One of the most renowned managers and publishers of modern music history passes
By Jeffrey Jolson
Klein in middle you might recognise the others
NEW YORK (Hollywood Today) 7/4/09 - Allen Klein, the man behind the much of the music from the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Kinks and many other icons is dead this July 4. Quite a week for obituaries, and this one is as sad as any.
Allen Klein, iconic music business entrepreneur and founder of ABKCO Music & Records died early July 4th after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s. New York-based ABKCO traces its origins back to Allen Klein & Co. the firm Klein started in the late 1950s. Today, ABKCO is one of the leading independent record companies in the world. It is home to critical catalog assets that include recordings by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Bobby Womack, Marianne Faithfull, the Kinks, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell and many others. The company’s music publishing division comprises over two thousand copyrights including songs composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, Ray Davies, Pete Townshend and Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
City to try to keep mourners away except for ticket-bearers By Lowell Cauffiel
Jackson rehearsal right before he died
LOS ANGELES, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/3/09 — A Staples Center news conference Friday left some in attendance wondering whether the body of Michael Jackson might make a surprise appearance at a memorial service scheduled for Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles.
It apparently depends on what the Jackson family’s definition of a “memorial service” is. But the family’s spokesman is not saying.
Calling next Tuesday’s event at the Staple Center a “memorial service” and not “a funeral,” family spokesman Ken Sunshine declined to provide details about the service itself.
“Will Jackson’s body be there?” one of the several hundred reporters in attendance asked.
“It’s a memorial service,” Sunshine said, but never directly answered the question.
Traditionally, memorial services can be held with or without the deceased present. Knowing Michael Jackson’s reputation for surprises in his long, stellar career, anything remains possible.
Jackson’s fans will have the opportunity to register on line for 17,500 free tickets to Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
Keith is Hollywood Today’s box office guru and one of several on the staff whose lives were touched by Michael Jackson
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/30/09 — It was about twenty-six years ago, just before Thriller was released. I’d arrived in California five months earlier in search of, y’know, fame and fortune. I was a Video Conceptualist. I’d think up ideas for music video directors when they got stuck on a song, or were too lazy to do it themselves. I’d done it in London since ‘79, working mainly with one director. An Australian. Russell Mulcahy. Best known for Highlander and his Duran Duran video clips.
When he left London for Sydney to direct his first feature film, Razorback, about a killer pig, I set off for Hollywood. Five months later, after discovering American producers and directors had no idea who I was or what I did, I ran into one particular producer, Jeff Abelson, a visionary obsessed with making rock videos in 3D, something he never achieved but did lead on to us working together with Tobe Hooper on the Dancin’ With Myself video for Billy Idol.
So it was in early ‘83 that I found myself in the company of the 3D producer and his associate, Patricia Friedman, being chauffeured out to Michael Jackson’s house in Encino to pitch him video concepts for Billie Jean and Beat It. I wasn’t even really sure who he was. I’d never seriously been interested in Motown music, so all I knew was what friends had told me - he’s the “princess” of the Jackson 5 - and a dim memory of him in that Diana Ross movie The Wiz playing a naff scarecrow.
ENCINO, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/30/09 — So, what the heck is this new Blu-ray company that Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson was mentioning on the red carpet of the BET Awards Sunday that caused such backlash by those who felt it was bad form in light of his son’s death only a couple days earlier?
Joe sat down to provide details exclusively to Hollywood Today Monday evening at a hotel not far from the family home in Encino with Jackson’s two partners in the new venture, Erick Hansen and Marshall Thompson.
The bottom line, plans are in the works for some music of Jackson’s children to be released on Blu-ray (the elder Jackson does not have any claim to recent rehearsal footage, according to legal representatives for the family who asked not to be quoted), but no discussion of anything to do with Michael was permitted as you’ll see in the accompanying 3 ½-minute video condensation of the half-hour interview.
As for the anger over Jackson’s timing of this announcement, the public will have to make up their own minds. The attorney said Jackson may be in a kind of post-traumatic stress haze where the death of his son has yet to sink in emotionally and will likely not truly hit him until Michael’s funeral service, which has yet to be scheduled by the family.
Hansen suggested (it’s in the video) that the elder Jackson needs to have this business venture to focus on as a distraction and a relief from the intense emotional strain and that getting back in the studio recording business will do him good.
Thompson, a founding member of the 1970s soul group The Chi-Lites, was with Jackson Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
MADOFF SENTENCED TO 150 YEARS IN PRISON: DISGRACED INVESTOR GETS MAXIMUM SENTENCE FOR MASSIVE PONZI SCHEME: Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison after apologizing to victims for a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that the judge called “extraordinarily evil.” U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the maximum allowable sentence in a New York courthouse packed with his victims and the press. Defense attorneys had sought 12 years, while prosecutors wanted the maximum. The federal probation department had recommended 50 years.
JUSTICES RULE FOR WHITE FIREFIGHTERS IN BIAS CASE: The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that white firefighters in
New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that Sonia Sotomayor, a
Supreme Court nominee, endorsed as an appeals court judge.
JACKSONS MOM FILES FOR CUSTODY OF HIS 3 KIDS: Katherine Jackson also petitions for kids estate; hearing set for Aug. 3: Michael Jacksons mother is caring for the singers three children and asked the court Monday to declare her their guardian. The guardianship papers were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. A hearing has been set for Aug 3. Jackson left behind three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7. The youngest son was born to a surrogate mother. (LBN)
‘I Bring What I Love’ documentary explores the music and life of Grammy-winner Youssou N’Dour *** 3 stars
By Jennifer Huber
Youssou N
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/28/2009 - ”I could have never predicted the controversy surrounding ‘Egypt’,” says ‘I Bring What I Love’ director Chai Vasarhelyi. “Maybe best known as the man who sang with Peter Gabriel on In Your Eyes, N’Dour is a man on a mission and that mission is to bring about change and hope through music.”
