Where is the FBI? This video was posted to YouTube on April 25th by Eric Geitens, candidate for the US Senate from Missouri. It shows him at target practice. The audio is: “Liberals, beware.”
Here’s the video issued this morning:
Exclusive: Greitens Had Already Posted Video Shooting Targets: “Liberals, Beware” (See Both Videos Here)
Frightening Greitens: Trump Senate Candidate in Missouri Advocates Hunting and Shooting of “RINO’s,” Republicans in Name Only
Eric Greitens is running for the US Senate in Missouri.
This morning he released a commercial in which he declares it’s open hunting season on “RINOs.” That’s the acronym for Republicans in Name Only.
Greitens is shown cocking a rifle, and then as the video proceeds, what looks like Navy SEALS are hunting for so called RINOs.
Greitens is openly advocating the hunting and killing of Missouri Republicans who he feels are anti-Trump and anti-MAGA.
Greitens has been accused of spousal abuse, as well, by his ex wife (see video below).
The ad is running on Twitter and other social media. Below you can see the opening direction from his website:
Just in case he deletes it…I’ve preserved it for posterity. @SecretService pic.twitter.com/jFdptEl3Mu
— ZephyrNCC1701 RN🖖☮️ (@zephyr1701) June 20, 2022
Frightening Greitens: Trump Senate Candidate in Missouri Advocates Hunting and Shooting of “RINO’s,” Republicans in Name Only
Emmys: Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, Juno Temple Make “The Offer” a Show You Can’t Refuse
Voting for Emmy nominations ends June 27th at 10pm. I’ve already expressed enthusiasm for a bunch of shows that deserve noms in their show and acting categories including “Succession,” “Hacks,” “Mrs. Maisel,” “Billions,” “The Gilded Age.”
Now add to that group Paramount Plus’s “The Offer,” all about the making of “The Godfather.” If you’re voting in the Emmys and are a part of the showbiz community, this is a series you must watch now, Put everything aside. I finally did it this weekend, and I’m the happier for it.
I’d been hearing about Matthew Goode’s portrayal of Robert Evans, the Paramount exec who was married to Ali McGraw and got the movie made. Goode skipped making the current “Downton Abbey” movie so he could do this job. I was lucky enough to know Bob Evans, and I can tell you Matthew Goode deserves any award he’s eligible for. It’s a runaway hit performance. He has Evans down to his perpetual stuffed nose. Even better, he makes him real, human, three dimensional. He’s a charmer who can talk his way in and out of everything. He’s that Goode.
Goode is in the Limited Series/TV movie category as supporting actor. Right there with him is Juno Temple, known now from “Ted Lasso.” Temple is a revelation as Bettye, Al Ruddy’s assistant. Watching “The Offer,” you wonder if “The Godfather” would ever have been made without Bettye. Temple is a fizzy cocktail of Rosanna Arquette and every Girl Friday in the movies. I love the way she takes on Gulf and Western’s Charlie Bludhorn, and how she bonds with all the other women with stakes in the making of the movie. Temple must be in for Supporting Actress in Limited Series/TV movie.
In lead as Al Ruddy is Miles Teller, currently in the number 1 smash movie, “Top Gun Maverick.” Teller got famous with Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole,” hit a home run in Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash,” then drifted a little bit. I really think Al Ruddy is the part he was meant to play. As Ruddy, Teller is standing up to the mob, balancing Evans and Bludhorn, dealing with Barry Diller (here renamed Barry Lapidus, played so well by Colin Hanks). I love the fact that Teller has come into his own this year. Make sure he’s in the lead actor, Limited Series/TV movie.
Not everyone can be stuffed into awards categories. Giovanni Ribisi is sensational as mobster Joe Columbo, as well. Little by little, “The Offer” builds. All the below the line categories in drama are solid here, too, with the period look consistent and rich. “The Offer” is a lovely surprise.
Clickbait List: Paul McCartney’s 35 Best Songs, Unless You Disagree
This weekend Paul McCartney celebrated his 80th birthday. His career stretches back to 1957 when he first wrote songs with George Harrison and John Lennon.
