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Female Singers Dominate Top 10

Roger Friedman
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gaga Female Singers Dominate Top 10What happened to all the men?

This week, the Top 10 albums, with one exception, showcase the voices and attitudes of women.

The Top 10 includes Kesha, two albums by Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas (their driving force: Fergie), Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Susan Boyle.

If it weren’t for the geeky Talking Heads-wannabes called Vampire Weekend, the Top 10 would just be a choir of female angels. Right behind these ladies on the charts: Rihanna, Carrie Underwood.

It’s kind of scary. Not even publicity hound John Mayer has made much of an impact with his latest collection.

Back in my day (pre-historic) we had everyone from James Taylor to Joe Walsh, with Elton, Stevie, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, O’Jays, Spinners, etc.

Sure we had Joni, Carole and Carly. Even Linda Ronstadt. But the male voice was a constant on pop radio, and so was the male point of view.

Now that point of view is represented by teenagers — if at all — kids like the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber.

But the older generation has vanished. Justin Timberlake, for better or worse, seems to be in retirement. Robin Thicke, who’s great, isn’t getting enough of a push to break him out. His album is languishing. Rob Thomas should be in the Top 10, but Atlantic Records can’t seem to make it happen.

I guess the ladies rule for now. Did “American Idol” have something to do with this? I’m just sayin’….

‘We Are the World’ Sequel Set to Aid Haiti

Roger Friedman
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quincy We Are the World Sequel Set to Aid HaitiEXCLUSIVE: This column has learned that Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are planning a massive 25th anniversary re-recording of “We Are the World.”

The timing couldn’t be better, sadly enough.

The duo is summoning lots and lots of talent from Grammy weekend to stay an extra night — Monday Feb. 1 — and come to the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. There, they will celebrate a quarter century since Ken Kragen, Richie and Michael Jackson organized the original “We Are the World” with Quincy.

This time the artists invited include Usher, Natalie Cole, and John Legend. But you can bet that more names will be added shortly and that all the Grammy nominees and participants will be asked to come as well. Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich will produce the event, which will then be turned into a video and single just like it was in 1985. Don’t be surprised if Wyclef Jean joins in, along with Sting, Fergie, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake and other distinctive voices.

It’s hoped that as in 1985, everyone will “leave their egos at the door.”

Originally, this anniversary celebration was to be held on Jan. 28. But when the Haiti earthquake happened, sources tell me, the whole deal changed. Now proceeds will go to Haiti relief. In 1985, “We Are the World,” which begat Live Aid, raised money for Africa relief.

Plans are still sketchy, but one thing’s for sure: In some way, the song’s co-author Michael Jackson will be invoked. AEG is co-producing this event. They’re also putting together a 3D tribute to Michael for the Grammy show from elements Jackson was going to use for his tour. Jackson recorded “We Are the World” for what became “This Is It.” Surely he’ll be included here as well, which will make the whole project even more poignant.

Stay tuned. PS: Quincy Jones is about to release what has been described to me as a landmark new album that he’s made with contemporary R&B and hip hop artists. He was responsible for the original “We Are the World” and will guide the new one. He is not a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in case you were wondering.

Elton John Waiting for Leon Russell to Record Together

Roger Friedman
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This November will mark 40 years since Elton John and Leon Russell performed together at the Fillmore East in New York on November 20, 1970. This was right after Elton’s landmark live album, “11-17-70.” (Thanks to a couple of readers who pointed this out.)

Soon the old friends will make a new CD together, if Russell’s health permits. I’m told Elton, collaborator Bernie Taupin, and Russell have composed about a dozen or so new tracks together. They’re planning on going into the studio together shortly to lay them down. T-Bone Burnett, on a roll right now with the score and soundtrack to “Crazy Heart” will be the producer.

The only hitch: Russell has been in the hospital for some time suffering from brain fluid leak. He’s had brain surgery, and doctors are now considering another procedure to relieve the pressure in his head.

But the prognosis is good, and Elton is looking forward to doing the project. He told me recently that Russell had been a huge influence on him’when he’was starting out. You can certainly hear’it in Elton’s early style of singing, and on tracks like “Honky Cat,” “Take’Me to the Pilot,” “Border Song,” and the remarkable “Tumbleweed Connection” album.

So here’s a fervent Get Well to Leon Russell for a fast recovery, and release of the new album before the next Grammy deadline. This is one recording we really need, and soon!

