The PBS Special for Eddie Murphy’s Mark Twain prize is on line and you can watch it here. What a great show this was– Eddie’s comic genius really is showcased beautifully. All the comics were great. And you can watch Sam Moore and Brittany Howard rip it up on “Hold On I’m Coming.” Nice stuff!
Watch Sam and Brittany at 1:14–
Adele is full of piss and vinegar. She put a video out this morning saying she’d been going on tour after all. What a surprise! Quel surprise, Adele!
Anyway, there are 36 dates booked for Europe for late February through mid June. They go on sale December 4th. US dates haven’t been announced yet but they are forthcoming. I don’t think they’ll begin until late summer or early fall. Almost all the dates are promoted by LiveNation.
Go to https://t.co/l21mEjQSCp for details pic.twitter.com/3RAuxqGpMg
— Adele (@Adele) November 26, 2015
To be frank, an Adele tour is arduous if her Radio City Show was any indication. It’s just her. For 90 minutes plus encores. That’s a lot of singing, and she’s a belter. Unlike jazz and other rock performers of the past, Adele doesn’t have a great instrumentalist to turn to, to fill out time and give her a break. She is saingin’, as they say. I am surprised some dates are back to back. Hmmmm….
So brace yourselves for Adele next fall, when one of these songs from “25” is a hit and she’s heading into the Grammy race for 2017.
29Feb SSE Arena
Belfast, United Kingdom
1Mar SSE Arena
Belfast, United Kingdom
4Mar 3Arena
Dublin, Ireland
5Mar 3Arena
Dublin, Ireland
7Mar Manchester Arena
Manchester, United Kingdom
8Mar Manchester Arena
Manchester, United Kingdom
15Mar The O2 Arena
London, United Kingdom
16Mar The O2 Arena
London, United Kingdom
18Mar The O2 Arena
London, United Kingdom
19Mar The O2 Arena
London, United Kingdom
25Mar The SSE Hydro
Glasgow, United Kingdom
26Mar The SSE Hydro
Glasgow, United Kingdom
29Mar Genting Arena
Birmingham, United Kingdom
30Mar Genting Arena
Birmingham, United Kingdom
29Apr Tele2 Arena
Stockholm, Sweden
1May Telenor Arena
Oslo, Norway
3May Forum
Copenhagen, Denmark
4May Jyske Bank Boxen
Herning, Denmark
Berlin, Germany
8May Mercedes-Benz Arena
Berlin, Germany
10May Barclaycard Arena
Hamburg, Germany
11May Barclaycard Arena
Hamburg, Germany
14May Lanxess Arena
Cologne, Germany
15May Lanxess Arena
Cologne, Germany
17May Hallenstadion
Zurich, Switzerland
21May MEO Arena
Lisbon, Portugal
22May MEO Arena
Lisbon, Portugal
24May Palau Sant Jordi
Barcelona, Spain
28May Arena di Verona
Verona, Italy
29May Arena di Verona
Verona, Italy
1Jun Ziggo Dome
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3Jun Ziggo Dome
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
9Jun AccorHotels Arena
Paris, France
10Jun AccorHotels Arena
Paris, France
12Jun Sportpaleis
Antwerp, Belgium
13Jun Sportpaleis
Antwerp, Belgium
Ryan Coogler’s great film, “Creed,” scored $6 million on Wednesday, achieving a knockout for a midday. Now comes the fun, as Thanksgiving weekend audiences could propel “Creed” higher than $30 million. Coogler’s previous– and first– film, the wonderful “Fruitvale Station,” made a worldwide total of $17,385,830. Wow. So hold on for more updates…
Coogler, I should point out, is a black director. After Spike Lee, John Singleton, Steve McQueen, Kasi Lemmons, F. Gary Gray, and Ava Duvernay, maybe now more obstacles will come down…
Other Wednesday results:
Hunger Games Mockingjay Pt 2…$13.8 million* Mockingjay Part 2 is running around $20 million behind Part 1 on a day to day comparison…
The Good Dinosaur…$9 million…
Adele’s “25” is at 2.8 million copies, on its way to 3.1 million or more by end of the day Thursday. It’s broken all records and sold more copies than any recording since music was counted properly by SoundScan.