Everyone has a list of their favorite McCartney songs. Which ones are the best? I made a list of 35 songs. That’s 35 out of 500, maybe. So you will disagree, and I don’t blame you.
I had the pleasure of seeing McCartney in concert on Thursday night, and had a lot of time to think about all this. But send in your lists to showbiz411@gmail.com, too.
- Let it Be
- Hey Jude
- Long and Winding Road
- Yesterday
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- All My Loving
- Maybe I’m Amazed
- Here, There, and Everywhere
- Penny Lane
- Band on the Run
- Another Day
- I Will
- I’ve Just Seen a Face
- Eleanor Rigby
- My Brave Face
- Oh Darling
- Every Night
- Blackbird
- Sgt Pepper’s Lonely/With a Little Help
- She’s Leaving Home
- Hi Hi Hi
- Too Many People
- Daytime Nighttime Suffering
- I’ve Just Seen a Face
- The Fool on the Hill
- Lady Madonna
- For No One
- Martha My Dear
- My Love
- We Can Work it Out
- And I Love Her
- Listen to What the Man Said
- Same Love (from the Flaming Pie outtakes)
- Helter Skelter
Review: Jennifer Lopez’s Netflix Film “Halftime” is an Infomercial, Not a Documentary, a Half Notion
Jennifer Lopez is a hard worker, there’s no question about it. Can she sing? Eh, not so much. Can she dance? She can, and she obviously puts in the time to hone her physicality.
But JLo has also had three husbands, and three other major relationships that have occupied the news for almost three decades. In one of those relationships, she ran from a shoot out in a New York nightclub that resulted in her being arrested and spending 14 hours in jail. There was a settlement paid to those injured of $1.8 million, and a rapper took the rap and went to jail for her and Sean Combs.
None of that is included in “Halftime,” a glossy infomercial that opened the Tribeca (formerly Film) Festival and is now playing on Netflix. This is not a documentary. It’s a self congratulatory valediction created out of ego and hubris. And that makes it fun!
Yes, JLo is good with a stripper pole, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Can she sing? She says yes, but doesn’t, not once, in this film. Every other singer I’ve known — and I’ve known a lot — sing even under their breath, a capella, sing little bits as they move about, it’s in their wiring. But it’s not an instinct for Lopez. Years ago, when her single “I’m Ready” with Ja Rule, hit the charts, I was called by the mother of singer Ashanti, who was JLo’s backup singer. The mother confirmed for me that it was Ashanti’s voice we were hearing on the record. Nearly every performance on TV, JLo has lip synced. What does her real, unadorned voice sound like? We will not find out in “Halftime.”
In the movie, Lopez is upset that she didn’t get an Oscar nomination for her work in “Hustlers,” the first decent movie she had in years. It was preceded by a lot of garbage. No one in the film tells her that just because you think you deserve an Oscar, you don’t get one. All the women who were nominated in 2020 for Best Supporting Actress had worked and had quality resumes. Acting wasn’t a sideline for them. But no one says that in “Halftime.”
The movie is mostly about Lopez’s 2020 Super Bowl appearance with Shakira. Here she’s upset that she has to share the stage with another performer. But JLo hasn’t had a hit in years. She never had that many chart hits in the first place. She’s only released 8 albums since 1999, and the cluster of top 10s was in the first three or four years. Ditto her singles. So sharing the time with Shakira isn’t a bad idea because a medley of JLo’s lip synced hits could be over in three to four minutes.
(Wait: the singing career? Invented by Tommy Mottola, who was married at the time to her rival, Mariah Carey. Eventually Mottola, according to witnesses and reports at the time, took a piece of music made for Mariah and gave it to JLo, triggering Mariah’s mental collapse and the end of her marriage. None of this is in the film, and neither is a mention of Mottola.)
She wants to sing “Born in the USA” with Shakira. So it’s not even one of her own songs. This doesn’t register with her. She thinks “I’m Still Standing” might be a good theme. “Let’s get Elton John,” she says. Except then it would be Elton John’s halftime show. He’s had lots of hits. And can sing. And play the piano.
