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 Biloxicasino 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 casino’s 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!
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. 
