David Geffen on PBS' American Masters!

WTF?!?! He's no artist. I can only imagine he gave PBS a ton of money.

It was sad when Cher reminisced about his curly hair and beautiful eyes and he's now bald and has had creepy cosmetic eye surgery. Someone else on the program mentioned that Joni Mitchell nailed him as well.
Hey he fucked Cher! That makes him an artist.
http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/bg/Classic Images of Stars MO6Pm5n9RfFl.jpg
He was a free man in Paris, he was unfettered and alive.
LOL. He didn't fuck Cher, he only escorted her.
I've always admired him and what he has accomplished.
They don't even bring up the gay until the Cher part. It was hard to follow with events and songs out of sequence with the years. The first hour turned out to be about essentially two years. It's depressingly smarmy stuff for oldies radio fans to hear about.
PBS has had its day.
[R6] - I was fooled by the program as the documentary really convinced me he was wonderful at picking talent... So was he a jerk? phony? He was gorgeous when he was younger..
anon
It will be interesting to see where his massive wealth goes. I think people defend him because of fear more than respect. Some of his choices for talent were questionable, like that first chick he signed. She sucked.
It seems he did a lot for gays, also was pissed off that Bill Clinton changed his mind on DADT. Seems like he's also a major reason why Barack is in the white house instead of Hillary. I loved the show. I have new respect for David. Anyone know if he's looking for a husband?
Who were some of the crap recording acts he signed? lol
I don't know if anyone has heard this, but I was told he might be a homosexual.
He was super-cute when he was younger. He looked like James Deen (the currently youthful pornstar) in some shots.
It seemed to me he was quick at the bait and switch when it came to matters of money and his own selfishness. It figures he would fall prey to the charms of Cher, who was a vulgar phoney when it came to being marketed as a hippie chick. I mean I love Cher, but her schtick was the antithesis to the type of music Geffen sought to nurture. I was raised on conglomrock, it was just sad to see the ground floor of it being laid so zestfully once he sold Asylum. It was illuminating to see datalounge favorite Laura Nyro cast as the cutthroat bitch who taught Geffen everything he needed to know about the music business.
[quote] He was gorgeous when he was younger.. You should not be allowed to drive because you are, clearly, legally blind. He was EXCEPTIONALLY ugly, a fact that haunted him for his whole life. Little ferret face with really bad hair.
I enjoyed the program. Odd though that he's totally out but the only romantic relationship they mention is hetero - with Cher. Had barely heard of Laura Nyro before this. She must have kept a pretty low profile.
[quote]Had barely heard of Laura Nyro before this. I'm embarrassed for you.
Laura Nyro kept a low profile on purpose, r16. She just wanted to make music (she was exceptionally talented) but hated stardom and all the bullshit that went with it so she pulled back and spent the rest of her life kind of under the pop culture radar by choice. She died some years ago.
OMG Cher smoked? I actually never knew that.
What surprised me was how Joni Mitchell could put an outfit together. This was, after all the 70s, one of the worst decades for clothes, and I always thought of her as a hippie. But she looked very chic in every photo.
Honey, I fucked every man with talent or power that came my way. I drew their essence into my being, then tossed them aside and moved on. Usually after writing another great song about it. No one touches me. I choose to touch them.
Joni%20Mitchell
r19 everybody and their mother smoked in the 70s.
PS: R20 is right. I look stunning in that diaphonous beaded coral sarong thing.
Joni%20M.%20
Cher smoked what?
I made this little bitch.
T.%20Cruise%27s%20meaty%20bare%20thighs
He admitted that he committed mail fraud by opening mail not meant for him and then changing the text. Isn't that a felony?
"It seems he did a lot for gays..." Yeah, only after Outweek went after him for signing homophobic acts to his record label. It's sort of like when Watergate criminals get religion in prison.
Chuck%20Colson
R27 is correct. He was very much a latter day gay 'saint'. Only after he was repeatedly taken to task for promoting homophobes did he finally get a clue.
Hmm..the PBS documentary certainly was pro-Geffen. And he had the nerve to drop Clinton regarding DADT?
anon
Even though I came of age in that era (and had Laura Nyro's first album) I had no idea that Joni song was about Geffen.
You're So Vain is about him as well.
