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UPDATE Michael Moore Heading to Prime Time This Winter with “Live from Apocalypse” (Plus Review of His Broadway Show Here)

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE Michael Moore Heading to Prime Time This Winter with “Live from Apocalypse” (Plus Review of His Broadway Show Here)

Michael Moore announced on Twitter tonight he’s returning to prime time TV. “Live from the Apocalypse’ will air on TNT.

 

EARLIER I finally caught up with Michael Moore’s “The Terms of My Surrender” last night at the Belasco Theater. Everyone who’s interested in what’s going on now with Trump and America must see this hilarious and often moving one man show.

After reading Jesse Green’s review in the Times I worried about “Terms.” But it turns out Green was dead wrong. Moore’s performance is absolutely captivating. There are plenty of laughs, and some serious moments too. But don’t be fooled– this is no screed– it’s like Garrison Keillor taking on Donald Trump, and winning!

Moore tailors the evening’s performance to what’s happening in the news. Since he opened last Thursday, we’ve had Charlottesville and Barcelona. Those topics were worked into last night’s opening monologue. But there are also excellent set pieces about the Flint, Michigan water supply and even “Dancing with the Stars.”

Every couple of shows there is a surprise guest who comes on stage. Last night it was Ann Sparanese, the progressive Englewood, New Jersey librarian who saved Moore’s 2001 book, “Stupid White Men,” from being pulped by Rupert Murdoch’s Harper Collins publishers.

The book was set to be released on September 11, 2001. But after the World Trade Center tragedies, HarperCollins decided to not release the book and pulp it because it was too irreverent. By coincidence, a couple of months later, Moore read portions aloud to a group of librarians in New Jersey. He told them what was going on. Sparanese, who didn’t know Moore, immediately sent an email to 100 influential librarians. Word spread quickly and Harper Collins was forced to publish “Stupid White Men” in its original form.

Sparanese is quite remarkable. She took a seat with Moore on stage last night. “I never expected to be on Broadway,” she said. With twinkling eyes and long white hair, Sparanese is a throwback to Woodstock and lefty organizing. She fights the good fight, and was there that day in 2001 at Moore’s reading as a representative of her union.

Sparanese told us a lot about libraries. There’s a library that loans ties to people going on job interviews. It’s called the Tiebrary. Others loan out “hot spots” so people can get resumes done. We were surprised (not shocked) to learn that Trump’s budget proposes total cuts to funding of public  libraries.

I don’t know why the Times review called Moore “self-aggrandizing” and that he was “bragging.” About what? Talk about missing the point. Moore’s rambling (it’s actually very structured thanks to director Michael Mayer) presentation is completely sincere. He’s strung together memoirish anecdotes, combined some sketch like comedy (a bit about the TSA gets howls), and then delivers solid information about making a difference.

This past week, Moore took his audience by bus load to Trump Tower, to participate in protests. He’s got some more interactive stuff coming up. I found it exciting theater. Two hours, no intermission, and it was a breeze. Plus, I learned some things.

I can’t wait to go back.

Review: “Leap!” Has a Laugh Out Loud Mel Brooks and Kate McKinnon in Three Delicious Roles

Roger Friedman
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Review: “Leap!” Has a Laugh Out Loud Mel Brooks and Kate McKinnon in Three Delicious Roles

“Leap!”—directed by Eric Summer and Eric Warin– is a clever Swan Lake for kids with lush animation. But it’s also a lot of fun for adults. A hit all over the world, “Leap!” has been smartly recast with American actors who bring their own sensibilities starting with Elle Fanning as Felicie, the young heroine trapped in a French orphanage in late 1880s Normandy. She dreams of being a prima ballerina in Paris. But that means escaping the confines she’s known since childhood. Wait til she meets a cast of characters in Paris, some who help and many who hinder her trajectory to fame and happiness.

