covenant artists management: wednesday 9th July 2008

Beatles‘ Ringo Starr Celebrates Birthday with Love In

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

300 of Ringo’s friends and family celebrate at Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago

By Brian Frederick

CHICAGO, IL (Hollywood Today)

7/8/08 - -

“Happy Birthday” sang the crowd to the world’s most famous former drummer.

The Beatles star and wife Barbara Bach, flashed peace signs and recanted the 60s and 70s free spirit of love with white-iced cupcakes and dreams of a world living in harmony.

As the crowd waited until noon, the motto, “twelve o’clock, peace and love,” became the birthday credo for the once aspiring hairdresser to turn 68.

Chicago’s inhabitants braved pushy crowds, heat, and a little drizzle on South Water Street to see Starr.

Before Starr arrived in contrast to the theme of “Peace and Love”, the not so peace and loving paparazzi pushed and shoved anyone who got in their way to get photographs of the star, woman and children were no exception.

Some of Ringo’s most loyal fans who waited hours to see him could not because of the paparazzi frenzy.

Those with press credentials could get up close to Ringo as he arrived.

Starr is in Chicago to promote his latest album “Liverpool 8” with his All Starr Band’s tour.

Starr and his band will perform this Sunday.

Sadly on Ringo’s birthday, he received news that England’s conservations decided to destroy his Dingle, Liverpool birthday because he does not have the clout needed to preserve his Beatle’s past.

One would have to wonder if John Lennon and Paul McCartney would have that same problem.

Does Pete Best still haunt Ringo?

“What a birthday gift!

If you could pan around, you could see Chicago is full of peace and lovers,” said Starr unaware of paparazzi stepping all over his fans.

The Hard Rock marketing department went into full swing a month ago when event organizers learned of Ringo’s birthday coinciding with his Chicago date.

Ringo was quoted as saying in a television interview that he would, “love it if everyone in the world stopped what they were doing at noon on July 7 to flash a peace sign”, according spokesperson Kathleen Henson.

The Hard Rock hotel bought the crowd cupcakes and made a special cake for Ringo with a Hard Rock logo on it – naturally.

Similar events were planned in New York, London, and Los Angeles.

Madonna & Britney

Plan continues sporadic partnership between pop princess and queen

By Matthew B. Zeidman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today)

7/8/08 –

It’s official.

Britney Spears will go along with Queen of Pop Madonna on her imminent Sticky & Sweet Tour—in spirit, anyway.

Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg confirmed to People magazine in an article posted online Monday

that Spears would be filming a prerecorded segment of some sort to be played during future concert appearances.

The tour, which will support “Hardy Candy,” Madonna’s 11th studio album, will begin in the United Kingdom on Aug. 23.

Rosenberg declined to elaborate on the exact nature on Spears’ contribution, telling the magazine she wasn’t privy to the details.

The piece will not be the pair’s first collaboration.

After performing a controversial dance number live on MTV with fellow entertainer Christina Aguilera in 2003,

during which passionate kisses were exchanged, Spears, 26, and Madonna, 49,

recorded a duet (and accompanying music video), “Me Against the Music,” which appeared on Spears’ CD, “In the Zone.”

Spears often cited Madonna as a professional inspiration early on in her career and became involved in Kaballah, a tradition of Jewish mysticism, through her childhood idol, who is a prominent adherent.

Spears began studying Kaballah in 2004 and even wore a red string bracelet associated with the Judaic religion in her music video for the single “Everytime,”

but revealed on her official Web site in 2006 that she had decided to discontinue her spiritual studies to focus on raising her first child

Abba Rocks (Say it aint so!)

I can hear the arguments fueling up even now.

“An Abba musical?... No way.”…

“Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan singing to each other?

Forget it.”

It’s tough for couples to decide which movies to see at the megaplex, but the fights over “Mamma Mia” will make the “Sex and the City” battles seem like childs’ play.

So here’s the dirty little secret:

“Mamma Mia” is worth the fight.

It’s number one on the summer list of “guilty pleasures.”

The notion of Streep singing an Abba ballad to James Bond was a major obstacle for me.

It took me back to my early days at Paramount when I was assigned (alone) to see Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin singing to Jean Seberg in “Paint Your Wagon”.

I had to see weeks of dailies and, believe me, none of those folks could sing.

They all looked embarrassed trying.

Streep sings beautifully and Brosnan does OK (if you like phonetic foghorns).

And the show as a whole is a hoot because it plays on different levels.

You can watch it as a showcase for Streep -- she dances and sings and lets loose and seems to be having the time of her life.

Banishing all those weepy roles from her consciousness.

You can see the show as high camp --

a band of talented troopers on a Greek island doing a great send-up of what is surely one of the two or three mega-hit musicals in show biz history.

Mamma Mia, the jukebox musical, has played to 30 million pumped up fans in 170 different cities in 8 different languages.

