Monday, September 30, 2024
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Steve Martin, Martin Short’s “Only Murders in the Building” Renewed for 4th Season by Hulu

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“Only Murders in the Building” will be back for a fourth season.

Right now, the third season is drawing to a close on Hulu. It looks like Steve Martin, Martin Short — who deserves an Emmy, and Selena Gomez have solved the murder of Ben, played by Paul Rudd. Meryl Streep has been an outstanding guest star/

I’m sure “Only Murders,” which I really enjoy, will go five seasons. But that’s enough, especially since they’ve wandered away from the premise to put on a Broadway show. My guess is a movie comes to shoot in the Arconia for Season 4 and, yadda yadda yadda. I hope they stick to the building and its secrets because this season felt a little watery.

PS Also let Mabel sing in a karaoke bar next time!

Global Citizen Concert Trashed Central Park, Great Lawn Closed Until April 6th Because of Sketchy Group: Will They Pay?

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Global Citizen holds itself out as a great savior of something — executive salaries, maybe?

Anyway, reports in the NY Daily News and West Side Rag say that Central Park’s Great Lawn has to be closed until April 6th because of the Global Citizen concert last week.

Apparently, they trashed the place by having the concert in the middle of a vicious storm. It must be bad because even the big New York is Back concert two years ago that took place during hurricane didn’t cause this kind of damage.

“The use of heavy equipment and intense foot traffic in the saturated conditions from the September 23 concert damaged a large portion of the lawn and fully destroyed a third of it,” Central Park Conservancy spokesman Matt Lawyue told the News. “Our team is now working to restore the lawn, hopefully in time to reopen this spring.”

Will Global Citizen foot this bill? Their president, Hugh Evans, is paid over $400,000 to put on these concerts. In 2021, the total for salaries was over $3 million. They spend millions producing the concerts.

And still: both times ABC showed a one hour special from this year’s concert, only 1 million people watched. The ratings were abysmal and so were the YouTube views.

The Central Park Conservancy doesn’t want them back. Neither does city councilwoman Gale Brewer. She wrote in a letter to Mayor Eric Adams: “Twelve acres of public greenspace will be unavailable to New Yorkers until April 2024 or later, all to accommodate a one-day event. I have never been a fan of the Global Citizen Festival because so little, if any, of the grants are allocated to non-profits in New York City. However, I believe the festival brings in $2 million to the general fund. I urge you to schedule the Global Citizen Festival in a venue other than Central Park, such as an arena or stadium.”

Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz Are At War in Public on Twitter, with Elon Musk Egging Them On (Really Happening)

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Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz are about to have it out on the House floor.

In the meantime, they are fighting like children on Twitter, with Elon Musk egging them on.

Gaetz, who looks like a caricature drawn of Jack Nicholson as The Joker, is one of the great morons of all time. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s dispatched.

Gaetz thinks he’s going to topple the Republican regime so that the House becomes a banana republic of its own. He and all his followers, Greene, Boebert, and Santos, have got to be voted out of office. They’re an embarrassment to their voters.

Paris Hilton Dubbed “The queen of pop culture, music, business, and TV” by New Head of Twitter X

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Paris Hilton has been dubbed “the queen of pop culture, music, business, and TV” by Linda Yaccarino, the new head of Twitter X.

Nothing against Hilton, but no, she is absolutely not that person. Yaccarino has already seemed out of her mind since taking the job from Elon Musk. But this cinches it.

Yaccarino came to Twitter from NBC, where she worked on brand partnerships. She’s all ginned up now about making some kind deal with Hilton, famous for making a sex tape and disco singles no one wanted. Paris has been successful in low end fashion and jewelry, which makes you wonder if Twitter is going to become a low level Goop franchise.

Again, no offense to Paris, but why would she throw in with these people? I thought she was too smart for that.

Taylor Swift Appearance Causes Increased Interest in NFL Sundays Game, But NBC Announcers Missed Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively

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Taylor Swift’s presence at last night’s Jets-Kansas City game was a hit.

Extra viewers who tuned in to NBC for NFL Sundays totaled 20 million in overnight ratings. People who’d never seen or heard of football or the teams watched to get a glimpse of Swift.

She didn’t disappoint. After all, her concert movie opens a week from Thursday night. She’s promoting it and she’s very astute about marketing. She knows this will drive ticket sales even if her relationship with Travis Kelce is real (which I’ll bet it is, for now).

However, the total number of 20 million looks like it was down from the previous week’s Taylor pigskin performance by 4 million.

Unfortunately, the NBC announcers didn’t recognize or mention Swift’s friends who came with her– Ryan Reynolds, wife Blake Lively, and Hugh Jackman. So many times the announcers cut to the box and referred to them as “Taylor and friends.” Hilarious. Maybe if they’d mentioned that Deadpool and Wolverine were in the audience, too, ratings would have been even higher!

Sting, Forever Young, Celebrates 72nd Birthday on Tour, of Course, with Vibrant “My Songs” Show in Concord, California

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Happy Birthday, Gordon Sumner!

Sting celebrates his 72nd birthday on tour, of course, tonight in Concord, California. Sting has been on endless worldwide tour since the pandemic ended, bringing his vibrant show to sold out audiences everywhere.

Three weeks ago I caught Sting and his trio at Jones Beach. The show comprises two hours or more of greatest hits, with a few gems mixed in. You get “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.” but also solo hits like “If Ever I Lose My Faith in You” and “All This Time.” The gems are songs like the gorgeous “Why Do I Cry for You?” and the funky “Loving You.”

The musicianship on stage is beyond compare. The band includes Sting on his supple bass, Dominic Miller doing filigrees on his guitar, and Sting’s gifted son. Joe Sumner, who performs with dad but also opens the show. He has a catchy new single called “Live Life” that I wouldn’t mind hearing on the radio.

There’s nothing like hearing a few thousand people singing “Sending out an SOS.” But the reason they’re doing it is that the songs are so well composed and constructed they’ve lasted 40 years. They’re built like great architecture, the kind where you look up at a building and keep seeing the ornamentation for the first time. “Was that always there?” you ask as Sting’s well trained vibrato soars across the theater even better that it did it, say, The Ritz in 1985.

So happy birthday, Sting! And did I mention that at 72 he looks twenty years younger and the plays guitar with the ferocity of a youngster? I just did!

Eric Trump Says Wife Lara’s Name “Not Viable” on iTunes Listing, Streamer Treating Screeching Song “Viscously”

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Eric Trump is on trial today in New York for fraud, along with his father and brother. His business license has been cancelled by Judge Arthur Engoron.

Still, Eric has his priorities. His wife, Lara, has recorded a version of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” It’s sounds like geese being slaughtered. Petty’s estate has sued her to stop the usage.

But Eric says in a post today that Lara’s name is so small on iTunes that it’s not “viable.” He says she’s being treated “viscously.”

Viable means not useful, incapable of working. Viscous is thick and murky. These things certainly describe Eric and Lara.

Now wake up, Eric, the judge is speaking.

PS The video has had 19,000 views on YouTube, almost all causing calls to 911.

Author Michael Lewis Says FTX Founder Paid Larry David $10 Mil for Commercials, Anna Wintour Wanted Him to Back Met Ball

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On “60 Minutes,” author Michael Lewis has a lot of revelations about disgraced financier Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX.

Lewis says Anna Wintour called Bankman-Fried to underwrite the Met Ball even though “he’s the worst dressed person in America” and had no idea who she was.

The author also claims FTX paid Larry David $10 million for those awful commercials that played in the Super Bowl two years ago.

He paid Tom Brady $55 million for 20 hours a year for three years. He paid Steph Curry $35 million for– same thing for three years.

Lewis says: “He spent 100 and something million dollars, buying the naming rights for the Miami Heat arena…For which he then paid Larry David another $10 million, you know. It’s breathtaking, what’s on that list.”

The interview with Lewis will be up soon, and I’ll put it here. Lewis says he also thought of paying Donald Trump not to run for president again. The price would have been $5 billion.

Here’s the link to the transcript.

Lewis’s book, “Going Infinite,” will be published this week.

Review: Presenting Legendary Concert Promoter Ron Delsener in A Terrific Doc Headed to Hamptons Film Festival

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Growing up in New York in the 70s, every rock show had this line above the star’s name: “Ron Delsener Presents.”

Now that’s the title of a terrific documentary by Jake Sumner.

Delsener, as many in the world of music know, is a little like a Jewish Leprechaun. Slight and wiry, with an offbeat acerbic sense of humor, he is a self-made man who saw what the rock concert business could be and went for it. He always has a twinkle in his eye.

In the beginning, Delsener made a deal with New York Mayor Ed Koch and launched a summer music festival on top of the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park. Rheingold Beer was the early sponsor, but Schaefer Beer took over the event from 1968-1976. That was the golden age of rock when almost all the artists we’ve loved were established. Not one of them came to New York without doing a Delsener show.

Central Park was not Delsener’s endgame. He put rock and roll into Carnegie Hall for the first time. The Hall was the crown jewel of all New York properties. Among the groups he booked there was Chicago, which recorded its famous live album in 1971. It was Delsener who also put the Beatles in Forest Hills Tennis Stadium — one of his original venues — in August 1964 on their first tour of the States. His legacy also includes concerts at Jones Beach, bigger than ever to this day.

Several witnesses speak candidly and warmly about Delsener and the history of New York gigs including Bruce Springsteen and Stevie van Zandt, Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye, Billy Joel, and Jon Bon Jovi, who’s kept a custom made wine bottle Delsener commissioned for him from the 1980s. Bette Midler, younger promoter Peter Shapiro, the group, KISS, and Earth Wind & Fire’s Verdine White also weigh in. Their affection for Delsener is obvious even though the concert business of the 70s and 80s is described as a kind of Mafia, with territories drawn up among rivals. Delsener controlled New York, John Scher had New Jersey, Don Law commanded Boston, and so on. The regions were specifically assigned and one when promoter stepped out of line, he was ousted and Delsener took over that spot for good.

You could think of “Ron Delsener Presents” as the flip side of Clive Davis’s “Soundtrack of Our Lives.” The two films together explain quite a bit about the record and music businesses, and how the culture rooted itself from the 60s til now. Where the two films overlap mostly is with Simon & Garfunkel. The hit recording duo wasn’t speaking in 1981 (what else is new?) but Delsener cajoled them into reuniting where else — in Central Park. The landmark concert on a September afternoon brought half a million people to the Sheep’s Meadow. A successful album and film followed, and cemented Simon & Garfunkel’s legacy for a second generation. It was another crowning achievement for Delsener.

Sumner and writer Dan Crane do a very good job fleshing out Delsener’s personal life, too, with his wife Ellin, daughter Samantha, and sister Harriett– who’s always worked with him — weaving in anecdotes. There’s pretty cool animation, too, and gems of archival material.

The Critics Choice Awards should have no trouble giving “Ron Delsener Presents” something for all this good work, not to mention the Gotham Awards. Music fans will lap up all this insight and gossip, I know I did.

“Presenting Ron Delsener” had an original screening at the Tribeca Film Festival and plays this coming week at the Hamptons Film Festival before its release. Don’t miss it.

Review: “May December” Opens the NY Film Festival With Powerful Performances from Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, Charles Melton

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A young actress is to star in a biopic as a woman whose claim to fame is sexual deviance. That’s the premise of Todd Haynes’ latest film, “May December,”opening the esteemed New York Film Festival this week.

Gracie (Julianne Moore), a baker and housewife in Savannah, now married to her much younger lover with whom she has college aged twins, is so reviled she receives a box of shit at the start and spends much of the movie managing the pain of being ostracized. When Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) arrives to take notes for her role, the two women dance a pas de deux of cautious friendliness, with Gracie demonstrating her cake-making skills, her beauty tips, her hold over her family. Edgy music keeps the viewer alert: who is playing whom?

Or, how much does an actor really need to research to play a role? Joe, now 36 wasn’t yet a teen when he and Gracie first had sex. Deep into a guilt driven relationship, he becomes the movie’s center.

Introducing the film at Alice Tully Hall, director Todd Haynes signaled as much in stressing Charles Melton’s outstanding performance. With a nod toward his composer, Marcelo Zarvos, he spoke about the music leading events, a technique taken from a classic movie he saw on TMC, “The Go-Between.” In the end, though, we don’t much like Gracie either, while the film offers an exceptional view of shifting perspectives on an “icky” subject.

“May December” features excellent performances by Moore and Portman– in a festival that showcases the actresses sure to garner awards this year: Emma Stone in “Poor Things,” for example, and a wonderful Sandra Huller, star of both “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” In roles richly drawn, these are the women to watch.