None of this makes Jennifer Lopez a bad person. I met her when she was married to Marc Anthony. She seemed entirely agreeable. She has a tremendous work ethic, that’s clear. But a documentary and an infomercial are two different things, even if you let cameras into your home and say that your mom beat you as a child. (This claim is not explored, confirmed, or refuted. It just goes by, on the same level as, Mom doesn’t like to cook.)
So take “Halftime” for what it is. But as with most films commissioned by their subjects, it has no objectivity or curiosity and light on facts. It’s a half notion of a half film.
Kellyanne Conway Goes on CNN to Promote Book and It Drops Below Number 300 on Amazon
Kellyanne Conway, Queen of the Alternative Facts, was on Michael Smerconish’s CNN show today peddling her lies and memories of the Battle of Bowling Green. She also threw her husband, George, under the bus.
All of this was to promote her book, called “Squid Game,” er “Here’s the Deal.”
But CNN viewers weren’t biting. When the show began, the book was at number 247 on amazon. When she finished, it was at number 323. It’s also number 27 among Memoirs. And dropping.
Over at the New York Times, the book has dropped to number 9. Conway is bragging on her Twitter account that she’s got the number 1 bestseller. She does not, far from it.
Whenever I see her I start humming this tune to the Hollies song, “Hey Kellyanne, what’s your game, can anybody play?”
Its sorta cool that the more she talks on mainstream TV, the book drops on best seller lists. She should stick to OANN, Fox News, and the Pigeon Channel.
Sing along:
Happy 80th Birthday Richard Perry, Most Successful Record Producer of the 70s and 80s
Maybe you’ve seen the name Richard Perry on hit records made by Carly Simon, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, the Pointer Sisters, Rod Stewart, Leo Sayer.
The most successful record producer of the 70s and 80s, with plenty of hits since then, Perry turns 80 today. Yes, he was born on the same day as Paul McCartney.
Back in ’73, it was Richard who convinced Paul and Linda McCartney to sing background on Carly Simon’s “Night Owl.” Then he got Paul to write a song for Ringo Starr’s “Ringo!” album, and sing background on that track too. You can’t imagine the seismic reaction to the “Ringo!” album because it reunited all the Beatles for the first time since their heartbreaking split in 1970.
A few years ago, Richard was selected for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, aka the Special Merit Award, for his work producing perfect, classic, stunning records like Carly’s “You’re So Vain,” Nilsson’s “Without You,” and Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.”
Last year Richard fell ill — not from COVID but a form of pneumonia — and was hospitalized for several weeks. His long time girlfriend, Jane Fonda, had a brilliant idea. She brought the Pointer Sisters to his hospital room, and they sang for him. They actually sang “Slow Hand,” one of their many hits Perry produced. It must have done the trick because he made a full recovery!
Back in 2000, I ran into Richard at Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton. After dinner we all went back to the house where he was staying. He played us a cassette tape of big band songs he’d made with Rod Stewart. Everyone was dancing around the room. He hadn’t made a deal yet for the record, but soon enough Clive Davis signed it up. The result was five albums of Rod Stewart singing the Classic American Songbook. They sold millions and millions of copies and won tons of awards.
Today all of Richard’s pals like Robbie Robertson from the Band so on will gather in LA to salute eight sensational decades. I wish I could be there! Happy Birthday, Richard! Nobody does it better! (He produced that one, too.)
PS Did I mention that back in the day, Perry dated Cher, Diana Ross, and Tina Turner? Oh yes.
SUNDAY UPDATE Disney Disappointment as “Toy Story” Prequel “Lightyear” Has Anemic $51 Mil Opening Weekend
SUNDAY UPDATE: Total for the weekend is $51 million. I’m told Chris Evans is just great as young Buzz, the Tim Allen argument is not an issue. But the movie simply does not have the charm of the “Toy Story” chapters. Case closed.
SATURDAY MORNING: Hmmm…
Disney must be disappointed this morning. “Lightyear,” the 5th “Toy Story” movie, and the prequel to the other four. Total last night was $15.5 million. With $5 million from Thursday, we have $20 million all in for “opening” night.
