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Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Wants to “Forgive” His Dead Mother’s Final Surgeon by Putting His Picture on the Cover of His New Album

Kanye West’s lovely mother, a college professor named Donda West, died after complications from plastic surgery on November 10, 2007. She was 58. It was only after that that Kanye really went off the rails. He’s never been the same since then.

Now, in his latest barrage of Tweets, Kanye has sent out a copy of a Text he sent to someone declaring that he will put a picture of his mother’s plastic surgeon, Jan Adams, on the cover of his new album.

“I want to forgive and stop hating,” Kanye writes. But is that true? Putting Adams’s picture on the cover may not be legal, first of all. But if he did it, is Kanye really trying to achieve closure and peace? Or is he provoking a fight?

Kanye’s mom died of heart disease a day after Adams performed liposuction and breast reduction surgery. She walked out of the clinic where the surgery was performed when it was over, and was prescribed Vicodin.

The next day she suffered a heart attack and 911 was called.

“The final manner of death could not be determined,” the coroner said in a statement. “Multiple post-operative factors could have played a role in the death. The exact contribution of each factor could not be determined. There was no evidence of a surgical or anesthetic misadventure.”

According to a 2015 interview, Donda West went home against doctor’s advice to go to a rehab clinic. At home she took 20 Vicodins, vomited and choked to death on her own vomit. Also, she was five foot two, weighed a whopping 188 lbs. and suffered from high blood pressure and blood sugar.

Kanye may say he wants to forgive and forget — whatever, this week he was all about sending Hallmark type messages of love. But really, putting Dr. Adams on the cover his album will make the doctor a target. And West is not stupid enough not to know that.

Later today, Kanye decided that Parkland student Emma Gonzales was his “hero” and that he was “inspired” by her. She’d do well to ignore this and stay away from him until Kanye’s meds have been adjusted.

 

Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

Roger Friedman
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Books: Mark Strausman’s Been Feeding the Elite at Barneys For Years, Comfort Food at the Highest Level

It’s Saturday morning in Manhattan. For many that means preparing for brunch or a late lunch at Fred’s at Barney’s, the hottest spot in town for eons.

We owe Fred’s to the late Fred Pressman, the man who launched the real Barneys dozens of years ago downtown. The restaurant is named after him. But the rest of it– the food, the look, the buzz– belongs to Mark Strausman.

Once the chef at Pino Luongo’s celebrity haunts like Sapore di Mare (in the Hamptons) and Coco Pazzo, Mark left in the 90s and started his famous restaurant on East 21st St. and Broadway called Campagna. Sleek, comfortable and beige, Campagna quickly caught on as the favorite of tons of A listers and was a particular favorite of record biz chieftains. This was when there was a record biz. On most nights, you had to fight your way into Campagna, where Tommy Mottola and Mariah Carey were regular customers.

After Campagna closed, Mark was lured to Barneys in 1996, and the rest is history. There’s a Fred’s here, downtown at the new old store (or the old new store) and Chicago and one in Beverly Hills. On Tuesday night, a gang of notables gathered on the 9th floor of the main store to celebrate Mark’s first cookbook, The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook, co-written with Susan Littlefield.

It doesn’t seem possible that Mark will let other people try making his sensational french fries, mouth watering chicken soup, or any of the other staples that bring the fans. But the book is so beautiful I’m just going to look at the pictures, read the stories, and then grab a Via to 60th and Madison. On Tuesday night, just access to these recipes brought out Al Roker, Broadway producer Jean Doumanian, famed designer Vera Wang, Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto, designer Lisa Perry and husband Richard Perry (who owns Barneys) and about a hundred other Upper East Siders who wanted to learn if they could make the bolognese sauce at home.

Will we get it? Study this book. Mark says his cooking his for a “neighborhood coffee shop” and I realize he’s right– and that’s why it’s so popular has lasted so long. It’s comfort food on the highest level.

“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” Has Colossal $106 Mil Opening, Second Biggest Opening Day, Heads for $240 Mil Weekend

“Avengers: Infinity War” just went through the roof with Thursday previews and a Friday that was Marvel-ous. The total is $106 million so far, with a $240 million weekend looking likely.

Remember, $39 million was plunked down on Thursday, but that means Friday still did $71 mil last night.

It’s the second biggest opening day in history, behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

With a worldwide take outside the US of more than $100 million through Thursday night, “Infinity War” is poised for huge huge huge reports.  At this rate, “Infinity War” could possibly give “Black Panther” a run for its money as the biggest Marvel movie and maybe on the all time list as well.

The good news is that audiences are coming back, and spreading good word even after the film’s earth shaking ending.

