Rod Stewart: Grave Digger
After playing semi-pro soccer, Rod the Mod abandoned his athletic dreams to work with the dead. He dug graves at London’s Highgate Graveyard but laid down his shovel after just a few weeks.
Chubby Checker: Chicken Plucker
Before he was twisting, the rock ‘n’ roll legend was plucking. As a teenager, the man born Ernest Evans tore the feathers off dead chickens at the Fresh Farm Poultry Market in Philadelphia, where his boss gave him the nickname “Chubby” and occasionally let him sing to customers over the loudspeaker.
David Lee Roth: Hospital Orderly
Long before Van Halen, the not-yet-Diamond Dave fluffed pillows and emptied bedpans in a hospital. It’s a career field he almost went back to post-stardom — in 2004, Roth started training to become a paramedic.
Madonna: Doughnut Slinger
As a struggling dancer in New York City, Her Madgesty worked behind the counter at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square. She was reportedly fired for squirting jelly on a customer.
James Brown: Pool Ball Racker
He was “the hardest-working man” even pre-show business! Brown grew up in Augusta, Ga., during the Great Depression, taking on several odd jobs to earn money, including shining shoes, washing cars, picking cotton and racking pool balls in local bars.
Gwen Stefani: Floor Scrubber
The Hollaback Girl’s very first job was mopping floors at a Dairy Queen near her home in Fullerton, Calif. She eventually left to work at a department store before joining her brother’s band, No Doubt.
Diddy has admitted to waxing his privates and urges all men to keep them smooth as a baby’s butt for their female lovers.
The rapper, who has his own clothing line, said he went through a strict grooming regime. ‘While I’m getting ready I like to relax with a drink – vodka and lemonade – and listen to some James Brown,’ he explains.
‘Then I’ll have a manicure and pedicure – and yes, I wax as well. Men owe it to women to make sure they are well-groomed. I wax my privates. I also wear my fragrance, Unforgivable Black.’
Diddy… that visual you just placed in my head is UNFORGIVABLE as well.
Wayne Frost, the man who made breakdancing a national craze for a couple of years in the mid-1980s, has died.
Wayne Frost, a hip-hop pioneer known as “Frosty Freeze” whose acrobatic performance with the legendary Rock Steady Crew in the 1983 hit movie “Flashdance” set off a worldwide breakdancing craze, has died. He was 44.
Frost died Thursday after a long illness, said Jorge “Fabel” Pabon, a senior vice president of the crew where Frost and other so-called b-boys (for beat or break boys) made their name performing complicated and daring dance routines.
Breakdancing emerged from the Bronx and Harlem in the early 1970s, part of the hip-hop culture that also included graffiti, MCing or rapping, and disc jockeys scratching and mixing vinyl records on turntables. During extended pauses, or breaks, in the music, b-boys would mimic James Brown’s showmanship and footwork and Bruce Lee’s martial arts, adding their own signature moves.
Frost was known for his energetic style, intricate choreography and fearless moves including back flips and head spins. One was even dubbed the “Suicide.” Frost got his start in 1978 with the Bronx-based Rock City Crew. In 1981, he became part of the Rock Steady Crew, joining such acclaimed breakdancers as Ken Swift and Lil Crazy Legs.
A shame.
Source: ‘Flashdance’ breakdancer dead at 44 [AP/CNN]
DNA is a crazy thing. From beyond the grave, James Brown was named the father of two more children on Friday. He publicly acknowledged six children, but now LaRhonda Petitt and another unidentified individual are also Brown’s kids.
Petitt, who was interviewed by the Augusta Chronicle, is 45-years-old — the oldest of Brown’s identified children. She revealed that Brown picked her mother out of a Los Angeles audience and the two began dating, but that Brown split when he found out about the pregnancy.
Said Petitt, “I was angry that he was out there making all this money, and he wasn’t doing anything for my mother and me. I could have had a better life.” Several people have claimed to be Brown’s babies, but so far, only two of the dozen or so tested have been positively identified.
Keep it up, Eddie Murphy, and this will be your life…
One thing of note, most of the comedians were on the show during the same time period. This is when Saturday Night Live was the funniest, IMHO.
10. Bill Murray
With his trademark smirk, Murray simultaneously celebrated and lambasted the sketch-comedy genre. Thrust into an impossible situationessentially replacing the too-big-for-his-britches Chevy ChaseMurray added both knowing smarm (nerd kid Todd DiLamuca) and blank-faced understatement (“cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger”) to a cast lacking both. He established such an indelible cool-guy persona that 20-plus years later, we’re still incapable of holding missteps like Garfield against him.
