Death List Members in the News
May 2007
Charles Nelson Reilly
January 2007
Bobby Hamilton
December 2006
Gerald Ford
November 2006
Jack Palance
August 2006
Fidel Castro, Kirk Douglas, John Madden
July 2006
Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Phyllis Diller,
B.B. King, Dale Jarrett, Arnold Palmer
May 2006
Keith Richards, David Blaine
April 2006
Tony Stewart, Gerald Ford, B.B. King, Queen Elizabeth, Mickey Rooney, Bob
Barker, Harry Morgan, Charlton Heston, David Blaine, Vin Scully, Muhammad
Ali, Hugh Hefner, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis
March 2006
Courtney Love, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Jerry Lewis, Osama Bin Laden,
Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford
February 2006
Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Don Knotts, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Tony
Bennett, Courtney Love, Bob Barker
January 2006
Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, B.B. King, Walter Cronkite, William Shatner, Courtney
Love, Nick Nolte
December 2005
Richard Pryor, Ozzy Osbourne & Queen Elizabeth, Nick Nolte, Hugh Hefner,
Tony Bennett, Tony Stewart, David Blaine
November 2005
George Michael, Courtney Love, William Shatner, Muhammad Ali
October 2005
Rosa Parks, William Shatner, Joe Namath, B.B. King, Jerry Lewis, Tony Stewart,
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Jack Klugman, Michael Waltrip, Hugh Hefner,
Dale Jarrett
September 2005
Courtney Love, Ozzy Osbourne, B.B. King, Michael Waltrip, Willie Nelson, Courtney
Love, Jerry Lewis, Arnold Palmer
August 2005
August 29 - William Shatner
August 29 - Vin Scully
August 29 - Ron Popeil
August 29 - Hugh Hefner
August 29 - Dale Jarrett
August 28 - Keith Richards
August 25 - Ozzy Osbourne
August 25 - John Madden
August 19 - Courtney Love
August 18 - Richard Pryor
August 14 - Sterling Marlin
August 13 - Courtney Love
August 10 - Courtney Love
August 9 - Ozzy Osbourne
August 7 - Richard Pryor
August 7 - Tony Stewart
August 5 - Richard Pryor
August 4 - Tony Bennett
August 2 - Don Knotts
August 1 - Jerry Lewis
July 2005
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Courtney Love, Jerry Lewis, Muhammad
Ali, Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett,
Phyllis Diller, Michael Waltrip, Gerald Ford, Mickey Rooney, Jack Klugman,
Keith Richards, Nick Nolte, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross
June 2005
Jim Otto, Vin Scully, Tony Bennett, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth,
Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Klugman, John Madden
May 2005
Michael Waltrip, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Tony Stewart, Walter Cronkite,
Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, George Michael, Vin Scully, Keith Richards, Don
Knotts, Brian Dennehy, Michael Waltrip, Wilford Brimley, Ozzy Osbourne, Willie
Mays, Bob Barker, Nick Nolte, Jim Otto
April 2005
Larry Hagman, Richard Pryor, Willie Mays, Phyllis Diller, David Blaine, Tony
Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammad Ali, Nick Nolte and William Shatner, B.B.
