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Eric Braeden Is Right to Be Angry

Roger Friedman
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Eric Braeden, the star of CBS’s Sony TV-produced soap, “The Young and the Restless,” is leaving the show after 27 years. Maybe.

This is the third time this year that Sony and CBS tried to force a pay cut on a show principal and longtime veteran player. In the other two cases, the actresses settled hostile negotiations and returned.

That might happen here, but things don’t look so good right now. CBS just knocked off “Guiding Light” after 200 years on TV. They’re eyeing an end to the 53-year-old “As the World Turns.” That started by refusing to negotiate in 2008 with that show’s star, Martha Byrne. She’s gone, and so are the viewers. Getting rid of Braeden would be like puncturing a balloon and letting all its air out. Will it still fly? CBS would hope not. If ratings slide, they can begin to make a case for cancellation.

CBS is not alone. Last year, NBC dumped “Days of Our Lives” star Deidre Hall, who’d been on the show since Lincoln was elected. Over at ABC, fans actually know and despise the name Brian Frons, the network’s head of daytime television, who’s moving “All My Children” to Los Angeles on the show’s 40th birthday in effort to ditch certain highly paid, New York-centric actors.

An actor from “AMC” recently told me that Frons is obsessed with one actress who had the left the show because she lived in Los Angeles. “He paid her a million dollars to return for a year,” the source said. “Now he’s moving the whole show out there hoping she’ll come back.” A rumor is also rampant that Frons wants to cancel “One Life to Live,” his best-written, acted and directed soap.

As for Braeden, he started playing mysterious tycoon Victor Newman when Gerald Ford was president. The show’s been No. 1 ever since then.

Like most veteran soap actors, Braeden’s devoted his life to the show. It’s a double-edged sword. Soap actors get typecast, and work 18-hour days, so it’s not so easy to find other work. The shows become comfortable for them, but at the same time, the shows need them. The networks or production companies owe more to Braeden and the handful of remaining stars (Susan Lucci, Erika Slezak, etc.) than the actors do to them.

Soap actors rarely complain in public or even have publicists. One actor told me: “It’s an insular world. If you say anything bad, you could get fired. So no one speaks up.” The result is that they get little respect. They live in an alternate celebrity universe even though they probably have higher fan recognition than most indie movie actors.

Frankly, if I were an actor on one of the remaining shows, I’d contact my union rep, get a publicist, and start talking. Soon it may be too late.

My Interview with Paul Anka: Famed Performer Has a Second “Lost” Michael Jackson Song

Roger Friedman
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My Interview with Paul Anka: Famed Performer Has a Second “Lost” Michael Jackson Song

Paul Anka got 50% of his own song, the one he wrote and recorded with Michael Jackson in 1983 but was released this week. He says he also got the promise of another song he wrote and recorded with the dead pop star to be included on a forthcoming album of previously unreleased material. That song is called “Love Never Felt So Good.”

But honestly, being a victim of theft never felt so good as Anka ‘ a songwriting and performing superstar for five decades ‘ cleaned up yesterday. He told me he got 50% of all the mechanical and publishing royalties to “This Is It” plus some points still being negotiated.

He’s not mad. But he does tell the story of how this happened. “Michael and I were recording two duets for my album in 1982 in Las Vegas. This was before “Thriller.” “I Never Heard” was one of them. Later when we were supposed to meet at the recording studio in Los Angeles, Michael didn’t show. The tapes were gone. The engineer told me Michael took them.”

Anka ‘ furious ‘ appealed to Jackson’s lawyer at the time, who was also his lawyer. Jackson eventually turned over the tapes, which belonged to Anka. “But he must have made copies,” Anka told me. “He took his copy and re-recorded the vocal, erasing mine. And that became ‘This Is It.’”

Anka ran into Jackson once at a lawyer’s office years after the incident, but they didn’t discuss what happened. It was always a sore spot for Anka, who eventually forgot about it. He got a minor hit out of the song in 1991 with singer Sa-Fire. Both “I Never Heard” and “Love Never Felt So Good” were registered at BMI under both their names.

“When the calls started coming in on Monday, I didn’t know what was going on,” Anka told me. He figured it out quickly. The Jackson executors were quick to fix the situation. “They didn’t know how it happened. No one there is to blame.”

Who is to blame? Michael Jackson. In death he’s just as much trouble as he is in life. This was an example of his basic dishonesty. He was not a great songwriter and often took credit for material that wasn’t his. “He was more of a riff writer than a melodist,” said Anka, whose hits include Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and the theme music to the Johnny Carson “Tonight” Show.