The studio is looking at a $50 million weekend. Three years ago this weekend, “Toy Story 4” opened to $120.9 million.
Was it the marketing? Or the fact that for some reason Pixar used Chris Evans to voice Buzz Lightyear instead of Tim Allen? What a strange decision. The audience obviously got the message,
Meanwhile, “Jurassic World Dominion” topped $200 million after 8 days.
More tomorrow.
You Say It’s Your Birthday: Paul McCartney Turns 80 with Grace, Wit, and Style
On Thursday I was lucky to be at Paul McCartney’s tour closing concert in the Meadowlands. He turns 80 today so we were looking for signs of age, of the end coming.
But there was no such sign. Flanking the stage were two enormous video screens, so nothing could be hidden. Plus, the sound mix was unforgiving. If Paul had anything he didn’t want seen or heard, it was impossible.
Paul McCartney, the “cute” Beatle, has reached 80 with grace, wit, and style. Losing the love of his life, Linda, and two of his mates, John and George, hasn’t stopped him. It’s made him wiser, I think. At one point on stage, Paul was coming down a step and tripped. He caught himself as the audience gasped. But it was a nano millisecond. Not only did he recover, but he turned to the camera, mocked the fall, and a little dance. Paul, you see, is a survivor.
He’s also a musical genius. He played 40 songs on Thursday night, it took over three hours. He used a Teleprompter, but rarely looked at it. Most of the song lyrics he knows by heart. He knows all the music, that’s for sure, and plays it with deep textures and soul. I was watching his guitar work, it’s insanely good. While he has a keyboard player helping him, McCartney still carries the weight as lead pianist. And while sometimes his vocals go off key, his voice actually opened up and improved over the three hours to the point where it was as full and sweet as it was 20, 30, 40, and 50 years ago.
And listen to these songs. We’re so used to some of them, but if you really listen to “Hey Jude” and think, how the heck did he come up with that chorus, and the ‘na-na-na’ part, which by the way has a unique way of sounding joyous and melancholy at the same time. And then there was first ever song, “In Spite of the Danger,” written as a teenager. “Danger” has such a catchy lick that he get the audience to sing it. And he talks about the terror of singing lead on the recording of “Love Me Do,” also recorded as a teen. “I still hear it in my voice when the record comes on,” Paul said.
Well, Happy Birthday, Paul. Here’s to a life very well lived. And please, come back to smaller theaters next time around, like Madison Square Garden, so we can really appreciate your art.
TV Surprise: Jon Batiste Announced Last Week That He Was Taking Off Rest of Summer as Colbert Band Leader
Jon Batiste is taking the summer off.
Tonight Stephen Colbert re-ran his episode from last Friday, which apparently no one paid attention to including me. Colbert, in an usual move, had Batiste, his band leader, as a guest. They talked music. It was lovely. And then Colbert announced that Batiste was taking the rest of the summer off from the show.
Colbert said, “See you in September.”
Batiste has already had a roller coaster year. He won the Grammy Award in January for his album, “We Are.” He also revealed that his wife, Suleika Jaouad, a 33 year old columnist and motivational speaker, has been battling acute myeloid leukemia since 2011.
I’m also told, although unconfirmed, that Batiste has left his manager of many years, Mick Management. He’s not listed on their website anymore. Batiste is, however, sticking with Creative Artists Management as his talent rep, however.
The bandleader has already been off Colbert for several weeks. This announcement of a three month break may have to do with his wife’s illness. In November 2021, the Batistes received the news that Suleika’s cancer, which was in remission, had returned – this time more aggressively.
Jon Batiste told CBS Sunday Morning: “We’re having to hold these two realities.”
Health has to be an issue in their household. On May 6th Batiste revealed he tested positive for COVID after performing at Anna Wintour’s super spreader Met Ball.
If Batiste is really taking the summer off then he’s going out with a bang. In the last week he performed at the Time 100 gala and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. On Friday Batiste performed on the Today show, and appeared on ABC’s Soul of a Nation. It’s unclear if he’ll have one off dates over the summer. But the pressure of doing a daily talk show is removed for the meantime.