Henry Cavill has made only one standalone Superman movie — 2013’s “Man of Steel.” He’s been in other DC movies and makes a cameo in “Black Adam.”
But now on Instagram Cavill doesn’t cavil: he’s returning as Superman, presumably in a sequel or something related to “Man of Steel.” See for yourselves.
This weekend, hatemongers draped a sheet on an overpass on the 405 Freeway: “Kanye is right,” it read, “about the Jews.”
Fliers appeared in mailboxes and strewn on lawns in Jewish neighborhoods, all anti-Semitic.
All of this has been enabled by Kanye West. The Gap dropped him, so did Balenciaga. Adidas is under pressure to do the same, and they’d better do it quickly. Public sentiment on social media is rising against them.
But the most impact will come if Universal Music Group cuts ties with Kanye West immediately. His records or streams are distributed by UMG’s Def Jam label. In the last week, West’s total sales have dropped to almost zero. The public on to him. But now UMG and Def Jam have to make this move — not a suspension, a cancellation of all their business with Kanye West.
UMG recording artists must take a stand against West continuing with the company. That includes the Beatles — really Paul McCartney — as well as Elton John, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and so on. Just looking the other way will nor work: that’s what happened in Germany in the 1930s. These artists must speak out. They have to take a clear stand that the promotion of anti-Semitism will not be tolerated, or rewarded.
Already nearly 75,000 people have signed a petition on change,org for Adidas to drop West as a business partner. The same kind of petition for Universal Music should be in place soon. Granted, West’s last few albums haven’t sold very well. But what happens when he hands Universal a new album espousing these criminal ideas? Will they just issue it? Or will they take a stand now, so it can’t happen?
Even though a typical Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band show is three to four hours long, there will not be a new album to go along with it next spring.
According to my sources, Bruce and co. will rely on “Letter to You,” their 2021 album, for new material, as well as Bruce’s upcoming “Only the Strong Survive” and “Western Stars” collections.
“‘Letter to You’ has never been played live because of the pandemic,” says a source. “That’s the album that will be highlighted.”
As it is Bruce and E Street have two solid hours of classics to play and that the audience wants. Their greatest hits and previous deep cuts could actually fill the four hours. If you add in highlights from those newer three albums, audiences could be in their seats for a long, long time.
Some songs we’d like to hear live: “If I Was the Priest,” “Burnin Train,” and the title track from “Letter to You.” plus absolutely “There Goes My Miracle” from “Western Stars.”
Big stars still meaning something at the movies.
Dwayne Johnson aka the Rock brought in $67 million this weekend with his “Black Adam.” Critics and bloggers didn’t think much of it, but the audience ate it up. “Black Adam” will hit $100 million pretty quickly, and it revives the DC Extended Universe instantly.
More big stars: “Ticket to Paradise,” Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s travelogue to Bali, is a forgettable film. But it’s comfort food, which these days no one will reject. Total weekend is almost $17 million. Maybe they can sequels where they bicker around the world at different locales. (Too bad the writers didn’t give them other children to fight over.)
So are audiences flocking back to theaters? Yes, when they have movie stars to see on the big screen. Also with rom-coms, you have to have stars who like each other in real life and have no personal baggage. Clooney and Roberts have “clean” personal lives, unlike some others.
Also, the movie should at least make sense and pay off its expectations. Apparently, “Halloween Ends” did not do that. It’s down 80% from the first weekend because “Halloween” fans just don’t like it. Case closed!
Kanye West is having a bad week — deservedly so.
After doubling down on hate talk, anti-Semitism, and making horrible remarks, several groups have disavowed him. Balenciaga, the fashion house, has stopped doing business with him. The Gap will not continue with him. Vogue magazine said their relationship is severed for many reasons. Anna Wintour’s adult son and daughter are Jewish — their father is Jewish — so she actually showed some integrity for once.
Mid week, after story after story of West (do not call him “Ye”) persisting in anti-Semitic remarks, the bottom finally dropped out of his record sales. Most of West’s sales come from streaming. On Thursday, his streaming numbers week to week dropped from an average of around 9,000 a day to nearly zero– 159 copies. On Thursday, West sold zero physical albums according to Luminate.
On the iTunes and Amazon top albums charts, West has one or two listings on which he’s he’s a guest artist. On the Apple streaming chart, his sole single is more than a decade old–“Gold Digger” with Jamie Foxx. On Thursday, his sales just completely cratered. We’ll watch over the next couple of days to see if they bounce back. But it does seem like the public has had enough, finally.
to be continued…
The best cup of coffee I had all week, maybe all month, was sipped this past Thursday downstairs at the stunning new Hard Rock Hotel on West 48th St. It’s called Stevie’s Jungle Java Roast, from a private farm in Nicaragua.
And there in the lower floor of the new hotel, which has a beautiful theater — was wide grinned, well-scarved Little Steven and his beautiful dancer wife Maureen presiding over the launch of Wicked Cool Wellness, which includes a whole line of very tasty, organic products like many different iterations of coffee, brownies and blondies, lollipops, teas, and so on.
They also make aromatic soy candles, which are not for eating (but they smell like they could be.)
Ten percent of the profits from van Zandt’s apothecary go to TeachRock, a 501 c3 “that has developed a curriculum, educational materials, and resources based around popular music, a subject that provides immediate common ground with student interest and passion. Interdisciplinary in nature TeachRock uses the history of popular music to create engaging, multicultural lesson plans for history, social studies, language arts, music, and science classrooms, for learning at all levels, and are available to educators, students, and individuals at NO COST.”
Little Steven is not new to philanthropy. He’s used his E Street fame only for good over the years, whether it was stopping musicians to playing in South Africa before apartheid ended to any number of good causes.
