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The masterful singer songwriter, age 83, has been felled by back pain. He says it’s unmanageable, so he’s canceled two shows in Philadelphia– tonight and tomorrow.
Simon just played a triumphant week of shows at New York’s Beacon Theater that couldn’t have been better. But we all know what back pain is like. It’s more than anyone (except maybe one person in Washington) deserves.
Better that Paul rests up. He’s got a big west coast tour starting July 7th that will take him to Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and so on. He can always circle back to Philly later this year.
Speedy recovery, Paul!
PS These classic rockers and soul singers are road warriors. Dionne Warwick last night –she’s 84. Ringo is out there touring at 85. The Stones are 300 years old and making a new album for a 2026 tour. Judy Collins doesn’t stop doing shows at 85. And there are more. We are the luckiest generation.
At the Apollo last night, the sold out audience kept murmuring “She’s 85,” “She’s 86.”
Let’s not push it. At 84, she still as a lot of spunk, and we love spunk. She also has a killer voice that has aged like fine whiskey and still retains it timber.
To close the Apollo for one year (renovations), Dionne — who her start there decades ago — put on a special three hour show of songs, stories, and wry jokes mixed with video clips and testimonies from friends like Clive Davis, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Valerie Simpson, and an admiring Alicia Keys. Her son, Damon, serves as interviewer, they sit on a lovely looking couch (the kind “Frasier” would have), and there’s a top notch band. (Her other son, David, sings with her and has clearly inherited the family gene.)
In the audience were Broadway types like Tony winner Andre DeShields (who’s known her forever), and Seth Rudetsky.
Dionne appears in a cream colored pants suit and top that looked like they were made of cashmere. Her short, cropped hair has turned white, so the whole package seems like a dessert.
But don’t undersell Dionne. She’s no cream puff. As her Twitter followers know, Dionne has sharp elbows. She’s not pulling any punches in her recollections of growing up as part of the family gospel group, the Drinkards, or finding her way to Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who wrote her foundational songs like “Walk on By,” and “I Say A Little Prayer.”
Don’t worry: there is plenty of mention of her aunt, Cissy Houston, and her cousin, Whitney. Whitney’s brother, Michael, was a guest star in the audience.
Warwick recalls playing the South for the first time, and the surprise of facing segregation. At a stop in South Carolina on tour with Sam Cooke, she was told to face the white audience, with her back to the Blacks. She did just the opposite. She also caused mischief at a segregated diner, where — after being sent to a crummy corner away from the white customers — she ordered the entire menu and then changed her mind, leaving the diner on the hook
The local law enforcement may still be looking for her.
But here she is, a living legend, six time Grammy winner, two of which were for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (1969, 1971), picking up the baton from Ella Fitzgerald, the only other Black woman to win before her.
In the first half of last night’s show — which was expanded to double the usual length because of the occasion — Dionne sang just two songs: “Don’t Make Me over,” the title of the evening, and “I Say A Little Prayer.”
When she returned from a 20 minute break, she was ready for the eager fans. In a stunning run, with her unique vocal styling, Dionne ran through a set of hits including “Walk on By,” “Heartbreaker,” “I’ll Never Love this Way Again,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Alfie,” “Windows of the World,” and “That’s What Friends Are For.”
A bittersweet (and rather racist) story about “Alfie”: for the UK release, producers used Cilla Black, because she was “British,” (meaning White) and not Dionne, whom the songwriters wanted. For the US release, Cher sang “Alfie,” again not Dionne. (She was American, had plenty of hits, but…) As Warwick notes, 42 people covered “Alfie” before she got to it and made it a hit. But her version is not in the movie.
This was 1965-66, when Shirley Bassey was toplining with “Goldfinger” in the UK. But she was British. Read between the lines. (She also shows a UK album cover (see below) of her first album, depicting her as a white girl. Boy, were they surprised when Dionne showed up!)
Dionne used to host variety shows back in the day, with aplomb. She is so natural on stage, directing herself, and speaking to the audience, she could have an afternoon talk show. But she’s a singer first, and her sense memory has only made her more present than ever. What a treat. She says the Apollo has asked her back in a year for the re-opening, and I can’t wait.