Anyone know if he's looking for a husband? OMG. Did he and Keanu break up?!?!?!
The time wasted on Nyro was definitely David forcing his opinion on the Documentary. She is not worth more than 10 seconds. Lame song writer who was made much more famous than her talent deserved by David pushing her lame songs on others. Also, his pick of DOA old bands in the early 80s should have killed him. Neil Young??? Yeah..... the 80s was definitely this guys big sound =/. After 1992, Geffen seemed to have more of a soul. I like his support of Obama over the Clintons because of DADT, if that was indeed what happened. The Clintons deserved a beating for that.
[quote] Some of his choices for talent were questionable, like that first chick he signed. She sucked. Judee Sill? I don't know why he thought she could have mainstream success, her style was a bit niche. But some of her songs were brilliant. "Jesus was a crossmaker" is great. Does Little Shop of Horrors get a mention? R33 you have ensured that this thread will end in tears after attacking Laura Nyro. I'll say a rosary for you.
Nyro was a joke. Her songs were dog vomit quality, not 1 Grammy, not one single #1 hit. Geffen made mistakes and she was his biggest judgement error. Over hyping her in that documentary, was embarrassingly exposing this. But I doubt David would ever listen to anyone's input on that matter. He didn't score any major creative artists outside of CSN & Y. He did score some commercial artists, all of whom will/have been forgotten. All the biggest ones history will remember, never signed with Geffen until after their careers died.
Geffen purchased a lovely tribute to himself. A gay billionaire who is so sad and lonely in his Malibu mansion with his small yet reliable retinue of young men to service him between his manic bouts of biographical scrap-booking. There are worse lives. He could have done so much more. He's no Tim Gill...
He bought Denise Rich's apt in NYC for around 45mil...the views are so sick!
It was strange to hear Barry Diller and Calvin Klein speak about David's difficulties in coming out publicly when they haven't themselves.
Geffen sharing a joke with Bloomberg
http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/19/geffen_bloomberg_2.jpg
Laura Nero was an extremely talented writer. But she was stupid to stay with Columbia and betray Geffen. If she had gone with Geffen, there is a chance she would have had Carole King's career. "Stone Soul Picnic" sounds like something off Tapestry, which came out years later. This documentary would have been better if they had waited until Geffen dies. He still scares people in the industry for them to be honest about what a shit he is.
Barry Diller looks like the only old queen in that group that hasn't butchered his face. Knowing him, his attitude is, "I don't give a shit how ugly I look, just open that ass if you want the car!"
Geffen and Sandy Gallin are probably still fighting over te same tricks in between plastic surgery appointments. I wish I could be as big an asshole as either of those two. Id be rich and unhappy too. But in Malibu. Who needs love.
"You're So Vain is about him as well" As is "The Locomotion"!
Kylie
Hope to catch the program when repeated. I admire his success- no doubt he is a show-biz entrepreneur of the first order. But he is not particularly nice and he definitely was not and is not cute. My inpression of him was that he is sort of a wolverine- he just keeps coming at you until he gets what he wants. I was around him/met him a number of times in the late 70s early 80s- As for Klein and Diller (and Gallin) awful awful people. Just my opinion and experience. I had no interest in spending 30 seconds with any of them alone- nor did any one of my friends- although one of X's did go out with Diller a number of times in the mid/late 70s. But he always made clear to me he never had sex with him. Diller was/is more or less the worst of the lot. Successful guys- but not nice at all. I agree with the the poster above- all except Diller have had waaayyyy too much plastic surgery.
charlie
Funny, how he said he always wanted to be a blue-eyed blond. Now, he just buys them.
R40, she sucked eggs as a songwriter! Taylor Swift "heavily produced" is a better song writer and nobody male or over the age of 18, can stand Taylor Swifts music.
R40 Asylum Records was founded in 1971, the same year "Tapestry" was released, so clearly "Tapestry" did not come out "years later."
Top or bottom?
Cher
Interesting anecdotes Charlie! I also admire his success but I harbor no illusions about him or anyone else on his level of business acumen being a nice person. You don't make it that far up in the business world by having genuine compassion and empathy for other people, and the few that do are the exceptions to the rule.
This is his propaganda piece. Maybe after he passes on, the truth will come out.