Fanning — who’s become the go-to late teen actress–  plays it straight and lovely so the gang of scene stealers around her can do their bits. Kate McKinnon– playing three roles but mainly the deliciously evil Regine LeHaute — is an essential addition to the canon of wicked witches like Cruela deVil and Cinderella’s stepmother. (McKinnon can do no wrong, and luckily Regine seems like she was drawn just for her.)

The great Mel Brooks is hilarious as the proprietor of the Normandy orphanage from which Felicie (Elle Fanning) wants to escape. (He has at least one line that made me laugh out loud. Wait for it.) Felicie has competition in Regina LeHaut’s daughter, Camille (a lovely sneering Maddie Ziegler). Luckily, Felicie also has some supporters– a bff In Victor, a young budding inventor (Nat Wolff) and a mentor in Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen).

There isn’t a little girl in America who won’t want to be Felicie or identify with her. It’s a story old as time, to quote another animated classic. And guess what? It still resonates with every new generation.

Taylor Swift About to Join Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Other Popsters in Grammy Race with New Music

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift About to Join Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Other Popsters in Grammy Race with New Music

Taylor Swift is about to give birth.

Any minute now she will drop a new single. Swift will join Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and other popsters who want records out for Christmas, and maybe Grammy nominations.

The Grammys deadline is September 30th, so the heat is on to capitalize on that publicity.

Miley has a new album and single, “Younger Now.” Bieber just released a new single called “Friends.”

Swift has cleared the decks on all her social media, getting ready to launch something. She’s literally created a ‘blank slate’ to introduce new music and new branding.

Whether all this will work for Grammys is one thing. But this last minute summer push makes sense. These acts have to grab the attention of teens and tweens before school is back in session.

So far the Grammy contenders for Best Album include Kesha, Ed Sheeran, and Kendrick Lamar. There’s still time for someone to release something great– not sure if that’s possible, but we’ll let hope spring eternal!

Kennedy Center Honors in Trouble as 3 of 5 Inductees Won’t Go to White House Ceremony

Roger Friedman
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Kennedy Center Honors in Trouble as 3 of 5 Inductees Won’t Go to White House Ceremony

The Kennedy Center Honors is in trouble. Three of the five inductees won’t go to the White House for the official dinner and ceremony the night before the CBS show is taped.

They include Norman Lear, Lionel Richie, and Carmen deLavallade. That leaves just LL Cool J and Gloria Estefan who have not said what they will do.

And the situation could get much worse as Donald Trump’s presidency continues. None of the recipients perform on the show, which will be taped the first weekend in December. But the Kennedy Center will have to find people willing to be part of the show if Trump and wife Melania decide they will sit in the presidential booth.

It’s rare for presidents to miss the Kennedy Center taping. But Trump — if he’s still in office then– could make an excuse for being out of town.

Of course, the recipients who’ve already declined the White House invite could defer their induction completely and not show at all. For Lear, who’s 95 years old, that might be tough. But he has a lot of integrity and a lot of awards.

CBS won’t be happy if the Kennedy Center show falls apart. But it’s not a big ratings getter in the first place. They may just agree to take a year off.

What a mess: Trump continues to poison everything good within his reach.

White House Chaos Continues: Bannon Ousted, All Members of President’s Arts Council Resign

Roger Friedman
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White House Chaos Continues: Bannon Ousted, All Members of President’s Arts Council Resign

Donald Trump’s White House–rats are being forced from the ship, and the good people are leaving, too.

Steve Bannon, loathed leader of Breitbart news, the White House’s leading proponent of hate, has been ousted by General Kelly. Also, I dare say, Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report ran a successful campaign to get rid of Bannon. The once and probably future Breitbart editor was the Rasputin of Trump’s administration. He was hated on the left, the right, in the center, and on the fringes. His leaving won’t solve Trump’s problems, but it’s like lancing a boil. There will be some relief.

Meanwhile, all the remaining members of Trump’s Arts Council have resigned. This means that CEO’s don’t want to work with Trump and no one else does.

