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Ken interviews Roger Friedman from Showbiz411 · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: This is the Mark Simone Show on seven ten woikin
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  Speaker 1: from Mark Today, Here's Ken Rosatto and a very good
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  Speaker 1: Monday to you seven ten wor. You are listening to
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  Speaker 1: the Mark Simone Show on Memorial Day, Monday morning, the
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  Speaker 1: day we honor our fallen military heroes. Good to be
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  Speaker 1: in for Mark today and Mark will be back in
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  Speaker 1: the seat tomorrow. So I'm promised to dust everything off
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  Speaker 1: of Mark. I use the disinfectant wipes and everything big
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  Speaker 1: of me. Right. Well, on these days off, people do
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  Speaker 1: look for things to do. Showbiz four to one one's
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  Speaker 1: Roger Friedman knows more about entertainment than just about anybody else.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Roger.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning. I don't know about that, but we'll see.
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  Speaker 1: Well, listen, I do know one thing because I actually
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  Speaker 1: read Showbiz four one one. So the Devil Worst Product
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  Speaker 1: too is En Fuego surpassing what six hundred plus million dollars.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a huge hit. I mean, nobody expected this,
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  Speaker 2: but uh people really it's sort of like a reduct
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  Speaker 2: the first movie from twenty years ago, and people loved
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  Speaker 2: those characters and the fact that they're all still around
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  Speaker 2: and that they look great and it's a witty script.
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  Speaker 2: It's not really much different from the first movie, but
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  Speaker 2: there's a couple of a couple of new things, and
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  Speaker 2: the audience seems to just eat it up with a spoon,
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  Speaker 2: so good for them. It can't hurt you. It's like
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  Speaker 2: a great dessert, you know.
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  Speaker 1: But it's what the good thing is. You have a
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  Speaker 1: whole generation of people who were babies when that came
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  Speaker 1: out who just want to see this and are in
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  Speaker 1: love with all these people all over again, thinking Wow,
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  Speaker 1: Meryl Streep, who's that, you know? And like what great
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  Speaker 1: actresses and actors these people are, and to see the
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  Speaker 1: fabulous fashion and everything else. So this was a big deal.
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  Speaker 1: I think I know people who've gone back several times
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  Speaker 1: stat to see it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's good for Anne Hathaway because I think that
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  Speaker 2: she has an oscar but she's been waiting for something
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  Speaker 2: big to come along again, and this is nice, yea,
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  Speaker 2: So she said she rerely deserves the success. And Streep
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  Speaker 2: is always terrific, and Emily Blunt is fun and Stanley Tucci,
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  Speaker 2: so it's all good. But I think the big movie
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  Speaker 2: of the weekend, and the movie you could see today
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  Speaker 2: with this bad weather is the Mandalorian and Grogu, which
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  Speaker 2: I loved, a new Star Wars movie.
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  Speaker 1: And that made like one hundred it was like one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy mil so far or something like that,
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty mil.
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  Speaker 2: Well, well, yeah, worldwide. Yeah, it's a huge, it's a
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  Speaker 2: big hit. And as you watch the Mandalorian TV series,
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  Speaker 2: which I didn't originally now I've gone back and looked
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  Speaker 2: at it, but I wasn't following this when it was happening.
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  Speaker 2: In the Mandalorian TV series is three seasons and it
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  Speaker 2: leads up to this movie, and now, of course they'll
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  Speaker 2: probably be two more movies. But it's it's totally charming.
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  Speaker 2: It's just great, and it's a real escape from our reality,
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  Speaker 2: which is pretty dire. So it's nice to get away
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  Speaker 2: from everything and go visit with the Star Wars people.
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  Speaker 2: And of course the mandal the Grogu, you know, is
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  Speaker 2: like a little Yoda. They don't say Yoda, but that's
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  Speaker 2: he's apparently the baby Yoda or something like that. And
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  Speaker 2: the Mandalorian is Pedro Pascal, who's sort of like an
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  Speaker 2: early Han Solo kind of character.