Will Oscar Voters Go Human, Reject Globe Winners?

Roger Friedman
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It’s January 19th. Oscar ballots are due back on the 23rd, on Saturday. That’s just four days.

Will Academy/Oscar voters reject the Golden Globe winners? In the past, the Academy has turned a deaf ear to the selections of the 80 or so mysterious Globe members. Oscar voters also like the human aspect of movie making.

119864 avatar duo human sully 3412 Will Oscar Voters Go Human, Reject Globe Winners?This year, the HFPA went wild for “Avatar” after a last minute viewing in December. They let the technology (and maybe the 3D glasses) obscure the facts that “Avatar” has a terrible screenplay and no real acting per se. It contains some of the worst dialogue in history. But it does have amazing effects. There’s no question that it’s a game changer in sci-fi.

But the top 5 real contenders for Best Picture are movies for actors: “Up in the Air,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Precious,” “An Education.” Movies are about people and they’re performed by people. “Computer generated” means that, created artificially. It’s a whole different category. “Avatar,” “Nine,” “A Single Man,” “Star Trek,” and “Up” are the back five.

There are no Best Actors or Actresses in “Avatar,” even though Sigourney Weaver is otherwise a very fine actress. The next time she has a “Gorillas in the Mist” or “Working Girl,” the Academy will swarm to her.

The Best Actresses this year were Meryl Streep, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe, and Sandra Bullock simply because she’s cool and waited a long time for some recognition.

The Supporting Actresses are not just’Mo’Nique, who long ago I predicted would be the first Oscar nominee with an apostrophe in her name. Julianne Moore is absolutely sensational in “A Single Man.” Penelope’Cruz sets pacemakers off in “Nine.” Anna Kendrick is a lovely newcomer in “Up in the Air.” Vera Farmiga is also not to be overlooked from the same film.

The Best Actors are easy. Jeff Bridges cannot be denied. But George Clooney is just perfection in “Up in the Air.” Daniel Day-Lewis challenges himself and the audience once again in “Nine.” Colin Firth comes of age Oscar-wise in “A Single Man.” Morgan Freeman could not be better as Nelson Mandela in “Invictus.”

Supporting Actor is just as busy a category. Christoph Waltz is a slam dunk in “Inglourious Basterds.” But there’s also Matt Damon, Stanley Tucci, and two equally gifted actors from “The Hurt Locker”– Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner.

And Best Director? Kathryn Bigelow leads the way, but Quentin Tarantino has made his “masterpiece,” James Cameron has shown how to be PT Barnum, Lee Daniels made the searing “Precious,” and Jason Reitman’s third feature hits home on so many HUMAN levels.

Wyclef’s Charity: The Truth

Roger Friedman
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I’ve been reading about Wyclef Jean, like you, and his charitable efforts. I also read what looked like a damning report about his foundation from the Smoking Gun, a site that usually gets things right.

Tomorrow Wyclef will be live on “Oprah” from Chicago to discuss everything. On Friday, he’ll co-host George Clooney’s telethon from New York. On Saturday, Wyclef will return to Haiti, where he’s already been and witnessed the destruction. Believe me, he’s not going there because he has nothing else to do, or because he needs attention. Last week, Wyclef and his family were knee deep in dead bodies. This isn’t for fun.

The Smoking Gun was right, and it was also wrong. I’ve known Wyclef since the Fugees first came on the scene, and I’ve seen him evolve as a very important political activist for Haiti. Before this earthquake, he’d already given heart, soul and a lot of money to a country that is incredibly poor and in constant need of aid.

His Yele Foundation, which also is known as the Wyclef Jean Foundation, did file three tax returns last August for years 2005, 2006 and 2007. They were just under the statute of limitations, but they got them in under the wire.

What’s interesting about these returns — and readers of my column know that we often look into these things — is that they’re totally upfront about everything. For some reason, the Smoking Gun published only the 2006 return. But the more recent one, for 2007, is also available. And what that one shows is that the Foundation was running in the red. This means that their expenses exceeded their donations. Who covers these deficits? Wyclef Jean, of course.

The biggest bone of contention seems to come from a concert Wyclef held in Monaco to raise money for Haiti. The concert took in $150,000. The Smoking Gun points out that there were $97,000 in expenses. True enough — expenses for the production, which were too high. On the other hand, $53,000 went to Haiti. That, they did not mention.