Best bit: Nick the Lounge Singer
9. Dana Carvey
He makes the list owing to the sheer number of breakout characters he created and embodied: the Church Lady, Garth, Hans, Carsenio et al. No player in the show’s history counts more to his or her name. Throw in his gift for mimicry—George Bush, Jimmy Stewart, Ross Perot, even cast mate Dennis Miller—and it’s no wonder that Carvey was featured in roughly 92.5 percent of all scenes during his seven-year tenure on the show.
Best bit: “Chopping Broccoli”
8. Molly Shannon
The most underrated performer in SNL history, and one of the few woman cast members who was too dark, manic, and, well, weird to shepherd into a window-dressing role. Oh yeah—and her Mary Katherine Gallagher orchestrated a much better pratfall than Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford ever did. You almost felt sorry for the chairs into which she careened.
Best bit: Delicious Dish on NPR (a.k.a. Schweaty Balls)
7. John Belushi
He got more laughs with a single arched eyebrow than Horatio Sanz did with 25 minutes of nonstop madcap antics. Whether touting the nutritional bona fides of donuts or wistfully reminiscing while visiting the graves of former cast mates, Belushi boasted more range than most classically trained stage actorsand could still pull off fart jokes with aplomb. Had he not been derailed by substance-abuse issues, he’d have morphed into a hell of a character actor by now.
Best bit: Samurai Delicatessen
6. Gilda Radner
The show’s most joyous performer, Radner’s sunny smile masked a serious anarchic bent. Unlike most of the show’s early-era legends, Radner was as comfortable fronting a band (as Patti Smith sound- and sleaze-alike Candy Slice) as she was at the “Weekend Update” desk (where she weighed in as confused pundit Emily Litella and hygiene-obsessed Roseanne Roseannadanna).
Best bit: Lisa Loopner
5. Chris Farley
Forget that he weighed half a ton and, toward the end of his run, couldn’t scratch his ear without breaking into a massive sweat. Farley trumps his idol John Belushi and every other comer as SNL’s most physically agile comedian, whether destroying thousands of dollars worth of sets as hopped-up motivational guru Matt Foley or retreating into himself as the sheepish host of “The Chris Farley Show” (to Paul McCartney: “You remember when you were with the Beatles?”).
Best bit: Chippendales audition
4. Eddie Murphy [my personal favorite]
Of all the 300-odd SNL cast members, none has been asked to carry the show by him or herself like Murphy was—and none could have pulled it off with such seeming ease. Without Eddie Murphy, in fact, SNL wouldn’t have survived the lean years between the original troupe and the Carvey/Hartman/Nealon era. For that reason, it’s easier to forgive him for his sharply reduced effort once 48 Hours punted him into the comic stratosphere.
Best bit: James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party
3. Dan Aykroyd
By far the most versatile player in the original troupe, and one of the few who excelled equally as a performer and as a writer. Aykroyd also ranks among the few players who could bounce easily between political sketches (especially as President Nixon in “The Final Days”) and stoner silliness (“Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute”). Is there a way to legally stop him from beating The Blues Brothers even further into the ground?
Best bit: Super Bass-O-Matic ’76
2. Will Ferrell
He cheered and danced and sang. He took off his shirt. He reveled in character-specific details (grizzly beards, cowbells, etc.). And oh!, the impressions: He played Unabomber Ted Kaczynski as a glib everyman, Neil Diamond as a porn-addicted hothead, and James Lipton as…well, James Lipton. Then as now, Ferrell is constitutionally incapable of not wringing every bit of funny out of a gag.
Best bit: Anything involving Harry Carey, Robert Goulet, Janet Reno, or Bill Brasky
1. Phil Hartman
His on-set nickname, “Glue,” tells you everything you need to know about the role he played during SNL’s late-’80s/early-’90s resurgence. He elevated everything and everyone with which he came in contact—his beatific grin during “Chopping Broccoli,” for instance, merits almost as big a laugh as the skit’s premise. Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, the Anal Retentive Chef, Bill Clinton visiting McDonald’s…In honor of his ego-free comic eminence, say it once more, with feeling: Sassy!
Best bit: The Sinatra Group
The Army uniform worn by Elvis Presley, which was found on a mannequin in the Mississippi Sound after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, will be back on display at the Hard Rock Biloxi casino resort when it opens in July.
The uniform is among dozens of items strewn across the Mississippi coast after Katrina struck in August 2005.
B.B. King ’s original guitar “Lucille” will return along with the guitars of Johnny Cash and KISS, Joe Billhimer, the casinos chief executive officer, told The Sun Herald newspaper.
Some of the rock ‘n’ roll artifacts will be in pristine condition, but others will be part of a Katrina memorial collage. Everything else will be new inside the casino resort, including a display in honor of James Brown .
