Hollywood Week: FireAid Concert, Oscar Wars, Grammy Awards, Marianne Faithfull

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 01 February 2025 10:17

Written by Janet Walker

The LA Fire Aid Concert, a benefit for those affected by the devastating January fires that reduced Pacific Palisades and Altadena to charred ruins, was held this week, and brought out a Who's Who of the music world.

Fire Aid Concert

The Fire Aid Concert headlined two venues, Kia Forum and at Intuit Dome, and presented a united community effort to give back and pull together to help those who were affected by the recent wildfires, that left entire neighborhoods along the Pacific Coast highway, Altadena, and the Pacific Palisades looking like a war zone.

Breaking: Los Angeles Wildfire Resource List

"Twelve days later, the Azoff family in collaboration with Live Nation and the LA Clippers assembled 27 artists, two venues and 25 streaming partners. The FireAid benefit concert has already raised $60 million before the livestream and digital fundraising efforts have even begun. Connie and Steve Ballmer, owner of the LA Clippers and former Microsoft CEO, have also committed to match every donation made during the live broadcast," reported TheWrap.com.

The concert lasted for more than five hours, and a link was posted online and is available here, and was a night of entertainment and love for all things L.A. Billy Crystal, who also emceed the 9/11 benefit concert, began the show explaining about his home of 47 years had been completely gutted and all that remained were a few stones that he purchased when he bought the house, this stone read "laughter."

Throughout the evening others, families in Altadena, teachers, firefighters, the citizens that often go unnoticed when life is running smoothly, told their stories of finding one precious item in the charred ruins of what once was. Tonight was a night of new beginnings, of looking forward, of building again, of hope, even in the uncertainness of the future.

The FireAid concert raised money for both the short-term and long-term needs so the uncertainness, that many feel, will be a little surer. So, take a night, gather family, friends, and screen the LA FireAid concert, the website is still up, donations can be made, merch can be purchased.

It is a MUST See! I was introduced, via their music, to artists that I did not know and was wowed and impressed. Entertainment critics, reviewers, and pundits have all mentioned the impressive Travis Barker's drumming on Bob Seeger's "Hollywood Nights." With Jelly Roll, a Country and Rap artist, on vocals, it was phenomenal!

Two concert venues, so many performers for everyone from Dr. Dre to Lady Gaga, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Jelly Roll, Travis Barker, Katy Perry, Slash, The Black Crows, Rod Stewart, Stephen Stills, Earth Wind & Fire, Graham Nash, John Fogarty, Billie Elish, John Mayer, Gracie Adams, Green Day, Lil Baby, Shelia E, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, Pink, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting and Tate Mcrae.

The Annenberg Foundation is helping coordinate a team to direct funds for the greatest impact. This monumental event is produced by Shelli, Irving, and the Azoff family, in collaboration with producing partner Live Nation, and operating partner, the LA Clippers. The benefit concert will be led by Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet as executive producer, with Rick Krim serving as the FireAid talent producer.

Hollywood Week: Netflix Raises Prices, Exceeds Growth Expectations, Academy Award Nominations

Emilia Perez Campaign Takes Hit

Emilia Perez star and Lead Actress Academy Award nominee Karla Sofía Gascón became embroiled in a social media exchange which many entertainment pundits and critics are saying derailed her campaign. Unearthed by The Guardian's Sarah Hagi and reported in Variety The postings included critiques on the Islamic cultures view of women, immigration into Europe, and others including the Oscars and poor writing that followed societal trends.

While only the most inflammatory social media posts made by Karla Sofía Gascón have surfaced, and the Islamophobic posts which, at any other time of the year would not present such an alarming blowback, as women in Islamic cultures are often treated as if they are non-existent, used for sexual purposes only to procreate and populate the race.

Women's rights are infringed on in these countries, women are stoned to death for adultery, while men are not punished. These critiques of the Islamic treatment of women and violations of woman's are not phobic, they are true.

World Politics: Iran Abolishes Morality Hit Squads

In 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young 22-year-old-Iranian Kurdish student who had defied the authorities by removing her veil, was grabbed off the street by the "morality police," and sent to a prison for "re-education." The UN report says Mahsa Amini was brought to Iran's Vozara detention facility to undergo a "re-education class," but collapsed after 26 minutes and was taken to a hospital 30 minutes later. At the time, a UN human rights expert said evidence showed she had died "as a result of beatings," the BBC reported. 

The death of Mahsa Amini sparked global protests, not simply in Iran, but throughout the world. We should all be critiquing any culture that imprisons women to lives of slavery and servitude simply due to their gender. Life and lifestyle should be a choice, not a mandate.

Re-education in Iran, means teaching the women to be subservient, to respect the hierarchy of society which places the female at the bottom, to be abused. Gays have also been subjected to re-education, in conversion therapy. Both these systems, one in Islamic Culture and the other is American culture deny human rights.

The decapitation murder of Samuel Paty, a French school teacher, in 2020, by a group of Islamic Extremists who had recently immigrated and objected to the way in which the prophet Muhammad was portrayed has created concern across the continent over the volume of immigrants, who bring their cultures and ingrained beliefs with them. Many are law abiding and contribute to society, others including those who murdered the entire publication staff of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015 for voicing freedom of speech, do not.

As those who claim to support global freedoms and hope, one day, to have a female leader, we can not stand back and support a culture that denies even the basic human rights to women.

Hollywood Week: LA Fires Produce Catastrophic Devastation, LA Awards Season Paused

Grammy Awards

The 2025 Grammys will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. The telecast can be live streamed through Paramount+ and will air live on CBS. The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast will be reimagined to raise funds to support wildfire relief efforts and aid music professionals impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Donate to the Recording Academy's and MusiCares'  Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort To Support Music Professionals.

Marianne Faithfull, Muse of Mick Jagger, Dies

"Marianne Faithfull, who went from being a fresh-faced, feather-voiced pop star, as well as muse and girlfriend of Mick Jagger, to a homeless heroin addict, only to re-emerge radically altered in her early 30s as a critically acclaimed cabaret performer singing songs of dark honesty, died on Thursday in London. She was 78," reported The New York Times.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.