Here is the text of their letter. Among the signers: famed artist Chuck Close, actors Kal Penn and John Lloyd Young, Vicki Kennedy (widow of Ted Kennedy), and writer Jhumpa Lahiri.

Reproach and censure in the strongest possible terms are necessary following your support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville.  The false equivalencies you push cannot stand. The Administration’s refusal to quickly and unequivocally condemn the cancer of hatred only further emboldens those who wish  America ill. We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions. We are members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH).

The Committee was created in 1982 under President Reagan to advise the White House on cultural issues. We were hopeful that continuing to serve in the PCAH would allow us to focus on the important work the committee does with your federal partners and the private sector to address, initiate, and support key policies and programs in the arts and humanities for all Americans. Effective immediately, please accept our resignation from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Elevating any group that threatens and discriminates on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, orientation, background, or identity is un-American.

We have fought slavery, segregation, and internment. We must learn from our rich and often painful history. The unified fabric of America is made by patriotic individuals from backgrounds as vast as the nation is strong. In our service to the American people, we have experienced this first-hand as we traveled and built the Turnaround Arts education program, now in many urban and rural schools across the country from Florida to Wisconsin. Speaking truth to power is never easy, Mr. President. But it is our role as commissioners on the PCAH to do so. Art is about inclusion. The Humanities include a vibrant free press. You have attacked both. You released a budget which eliminates arts and culture agencies. You have threatened nuclear war while gutting diplomacy funding.

The Administration pulled out of the Paris agreement, filed an amicus brief undermining the Civil Rights Act, and attacked our brave trans service members. You have subverted equal protections, and are committed to banning Muslims and refugee women & children from our great country. This does not unify the nation we all love. We know the importance of open and free dialogue through our  work in the cultural diplomacy realm, most recently with the first-ever US Government arts and culture delegation to Cuba, a country without the same First Amendment protections  we enjoy here.

Your words and actions push us all further away from the freedoms we are guaranteed. Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions. We took a patriotic oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values. Your values are not  American values. We must be better than this. We are better than this. If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too.

Pop: Miley Cyrus Returns to G Rated Music from NC-17, Leaves the F Word to 17 Year Old Sister Noah

Roger Friedman
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Pop: Miley Cyrus Returns to G Rated Music from NC-17, Leaves the F Word to 17 Year Old Sister Noah

Just as I suspected, Miley Cyrus has done a full 180. She’s dropped the NC-17 career turn that earned her points with “Wrecking Ball.” She’s just released the title track from her new album called “Younger Now.”

Miley has returned to G rated fluff, a little bland and inoffensive, after her dark period of put on lasciviousness. The “Younger Now” album even features a duet with Dolly Parton. During this wild period, Miley published explicit pictures of herself, announced she was gender fluid, outsmoked Snoop Dogg, and Twerked herself into a frenzy.

But one look at “Younger Now” and you can see she’s taken a wrecking ball to all that came before. Now more Dead Petz (her interesting free music release). No more naked pictures with Terry Richardson.

This video– maybe Miley is integrating Hannah Montana with her blue period. Where’s that tongue, Miley?

But the Cyrus family is not finished with sending out a little raunch. Miley’s younger sister Noah, age 17, has an album coming out called “NC-17.” It features a track called “We Are F***ed.” Except without the asterisks. Keepin’ it classy.

But it sure seems like Miley has been somehow kidnapped and re-programmed by the Hemsworth she’s with and maybe her family. She has a look on her face that indicates “hostage.” I just feel like she’s going to appear on some live show, start up with a lasso and this new song, and suddenly stick the tongue out, jump on the wrecking ball, and Twerk her heart out.

Miley. come back!

Trouble: New Tom Cruise Movie “American Made” Opens Worldwide Starting This Week, US Not Til End of September

Roger Friedman
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Trouble: New Tom Cruise Movie “American Made” Opens Worldwide Starting This Week, US Not Til End of September

My friends, there is trouble in River City. Or make that, Universal City.