But let’s get back to products: they are delicious. Stevie partnered with his pal David Roth who runs Wakaya, which grows some of the finest quality, single source, organic wellness ingredients in the world from their small farms in Fiji and Nicaragua. All their products  are 100% grown and harvested with local loving hands, with no machinery or pesticides ever used. Their crops are famous around the world for their flavor and potency. Plus, they go to these places so we don’t have to!
(Between the brownie and the medium roast, I was happy and awake for about 24 hours!)
And the whole thing is summed up in their clever video aka commercial, see below.
Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” is a hit, to say the least.
The album itself, plus seven more tracks only available on streaming, set records on Friday. It’s Spotify’s most-streamed album in one day.
Indeed, “Midnights” is currently holding down most of the top 20 on Spotify’s daily singles chart. It’s also got most of the spots on iTunes’ top 20.
Is it any good? Most reviews are mixed. But “Midnights” arrived at a moment when there hadn’t been much in the way of big releases. Also, the album is marketed within an inch of its life. No stone has gone unturned. Swift and her team are superstars in this realm.
Hitsdailydouble.com is predicted first week sales of 1 million copies including streaming, CDs, vinyl, and downloads.
Big stars are the big tickets this weekend.
Last night “Black Adam” starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson booked $19 million plus $7.4 million from previews. It’s heading to a $60 million weekend.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts pulled in $5 million Friday night for “Ticket to Paradise.” Including Thursday they’re in for $6.4 million. Their weekend take will be $16 million, shy of $20 million but just what was expected. “Ticket to Paradise” already has $68 million in the bank from international sales.
Neither movie great reviews. But they have the stars, and that’s all that matters. For “Black Adam,” success is a must as Warner Bros. tries to rebuild the DC Extended Universe. Superman even makes an appearance in “Black Adam,” so you know a sequel lurks out there.
If you watched TV in the afternoons in the 60s, 70s, or even early 80s, Ann Flood, who played Nancy Karr on “The Edge of Night,” was a mainstay even if you flipped through channels. Nancy and her husband Mike (Forest Compton) were the central characters, the good guys in fictional Monticello, while criminals, deviants, and adulterers ran wild.
Ann Flood died October 7th, according to reports. She was married for 61 years to media mogul Herb Granath, at various times Chairman of the Board of ESPN, A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime Television, among other positions. Herb was also a trustee at the Museum of the Moving Image. Back in the day, well after the Karrs had solved their last crime, Ann and Herb were bi annual guests at MMI dinners. It was always fun to see Ann Flood, who seemed to never age, and joke with her about all the craziness on “Edge of Night.”
Among the actors who graduated from “Edge” to nighttime were Lori Loughlin, Holland Taylor, Frances Fisher, and Kate Capshaw. But Ann Flood — with her long neck and cool beauty — who was part of that rare group who held down the daytime mystery series for 22 consecutive years — she probably holds a record of some kind. After “Edge” went off the air, Flood appeared in plenty of other series, still without aging, including “The Cosby Show.”
RIP Nancy Karr, Ann Flood. Thanks for getting me through a lot of homework.
When a show is good or bad coming to Broadway, you can smell it. Certainly the aroma of success was in the air last night at the Golden Theater as celebrities, tastemakers, and investors stuffed themselves into a fairly small room to witness greatness.
Twenty years ago, Suzan Lori Parks‘s “Top Dog Underdog” caused a sensation with Geoffrey Wright and Mos Def in the lead roles. The two-hander play was the talk of the town, and I can still remember how exciting it all was. Last night, for its first revival, “Top Dog” is back and a total triumph with Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II taking the roles of the aptly named Lincoln and Booth making them their own. The latter actor is no slouch, but Hawkins is transcendent.
To recap: Lincoln and Booth are adult brothers living together in sort of a happy squalor. Their parents abandoned them when they were teenagers. Lincoln’s job is playing Abe Lincoln in a historical re-enactment of Booth killing him at Ford’s Theater. He wears white face for the job. Booth, the younger brother, seems to rent the one room they live in (no running water, bathroom down the hall). Linc sleeps in a kind of Barcalounger and has an ex-wife named Cookie who is unseen. Booth, more of a ladies man, has an offstage girlfriend name Grace who is the source of romantic frustration.
While Lincoln is busy practicing being shot in Ford’s Theater, his real avocation is being an expert at three card Monte, duping prey on sidewalks. Booth aspires to his brother’s success in this realm, and practices, without much luck, using two milk crates to prop up a piece of cardboard. Booth is no good at it, no matter how much he tries plus he has the Grace problem. When Linc loses his job, their tensions mount. When a gun is introduced, you know no good will come of it.
Kenny Leon directed this production, and it may be his finest of many great moments. He knows it, too. His on stage speech after the show ended was a gift of poetry. It’s kind of amazing when you really get a great night in theater, a memorable one for all the right reasons. This is the third successful Black theater production to open on Broadway in a week, including “Death of a Salesman” and “The Piano Lesson.” You can feel a change has come, and it’s most welcome.
I was seated next to a terrific Black actor named Leon (Leon Robinson). Spike Lee was in the room. So was director Joel Coen, who came by himself to support Hawkins, who’d appeared in Coen’s “Macbeth” movie. Pop singer Joe Jonas and his “Game of Thrones” actress wife Sophie Turner were on hand. Susie Essman, of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame, was a guest. (The new “Curb” season starts up again next week.) Al Roker and Deborah Roberts told me during intermission they’d come with a big contingent from the Today show. It was that kind of night.
Hawkins and Abdul-Mateen give the performances of their lives. They will each be nominated for Tony Awards and other prizes, but it’s not enough to say that You must their thrilling work live, in person. I’m looking forward to going back to see them again. Just brilliant.