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I don’t know why but the trades are all excited that Apple is having its biggest opening ever with “F1.”
That’s nice, but the Brad Pitt race car movie isn’t a special flower or an art film. It’s a $200 million movie starring a Big Movie Star, and it’s in very wide release.
The reality is that “F1” has had a $25 million opening including Thursday and prior screenings. Friday brought in just $15 million on its own. So Apple and Warner Bros. is looking at a $55 million weekend.
For Apple, that’s fine. If this were a Warner-only movie, people would be jumping out of windows. If “Superman” does that, expect real July 4th fireworks aimed at Burbank. (It’s going to be much much bigger, don’t worry. Hint: it’s really good.)
“F1” is lagging behind on the track. Apple/WB is going to need a big Saturday. Word of mouth should be good since audiences since its has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes from actual customers. So there’s interest and recommendation. The critics number, however, has dropped to 83%, but that’s plenty for this kind of movie.
Brad Pitt is fine. He has an Oscar, and he probably gets paid on the gross, not the net. He also has a vineyard, and a young beautiful girlfriend, and he wakes up every day as Brad Pitt. So don’t cry for him, Argentina.
As I predicted, Benson Boone’s sophomore album is a terrible flop.
“American Heart” sold just 60,000 copies in its debut. Half of those came from streaming.
Boone previously had — and still has — enormous hits with his single, “Beautiful Things,” and the album “Fireworks and Roller Blades.”
Each of those remain high on the charts more than a year after release.
But after “Beautiful Things,” the acrobatic Boone couldn’t muster another radio hit.
For this album, he’s struck out four times with singles that went nowhere.
“American Heart” is currently number 9 on iTunes but that chart updates slowly.
Boone and his team overestimated his prior success turning into a solid follow up. “American Heart” is pedestrian at best, and very short with just 10 songs at 30 minutes length. Not really a moment in music.
It may be time for Benson to put a shirt on, stop backflipping, and take his career seriously.
Meantime, Barbra Streisand’s new “Partners 2” duets album is at number 2. Bruce Springsteen’s $250 box set, “Tracks II,” is number 4. It retails around $250.
“F1” is a dud. The race car movie starring Brad Pitt is looking at a $40-$50 Mil weekend.
Last night’s previews brought in just $7 million. Add that to earlier screenings, and “F1” has $10 million in the bank.
That’s a crash and burn for a $200 million movie.
For Apple, it’s fine. It’s their biggest opening, and that’s the way they’re trumpeting such dismal box office.
But something went wrong here. “F1” should have been more in the $7 million opening bracket.
Reviews are good — a B+ — and the racing is supposedly off the charts.
The film’s pedigree includes “Top Gun Maverick” producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski.
Brad Pitt is a Movie Star.
But the movie seems to be about racing, not people. There’s no emotional pull. And that’s what’s holding it back.
What can save “F1”? International audiences. The worldwide release hasn’t happened yet. Those numbers should be high — higher than the US. We’ll wait and see.
Apple’s chief problem? A chunk of potential audience will wait for it on Apple TV. Streaming is Hollywood’s enemy no matter what anyone says.
They asked celebrities to name their top 10 films of the 21st century, and compiled a list of the top 100.
Unbelievably, “Parasite” is number 1.
The list tells some kind of story about culture and the Times. Like every newspaper and magazine list, there are glaring omissions.
Can it be considered a valid survey?
There are just four Black films: “Get Out,” “Moonlight,” “Black Panther” (way down at 97), and “12 Years a Slave.”
No films made by Spike Lee — “BlacKKKlansman,” “25th Hour,” and “Inside Man” are all missing. So are “Selma,” “Training Day,” “Fruitvale Station,” and “American Fiction.”
So are all of Woody Allen’s films including three classics: “Midnight in Paris,” “Vicki Cristina Barcelona,” and “Blue Jasmine.”
There’s no mention of the Oscar winning films from Miramax and The Weinstein Company. No “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” or “Chicago.” However, Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is there, along with “Amelie” and “Carol.” But great films like “Chocolat,” “The Cider House Rules,” and so on are omitted. I wonder why?