Youssou N’Dour is the highest-selling African pop musician of all time and has released more than 30 albums. Time magazine named him one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2007. The film, while exploring bits of N’Dour’s history and family life, mostly centers around the release of his 2005 Grammy-winning album Egypt. Released with great resistance from his people in his homeland of Senegal due to his music’s religious content, it garnered praise and success in Europe and the United States.
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/28/09 — Iran’s government will allow a demonstration at Tehran’s Ghoba mosque Sunday, CNN has confirmed. The gathering is officially meant to honor Mohammad Beheshti, a hero of the 1979 Islamic Revolution who was killed in a bombing on this date in 1981. The demonstration comes after two weeks of protests against the official results of the June 12 presidential elections, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won. A post on a Web site associated with opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi urged people to go to the rally. (LBN)
Michael Bay flick makes $112M US and over $201M overall By Jeffrey Jolson
Megan serves up
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/28/09 - It wasn’t Megan Fox’s clear blue eyes or Shia LeBeouff’s young but inspired acting, yet the effect, not effects of Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” as it breaks records round the globe — and the universe if they are listening to the sci-fi soon-to-be classic.
In order to understand how Hollywood zooms when economic times are bad, “Up” broke the $250M mark and “The Hangover” rocked to $183 million and should pass $200M in a week.
Why we spend our money on movies instead of food when times are troubled has been a point of economist’s debates since the Great Depression. Yet they don’t understand a good picture. It makes you laugh, thrills your ass or scares you - therefore providing food for the soul.
TR2 gave you all three (see related HT story), and gave it to you at the right time for an action pic, with $112 domestic weekend and $201 million US overall and near $300 WW..
The chick flick “The Proposal” sold another $19 million wedding cakes, while the dude movie “The Hangover,” cooked up another $17 million headaches for an $183 mil cume. So which one do you take a date to? The answer is, and always has been, the chick flick - or you end up at the Trekkie fest alone.
Speaking of which, the new “Star Trek” is up to $246 million, — the JJ Abrams version happens to be a good film –yet that may not get you a date either.
Instead try “Up,” which can’t soar much higher for Pixar, now at $250 million Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
King of Pop rushed to UCLA where he entered coma By Jeffrey Jolson
Jackson dead at 50 as he preps comeback
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Today) 6/25/09 — Michael Jackson has died after been rushed to a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday. Crowds were gathering outside his rented L.A. house as well as UCLA hospital. He was preparing for world tour at the time.
The legendary singer, 50, reportedly went into cardiac arrest and had to receive CPR in the ambulance. In the hospital, he went into a coma and died, according to news reports
His family was called to hospital.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, paramedics responded to a 911 call at around 12:26 p.m. PDT. He was reportedly not breathing at the time of their arrival.
A rep for Jackson was unavailable for comment.
He has three children in his custody.
Farrah Fawcett succumbs to cancer By Jeffrey Jolson
Fawcett poster framed a decade and an unforgettable image
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Today) 6/25/09 — Actress Farrah Fawcett, the “Charlie’s Angels” television star whose big smile and feathered blond mane made her one of the sex symbols of the 1970s, died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, her longtime companion and troubled relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal said. She was 62.
Fawcett was first diagnosed with anal cancer in late 2006. She died in a Los Angles hospital after being admitted earlier this week.
“After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away. Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world,” O’Neal said in a statement.
She also had trouble with him, her step-daughter Tatum and had a meltdown on the Letterman show.
Fawcett’s cancer spread to her liver in 2007, proving resistant to numerous medical treatments in Germany and California, according to Reuters.
10 best noms will be offered up for Academy Awards By Jeffrey Jolson
Just one Oscar yet more hopefuls
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/24/09 — The Oscar elite nominees will be a lot less exclusive from now on as there will be 10 best picture nominees starting with the 82nd Oscar ceremony.
Breaking a tradition of five noms that goes back almost 100 years, the move has surprised many in the industry.
“The more I think about this, a dark horse can come come up a winner. A less considered film might show through,” said longtime publicist Bob Merlis. “Plus more people will have nice resumes next year.”
The show, is on March 7, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
The announcement was made Wednesday morning at AMPAS headquarters in Beverly Hills by Academy president Sid Ganis.
‘High Society’ to arrive at the Marijuana Film Festival By Darrah Le Montre
Davies and Davies in High Society
LOS ANGELES, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/24/09 — It started with Cheech and Chong’s “Nice Dreams.” From there we graduated to new heights with “Dazed and Confused,” then covertly political but still bud-laden “Harold & Kumar.” The indie hit “High Society: A Pot Boiler” is the latest pot-com to smoke out the circuit. It’s official folks: stoner comedies are in.
Just ask actor Seth Rogen. Or look at entertainment like “Weeds,” “Hangover” “Clerks,” and director Judd Apatow’s wildly hilarious “Knocked Up,” which made him a super-hero and took any cynics (or lingering D.A.R.E. members) down. Even TIME Magazine couldn’t refute modern audience’s warm reception of the sometimes legal plant and its social status.
The venerable publication said, “Marijuana is more prominent, accepted, and profitable in movies” than ever.
While Disney and some others work to remove tobacco cigarettes from its presence in pictures, filmmakers keep sneaking reefer into movies like they were at an old Grateful Dead concert.
Even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
