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George Clooney’s Folks Are Happy He Has Hits

Roger Friedman
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George Clooney’s having such a good time in Venice at the Film Festival, he’s forgotten to call home.

George, I had to tell your parents yesterday at Walter Cronkite’s memorial service that you have not one but two hits coming, with Oscar buzz on each.

Clooney’s got “Up in the Air” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats” knocking out critics and audiences. Next, the films and Clooney head to the Toronto Film Festival. George also is one of the voices in Wes Anderson’s whimsical children’s movie, “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

Now, that’s a hat-trick.

Clooney also has a bandage on his hand after breaking it. He slammed it in a car door. “Don’t you know what a klutz he is?” Nick Clooney, George’s dad, asked with a laugh.

Nick Clooney, whose sister was the legendary and wonderful Rosemary Clooney, told me he’d been a pal of Walter Cronkite’s for fifty years. Nick ‘ who’s been a broaccaster and a politician ‘ was one of the speakers yesterday at the Cronkite memorial. He and his wife Nina look way too young, though, to be George’s parents. And they keep getting younger.

I do believe Nina said to me, joking, about the new films, “George doesn’t tell us anything.” It’s nice to know these are universal problems, right?

So George, do call home. Let your parents hear some good news, not just that you broke your hand! Tell them it will be healed in time to hold an Oscar.

Nothing ‘Crude’ About Hit Documentary

Roger Friedman
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Joe Berlinger’s “Crude” looked a little troublesome at Sundance this year. The political documentary about Chevron allegedly poisoning Ecuador’s water with oil spills didn’t get picked up right away.

But lo and behold: First Run Features made the deal, the film opened last night with a premiere downtown, and the New York Times’s A.O. Scott was among the rave reviews. And I do mean, rave. “Crude” should be on the short list for Academy Award consideration now that the word is spreading.

What’s interesting about “Crude” is that it tells two stories. One is about Chevron Oil inheriting a mess left behind by Texaco in Ecuador ‘ and instead of cleaning it up, making it worse, then defending their position. Children have died from the tainted water, massive amounts of corruption have occurred, and a corporation is ‘ allegedly ‘ killing a whole country.

I say allegedly because there’s a long-aborning court case filed by the people of Ecuador against Chevron. There was a premliminary suggestion of an award to the people of $27 million. But the court doesn’t have to accept that finding, so the case winds on.

The second interesting thing is that the case has gone on so long that Pablo Fajardo had enough time grow up in Ecuador, go to college and law school, and then bring the suit. A CNN “Hero,” Fajardo was featured two years ago in Vanity Fair’s Green Issue. He’s a compelling central subject.

A third aspect of the film, and the case, is the presence of Trudie Styler and Sting, and their Rainforest Foundation. Styler is in the film, having taken an active interest in Fajardo’s story and the plight of the Ecuadorians. She helped get water filtration systems down to the country ‘ a band aid for sure, but something while the oil slicks keep coming down the river. Sting is featured from The Police’s appearance at Live Earth in 2007, where Fajardo came to meet North Americans who could help him get the word out. Of course, back then he’d never heard of Sting or The Police. Now he knows the words to “Message in a Bottle.”

“Crude” is as entertaining as it is jolting. Documentaries don’t get long runs in theaters, so try and see it fast before it heads to DVD. It will make you think twice and three times when you see a Chevron station. Just the idea that Chevron/Texaco’s oil spills are millions of gallons more than what the Exxon Valdez left behind should give pause.

Mariah: Exclusive Pix from Tour Rehearsal

Roger Friedman
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Photo: Denise Truscello

Photo: Denise Truscello

Here are some exclusive snaps from Mariah Carey’s rehearsal at the Palms in Las Vegas. She’s doing shows there at the end of this week, and then two in October. Her “Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel” CD launches on September 29th.

Mariah finishes her Saturday night now, then flies directly to Toronto this coming Sunday morning. The big “Precious” premiere is on Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival, with Oprah hosting, and the “Precious” cast taking bows. Mariah is sensational as Mrs. Weiss, the social worker who tries to bring together the two main characters.

As I’ve told you, Mo’Nique will be the first Oscar nominee ever ‘ Best Supporting Actress ‘ with an apostrophe in her name.

For Carey, “Precious” finally shows off her acting side. All bad memories of previous adventures on film are wiped out.