“And then John McClain” ‘ one of Jackson’s executors ‘ called me up after this happened and said, the other best song in the box of tapes I found is called “Love Never Felt So Good,” Anka told me. “I told him, that’s mine, too.”

So that is it, and I’m sure Michael Jackson’s legions of fans will be upset to hear this or dispute it. But the story of this single should not interfere with the “This Is It” movie or much else. (Ridiculously, Jackson received nominations from the second-rate American Music Awards yesterday.) Rather, it speaks to Jackson. It also recalls an incident in 2001 when he “stole” the finished tapes for his “Invincible” album and refused to return them until Sony procured him a part in “Men in Black 2.” That’s the real Michael Jackson, whether he was murdered or not.

Maybe “This Is It,” the single, is jinxed. McClain actually had Michael’s brothers Jackie, Marlon and Tito add backup vocals to it. (It’s unclear whether Jermaine ever showed up.) The only thing Michael would have wanted less was his father in charge of his estate or children. So maybe “This Is It” is just being haunted.

Will Carly Simon’s Lawsuit Hurt Starbucks Music Attractiveness to Artists?

Roger Friedman
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On Friday, Carly Simon sued Starbucks Entertainment for dumping an album she made for them and lying to her about the state of their record label.

Yesterday, when the story broke, Simon ‘ who’s a legend, famous, and beloved ‘ got offers from all over the place from fans in the industry. The artists community of which she has been a part since 1969’ was suitably angered.

After all, isn’t the whole point of Starbucks’ Hear Music to be different than a regular record label, the kind that routinely reneges on promises and screws artists?

You betcha. That’s why Sixties-Seventies stars like Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney, and James Taylor went to them in the first place.

But now Starbucks and HearMusic come under a new scrutiny. If they’re capable of doing what Warners, Columbia, or RCA could do in killing a CD and disrespecting a star, why not just stick with the vets? It’s always the devil you know.

In Simon’s case, she had a long, magnificent run at Elektra in the 1970s and Arista and in the 1980s through the 90s. In recent years, Columbia has been her label for “Moonlight Serenade” and “Into White,” two fairly successful releases. She probably could have gone back to them for “This Kind of Love.” Or to many other labels, including Blue Note, Manhattan, Verve, Nonesuch, Lost Highway, etc.’ But Simon chose Hear Music because of the marketing plan to feature the new CD in Starbucks all over the world. Their whole marketing identity, their customers, fit with her fan base. When the whole thing fell apart overnight. Simon was left stranded.

The truth is, legacy rock stars don’t really need record labels anymore. Kiss is proving that this week. They’re going to be number 1 with an album released exclusively through Wal Mart. The Eagles have done the same thing. Target regularly collaborates with musicians. Who needs the headaches of unreturned phone calls, and master recordings in the possession of others?

Simon’s new CD, due at the end of this month, will be issued on small indie Iris Records, which her son Ben co-owns. They distribute through Red, which takes a fee to get the CD into stores. Otherwise, the publicity and marketing are left to freelancers. It’s simple and effective. “Never Been Gone” will do very well this way. Ironically, it’s a perfect album to be featured in…Starbucks.

…Today brings a new release also by Vaneese Thomas, daughter of the late R&B legend Rufus Thomas and sister of Memphis soul queen Carla Thomas. “Soul Sessions, Vol. 1″ sees Vaneese, a favorite backing singer in the New York music world, bring her classic R&B voice to bear on some great hits of the past. The recording is rich in old soul feel, and it’s authentic. On Etta James’s “Tell Mama,” Thomas resonates and delivers a la Denise La Salle and Ann Peebles. It is not to be missed. Vaneese will sing on October 29th at the Jerry Wexler memorial service at the DGA Theater, representing the Thomas family. She also performs tonight at Drom on Avenue A at a launch party for “Soul Sessions.” There’s a link ‘for her page on MySpace here.

Sharon Stone: “Real Men Still Smack a Gal on the Ass, Which I Think Is Just Fine”

Roger Friedman
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58614635Sharon Stone has a lot of plans for new projects. Among them: playing Auntie Mame. She wouldn’t say too much about it this past weekend at the Hamptons Film Festival when quizzed by Judy Licht at a public Q&A, but she seems set on it. And with Stone, that means it will happen.

Two other movies are on Stone’s horizons, which I can tell you about: “The Guest Room,” directed by Nancy Savoca; and “Satisfaction,” which is supposed to co-star Chris Evans and Carice van Houten.

At the Q&A, with Licht, the pair sat on the stage of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. Facing them in the front row were former mayor Rudy Giuliani and his wife, Judith. When Licht asked Stone what she thought about President Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize, Guiliani’s body language was priceless. As Stone praised Obama, Giuliani sat with his arms folded so tensely it looked like his head was going to pop off. He did not applaud when Stone talked about patriotism. He and Mrs. G. skipped out early before the hour was up.