King, Ozzy Osbourne, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross, Pope John Paul II
March 2005
Ozzy Osbourne, Pope John Paul II, Courtney Love, Phyllis Diller, Vin Scully,
Fidel Castro, Ed Asner, Bob Barker, B.B. King, Arnold Palmer, Keith Richards,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Palance, Jack Klugman, Sterling Marlin, Joe Namath, Charlton
Heston, Jerry Lewis, Horatio Sanz
February 2005
Pope John Paul II, Wilford Brimley, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Willie
Nelson, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Jarrett, Fidel Castro, Phyllis Diller,
Courtney Love, Gerald Ford, Larry Hagman, Rosa Parks, Mickey Rooney, Hugh
Hefner
January 2005
Willie Mays, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, Vin Scully, John Madden,
Johnny Carson, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Rosa Parks, Jerry
Lewis, Courtney Love, Pope John Paul II, Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Gerald
Ford, Bob Barker
December 2004
Richard Pryor, Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Keith Richards, Rosa Parks,
Nick Nolte, Don Knotts
November 2004
Kirk Douglas, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis, Larry Hagman, Johnny
Carson, Queen Elizabeth, B.B. King, Muhammad Ali
October 2004
Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Fidel Castro, Ernest Borgnine,
Mickey Rooney, Willie Nelson, Jack Klugman, Jack Palance, Pope John Paul II,
Hugh Hefner, Rodney Dangerfield
September 2004
Courtney Love, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker,
Nick Nolte, Tony Bennett
August 2004
Arnold Palmer, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker, Brian Dennehy, Ernest Borgnine,
Rosa Parks, Walter Cronkite, Willie Mays, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Julia Child, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Joe Namath, B.B. King
July 2004
Rosa Parks, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro, Nick Nolte, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman,
Kirk Douglas, William Shatner
August 29, 2005: 5 minutes with...William Shatner
At
this point, "Star Trek" fans may have to get their fix at conventions,
but that doesn't mean Captain Kirk has dropped from sight. William Shatner,
74, seemingly never sleeps.
He's back shooting episodes of ABC's "Boston Legal," which is now
in reruns and starts its new season Sept. 27. He is also up for another Emmy
next month for his work on the show, in which he plays outlandish lawyer Denny
Crane. And the first two seasons of his cheesy cop show, "T.J. Hooker,"
have just come out on DVD (Sony, $50). In his spare time, he breeds and trains
horses.
Are you overworked?
I think of doing a series as very hard work. But then I've talked to coal miners, and that's really hard work.
Since your "Has Been" CD is still selling, do you think you should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
I've got rock 'n' roll in my blood. I now understand it more insightfully than I ever have before. I see that it's all sexual. How's that for a sound bite?
What music do you like?
When somebody gave me an iPod, I didn't know 4,000 songs [to fully load it], so I was bereft. Then somebody else said, "Well, I've got 4,000 songs," and they downloaded them for me. I just heard the Beatles' ‘White Album' for the first time with headphones. I'd heard it — but not like this.
What's Captain Kirk up to?
I'm working on two fictional early "Star Trek" books, so now I'm trying to remember my adolescence. The books are getting closer and closer to my own being.
Were you born funny?
I love the idea of making people laugh. Captain Kirk had a sense of humor. T.J. Hooker was angrier. Not much room for humor there, but I remember making people laugh on the set.
Do you have any dignity left?
I pissed it away long ago. If you make a fool of yourself, you can do it with dignity, without taking your pants down. And if you do take your pants down, you can still do it with dignity.
What's your secret vice?
Paintball. It's a coming sport. You have to be both a masochist and a sadist. I'm looking for the perfect paintball movie.
What have you learned about life?
The good life is one that's artistically made. Here's something pompous — you take your day and artistically create it, so every moment has an artistic flavor. Drink your coffee with consciousness.
From the New York Daily News, Nancy Mills
August 29, 2005: You Hear Him, You Really Hear Him
The
Dodger pregame ceremony Sunday which gathered and honored members of the 1955
World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers was a good idea, a sentimental home
run and, in some ways, not necessary.
If you want to gain an appreciation for the Dodgers' rich tradition or feel a connection to the franchise's New York roots, all you need to do is listen to Vin Scully on a daily basis.
In his sublime way Scully was the star of Sunday's ceremony, even though he never set foot on the field. The old-timers praised him during a video montage before the event. When Scully was introduced the cheer for him was as loud as anything else heard all day.
And the entire time he remained where he has always been: on his chair in the booth.
"I don't want to take a bow," Scully said to Houston Astro announcer Milo Hamilton in the press box dining room before the game. "Never did, never will."
Fifty-six years on the job, a spot in the Hall of Fame, recognition as the top broadcaster in the 20th century by his professional peers isn't enough reason to take a bow?
"I didn't want to go on the field," Scully said later. "I'd rather not. It belonged to them. It was their day, and I really and truly believe it in my heart. That's the way I wanted it."
The rare Dodger Stadium appearances by stars such as Sandy Koufax, Duke Snider and Johnny Podres made this a special event.