“It’s a big deal for us to get back open, but we do think it’s also a big deal for people on the coast to see it back open,” Billhimer told the newspaper. “It keeps revitalization going. It shows that we and a lot of others believe in the revitalization of the Coast.”
The Hard Rock was destroyed by Katrina two days before the casino was scheduled to open.
This is gonna leave a mark! It wasn’t too long ago that this woman literally freaked out, from being locked out of the estate. Seriously,… I want to know why she’s being treated so rudely, anyone know why?
Entertainment Tonighthas broken the news that James Brown’s Will was read to some of his children in Aiken, South Carolina this afternoon.
Brown’s widow, Tomi Rae Hynie, and her son, James Brown Jr., were omitted, according to Hynie’s lawyer.
The lawyer was told by sources at the reading that both Hynie and her son were cut out of the will, but they have not seen the actual document. They are not filing a legal motion to contest the document until they see it. Hynie has 30 days from Brown’s death to contest the will, so she has until January 24 to file a motion.
The body of the late James Brown has yet to be buried as attorneys and his children work to settle issues surrounding his estate, including where he will be laid to rest.
For now, his body lies in a sealed casket in his home on Beech Island, Georgia. The room where Brown’s body lies is being kept at a controlled temperature, and security guards keep watch.
Brown’s home has been locked since hours after his death to protect his memorabilia, furnishing, clothes and other personal items, a rep for the late singer said.
“Just imagine what would have happened,” says a spokesperson. “Items of James Brown would have left there like items off the shelves of Macy’s in an after-Christmas sale.”
I’m sorry, but this is just so wrong, on so many levels… way too creepy!
Todd Leopold offers CNN.com’s top 10 entertainment stories of the year:
1. The ubiquitous YouTube, MySpace, etc. Time magazine may have overstated the case with its Person of the Year, but certainly these Web sites are redefining who makes entertainment, when it’s available (whenever you want) — and what it is, for that matter. Not bad for that series of tubes called the Internets.
2. Britney Spears. Didn’t she used to sing?
3. Major deaths: James Brown, Ahmet Ertegun, Robert Altman. All incredibly influential, all deserving of more due. The world is a lesser place with their losses.
4. Mel Gibson. His drunken, racist tirade made him the center of attention in July. "Apocalypto" put him on top of the box office in December.
4a. Race and rants. Gibson’s outburst (and others, notably Michael Richards’) started talk about race, ethnicity and prejudice, but whether the discussion was enlightening or simply a frenzy of yelling is an open question. (a certain reporter.
7. Steve Irwin. The "Crocodile Hunter’s" death in September shocked the world.
8. Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen’s clever Kazakh character topped the box office and started discussions on the value of satire. High-five!
9. Celebrities and Africa. Some attracted cameras (George Clooney in Darfur, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Namibia), some appeared to invite them (Madonna). Regardless of the reasons, perhaps the exposure will do some good.
10. The old folks still have it. In an entertainment world, where youth is deified, Bob Dylan (65) topped the album charts; Clint Eastwood (76) made two of the best movies of the year; Judi Dench (72) earned raves for "Casino Royale" and "Notes on a Scandal"; and that’s not to forget Peter O’Toole (74), Helen Mirren (61) and that whippersnapper Meryl Streep (57).
What about the TomCat phenomenon? People obsessed for months on when and if Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes would get married, when their baby would be born, what its name would be, when the first pictures would come out, why they were seen around town without said baby (Suri), and so forth.
At least in the online world, “crotch shots” and its variants would be high on the list, with Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton all having well publicized (and searched) incidents. Ditto “beauty pageant scandals,” with the drunken behavior of Miss USA Tara Conner and Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees getting so much attention over the last couple of weeks. Of lesser note would be the Scarlett Johansson phenomenon, with the starlet suddenly appearing at the top of all the hot celebrity superlative lists.
James Brown ’s lawyer said Tuesday that the late singer and his partner were not legally married and that she was locked out of his South Carolina home for estate legal reasons. Sure she was… you greedy bastards!
“It’s not a reflection on her as an individual,” lawyer Buddy Dallas told The Associated Press. “I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed.”
Brown’s partner, backup singer Tomi Rae Hynie, was already married to a Texas man in 2001 when she married Brown, thus making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. He said Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.
“I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown’s home,” Dallas said.
On Monday, after the 73-year-old “Godfather of Soul” died at an Atlanta hospital, Hynie, 36, found the gates to Brown’s Beech Island, S.C., home padlocked and said she was denied access.
Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple’s 5-year-old son.
“This is my home,” Hynie told a reporter outside the house. “I don’t have any money. I don’t have anywhere to go.”