Otherwise, Stone ‘ who had a mentoring session with some young actors ‘ was gracious and funny, as usual, and self deprecating. She told a long story about waiting eight months to be approved for her signature role in 1992’s “Basic Instinct.”’ She also plugged AmFar, her favorite charity.

“I was so peculiar my parents didn’t know what to do with me,” Stone told Licht about her early days. She was a bright child, who started college when she was 15, she says. A failure at beauty pageants, she was advised to go into modeling as a path toward acting. It worked. Her first role was a tiny one in Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories.”

She always loved the leading men of legendary Hollywood like William Powell and Spencer Tracy, she told Licht: “They’re chivalrous and funny and not too politically correct. They still smack a gal on the ass, which I just think is swell. They wear a suit, they have a hat, they drive a car, they have a job. They stand up when you come in the room, say please and thank you. All those old fashioned things go a long way with me.”

P.S. If Matthew Weiner is reading this: I’d write a “Mad Men” for Sharon Stone. She’d be perfect to upset Don Draper’s apple cart.

Stars Lining Up for Jerry Wexler Celebration

Roger Friedman
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Jerry Wexler, the man who coined the term “rhythm and blues,” will get a first-class memorial sendoff on Oct. 30 in New York.

Wexler died in August 2008, and it’s been hard getting everyone in the same place for his service. But his kids, Lisa and Paul, have chosen the 30th because so many people will be in town for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame shows.

Wexler, of course, was one of the backbones of Atlantic Records including Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, and Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd. But it was Wexler who really put the stamp on Atlantic’s R&B empire with Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett and many other landmark acts. He also led the Atlantic incursion into Memphis for Stax Records and then down to Muscle Shoals, Ala. Among Jerry’s many triumphs: Dusty Springfield’s “Dusty in Memphis” album.

The memorial will include performances by Vaneese Thomas (daughter of Rufus), as well as Allen Toussaint, Bettye Lavette, William Bell and Lenny Kaye. Other artists are still to be announced. The band will include some of Atlantic’s legends including Bernard Purdee, Anton Fig and Simon Kirke on drums; Jerry Jemmott and Barbara Cobb on bass; Spooner Oldham and Mike Finnegan on keyboards; Jen Leigh on guitar; and the Uptown Horns.’ The musicians have been assembled with help from producer Jon Tivens, who will be the musical director.

Speakers at the service will include soul legend Sam Moore; jazz writer Gary Giddins; writer David Ritz, with whom Wexler penned his autobiography; WBGO DJ Bob Porter; and Mark Meyerson, who was Wexler’s assistant at Atlantic Records during the mid-1960s. Both Atlantic and Rolling Stone magazine have chipped in to help make the afternoon possible.

On a personal note: I knew Jerry Wexler, and he was just as great a guy as you might think. He was also underrated and a little overshadowed. This event should do him just a little of the justice he deserves.

Don Draper Was Recruited from a Fur Company!

Roger Friedman
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Don Draper was found by Roger Sterling working in a fur company. He was going to night school. This little tidbit comes from Roger Sterling in next week’s episode of “Mad Men.” A clip from Sterling’s (John Slattery) conversation with Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) is up at the “Mad Men” website.

I’m thrilled, because Slattery hasn’t been used too much this season. A two-time Emmy nominee, he was on the back burner. But Roger (no relation to me!) is the wit of the show. He and Joan (Christina Hendricks) are vital to the whole gestalt of’ “Mad Men.” We need more, not less, of them!

Slattery will probably figure in the final one of this season, in which his onscreen daughter should marry. If you recall, the wedding is set for November 23, 1963, the day after John Kennedy is assassinated. Strangely, on AMC’s schedule, the listing for Episode 12 is missing ’11 and 13 are there, but not 12. Does it mean something or is it just a mistake?

Meanwhile, we know that last night’s episode takes place on or around September 15, 1963 because the Drapers’ maid, Carla, is listening to the funeral for the four little girls killed in the tragic Birmingham, Alabama church bombing. Betty Draper, fast becoming the most unlikeable character on television (real or fictional), just doesn’t get it. Carla does. (Actress Deborah Lacey is just great.) But let’s just hope “Mad Men,” however, doesn’t become “I’ll Fly Away.” Important as the civil rights movement is, let’s not get too far from the martinis.

Carly Simon Sues Starbucks Music Label: Real Clouds In Her Coffee

Roger Friedman
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Carly Simon really does have clouds in her coffee now.

