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If you were hoping to see The Micky and Mike Show Friday night at the Beacon Theater, I’ve got bad news for you.
The partial Monkees reunion has had to cancel New York and three more shows on the tour. Mike Nesmith, who hasn’t played Monkees material live on stage in decades, has taken ill.
According to a spokesman: “Michael Nesmith had a minor health issue today in advance of his tour date in Philadelphia tonight. He visited a local medical facility and, although the issue was not serious, was advised to rest for the next week, so unfortunately the remaining four dates on The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show tour have been postponed until a later date. Nesmith has been dismissed from the hospital and is traveling back to his home in Carmel Valley. He is in good spirits and thanks all the fans for their support and understanding. He looks forward to getting back on the stage again soon.”
Peter Tork was not on this tour because apparently he doesn’t get along with Nesmith. Nesmith dropped out of the Monkees years ago because he didn’t get along with Davy Jones, who sadly died much too young. This tour was supposed to he recorded for a live album, but that may not be happening now. What’s wrong with Mike? Maybe he inhaled too much Liquid Paper. (His mom invented it years ago.)
I was kind of looking forward to hearing all those songs by Neil Diamond, Carole King, Boyce and Hart, and so on. I hope Mike is feeling better soon. Micky Dolenz will perform at the Grammys Special Merit concert in Los Angeles next month, singing “I’m a Believer” for Neil Diamond.
With the new Emily Blunt- Lin Manuel Miranda “Mary Poppins” coming this fall, the great songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman are back in the spotlight. The Academy honored them last night with “Sherman Brothers: A Hollywood Songbook” and oh what a night it was. Richard Sherman, who just turned 90, was there in full force to revel in the night. (His brother and writing brother Robert passed away in 2012 at the age of 86.)
The evening was hosted by John Stamos, a true fan boy who explained his life long love of the Sherman’s music and the relevance it has today. “Their music is an poignant now as it was back then. The same light that shines on a child in Disneyland seeking joy shines on a child in Syria seeking shelter.”
LeAnn Rimes entranced the audience with a knockout version of “Stay Awake” from “Mary Poppins.” Keala Settle — fresh off her Oscar nominated hit with “This is Me” — got the night’s musical numbers started with “It’s A Small World” written by the Shermans, which became Disney’s park theme song.
But the star of the night who everyone had come to see was the amazing 92 year old Dick van Dyke, who MUST receive a Kennedy Center Honor this year.
DvD told a story about the Sherman brothers and “Mary Poppins.” “The brothers never made fun of my Cockney accent. A lot of people did. I don’t even bother to go to England anymore.” DvD said Walt Disney “saw the world through the eyes of a child. He had this vision. The Shermans shared that vision, their music goes straight to your heart. I realized on “Mary Poppins” that we were creating something that hadn’t been before.”
Then along with the barbershop quartet Vantastix, van Dyke performed a medley of his hits, and yes, he rapped a version of “Spoonful of Sugar,” and danced like he was a 25 year old.
Hayley Mills surprised the audience by reprising “Let’s Stay Together” from “The Parent Trap.” The room exploded with applause. The youthful Mills came on to explain her history with the duo. She starred in “The Parent Trap” 58 years ago and like van Dyke, appears wonderfully youthful. (Maybe it’s from the Shermans’ songs.) She continued, “Walt Disney introduced us. I think we probably all took it a bit for granted. He was the original Big Daddy. Your songs will survive for all time.”
One surprise guest was Johnny Whittaker, who was the child star of the TV series “Family Affair.” He starred in the title role of Tom Sawyer, another movie with a Sherman score.
Richard’s son, Gregg, and Robert’s son, Jeffrey (married to the talented writer/comedienne Wendy Liebman) paid tribute to their dads. Jeffrey noted that his father, “at age 19 was the first American soldier to liberate Dachau.”
Richard Sherman came on at the end to thunderous applause and a rousing standing ovation. He noted his bond with his late brother. “Robert told me to stick with him and that one day we’d be wearing silk pajamas.” He then played the piano and sang “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” to the delight of the crowd. He said poignantly, “I’ll never forget this night.” Nor will anyone in the audience. The evening ended with the audience standing singing, “Lets Go Fly A Kite,” with kites all over the room. The Academy got everything right on this one.
