Tuesday, November 26, 2024
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NY Swells Are All Around Town Including “Bull” Star Michael Weatherly and His Famous Doctor Wife

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We hear the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation held a kickoff party for the 18th Annual Hampton Happening and the Step Up To Turn Cancer Off virtual fundraiser at Versa NY. Notable attendees included: Dr. Samuel Waxman, Richard Kind and this year’s honorees Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, Chef Julian Medina, Chef and Owner of Toloache, Tacuba, Coppelia, Kuxe, La Chula, and El Fish Shack, and Mark Melchiorre, Executive Managing Director, CIO & Head of Brean Investment Group.

Lifeline New York held its annual benefit dinner to help children’s hospitals in Serbia and Ukrainian refugee children. Some notable attendees included: Dr. Bojana Jankovic Weatherly and her hsuband, “Bull” star Michael Weatherly, David Hryck, Susan Gutfreund, Cheri Kaufman, Peter Pizzino, Tijana Ibrahimovic, Dragana Djuknic, Kyle Wool, philanthropist Jean Shafiroff, and Bill Sclight.

We hear the Southampton Animal Shelter will hold a kickoff party for the 13th Annual Unconditional Love gala at the Southampton History Museum. This year’s gala, its most vital fundraiser of the year, as they rely on donations and grants to keep the shelter running will be held on July 16, 2022, will honor Former NY City Police Commissioner William Bratton and Jonathan McCann.

MVVO ART hosted a reception at Havas New York to announce the AD ART SHOW 2022 winning artist Chanell Angeli, who received a specialty Clio award in Contemporary Art. Notable attendees included: Maria van Vlodrop, Laura Maness, Dan Lucey, Laura Skoler, Isaac Aden, Eric Shiner, Chanell Angeli, Parme Marin Lindsay Stein, Laura Skoler and Layla Nami.

Manhattan School of Music (MSM) hosted its 2022 Gala at The Rainbow Room, Rockefeller Plaza, in New York City. This year’s gala celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the School’s Orchestral Performance Program and honored MSM Trustee Emerita Carla Bossi-Comelli. Notable attendees included: honoree Carla Bossi-Comelli; MSM President James Gandre; MSM Board Chair Lorraine Gallard; Fabrizio Di Michele, Katharine Aulitzky and Isabel Leonard.

Party Poops: amFAR Cannes, Friars Club Roast of Tracey Morgan Attract D List Celebrities

The heady days are over.

Thursday night in Cannes, amFAR threw its annual gala. The party that once attracted Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Sharon Stone, and Calvin Klein brought out a crowd of D list celebrities. All the big stars are gone. Stone, ever the wise woman, was the star of the Cannes red carpet all week but blew out of town before amFAR. She made the right decision.

In New York, the troubled Friars Club had a “roast” comedian Tracy Morgan at the former Ziegfeld Theater, now Ballroom. This was a rogue’s gallery of awfulness starting with Rudy Giuliani and Geraldo Rivera, followed by former “SNL” cast member Chris Kattan. No Tina Fey or Jane Krakowski from “30 Rock,” none of the “SNL” heavyweights. From the photos it looks a lot like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Both organizations have been mired in controversy. amFAR is now under the aegis of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Festival. Contributions and grants are severely diminished yet salaries keep going up. Most of last night’s guests were models paid to be there. And as is now the custom, the group made no announcement today of how much money the evening raised. (They used to make these announcements immediately but that stopped a few years ago.)

The Friars have settled a $1 million sexual harassment lawsuit, fired their CEO after federal agents raided the place and he– Michael Gyure — was found guilty of tax fraud. They can’t re-open their restaurant because they don’t want to pay union fees to workers. Now they’re also suing Gyure (pronounced, ironically, “jury”).

“Grey’s Anatomy” Ends Season 18 Down 21% from Last Year, 1 Million Fans Depart Show

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“Grey’s Anatomy” ended its 18th season last night on ABC. It will be back in the fall.

The hospital soap opera finished the season down 23.8% from last year. They’ve lost 1 million viewers over the course of the year.

When “Grey’s” returns in the fall, the three principal actors will on hand — whiny Ellen Pompeo plus Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. Debbie Allen directs and produces, so she’ll likely return. But several characters left Seattle as contracts aren’t resolved. As we know from “Grey’s,” anything can happen.