This Tuesday brings the release of Mariah’s cover of the Foreigner classic, “I Want to Know What Love Is” with a full gospel choir. Can’t wait to see that live!

Photo: Denise Truscello

Photo: Denise Truscello

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Photo: Denise Truscello

A Fond Farewell to Army Archerd

Roger Friedman
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The dean of Hollywood gossip, Army Archerd, died last night. He was 87 years old and only recently suffered from mesothelioma.

Army started his daily column in Variety with these words: “Good Morning.” And then it was off to the races. He didn’t write about idiot pop stars lacking panties, or people who were famous for being famous. The stories Army told were about the real Hollywood stars, the studio execs, the producers, the behind the scenes people, the Hollywood machine.

Getty photo

Getty photo

His gift was bringing to life a world that really sounded glamorous and closed to real mortals. And because he treated stars with respect ‘ which no one does anymore ‘ he got it back in droves. When the actors saw Army on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, they walked toward him, not away. He was too gentlemanly to ask an inappropriate private question. If only today’s barrage of bloggers and camera wielding intruders could learn from him.

Army kept it clean, but he told like it was. He was also great about promoting Hollywood’s charitable side, and never failed to plug the many dinners and openings that put Tinseltown names on hospital wings and the like. In 2000, when Tina Brown asked me to edit an Oscar issue of Talk magazine, Army was the first person I called. He didn’t like articles to be written about him ‘ preferred to stay under the radar. But he did it, and the piece ‘ by Ross Johnson ‘ ‘was amusing and telling. Our subject was a mensch through and through.

Beatles in Mono: Sgt. Pepper Lives, At Last

Roger Friedman
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There’s nothing simple about what the Beatles are releasing today. You may feel like there’s a lot of studying to be done, in fact, in order to understand it all.

Basically, there are two box sets: one in mono, one in stereo. This is because back in 1987, when the only set of Beatles CDs were released prior to today, the mixes were all screwed up. The stereo wasn’t true stereo, the mono wasn’t true mono. And, on top of that, the mastering ‘ think of it as shellacking ‘ wasn’t nearly as good is it is now.

The Beatles Mono Box Set is already sold out, but Capitol/Apple is going to make some more. In the meantime, what you can buy today is the Stereo Box Set. All the Beatles albums are now remastered in perfect stereo, not something created by “folding in” or “folding out” mono mixes.

Confused? I haven’t heard the stereo box yet, but I have heard the mono one. In particular, the mono box focuses on “Sgt. Pepper.” That’s because for reasons no one can explain, the guys only stuck around for the mono mix back in 1967, and never worked on the stereo one. Stereo was new then, and there were complications. The stereo version of “Sgt. Pepper” on CD which we’re all used to sounds fine, and a remastered version will sound even better. But the mono is another story.

The mono CD of “Sgt. Pepper,” from a listen last night, seems like the Holy Grail of all today’s Beatles releases. From beginning to end, it is a different experience. In the stereo CD (I’m using a U.K. reissue from a few years ago that has a slipcover and a fold out inside with album notes, of all things) it’s as if you’re looking at something through binoculars, but you have to look one eye at a time. The sound is separated, without much logic, so some of it is coming out of one speaker, and some from the other.

In mono, “Sgt. Pepper” is seen through the binoculars, but the experience is akin to making the two eyes come together. There is no separation. It’s all one picture. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” rocks. “She’s Leaving Home” and “A Day in the Life” are symphonic masterpieces. You can hear the carnival sounds as intended on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” For some reason, the stereo mix of “Fixing a Hole” has some weird, loud clapping. It’s muted in mono, where it should be. And in the stereo version of the “Sgt. Pepper” reprise at the end of the album, Paul cannot be heard at all. It turns out he’s singing loudly on the mono master. Who knew? I’ll bet even McCartney forgot.

So do order the Mono Box Set. Neither “Abbey Road” nor “Let it Be” are in it, because they were recorded only in stereo. But the box is a gem. And the stereo box? It’s going to be a must have, in order to replace all the 1987 CDs. In my collection they will be boxed up and put away. Not just a new generation will discover the Beatles, but the original fans are going to love hearing the best pop music ever as it should have been.

Kudos by the way to Jeff Jones, who took over the whole Beatles catalog of recorded music after the legendary Neil Aspinall retired. Neil was a purist, and was slow to make changes or fiddle with conventional Beatles wisdom. That was fine for its time. Jones, who came from Sony’s Legacy label, has done the impossible. The Beatles should be happy, especially Ringo. You can finally hear what a great drummer he is, and how he made these tracks singular, monumental achievements.