Come on, Geffen records gave us "Appetite for Destruction" and " Nevermind" What's not to love?
Some gays here need a serious education about songwriter Laura Nyro and her legacy.  Sondheim himself said about "Stoned Soul Picnic": "in economy, lyricism, and melody, it is a masterpiece." Listen to some Nyro and educate yourselves.
http://hal.univ-nantes.fr/docs/00/66/00/90/PDF/Arleo_Laura_Nyro_version1.pdf
[quote][R40] Asylum Records was founded in 1971, the same year "Tapestry" was released, so clearly "Tapestry" did not come out "years later." Stone Soul Picnic, the song that sounded like a song from Tapestry, was recorded 3 years before Tapestry. So Geffen dropped the ball.
Honey, I fucked every man with talent or power that came my way. I drew their essence into my being, then tossed them aside and moved on. Usually after writing another great song about it. No one touches me. I choose to touch them.
Taylor
L*I*Z*A* was friends with Laura Nyro, too. She tells an interesting story about Laura coming to see one of her cabaret shows at the Waldorf almost every night and how Liza would know if she should introduce her to the audience or not on any given night in this long interview. I wonder if there is even more to this story? Hmm...
http://broadwayworld.com/article/InDepth-InterView-Liza-Minnelli-Talks-LIVE-AT-THE-WINTER-GARDEN-CABARET-HD-Lady-Gaga-More-20120507
Lezzie%20With%20A%20Z
Because the single, mid charting song "Stoned Soul Picnic" not even the best song on the Fifth Dimension LP, it is was released on, trumps the entire body of works of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zepplin, Prince, Enya, Steve Wonder and Van Halen. =/ Sondhiem is a one hit, song writer himself (Lovely), so of course he would defend other similar mediocre songwriting talent or maybe he was just smoking pot when he said that. (Justin Bielber also thinks Taylor Swift is better than Mozart)
R49, I tend to agree, but I do know several very successful business types who are very nice people- kind, empathetic and generous. Big success need not always come at the expense of others. But it does often. Geffen did take very very good care of Bob Brassle (sp?) who I think was the love of his life. Bob was an extraordinarlly good looking, smart and equally self destructive young man when he met David- and a user. David did well by Bob- As for Klein and Diller, bleech :)
charlie
"Nyro was a joke. Her songs were dog vomit quality, not 1 Grammy, not one single #1 hit. Geffen made mistakes and she was his biggest judgement error. Over hyping her in that documentary, was embarrassingly exposing this. But I doubt David would ever listen to anyone's input on that matter. He didn't score any major creative artists outside of CSN & Y. He did score some commercial artists, all of whom will/have been forgotten. All the biggest ones history will remember, never signed with Geffen until after their careers died." He didn't score any major artists? You have NO idea WTF you are talking about. Clueless @ R34, Geffen was a tremendous influence on so many artists of that era. In general, there's a lot of clueless queens here who know nothing about the great New York songwriter Laura NYRO! Not Nero. Laura was Italian and Jewish, a born and bred New Yorker. Besides recording her own music, in fact one LP was recorded with Labelle no less, Laura wrote songs which were HUGE hits for The Fifth Dimension and Three Dog Night and IIRC, Blood Sweat and Tears. I already knew all this, I haven't seen the documentary. Laura kept a low profile because she was not a flashy performer, she wanted to focus on the songwriter aspect of being a musician. I realize many who grew up on sub-par faux Vegas acts like Madonna, these people have NO concept of a musician who might actually want a low profile, to be more of a musician/songwriter than a "pop sensation". To be a musician who us NOT seeking publicity for every move they make seems to be an alien concept to today's music fans! You guys need to stop watching all that "Real Housewives" shit and step away form the Beibers and Swifts of this world! It's kind of sad that this generation of young people have missed out on some amazingly innovative music from the 1960s and 1970s.
He was what Grammy Hall would call "A real Jew".
Annie H.
I thought Geffen's best-looking period was in between the 60s-80s bearded Jewfro and today's contemporary shaved head plastic-surgerized look. So he was kind of hot in the 1990s with his balding Caesar cut and no facial hair.