Dallas said legal formalities need to be followed now, adding that Brown’s estate was left in trust for his children. He declined to elaborate on Brown’s final instructions.
“It’s not intended and I hope not interpreted to be an act of unkindness or an act of a lack of sympathy,” Dallas said. “Ms. Hynie has a home a few blocks away from Mr. Brown’s home where she resides periodically when she is not with Mr. Brown. She is not without housing or home.”
Dallas said Brown and Hynie had not seen each other for several weeks before his death.
The couple had had a sometimes tumultuous relationship. Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with Hynie and was let off with a $1,087 fine. He was accused of pushing Hynie to the floor at the home and threatening to kill her.
Hynie could not be reached Tuesday for further comment. A lawyer who has represented her in the past, Robert Rosen, was out of the country and could not be reached, according to a receptionist in his Charleston, S.C., office.
Hynie’s cell phone wasn’t accepting incoming messages Tuesday, but had an outgoing message that said in part, “James, if this is you, I’m in a meeting and I will call you back when I get out. Thank you so much for calling. Happy holidays.”
James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured “Godfather of Soul,” whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.
Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said. Copsidas said the cause of death was uncertain. “We really don’t know at this point what he died of,” he said.
[...]
Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid- footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie’s “Fame,” Prince’s “Kiss,” George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” were clearly based on Brown’s rhythms and vocal style.
If Brown’s claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.
“James presented obviously the best grooves,” rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. “To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one’s coming even close.”
His hit singles include such classics as “Out of Sight,” “(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,” “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “Say It Out Loud _ I’m Black and I’m Proud,” a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.
“I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black,” Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. “The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society.”
He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (best R&B recording) and for “Living In America” in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.
His personal life was much less stellar than his career. He left behind an impressive body of work, though.
Yes, you read that right… the media whore, Larry Birkhead, is taking Anna Nicole Smith to court, in order to prove he’s the father of her baby. He claims he’s only doing it for the best interest of the child. Uh huh.
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ANNA NICOLE SMITH JUST SERVED COURT PAPERS IN THE BAHAMAS
* * *
LARRY BIRKHEAD, ESTRANGED BOYFRIEND AND FATHER OF
ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S CHILD, SEEKS RETURN OF CHILD TO CALIFORNIA
AND PATERNITY TESTS PERFORMED IMMEDIATELY
* * *
Attorney Debra Opri claims in pleadings for Birkhead that Anna Nicole Smith
Deliberately fled the State of California to cut off parental rights to his daughter
Well-known celebrity attorney Debra Opri has filed court papers on behalf of her client Larry Birkhead. The documents request the court order Anna Nicole Smith to submit to paternity testing immediately, the child returned to the State of California and that drug testing be conducted on mother and child. The documents also state that legal and physical custody be awarded to Birkhead pending the results of drug testing.
According to attorney Debra Opri:
Why is Larry Birkhead taking these steps?
1. He is a first time father and he is responding to allegations made by attorney Howard K. Stern on behalf of Anna Nicole Smith.
2. He seeks truth in paternity as he believes beyond any doubt that he is the father and seeks a presence in this child’s life.
3. He is concerned for the health and safety of the child based upon drug issues and manipulation by a third party for purposes contrary to the interests of the child
Why is Larry Birkhead taking these actions at this time?
He is responding to the “circus-like” atmosphere with Howard K. Stern as ring leader this past week wherein serious and false allegations that Stern is the father were made and many defamatory remarks about Mr. Birkhead needed to be addressed.
What is Larry Birkhead’s goal in this action?
To put to rest the issue of who is the father and what steps must be taken to protect this child.
Attorney Debra Opri heads up the law firm of Opri & Associates in Beverly Hills, California and is a frequent legal commentator on nationally televised news programs. Opri gained national attention when she successfully represented “The Godfather of Soul” James Brown in a sexual harassment suit back in 2003 and she recently represented Joseph and Katherine Jackson during the Michael Jackson criminal court proceedings in 2004-05.
Wayne Frost, a hip-hop pioneer known as “Frosty Freeze” whose acrobatic performance with the legendary Rock Steady Crew in the 1983 hit movie “Flashdance” set off a worldwide breakdancing craze, has died. He was 44.
Petitt, who was interviewed by the Augusta Chronicle, is 45-years-old — the oldest of Brown’s identified children. She revealed that Brown picked her mother out of a Los Angeles audience and the two began dating, but that Brown split when he found out about the pregnancy.
The uniform is among dozens of items strewn across the Mississippi coast after Katrina struck in August 2005. 
, but certainly these Web sites are redefining who makes entertainment, when it’s available (whenever you want) — and what it is, for that matter. Not bad for that series of tubes called the Internets.
