R.I.P. Patricia Neal (1926 - 2010)

Zelda Rubinstein (1933 - 2010)

JD Salinger (1919 - 2010)

Jean Simmons Dead at 80

Robert B. Parker Is Dead at 77

By BRUCE WEBER
Published: January 20, 2010

Robert B. Parker, the best-selling mystery writer who created Spenser, a tough, glib Boston private detective who was the hero of nearly 40 novels, died Monday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 77.

The cause was a heart attack, said his agent of 37 years, Helen Brann. She said that Mr. Parker had been thought to be in splendid health, and that he died at his desk, working on a book. He wrote five pages a day, every day but Sunday, she said.

Mr. Parker wrote more than 60 books all told, including westerns and young-adult novels, but he churned out entertaining detective stories with a remarkable alacrity that made him one of the country’s most popular writers. In recent years he had come up with two new protagonists: Jesse Stone, an alcoholic ex-ballplayer turned small-town chief of police, who was featured in nine novels written since 1997, including “Split Image,” to be published next month; and Sunny Randall, a fashion-conscious, unlucky-in-love, daughter-of-a-cop private eye created at the request of the actress Helen Hunt, who was hoping for a juicy movie role. No movie was made, but the first Sunny Randall novel, “Family Honor,” was published in 1999, and five more have followed.

Read more here.

Numbah 3!

Apparently even minor celebrities die in threes. Case in point - Kate McGarrigle, Canadian singer-songwriter and mother to the diarrhea stain that is Rufus Wainwright - dead at 63.

Read about it here.

"Country Gentleman" Carl Smith dies, age 82

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - "Country Gentleman" Carl Smith, a top star of country music in the 1950s and 1960s, has died, age 82.

His family said Smith died this past Saturday at his home in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Smith's honky tonk style earned him fans and produced hits that included "Loose Talk" "Hey, Joe," "Let's Live a Little" and "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way.:

Smith was a guest of Hank Williams on the legendary Grand Ole Opry before becoming a member of the show. He retired in 1978 and bred horses. Smith was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2003.

(Reporting by Pat Harris; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Miss World is live on YouTube

I uploaded my latest video on YouTube. Catch it now before they take it down!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRPLri7ON3w

The newest from Boywonder Productions..

Teddy Pendergrass, R&B Soul Singer, Dies at 59

By JON PARELES
Published: January 14, 2010

Teddy Pendergrass, the Philadelphia soul singer whose husky, potent baritone was one definition of R&B seduction in the 1970s but whose career was transformed in 1982 when he was severely paralyzed in an auto accident, died on Wednesday night in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 59.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Lisa Barbaris, who said Mr. Pendergrass had been treated for colon cancer since August at Bryn Mawr Hospital and had suffered many complications.

As the lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and in a solo career in which he sold millions of albums, Mr. Pendergrass brought gospel dynamics to bedroom vows in songs like “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” “The Love I Lost,” “Close the Door,” “Turn Off the Lights” and “Love T.K.O.”

His performances rose from breathy whispers to gutsy exhortations, making his voice the deeper, more aggressive counterpart to the styles of 1970s soul men like Al Green and Marvin Gaye. It was the flagship sound for Philadelphia International Records, riding lush strings and big-band disco from the producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

Philadelphia International’s songwriters provided Mr. Pendergrass with material that was forthright but never crude, promising nothing more explicit than a back rub.

“Teddy had that big, booming baritone voice, but he was a tender man,” Mr. Huff said in a telephone interview Thursday. “He was very lovable. You could hear it in his music.”

By the late ’70s, Mr. Pendergrass’s concerts — some of them presented for women only — drew screaming, ecstatic crowds. Women would fling teddy bears and lingerie onstage. Mr. Gamble called Mr. Pendergrass “the black Elvis.”

Mr. Pendergrass was a hitmaker for a decade. Then, on March 18, 1982, on a winding road in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Mr. Pendergrass’s Rolls-Royce smashed into a highway divider and a tree, a result of either brake failure or a faulty electric system that had disabled the power steering. Spinal cord injuries left him paralyzed from the chest down at 31.

Read more here.

FanboyQ's 2010 Celebrity Death Pool

To put it lightly, 2009 was a huge year for celebrity deaths. From Michael Jackson to Brittany Murphy - Patrick Swayze to Andy Hallet to Billy Mays to Bea Arthur - the famous among us seemingly dropped like flies.

So who out there will we be mourning by this date next year? Leave it to my sick and demented mind to compile a list of ten celebrities that I doubt will be around much longer:

1. Billy Graham



2. Kirk Douglas



3. Mickey Rooney



4. Elizabeth Taylor



5. Gloria Stuart



6. Betty White



7. Dick Clark



8. Stan Lee



9. Dolores Hope



10. Jerry Lewis

Pic(k) of the Day

Let's start the new year out right....

My thoughts at the end of the decade - in musical form!

Think of this as a compilation describing my thoughts, feelings and inspirations over the course of the last decade. It starts out rather dark (much like the decade itself) but we begin to see a glimmer of hope about halfway through. Or at least, that was the intention with this project. So I say goodbye to all that 2000 - 20009 gave us, the good and the bad - from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to Barack Obama to Susan Boyle to Glee - it certainly will go down as one of the tumultuous decades since the 60s. I've already done one compilation entitled The Mad Blood Stirring - and the thought has crossed my mind to make this a double disc and just combining the two...but that's a project for another day....

1. The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning - The Smashing Pumpkins
2. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul & Mary
3. 9/11 Presidential Address to the Nation - George W. Bush
4. America - M83
5. Hunting for Witches - Bloc Party
6. Hurt - Johnny Cash
7. American Idiot - Green Day
8. Fragile - Sting
9. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
10. Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay Z.
11. Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
12. The Long Road - Eddie Vedder feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
13. Rehab - Amy Winehouse
14. A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
15. Election Night Victory Speech - Barack Obama
16. I Dreamed a Dream - Susan Boyle
17. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
18. Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson
19. Halo - Beyoncé
20. The Money Song - team9
21. Don't Stop Believin' - The Cast of Glee

Brittany Murphy, Star of Clueless, Uptown Girls, 8 Mile, and King of the Hill, Dead at 32

November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009

Pic(k) of the Day

Cemetery workers charged after allegedly dumping corpses

Four cemetery workers have been charged with illegally dismembering human bodies after digging up more than 300 corpses and dumping them in a pit in order to resell the graves.

Illinois police discovered the decomposing bodies at the historic Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip where a number of prominent African Americans are buried, including Emmett Till, the 14 year-old boy whose lynching in 1955 for flirting with a white woman helped galvanise the civil rights movement, and blues legend Dinah Washington.

"What we found was beyond startling and revolting," the Cook county sheriff, Tom Dart, said.

The police say the bodies were dug up and dumped in an overgrown area fenced off from the rest of the cemetery, 20 miles south of Chicago. The graves were then resold with the four arrested workers believed to have made about $300,000 over several years.

Relatives of the dead descended on the cemetery to discover if their loved ones had been disinterred. They included Simeon Wright, a cousin of Till, who told the Chicago Tribune: "I've got several generations of my family buried there, and I've never had any problems. ... But this is a pretty ghoulish story."

Dart said that Till's grave appears to have been undisturbed but he was not sure about Washington's or that of the heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles.

The principal target appears to have been older graves that had not been visited for many years so that the removal of the bodies would not be noticed by relatives.
Dart said the FBI has been called in and that forensic medical examiners are working to identify the remains.

"I've been in this business for 35 years, and I have never heard of employees committing these kinds of terrible acts," Vickie Hand, treasurer of the Illinois Cemetery & Funeral Home Association, told the Chicago Tribune. "There's no words that can express it; it's just absolutely unbelievable."

Read more here.

The Michael Jackson Memorial

No one threw themselves on the coffin. Elizabeth Taylor didn't choke on her jewels (she wasn't even there). LaToya even kept all of her clothes on.

All in all, it was a fitting and tasteful tribute to the King of Pop.

Berry Gordy claimed that 'King of Pop' was no longer big enough - instead he called Jackson 'the greatest entertainer that ever lived.'

Al Sharpton told the Jackson children 'There wasn't nothing strange about your daddy, but it was strange what he had to deal with.' - a comment that has already created controversy among Jackson's detractors.

The most poignant moment came at the end when Jackson's 11 year old daughter Paris spoke: "I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him. So much."

Rest well, Michael. You will be missed.

