THE ACADEMY AWARDS IS A THREE HORSE RACE
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THE GLORIOUS CORNER
Story By: G. H. HARDING
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Tom Hanks
WERE YOU NOMINATED? --- The Academy Awards appear to be the three-horse race many expected it would be, with Gravity, American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave all receiving the lion's share of the nominations.
The nominations for the 86th Academy Awards, announced Thursday morning in Beverly Hills, Calif., were led by the 3-D space odyssey Gravity and the con-artist caper American Hustle, both with 10 nominations. The historical epic 12 Years a Slave trailed closely with nine nominations.
All were among the nine films nominated for best picture. The other nominees are Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena – a big surprise! Another big surprise was the omission of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine; a film I felt was tremendous and among his best ever.
The most notable omission by the academy was Tom Hanks, whose lead performance in Captain Phillips was widely considered a shoo-in. It was a particularly surprising snub since Hanks is widely beloved by the academy, having been nominated five times previously, and winning for Forest Gump and Philadelphia. Hanks is Mr. Hollywood … can't quite figure out why this happened in a year when he gave two of his best performances ever; the other in Saving Mr. Banks.
Also completely shut out was Lee Daniels 'The Butler' and Oprah Winfrey. Did the movie come out too early? Most inexplicable. Same for Idris Elba ... most odd.
Robert Redford, expected by many to be nominated for the shipwreck drama All Is Lost, also missed out on a best actor nod. Redford has never won an acting Oscar and many believe, as do I, that the film company lost control of the Oscar-campaign. Face it: Hollywood is a business and if you don't play by the rules (like a Harvey Weinstein) you get left behind. A shame as this is indeed a bravura performance.
The best actor nominees are Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) and Christian Bale (American Hustle). As much as I championed Bale’s performance, McConaughey, who won last night at The Critic’s Choice Awards, is a shoo-in. It was a terrific performance. Last night, his co-star Jared Leto won as well; he too is a shoo-in.
ROCK, PAPER, SPRINGSTEEN --- Nice turnout the other night at the Rock Paper Photo pop-up store on West 18th for the new Debra L. Rothenberg photo tome, Bruce Springsteen In Focus – 1980 – 2012. Photographer-extraordinaire Bob Gruen turned up with his wife Elizabeth; as well as Ann Dexter-Jones; Animal Fair’s Wendy Goldberg; and performers Dayme and Marcus Goldhaber, and PR-mouthpieces Randy Alexander (who hosted the event) and David Salidor.
Rock Paper-CEO Mark Halpern has fashioned one terrific gallery here filled with exquisite works by many key music-photographers including Kevin Mazur and Henry Grossman. The Springsteen-book is terrifically put together and Rothenberg told me, she’s been a fan of his forever … and, as happens in so many situations like this, a passion turns into a business. She'll be in Asbury Park doing an event for the book this weekend. I've known Debra for over 20 years, so this was a great moment for here.
CHICAGO CHICAGO --- Chicago, who is recognized at the biggest American recording group of all time, has toured with the likes of the Beach Boys, the Doobie Brothers and Earth Wind and Fire over the summers of the past decade or so.
This year, they will be on the road with REO Speedwagon for a 15-date summer tour put on by Live Nation, taking them through a number of major U.S. metropolitan areas. The tour starts August 2 in Phoenix, AZ and runs through August 31 in Dallas, TX.
Chicago's Robert (Skinny Boy) Lamm talked about the two groups. "It's ironic, that these two legendary bands, who both have roots in Illinois, were label-mates in the 70's, and experienced waves of immense success in the 80's and 90's, and have somehow continued to consistently make compelling music, both in-studio and on tour.... have never before performed together. This situation is about to change, as Chicago and REO will perform together during the concert's encore and present a finale that will thrill their audiences.”
Kevin Cronin of REO added "With so many personal connections between various members of REO and Chicago, it is amazing that we have never actually toured together. I love it that the Chicago guys feel the way we do about truly playing together when you tour together. We both keep raising the bar, challenging ourselves, and rocking hard... and the audience is the ultimate winner."
Between the two groups, they have had 25 top ten hits (21 for Chicago and 4 for REO), five number ones (If You Leave Me Now, Hard to Say I'm Sorry and Look Away for Chicago, Keep On Loving You and Can't Fight This Feeling for REO) and 15 top ten albums (12 for Chicago and 3 for REO) including six number ones (Chicago V, VI, VII, VIII and IX: Greatest Hits for Chicago and High Infidelity for REO).
CLOSING NOTES --- An item in a recent Hollywood Reporter referenced all the music-film-bios to come later this year: there’s Don Cheadle’s Kill The Trumpet Player about Miles Davis; the biopic of Elton John called Rocketman with Tom Hardy; Spinning Gold with Justin Timberlake as the legendary-record kingpin Neil Bogart; Sexual Healing, a Marvin Gaye-story with Jesse L. Martin; and in-the-works pictures on Janis Joplin and Keith Moon. Says movie-mogul Nigel Sinclair: “It’s difficult to clear music rights, but the hardest part is finding a way to tell stories of people who were larger than life but who often, personally, had things happen to them that were sad and disturbing.” …
What mid-level AC hit is doing a series of trade-ads trumpeting the number of views for their music video on You Tube? Clearly, they don't seem to realize that just because prospective buyers hit the video, doesn't mean they bought the record … or, do they? In these days of dizzying-non-relevant ad promo … anything goes. It’s a great production, was a holiday hit, but it has most definitely run its course …
Let's get that link right for M. A. Cassata's Essential Cher Volume 1. She's already working on a follow up to deal with Sonny & Cher. Can't wait ...
Lastly, HBO's new mini-series True Detective, with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson was really terrific. Moody, contemplative, smart ... it was one of the best things I've seen on TV in quite some time. I think I am going to watch the first installment ... again. It was, that good.
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