Fan Fare

Martin Scorsese shifts from film to fragrance

Martin Scorsese has followed in the footsteps of  Baz Luhrmann and Jean-Pierre Jeunet to shoot a commercial for Chanel, with a little help from his pals the Rolling Stones.

The 60-second spot for Bleu de Chanel, featuring French actor Gaspard Ulliel (“Young  Hannibal”), kicks off the first major men’s advertising campaign and fragrance launch for Chanel since 2004. The campaign is due to be launched in September, with Chanel undoubtedly hoping the A-list ad gets plenty of social-media play.

Ulliel stars as Hector, a rebellious young actor who has been catapulted into fame but refuses to conform to the lifestyle expectations imposed on him by his new-found stardom. The advertisement takes place during a press conference held by the actor but is intercut with various images of his past and the relationships he had. His memories lead up to the precise moment in which he finds himself.

Scorsese once again taps into the Rolling Stones catalog, this time digging up a real oldie, the band’s raucous 1965 cover of the Larry Williams shouter ”She Said Yeah.” Many of Scorsese’s films, including “Casino,” “Goodfellas,” “The Fan” and his Oscar-winner “The Departed,” used Stones tunes, and Scorsese shot the band’s 2008 concert film “Shine a Light.”

It isn’t Scorsese’s first foray into advertising: even big directors have bills to pay between movies. He has previously been involved in advertising campaigns for Freixenet wines, American Express and AT&T. Chanel previously commissioned ads for Chanel No. 5, with Jeunet shooting his “Amelie” starlet Audrey Tautou and Luhrmann reuniting with his “Moulin Rouge” actress Nicole Kidman.

Reggae, violins, ballads mark Rolling Stones night on “American Idol”

It was Rolling Stones night on “American Idol”, and as Simon Cowell remarked at one point, lots of Stones fans would likely have turned off their TV sets (assuming they had been watching in the first place).

If wild horses hadn’t dragged you away in the first hour of  violin and soft  ballad versions of classic  hits like “Ruby Tuesday” and “Beast of Burden” ,  Tim Urban’s acoustic reggae treatment  of “Under My Thumb” was by far the strangest.  “Very bizarre,” said Randy Jackson. Even good-natured Ellen DeGeneres could muster nothing more encouraging than, “It didn’t wow me.”.

Urban said he knew he was taking a risk but realized he could never sound or look like a member of the Stones.

Siobhan Magnus and Crystal Bowersox didn’t look or sound like Mick Jagger either. But Magnus’s dramatic version of “Paint It, Black”  had echoes of Adam Lambert and was judged one of the standout performances of the night. 

Bowersox had shades of Janis Joplin and Joss Stone in her performance of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” but the dreadlocked young mom has already emerged as such a solid favorite that a good performance is no longer good enough for the judges.

But given the shaky start to this season since the would-be Idols reached the studio,  the Stones fared better than many skeptics might have expected in the hands of  the Top 12. Teen Katie Stevens redeemed her controversial place in the pack, Lacey Brown got the better of her nerves, and young hearthrob Aaron Kelly, 16, cracked the biggest challenge of them all — picking the right song (“Angie”).

 And what’s up with Simon? Gone was  the usual dark t-shirt or sweater,  and in was a v-necked long cardigan (!) over a white t-shirt? And has he gone soft? Barely a sarcastic quip or harsh word on Tuesday night.  “It didn’t work”  was about as bad as it got.

Susan Boyle takes over reins of “Wild Horses”

Maybe “Salt of the Earth” would have been a more appropriate choice for a Rolling Stones song, but everyone’s favorite underdog Susan Boyle seems to have wowed the masses with her tasteful cover of the rock band’s “Wild Horses.”

The powerful ballad about love and loss is the first single from the British talent-show heroine’s upcoming debut album, and she previewed it for U.S. viewers during Wednesday’s episode of “America’s Got Talent.”

The “live” performance was actually taped the night before, according to the Los Angeles Times, which hailed it as “lovely, inspirational, free of surprises.” Then again, the paper said Boyle’s version lacked the original‘s irony, although it’s not clear that there was any irony in the original.

The single version, with Boyle accompanied by a pianist, is perhaps more faithful to the restrained, elegiac tone of the original version. On TV, she unleashed her inner opera diva and also omitted the third verse, which contains the song’s most memorable line, “Let’s do some living after we die.”

If anyone stood to be offended it was picky fans of the Rolling Stones, but a survey of responses on the fan Web site It’s Only Rock’n Roll indicated near-unanimous approval. There was no immediate word from writers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Jagger has said that Richards came up with the melody and the phrase “Wild Horses” and that he wrote the rest. The tune is a popular inclusion in the band’s set lists.

Boyle, meanwhile, is scheduled to release her album “I Dreamed a Dream” on Nov. 24 in the United States through Columbia Records. The shy, 48-year-old spinster rose to overnight worldwide fame in April, after tens of millions of people watched her bravura appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent.” Unable to deal with the sudden attention, Boyle was admitted to a London rehab clinic the next month to deal with anxiety.

Rolling Stones fans ‘Star’-struck by censorship

(Corrects Bob Ludwig’s first name in paragraph 10)

Rolling Stones fans are a grumpy lot these days.      The band has not toured since August 2007, triggering a painful withdrawal period for acolytes of the death-defying rockers; a CD reissue program turned out to be an anticlimax; and now the Stones’ new label has censored one of their raunchier tunes.       Universal Music has licensed the rights to the group’s post-1960s albums, and released the first batch three weeks ago: remastered versions of “Sticky Fingers” (1971), “Goats Head Soup” (1973), “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll” (1975) and “Black And Blue” (1976).       Fans were initially thrilled about the prospect of the new reissue program, contemplating discs jam-packed with bonus material. That soon turned to disappointment and then outrage when it emerged that any outtakes, demos and other goodies will stay in the vaults.        The previous remastering program took place in 1994, when the band was signed to Virgin Records, and those discs remain the gold standard. (Universal has held back the reissue of 1972′s “Exile on Main Street” until early 2010, promising “wider plans for this title.”)      But sharp-eared fans at the Web site It’s Only Rock n’ Roll have noticed a difference between the Universal and Virgin versions of “Goats Head Soup,” and they are not thrilled. In the groupie put-down “Star Star,” a vulgar synonym for the female genitals has been obscured, as has a reference to late actor John Wayne.      Both phrases were obscured when the album first came out in 1973. In fact the album’s U.S. release was delayed by several months because Atlantic Records, the group’s label at the time, wanted to drop the song completely. Moreover, the Stones were forced to change the original title, which has always been heard in its full glory, chanted about 65 times during the song.        The Virgin reissue restored both the naughty word — which begins with a “p” — and the John Wayne reference to the couplet “Yeah, I’ll make bets that you’re gonna get John Wayne before he dies.”      So who’s to blame for the problem? No one is talking: That includes publicists for both the Rolling Stones and Universal, as well as officials at Marcussen Mastering Studios, the Hollywood firm handling the Universal reissues.       It’s likely Marcussen worked from the tapes supplied by the Stones camp. At least, that’s what happened with the Virgin Records program, says mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who handled that project.   “Sometimes the clients intentionally want us to change things,” Ludwig said via email, recalling that the Stones requested a “small number of … little changes,” such as restoring Sonny Rollins’ extended sax solo on the “Tattoo You” track “Slave.”       “When I did the re-mastering I was told that Keith (Richards) really got into it and set up a vinyl turntable, had someone re-buy all the original vinyl issues, and did lots of comparisons,” Ludwig said.

If Universal ends up recalling the album or refunding fans, it shouldn’t break the coffers at the world’s biggest record company too much. The reissued album has sold fewer than 100 copies in the United States, according to a music industry source.

Iggy Pop, Ronnie Wood to play at booze-free L.A. event

Punk rock icon Iggy Pop and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, no strangers to drug and alcohol abuse, will perform at a fundraiser in Los Angeles next month for musicians struggling with their addictions.