Michael Jackson's body Arrives at Staple Center

Some Like It Hot: 50th Anniversary Edition

Some Like It Hot: 50th Anniversary Edition (1959) Starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Nehemiah Persoff, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee – Directed by Billy Wilder



It’s been 50 years since the release of the now classic comedy and cinema fans can rejoice at the recently announced 50th Anniversary Edition 2-Disc DVD. There was a Collector’s Edition that was released in 2007 but the new release, which is scheduled to hit store shelves on September 1st, might finally contain the special features that fans have been clamoring for. It is, after all, one of the most beloved comedies of all time. If you have yet to see it there’s never been a better time to check it out and see what all the fuss is about. For starters, it will certainly go down as one of the best and most memorable performances for all three of its stars. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon star as Joe and Jerry respectively, two out-of-work musicians in 1929 Chicago who accidentally witness a Mob hit on Valentine’s Day. In a desperate attempt to run they disguise themselves as women and join up with an all-female band headed to Florida. Once on the train they both end up falling for the lead singer and ukulele player Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe). Sugar is on the run as well, trying to escape her historically bad choices in men; apparently she has a thing for tenor sax players (like Joe) but always ends up with her heart broken and coleslaw in her face. Having had enough with the red cabbage facials she has decided to meet and marry a millionaire once she gets to the seaside. She’s disappointed however to find that the rich men that troll the beaches of Miami are decidedly older than she had hoped. But Joe has a plan. Donning a second disguise (and a Cary Grant accent) Joe introduces himself to Sugar as Junior, heir-apparent to the Shell Oil fortune. As for Jerry, he’s got admirers of his own. Is she as devastatingly breathtaking as Marilyn? Not quite. Jerry finds himself pursued by a gentlemen by the name of Osgood – a real millionaire with a real million dollars. After some pleading (and just a few threats) Joe convinces Jerry to occupy Osgood on the mainland one night while Joe (as Junior) takes Sugar onto Osgood’s yacht. There he pretends to be gay in the hopes that Sugar will view his lack of interest in women as a challenge. As the sun rises the next morning we find Joe and Sugar deeply in love, and Jerry has received a marriage proposal from Osgood. But the morning also brings trouble. The very Mafia goons that were chasing after Joe and Jerry check into the same hotel! Apparently there is a ‘Friends of the Opera’ convention going on (so it’s going to be a little weird) but that’s actually just a front for the Mob! That’s when the ‘ladies’ have to put their pumps to the pavement in one of the greatest chase scenes ever filmed. Marilyn Monroe performed three songs for the soundtrack – including one of her signature tunes “I Wanna Be Loved By You”. Despite reported problems on the set, Monroe was at her comedic best in a role that, looking back, couldn’t have been played by anyone else. And the critics agreed – she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy that year, one of the few acting awards she ever received. Special features for this new edition have yet to be announced, but hopefully it will combine features from both the Collector’s edition that was released in 2007 and the laserdisc edition that came out in the 80s. So pre-order this comedy classic now and be one of the first to get your copy on its tentative September 1st street date.

"King of Pop" Michael Jackson Dead at 50

(RTTNews) - Pop star Michael Jackson has died.

The Los Angeles California Coroner's Office confirmed that the well-known "King of Pop" was pronounced dead at the UCLA Medical Center.

The initial cause of death, officials said, was cardiac arrest.

Sources said the 50-year-old Jackson was transported to the hospital from his nearby rental home in Bel-Air shortly after an emergency call at 12:30 PM Pacific Time (3:30 PM Eastern).

Jackson was reported to be in a coma at the time of transport.

The L.A. Times reported that when paramedics arrived at the home, Jackson was not breathing.

Word of Jackson's death caused a crowd of hundreds of reporters and others to form at the hospital.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it has opened investigation into Jackson's death, although they said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

The L.A. County Coroner's Office will determine an official cause of death.

Jackson's death comes as the entertainer was preparing to kick off a comeback on July 13, including a series of 50 sold-out shows at London's O2 Arena.

Jackson was believed to be heavily in debt. He had not toured since 1997 and had not released a new album since 2001.

Jackson's professional career began at age 8 when he began performing with the family band called "The Jackson 5."

Jackson is survived by three children, sons Prince Michael 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.

by RTT Staff Writer

Read more here.

Michael Jackson
1958 - 2009