Scully is as much a fixture at Dodger Stadium as the outfield pavilions. And that's the problem. We might take him for granted because he has always been there, providing the soundtrack to Kirk Gibson's home run, Koufax's perfect game and yes, the final out in 1955: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Brooklyn Dodgers are the champions of the world."
Now that he's 77 we're much closer to the end of Scully's career than the beginning. Thoughts of retirement have started to creep into the broadcasts, such as the time this season when a foul ball whizzing by a third base coach caused Scully to say that, before he hangs 'em up, he'd like to see the base coaches wear helmets.
Just hearing him talk about leaving was jarring.
"The day will come," Scully said. "I'm not quite sure when. Nobody's really sure when they're going to hang anything up. I'll go day to day like the ballplayers."
Dodger owner Frank McCourt said: "Vin will be here for as long as he wants to, obviously. My feeling is that he's much younger than his years. He has a kid's enthusiasm. He loves the Dodgers, he has a passion for baseball. As long as he has those qualities, he's going to continue to do this. I don't think we should be looking at the calendar when it comes to Vin."
Scully showed his masterful touch Sunday when introducing Koufax, skipping a lengthy recital of the pitcher's accomplishments and handing it over to the fans.
"Let's have you use the time," Scully said, fully aware that there's only one sound in baseball better than his voice: the roar of the crowd.
Scully also provided the perfect context for the FSN West 2 broadcast, which tracked the evolution of baseball telecasts from the black-and-white days of 1955 to the color, multiple-angle, graphic-heavy games of today, because he actually worked through every development.
It's not just the baseball and broadcast experience. We benefit from his broad range of interests and his ability to summon them so effortlessly. A bounced pitch that Oscar Robles smacks out of the dirt and into left field reminds him of the days playing stickball in Brooklyn. A sunset in Colorado conjures up a comparison to a Renaissance painting.
Even his microphone checks sound superior. After sending a quick "One, two, three" to bounce off empty seats of Dodger Stadium two hours before the game, he saw the Houston Astros making their way toward the dugout and Scully broke into a little play-by-play.
"Welcome to the Houston Astros," he said. "Arriving one by one, striding down the aisle, perhaps on their way to a wild-card berth."
He noted that three Astros had been at the stadium for 15 minutes already and his voice shifted to the tone of a school principal as he lectured the rest of the team:
"What is your excuse for arriving so late?"
For Astro third baseman Morgan Ensberg, who grew up rooting for the Dodgers and listening to Scully in Hermosa Beach, arriving at Dodger Stadium to the sound of Scully was like hearing God announce his entry into heaven.
"I'm just kind of like, 'What am I doing here?' " Ensberg said.
If you're from here, there's no escaping the magic of Scully's voice.
"You know there are sounds and smells of growing up?" Ensberg said. "He would definitely qualify as a sound of growing up."
It was Scully's turn to be nostalgic Sunday as he introduced the names he called during the early days of his career.
"Oh my gosh," Scully said. "That's part of my life. They were very close pals of mine. I was about the same age as most of them, so that made us closer friends than today. Plus that was the day of roommates. It was just a totally different life. It was just great to see them."
A great day at Dodger Stadium, including a 1-0 victory for the Dodgers over the Astros, made all the more memorable by a simple fact: Vin Scully was in the booth.
From the Los Angeles Times, J. A. Adande
August 29, 2005: Infomercial King Sells Company, Ronco Goes Public for Expansion
Ron
Popeil, the storied television pitchman who has peddled vegetable choppers
and tabletop rotisserie ovens with the persuasiveness of a modern-day P.T.
Barnum, has decided to sell his company – not for $20 million, or $30
million or even $50 million.
He has sold out for the amazing price of $56.5 million.
But wait, there’s more!
The company, Chatsworth-based Ronco Corp., has also gone public and is set to expand.
“I ran the business like an entrepreneur, not like a businessman,” Popeil said. “I had about 170 employees, but I never really got involved. I hate the day-to-day stuff.”