Pop, who turns 62 later this month, will be a “special guest” at the fifth annual MusiCares MAP Fund dinner/concert at Club Nokia May 8.

Wood, 61, also is scheduled to perform at the 2,300-capacity venue, as are the Red Hot Chili Peppers rhythm section of Flea and Chad Smith, Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, the Mars Volta and Ivan Neville.

Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis will receive the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his charitable endeavors, according to a statement. The event is alcohol-free, so it could be a long night for those who don’t bring along their own.

Pop succumbed to heroin and other drugs during the 1970s, and ended up in a mental institution in Los Angeles. Wood has long battled alcoholism, with his bandmates reportedly telling him to clean up his act if he wants to tour with them. His personal life seems to be in some flux now that he has split with his second wife and taken up with a woman one-third his age.

Individual floor seats for the event are priced at $1,250 and preferred balcony seats at $100, sold through the Recording Academy. Ticketmaster is selling general-admission balcony seats at $50.

Rolling Stones reissue program omits bonus tracks

The Rolling Stones are once again reissuing all their post-1971 studio albums, but fans hoping for bonus tracks won’t get any satisfaction.

Instead Universal Music Group, which took over the band’s catalog last year, said on Thursday that 13 of the albums would simply be remastered. Special, undisclosed plans were underway for a 14th album, the band’s 1972 opus “Exile on Main Street,” which will come out later in the year.

No reissue plans were announced for any of the band’s live albums from the the era, such as “Love You Live” and “Stripped,” or its many compilations.

The reissues will roll out in three batches, grouped by the albums’ original release dates, beginning on May 4 with 1971′s “Sticky Fingers,” 1973′s “Goats Head Soup,” 1974′s “It’s Only Rock’n'Roll” and 1976′s “Black And Blue.”

Four albums — 1978′s “Some Girls,” 1980′s “Emotional Rescue,” 1981′s “Tattoo You” and 1983′s “Undercover” — will roll out on June 8.

The final five — 1986′s “Dirty Work,” 1989′s “Steel Wheels,” 1994′s “Voodoo Lounge,” 1997′s “Bridges To Babylon” and 2005′s “A Bigger Bang” will reach stores on July 8.

The band’s previous label, Virgin Records, launched a reissue program in 1994 with deluxe versions of the catalog, from “Sticky Fingers” to “Tattoo You.” While they did not contain bonus tracks, the packaging was designed to mimic the original vinyl releases. The cover of “Sticky Fingers,” for example, contained a working zipper.

Keith Richards vs. Mick Jagger, part 96?

Even if Keith Richards did not vote for Mick Jagger in Rolling Stone magazine’s recent poll of the 100 greatest singers of all time, all is apparently peace and love with rock’s longest-wed couple.

The Rolling Stones guitarist was one of 179 high-profile voters in the survey. They had to choose their top 20 singers in order, and the magazine has published some of the ballots on its Web site (http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/24160218/the_100_greatest_singers_inside_t/photo/1).

Richards’ top pick was Aretha Franklin, who ended up coming in at No. 1 overall. His ballot included the usual suspects: collaborators (George Jones, Toots Hibbert), people whose songs he has covered (Jimmy Cliff, Buddy Holly), and old buddies (Gram Parsons, Tom Waits). And of course, he voted for himself at No. 20.

One glaring omission: his former schoolmate and current bandmate of almost half a century, Mick Jagger, who came in at No. 16 on the overall list.

The so-called “Glimmer Twins” have had their issues in the past, breaking up the band in the 1980s, and even as recently as 2003 an infuriated Richards tried to push Jagger off the stage during a concert in Osaka for no apparent reason.

But Richards’ manager Jane Rose — each member has his own manager — quickly doused any talk of a new rift.

“They are all getting on well,” she wrote via email. “When Keith got the ballot he just thought his vote was for ‘outside’ the family. If Keith Richards did not think Mick was his favorite, they would not be the Glimmer Twins!”