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  Speaker 1: And even the word Grogu, doesn't that sound like a
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  Speaker 1: cute little baby named a grog.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he does. He's not a baby though. He's very smart.
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  Speaker 2: I give him a lot of credit. He could get
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  Speaker 2: Best Supporting Actor.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: So he's it's very good. The Mandalorian. And of course
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  Speaker 2: the Michael Jackson movie is booming. Just passed three hundred
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  Speaker 2: million dollars on his way to four hundred and I
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  Speaker 2: just looked on iTunes on Amazon and Michael Jackson's Thriller
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  Speaker 2: is number one, huh no shot And he has four
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  Speaker 2: other albums in the top ten and a bunch more
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  Speaker 2: through the top one hundred. And this is amazing. These
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  Speaker 2: out these songs are more than forty years old.
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  Speaker 1: But they're timeless songs. These were the reason why they
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  Speaker 1: were such massive hits in the day is that they're timeless.
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  Speaker 1: And you have younger people now listening to it who
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  Speaker 1: never would have given it a listen because we're in
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  Speaker 1: an error. Remember when we were kids, we would listen
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  Speaker 1: to the radio and you could hear a top forty station.
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  Speaker 1: You'd be exposed to different music. Today, they're not. They
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  Speaker 1: listened to their they download their one MP three that
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  Speaker 1: their friend heard on YouTube, and that's the way they
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  Speaker 1: they're exposed to music. I on the show I Do
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  Speaker 1: in New Jersey. What I guess. Last week we had
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  Speaker 1: the kid who played Tito in Michael in the film
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  Speaker 1: and I asked him, I said, you know, were you
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  Speaker 1: raised as a Michael Jackson fan? And he said, well,
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  Speaker 1: my parents only like seventeen. He said, my parents listened,
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  Speaker 1: you know, years ago, and I kind of thought it
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  Speaker 1: was great music, of course, but then I had to
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  Speaker 1: become Tito, so I had to learn everything. But it
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  Speaker 1: was fascinating to hear how he developed the character. But
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  Speaker 1: it is timeless music.
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is what's going to happen. Not next year,
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  Speaker 2: but in April twenty twenty eight, there is going to
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  Speaker 2: be the Four Beatles movies, and that'll be something. Now.
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  Speaker 2: Paul McCarty, he has a new album coming out on Friday.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you know about this. It's called
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  Speaker 2: The Boys of Dungeon Lane, and they want me to
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  Speaker 2: call it a masterpiece. It's hard for me to call
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  Speaker 2: it a masterpiece because of Sergeant Pepper, Abbey Road, the
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  Speaker 2: White Album, Hate Jude and all that. But you know what,
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  Speaker 2: it's Paul. It's a fabulous album and it's probably his
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  Speaker 2: best album since two thousand and seven, since a record
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  Speaker 2: called Flaming Pie. It's just a beautiful, beautiful record with
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  Speaker 2: lots of potentials and very complex compositions and arrangements and beauty,
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  Speaker 2: and it's very well sung. I know he's sounded sort
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  Speaker 2: of rough on TV, but it sounds great on the record.
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  Speaker 1: Years old. He could sounds he could stand there and
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  Speaker 1: just be Paul McCartney and I would watch well.
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  Speaker 2: But he hasn't just stood there, which is the interesting thing,
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  Speaker 2: because that's what I say in this review. I just
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  Speaker 2: put up on Showbiz four on one. He could just
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  Speaker 2: you know, do something, put it out and say that's it.
