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Diane Warren First Songwriter To Get Oscar Lifetime Achievement, Joined by Michael J. Fox, Peter Weir, Euzhan Palchy

Roger Friedman
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Diane Warren First Songwriter To Get Oscar Lifetime Achievement, Joined by Michael J. Fox, Peter Weir, Euzhan Palchy

Our long national nightmare is over: Diane Warren is getting her Oscar.

After a record 13 nominations, Warren is the first songwriter ever to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

She will be joined this November by Michael J. Fox, director Peter Weir and director Euzhan Palcy.

Fox will get the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his exceptional work raising money for Parkinsons Disease research.

Weir has directed some incredible movies like “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Witness,” “Dead Poets Society,” “The Truman Show” and “Master and Commander.” He became famous with “PIcnic at Hanging Rock.”

Euzhan Palcy’s credits include a great film everyone should see, “A Dry White Season” with Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon. Palcy is a writer, director and producer born in Martinique in the French West Indies. Her first feature film, “Sugar Cane Alley,” won the Silver Lion at the 1983 Venice Film Festival, a first for a Black director. It went on to win a César Award for Best First Work, the first César won by a woman director and by a Black filmmaker.

For Warren, this is a sweet moment. Her movie songs include “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” “Because You Loved Me,” “How Do I Live,” “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” “Til It Happens To You” and “Stand Up for Something.” She has collaborated with such prominent music artists as Beyoncé, Cher, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Reba McEntire and Carlos Santana. This statue is a long time coming and much deserved.

Great choices by the Academy. Congrats to all!

Nia Vardalos Announces She’s Directing “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” Right Now, In Greece

Roger Friedman
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Nia Vardalos Announces She’s Directing “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” Right Now, In Greece

Big surprise announcement today from Nia Vardalos: She’s directing the third installment of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

The cast and crew is in Greece right now, filming. John Corbett, Lainie Kazan and the rest of the cast from the original two movies are in the cast. Sadly, Michael Constantine, who played Nia’s father, passed away last year.

Tom Hanks, Gary Gary Goetzman, and Rita Wilson are producing again, this time for HBO and Focus. Nia is a terrific girl, and I’m so happy for her!

What is this one about? Well, there’d better be a wedding. Could it be the child of Nia and John getting hitched? Her name is Paris, and when we saw her last she was headed to college at NYU.

I’d say, check the registry.

Kate Bush Hit, “Running Up That Hill,” Closes in On 1 Million in Sales Thanks to “Stranger Things”

Roger Friedman
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Kate Bush Hit, “Running Up That Hill,” Closes in On 1 Million in Sales Thanks to “Stranger Things”

For Kate Bush, everything happening now must seem like the Upside Down.

The cult British singer’s 1985 hit, “Running Up That Hill,” is closing in on 1 million copies sold including streaming. Prior to the invention of Soundscan, Musicconnect, etc, “Hill” was a non starter.

On Spotify there are 265 million streams (which have been converted into sales equivalents for chart purposes).

Most of the people buying the single or streaming were not alive in 1985. Or maybe even 1990.

All of this is because “Hill” is the theme song for “Stranger Things Season 4” on Netflix. The series is a monster hit. The song would be hitting a nerve because it’s used as the theme for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) who’s bullied by fellow students in junior high school. The Duffer Brothers cut the song perfectly so that the emotions of the bullying spike while the song becomes Eleven;s anthem.

One sign of the “Hill” success: there are remixes all over YouTube. The single is headed for 2 million in sales, which is extraordinary. The fact is, it’s the best song and record of 2022. The Grammys should give it a special award.

UPDATED Kellyanne Conway’s Book Sales Drop Over 100% in 3 Weeks, Below Number 600 on Amazon

Roger Friedman
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UPDATED Kellyanne Conway’s Book Sales Drop Over 100% in 3 Weeks, Below Number 600 on Amazon

THURSDAY MORNING JUNE 23 “Here’s the Plea Deal” is now lodged at 641 on Amazon.

WEDS MORNING JUNE 22 The book has fallen to number 578 on Amazon.

EARLIER: Executive liar in chief from the Trump administration, Kellyanne Conway, is losing book sales fast.

In her third, Conway’s “Here’s the Squeal,” er, “Deal,” sold just 8,071 copies according to NPD Book Scan.

