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Mariah Falls on Stage, Keeps Smiling–And Singing

Roger Friedman
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10
Mariah Falls on Stage, Keeps Smiling–And Singing

Mariah Carey fell on stage last night in Singapore during a one-off show to celebrate the Formula 1 Grand Prix. (She’s not on tour.)

But she popped right back up and kept singing. And smiling. In fact, she stumbled, regained her stance, signaled for an assistant. The woman came on stage with a bottle of water, but Mariah really wanted help fixing her boot strap. She certainly was not going to bend over and fix it herself! Mariah kicked off her shoes and kept going.

Considering that everyone thinks she’s pregnant, Mariah took the whole thing literally in stride.

She’s a trouper, that’s for sure.

If Mariah is pregnant, she’s definitely covering it up artfully. She’s heavier than in the past, but frankly, looks damn good. Check out the second video, for “Touch My Body.” The strawberry pink maternity outfit is very clever.

Her Christmas album is coming on November 9th, by the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1KDFVojGc&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mel0Vw8qcBY&feature=related

Michael Jackson New Album: “Before End of Year”

Roger Friedman
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27
Michael Jackson New Album: “Before End of Year”

An album of new Michael Jackson recordings–songs left behind and remixed since his death–is on its way.

The question, though, is when?

A Sony source confirmed for me that the album will arrive before Christmas. So far, the date can’t be set because the work isn’t finished.

In the end, four of what might be 12 tracks will be derived from sessions Michael did with Eddie Cascio in his suburban New Jersey studio three years ago. At least one of those tracks was originally co written and produced by Eddie’s brother Frank Cascio for an R&B singer named Bobby Ewing.

Some of the other tracks will be outtakes from Jackson albums, a Paul Anka song called “Love Never Felt So Good” from the session that produced the title track for “This Is It.”

Jackson co-executor John McClain is in charge of the project. Sources say that McClain’s been relying heavily on Michael’s brother, Jackie, for help since he’s not, technically, a music producer. Rodney Jerkins and Akon are also working on tracks. It’s unclear whether so many producers can affect a consistent sound.

Last week, Sony chief Rob Stringer went out to Los Angeles, I am told, to supervise and give comments on the progress of the album. After all it’s part of his $200 million deal with the Jackson estate. Sony wants the album to be a huge smash.

The Jackson estate, by the way, is working on several more projects including a documentary or reality show about the putting together of the new live Cirque du Soleil project.

Rod Stewart Swings Again On “Fly Me to the Moon”

Roger Friedman
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1
Rod Stewart Swings Again On “Fly Me to the Moon”

About ten years ago, famed producer Richard Perry played me some tracks he was working on in secret with Rod Stewart. Those tracks became half of the first Stewart “Song Book” album. (Phil Ramone produced the other half.) You could say a Frankenstein was created. More cover albums, all hits, right through a rendition of missed songs from the 70s in 2007. And like a copy of a copy, the albums faded until Stewart’s persona was almost gone.

So it’s good news: Perry is back with Rod. Their “Fly Me to the Moon”–the newest “Songbook”–gets Stewart back to the original plan from a decade ago. Perry hadn’t worked on a “Songbook” album since around 2003, so the time was right. Don’t forget, he’s pretty much the single most successful top 40 producer ever of quality music. He did all the big hits from Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, the Pointer Sisters, you name it. His Harry Nilsson albums–particularly the hit “Without You”–are colossal achievements. Simon’s “You’re So Vain” gets better and better after 38 years.

Arista is releasing “Fly Me to the Moon” tomorrow on vinyl to make the Grammy deadline on Thursday. The CDs and full album downloads come early next month. I heard the tracks just before they were finalized about a month ago. Perry has revived Rod from a coma. It’s a miracle. Stewart sounds energized and excited. His phrasing is back. He’s engaged in the music. And Perry has chosen a group of songs that suit the singer to a ‘t.’ Songs that we know–some from Sinatra– get a whole new life, from “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” to “I Get a Kick Out of You.”