Geffen Records released the Siouxsie and the Banshees and also Siouxsie and Budgie side project The Creatures in the US (it was Polydor for the rest of the world). I remember reading that originally for some reason Warner Bros. didn't want to release Siouxsie and the Banshee's 'Face to Face' from 'Batman Returns' as a single and only when Geffen Records announced they would release it on their label Warner Bros. made the move. Geffen also released a pretty nice remix EP from the Siouxsie and The Banshees song 'Fear (of the Unknown)'. Also I think it was Geffen Records who sent out a special promo item promoting the Siouxsie and the Banshees' album 'Superstition' with a fake cracked mirror as cover.
Ugh. Such a truly unpleasant man, with not enough guile to hide that fact.
Love R3 and R21. This reminds me of the Joni Mitchell's Vagina Here thread from a while back. Laura Nyro was amazing. And...as for Geffen, the only thing I ever heard about him was that he was supposed to have had a HUGE cock. There was a sitcom called "Action" (I think??) with Jay Mohr where Jay's very straight character sees a mogul naked and can't stop thinking about his enormous python like penis...and supposedly this was Geffen, although as short and as David Gest-y as he looks, I can't imagine how it could be true.
[quote] Laura Nyro appeared at the 1989 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and performed in the 1980s and 1990s with female musicians. Among them was Nydia "Liberty" Mata, a popular drummer well known in the lesbian-feminist women's music subculture.
Wikipedia
So the film maker got access to David as long as his selfish behavior, in blocking access to the public beach stairs next to is Malibu home, wasn't discussed. He lived up to the clche of ruthless cutthroat Jews.
I always thought Laura Nyro had written 'Up on the Roof." She was like Harry Nilsson in that they were both songwriters, but their biggest selling singles were songs other people had witten.
So for 3 years he thought he had Bladder cancer? WTF were the doctors doing during this time frame? Chemo? Illesotomy?
Who's his boyfriend? Bryan Lourd?
[quote]And...as for Geffen, the only thing I ever heard about him was that he was supposed to have had a HUGE cock. There was a sitcom called "Action" (I think??) with Jay Mohr where Jay's very straight character sees a mogul naked and can't stop thinking about his enormous python like penis...and supposedly this was Geffen, although as short and as David Gest-y as he looks, I can't imagine how it could be true. No, that was an allusion to Barry Diller, not David Geffen.
[quote]Honey, I fucked every man with talent or power that came my way. I drew their essence into my being, then tossed them aside and moved on. Actually, Joni Mitchell was dumped by Jackson Browne. She never forgave him and delighted in writing a song later about how he was physically abusive and drove his wife to suicide.
Nyro never got famous because she was terrible. She signed with Columbia because she thought they would better promote her than Geffen did, when really they knew she was not that good and just wanted to piss off Geffen. It worked. She was used like a pawn against Geffen and she never made it because she was not very good. It had nothing to do with Geffens inability to promote her. Obviously Nyro has quite the ego too. Lame talent usually does.
[quote]Joni Mitchell was dumped by Jackson Browne. Waiting for a car on the hill...
Poor, polio-riddled, bucktoothed Joni. There was no sport in stealing men from her: It was just too easy.
Carly%20Simon%2C%20the%20one%20James%20married.
R71 Nyro released her first album in 1967. Geffen didn't start Asylum records until 1970.
Didn't Joni Mitchell used to claim Native American ancestry for years? It wasn't cool to be Sami back then
I would have thought there'd be more love for Laura Nyro on DL just because of "Stony End."
Laura Nyro never cut my mustard either. Because I liked 60s music people were always telling me about her, but she always sounded like a poor man's Carole King to me. But I can understand gays liking her...all white and female and middle of the road.
[quote] David as long as his selfish behavior, in blocking access to the public beach stairs next to is Malibu home, wasn't discussed. They didn't include it because they're dedicating an entirely separate documentary to the infamous Public Beach Stairs moment of Geffen's life. It's his version of Capote's Black and White Ball, that's how interesting it is.
He counted Barry Diller and Calvin Klein as friends. Well, that's two strikes.
Ellie Greenwich was a better songwriter than Laura Nyro. But they were both prickly personalities.
[quote] But they were both prickly personalities. They make me look like Doris Day, honey.
Joni%20%22Big%20Bitch%22%20Mitchell
R75 Canadians don't have Native American ancestry. They have FIRST NATION ancestry.
