Lady Gaga is back.
She’s back to form, and on the dance floor, with “Disease,” the first single from her upcoming 7th album.
And while her jazz performances on “Harlequin” were impeccable and her ballad singing is plaintive on “Die with a Smile,” Gaga knew it was time to back to her core business.
“Disease” should spread pretty quickly on the radio and in dance clubs. It’s a little bit of a throwback to her “Fame Monster” days. And we all need that right now in time of incredible stress.
You may have heard Donald Trump is planning a rally this Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
It’s an homage to the 1939 Nazi rally hosted the Garden. Of course, there wasn’t media like there is today. No one got what was going on. You have plenty of notice today.
Trump organizers have sent a list of items not allowed in the Garden. (I feel bad for Garden security. They’ll have their hands full with right wing nuts and MAGAts.)
Top of the list to leave at home: Balls. MAGA has no balls, so it shouldn;t be a problem.
The whole list:
UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE PROHIBITED ITEMS LIST
• Aerosols
• Alcoholic beverages
• Appliances (i.e. Toasters)
• Backpacks, bags, roller bags, suitcases, and bags exceeding size restrictions
(12”x14”x5”)
• Balloons
• Balls
• Banners, signs, placards
• Chairs
• Coolers
• Drones and other unmanned aircraft systems
• E-Cigarettes
• Explosives of any kind (including fireworks)
• Firearms
• Glass, thermal and metal containers
• Laser lights and laser pointers
• Mace and/or pepper spray
• Noisemakers, such as air horns, whistles, drums, bullhorns, etc.
• Packages
• Poles, sticks and selfie sticks
• Spray containers
• Structures
• Supports for signs/placards
• Tripods
• Umbrellas
• Weapons
• And any other items that may pose a threat to the security of the event as
determined by and at the discretion of the security screeners.
Is Bob Dylan alright?
His Tweets on his verified account are getting more peculiar every few days.
Bob says he was on tour in Frankfurt and went to the famous Book Fair there.
He writes: “At the hotel in Frankfurt there was a publishing convention and every room was taken, parties all night. I didn’t know there were so many book publishers in the world. I was trying to find Crystal Lake Publishing so I could congratulate them on publishing The Great God Pan, one of my favorite books. I thought they might be interested in some of my stories. Unfortunately it was too crowded and I never did find them.”
It’s not like he doesn’t have a book publisher who’d like his stories. Simon & Schuster published his “Chronicles, Part 1” in 2004. . They also published his “Philosophy of Modern Song” in 2022.
I’m sure they’d be up for a book of short stories.
Maybe he’s kidding, maybe not. I wish we could have seen Dylan going up to these people at the Fair and introducing himself!
At the hotel in Frankfurt there was a publishing convention and every room was taken, parties all night. I didn’t know there were so many book publishers in the world. I was trying to find Crystal Lake Publishing so I could congratulate them on publishing The Great God Pan, one…
— Bob Dylan (@bobdylan) October 23, 2024
Thornton Wilder won a Pulitzer Prize for “Our Town” in 1938, it was one of his three Pulitzers. It went on to become a staple of American theater, but sometimes we forget its powerful gut punch.
It’s impossible to forget in Kenny Leon’s slow burn production that just opened on Broadway with Jim Parsons as the stage manager leading a cast of 28 people. As he says breaking the fourth wall at the start of the play, some of those people include Katie Holmes (her best stage work ever), the eternally young Richard Thomas, Zoey Deutsch, Ephraim Sykes, and Julie Halston.
“Our Town” is a three act play, but Leon has condensed it and taken out the intermissions, which makes the thrust of the story even more powerful. In the first act we see life in Grover’s Corners, a small town where everyone knows each other going back generations. In the second, the two primary young people, George and Emily, marry, guaranteeing the future generations of Grover’s Corner.
For the first two acts, there’s a glow of nostalgia over small town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. Wilder wrote it in 1938 but the action takes place between 1901 and 1913. Even in 1938, people were trying to remember when America was great, a simpler time that — as you find out in act 3 — never existed. That’s because Act 3 takes place in a cemetery, where reality has set in along with the cycle of life and great tragedy. People in the audience last night were in tears by the of the play.