But I really enjoyed some songs that are less well known now: “My Foolish Heart” and “Love Me Or Leave Me.” There are also neat versions of “September in the Rain” and Bobby Darin‘s “Beyond the Sea.”  No one knows how to orchestrate and produce like Perry. Rod hasn’t sounded this good in years and years. No, it’s not “Maggie May.” But Rod’s done that. And with “Fly Me to the Moon,” it does sound like he’s made a graceful transition to a new phase.

Mad Men: Secrets, The Beatles, the Playboy Club and No Peggy

Roger Friedman
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1
Mad Men: Secrets, The Beatles, the Playboy Club and No Peggy

Episode 10 of Mad Men’s Season 4 — “Hands and Knees” — had plenty of surprised. It should have been called”Do You Want to Know a Secret?” as plenty of secrets were hatched or uncovered, and the Beatles’ 1965 show at Shea Stadium was featured as a plot point.

Indeed, an instrumental version “Secret,” a Beatles song was used over the closing credits.

The most astonishing moment of many: Lane Pryce’s father striking him with his cane. Jared Harris is so good as Lane, and this was such a crushing moment after Lane introduced him to his black Playboy Club bunny girlfriend. Is Lane a broken man? Let’s hope not.

Meantime, in an episode with no Peggy, Roger and Joan must deal with their problems. Joan goes to an abortion clinic in New Jersey. She is plucky and self-reliant. Roger is sinking under the weight of two secrets–Joan’s pregnancy, and the loss of his biggest client.

And then there’s Don. The walls of his secret are closing in around him. I do think it’s a bad idea that Pete knows so much about it. Now Dr. Miller, too. Soon it won’t be a secret. Jon Hamm should thank Matt Weiner for building this season around Don Draper so completely.

And then of course there’s the Beatles. Nicely woven into the plot is the Shea Stadium concert. Between the Beatles and the visit to the Playboy Club it really did feel like 1965.

Another secret: what exactly is Harry doing in Los Angeles on those visits? That seems to be brewing on  the back burner.

It was an episode full of plot, as we head into the (sadly) final three of Season 4.

PS Loved Trudy Campbell’s swell mini maternity teddy. Five years later it may have inspired Big Bird.

Rolling Stones May Get Their “Hot Rocks” Re-Heated

Roger Friedman
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1
Rolling Stones May Get Their “Hot Rocks” Re-Heated

The Rolling Stones are on a roll. As they discuss cranking up for a US tour next year, the Stones may also be going further into their catalog for remixes and re-releases.

In this last year, the Stones have had success with reissues of “Exile on Main Street” and “Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out.” Both sets of releases were met with enthusiastic sales and reviews.

Now I’m told more is to come. Next up could be whole new versions of the Stones’ best selling hit collection, “Hot Rocks.” That collection includes “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses,” songs that went on to become hits on the group’s famous “Sticky Fingers” album. But ABKCO Records has “Hot Rocks,” not “Sticky Fingers.” The album is part of the Stones’ “second catalog” beginning in 1971. Everything before that belongs to ABKCO.

The ABKCO re-releases could also include “Let it Bleed,” “Their Satanic Majesties Request,” and “Beggars Banquet.”

Meantime, we await Keith Richards‘s imminent autobiography. It should give new meaning to all the albums.

John Lennon History Getting Reworked, Says May Pang

Roger Friedman
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29
John Lennon History Getting Reworked, Says May Pang

May Pang was John Lennon‘s girlfriend during what’s knows as his “Lost Weekend”–18 months from 1973 through 1974. She’s since become a popular and motherly figure on the New York rock circuit, as well as a real mom.

At the New York Film Festival premiere last night of “LennonNYC” for PBS American Masters, Pang was once again in the same theater as Yoko Ono. In 1973, Ono sent Lennon to live with May, and they became lovers. Ono didn’t like Lennon’s attachment to her former aide, and then demanded he come home after “The Lost Weekend.”

Pang watched “LennonNYC” philosophically. Although Ono didn’t have editorial control, the film’s director — Michael Epstein–conceded that Lennon’s widow “was there” while he made the film.

The result is the most minimized version of John and May’s relationship. Several times during the film screening at Alice Tully Hall, Pang said, loudly enough, “These are all lies.”

She told me later: “Yoko sent Paul [McCartney] to California to come get John and bring him home. Paul didn’t know me, and Yoko had described me very badly. But when Paul and Linda [McCartney] arrived, we all hit it off. Paul and John recorded together for the last time. It’s a bootleg now. Paul never told John that Yoko had sent him. Afterwards, John told me, Paul doesn’t get it. I’m with you now.

Because of this Pang is rewriting the book she published several years ago, to set history right. “They made it seem like I never saw John again after he went back with Yoko. It’s not true, and there’s lots of evidence.”

Ono has already changed a lot of Lennon’s past. As I wrote years ago (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106198,00.html) Ono edited herself into Lennon’s videos and changed background vocals on songs.

Pang will be in New York on October 9th–Lennon’s 70th birthday–for the big free outdoor screening of “LennonNYC” at Central Park Summerstage for 5000 people. Ono will be in Iceland.

Also at last night’s after party at Robert restaurant high above 2 Columbus Circle, and very moved by it all: the very cool new Film Society chief Rose Kuo,  Steve van Zandt with wife Maureen, doc maker Barbara Kopple, famed Lennon photographer Bob Gruen, Keith Richards manager Jane Rose, IndieWire reviewer Todd McCarthy, famed author Patricia Bosworth, New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, Denise Rich (who gave a pre-screening dinner at her Fifth Avenue triplex) and legendary record mogul Clive Davis.

Facebook Movie: Sean Parker WAS NOT There, Reps Insist

Roger Friedman
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1
Facebook Movie: Sean Parker WAS NOT There, Reps Insist

Sean Parker was not at the premiere Friday night of “The Social Network.”

That’s NOT in capital letters. His lawyer and his rep each informed me, with the urgency of their living rooms being on fire, that Parker was “at home” and “with his parents” spending a “quiet night.”

Yes, Sean Parker who started Napster, was bounced from it, expurged from another web start up, and then depicted in “The Social Network” as a cocaine cowboy (a 2005 arrest, no filed charges) who rambunctiously sleeps with all the pretty assistants and gets thrown out of daily contact at Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg.

Was he home knitting? I asked the lawyer and the rep. Making cookies for the elderly? Giving $100 million to a burnt out inner city?

Ha ha. But you see, dear reader, I live on s small street. Sean Parker is renting a house in the middle of the street. All day yesterday there was a lot of coming and going from said house. Indeed, the parents–who are from Virginia–might not have appreciated yesterday’s local rarity. Apparently an older woman — maybe 80–hanged herself in her apartment right across the street from Parker’s rented house. There were police cans and an unmarked car and a good deal of commotion on our very quiet block.

That was Saturday afternoon. On Friday night, around 1:30am, really Saturday morning, as I parked on the street across from Sean’s driveway and in front of the suicide home, Parker’s garage door suddenly opened. A Lincoln town car backed out. No one was in it. It sped away. This confirms that Sean Parker was not at “The Social Network” premiere. He was in his house, with his parents.

I guess Sean is still with Facebook because his lawyer added, “No one associated with the Company attended the premiere or its after party, including Sean Parker.”

“Wall Street 2”: Money Sleeps at the Box Office for $7Mil Friday

Roger Friedman
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4
“Wall Street 2”: Money Sleeps at the Box Office for $7Mil Friday

“Wall Street 2” aka “Money Never Sleeps” took a nap at the box office Friday night and brought in a drowsy $7 million.

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Yesterday estimated it at $8 million, which is a slumbering million dollars more than the accurate boxofficemojo.com.

“WS2” will finish the weekend snooze with between $21 and $23 million total, not exactly a nightmare but no dream either.

So it seems that neither Michael Douglas‘s illness nor the promise of seeing Shia LaBeouf in a suit did a lot for audiences.

It’s too bad because “Wall Street 2” is a very good film, with fine performances from Douglas and especially Frank Langella in a supporting role.

Among Oliver Stone‘s films it will be ranked well and high.