Tom Cruise’s new movie, “American Made,” is opening this week. Only, not in the United States. This week “American Made” opened in Taiwan and the Netherlands. Next week, it begins a rollout around the world. All through the rest of August moviegoers in 20 countries will be able to see  “American Made.”

Then, in September, another dozen or so countries will get it.

Finally, on September 29th, when the entire world has cast their vote on “American Made,” the Doug Liman-directed adventure will open in the United States.

This is HIGHLY unusual. But for Universal, which just experienced rough times with Tom Cruise in “The Mummy,” it’s a preventative measure. “The Mummy” did poorly in the US ($80 mil) but very well abroad ($325 mil). So why open it here first, where American audiences’ ambivalence toward Cruise could queer the whole deal? Better to open around the world, and let grouchy US audiences see it last.

Tonight, Rotten Tomatoes published a handful of reviews from US writers. Did they like it? Even though they were lukewarm, Rotten Tomatoes labeled all the reviews positive. Because the movie doesn’t open here until September 29th, and many reviewers are on vacation, Universal was smart. They drew the second string reviewers.

Still, Variety’s Guy Lodge says comparisons to “GoodFellas” or “American Hustle,” suggested in press notes, don’t fly. He writes: “American Made” lacks the sense of moral reckoning and self-effacing human irony it needs to achieve the emotional payoff or tragicomic heft of “American Hustle,” let alone Scorsese’s masterwork.

Indeed, from the trailer below, Cruise sounds like Ray Liotta doing the voice over from “GoodFellas.” In Taiwan, they won’t care. But in the US, that may be be a problem.

So we’re in new territory here. Most blockbusters open in the US first, then around the world. Some open day and date, and a few get a couple of days head start abroad. But six weeks of “previews” before America sees it? Never. And Cruise, who loves to go on world promotional tours, is sidelined with a broken ankle and other injuries from a mishap shooting “Mission Impossible 6.” That doesn’t help.

Stay tuned. This “American Made” journey begins now and will take six weeks to unfold– again, very unusual. We will definitely see reports of HUGE box office in foreign lands. But let’s not forget, they just want to see Tom Cruise grin. The reality of “American Made” is off in the distance.

Justin Bieber Drops New Single, Todd Rundgren and WAR Want Their Song Back

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber Drops New Single, Todd Rundgren and WAR Want Their Song Back

Justin Bieber has no ideas. His songs are formed from bits of material floating though the universe. He wants to be friends. Please tell him we have plenty of friends: Todd Rundgren, WAR, Bette Midler, Elton John, Carole King, James Taylor. Also, those bird sounds or whatever they are were very 2015.

Bieber’s partner here is one Michael Tucker, aka BloodPop(*trademark), who worked on Lady Gaga’s “Joanne” album.

Justin

Todd Rundgren

WAR

Elvis Presley: Big Business in Death But His Charitable Foundations Have Ground to a Halt

Roger Friedman
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Elvis Presley: Big Business in Death But His Charitable Foundations Have Ground to a Halt

Elvis Presley is alive for his fans in memory and in sales. As far as charity goes, however, Elvis has left the building. Both of the foundations connected to him– the Presley Foundation and the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation– are moribund.

It’s the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death. Is he still popular? This year alone, according to Buzz Angle, his records have had so far 290 million streams. He’s sold almost 292,000 albums this year–2017– to date. Elvis has sold 465,800 songs– that’s singles– this year, too. Even after 60 years, ain’t nothing but a hound dog.

These days, Elvis and Graceland are money making machines. Forbes estimated that Elvis raked in $55 million in 2015. The total value of Elvis’s estate could be as high as $500 million.