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  Speaker 2: But he's really done. These are fourteen songs. There isn't
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  Speaker 2: a dud in the bunch. They are all terrific, and
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  Speaker 2: it's really kind of shocking that this stuff is still
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  Speaker 2: pouring out of his head, you know. He said to
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  Speaker 2: Stephen Colbert a couple of years ago. He was on
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  Speaker 2: Colbert and Colbert SAIDs from, I know everyone asks you this,
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  Speaker 2: but how do you keep writing? How did you write
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  Speaker 2: these songs? And he said he starts giving him a
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  Speaker 2: lot of different reasons. Then Paul looks at her and
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  Speaker 2: he says, well, maybe it's just that I'm a genius
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  Speaker 2: and he is, and you're like, I think that's what
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  Speaker 2: it is. He doesn't even really know how he writes
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  Speaker 2: the songs. They just pour through him. And this new
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  Speaker 2: album is just full of these songs. It's fascinating. And
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  Speaker 2: I've listened to it about ten times already in the
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  Speaker 2: last week that I've had it for review, and it's
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  Speaker 2: going to as soon as the CD comes in. It's
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  Speaker 2: going to be in my car forever.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And we only about a minute let but we
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: can't depart without talking about Billy Joel and how he
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  Speaker 1: wants nothing in terms of a movie made about him.
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  Speaker 1: So is it because of the rights to his music?
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  Speaker 1: Is that what that's about?
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  Speaker 2: No, Now, this guy, there's a guy who is his manager,
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  Speaker 2: which from nineteen sixty six to nineteen seventy two when
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  Speaker 2: Billy had a group called the Hassles. This was before
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  Speaker 2: he became a solo artist. And the music's not very
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  Speaker 2: good and Billy owns all the music, but this manager
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  Speaker 2: and then the manager, this manager was gone. I know
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  Speaker 2: what he's heard from him again and now after all
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  Speaker 2: these years, he probably he's probably in his eighties. And
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  Speaker 2: he wants to cash in on knowing Billy Joel, so
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  Speaker 2: he commissioned someone to write a movie about his time
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  Speaker 2: with Billy. But of course Billy owns the rights to
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  Speaker 2: his own life story and he hits to his songs
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  Speaker 2: and this. They've told this man several times, you cannot
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  Speaker 2: make this movie, and he announced it anyway. It's not
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  Speaker 2: going to happen. There's no way it can happen. And
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  Speaker 2: it's terrible when these old managers try to come along,
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  Speaker 2: old people who used to know stars come along and say, well,
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  Speaker 2: time to cash in on the stars. You know, five
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  Speaker 2: decade career, I've done nothing but wait for this. It's terrible,
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  Speaker 2: so kind of cheesy. Well, Billy Joel's not gonna happen.
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  Speaker 1: Billy Joel deserves something great because he is an American icon.
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  Speaker 1: There's no question you may or may or may not
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  Speaker 1: like his music, but you can't deny it's brilliant music
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  Speaker 1: and lots of it, and they were all massive hits.
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  Speaker 2: You cannot like his music. I can't forget about it.
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  Speaker 2: You can't. Everyone should like everyone. Two hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: shows at Madison Square Garden. Hey tell us you're how
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  Speaker 2: popular here?
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  Speaker 1: Is always at least one song that you will love that.
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  Speaker 1: Billy Joel is right. Now, there's a lot of them
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  Speaker 1: that I love. I mean Bottle of Red about why
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  Speaker 1: you know you can't? How do you not love that?
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  Speaker 2: That's just it's he's a and he's a great guy,
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  Speaker 2: and he's a New York hero and you know we
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  Speaker 2: love him. So we don't like people being taken advantage
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  Speaker 2: of good right.
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  Speaker 1: Good man, you're I totally agree with you. And Billy Joel,
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  Speaker 1: we are treasured. Uh, he is a treasure. I should say,
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  Speaker 1: we are lucky to have you here in the New
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  Speaker 1: York area all these years. Showbiz four one one's Roger Friedman.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate you coming on on a holiday. Always great
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  Speaker 1: to have you on. Thank you, sure, thank you, Roger.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: All right, Ken Risotto win from Mark Memorial Day. We'll
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  Speaker 1: take your calls next, so dial up please eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: three two one zero seven ten eight hundred three two
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  Speaker 1: one zero seven ten seven ten w R. Will be
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  Speaker 1: right back.