And oh yeah, Beatles Rock Star, the video game, is out today. But that’s another story.

Obama, Bill Clinton, Stars Say Goodbye to Walter Cronkite

Roger Friedman
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cronkitememorial Obama, Bill Clinton, Stars Say Goodbye to Walter CronkitePresident Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton were among those who paid tribute to Walter Cronkite today at the famed newsman’s Lincoln Center memorial service.

Avery Fisher Hall was jammed with media heavyweights and celebs who came to pay final respects and celebrate the life of Cronkite, who died last month at age 92.

Tom Brokaw, Andy Rooney, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, Brian Williams, Cynthia McFadden, Charlie Rose, Christiane Amanpour, Deborah Norville, Bernard Shaw, Bob Simon, Bryant Gumbel, Les Moones and Sir Howard Stringer were among the media types who either attended and/or spoke. Liz Smith was front-and-center, and I spotted 93-year-old Eli Wallach and wife Ann Jackson, as well as astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Tyne Daly, Nick Clooney (George’s dad and an old pal), Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, Jerry Adler, Georgette Mosbacher, Robin McNeill, Ernie Anastos, Joe Armstrong, and Kerry Kennedy.

Of course, the entire Cronkite family was there, as well as Joanna Simon, Walter’s companion of the last few years, with sisters Carly and Lucy, brother Peter, and Lucy’s husband, Dr. David Levine.

There were musical performances by Mickey Hart, of the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Buffett, and Michael Feinstein. Cronkite got two special and very cool handmade awards from the folks at the U.S.S. Intrepid, accepted by his family.

Rooney, who was too overcome at Cronkite’s funeral last month to finish his speech, instead delivered a taped video tribute that was absolutely hilarious and poignant. Cronkite, who had a wicked sense of humor, would have appreciated his oldest friend’s salute.

There was also a New Orleans jazz send-off with Wynton Marsalis and a band of five marching up and down the aisles. They were in fine form, and lifted what could have been a somber mood into jubilant reverie.

Both Clinton and Obama stayed through the entire two-and-a-half-hour ceremony, each receiving thunderous standing ovations. Clinton told the audience that in 1998, when he and his family were on Martha’s Vineyard during the Monica Lewinsky mess, Cronkite offered to go sailing with him. Clinton recalled: “He said, ‘People might take pictures of us.’ ” Clinton paused, then added that that would not be a problem: “At the time, I could have done with a picture of me and Walter Cronkite.”

Schieffer — who called Cronkite “the most curious man I ever met” — told the best story, though: He and Cronkite managed to get an exclusive interview with President Gerald Ford, and in the process hoodwinked both Dick Cheney — then Ford’s chief of staff– and Barbara Walters. Walters was then on the “Today” show, and I was surprised that Schieffer said Cronkite considered her his biggest competition. Walters had already gotten a promised interview with Ford, but Schieffer and Cronkite went around her and fooled Cheney into a nine second on the spot interview that they used to lead off the news that night.

One thing I will say for CBS: They put their best foot forward with this memorial for Cronkite. It was letter perfect, classy and elegant, a fitting send off for their biggest news star ever.

Lost New York: More Artifacts from a Distant World

Roger Friedman
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I loved Joni Evans‘ piece in the Sunday New York Times about how the little things about book publishing have evaporated. You can read it here.’When I worked at Ballantine Books in 1983 we had one computer, set up in a small closet. It was made by Xerox and ran a program called Xywrite. In a short time it changed our lives. My cherished IBM Selectric II was starting to look like a relic.

Eight years earlier, at my first job ‘ during college ”we had something called a Quips machine. It had a telephone attached to it. You put a piece of paper in it, dialed the number of someone else with a Quips, and 18 minutes later the page went through to the receiver. By ‘83 they were called faxes, and the send time was cut in half.

Office equipment is not the only way New York has changed in that time. Back in those days, the city was dotted with bookstores, record stores, stereo shops. I had a routine, which I think was common, of stopping in the Doubleday shop on Fifth Avenue and 57th St. while waiting for the downtown bus. Four blocks south, on the opposite side of Fifth, there was another Doubleday, with a spiral staircase. A few more blocks south there was the beautiful, ornate Scribners, and Barnes & Noble across the street from it at 48th St.