Plenty of good actors have played the stage manager over the years including Paul Newman, Spalding Gray and David Cromer in his own landmark production downtown in 2009. Jim Parsons, who will always be referenced as Sheldon in “The Big Bang Theory,” is astonishingly good in the role and brings out the best in the whole cast. But that’s not hard because they are each exceptional.
Broadway is brimming with wonderful productions this fall. Everyone is asking me to what to see. “The Hills of California” by Jez Butterworth, starring Laura Donnelly, is a stunner not to be missed. More on that later.
My great friend, John Titta, died yesterday after a two year battle with cancer. He was 69.
John was most recently the Chief Creative Officer at ASCAP, the gigantic music licensing company. He had held high positions at Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
Singer songwriter Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty wrote on Instagram: “For the last 30 years, @johntitta had been a champion for my music and my career. It didn’t matter if we were working together or not. He loved music more than anyone. A true friend to so many artists and a true gentleman. The business of music is a little less than it was without you in it. RIP, my man.”
John was a sweetheart in a business of vipers. He was also a great husband and father and a musician as well. He performed over the course of his career on albums by Ringo Starr and Gizelle D’Cole and played with Michael McDonald, the Doobie Brothers, Duane Eddy, Richie Sambora and Omi. He also worked with Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan on the Tony Award winning musical “Memphis,” and contributed as a producer or A&R on albums by Dionne Warwick, Todd Rundgren, Melinda Doolittle, Smash Mouth and Donny & Marie Osmond. He also contributed A&R work to the 1990 compilation “Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin,” which featured covers by Kate Bush, the Who, Sinead O’Connor, Tina Turner, Sting, Eric Clapton and George Michael, among others.
John and I went to many shows together, or we’d inevitably turn up at the same events bonded by our love of music. He was a gem of a human being. This is a terrible loss.
“All of us at ASCAP are heartbroken,” commented ASCAP President & Chairman, songwriter Paul Williams. “John Titta was one of a kind, and truly one of the most beloved music industry executives I have known, with deep ties to songwriters across genres and generations. John – you had a song in your heart always, and you will always be in our hearts. I miss you already.”
So long, John. See you one day on the other side. It will be so much fun!
EXCLUSIVE Some of the wedding guests at CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Argentina were so concerned about the death of Liam Payne that they immediately sold their stories. Like, within minutes.
I spoke to a guest last night for free, just back from the fateful wedding. Most of the guests at the hotel were there for the destination wedding, although I’m told there was one foreign businessman — Eastern European — who kept calling the front desk as singing vigils formed on the street in front of CasaSur Palermo. He couldn’t get any work done.
My source recounts what was going on in the lobby of the hotel in the 45 minutes before Payne either fell or jumped from his balcony. “He came down and was in a wild state. He was banging his laptop around. What some didn’t realize was, he had the function on so that whatever he was reading on it was on audio. So it was talking to him. But we couldn’t hear what was said.”
Did whatever Payne was reading set him off? Was it the further sellout of ex girlfriend Maya Henry, who wrote a book about him and had that weekend secured a temporary restraining order? Or was it about his record company dumping him? He hadn’t released any music in six months after putting out a single last March.
My source says if there were two prostitutes up in Payne’s room they might have been there earlier. But not when he went back to his room after the lobby chaos. They say the groom and the wedding planner were standing on the second floor balcony when Payne jumped, and looked down to see him lying on the ground.
Reports say that Payne had multiple drugs in his system including “pink cocaine,” a mixture of MDMA, ketamine and methamphetamine. It’s a street drug and has little to no cocaine in it.
Nevertheless, a cocktail reception for the wedding went off as planned an hour later, at a different venue.
From the beginning, Payne’s presence at CasaSur Palermo Hotel was known to the entire wedding party from the moment they arrived. The wedding couple had reserved a specific suite. But when they tried to check in after a long flight they were told the room was not ready and might not be ready. Why? “They were told the owner of the hotel was staying there, and might stay for a couple more days.”
In fact, it was Payne who would not check out.
The wedding went off without a hitch despite the tragedy. “There was an incredible deejay,” says my source. Late in the evening, he played a One Direction song and everyone sang along.
