By: Valerie Milano, Pasadena, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/27/12

             Tonight, Friday, January 27, PBS showcases 85-year-old legend Tony Bennett performing Duets II with a variety of artists, young and old on Great Performances. The show was a mix of interviews with performers, the producer, Phil Ramone, and Bennett himself all followed by the song being performed for the album.  During the clip of the show, @ PBS’s portion of Press tour, Bennett sings with Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and Willie Nelson and Michael Bublé, among others.

            Besides being a fifteen-time Grammy winner and Kennedy Center honoree, Bennett also has three original paintings in the Smithsonian Institution, not to mention the distinct honor being the first celebrity guest on The Simpsons. To celebrate his 85th birthday, Bennett released Duets II, which debuted at number 1 on Billboard charts, meaning Bennett the oldest artist at the top position.

            Bennett’s son, Danny, who is an Emmy- and Grammy-winning producer, has managed Tony Bennett’s career since 1979 and acted as executive producer for Duets II.

            Tony Bennett spoke to HT of Amy Winehouse, whose last recorded performance is on Duets II, fondly, remembering first meeting her by saying, “She just had the gift of knowing how to sing as good, and was influenced by, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and her dream was to become very, very famous doing that.” He continued, “I was doing my 85th birthday at the Palladium, and BBC was televising it, and I wanted her on the show. But my son called up two months after we did the record and tragically told me that she died, and the whole world went, ‘Woof.’ They couldn’t believe it, especially in Britain. She was very famous in Europe, and it was, but then her father many months later came to America, and her mother got me on the side. She said, ‘You know, everybody feels so tragic about her dying, but as a mother,’ she said, ‘I’m very different.’ She said, ‘All I know is her whole life she wanted to and she actually did what she really wanted to do, and she became world famous, and to me, even though she had a very short life, she had a very successful life because what she really wanted, what she dreamt about her whole life happened,’ and that was so different than anything I ever heard a mother say about this tragedy that the whole world felt so bad about. It was quite different.” [Read more →]

By Rima Bek

Hollywood, CA (Hollywood Today) 01/26/12—The children of pop singer Michael Jackson—Prince, 14; Paris, 13; Prince Michael II (a.k.a. Blanket), 9—honored their father by stamping his famed sequined glove and a pair of this shoes outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre Thursday morning. This honor is on top of the Hollywood Walk of Fame star that Jackson has in front of the theatre.

The event is going in hand-in-hand with promoting Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson’s IMMORTAL World Tour,” which debuts Friday night at L.A.’s Staples Center.

Jackson joins countless other legends that left their handprints and footprints in Grauman’s courtyard, including those of Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire and Clark Gable. Cementing handprints and footprints in front of Grauman’s is a tradition that has continued since 1927.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 after overdosing on anesthetic propofol. In November, Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in relation to Jackson’s death and was sentenced to four years in prison.

By: Valerie Milano – Miami Beach, FL (Hollywood Today) 1/25/12

Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award Honorees with widow Lilly Tartikoff and NATPE president Rick Feldman

NATPE 2012 hosted the 9^th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards Tuesday evening on a lovely warm night atop the Fountainebleau hotel in Miami Beach and then preceding into the Glimmer Ballroom.  These awards are the biggest event at NATPE and press are welcome to attend but there is a price for Attendees and Exhibitors.

Brandon Tartikoff was one of television’s greatest programmers and the awards were created to honor other professionals of vision and leadership in the spirit of Tartikoff.

Billy Bush hosted the show and began by thanking Joe Schlosser from NBC Universal and the clip of Tartikoff’s life was shown with his wife Lily making her traditional speech afterwards.

A particularly touching moment was Dick Ebersol, who earned the honor himself in 2011, presented to his friend Dennis Swanson who was responsible for creating “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and brilliantly running major local stations, among other accomplishments.  Ebersol calls him a friend as he was there for him when he lost his own son due to a plane crash. Chicago’s “Feelin’ Stronger Everyday” was playing as he approached the podium at which point he thanked his two bosses: Jack Abernathy and his wife, which gave the 200 audience members a good laugh.

Other highlights included Kevin Beggs of Lionsgate presenting to Matthew Weiner, creator of “Mad Men”, watching the video clip made by the cast and crew on his set without his knowledge. Weiner explained he wasn’t allowed to watch tv as a kid when his grades were bad and eventually turned a guilty pleasure into his life.  Jon Hamm ended the segment “You can take all of your Emmys and awards put them on top of your head” and pointing to his own face said, “It still won’t be this.”

Other distinguished winners were: Cecile Frot-Coutaz & Fernando Gaitan.

Feldman and Milano NATPE 2012

By: Valerie Milano – Miami Beach, FL (Hollywood Today) 1/25/12

The NATPE 2012 conference got underway this past Monday at the beautiful Fountainebleu Hotel in Miami Beach and today  now already day 3, HT had a chance to chat with President Rick Feldman. Final attendance numbers have not come in but he approximated north of 5,000 for NATPE 2012, up 10% from 2011 as of Monday.

Last year Feldman told attendees ““Moving to Miami in 2011 was a great success for the international community we serve and we received overwhelmingly positive responses from those who attended,” said Feldman. “We saw a big increase in attendees from the United States, Europe and Latin America and every indication has been that a considerable amount of business was done.”

Although the credentialed press were unable to pick up any media materials at check-in, Feldman assured me we would have them at future NATPE’s. He was most nervous about the change in configuration of where the exhibitors can be found, so today he went to each floor to check in with each company to be sure everyone was getting what they needed from NATPE. [Read more →]

By Erick Hansen

PARK CITY, UT (Hollywood Today) 1/25/12 – Can’t pay for those pricey hotels at Sundance? Or don’t want to wait in the snow to catch a screening? Well Sundance and other fests are as close as your laptop or iPad  now.

Sundance is presenting 13 films on the Internet, bringing the festival to the world. And others will be following suit.

Monty Seward of the Temecula International Film & Music fest said “The avenues for creative content gives opportunity for a giant leap forward. The chance to add mobile technology is one of the things we want – we want voting and a worldwide audience. It’s a win-win situation.”

The Sundance digital lineup includes thirteen films supported by the Institute that are for the first time available to rent, download and stream. Look for the films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, SundanceNOW and YouTube. Films will be available on Netflix on March 1. For a full list of titles and where they are available, visit sundance.org/nowplaying or join Sundance Institute’s social media communities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Kickstarter.

[Read more →]