Harry Styles’ Tracks from New Album Were Big Streamers But Not Big Sellers

This week we’re waiting for the total sales numbers on Harry Styles’ new album, “Harry’s House.” Predictions are between 400,000 and 500,000 including streaming.

Indeed, the individual tracks for “Harry’s House” were very big on streaming. They were not that successful on paid downloads.

Seven of the top 10 streaming tracks on the hitsdailydouble chart for this week came from “Harry’s House.” The balance of the album in individual tracks, are scattered in the top 25. Four of top 5 are from Styles’ album.

It’s a different story at iTunes. The lead single, “As It Was,” has been in the top 3 all week, and for the last few weeks. But that’s it. Another single, “Late Night Talking,” a very close cousin to Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” is number 29. “Boyfriends,” which borrows Simon & Garfunkel’s guitar from “I Am a Rock” and “Old Friends/ Bookends,” is number 51.

And that’s it.

I am advised that kids no longer download or buy tracks. They have Spotify subscriptions and just play these songs over and over. But even millions of streams add up to many fewer dollars than purchases.

This is why Styles is doing 10 dates at Madison Square Garden, another 10 in LA and a couple of other cities. His live shows will make money for him. Record sales will not.

“The Good Fight” is Ending After Coming Season: I Told You the Reason Back in March

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“The Good Fight,” an extension of “The Good Wife,” is ending its run on CBS All Access or Paramount Plus after its sixth season this fall. I see the show’s producers have given interviews saying why they’re wrapping up. But the story I reported on March 9th is the real reason. The show’s long time showrunner was ousted in the middle of directing the first new episode of the 6th season. “The Good Fight” has been loaded with HR issues, I was told.

Otherwise, the Kings would have continued for more seasons.

As for the great Christine Baranski, she’s playing the role of Diane Lockhart for 13 years. That’s an amazing run. She’s already got one season in of “The Gilded Age” and another coming. And she always has movies and theater awaiting her.

Cruise Carnival: “Top Gun Maverick” Scores $19.3 Mil in Previews, Heads to Huge Opening on Widest Release Ever

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Paramount is taking no chances with “Top Gun: Maverick.” They’re ensuring a record breaking opening night and weekend with the widest release ever in movie history. The Tom Cruise starrer is playing in 4, 735 theaters. Who knew there were that many?

Thursday total:$19.3 million. If the movie makes $20 million every day this weekend, that’s $80 million, and $100 million through Monday. Maybe the weekend will bring more. We’ll see…

Sting Takes Over Famed Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC to Present Shaggy Doing Sensational Sinatra

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There are still some great music nights in New York.

Last night Sting, one of the biggest rock stars on the planet, took over the famed Blue Note jazz club in Greenwich Village. The occasion? To present his pal, Shaggy, the great reggae star, singing Frank Sinatra songs with a jazz- reggae beat and rich, brassy horns that would make Memphis musicians cry.

Sting has produced a just released album he came up with: Shaggy’s “Com Fly Wid Mi.” On a break from touring in Oslo, Sting heard Shaggy idly singing along to a Frank Sinatra CD and came up with the idea to produce a whole album. Sounds crazy but it works. As Sting told the packed crowd at the Blue Note last night: “He has the same voice as Sinatra, a baritone tenor, same range as Sinatra. And I had an idea, the kind where a neon light goes on over your head, Shaggy Sings the Sinatra Songbook produced by yours truly.”

Some of the album was produced in Jamaica, and Miami, but a lot of it was done at Capitol Studios in LA, where Sinatra recorded many of his greatest records.

“When you hear this thing, you will smile. Shaggy is in his own eco-system of reggae,” Sting said.

And the truth is, Sting is right. Shaggy’s voice — which most people know from “It Wasn’t Me” — fits these songs perfectly. Plus, Sting’s production swings, with those gorgeous horns and charts, and a reggae beat reminiscent of The Police accented and fleshed out. As Shaggy noted on stage: “Most reggae has just two chords, but these records have at least five.”

He added: “This album was born out of boredom [during the pandemic]. We hate boredom.”

On the album, and live on stage, Sting — who should be producing more albums for himself and others — gives the vocalist a place to shine but retain his natural rhythms. So on standards from “Witchcraft” to the single, “That’s Life” to “”Luck Be a Lady Tonight,” Shaggy brings out a whole new dimension to his career. Not all the songs Sting chose are big hits, too. My favorite last night was Shaggy’s rendition of “Angel Eyes,” a deep track in the Sinatra catalog from his famous 1958 album, “Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely.”