Popeil’s inventions and infomercials have become such a part of pop culture that the Smithsonian Institution placed one of his most famous products, the Veg-O-Matic, in its collection of artifacts of American life. But now, at 70, he wants to spend more time with his two young daughters, aged 3 and 5½ (he has three adult daughters from previous marriages).
The new company plans to develop more products, bring Popeil’s brand into more retail stores, reach into ethnic markets and expand online sales – all avenues that other direct sales companies have taken in recent years.
Popeil will consult on inventions and continue to appear in television spots. His deal includes a three-year consulting agreement that will pay him $500,000 a year and a percentage of gross profits for products he promotes. Additionally, he will receive $10,000 for every guest appearance on TV or at a retailer, $50,000 for every infomercial produced and $50,000 for each appearance on Home & Garden Television, according to the company’s prospectus.
“Ron tests all his products in his home. His kitchen is his own lab,” said Gilbert Azafrani, the company’s general counsel. “Every time I’ve been to his house, for every meeting, he’s cooking and wants you to taste something. He’s constantly inventing and testing some kind of spatula or utensil.”
In his blood
Popeil became a salesman as a teenager, hawking kitchen products that his
father had invented. He developed his demonstration techniques at a Woolworth’s
in Chicago.
Popeil skipped college and after some success selling in department stores and on state and county fair circuits, he moved to television in the 1950s. He produced his first 60-second commercial for $500 for the Ronco Spray Gun, a garden hose attachment invented by his father.
In 1964, he started his own company, Ronco Corp., and sold the Chop-O-Matic and Veg-O-Matic, two kitchen utensils invented by his father, exclusively on television. He went on to invent some 30 different products, including the Pocket Fisherman, a folding fishing pole, in 1972.
But Popeil has had his share of failures. In 1987, he filed for bankruptcy, blaming his bank that he said had been in financial trouble. The bank demanded payment on debt by taking control of Ronco’s assets. Popeil had to buy back his assets for $2 million.
In 1998, he came up with his most successful product ever: the Showtime Rotisserie
& BBQ. His infomercials for the product – punctuated by the “set
it and forget it” tagline – became a sensation. All told, the
company estimates that it has sold more than $750 million worth of the ovens.
In 2003, he was approached by Richard Allen, a former marketing, brand management
and manufacturing executive for companies that included Milliken & Co.
and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp.
Allen was shopping for an import company to acquire for a group of private investors and had heard that Popeil was looking to sell out. (Allen had bought a Showtime Rotisserie himself several years earlier).
This year, he hired Sanders Morris Harris Group Inc., a Houston, Texas-based investment bank, to raise $50 million of private equity capital from individuals and institutional investors for preferred private stock.
The transaction had Ronco Marketing Corp. acquiring the assets of Popeil’s privately held companies for $56.5 million. Ronco Marketing then merged with a public shell company and changed its name to Ronco Corp. Allen stayed on as chief executive.
Dave Stewart, a professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business, said the generous consulting deal reflects how reliant the company remains on Popeil. “In the long term, the company will have to think about other ways to sell, but in the short term, as long as he continues to be salesperson of their products, I think they’ll do well,” he said.
A changed industry
The kind of direct sales Popeil pioneered still appear on late-night television,
generating an estimated $296 billion last year, according to the Electronic
Retailing Association. But it’s a new game compared with 20 years ago,
when good spots could be produced for $10,000. Now the slickly produced infomercials
cost anywhere from $200,000 to $1 million.
Nearly 60 percent of Ronco’s product sales currently come from direct response infomercials, with only 25 percent from traditional retailers. Ronco wants to alter that ratio.
“We need to take advantage of around $300 million we’ve spent on media just on the Showtime Rotisserie over the years,” Popeil said. “All that media was used to generate sales directly, but it can also function as advertising, so we can capture retail accounts at places like Wal-Mart,” he said.
Ronco also plans to tap the Hispanic audience that is largely untouched by direct response infomercials (Popeil’s spots had been dubbed in the past). New infomercials are being produced in Spanish that will feature Popeil with celebrities of Latin American TV, although Popeil doesn’t speak Spanish.