Not that it's any indicator of quality, but Laura Nyro IS in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (along with Ms. Geffen.)
If you youngsters only know Laura Nyro's music through Barbra Streisand and The 5th Dimension, than you've never heard those songs sung properly. Her versions of The Wedding Bell Blues, Stony End, California Soeshine Boys, I Never Meant to Hurt You, And When I Die and Goodbye, Bill are brilliant and unsurpassed.
David Geffen was never "super cute" or "gorgeous." He was always quite unprepossessing. But I'm sure he got plenty of lovers, male and female, due to his wealth and power. He is definitely a strange choice for "American Masters." He was a savvy businessman, not an artist. As for Laura Nyro...well, in my opinion she's incredibly overrated. She wrote some songs that were hits, but she was not a major talent. I mean, "can you surry? can you picnic? can you surry? can you picnic? surry, surry, surry, surry"...that's supposed to be a "masterpiece?" In Janis Ian's memoir she recounts her impressions of Laura Nyro: "I'd known Laura vaguely from Music & Art, where she was two years ahead of me and had a reputation for being weird. You could hear her coming; she wore a long coat that clanked as the Cheracol bottles hidden in her pockets collided. She'd sip from them thoughout the day, her eyes getting duller by the hour. In her bright red lipstick and long black dresses, she looked like a caricature of Morticia Addams, with bigger hips. But she was an amazing songwriter, and I really respected her. In fact, for my next album I'd deliberately chosen Charlie Callelo as producer, based on his work with Laura. Still, she was strange, and oddly inarticulate for a songwriter. Charlie once called me in a panic and asked me to rush down to a session they were doing. Laura was having hysterics because the band couldn't play what she wanted. I arrived to see Charlie walking out of the studio with Laura slung over his shoulder. She was kicking and screaming and crying with frustration. After we got her calmed down, I asked what she wanted the song to sound like. She looked around the room, pointed to a purple chair, and told me, "Like that. I want it to sound like THAT." I walked back to the studio, looked at the chart, and told the musicians "She wants it LEGATO. A deep, mysterious LEGATO. Not quite LARGO, but LEGATO." They got it on the next take, and congratulated me on my translation skills."
[quote]had a reputation for being weird Janis Pot, meet Laura Kettle. You're both black.
Sweet Blindness
It's just fascinating how "charlie" has met every famous person who's ever lived. And has nondescript anecdotes about them that virtually anyone could have made up.
Why no mention of a father?
[quote] As for Laura Nyro...well, in my opinion she's incredibly overrated. She wrote some songs that were hits, but she was not a major talent. I mean, "can you surry? can you picnic? can you surry? can you picnic? surry, surry, surry, surry"...that's supposed to be a "masterpiece?" That is an odd song, but that's like judging Joni on just "Big Yellow Taxi" - WAY more to Laura's work than the few songs others covered. "Eli and the 13th Confession" is amazing. And the album of (mostly?) covers she did with LaBelle is THE SHIT.
I'm just glad Nyro didn't live to see the day that the majority of dataloungers turned against her. I just don't know this place anymore especially with the nudity issue in Frisco. Everyone wants to be Des Moines anymore.
His speech pattern reminds me of Jeff Lewis.
I really am astonished by the utter tastelessness displayed here by the lack of appreciation of Laura Nyro's genius.
r69, I think it was Geffen. He was married to someone, an obvious beard, who bore no resemblance to DVF. BTW, it warms the cockles of my black, cynical heart that someone remembers that show. It was great. Jay Mohr has a podcast now, Mohr Stories. It's pretty interesting. He talks about people he's worked with in Hollywood.
"Janis Pot, meet Laura Kettle. You're both black." Janis may have had her neuroses, but at least she never pointed to a purple chair and said she wanted her song to sound like THAT.
Nyro hereself did not have the most mellifluous voice (not that such a thing was needed in her heyday), but she was a talented songwriter, respected by other singers. Because she and David had known each other for such a long time, she probably knew what a control freak he was and that sticking with Columbia would ruin their relationship. The one on camera/on the record person in the doc who did cross Geffen was Neil Young. Geffen was dumb enough to give him a ton of money after his real heyday and Young turned around did albums that were outside his groove and relatively non-commercial. Geffen assumed he was going to get next generation "Cinnamon Girl" or "On the Way Home" (Geffen's favorite song, made moderately famous by Buffalo Springfield).
I wonder what Janis Joplin would've done.
As I recall, R96, Geffen sued Neil to produce "A neil Young album." Under court order, Neil gave us 1989's, Freedom (with "Rockin' In The Free World.")
I can't take anything Janis Ian says seriously. Her improper use of the terms "legato" and "largo" are embarrassing. She has no idea what she's talking about. Are all pop musicians that stupid?
Don't worry, R91 & R93, there are other Lauro Nyro lovers here. I just couldn't be bothered chiming in to defend her against cloth-eared ignoramuses. It wouldn't surprise me if others felt the same. They're not worth the bother. Squares are forever L7.
I%20pity%20the%20fool.
"I can't take anything Janis Ian says seriously. Her improper use of the terms "legato" and "largo" are embarrassing. She has no idea what she's talking about. Are all pop musicians that stupid?" I read her memoir. She's definitely NOT stupid. She's quite an accomplished musician. She evidently knew a lot more about music than Laura Nyro.
"Not that it's any indicator of quality, but Laura Nyro IS in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (along with Ms. Geffen.)" Being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is meaningless. MADONNA is in it. Case closed.
Joni Mitchell never lied.
Is that why she was one of his oldest, closest friends yet is featured only in one very brief scene in the doc, R103?
The jaded cruelty on this site is without equal. You people are disgusting. Geffen is an American Master, a one of a kind genius second only to Lew Wasserman in his influence on American entertainment. Go back to your ratholes, pleebettes.
R105 Ooooooooh, Miss Thing, Miss Thing!
Straight woman here who loves Laura Nyro. She was a genius and way way ahead of her time. May she rest in peace. I do have to ask you guys something. I'm confused that Geffen was gay his whole life and yet he was in love and wanted to marry Cher. I'm assuming they had sex. So does that mean he's bi? Can you have a sexual relationship with a woman and still consider yourself gay?
There were and are LOTS of gay men who had or have relationships with women, even married them. It does not mean that they are straight.
Pantsy
If you're having sex with men and women you are bisexual, not gay.
[quote]If you're having sex with men and women you are bisexual, not gay. Depends on the reason you're having sex with a woman. Is it to prove to yourself you're not gay? Also: Don't believe anything Geffen says.
Bisexuality is a myth used to assauge guilt.
I watched the Doc this morning on the PBS App. Interesting. And Laura was wonderful. She never compromised her music.
Laura Nyro's story made me think of a recent post that said loners and eccentrics always have their achievements taken away. She's in the HoF, but she never had the career she deserved.
Joni was eccentric, and she had a career. Maybe Laura Nyro's music is just overrated? I like several of Nyro's songs, but I wouldn't put them anywhere near the same league as Carole King's or Joni Mitchell's work.
[quote]Her versions of The Wedding Bell Blues, Stony End, California Soeshine Boys, I Never Meant to Hurt You, And When I Die and Goodbye, Bill are brilliant and unsurpassed. Amen! Hard to understand the hate directed at her . Laura was a major talent and has endured. Siouxsie, not so much. :)
Laura Fan
[quote]Joni was eccentric No she wasn't -- she was always what the straight men wanted her to be until that was no longer necessary, and then she still made music, but no longer had buzz.
r115, thanks for quoting me but I should have written Goodbye, Joe not Goodbye. Bill. It's my favorite song on the album....shouldn't have confused it. I was a huge fan of Nyro's in the late 60s and saw her twice in concert at Boston's Symphony Hall when I was in college. But both times were rather disappointing as she never sang any of her old repertoire....just new songs. And there was little or no banter with the crowds. As much I loved and admired her songs and singing on her records and still do, she was not a great performer on stage. Did she ever appear on TV? Not in my memory. She was obviously not interested in the promotion of her performance career.
r84
He'd backstab Obama in a minute if it suited him.
I saw Laura Nyro at a very small club in the late 70s. I remember thinking, "She has as much talent as Carole King, but she's playing this tiny dive. There is no making sense of the entertainment industry."
We don't know if he f***ed Cher but he did f*** us!