About mid set, Sting was persuaded to jump on stage and sing background vocals with Shaggy on “You Make Me Feel So Young.” They even included some cute Rat Pack-like patter that came across like Frank and Dean Martin at the Sands circa 1960.

The crowd, which included a lot of radio people, Sirius execs, Sting’s discerning wife Trudie Styler, and three of his six children. was pretty impressed. I think Shaggy was, too. He said, “I never ever expected to be doing this.” He added: Reggae, you just don’t hear it. You feel it. I’m happy to be pushing edge of reggae.”

Pour yourself gin and tonic. Sit on the desk and sunset, and listen

Shock: Beloved Actor Ray Liotta Dies in Dominican Republic at Age 67, Star of “Goodfellas”

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Terrible: beloved actor Ray Liotta, star of “Goodfellas” and many other movies and TV series, has died at age 67.

Liotta was shooting a new movie in the Dominican Republic. Reports say he died in his sleep.

Liotta broke out on TV in 1980 on the NBC soap, “Another :World.” He went right into movies and prime time and never looked back. I knew him back then and whenever we saw each other we laughed about his wild life in that decade. He was a hard partyer and a good guy. This is really tragic.

Ray had a great career as a leading man turned character actor. He appeared in a lot of beloved movies like “Field of Dreams,” “Something Wild,” and “Corinna Corinna.” He was most recently was in Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.”

I am so sorry. Condolences to his family and friends. This is much too soon.

TV: ABC Set to Tank Time 100 Awards with Return Engagement Against CBS’s Tony Awards Night

The Tony Awards are set for June 12th on CBS, with Hugh Jackman, Patti Lupone, and a slew of stars. The devoted Broadway audience will tune in, and it should be a terrific show.

So it only makes sense that ABC has decided to schedule the Time 100 Awards, a ratings loser last time around, for its network return at the exact same time. You’d think they’d have a sports special, some kind of counter programming to the Tonys. But no, the network that already has a lot of crappy ratings shows on its hands, is going for broke. They will destroy the Time 100 Awards on their own!

The Time 100 is hosted by actor Simu Liu, from ABC-Disney- Marvel’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Rings” hit. Right away, the show is dead. Other guests include Mary J. Blige and Miranda Lambert, and appearances by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson.

In 2020, ABC scored just 2.4 million viewers with the Time 100. My advice is they include among this year’s winners Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump. who each made the list. That should halve that 2020 rating pretty nicely.

PS Doesn’t billionaire Marc Benioff pay for this show as owner of Time? Couldn’t he buy a better time slot?

Mission Possible? Tom Cruise Hunts for First Ever $100 Mil Opening Weekend (in 40 Years) with “Top Gun: Maverick”

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Tom Cruise — we got to know him 40 years ago in “Risky Business.” It was a hit, and so were his subsequent movies.

But Cruise, recently billed as “The Last Movie Star” (ridiculous), has never had a $100 million opening weekend.

He’s come close. “Mission Impossible 2” debuted with $97 million. “War of the Worlds” took in $96 million. But never that magic number.

That may all change beginning tonight. “Top Gun Maverick” has had the marketing, publicity, and reviews to make it his biggest blockbuster of his life.

He’s worked hard and had a star making machinery behind him the whole time. But the truth is, Cruise has not had that many $100 million films, period. Aside from the “Mission Impossible” series, Cruise rarely gets to that level with individual films. There were good ones like “American Made” and “Jerry Maguire.” There were some real clunkers like “Valkyrie,” “The Mummy,” “Oblivion,” “Vanilla Sky” and the 2nd “Jack Reacher” movie in 2016. But Cruise’s heyday of hitting just $100 million, a studio trick created by keeping a mediocre film in theaters until the last drop is squeezed out of it, is long over.

“Maverick,” followed by two “Mission Impossible” movies, is probably going to rewrite his opening weekend history. Indeed, the trailer for “MI 7,” which will play before “Maverick” starting tonight, should juice up the audience for a whole new Cruise generation — one that may not even associate him with Scientology.

We’ll see how things look tomorrow morning. PS “Opening weekend” is a broad statement here. “Maverick” will really get a five day weekend, opening night, then again tomorrow night, and adding Memorial Day Monday.