Meantime, Popeil continues to invent new kitchen products, including a turkey fryer due out next year.
“There’s a huge need. About 20 million people down south fry turkeys every year in the most dangerous way in the world. People get burned and houses burn down,” he said. “So I’m making a fryer that can cook a 20 pound turkey in an hour and 10 minutes indoors.”
But wait. There’s still more.
Popeil has become obsessed with developing an indoor smoker. “I love smoking the fish I catch,” he explained. “There’s no effective design to smoke indoors without stinking up your house. But it’s a very difficult invention, and I haven’t solved all the problems. It’s quite a riddle.”
From the Los Angeles Business Journal, Matt Myerhoff
August 29, 2005: Playboy's Hugh Hefner, 79, Still Swinging in New Reality Series
Hugh
Hefner is still swinging at 79. The geriatric Playboy magazine founder lives
in a Beverly Hills mansion with three girlfriends young enough to be his granddaughters
and a 70-person staff, surrounded by six acres of lushly landscaped property
that includes a private zoo.
The public has caught glimpses of Hefner's hedonistic lifestyle in the movie ``Beverly Hills Cop II,'' the television show ``Entourage'' and the video for the hit song ``Beverly Hills'' by the rock group Weezer.
Now, Hef is opening his mansion to the public every Sunday at 9 p.m. in the E! cable channel show ``The Girls Next Door,'' featuring his current girlfriends Kendra Wilkinson, Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. Wilkinson is 20, Madison is 25 and Marquardt is 31, which means their combined age is still three years younger than the ultimate playboy.
The twice-married Hefner plans to be buried next to Marilyn Monroe, who was Playboy's first centerfold in 1953. Hefner owns the crypt next to Monroe's at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in California.
Hefner recently spoke on the telephone with Bloomberg's Jonathan Berr about his new TV show, Monroe, Lenny Bruce and the Puritans.
Reality Show
Berr: You have a new show that's on the E! Channel called ``The Girls Next Door.'' Tell us how that show came into being and what viewers will see at the mansion if they tune in?
Hefner: It's a reality show, but unlike most it is really real. I am not a big fan of the genre. Over the last two, three years, a lot of people had approached us about doing a reality show and I had declined until (executive producer) Kevin Burns came to me with this idea. The focus is on my girlfriends who are living at the mansion. It's life through their eyes.
Berr: Say the show had been shot 10, 20 or even 30 years ago at the Playboy Mansion. What would have life been like?
Hefner: It depends very much on the decade that you pick. Prior to the last half-dozen years, I think the most exciting time would have been the 1970s. In the later '80s and early '90s, I settled down, got married and was faithful to that relationship for 8 1/2 years. When that marriage didn't work, I came out of it emotionally beaten and bruised. It was reconnecting to my own past that has given me the four or five best years of my life.
Movie Bio
Berr: Playboy is making a push into TV with the ``Girls Next Door'' and ``Party at the Palms.'' Are there any other shows that are being kicked around?
Hefner: The brand now is bigger than ever before on a global level. In addition to the shows that you mentioned, we're doing a major motion picture on my life at Universal.
Berr: Are you going to have a say in who plays you?
Hefner: Oh yes.
Berr: Who is on your wish list?
Hefner: I don't know. The script is written by Scott Silver, who did ``Eight Mile.'' What they are looking for now is a director. Then they start trying to cast it.
Berr: I believe you helped Lenny Bruce pay his legal bills. What was your relationship like with Lenny Bruce?
Hefner: Lenny was one of my best friends, and I was close to his entire family. We published his autobiography in both magazine and book form.
Berr: Bruce was always ranting about censorship. Is that still a problem today in the U.S?
Hefner: That is the way of things in America. The Puritans came over here to get away from religious persecution in the beginning, then turned around and started persecuting those who didn't agree with them. Our Founding Fathers gave us a Constitution that separated church and state. That conflict is ongoing.
Monroe's Legacy
Berr: How did your background lead you to the Playboy philosophy?
Hefner: I grew in a very typical Midwest Methodist home, where there wasn't a lot of hugging and kissing. My life has been a response to that.