Meanwhile, a good chunk of sales came from Target’s special edition of “25,” which has three extra songs. Frankly, those songs should be on the album proper. They’re very good and maybe a little more varied than some of the songs on “side two” or tracks 7,8, and 9.
“Can’t Let Go” is co-written with Linda Perry, although I think with a lot of these songs, the composer really maps out Adele’s ideas. Haunting piano propels “Can’t Let Go” and the song is memorable and lively.
Tobias Jesso, who wrote “When We Were Young,” authored gospel-tinged “Lay Me Down,” which has friskier vocal than some of Adele’s more somber numbers.
“Why Do You Love Me” is written with Rick Nowells, who’s written a lot of hits and knows what he’s doing. He co-wrote the New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give,” a classic, and Michelle Branch’s “The Game of Love,” another, among many others. “Why Do Love You Me” sounds like a single to me.
The three “extra” songs are a little buried because of the Target deal. Too bad. They coulda been contenders.
It’s hard to believe that Sly Stone has outlived Cynthia Robinson. But he has, she was 69 and had cancer. She was the amazing and legendary trumpet player on Sly and the Family Stone’s great number of hits from “Dance to the Music” to “Family Affair.” She appeared with him during his crazy attempts at putting on a show in the last few years at BB King’s in New York, and was great as ever. What a shame.
On Instagram, Questlove from the Roots has written this:
All The Squares Go Home. Goodbye to Cynthia Robinson. Music’s original “hypeman” 20 years before Public Enemy pioneered the “Vice President” position. But she wasn’t just a screaming cheerleading foil to Sly & Freddie’s gospel vocals. She was a KICK ASS trumpet player. A crucial intricate part of Sly Stone’s utopian vision of MLK’s America: Sly & The Family Stone were brothers & cousins. friends & enemies. black & white. male & female. saint & sinner. common man & superheroes. guarded & vulnerable. poets & punks. hip & square. She was so cool to us the day we opened up for #SlyAndTheFamilyStone she never ever lost a step or a beat. ….
go to 3:18
and this interview:
Hello. Adele broke all the records this morning, surpassing NSync and going over the 2.4 million mark on sales of “25.” However, by 9pm EST hitsdailydouble.com clocked her at 2,518,177. And that’s only with 69% of sales counted. Adele should cross the 3 million mark by Thursday when the count is concluded. At that point, she can use the F word all she wants because it’s f—ing amazing.
Here is she was on Jimmy Fallon, with the Roots, who got “Hello” moving in the right direction:
I told you in October 2014 that “Fruitvale Station” director Ryan Coogler was going to make “Creed.” I also told you first last year that the great Phylicia Rashad would play Michael B. Jordan’s step mother.
Two weeks ago I ran into “Rocky” producer Irwin Winkler at Michael’s, and he told me that Sylvester Stallone would be nominated for Best Supporting actor in “Creed.” What he didn’t say was that Stallone might very well win.
Stallone won nominated for Best Actor for playing “Rocky” in 1977. (Peter Finch won for “Network.”) He has never been nominated since then. But his work is so good now as the boxing coach for Jordan’s Adonis Creed, Stallone is very likely to sweep in and surprise everyone. (This would be bad news for the many other potential nominees from “Spotlight” and other films.)
“Creed” is a total hit, a must see movie for Thanksgiving weekend. Coogler is 29 years old and this is second movie, after the wonderful “Fruitvale Station.” Not only has be brought Jordan over from that film, but he’s incorporated Stallone, Rashad, and a terrific cast in a movie that feels deceptively like comfort food but is really haute cuisine.
Not to say past “Rocky” movies haven’t been considered good cinema. Stallone always surprises, and his last– “Rocky Balboa” in 2006– reinvented the series.
But where to go next? Luckily, Coogler had an idea about Apollo Creed’s son wanting to fight, and needing Rocky to pull it off. Winkler and Stallone went for it. And luckily again, Michael B. Jordan — who before “Fruitvale” was a teen actor on the famed soap “All My Children”–was just right for the assignment. Jordan is a star. And Coogler manages to walk the line between caring for a “superhero” legacy, and being an auteur. His pacing is his own, and very unlike a big studio sequel. He’s made a very good film.
“Creed” also introduces Tessa Thompson as Adonis’s pretty and talented girlfriend, Bianca. She will remind you of Lauryn Hill from 20 years ago.
Stallone has had a long and varied career, inventing Rambo as well as Rocky. They are each American icons, no matter how you slice it. Rocky is obviously the beloved one, and his enduring persona has endured for 40 years. In “Creed,” Stallone plays him without any mugging or some of the tics that afflicted Rocky in the later movies. He’s unadorned, unsentimental, and fully engaging. He deserves all accolades.
PS Nice nod to Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, who sing “Wake Up Everybody” on Rocky’s iPod.
As I also told you last week, “Creed” is already set for a sequel. Can’t wait.
David Canary has passed away at age 77. The great actor was the star (with Susan Lucci) of “All My Children” from 1985 until its end in 2011 (and again, in the internet version in 2013). He was nominated for Best Actor 16 times and won 5 Daytime Emmy Awards for playing twins Adam Chandler (a billionaire tycoon) and Stuart, his sweet and mentally challenged brother.
“All My Children” wasn’t his first soap opera. He played a revived from the dead Steven Frame on “Another World” in the early 80s. But his real introduction to fame was as star of a horse opera– “Bonanza.” He played Candy Canady from 1967 to 1973 in the long running prime time western.
Canary was the rare Alpha male strong leading actor on a soap. And you knew he took it seriously, even when it was all preposterous. He was a real star, who was known for volunteer work in his suburban Connecticut. He will be sorely missed.
Hello!
There is now a prediction that Adele will sell 5 (five) million copies of her “25” album between now and December 31st. This is thanks to hitsdailydouble.com. Here’s their little chart:
Is it possible? And when does the backlash begin? Adele is getting overexposed very quickly. There are dozens of “interviews” all over the web, all clickbait with ridiculous one off quotes. She’s giving her opinion on everything. You know what? A little mystery goes a long way!
Something weird and I guess modern is going on, too. We’re not allowed to have serial singles– first “Hello,” then in a couple of months a new one. No– it’s not like that any more. Everything is a single! The “Whole” must consumed quickly and instantly. No waiting! You must like the whole thing NOW. It all must be a hit NOW.
Caution: this is what killed “Desperate Housewives” on TV and is killing “Empire” now. We’re burning this stuff out too fast.
In New York about 50 people made last night’s screening of “The Revenant.” Meanwhile in LA, they had a screening at the Academy packed with Oscar and VIP, SAG voters and press, as well as star Leonardo DiCaprio’s good buddies Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connolly.
Tobey was accepting kudos from Academy members for his performance as Bobby Fischer in “Pawn Sacrifice.” “Entourage” star Connolly, will be directing the upcoming– and long suffering– “Gotti” film starring John Travolta.
DiCaprio told the crowd that the film was, “almost a silent movie performance from me.” Leo speaks about 20 lines of dialogue in the film.
Director Innarritu called the film “almost like an impossible task.” Leo said, “to tell you the truth, it’s all a beautiful blur to me.”
Leo then went on to say that because the rehearsals took months with the complicated camera moves worked out with the actors before they went into the wild. “We all felt an intensity and a unity with the whole crew that you had to grasp the entire shot every day We only had about 90 minutes a day to capture the beautiful, illustrious Chivo light,” a reference to the director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki who is nicknamed Chivo.
Leo continued, “It was a brilliantly simplistic script about a man avenging the death of his son. We wanted to find the poetry in that.”
Given the weather and the intricate camera work involved, he added, “By far, this is the most difficult film I’ve or any of us have ever done.”
Inarritu confirmed that by saying, “I never knew how difficult it would be. There were times when I thought, ‘What the hell am I doing here? I’m a tropical man from Mexico City!”