing dad to a bunch of sexy actresses. “I’m human, you know,” he laughs, recounting Jennifer Tilly pounding on his chest, her ample bosom heaving has he lay on the ground. Klein returns to Bay Street for a fundraiser on Sept. 12 with his “They’re Playing Our Song” collaborators Lucie Arnaz and Marvin Hamlisch.

Last night, Candice Bergen introduced her late husband Louis Malle’s masterpiece, “Au Revoir Les Enfants,” at East Hampton’s Guild Hall. She brought their now grown daughter Chloe. Alan Alda and Bob Balaban were among the heavies in the audience. If you’ve never seen this film, rent it immediately. How we all miss Louis Malle. He was a genius, and a wonderful fellow.

And the taquitos are still flowing at the tiny Blue Parrot in East Hampton, where owners Jon Bon Jovi and Ronald Perelman put in appearances. It only seats 54 and is jammed every single night. Luckily the prices are still relatively normal for Mexican food, and not in keeping with the insanity on Main Street where the local shops now include Tiffany, Pucci and J Crew. This weekend there’s a Ferrari rally down near Georgica Beach.

Michael Jackson’s 2nd Funeral, Tomorrow: $1 Million

Roger Friedman
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Tomorrow, Michael Jackson’s second funeral will cost $1 million dollars.

This morning, his mother had to petition the court so that Michael’s estate would pay for this burial at Forest Lawn’s Glendale cemetery.

As I told you last week, the Jackson family didn’t have the money to bury Michael. They didn’t have it in July, when they put on a big show before and after the Staples Center memorial. The estate wound up paying for that, I’m told, and it cost north of a half a million dollars including all the limos, flowers, and the big party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Today, the court ruled that the estate should pay for the funeral including the extravagant mausoleum picked out by the Jacksons. It’s a mausoleum no one will ever see, except maybe in pictures to be hawked later. Anyway, the estate retains ownership of the burial structure just in case Joe Jackson gets any other weird money making ideas.

It is hoped that this will be the last burial for Michael, who died — or was murdered, depending on semantics — on June 25. Tomorrow is Sept. 3.

Whitney Houston Breaks 7-Year Curse

Roger Friedman
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Whitney Houston’s first new album in seven years hits stores today. And get this: “I Look to You” is already number 1 on amazon.com in CD sales, and number 8 in downloads.

For Whitney, a seven-year curse is over. Her last album, “Just Whitney,” was a spectacular failure back in 2002.

But Houston is a beautiful case of rehabilitation and people caring, gone right. Last week she filmed not one but two videos in the same day ‘ the title track, “I Look to You,” and her Alicia Keys-penned hit, “Million Dollar Bill.”

Those are great, but Whitney has a secret’hit on the new album. It’s a’ dance version of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.” I predict that when Larry Jackson of Arista/J Records gets the extended dance mixes out of this track, it could be a smash unlike anything Houston has had before. The track is on a par with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” and made for success.

So congrats to Larry, and mostly, to Clive Davis. If Whitney looks to anyone, it’s to him. It was clearly Clive’s determination that he resurrect Whitney the artist, but also the human being. The complete story hasn’t yet been told how Davis got a fragile Houston into rehab and set her on the road to recovery. It’s a rare story of humanity in a business that is usually unforgiving.

No Beatles Download News Coming From Apple

Roger Friedman
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Everybody in the Apple/Ipod/Beatles world, please cool down.

The big Apple announcement next week on Sept. 9 has nothing to do with the Beatles. I am assured by my Fab Four insiders that there will be no news on that concerning downloads of Beatles songs on iTunes.

The Apple press conference set for that day is supposedly all about Cocktail, the new add-on service that’s supposed to help increase album sales.

I don’t know why anyone thought a Beatles announcement was forthcoming. There are so many clues that it’s not happening. For one, the tagline for the day, on the invites, is “It’s only rock and roll but I like it.” This a line from a Rolling Stones song. Did you really think Apple would use that for a Beatles promotion?

And really, 09-09-09 has already been cleared as Beatles day around the world for selling physical CDs, not downloading music. On that day the entire Beatles catalog is relaunched for the first time in 22 years in stereo and mono remastered discs. The mega promotion has been so heavily marketed, and clearly designed to move physical units, a downloading announcement would be totally counter productive.

At this rate, my guess is it will be a long, long time before the Beatles’ music is offered for legal downloading anywhere. And why would they? One great aspect of the Beatles’ unwillingness to remain available only on CD is so that the albums are not broken up into singles. In the cases of Revolver, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper. The White Album, and Abbey Road, it only makes sense to force consumers to encounter them as whole concepts, and not all mixed up in a random shuffle.

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