We can all send money to Yele Haiti for Haiti — or the Red Cross or Partners in Health or any number of organizations. That was always the point of Wyclef Jean’s work. It was to raise awareness, not to make money. Believe me, Wyclef earns a lot of money as a musician and composer. He is quite a brilliant artist. His income is not derived from cheating Haitians. That’s ridiculous. So let’s applaud him for being there before this disaster, and during it.

Conan O’Brien: In a Holding Pattern

Roger Friedman
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Believe it or not, despite “scoops” everywhere, nothing has happened on the Conan O’Brien front.

No offers have been presented in writing, and Conan’s staff still has no info on their severance packages.

You’d think by now this deal would be done. But nothing at NBC is simple, least of all this.

So what next? O’Brien has Quentin Tarantino and Spoon on his show tonight. He has three more shows to go. On Friday, he’ll wrap it up. By then maybe the staff will know where they’re going to live, or how they’re going to pay their bills.

I have to laugh when I see stories about NBC preventing Conan from being on the air again before September. If he goes to Fox, they wouldn’t be able to accommodate him before that anyway. Not only do they have to create a studio and staff, but Fox also has to clear the time with their stations. Right now, the Fox network goes off the air at 10 p.m. Local stations then have news and syndicated programming, reruns, etc. This change isn’t accomplished overnight.

And still the big stumbling block to settling Conan’s deal may be the “offset.” This would be NBC trying to weasel out of paying Conan the money he’s due by deducting his future earnings. Why they just don’t cut bait and move on is’a mystery. This is the worst PR any network has ever received. And Jay Leno’s speech last night didn’t help, observers say.

Sting, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, The Boss Set for Clooney Telethon

Roger Friedman
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George Clooney works fast. In eight days he’s put together an all-star telethon set for this Friday on all the networks.

I told you about this telethon exclusively last Tuesday morning. Now it’s all coming together.

As I already reported, Sting was the first to say yes to Clooney. He’ll be performing from New York, along with Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and, of course, New York host Wyclef Jean.

Alicia Keys would ordinarily be in New York, but she’s on the West Coast getting ready for Clive Davis’s annual Grammy gala as well as the actual Grammy Awards. So Keys will join Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift the headliner, Stevie Wonder from Hollywood. There will also be a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow. Bono and the Edge, Rihanna, and Jay Z will appear from London.

Wyclef had better do “Somebody Call 911.” It’s the most appropriate song. It’s hoped that Sting might sing Springsteen’s “The Rising” as well as his own “Fragile.” All of the music will be available on iTunes.

What hasn’t been announced yet: A list of names of actors who will be taking calls from donors. I can tell you Leonardo DiCaprio is already signed up and that Ben Affleck is trying to figure out how to participate from the Sundance Film Festival. There’s no doubt that Clooney’s pals will all be involved, like Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle. A source connected to the telethon says the flood of star volunteers is overwhelming, “Everyone wants to participate. It will be hard to fit them all in.”

More to come…

Ricky Gervais: May Cross Over to American “Office”

Roger Friedman
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Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes with aplomb. He offended everyone. It was a beautiful thing to behold.

“I was mostly worried about Paul McCartney,” Ricky told me. “But he hugged me afterward and said it was okay.” Gervais made some rude comments during the show about Paul’s unfortunate marriage to Heather Mills.

“I was also worried about Mel Gibson.” he said. “I didn’t know if he’d want to hit me.” Ricky has not heard from Mel, and Mel was seen later at a restaurant off the Beverly Hilton campus with his baby mama. Gervais didn’t realize that Gibson had quite inappropriately reacted to his skit with a’glass of beer by “acting” drunk. Gibson, a lout and racist anti-Semite,’seemed’to forget’that he’d been arrested for drunk driving. He thought it was funny. Ha ha!

But Gervais’s more interesting revelation of the night was that he says he and Steve Carell have talked about Ricky possibly appearing on the American version of “The Office.”

“We’re thinking of how Michael Scott” ‘ Carell’s character ‘ “could run across David Brent” ‘ Gervais’s character from the British “Office” which he created. “It could be brilliant,” Gervais said. He’s right. “Just one time, one episode, and that’s it,” he said.

It’s amazing to think that Gervais’s “Office” consists of just 14 episodes. The American version is up to 104 episodes and keeps going. And while our “Office” has occasional missteps, it’s mostly brilliant and underrated. Gervais is proud of that. “They’ve done an excellent job,” he said.

And he did an excellent job last night, skewering everyone. As for his accurate derogatory comments about the Golden Globes: “I did worry about being asked back. But those are the things I’d heard. And I have a Golden Globe myself!”

Robert Downey Jr.: “I Smelled Victory”

Roger Friedman
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There was one person in the Beverly Hilton ballroom last night who wasn’t surprised by Robert Downey Jr.’s win for Best Actor in a comedy/musical for ‘”Sherlock Holmes“: Robert Downey Jr.

“I smelled victory!” he told me after I asked him if he’d been caught off guard at the Golden Globes. Not at all. And though we loved RDJr., it’s hard to imagine that he envisioned beating Daniel Day-Lewis and the other nominees. His Sherlock was not the best reviewed performance of the year.

But “Sherlock” as an action hero made a lot of money. So there. And that’s what the Golden Globes are into most: money, hits, and ratings. And so they delivered awards to “Avatar,” a technological hit with a bad screenplay and no acting, Sandra Bullock, Downey, etc. What made no sense, made sense. You could feel the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reaching for their pens to undo the damage.

And what a totally weird night. Prompted by genius host Ricky Gervais,’one speaker after another made comments about the Globe prizes being “bought.” Downey called the Hollywood’Foreign Press Association a’weird group, and mortician-like president Philip Berk didn’t help matters much with his’dry welcome from the podium.

And Berk was alone in being dry, as’he and his cohorts for some reason’ignored days of weather forecasts and refused to tent the red carpet. The rain started to fall on cue at 1:30pm, the temperature dropped precipitously, and umbrellas popped up everywhere. Stars came in off the carpet with ruined coiffures and rain streaked gowns and tuxedos. Why was there no tent? Around the back of the hotel. HBO managed to erect cover quickly with no trouble. But not the HFPA. Said one member of the security team, with a shrug: “Please, don’t ask me about these people.”

Oh but we will, again and again.

‘Mad Men’s’ January Jones: There May Be Two Different Shows

Roger Friedman
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january Mad Mens January Jones: There May Be Two Different ShowsJanuary Jones pretty much commanded attention during the third season of “Mad Men.” Now her character of Betty Draper seems to be divorcing husband Don and moving on with New York politician Henry Francis.

At HBO’s soggy outdoor party last night at the Golden Globes, January was much warmer than the month she’s named for as she sat outside under the big tent at a table with her family. As you can imagine, the Joneses are an attractive, articulate group. January, who seems so imposing as Betty, is petite and sweet in what we jokingly call real life out here in Hollywood.

So what will happen?

“I don’t know, and I’m not even sure Matt Weiner, does either. We don’t start shooting until April. I heard he did say it was going to be like two shows now, so we’ll see.” Could there be a Betty spinoff? January laughed: “Oh yes, like ‘The Betty Show’? I don’t think so!”

Even with the lightly falling rain., there were plenty of HBO stars everywhere. I did run into Jeremy Piven of “Entourage” fame, who was busy chatting up the tall, beautiful blonde Ashlan Gorse, an E! host. He’d probably been making inroads until I showed up!

I asked Jeremy why the Internet was constantly abuzz with rumors of blind items about his womanizing ways. He has a good sense of humor about it, especially the most salacious rumors.

“It’s so funny,” he said, “because if they really knew me, none of it is right.” Maybe some of it comes from “Ari,” the character he plays on the show. “I’m not that aggressive,” he said.

And his fish consumption? “I knew you’d go there.” he said, shaking his head. Even Ashlan Gorse got a chuckle out of that one.

Also spotted around the HBO pool: Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer of “True Blood,” allowing fans to put the bite on them for autographs … And Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford, who kept to themselves and were kind of hidden for a while in the indoor area before deciding to move on. Ford — who is one of the last of the real movie stars — has “Extraordinary Measures” about to be released. He also told me he’s excited about “Morning Glory,” a comedy set for’mid summer’co-starring Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson’and Rachel McAdams, directed by Roger Michel for Paramount … Also Anthony Mackie of’”The Hurt Locker,” who flew in on Sunday morning from New York and returned there Sunday night. He’s in rehearsals this morning for a new Broadway play’that opens in’March. Oscar voters: Anthony’should be nominated for best supporting actor. He’s the’breakout’star of 2009 … P.S. thanks to Bill Mancini, the best security guy in’LA, who managed to get people in and out of the HBO party with his usual deftness. He’s one of the reasons the Bev Hilton runs so well …

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