Well, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” has a 54 on Rotten Tomatoes. Predictions are that it will have a disappointing opening weekend at $130 million, well below its predecessor’s $208.8 million opening.
But the good news is that “Fallen Kingdom” has already made $450 million internationally.
Universal was smart. They got the dino’s, Chris Pratt and company out to foreign territories where special effects were more important than a story. Because “Fallen Kingdom” is basically the same movie as all the other “Jurassic” installments. And Chris Pratt looks like he’s asleep or dazed for most of the film.
But in foreign countries, no one cares about these things. And the special effects are super. So Universal got the jump. A low US first weekend won’t affect the international sales. Even the bad reviews can’t hurt “Fallen Kingdom.” And hopefully for a third and final film they’ll develop the story and give Pratt a Thermos full of coffee.
Paul McCartney’s first new album in five years has zoomed to the top of the Amazon best seller lists 10 weeks before its release.
The album arrives on September 7th. Meanwhile, McCartney released new tracks today. “Come on to Me,” a rocker, and “I Do;’t Know,” a moody ballad in the vein of Adele’s “Hello,” also jumped to numbers 5 and 6 on Amazon’s Digital Music downloads.
The dropping of the singles and announcement of the album were a little convoluted. But McCartney’s Instagram followers got the message and responded.
The next step will be to see if the singles are popular on Spotify and iTunes, if Capitol can get some airplay for them on radio. I think that “Come on to Me” is so catchy, it might join the many non musical singles already on the air.
I’m sorry, but “Gotti” is not the popular movie everyone was waiting to see.
After making $1.7 million over the weekend, the John Travolta mob flick had a difficult Monday and Tuesday.
In fact, on Monday “Gotti” had the biggest drop from Sunday of any new or current film playing in 500 theaters or more– 64%. On Tuesday, when adults go to the movies, “Gotti” had the smallest increase among the same films– 12%.
On Sunday it seemed like fake reviewers had infiltrated Rotten Tomatoes and posted a bunch of improbably positive reviews in the fan section.
After five days, “Gotti” has made $2.1 million. Yesterday, they took in $218,000, which I think is shocking. Around 2,100 people maybe sat through it.
Maybe things will pick up tonight and tomorrow. Hope floats, just like a dead body in the East River.
UPDATE THURS 12:30PM David Friedman called to say yes, indeed, it’s the end of the screening rooms. But Magno will continue as a production and post-production house. They’re moving to 15 East 32nd St. into smaller accommodations. At one time, he recalled, they had five screening rooms. But bookings have fallen as, just as I wrote, links and other digital methods have supplanted the human experience. Nice guy– I hope film companies will follow them to the new location.
EARLIER The new just gets worse and worse.
Closing for good after 68 years is Magno Sound and Recording and the famed Magno Screening Rooms at 729 Seventh Avenue. The last day is June 27th.
Magno has been in my life since the early 80s. There was a time when every press screening was there for every film. It was almost like a rite of passage. Even my own film, “Only the Strong Survive,” screened there.
Magno was created in 1950 by a man named Ralph Friedman (no relation to me). He died in 1991 and his sons have run the company ever since then.
The building 729 Seventh Avenue was built in 1915. It was immediately a media hub, where advertising agencies worked on radio ads. Believe it or not, my grandmother told me about going there to work on ads for the shoe company where was in PR in the mid 1920s.
The great screening rooms are disappearing. In the “old” days we depended on Magno, and on Todd AO (West 54th St.) and Columbia -Sony on Fifth Avenue, Universal on Fifth Avenue, the screening room in the Brill Building. They’re all gone. Publicists send links now. Warner Bros. still has their screening room, and Dolby took over MGM at 1350 Sixth Avenue. But it’s only a matter of time that this communal experience will disappear along with so many things we took for granted.
Paul McCartney just dropped his two new singles from “Egypt Station,” the album coming September 7th. Here are two songs for the summer, a ballad and a rocker. They’re terrific, of course. But painful to wait for.
