Rocci Fisch

February 12, 2012

“THE BIGGEST DEVIL AMONG THE DEMONS?”-Diane Sawyer
“THAT WOULD BE ME”-Whitney Houston

... That’s from a Whitney Houston interview Diane Sawyer did in a 2002 intense, revealing, personal interview during a troubled time.
... “I know I’m a child of God, Jesus loves me,” she told Sawyer.
... Regarding her use of drugs and life she said, “I’m not a person who wants to die.”
... She died in Los Angeles on Saturday. Her body was found in her room in the bathtub of her hotel room (Beverly Hilton), the site of Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammys party which was happening later that day and which she was planning to attend.
... Over the years Houston had become a fixture at the totally “in” party and was considered royalty to many.
... Davis introduced her to the public, signed her back in 1983 to his Arista Records label and became her mentor.
... She had talent beyond compare,” he said.
... (She had records before her major label debut and hits with Teddy Pendergrass, Jermaine Jackson and others, plus she had singles of her own before being “discovered” by Davis.)
... She would become his label’s biggest selling artist recording artist.
... She stars in and executive-produced the upcoming remake of “Sparkle,” the story of a Harlem family in the late 50s and early 60s that follows the life and career of Sparkle Williams and her family.
... Sparkle is played by American Idol winner (6th season) Jordan Sparks; Houston plays her mother. The film has been finished.
... PERSONAL FAVORITES:
... Where Do Broken Hearts Go (1988)
... I Will Always Love You (1992)
... I Have Nothing (1993)
... Run to You (1993)
... I Believe in You and Me (1996), a great love song originally a hit 1983) by the Four Tops featuring Levi Stubbs as solo vocalist.
... “I believe in dreams again. I believe that love will never end. And like the river finds the sea...I was lost, now I’m free. Cuz I believe in you and me.”
... The Star-Spangled Banner (1991):
... “And the home of the ... brave.” That last word and note held amazingly long, her hands triumphantly in the air.
... She knocked it out of the park.
... No frills, nothing to make it different and leave a stamp. Just pure singing.
... Al Sharpton talked about her (who doesn’t he know in the entertainment business, i.e., James Brown, Etta James Don Cornelius?) and called for a national prayer for her family.
... Rev. Al called her a “gifted songbird.”
... Friend and singer Kelly Price said, “She was the best thing that ever touched a microphone.”
AFFAIR. A former JFK intern named Mimi Alford (now 69) told NBC’s Meredith Vieira (she’s back) that she had a relationship with the president back in the day.
... It was revealed on Rock Center, the NBC magazine, show last week in discussing her tell-all book, Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath (Random House).
... It should have been called Once Upon a Mattress. Ha Ha Ha.
... She says in the book that they had a sexual encounter in his wife Jackie’s bed and alleges he “took her virginity.”
... Jesus, what details.
... The prez sounded a bit randy and brazen.
... The network rigorously promoted it and played the interview on all “platforms” of the news organization.
... (That’s the working term now: “all platforms.”)
... How many times did I have to see it, for crissakes?
... They beat it like a dead horse.
... The book “was filled with salacious details,” said The Washington Post’s Amy Argetsinger, co-writer of The Reliable Source, a daily column of gossip and stories from inside and outside the Washington Beltway.
... Revealing all this. Did Milford have no shame?
OVERUSED TERM: “WENT VIRAL.” What video hasn’t?
SO WHAT? Oprah Winfrey will be interviewing Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis of ‘The Help” as part of her Oscar special before the Academy Awards.
... Big deal.
... Those actors/actresses have been all over the map doing interviews. What more is there to say and know about?
... It’ll be on OWN, Oprah’s cable network.
... Hope the audience finds it. (I can never remember what Comcast channel it’s on.)
... TREND. There are far fewer “exclusives” in the business nowadays, although every network and cable show on earth claims to have one with every Tom, Dick and Harry who graces the news.
... Anderson Cooper, however, did get Adele, the British soul singer who won all the Grammys, for 60 Minutes Overtime (what’s that?)
... She had to have surgery on her vocal cords and hasn’t been able to sing for a long time...up to now.
... So Cooper was the first to talk to her.
... During the interview she sang “Rolling in the Deep” a cappella sitting in a chair, something like Whitney Houston did in “I Will Always Love You.” Remember that?
... Adele says she jogs to it every day. (Narcissistic?)
GREAT JOB: Creative director and choreographer (Michael Jackson, Prince) Jamie King was the one who directed the massive Madonna halftime show at the Super Bowl.
... It was quite an achievement, if you ask me.
... And coming up, he’ll produce the Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony Latin-themed entertainment show, Q-Viva! The Chosen.
... Just thought I’d mention that.
JUST ASKING. Whoever says the word “firework” besides Katy Perry? The word’s always plural.
... “Cause baby, you’re a firework...Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth...Make ‘em go oh, oh, oh...As you shoot across the sky, eye, eye.”
... “You’re gonna leave ‘em in awe, awe, awe...“
... “Boom, boom, boom...Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon ...”
... She likes to repeat a lot.
... She sings a lot of syllables.
... If I hear it one more time at my gym I’ll ...
PRODUCT. If you’re brr-ing with the cold weather, why don’t you buy a Hoodie-Footie?
... “It (velour cover-all) “combines the warmth of a hoodie with the coziness of footie pajamas,” the TV ads say say. Available through pajamagram.com.
... Many come in animal prints and others with hearts all over them, just in time for Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14).
... ABC/CNN’s Christian Amanpour sat at “the seat” on the set of World News with Diane Sawyer the other night, talking about the conflict in Syria.
... (“The seat,” as weekend anchor David Muir seems to call it, apparently is somewhat of a status symbol for correspondents in which they appear live and sit opposite the anchor to answer questions after they finish their news pieces.)
... I thought: Why isn’t Christiane in Syria? (Clarissa Ward, who left ABC for CBS, is reporting from there with her hijab (head scarf) on.
... (CBS anchor Scott Pelley clarified after her news report that she is “reporting independently with the rebels in Syria,” in case there’s any question about it.)
... Anyway, Amanpour is a “global affairs anchor” now. That’s how the network bills her.
... How come she’s not anchoring from the trouble spot?
... I wanna see her on foreign shores, she’s great at it.
KIWI SEEDS. “The last thing that I want to be thinking about is my dentures,” says a woman talking about the fruit while plugging Poligrip in a TV ad.
... She says the seeds get stuck between the teeth and gums and it’s annoying and uncomfortable
... “There’s a lot of things going on in my life” without dealing with that, she said.
... Is that what I have waiting for me down the pike?
REPRIMAND? The Guardian (British newspaper) reports that BBC reporters have been told not to break stories on Twitter.
... They want to get the information into their newsroom first so that it can be seen and shared by editors, reporters and producers before posting it on the social network.
... Good. How about starting that policy here in the states?
... Everybody races to get a news story out in real-time on the Internet but sometimes, in the marathon to be first, it’s not accurate.
... It can cause a firestorm and necessitate an apology -- not good for credibility.
... I.e., CNN political contributor Roland Martin who, during the Super Bowl, typed some “regrettable and offensive” statements about David Beckham’s underwear ads and soccer , the network said in a statement.)
... KEEP IN MIND: A poster on Twitter does not equal a journalist.
RESEMBLANCE? A Rick Santorum “Super Pac” backer said Newt Gingrich looks like Paula Deen.
... “A couple of Southern states are in play since Northeastern politics don’t play well there. And although Gingrich may look like Paula Deen, politically he’s no Southerner.”
... Although he does look like he might eat her food; he does have a paunch.
OUTDATED CONCEPT: CBS’s revived Person to Person TV show.
... (A review of that coming later in the week.)
FYI: Paul McCartney’s new album of standards (who doesn’t do one eventually?) called “Kisses on the Bottom” has nothing to do with behinds or backsides.
... It’s a Fats Waller’s 1935 song later recorded by singer Billy Williams (Coral Records, 1957) called “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” which has a line in it referring to the “xxx ooo kisses” people put at the end of letters to a loved one.
... “I’m gonna write words oh so sweet...They’re gonna knock me off my feet...A lot of kisses on the bottom...I’ll be glad I got ‘em ...”
... UH...Letter Full of Tears-Gladys Knight & The Pips, on Fury Records, 1962.

rocci.fisch@gmail.com

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