That’s over a 100% drop in three weeks from the initial release of 25,000 copies.

On amazon, “Where’s the Beef?” –er, “Here’s the Deal”– is at number 370 and dropping like a rock.

Conway is still forcing herself onto TV, and some commentators are allowing it just to play with her like a kitten with a toy mouse. But I’d rather she disappeared now. The book, by the way, if you bought it, is good for propping up laptops during Zoom calls.

When the book drops out of the Amazon top 500 we’ll all meet at Bowling Green station for an Alternative Celebration.

Ratings: “Jeopardy” Post-Ken Jennings Falls Below 5 Mil For First Time in Months, Dropped 8% Last Week

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: “Jeopardy” Post-Ken Jennings Falls Below 5 Mil For First Time in Months, Dropped 8% Last Week

I’ll take Game Show Hosts for Better Ratings.

“Jeopardy” ratings fell 8% last week from the previous week, to 4.8 million. That’s the first time the show has been under 5 million viewers in months.

It’s also a trend under current host Mayim Bialik. Her previous weeks were at 5.3 million and then 5.2 million. The last of those was for the week she took over from Ken Jennings.

On social media, Jennings abruptly announced in mid May that was he leaving, and that Bialik was taking over for an undetermined amount of time. Jennings may return when Bialik goes back to shooting her Fox sitcom in August.

Jennings is far more popular with the regular “Jeopardy” crowd than Bialik. The fans may be showing their displeasure by tuning out until or if he returns.

Under Jennings, there were also several runs of big winners which propelled his ratings above 6 million last winter. His low was at 5.7 million right before his exit.

Last week’s 4.8 million was such a tumble that it permitted “Family Feud,” an insipid show, to take over the lead among game shows.

Stay tuned. New ratings will be in soon for two weeks ago, and we’ll see if the trend continues.

Also down, by the way, are the “Judge Judy” reruns on CBS. They were off by 5% last week, down to 4.2 million. I don’t understand how these reruns draw any audience since they are just on a loop. Some of them are a hundred years old. There are references on camera that give away the year, and it ain’t 2022. Or even 2021. But Man Bites Dog is always a popular story!

Twitter — Now Owned by Musk — Says Greitens Ad Advocating Killing “RINOs” Must Remain

Roger Friedman
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Twitter — Now Owned by Musk — Says Greitens Ad Advocating Killing “RINOs” Must Remain

And so it begins.

Tesla’s Elon Musk officially bought Twitter today. His first act was to keep up the posts from wanna be Missouri senate candidate Eric Greitens advocating the hunting and killing of people– “Republics In Name Only” — or RINO.s

Twitter responded to complaints from members that even though the video violated policy they thought it was in the public interest to keep it accessible.

I have to disagree. This is an ad intended to incite violence. The public’s right to know about it is guaranteed by all of us writing about it. But Twitter doesn’t need to disseminate it. Neither does YouTube or Facebook. What will happen when there’s another mass public shooting, this time following Greiten’s order? Victims’ families can sue those companies.

January 6th Filmmaker Will “Fully Cooperate” with Subpeona from Committee, Releasing Film This Summer

Roger Friedman
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January 6th Filmmaker Will “Fully Cooperate” with Subpeona from Committee, Releasing Film This Summer

FIlmmaker Alex Holder, subpoenaed by the January 6th committee in Congress, says he will “fully cooperate” and appear before the group with his footage.. He’s releasing his film, called “Unprecedented,” later this summer, but doesn’t say who bought it…yet. I hope whoever has it will release it in theaters first so it can an Oscar. This will be a huge film, full of shocking revelations to be sure. Holder, who is British. had unprecedented access to the Trump White House beginning in September 2020 up through the Insurrection attempt at the Capitol. He undoubtedly has footage of all the players conspiring to overthrow the government. Incendiary material is coming!

Here’s is Alex’s statement:

Beyonce Drops Great New Summer Dance Single, “Break My Soul” — Unique Monday Release — Based on 1993 Disco Hit

Roger Friedman
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Beyonce Drops Great New Summer Dance Single, “Break My Soul” — Unique Monday Release — Based on 1993 Disco Hit

Come back at midnight. Beyonce is dropping her new single, “Break My Soul,” tonight. It’s an unusual release on a Monday night. This way, she gets a several days jump on releases coming Thursday night.

Beyonce dropped “Break My Soul” two hours early. It’s a great dance single, perfect for summer. It’s from her “Renaissance” album coming July 29th.

Break My Soul is based on a 1993 disco hit by Robin S called “Show Me Love,” written by Fred McFarlane and Allen George, Like all good Beyonce and Jay Z hits, it’s just a huge reinterpreted sample. But no one will remember and maybe those writers’ estates will get a few dollars.

Welcome back, Beyonce!

Pop Fizz: Sean P Diddy Combs Strikes Out with Comeback Single Featuring Bryson Tiller, Gone After 4 Days

Roger Friedman
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Pop Fizz: Sean P Diddy Combs Strikes Out with Comeback Single Featuring Bryson Tiller, Gone After 4 Days

Sean P Diddy Combs has struck out big time with his comeback single.

Fans have already moved on from “Gotta Move On,” released on Friday and featuring Bryson Tiller. After a short run to the top 30, the single is now at number 99 on iTunes. It will be off the top 100 by later today. gone,completely gone from the Top 200 after 4 days. It’s also MIA from Apple’s Top 100 streaming singles.

Diddy recently announced a distribution deal with Universal Music’s Motown label to put out his first new album since 2006’s “Press Play” which wasn’t much of a hit. Diddy’s real period of recording success was between 1999-2003, when he launched Bad Boy Records by covering The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” as “I’ll Be Missing You.” The whole thing was hooked to memorializing Biggie Smalls. Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans, sang lead and Sting, who wrote the song, got all the royalties.

Diddy’s other acts on Bad Boy have fallen out with him over time, including Mase, who’s been begging Combs to give him back his masters and publishing. Combs is worth a fortune — mostly from Ciroc Vodka — and Mase is struggling. But Combs– who complains publicly about white record company execs ripping off Black artists– has refused.

Now comes “Gotta Move On,” which is supposed to be about Combs breaking up with long time girlfriend, Cassie. But yesterday, Cassie’s husband, and father of their three children, posted a catty text on social media suggesting Combs– the father of six — is gay.

But the real problem with “Gotta Move On” is that it’s not very good. The record sounds like it’s from the early aughts and isn’t very exciting. Tiller is a marginal act, so the combination has added up to very little.

Can Diddy’s new label do anything? I don’t know, but the remnants of Bad Boy can still be seeon Broadway in the West 50s where the old sign is fading in front a closed building.

LA Theater: Frankie Valli in the House for Granddaughter’s Premiere in “Pretty Woman” Musical

Leah Sydney
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LA Theater: Frankie Valli in the House for Granddaughter’s Premiere in “Pretty Woman” Musical

Hey, betcha you didn’t know that Frankie Valli has a mega talented granddaughter?  He most certainly does, her name is Olivia Valli and she plays the Julia Roberts role in “Pretty Woman: The Musical” based on the beloved romantic, albeit a bit twisted, film of the same name which was directed by the late and most certainly beloved Garry Marshall. 

The show is on a national tour, and it just opened as part of the “Broadway in Hollywood” season at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.  None other than the iconic Four Seasons’  88 year old lead singer was in the audience to see his powerhouse granddaughter belt out the role of the wise cracking and warm-hearted Vivian Ward (made famous by Roberts.)  Broadway Veteran Adam Pascal plays Edward Lewis, the smooth talking trick with a mushy heart (played in the film by Richard Gere. ) The peppy rock and roll score is by Grammy award winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. 

I caught up with Frankie after the show and he told me, “I had to hold back tears, I’m so proud of her.”  Brought to the stage by lead producer Paula Wagner, who spoke before the show and who told me that “the show is so popular here in the US and literally around the world.  We had a world tour planned, then Covid hit, but now we are playing everywhere, from the UK to Germany, to all over Europe.”  

Director/ Choreographer Jerry Mitchell noted to the packed crowd that, “ I saw this film over 30 years ago, I was still dancing on Broadway myself. I knew  then and there that this would make a great musical.  Here we are all these years later.  You’ll fall in love with this show like the world did with the movie!” Another treat was Roy Orbison Jr was in the house, his dad’s smash hit (written with Bill Dee) “Oh Pretty Woman” is of course featured cheekily throughout the show. So as the “Pretty Woman” tag lines reads, “Are you ready to fall in love again?”

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