It’s all a thing of the past now. The Kindle is here.

You would linger in book stores, and in record shops. This was before the Virgin Megastores, which are gone now, and around the time of Tower, which has also vanished. There was Sam Goody just about everywhere, and the Record Hunter. When it was LPs, you thumbed through rows and rows of them. When CDs came, there was the ooh and ah of what had been transferred, and the debates of vinyl vs. disc. Ha! It didn’t matter. Now music is compressed into our computers, the stores are memories. The big behemoths are closed, and now even the little shops ‘ like the Discomat on West 4th St. ”reside in dreams.

There aren’t many good landmarks to stop and browse in during a walk through Manhattan. That is, unless staring at shoes is of interest to you. How lovely it used to be to see which shops had which titles, whether in books or music. Very little was centralized or computerized. A clerk might have “to call the other store” to see if they had what you were looking for. There was no way to look it up. And so a walk home from work could be broken up by these little investigations. Wasn’t that the whole point of “the city that never sleeps”?

Carly Simon Will Serenade 9/11 Ceremony This Week

Roger Friedman
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Getty photo

Getty photo

Good news: legendary soft-rocker Carly Simon has been tapped to perform at the 9/11 ceremony this Friday at Ground Zero.

Simon, with her band including kids Ben and Sally Taylor, will showcase a gorgeous, new acoustic version of her Oscar winning hit, “Let the River Run,” according to sources.

“Let the River Run,” coincidentally, is one of the tracks on Simon’s new CD, “Never Been Gone,” set for release on October 27th, on son Ben’s Iris Records. I just happened to listen to an advance copy of this album over the weekend ‘ it’s ten of Simon’s biggest hits reworked in a contemporary setting, with two new songs as well. It’s a great project.

Some of the re-done numbers could easily be hits all over again a la Eric Clapton’s “Layla” from his “Unplugged” album. They include “You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation,” “You belong to Me,” “The Right Thing to Do,” and a sensational new take on her original 1971 hit, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be.” (Simon has had more than a dozen top 40 hits but isn’t in the Rock and Roll you-know-what. What can we say at this point?)

Anyway, sources also say Carly and sister Lucy will accompany their older sister Joanna to Walter Cronkite’s memorial service this Wednesday at Lincoln Center. The Simons and Cronkites are old, old friends from Martha’s Vineyard. Joanna Simon Walker, who was recently widowed, and Cronkite were very close in the last couple of years, a fact that many credit to Cronkite’s good health and humor after his wife Betsy died.

Update: Neverland Trademarks Will Go to Estate

Roger Friedman
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We can relax a little.

I am told that the many trademark requests filed by Colony Capital for Neverland are not going to remain in their current state.

A source says that the Trademark filings will all be transferred to Michael Jackson’s estate. We will not be seeing toy guns or anything like the items listed in the item below with Neverland Valley Ramch.

It does sound as though Colony Capital’s efforts to exploit Michael Jackson in death are coming to an end. The Jackson executors ‘ John Branca and John McClain ‘ are taking firm stands on protecting Michael’s image and likeness, and his associated endeavors. There won’t be any “Heal the World” bandaids or “Remember the Time” alarm clocks either. No “Man in the Mirror” dressing tables.

Brad Pitt Drives “Basterds” to $100 mil This Week

Roger Friedman
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Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” has just crossed the $95 million mark and is heading toward $100 million before the end of the week.

This makes the Brad Pitt blockbuster the first $100 million movie for The Weinstein Company, which been in business for four years. By comparison, respected mini studio Focus Features ‘ releasing films since 2002 and home to the great Ang Lee ‘ still lacks a film that’s broken that magic number. (Although, the Coen Brothers‘ “A Serious Man” may be their breakthrough, you never know.)

For Pitt, “Basterds” is his 7th $100 million-plus film in this decade. The others include the three “Oceans” movies, “Benjamin Button,” “Troy” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Brad’s done a lot better in the 00s than in the 90s, when it wasn’t clear whether he could “open” a film. His list of flops in that decade is long, including “Sleepers,” “Devil’s Own,” “Fight Club,” “Snatch,” “The Mexican,” “Seven Years in Tibet,” and “Meet Joe Black.”

Brad’s success shows a couple of things: that it takes longer for actors to hit their stride than actresses, and that he’s improved not only as an actor but in choosing the right projects.

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