Mrs%20Patrick%20Campbell%20%28never%20uses%20naughty%20words%29
R120: I've check our records and you have submitted no Sizemology Report in triplicate.
[quote]If you're having sex with men and women you are bisexual, not gay.... Depends on the reason you're having sex with a woman. Is it to prove to yourself you're not gay? He clearly said he couldn't give her what she needed. They were only together for 18 months and the minute they were broken up she fell in love with Gregg Allman had a kid.
Sizemology report is on hold for the moment pending receipt of sufficient advance$$ from a book publisher.
Mrs%20Patrick%20Campbell%20
Laura Nyro did NOT have as much talent as Joni Mitchell and Carole King. If she did she would have had a bigger career. And it is well known that she was very, very weird. That probably hampered her career, too. I personally never cared much for her songs. I much prefer the work of Mitchell and King.
I'm supposed to believe that gay jews don't run the world after watching this program?
R124 = Rihanna
Oh%20la%20la%2C%20what%27s%20my%20name%3F
[quote]Laura Nyro did NOT have as much talent as Joni Mitchell and Carole King. If she did she would have had a bigger career. Amens!
Britney%20Spears
I live in LA - and that doc was even more plastic surgery than I am used to seeing! Holy crap. Everyone except Barry Diller has been pulled from here to eternity.
It's on in LA as we speak
Geffen was never a major power in the music industry. Every act he signed was secondary. All the big acts of the 20th century went elsewhere. So he gauged a sh^it load of money of of his second level acts.
Has anyone here been with Geffen? How is he as a boyfriend and as a lover?
Laura Nyro rarely performed live, but this is one of her few televised performances that have made it to Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DIIWkRAw5feE
Louie%2C%20Lu
Laura Nero appears to have really liked Carole King. There are YouTube videos of her singing at least two Carole King songs. Here is Up on the Roof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DpqFYctYC-Hs
R132 Part of that clip was in the Geffen documentary.
Laura Nyro KILLED at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 - LIVE! She was on some seriously HEAVY drugs, though, clearly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D0lDmFICwf-4%26feature%3Drelated
Sweet%20Cocaine
Did you know her real last name was Nigro. It was short sighted of her to change her name and not cash in on the black is beautiful craze of the late '60s.
R117 She made a handful of appearances on television throughout her career (most of them at the beginning of her career). The last appearance she made was on a Vh1 Earth day special in 1990. Letterman tried to get her on his show for years, to no avail. Laura simply didn't want that level of celebrity.
[quote] It was sad when Cher reminisced about his curly hair and beautiful eyes and he's now bald and has had creepy cosmetic eye surgery. Girl. that whole documentary was a plethora of aging male rock star plastic surgery and Botox. Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey looked like they'd assumed entirely new host bodies.
Question I had while watching: What are the odds that Jackson Browne put out for Geffen to get his career?
R139 That seems possible. Jackson was a pretty young man. Did anyone else think that James Franco could play Geffen in the movie of that shit?
Yes, and Lady GaGa was BORN to play Laura Nyro, R140.
WHY did they do a 2 HOUR American Masters on this guy??? I still don't get it.
Total puff piece with all his "friends" cooperating (or else). I got the impression that he is very complex - huge ego but wants to be seen as a great humanitarian, game changer. When they showed him posing at the Warner mansion to show he arrived he looked really small and pathetic. Gorgeous house though.
Interview with the filmmaker.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-st-susan-lacy-conversation-20121118%2C0%2C5571760.story
LA Times review.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-david-geffen-20121120%2C0%2C1537203.story
Geffen posed with three album covers: Carly Simon, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. I remember Carly Simon saying that when Electra was rolled into Asylum, she felt like the ugly step-child, as Geffen gave all his attention to Joni Mitchell. What is interesting is that Joni Mitchell complained that she felt like the poor step-child to Dylan. She said she went to a party at Geffen's the week Court and Spark was coming out and all he played was Dylan. Apparently, Geffen is really shitty at making even the big name talent feel good.
It was probably a calculated move, R146. Never let your employees rest easy.
In the 90s, I lived behind David Geffen's house on Fire Island. He wasn't there that often, but when he was, there was always a young, good-looking "guest" staying with him - never the same person. The look was educated, young actor or presentable hustler. I saw him a few times on our walk and would nod to him. He never smiled, but then, I wasn't his type. Mu housemates thought that he was an asshole.