 

Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Posts Fragments of Crap and Scrap as Something, Not Music, Whatever, While Nile Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, LL Cool J Elevate, Contribute to the World

If you want to hear it, you can here.

Is he mocking us? Is he mocking himself? Is he serious?

Who cares, really?

Kanye is not a composer. He samples music from other people. So he all he can compose are lyrics, or raps, which he hasn’t done here anyway.

He’s wasted a lot of our time and a lot of his time, frankly. Tonight I went to hear Nile Rodgers and Chic, with Roger Daltrey of the Who and LLCool J for Nile’s We Are Family Foundation. With Nile’s band, Daltrey sang “Behind Blue Eyes.,” “Baba O’Riley,” and “Who Are You?” It was bliss. LL Cool J performed his hits “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Rock the Bells.”

Nile Rodgers is in a league of his own. His new edition of Chic is better than ever, and they ran through the group’s many disco hits like “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” played Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” (which Nile helped write) and ended with a glorious “We Are Family” that had people of all kinds dancing and singing on stage. It was elevating.

All week Kanye West has been Tweeting aphoristic crap about love and hate and freedom, making stupid pronouncements to get attention. Then he ended the week with this three minute and twenty two second file of nonsense. All of this gets online traffic and makes fleeting headlines. But it’s garbage. And you realize  it when you’re in the presence of artists who make a difference in the world, have a huge library of material that moves and motivates.

Kanye’s week of hundreds of Tweets are mostly about making his clothing line HUGE. Who the f cares? The We Are Family Foundation is empowering youth all over the world, building schools, and doing good. LL Cool J is also running a foundation for kids, and Roger Daltrey is raising money for cancer research. They are actually doing something for the world. They are not wasting our time.

Come back in the morning, I’ll have some video from the show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Bravo!

Martin Scorsese and Mel Brooks, Two New York Boys, Take Over Hollywood for the Night

Leah Sydney
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Martin Scorsese and Mel Brooks, Two New York Boys, Take Over Hollywood for the Night

“Avengers: Infinity War” Opens to HUGE $39 Mil Thursday Night, Biggest Ever for Super Hero Movie

Roger Friedman
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“Avengers: Infinity War” Opens to HUGE $39 Mil Thursday Night, Biggest Ever for Super Hero Movie

RECORD BREAKING “Avengers: Infinity War” opened to $39 million last night in previews, the biggest ever for a superhero movie.

Since last night will be counted with tonight, it’s possible Marvel will declare a $100 million opening night when all is said and done.

It was also the second highest Thursday ever posted, behind “Revenge of the Sith.” (Only it won’t be counted as a Thursday, even though…don’t get me started).

The movie also made $95 million from international markets from Wednesday and Thursday showings. Add that to the $39 mil US. We’re off and running!

Will “Infinity War” sustain itself to beat “Black Panther”? Hard to say, but I’d wager ‘no.’ But who knows? We’ll see.

Roseanne Ticket Sales Disaster as Seats for Maryland Show Next Month Go Begging at $39

Roger Friedman
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Roseanne Ticket Sales Disaster as Seats for Maryland Show Next Month Go Begging at $39

Roseanne Barr just finished up a short successful stand up tour in Canada while her show was booming in its reboot on ABC.

But now Roseanne is starting to book dates in the US and things are a little different. Her Vegas show for May 5th is sold out, but the venue only has 850 seats.

On May 12th in National Harbor, Maryland, it’s a different scene. The 3,000 seat MGM National Harbor is a sea of blue dots on Ticketmaster– meaning almost nothing is sold. On reseller vividseats.com you get in the door with a balcony ticket for $39. For fifty-one bucks you can sit down front and spread out. There are seats everywhere and on the reseller market, they’re dropping!

Roseanne is funny– I’d go see her for $51. But maybe the Maryland audience is tired of all the Trumpery. I don’t see why it would bother them– they did give us Spiro Agnew years ago!

I am amazed, by the way, how “real Americans” and red-staters have fallen for Roseanne’s “Republican” pitch. It’s hilarious. After the first episode build up, there’s been not one political joke or mention on the rest of the series. The show is run by people who are as anti-Trump as possible. But just that clever run up to the first episode convinced a whole daft segment of the population that “Roseanne” was going to be their savior. There were articles about how the networks would have to “reconsider” their shows. LOL.

 

 

Sting Plays Intimate Acoustic Set at The Met Museum, Is Moved Seeing His Lyrics as Part of Art Installation

Roger Friedman
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Sting Plays Intimate Acoustic Set at The Met Museum, Is Moved Seeing His Lyrics as Part of Art Installation

Sting– busy lately? He’s been a press tour for about 10 days promoting his hot album with Shaggy called “44/876.” It’s been in the top 20 all week on iTunes, amazon, etc.