The legendary hit singer ” who should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ‘ filed suit on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Starbucks’ Hear Music record label. Simon says that Starbucks failed to tell her that they were closing their label in April 2008 at the same they were releasing her new album, “This Kind of Love.”

Hear Music had made a splash releasing new CDs by Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor (Carly’s ex), John Mellencamp and a few others. Simon’s should have been their latest hit. Instead, she says, they abandoned her.

What’s interesting is that Hear Music was never really gone. Indeed, even though Howard Schultz, the Starbucks owner, fired the label’s execs, he merely transferred the music over to Concord Records. Last week, Hear Music announced a new live album and DVD package with Paul McCartney set for late November. They also have a website indicating that they’ve kept putting out Starbuck-centric releases including a greatest hits package by Paul Simon.

For months, Carly Simon tried communicating with Schultz, only to be rejected. She finally contacted famed attorney David Boies, who filed the suit.

Simon explains to the New York Times today that she is not rich, nor a publishing heiress, as some think. True, her father Richard Simon started Simon & Schuster in the 1040s. But the company was sold before Carly was born, and Richard Simon was pretty much swindled out of his own company and fortune. In other words: she needs the money.

It’s not like Schultz doesn’t know about musicians, by the way. He is the first cousin of Kenny G.

The main contention in the lawsuit: that Starbucks/ Hear Music hid from Simon the fact that they were shutting down. The result was that she was left on the hook to promote an album that was set to be marketed, largely, in the Starbucks chain. It was the main reason she’d signed with them in the first place.

Simon is seeking monetary damages from Starbucks, but also her master recording returned to her. This only makes sense. Hear Music completely fumbled the release of “This Kind of Love.” The least they could now is give it back.

Simon tells the New York Times today that “This Kind of Love” was supposed to be her final album. Maybe. But she’s releasing a CD of reworked greatest hits at the end of this month. The new version of “You’re So Vain” (which contains the line “I had some dreams/they were clouds in my coffee”) is sensational. Hopefully, what’s left of “light FM” stations will play it. And Simon will keep writing new albums’ worth of songs for a long to come.

Michael Jackson’s New Single “This Is It”–Recycled from Early 90s

Roger Friedman
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Michael Jackson’s new single “This Is It” ‘ its existence was first reported here, exclusively.

Now it’s out this morning, and “This Is It” should be called “This WAS It.” The single sounds more or less like Michael’s never-released 2001 charity single, “What More Can I Do” and his 1985 hit, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.”

The new single is a mess. It has no actual chorus, and ‘ to make matters worse ‘ it has background vocals added by some of Michael’s brothers. Jackson would never have wanted that.

“This Is It” was produced, or concocted, by John McClain, Jackson’s longtime friend and one of the executors to his estate. McClane tried unsuccessfully to get the Jackson 5 back together in 2002, after Michael’s solo concerts in 2001. At the time, he was assisting in Michael’s management with Trudy Green of HK Management.

Well, the song is not great. For a theme song, and a way to market the “This is It” movie, it’s fine. But there are better songs among the few Michael left behind in the vaults. There’s one, left off of “Bad,” called “Saturday Night Woman,” that’s supposed to be a real, er, thriller. Maybe it will turn up on a CD of unreleased material.

Steven Spielberg Has Secret Screening of Controversial Disney Doc

Roger Friedman
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The word in Hollywood is that Steven Spielberg recently had a secret screening of a controversial new documentary about Disney animation.

We saw “Waking Sleeping Beauty” yesterday at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and all I can say is, I know why Spielberg was curious. He’s in it. So are some of the people he invited over to watch it with him, including Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Don Hahn’s extraordinary film (co-produced with former Disney cartoon chief Peter Schneider) tells the story of Disney’s animation division for its decade of unparalleled modern success: from 1984 to 1994, or, roughly, from “The Little Mermaid” through “The Lion King.” Veteran entertainment journalist Patrick Pacheco has fashioned this story into a compelling narrative.

What’s interesting about all this is that the film details all the fighting in the executive suites at Disney among Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the late Frank Wells (an admired peacemaker), and Roy Disney. All of these feuds are still active even though Eisner and Katzenberg are gone, Wells is dead, and Disney is said to be quite ill.

What you don’t want to miss: Disney and Eisner’s catfight at Wells’s memorial service. It’s not to be believed.

Basically Hahn shows how all these guys competed for publicity and attention. It’s all about ego.

Lucikly, Hahn and Schneider discovered that, against Disney rules, animator Randy Cartwright had been making homemade films at Disney for years, chronicling everything. His cameraman? John Lasseter, who would eventually leave, start Pixar, and then to return to conquer Disney. The films are used as a through line for “Waking.”