Some background: Lisa Marie Presley inherited her father’s estate. In 2005, she sold 85% of the estate– except for Graceland and Elvis’s personal possessions– to CKX Inc for $100 million. In 2013, CKX sold their holdings to another company, Authentic Brands. Lisa Marie still holds that 15% plus everything done at Graceland, etc. It’s a lot of money. And it’s always coming in.

Graceland maintains a website for the Presley Charitable Foundation. But over the years this group, run by Lisa Marie, has rapidly dissipated. Registered in Santa Monica, the Presley Charitable Foundation had just $26 in revenue in 2014-15. Yes, twenty six dollars. Claiming total assets of $112K, they made exactly one donation in that year– to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital, for $4,500. (This is from their Federal tax filing form 990.)

The Presley Charitable Foundation touts low cost housing– an apartment building they put their name on in Memphis called Presley Place in conjunction with other Memphis charities. But the latest tax filing doesn’t mention the building or any other projects. The Presley Charitable Foundation lists an address in Santa Monica, California. But when I called there yesterday, a woman who answered the phone said they were long gone.

Meanwhile, there’s the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation, registered in Memphis. Lisa Marie is president of this charity, too. On their Form 990 for 2014 which goes to the end of 2015 the EPCF had just $59,588 in its till. In 2015, they made a total contribution of $2,525 divided among four groups.

It wasn’t always this way. Back in 2006-07, the EPCF gave away $277K to mostly local charities. Even as late as 2010, they gave almost $250K to another set of locals. But the estate contributed almost nothing that year, and funds were dwindling.

According to the group’s website at Graceland.com: “The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation receives a portion of the overall business income of Graceland/Elvis Presley Enterprises, with additional funding from the company’s royalties on specially licensed products and from special benefit events the company stages. A meaningful amount of the EPCF’s funding also comes from donations made by Elvis fan clubs and individual Elvis fans and admirers from around the world.”

Of course, as with most celebrity families there are a lot of mouths to feed. Lisa Marie lives off the estate. She has four kids by two ex husbands and is currently in a bizarre divorce/custody battle with the most recent one. (The two other ex husbands– Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage — didn’t need her money.) Then, of course, there’s her mom, Priscilla Presley, who helped turn Graceland into a huge business, and Scientology, to whom both Lisa Marie and Priscilla have given money in the past.

But at least one of Elvis’s descendants turns out to be a surprise bread winner– Lisa Marie’s daughter, actress Riley Keough. She’s been a total success, currently starring in Steven Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky” and the director’s TV series, “The Girlfriend Experience.” She turns out to be Elvis’s greatest legacy.

Katy Perry Delays “Witness” Tour by 12 Days “Due to Production Delays”

Roger Friedman
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Katy Perry Delays “Witness” Tour by 12 Days “Due to Production Delays”

Katy Perry won’t be able to get a Witness until September 19th. Her tour to back her Witness album has been delayed by 12 days. It was supposed to kick off September 7th.

In a statement Perry says: “Due to unavoidable production delays, major elements of my tour stage design could not be available for me to rehearse on until this week,” said Katy Perry. “I’ll be spending the next few weeks taking the time to properly prepare the show to be an experience I am proud to share with you. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this causes, but hope everyone who sees the show will agree it was worth the wait.”

According to a press release: “WITNESS: The Tour is an imaginative trip from outer-space to inner-space, from the planets to the bottom of our oceans, and a musical journey through Katy Perry’s biggest milestones and mega-hits right up to her latest album. The dramatically original staging means that there isn’t a bad seat in the house, when Katy brings out her band and dancers, along with all the bells and whistles.”

I’ve seen Katy at Madison Square Garden. These shows are like something from Ringling Bros (without the animals). When there are “Fireworks,” it’s intense. Every song is a set piece often requiring acrobatics and pyrotechnics. It’s not like the old days when Carly or Carole or Joni just played their guitar or piano. It’s not even like Bette Midler coming out of a clam shell. If something went wrong, it would be a disaster on the scale of “Spider Man” on Broadway. So take all the time you need, Katy.

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