So why not fulfill another commitment? On Tuesday, Wednesday, and last night the rock superstar played an intimate acoustic 45 minute set at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in conjunction with their Thomas Cole-Hudson River School exhibition. Needless to say, the three shows — called “Atlantic Crossing” — were sold out (the room holds about 650) and the audiences were swooning. They heard selections from Sting’s musical “The Last Ship” (currently a hit in the UK in a new streamlined version) with which he intertwined growing up in Newcastle, England among shipbuilders.

Last night, as a little flourish, he included two encores (well, he had to) for a wildly enthusiastic, cheering, standing, clapping audience. t Leading the charge was Jerry Moss, founder of A&M Records with Herb Alpert, the label that Sting has recorded on solo and with the Police since 1978. The last songs were “Message in a Bottle” and “Englishman in New York.” It was pretty deliriously great to see Upper East Side financial guys in blue blazers and ladies in pearls singing back the lyrics.

But wait– the show was introduced by landscape artist Stephen Hannock, who is so famous he has six pieces in the Met. He’s also collaborated with Sting on a limited edition book from Two Ponds Press called “The Last Ship from the Northern City.” There are only 85 copies and they cost– a lot. You won’t find it in the Strand Bookstore. It’s a work of art for collectors. Now that the books are finally starting to come off press (slowly), The Met has set up a display in their Hudson River School section where Hannock’s “Oxbow” hangs with its antecedents.

But the Met has gone a step further. To Sting’s surprise, the lyrics to “The Last Ship” are placed in a case along with a Hannock woodcut print, under a famous painting by Thomas Chambers. “It blew me away,” Sting said, unexpectedly moved. “My lyrics in the Met! I couldn’t believe it.”

And now, back to Shaggy. Listen to Sting’s “If You Can’t Find Love” here.

BREAKING Bill Cosby Found Guilty On All Three Counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault

Roger Friedman
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BREAKING Bill Cosby Found Guilty On All Three Counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault

Bill Cosby has been found guilty on all three charges of aggravated sexual assault in the Andrea Constand case.

It’s hard to believe but Cosby, once a role model for the world, could get up to 30 years in jail. He’s 80 years old.

Cosby has been accused by dozens of women of drugging and/or raping them. In depositions for a civil case with Constand that preceded this one, Cosby admitted to giving the women Quaaludes among other things.

The trial’s outcome is an American tragedy. Cosby was a hero– a hero– to millions. Regardless of what he’s done to these women– and no one is saying he didn’t– Cosby’s fall is a monumental blow.

I’ll turn it over to the Philadelphia Inquirer here.

 

John Legend, Discovered by Kanye West, Texts Him: “I hope you’ll reconsider aligning yourself with Trump…don’t let this be part of your legacy”

Roger Friedman
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John Legend, Discovered by Kanye West, Texts Him: “I hope you’ll reconsider aligning yourself with Trump…don’t let this be part of your legacy”

John Legend has texted Kanye West in regard to his Twitter meltdown yesterday that included more endorsements of Donald Trump– and Trump responding in kind to West.

Kanye posted Legend’s text to him and his response. It should be noted that Legend was discovered by West, who produced his first album, the one that made him an international star.

John Legend says to Kanye: “I hope you’ll reconsider aligning yourself with Trump…don’t let this be part of your legacy.”

West responded: “I Love you, John. You bringing up my fans or my legacy is tactic based on fear used to manipulate my free thought.” He also wrote: “I tweeted the John text to show that there are people around me that disagree with me and voice their opinion. I respect everyone’s opinion but I stand my ground.”

Legend, by the way, joked back to West in another text that as long as Kanye was publicizing their texts he — Legend– has a new single out today. Funny.

Kanye has put himself in a difficult position here after yesterday’s tsunami of Tweets and what looks like another one today. Of course, he has roped in Chance the Rapper, who immediately responded to Kanye’s endorsements of Trump by saying that not all black people had to be Democrats. A couple of hours he amended that to say they could be Independents.

But mostly Kanye’s colleagues, peers, and friends have chimed in on Twitter either denouncing him or imploring him to change his mind about Trump. That won’t happen– Kanye West is now a Kardashian, living in gated Calabasas, overcome by their shallow Republican lifestyle. Yesterday, he invited TMZ’s Harvey Levin into his studio so he could get a good plug on that website. That’s a Kardashian-Trump move if ever there was one. But this is Kanye’s world now– his mother is dead, they are his family. He’s like Patty Hearst once the SLA got her.

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