Hahn stops short in 1994, right before Katzenberg leaves Disney to start Dreamworks with Spielberg and attempts to get revenge on his old boss. That’s for the sequel.

Along the way, we learn a lot about the Disney animators, kicked off the lot in ‘84 so Katzenberg would have more room for his successful run of live action films via Touchstone, like “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” and “Ruthless People.”’ But then “Mermaid” hits, and a series of animated films like “Pocohantas” and “Aladdin” revive the business. Disney builds a whole new building for the animators on their Burbank lot. The animators start to burn out, however, from all the work. And the execs are at war.

Now here’s the weird part of “Waking Sleeping Beauty”: Disney has given its blessing to the film, and says it will be released next spring. They’ve let the filmmakers license Disney footage. The company’s chairman, Robert Iger, is said to be okay with it. This is incredibly insightful of Iger, who might also consider releasing a long suppressed doc called “Sweatbox,” by Trudie Styler (aka Mrs. Sting) about the making of “The Emperor’s New Groove.”

For animation lovers and Disney aficionados, “Waking Sleeping Beauty” is going to be like getting the tablets from on high. But for Hollywood historians, it’s even better: a real document about some of the industry’s biggest egos, and how they fought their wars. Amazing.

Phil Spector Has It in for Tony Bennett, Thinks He’s Galileo

Roger Friedman
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agony ecstacy phil spector 341x182 300x160 Phil Spector Has It in for Tony Bennett, Thinks Hes Galileo

"The Agony and Ecstacy of Phil Spector"

Phil Spector, the mad genius record producer in prison for killing a Hollywood B-movie actress, is, you know, nuts. So nothing like an incoherent documentary about him to make things even nuttier.

Over the weekend, Vikram Jayanti showed his “Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector” at the Hamptons Film Festival. Apparently it was shown by the BBC (which produced it) last year at least once. It’s also available for free download on a sanctioned site called veoh.com.

This part seems problematic since the documentary includes full length audio by the Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and other artists whom Spector produced. It’s unclear that the music was actually “cleared” for use since Beatles recordings are usually not allowed in movies. And now it’s free on the Internet to underscore Spector’s ramblings. But I’ll have leave that up to lawyers since Jayanti professed no knowledge of the situation.

His film is, indeed, as incoherent as its subject. I’ve rarely seen such bad filmmaking from a professional filmmaker. It does look like Jayanti made some kind of deal with Spector to make him look good in exchange for exclusive interviews. The director denies it, but really, who’s kidding who? At the Q&A after the screening, Jayanti said he believed there was “reasonable doubt” that Spector did not kill Lana Clarkson. I’ve got some land to sell him in New Orleans.

Spector is obsessed with Tony Bennett. He doesn’t like him, and uses him as a refrain in the movie, referring to Bennett’s long ago drug problems. Spector thinks Bennett’s problems are more egregious than his own. Ha! He also compares himself to Galileo, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci. Why not? They never had hit records, so he may be wrong.

Jayanti is well known for the Muhammad Ali film “When We Were Kings.” But in “Agony and Ecstasy,” he either was obsessed with Spector or just lazy. The film is long on odd, with full length versions of Spector’s produced music playing over disjointed videos of his first murder trial in 2007. It’s really weird. There’s little context for anything. Is this a film about Spector’s music, or his first murder trial, or what? Or all of it? And through it, poor Clarkson, a great girl by all accounts, is demonized.

There is a lot of grandiosity at work too. Spector claims credit for all his Brill Building recordings, from “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling” to “Spanish Harlem.” There is zero mention of the writers of the songs — Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. It’s all Phil, Phil, Phil. He did it all, even the Wall of Sound. (Were there musicians? Not in this story.) Further, Jayanti doesn’t include any reference to Ronnie Bennett and the Ronettes, who made Spector, and just a scant one to Darlene Love.

Spector, of course, is a megalomaniac, and it comes across clearly. There is a particularly fascinating segment about the Beatles in which he attacks Paul McCartney and George Martin. He takes credit for all of John Lennon’s post-Beatles career. There’s also a bit about recording “My Sweet Lord” with George Harrison but no mention of the plagiarism suit that haunted the hit. The record was deemed similar to the Chiffons‘ hit “He’s So Fine,” which was not produced by Spector in the ’60s but certainly came from his world.

So do watch “Agony and the Ecstasy” to see and hear Spector — it’s probably the one and only time, whether accurate or not. And the video archival material of the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, the Ronettes is all beyond gorgeous.

P.S. There’s a much better actual documentary about Spector here.

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