You can watch the movie also as a sentimental (very sentimental) homage to the sensibilities of the ‘60s, with Streep as the hippie chick who partied with so many guys she can’t even begin to recall which of them might have fathered her daughter.

But here’s the way the biggest slice of the audience will see it --

as a hot chick flick.

It’s all about middle aged women doing their thing (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters in their own star vehicle?!?).

The guys in the show basically stand around and look goofy (yes, even Pierce Brosnan, and I admire him for taking this absurdly out-of-character role which he brings off with aplomb).

So get used to it, folks:

Abba rocks!

(I hate myself for writing that).

Posted: Tue., July 8, 2008, 12:05AM PT

Why Limbaugh’s Loaded

Journalists are quick to identify CEOs, sports stars or other public figures who seem to be imprisoned by their own egos, but they are loath to point out the professional narcissists in their own ranks.

I was pondering this fact the other day as I saw the new documentary on the late Hunter Thompson and, later, read the lengthy piece on Rush Limbaugh in the New York Times Magazine.

Neither Thompson nor Limbaugh were ever happy describing a story --

they needed to be part of the story --

hopefully, its star.

Thompson, who shot himself three years ago at the age of 67, turned out some brilliant pieces in his heyday for Rolling Stone on topics ranging from pop culture to politics.

He called his style “gonzo journalism,” hence the title of the documentary (directed by Alex Gibney) “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.”

Thompson brought a truly “original voice” to journalism, in the view of Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, who produced the doc.

The problem was that he so desperately needed to be a star that it distorted his writings.

Hence it was typical Thompson

to take the name of the obscure African drug, Ibogaine, then plant rumors that then presidential candidate Edmund S. Muskie was hooked on it --

then report in a story (widely picked up) that Muskie was covering up his addiction.

Thompson was a great character and a gifted writer, but his need to be the center of attention ultimately undermined his career.

And then there’s Limbaugh, who managed in the course of twenty years to rise from a $12,000 a year disc jockey to a $38 million a year (his numbers) political “commentator.”

Limbaugh loves ostentation, personal and political:

According to Zev Chafets’ piece in the Times Magazine, he lives in a 24,000 square foot mansion in Palm Beach, drives a $450,000 Maybach and flies in his own $54 million Gulfstream G550.

On the air, he comes across as a professional ideologue, but in the Times piece Limbaugh argues that he’s first and foremost a good businessman and a master of salesmanship.

A true radio gypsy, he migrated from one market to another until he found that his audience kept growing when he started spouting politics.

Unfortunately, his politics emerged full-blown from his home town, one of the armpits of our country called Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where his family were small town lawyers and judges.

As a college dropout and an unmotivated student, Limbaugh’s ideas on the world have never evolved beyond his Missouri roots, but, by God, he became a star and shows no desire to deviate from the winning message.

Paradoxically, Limbaugh and Thompson both wrestled with addiction;

Limbaugh’s with pain killers, Thompson with dope and anything else he could get his hands on.

Limbaugh’s career was threatened by a severe hearing disorder, but neither he nor Thompson were ever much interested in listening to anyone anyway.

Limbaugh and Thompson occupied polar opposite corners of the political spectrum, but they shared one additional trait:

They’d say anything to grab the spotlight.

Limbaugh still holds it.

Thompson was blown away by his own futility.

Posted: Mon., July 7, 2008, 5:19PM PT

Eva Mendes,

who entered Utah's Cirque Lodge for rehab earlier this year, recently spoke about substance abuse with David Colman for Interview magazine.

"I"m not angry," said the actress, who stars in the upcoming The Women (due out in September) and The Spirit (due out at Christmas).

"I'm proud of people who have the determination and the fearlessness to actually go and face their demons and get better.

This is a life or death situation."

The L.A.-born, Cuban-American actress also opened up on racism in the entertainment industry.

"What makes it frustrating is when a director or a studio head doesn't see me for the same part that they'll see, let's say, Drew Barrymore for," she said.

"Drew's a great friend of mine.

But it's like, 'No, we want more of an American type of girl.'

And it's like, America has opened up.

I'm an American girl, born and raised."

Still, she insists, being Cuban-American is "not as difficult as it is being an Asian girl."

An excerpt of the interview, and selected photos, are included below.

For the full article and photos, pick up a copy of Interview, which hits newsstands July 15.

A Guide To The Media Methuselahs

"I don't want to die.

I love what I'm doing," said Viacom chief Sumner Redstone on CNBC yesterday.

My, what a positive and also extremely sad quote!

Coming from an old, old man like Redstone, it's more of a last-ditch prayer to Father Time than a peppy statement of on-the-job satisfaction.

After the jump, a complete guide to the top five elderly figures in media moguldom.

They're a cast that could end up having spent decades in power—probably because the younger counterparts who should be overtaking them decided to go into the tech industry on the West Coast instead (except Nick Denton).

May these old men all live, um, a lot longer: