The first round of child sexual abuse allegations were leveled against Michael Jackson in ‘93.  Amid all the “avalanches of dirt,” Jackson found an unlikely ally in the Academy Award-winning actor, Maximilian Schell (Judgment At Nuremberg, The Black Hole), who wrote the King Of Pop a gushy fan letter that appeared on the back page of the Hollywood Reporter:

MAXIMILIAN SCHELL

NOV, 19 1993
TO: MICHAEL JACKSON
(SOMEWHERE ON THIS PLANET)

DEAR MICHAEL,

I AM DEEPLY ASHAMED—FOR THE PRESS, FOR THE MEDIA, FOR THE WORLD - I don’t know you - we met only ONCE on one of those Award-Dinners (“ENTERTAINER of the DECADE”) - We shook hands - you were kind and polite - I don’t think you knew who I was - HOW SHOULD YOU? OUR WORLDS ARE TOO FAR APART - (I am more, “CLASSICAL” - minded -) but I looked into your eyes—THEY WERE KIND—

You are a great artist and I admire you - my little daughter (she is 9?Ǭ?) LOVES YOU! DEEPLY - SHE EVEN WANTS TO MARRY YOU! (-“BUT HE NEVER CALLS ME!”) SHE IMITATES YOU ALL THE TIME - and quite well -

WE ALL LOVE YOU

I would like her more to listen to MOZART - but she loves YOU! AND I RESPECT HER TASTE!—

THAT YOU SURVIVE THIS AVALANCHE OF DIRT THROWN AT YOU - I ADMIRE TREMENDOUSLY -

THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE!

GOD BLESS YOU

Maximilian Schell

P.S. “ONE CAN ONLY SEE GOOD WITH THE HEART - THE ESSENTIAL IS INVISIBLE FOR THE EYES - (“THE LITTLE PRINCE”)

To see a copy of Schell’s actual missive, check out Letters Of Note

 
Although it may come as a surprise to some readers of this blog, I’m a huge Ugly Betty fan and have been from the beginning. It’s got one of the best casts of any TV show on any network today and I look forward to seeing all of them going on to new projects. America Ferrera is one of the most charismatic young actresses out there, I’ve enjoyed her performances immensely in everything I’ve seen her in and I hope the dynamic comedic pairing of real life best friends Michael Urie and Becki Newton lives on in future projects. (And if no one will pay them to do something together, they should do it themselves, like a talk show. All they need is a camera and someone to talk to and it will be great). Such memorable characters, all of them.

And Ugly Betty had some of the best writers, directors, stylists, art directors and set designers in the business. Each and every episode was a meticulously crafted, deeply moving gem. It was creative down to the transitions between scenes. It upped the ante for TV comedy in some many different ways. In its entire run there were very, very few “eh” episodes. Maybe only one.

ABC say that fans of the show will be satisfied at how the series is resolved—there will be eight more episodes—and I hope that’s true, but it was a sad day in our household when we heard that Ugly Betty would be no more.

 
Karin Dreijer of the Swedish sibling duo The Knife, also known professionally as Fever Ray, shows Gaga how it’s done.

Via Bob Lefsetz

 
Who saw this one coming? The NME reports that Keef is giving up the hooch!

Keith Richards has given up booze. The legendary drinker ?

 
It used to feel like Showtime was the also-ran when its original programming was pitted against HBO fare like “The Wire,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Sopranos.” But in recent years the pay-cable TV titans have been running neck and neck, with Showtime’s excellent “This American Life,” “Dexter"and “Weeds” coming up from behind. After tonight, it may be that Showtime pulls ahead—in my household at least—with the premiere of “La La Land,” a new series starring the absolutely brilliant British comedian Marc Wootton.

If you’re a fan of “Borat” then you’ll love what Marc Wootton does too. But as good as Sacha Baron Cohen is at pulling the wool over people’s eyes, Wootton may be even better at it. In his guises as Borat or Bruno,  Cohen can keep his victims guessing for some time, but can he do it for several days? Wootton can, as evinced in his 2003 game show series “My New Best Friend” where contestants have to convince their family members that Wootton, playing some of the most obnoxious characters ever seen on television, is indeed their “new best friend” as he attempts to humiliate them. We’re talking grinding humiliation (The “winners”—and I use that term loosely—got a cash prize, but few stuck around long enough to collect, so horrifying were the paces that Wootton’s characters put them through).

And then there is Wootton’s most famous character, Shirley Ghostman, the flamboyant spoof tele-psychic. “Shirley”—who is in fact a man, an extremely effeminate man with poofy hair and nail polish who’ll have you know he’s not gay, okay?—is the Liberace-esque host of “High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman.” Shirley makes contact with the spirits of Elvis Presley and Princess Diana, reads the minds of pets and takes hapless contestants through a maze of humiliation in a reality show-within-the-show called “Spirit Academy,” the “American Idol” of psychic talent. The people Shirley interacts with—and the dumbfounded studio audience—have no idea they’re being put on. I’ve inflicted “High Spirits” on many a friend and everyone agrees: This is one of those pee-in-your-pants-funny shows. An absolute must-see if you are a fan of ill-at-ease comedy.

“La La Land” has been described as a reality-hybrid comedy, with Wootton playing three fish-out-of-water characters trying to make it in Los Angeles: Gary, an aspiring actor, Brendan an egocentric documentarian of the Nick Broomfield/Michael Moore “you-get-a-documentary-plus-me” school of filmmaking and Shirley Ghostman, who gets resurrected for his U.S. television debut.

“La La Land,” 11 p.m. Mondays, Showtime

Below, a clip from 2005’s “High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman”

Jon Reiss has been a pioneer of DIY film-making since the punk era and he shares what he’s learned in his new book, Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era.

 
In his 60+ years on Earth, Mick Farren has worn many hats. He’s one of the founders of the “underground” press in Britain, he was the doorman at the psychedelic UFO Club (where Pink Floyd and the Soft Machine got their starts), a political activist, a well-respected science fiction novelist, a TV and media columnist, a poet, and, not least, he was the lead singer of the proto-punk band, The Deviants. His autobiography Give the Anarchist a Cigarette is an indispensable volume in any library about the ‘60s and ‘70s. In short, the man is a counterculture legend, and one of the last of the “gonzo” journalists.

Saturday night, Farren will be reading at La Luz de Jesus Gallery from his recently published anthologyZones of Chaos (which features an introduction by sci-fi great Michael Moorcock) accompanied by fellow Deviant, guitarist Andy Colquhoun.

La Luz de Jesus Gallery, 4633 Hollywood Blvd, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2009, 6 ?

 
Get tickets at www.firesigntheatre.com. And you can listen to an NPR interview with David Ossman and Philip Austin here.

 
It was a noble experiment, giving us talent like Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, but now progressive/liberal radio talker Air America has gone kaput:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.

With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies

 
Meet Mini Daddy, reggaeton’s littlest superstar and the future of pre-adolescent Hispanic gangsta rap.  Did the evil geniuses of the music industry concoct Mini Daddy in a laboratory experiment as a deeply subversive—and cynical—marketing ploy: “Hmmm…. let’s get a kid, a little kid—no, wait, a fat little kid—to dress up in gangster gear and gold chains, we’ll put some “fly” 7-year-old girls in the video as his hootchie backup singers ... He’ll be the Lil’ Bow Wow of reggaeton!”

Or is this tyke a self-created sensation, tailor-made for the “Age of YouTube,” who just walked in off the streets, and is worth his weight in gold records? He’s unstoppable, this Mini Daddy. Forget Ke$ha and Lady Gaga and meet the future. Your future.
 

Via Current, The Awl