But reviews have been mixed, and, in the case of the New York Post, actually negative. The two-and-half star review from Fox’s sister newspaper surely watered down enthusiasm locally. When the Post wants to promote a film they go all out with front page banners, etc. In this case, they buried a relative.

Maybe on Sunday more adults will hit the theaters for “Wall Street 2.” I sure hope so. People should see this well crafted film.

PS “The Town,” a great movie, finished second Friday night with $5,035,000, a small fall off from the prior weekend. “The Town” is a solid hit.

Facebook Movie Premiere: Timberlake Indicates No New NSync Album

Roger Friedman
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1
Facebook Movie Premiere: Timberlake Indicates No New NSync Album

The New York Film Festival premiere of “The Social Network” might have gotten a little confusing on Friday night. At Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and then at the Harvard Club you could see the blond blue eyed statue of an actor Armie Hammer, who plays Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and then you could see Josh Pence, who plays the body of a Winklevoss. But across the room there were the real Winklevosses, and their mother, Carol.

Somewhere in the room was also Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and the guy who appears in “The Social Network” to have caused a lot of trouble. And there was also Justin Timberlake, who plays Parker in the film.

But no sign of Mark Zuckerberg, who Jesse Eisenberg plays better than Zuckerberg himself. Zuckerberg was on TV Friday from Chicago in what he hopes was a masterful bit of p.r.: he gave the city of Newark, where he has no ties and made no explanations, $100 million for its school system. He looked bright, fresh, and young, called the movie “fiction,” and palled around on stage with New Jersey’s Soprano-looking governor Chris Christie and Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker.

Why did he choose Newark, Oprah asked? Zuckerberg is from New York and lives in California.It’s hard to know if he’s even been to Newark ever. Why not the South Bronx? Detroit? The still-ravaged Gulf? Parts of Mississippi that are still existing in the 1940s. Why? “Because of these guys,” Zuckerberg answered blankly. Christie gave his best Bobby Baccala stare for the cameras. There’s no word about who’s going to administer and watch that money. Zuckerberg is going to get a lot of new ‘friends’ on Facebook.

But back to the premiere. Timberlake told me: “You can’t believe how many people have stories about knowing Sean Parker.” Will he do another album? “Oh…..” He just made a noise, no commitment. What about NSync? He actually recoiled when I said it. Recoiled, physically. NSync, my friends is over.

Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield just looked overwhelmed at the after party. Well, 1100 guests and well wishers will do that to you. They are still young and new at all this.

At the premiere, I sat beside Sir Howard Stringer of Sony, who is one of my favorite people. “Have you seen the reviews of our new cameras?” he asked. “The Alpha 55? The micro three fourths?” Yes, I have: they are amazing. I love gadget talk. Scott Rudin sat in front of me, happy to accept kudos for the film, with Columbia Pictures chief Amy Pascal. They are all going to the Oscars with “The Social Network.” And beaming like school kids who’ve just heard the tinkling bell of an ice cream truck.

This Weekend: Woody Allen, “Howl,” Ben Affleck, Facebook, and Good Teachers!

Roger Friedman
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0
This Weekend: Woody Allen, “Howl,” Ben Affleck, Facebook, and Good Teachers!

Moviegoers, this is the weekend you’ve been waiting for. Especially if you’ve been “Waiting for Superman”!

Davis Guggenheim‘s documentary is an extraordinary look into what’s wrong (and right) with the public school system. It will be a strong contended for the Oscar short list, so don’t miss it.

Woody Allen‘s “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” is a film full of hope about love and middle age. Gemma Jones is famous in the UK, sort of the next Judi Dench for America. Her performance is award worthy. It’s balanced by a crazy, funny performance by up-and-comer Lucy Punch. Check out also our Lucy Punch exclusive video at www.youtube.com/showbiz411.

And there’s more: Ben Affleck‘s “The Town” is just terrific. Check out especially Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm. “The Social Network” is the movie of the weekend. Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield are “overnight sensations.” Justin Timberlake is delicious fun. “Howl” is a B movie  with an A performance by James Franco. But the rest of the cast is also exceptional, from Jon Hamm (again) to Mary Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, Alessandro Nivola, and David Strathairn.

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