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Thanks to this site, I think, Barack Obama has added “The Color Purple” to his favorite movies.
I told you the other day that Obama omitted the Oprah Winfrey produced musical off his best films of 2023 despite the film being fantastic, and Oprah being his biggest supporter.
Obama added to his original post: “Update: I just saw The Color Purple and loved it. I’m adding it to this list as one of my favorite movies of the year.” But it was too late to include in his formatted post.
In Obama’s music list, posted today, there is indeed no mention of the songs from “The Color Purple.” Maybe he’ll add a note to that pre-formatted post too! The former prez certainly has eclectic taste in music. I guess he doesn’t like SZA, which is surprising. But he does go for Allison Russell, so he gets points for good taste there!
PS I guess he didn’t know that his buddy, Bruce Springsteen, had a single out this fall called “Addicted to Romance.”
We have a lot of favorite causes. Top of the list is Safer Country, which I don’t hesitate to tell you in run by my brother, Paul Friedman. With guns still at the top of list of dangers to our lives in the US, it’s more important than ever to invest in laws of change.
Safer Country has had a huge impact in Virginia, where shootings are higher than ever. Paul says:
In November, Safer Country was proud to honor four departing members of Virginia’s state legislature for their championing the prevention of gun tragedies: Former Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, and Delegates Elizabeth Guzman, Kathleen Murphy, and Ken Plum.
In 2024, Safer Country will be building upon its 2023 public awareness campaign successes to expand our reach and pursue vital legislation to get guns out of unsafe hands.
For instance, we are working with new House Majority Leader Charniele Herring to get guns out of the hands of people convicted of brandishing weapons.
We are also working with Sen. Barbara Favola and Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker to get guns out of the hands of people barred from having guns due to a permanent protection order.
Please take a moment and click on safercountry.org to make a tax-deductible donation of $24 to show your support for our 2024 agenda.
My other favorite groups: Musicares, part of the Grammys, takes care of musicians with health and financial issues. All the musicians from the stars’ hit records are largely unprotected if they get sick, have addictions, or have no place to live. This year, on February 2, Jon Bon Jovi will be honored as Musicares Person of the Year for his tremendous philanthropic work.
The Rainforest Foundation, created by Sting and Trudie Styler, continues to assist indigenous peoples in South America and around the world. Protection of the rainforest is vital to our survival, and remains a front burner issues despite all the other distractions around us. Click here.
The Elton John AIDS Foundationis the leading group fighting AIDS discrimination, helping AIDS patients and families, ending AIDS around the world. They’ve just started the Rocket Fund (See below). David Furnish and Elton continue to run the most open and productive group in this endless battle.
And then there’s Project ALS.Started by the late Jennifer Estes and her remarkable sister, Project ALS is actually responsible for several new drugs in the fight to discover help for devastating Lou Gehrig’s Disease. So many of are hearing about friends and family members with things like ALS and Parkinsons. A donation here is investment in the future.
Some other group’s to check out: Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, New York Women’s Foundation, Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, The Actor’s Fund aka Entertainment Community Fund, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Rosie O’Donnell’s Theater Kids/Maravel Center, and, even when we don’t agree with them, the ACLU.
Timothee Chalamet blasted off in “Call Me By Your Name” six years ago. Since then he’s been in a couple of films that have made each $108 million total in the US– “Dune” and “Little Women” — but they were arguably ensemble pieces.
Now “Wonka” has scored $110 million in just 14 days. Worldwide, the total so far is $281 million. “Wonka” has turned into a smash hit for Warner Bros, one that could and will go much higher before it finishes its theatrical run. Chalamet, who just turned 28 this week, is a movie star. (So far, the only thing wrong with him is that he’s in the Kardashian orbit.
“Wonka” leads three Warner Bros movies to the top of the box office for the 2023 holidays. “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is up to $53 million but will not likely hit $100 million. It’s a write off. But “The Color Purple” is doing great with $32 million in its first week. Plus, “TCP” has a lot of awards action coming. It’s having an excellent run.
Last night’s box office showed a steady continuation from Wednesday night, so the holiday is at least consistent. George Clooney’s “The Boys in the Boat” is still rowing along as the main family film. Sony’s comedy “Anyone But You” isn’t getting a lot of laughs, but will have a big life on airplanes soon. I’m looking forward to seeing it there, without the sound.
PS We’ll probably be seeing a lot of Chalamet as Willy Wonka as Warner’s surely has two more in the oven.
Most of the money earned for hit records nowadays comes from streaming. Actual sales are usually secondary– meaning paid downloads on Spotify or Apple or Amazon.
So what record was the biggest financial hit this year? According to hitsdailydouble.com Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” earned $4.8 million. Most of it was from streaming.
Wallen also earned $2.3 million for “You Proof,” $2.2 million for “Thinkin’ About Me,” $1.9 million for “Wasted on You,” $1.8 million for “Thought You Should Know,” and $1.6 million for “Thought You Should Know.” That’s roughly $12 million. Nice, considering he was supposed to be cancelled.
The lowest revenue song in the top 50 this year was $1.3 million for “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha. Taylor Swift posted 3 songs in the top 50. Miley Cyrus made $3.3 million for the Best Song of the Year, “Flowers.”
You think this sounds like a lot of money? The record company takes its cut, then the writers and producers, the agents and managers, and the IRS. Suddenly it’s all not so much.
This is why artists are encouraged to get out and tour because that’s where the money is. It’s not in record sales. Taylor has already spent her money on flights back and forth to KC Chiefs games.
Last nights ratings for the Kennedy Center Honors were surprisingly disappointing.
Total viewers for the two and a half hour show came to 4.26 million
That’s down 1 million from last year.
The key demo rating was just 200,000 people under the age of 49.
The show wasn’t very good. After a promising start it careened down hill. One problem was relying on Gloria Estefan to be the occasional host and opening act. In the latter role it was unnecessary and a non sequitur. The show could have also been cut by 30 minutes. It was too long and full of extraneous material.
The poor numbers were also a surprise since the show had no competition.
Kanye West’s next post on Instagram and social media after his apology to the Jewish community is:
He’s selling socks for $200. On his website, www.yeezy.com.
On the site, he also calls his “news” section — YEWS. Which is supposed to be a combination of News and Ye, his pseudonym. It’s a news aggregation available only on the mobile version of the site. YEWS appeared yesterday and was updated three times. He’s using black and white Renaissance art drawings to illustrate the stories.
Who’s editing it? Who knows?
This guy is a fraud. It’s possible that tonight he’s dropping a new album, also.
Everything about saving his financial situation. Nothing else matters.
Donald Trump is now responding to a three year old story from Business Insider.
But he’s responding to Rolling Stone, which for some reason written a new version of a 2020 Business Insider piece about Trump bullying his way into “Home Alone 2.”
This is very weird. Rolling Stone even links to the 2020 Business Insider story and says it’s new. But the Business Insider piece clearly is dated 2020.
Maybe it’s just the Twilight Zone of the holiday week. Yesterday on “Good Morning America 3” they announced that “last night” Bruce Springsteen played at Stand Up for Heroes. That was six weeks ago.
Time for everyone to come back from their time shares!
The latest Kennedy Center Honors was on CBS last night. It ran the gamut from classy (Billy Crystal, most of the Renee Fleming segment) to cheesy like Velveeta (Dove Cameron screeching, random people singing Bee Gees songs badly).
The producers knew their strongest stuff was showcasing Dionne Warwick, so they led with it. But they forgot or didn’t know that Dionne had a direct tie in with Barry Gibb. She had a massive hit in 1979 with his song, “Heartbreaker.” It would have been so easy to mention it, even better to have someone sing it. It was a glaring missed opportunity. At least we got Cynthia Erivo and Gladys Knight in boffo performances.
Some of the best things: the whole Billy Crystal segment. Bravo! You really felt like the writers understood the subject. Meg Ryan was shining, Rob Reiner has turned into an eminence grise. Whoopi Goldberg citing the absence of Robin Williams was emotional.
The worst stuff came first in the Renee Fleming segment. Who is Dove Cameron? She was painful singing for Fleming. Ditto Tituss Burgess. Why couldn’t the show get a real singer like Norm Lewis? No one involved in this thing had any appreciation for opera or Fleming. I give the honoree credit for not looking horrified in close ups.
And then came the Bee Gees segment. I will spend the rest of my life trying to un-hear Michael Buble’s American cheese version of “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” and Little Big Town wrecking “Lonely Days.” I would have given anything to hear the ubiquitous John Legend on the former, and no one do the latter. That wasn’t a great choice when they had “To Love Somebody” or “Run to Me” or “Emotion.”
What really came out of this is that two presenters last night — Clive Davis and Whoopi Goldberg — deserve KC Honors next year. So does Liza Minnelli. It’s also time to get back to Hollywood — Denzel Washington? Jane Fonda? Let’s do these things now before they’re mocked for being overlooked.
Nikki Haley refused to say tonight that slavery was the cause of the Civil War.
It was during a town meeting. And now we know where she stands. This is absolutely frightening and disgusting. “What do you want me to say about slavery?” she asks the audience member who speaks to her. Then she says, “Next question.”
Haley’s answer for what caused the Civil War? “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people couldn’t do.”
She is pathetic, and has revealed herself as an enemy of history and fact. And she’s kind of a racist. Sorry, folks. She is not the answer to the Republicans trying to replace Donald Trump as their nominee.
This is disgraceful. But Haley represents the south, and South Carolina, and this what they want to hear. They want the Confederate flag and the statues, the whole deal, like the Union never won and everyone remained on the plantation.
Look at this video. It’s blood boiling. The way she responds should raise alarms for every thinking person.
I can’t wait to hear the Fox and Fiends defend this in the morning.
Nikki Haley was asked by a voter in New Hampshire tonight about the cause of the Civil War. “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people couldn’t do,” Haley answered. pic.twitter.com/g9jUDqpa2F
The beehive did not buzz much for Beyonce’s “Renaissance” movie.
The party is pretty much over, as “Renaissance” is at $32 million and winding down its theatrical release. Right now it’s playing once a day in a handful of theaters.
“Renaissance” was supposed to follow Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” movie, which has made $179 million in the US and $250 million total worldwide. “Eras” is also over, playing similarly one show a day in a few places. “Eras Tour” is on VOD for twenty bucks, which is where you can catch it.
The novelty of “Eras” got everyone excited but it was hard to duplicate. The next singer to try this will be Adele, with a film about her run in Las Vegas at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace. But that probably won’t be until after she finishes next summer.
As for Beyonce, her take was nothing to be embarrassed about. But now she should try and make a great album with classic songs so she can get her Grammy for Album of the Year.