Bruce Springsteen made these remarks last night during his Broadway show, going off script before he sang “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Tom Joad is a fictional character in John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” about immigrants trying to survive against all odds.
“I never believed that people come to my shows, or rock shows to be told anything.
But I do believe that they come to be reminded of things. To be reminded of who they are, at their most joyous, at their deepest, when life feels full. It’s a good place to get in touch with your heart and your spirit, to be amongst the crowd. And to be reminded of who we are and who we can be collectively. Music does those things pretty well sometimes, particularly these days when some reminding of who we are and who we can be isn’t such a bad thing.
That weekend of the March for our Lives, we saw those young people in Washington, and citizens all around the world, remind us of what faith in America and real faith in American democracy looks and feels like. It was just encouraging to see all those people out on the street and all that righteous passion in the service of something good. And to see that passion was alive and well and still there at the center of the beating heart of our country.
It was a good day, and a necessary day because we are seeing things right now on our American borders that are so shockingly and disgracefully inhumane and un-American that it is simply enraging. And we have heard people in high position in the American government blaspheme in the name of God and country that it is a moral thing to assault the children amongst us. May God save our souls.
There’s the beautiful quote by Dr. King that says the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. Now, there have been many, many days of recent when you could certainly have an argument over that. But I’ve lived long enough to see that in action and to put some faith in it. But I’ve also lived long enough to know that arc doesn’t bend on its own. It needs all of us leaning on it, nudging it in the right direction day after day. You gotta keep, keep leaning.
I think it’s important to believe in those words, and to carry yourself, and to act accordingly. It’s the only way that we keep faith and keep our sanity.
I’ve played this show 146 nights with basically the same setlist, but tonight calls for something different…”
Paul Simon is winding down his farewell tour, which I can’t believe. The last show will be in Flushing, Queens in the World’s Fair Park, under the shadow of the Unisphere and a stone’s throw away from where Simon grew up with Art Garfunkel. The show is set for September 22nd, the last of four shows in the New York area.
I did think it was going to be Central Park, as September 22nd would be the anniversary off by a day of Simon and Garfunkel’s famous concert there in 1981.
So now the drama begins: will Garfunkel be part of the show? And the answer has to be yes, because if it’s not, there will be such disappointment that no one will ever get over it. Six months ago while I was interviewing Garfunkel for a piece about his autobiography, What Is All But Luminous, he kept teasing me that “something big” was happening that he couldn’t discuss. I can only imagine this is what it is. Simon can’t end his amazing career without singing the duo’s hits AS the duo. No matter Simon’s huge accomplishments over the last 50 years, Garfunkel is always going to be a major part of his story.
What a week for all us so called old-timers. Simon hanging it up, McCartney issuing new music. Somewhere the Stones are doing a show. Ringo’s on the road with the All Starr Band. Cher is in a new movie. Tina Turner’s life is is coming to Broadway. Lieber and Stoller are coming back to Broadway this summer. And the beat goes on.
PS Friday night brings Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith of the Monkees to the Beacon Theater. I’m hearing their tour is so good that Rhino has decided to issue a live concert album. Peter Tork could have been in on all of this, but apparently doesn’t get along with Nesmith– after 50 years! Davy Jones is in heaven and we miss him!
We know the Trump sons and their wives are no rocket scientists. But Vanessa Trump, who’s getting a divorce from Donald Trump Jr., takes the cake. This morning, while the world is horrified by conditions of immigrant children in cages and camps in the United States, Vanessa posted photos of her kids before they go off to summer camp. Presumably, their camp doesn’t put them in cages, or on floor mats made of Reynolds Wrap in 100 degree heat. Tone deaf?
She’s doubling down on Fox News’s Laura Ingraham’s assertion that detention camps are like “Summer camps.”
Meanwhile, Eric and Lara Trump have used a baby to re-enact a scene from The Godfather on Twitter. The expression on the baby’s face says it all. He knows what they mean when they say “We’ll take you for a ride.”
Earlier, Lara Trump posted this picture too. They may have airbrushed out the sign the baby was holding, which looks it might have read: Help! Don’t let them lock me up!
