celebrities
47 posts
Yesterday, President Obama released the list of reelection co-chairs who will work to help him stay in the White House for another term. Rick Santorum calls them “Kenyan Muslin Enablers” or “Democrats.” Mitt Romney calls them “People poorer than me,” and Gingrich refers to them as “Hippie baby killers in relaxed fit jeans.” Yes, of course, Newt. It’s hard to rule over someone using Druidic sanctimony if their jeans are comfortable. Everyone knows that. “No, really, former Speaker, go on I’m listening. These jeans, though, they feel like Chenille. CHENILLE! Really, feel them!” Continue reading
I was very sad to hear about Whitney Houston’s death. It was touching to see the outpouring of grief from the public, media and other performers. Or was it?
The majority of her hits and film success were ’85 through ’95. For the last twenty years we (the general population, media included) have pruriently waited to see the Whitney train come off the rails, and it did – several times. A disastrous marriage, a drug bust, public misbehavior, and misfired comebacks were all gossip page features. The tabloids and the main stream outlets jumped on every opportunity to show photos of her wasted and videos of her of her attempted comebacks. We laughed at her incoherent interviews and quotes about drugs. Comedians specialized in portraying her at her worst. I don’t remember other “A” list performers being particularly vocal defending her or working to give her another chance. Continue reading
We’ve all heard of degrees Celsius, meters, yards and other units of measurement. Bryan Forbes has come up with an innovative way to measure time in a relationship. A “Kardashian” represents a unit of measure representing 72 days of marriage.
For those married Crasstalkers, check out this calculator and report back your Kardashian duration. Please feel free to share your views on how this heterosexual marriage better preserves the sanctity of marriage versus same sex marriage.
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And now someone’s dead.
Russell Armstrong, the flinty, irritating husband of Taylor Armstrong–of the perfectly toned arms and mile-wide smile from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills–apparently killed himself last night. He was found hanging in a bedroom of their Mullholland Drive home. By all reports, his life was a mess: his wife had filed for divorce, he was in massive debt, he was being sued to the tune of $1.5 million, he very well could have been just a high class grifter, not the “venture capitalist” he claimed. He might even have been an abuser. (There are reports he shoved Taylor and perhaps abused his first wife.) Not a nice guy, clearly, as anyone who watched the show can attest. He was socially awkward, cold—even downright mean–to his melancholic, grasping, pseudo-glamorous wife, testy and judgmental towards everyone around him. But one quote in a Reuters article really struck me. “This (TV) show has literally pushed us to the limit,” he told People Magazine. Continue reading
Thirty-seven years ago this morning, Sir Tone was walking towards his office on Music Row in Nashville when he heard one of Elvis’ side men yell out “You hear Elvis is dead?”
Sir Tone: “Drugs?”
Side Man: “Yeah.”
The mere mention of Elvis’ name is enough to throw Sir Tone into a fury. The primary reason black blues musicians and early pop recording artists never got their due, Sir Tone says. Not half so good a musician as a multitude of them, never wrote a song of his own and most egregious of all, failed even to acknowledge his debt to the Delta black music his baby self breathed in along with its white country and church music. Continue reading
If the rumor mill is to be believed (and in this case, I hope it is!), Kanye West & Jay Z will release Watch The Throne on July 4th. It has the potential to be epic – but at the very least, it will be something to talk about. It’s not, however, something new. Kanye has made a habit of working with different artists; some likely (see: Jay Z, Kid Cudi & Nicki Minaj) and some… not as likely. Let’s take a look at the best of the more unlikely Kanye collaborations (with artists outside of the world of hip-hop). Maybe ‘Ye will take the hint & become inspired by his past work with these artists enough to create whole albums with them. A girl can dream, right? Continue reading
A new season of Celebrity Rehab premiered on Sunday night featuring the likes of Michael Lohan and Bai Ling. Train wreck, right? Probably, but with the return of Steven Adler, one of the more relatable and heartbreaking cast members to appear on the show, it shows some promise too. Those extremes of the fame whores you love to hate vs the fallen celebrity you feel sorry for are what keep me coming back for more.
Hugh Laurie, the English actor who plays America’s most self-destructive television doctor, has released a blues album. Laurie enlisted Joe Henry and the great Allen Toussaint to produce the record, signifying that he has lofty goals for the album. According to Laurie people came up to him and suggested that he record a blues album. I suspect that these are the same people we have to thank for the supply of talent on American Idol. Please feel free to indulge the urge to roll your eyes at this barely disguised vanity project. Continue reading
This weekend Amy Winehouse arrived an hour late for her set in Belgrade, and no, she wasn’t using that time to prepare for her set. That is of course unless you consider whatever substances it’s pretty clear she was on at the time as preparation. Winehouse wandered on and off the stage, dropped her microphone (and not the cool way), and was finally booed off the stage. We have a clip from her attempted performance of “Just Friends.” You be the judge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuNK6tgVo2M
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