What it looked like outside the hotel minutes after an emergency call was made:
Photo c2024 showbiz411
EXCLUSIVE I’m told the Grateful Dead, or what’s left of them, has more to look forward to than getting a Kennedy Center honor this year.
The group will be honored, sources say, by the Grammy Awards’ Musicares as Persons of the Year on January 31, 2025.
The remaining living members include Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart. Jerry Garcia’s legend will be alive that night.
This means that a couple dozen artists will hike down to the LA Convention Center two nights before the Grammys and play Dead songs. One artist at the top of the list will be John Mayer. In August 2024, musician John Mayer acquired a 51% majority stake in Dead & Company. And who knows? Maybe former Person of the Year Bob Dylan will jump in as well.
I would guess another group on the Dead list would be Phish. And maybe Dave Matthews.
What I’d like to hear is some R&B singers try out Dead material. But please, not John Legend doing “Truckin’.”
The Dead are incredibly philanthropic, which meets the requirements of Person of the Year. Indeed, the Jerry Garcia Foundation gave grants last year totaling $178,237 according to its Form 990 tax return. The Dead are involved in five other 501c3 charities as well, all directed at social causes.
Musicares is a vital foundation taking care of musicians left without resources for health and living issues. They are particularly of assistance for recovery and rehab. Past recipients of Person of the Year include Aretha Franklin, Sting, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Bob Geldof, Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, and so on.
Guests should prepare themselves for a long night as Dead songs are Loooong, and often turn into jam sessions. The caterers may want to hold back dessert until the very end as everyone will be very hungry after a night of pot smoke hanging in the air!
Shyne Barrow was an up and coming rapper when he went to Club New York in 1999 with P Diddy aka Sean Puffy Combs and Jennifer Lopez.
After a wild shooting, and a trial, Barrow went to jail for ten years. Diddy went scot-free.
Now Barrow tells his story in “The Honorable Shyne,” coming to Hulu. He says, “I was absolutely set up to be the fall guy.”
Barrow’s story has a happy ending. He became a respected politician in Belize. But still, he lost a decade of his life because of Combs. The timing of this documentary is essential as Combs sits in jail waiting for a trial that won’t start until May 2025. He’s been hit with dozens of lawsuits and hundreds of accusations concerning rape of men, women, and children. Every day brings new and alarming revelations for the former music mogul.
Ex Rapper Shyne Barrow Denounces “Repugnant Behavior” of Sean Diddy Combs, Went to Jail for Him in 2001 After Shooting Incident
“This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news. While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events. Please note that we apply this same policy regardless of the business and regardless of the topic at issue“
Yelp has temporarily disabled reviews for the McDonald’s in Feasterville, PA, the one where Donald Trump staged his campaign stunt on Sunday.
Fake reviews are pouring in from “reviewers” all over the country. They’re funny, but not so amusing probably to McDonald’s. They can’t be happy that the owner of the franchise let Trump make a mockery of them on Sunday.
Some reviews:
Fire that smelly old man cursing at the fryer! Employees seemed extremely angry and confused like he didn’t even really know where he was. I think I smelled shit.
Customer service was a joke. Senile old man got bronzer on my fries, didn’t wear gloves. Repeated himself several times, something about Ronald McDonald in the showers at the golf club? Idk.
The person who was at the drive through vaguely resembled someone who I saw on the news for being a convicted felon.. i was handed these disgusting French fries along with a burder from an older man who seems to be someone who bragged about how he’s allowed to grab things.. “when you’re an employee, they let you do it!!” He exclaimed as he thrusted the bag in my face almost suggestively which made me feel very uncomfortable. He offered to pay me some hush money to keep this story quiet.
There was some sort of orange goo dripped on our fries. The incoherent old guy working the window was slurring his words and refused to give us our change. He said he already gave it to me, but I could see it sticking out of his pocket.
We know Kevin Costner is not in Season 5, Part 2 of “Yellowstone.” He was off making “Horizon,” his flop movie about the Civil War.
Nevertheless, the trailer for “Y5.2” makes it seem like he’s there. But pay close attention. They’ve used old footage and narration to give the impression John Dutton is still around.
In fact, the action involves a lot of other people. It will be interesting to see how they avoid the Dutton character, or whether he’ll die in a blaze of glory.