The interesting part is the homophobia...no mention of his partners except for Cher. That part of his life, they kept swept under the rug. Fascinating.
R149 They clearly mentioned he was gay, but perhaps there were no mentions of any male lovers because none of them were as famous as Cher. (Or were with him for as long as she was.)
But a mention of his being gay doesn't address his relationships. If you're going to do this sort of look at a person, it seems incredibly odd to leave out that part of their life. If he'd been straight we would have heard more about it. As it is, the only relationship we heard about was the one with Cher, and that's homophobic as far as I'm concerned. If it's a look at his creative life, then not one relationship had any effect on that at all? That seems dubious.
Except that other than Cher, NONE of Geffen's "relationships" have been serious - and most of them have been PAID FOR. So why bring up that mostly he "dates" young men - it's not as though he has ever had a serious GAY relationship of any kind....
Not%20Keanu%20or%20Cruise
Well the Cher/Geffen fauxmance was "paid for" too, if you think about it. She went "back to" Geffen after her and Allman broke up. I think. Did Cher say she actually slept with Geffen? I find it hard to believe. He's not bi, he's totally gay.
Why did Linda Ronstadt not get any mention other than a few shots of her album covers and a short clip of her singing with the Eagles? She was the first Asylum record I bought and she was responsible for a lot of the label's success. Also Warren Zevon & Andrew Gold. Also thought Jackson Browne came across gay in the early clips and I remember Warhol saying he thought he was gay back in the 70s.
Geffen made it sound like he broke with Bill Clinton out of principle over DADT in 1993. But he continued supporting Clinton and raised millions for him throughout his Presidency. He contributed to his 1996 re-election campaign, to Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign and even gave $1 million to the Clinton library. Back in 2007, it was reported that the break happened because Clinton did not issue a last-minute pardon to Leonard Peltier but pardoned Marc Rich instead. I'm not sure why this wasn't brought up in the documentary.
I just watched this and loved it. I only wish Geffen would have spoken about the brilliant singer/songwriter Judee Sill. Had she not died so early on in her career of a drug overdose, she would be just as big as Joni and Laura.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvtjRarucTc
"I only wish Geffen would have spoken about the brilliant singer/songwriter Judee Sill." Poor Judee Sill. She was doomed from the start. Her life was a horror story. Her parents were alcoholics. She got into drugs at a young age and hooked up with an older man; they robbed gas stations and liquor stores. She got into heroin. She turned tricks to feed her habit. She kicked heroin cold turkey in a prison cell. Her albums, although well-received by critics, went nowhere. Geffen dropped her from his label. The musician J.D. Souther broke her heart (he left her for Linda Ronstadt; he broke HER heart as well). A series of car accidents (she was a terrible driver) destroyed her back and left her in chronic pain. She was a convicted drug user, so doctors were reluctant to give her strong medication for the pain, so she took to the streets to get it. She died of a drug overdose at age 35. A sad, sad story. It would make a great movie.
[quote] As I recall, [R96], Geffen sued Neil to produce "A neil Young album." Under court order, Neil gave us 1989's, Freedom (with "Rockin' In The Free World.") You recall incorrectly. Geffen did sue Young to produce a Neil Young album and the suit specifically said the albums should be commercial. Young returned to conventional rock as Geffen desired but (in what may have been honest inspiration but also looks like a fuck you) instead of the modern style rock Geffen had in mind Young went old style. The album was Everybody's Rockin'. Geffen looked pretty awful and artist unfriendly demanding that an artist be commercial. Eventually when people realized that Trans had been the organic result of Neil's life being engulfed by working with his severely disabled young son and exploring electronic communication to reach the boy rather than Neil just fucking around on a lark it made Geffen look even worse (although, to the fair to Geffen, Young is a private guy and he'd been private about his personal troubles). Young refused to surrender to demands for commercialism. Geffen ended up dropping the suit. Young left Geffen Records and signed with another label where he produced This Note's For You and then Freedom.
Has Young ever apologized for his hateful homophobic comments in Melody Maker from the 80s?
IS DG hung like a horse or like a pimple?
Barry Diller is one of the ugliest men I have ever seen. His tricks must have nerves of steel to service his grotesque body.