There’s one movie each from Steven Spielberg (“Minority Report”) and Pedro Almodovar (“Volver”).
Nothing with Meryl Streep is included. She’s considered our Best Actress, but “The Iron Lady” — for which she won an Oscar, “Doubt,” and “The Devil Wears Prada” — register no mentions.
And what about Oscar winning Best Pictures? Some are there. But along with “The King’s Speech,” “Chicago,” and “The Artist,” other MIA Best Pictures include “A Beautiful Mind,” “Crash,” and “American Beauty.” “Slumdog Millionaire” is absent, so are the three “Lord of the Rings” movies, “Argo,” and “Birdman.”
Just two weeks ago I wrote about him, and a terrific new documentary about his Oscar winning musical accomplishments that mixed jazz with symphonic music.
Schifrin — someone you could really call a genius — wrote what might be the most famous TV and movie theme music ever, for “Mission Impossible.”
He composed hundreds more more movie and TV themes including “Mannix,” “The Man from UNCLE,” and “Bullitt.” He wrote the music for all of Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” movies, and for the “Rush Hour” films.
Schifrin was He was a five-time Grammy Award winner; he was nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards. In 2019, he received an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “in recognition of his unique musical style, compositional integrity and influential contributions to the art of film scoring.”
His “Tar Sequence” became the theme music for Eyewitness News in New York on Channel 7, WABC.
What an incredible life. Condolences to his wife of 52 years, Donna, and their children.
Want to feel old? Fifty five years after his famous one off hit “Spirit in the Sky,” Norman Greenbaum makes a cameo in the first ever video for the song.
Oy vey. He finally looks like a Spirit in the Sky. (He’s 82.)
The video stars Connor Sherry and Abby Ryder Fortson.
Craft Recordings has issued a new vinyl (I may have the original). They’re streaming the song in Dolby Atmos.
The album produced no other hits in 1970, and Norman hever had another one.
Norman grew up Orthodox Jewish but was inspired by a Christian Tv show to write the song. He must have made a fortune from licensing fees over the last five decades. God bless.
This is a strange concept. It should have been a young boy with a yarmulke on his head wandering into a Baptist church and leading the choir. But no one asked me.
It seems like the Tik Tok effect has worked for two “unknown” musicians.
Adam McInnis and a singer guitarist named Daddy Jack have placed 12 different songs on the iTunes top 100. Three of them are in the top 10.
They call themselves Sons of Legion, and have about a dozen videos that the TikTok crowd are eating up.
Sons of Legion follow in the path of Teddy Swims and Jelly Roll, with gutteral voices that recall Southern blues like Lynyrd Skynyrd, and even Hootie and the Blowfish.
They have a notable lack of publicity but a lot of copy. They say they met in Nashville at a songwriters night. They have a carefully curated look of the cool old West.
In reality, McInnis, at least, is a well known quantity in music and movie circles. He’s from Manhattan (New York, not Kansas), has worked on several film soundtracks, and is an expert in music licensing. (It’s unclear who Daddy Jack is, but there’s a website for a Daddy Jack Band and a guy in a hat and sunglasses who bares a resemblance.)
The pair’s videos are very professional for a group that claims “no label, no manager, no publicist.” The whole Sons of Legion package is well curated to seem like a grassroots effort. But wait: they say their songs have garnered over 20 million streams on Spotify and featured on major platforms like ESPN, Dodge Ram commercials, Netflix, and NBC.
According to Luminate, which isn’t up to date on this week’s breakout, Sons of Legion have had 2.5 million streams so far this year, and 5 million in their career.
Which isn’t to say that Sons of Legion haven’t made good records. They do. Five of the songs on the top 10 are available for free download on their website. One of them is a cover of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” All the songs are on iTunes and Spotify, and the men even have their own “record label.” There’s also three whole albums that they sell on their website for $10.99. So far none of them has charted. They also sell a coffee mug.)
Are Sons of Legion contrived? Maybe a little bit. It does seem like five years or so of work has finally paid off big time. It feels like two seasoned musicians got wise about marketing, and have found a pot of gold. Good for them! They say they’ve been approached by all the major labels, so we’ll see where this all winds up.