Berr: Marilyn Monroe was the first Playboy centerfold. We know her as an icon, but you knew her as a person.
Hefner: She and I were born in the same year, 1926. One of the curious things about celebrity and pop culture is that those who die young are frequently remembered in a special kind of way. It sadly adds to their mystique. It was true of James Dean, it was true of Rudolph Valentino and truer most of all for Marilyn Monroe.
From Bloomberg.com
August 29, 2005: After 1,272 lefts, why Dale Jarrett turned right
The
short answer to why there are so many crashes in NASCAR:
Strip away the 800-horsepower engines, the flame-retardant suits, the 3,400 pounds of steel and the drivers go about their business pretty much like everybody else.
They laugh, they cry, they win a few and lose all the rest. They show up at work, get their feelings hurt, get mad, and sometimes, they get even.
Except in their case, that means just about every time.
Maybe that explains why none of the higher-ups got the least bit overheated about the right turn Dale Jarrett made into Ryan Newman on lap 318 of the Sharpie 500 late Saturday night. Never mind that it happened at 100 mph, and knocked both of them and Kevin Harvick - his only sin: wrong place, wrong time - out of the race.
In NASCAR, those little love taps aren't just tolerated; they ARE the rules of the road.
And so maybe the only thing that distinguished this one from the dozen other dustups and spinouts that took place at the Bristol Motor Speedway - including the handful of purposeful ones - was how absolutely dumb and obvious it was.
"Mine was unintentional,'' Newman said about running Jarrett into a fence 17 laps earlier, "and his was intentional and that's all I'm saying.''
Jarrett was slapped with a two-lap penalty during the race, but that's all. And in the unlikely event officials call him in to pursue the matter further, he'll point out he forgot to turn left only once in 1,272 tries, that it could happen to anybody, and walk out of the hearing room with pride intact and nothing worse than another slap on the wrist.
Besides, the higher-ups at NASCAR probably figured out by now that Jarrett did such a good job of punishing himself, any further discipline would be piling on.
That little road-rage episode, coupled with the two-lap penalty, resulted in a 31st-place finish. More important, it probably killed off any chance Jarrett had of qualifying for "The Chase for the championship,'' the lucrative little postseason scheme NASCAR hatched last year to keep fans from changing channels once the NFL begins playing for keeps in the same weekend time slots.
Jarrett left Bristol without comment, which was probably a smart decision. The result dropped him from 11th place to 14th in the Nextel Cup "Chase'' standings, but the real shame is that he took Newman down a notch, from eighth to ninth, and Harvick from 14th to 16th. With only two races left to accumulate points before the top 10 are awarded playoff spots, Jarrett needed more enemies and frustration like he needed an allen wrench upside the head.
He's 0-for-his-last-94 races, and on his eighth crew chief since Todd Parrott departed at the end of 2002. He's already 48 and staring out a fast-closing window. Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, two guys who broke in around the same time and planned to retire at the end of the season, have just about locked up spots in the "Chase.'' Martin is having second thoughts, but if he does return, like Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott and a few other of Jarrett's contemporaries, he'll probably run a much lighter schedule. Jarrett is one of the few older drivers who hasn't talked about slowing down, but maybe he should.
Whether any of that factored into his thinking Saturday night, only Jarrett knows. He and Newman, who's 20 years younger, are both clean racers with no history between them. On the other hand, once Newman loosened up Jarrett's car on lap 318, everybody seemed to know a payback was in the cards.
One racer said afterward the spotters were warning their drivers over the radio "to steer clear when the 88 (Jarrett) gets near the 12 (Newman).'' And sure enough, it was worth heeding.
Of course, Bristol's officiating crew knew what was on the way, too. The half-mile, high-banked track guarantees racing at close quarters for 500 laps, which in turn, guarantees lots of frayed nerves. NASCAR treats bumping incidents the same way major league baseball does knockdown pitches and the NHL does fights - as necessary evils - and hands out penalties after determining intent.
It's not always fair, which is why you see drivers occasionally taking justice into their own hands. After totaling up the damage at Bristol, Matt Borland, Newman's crew chief, suggested that didn't seem like such a bad option.
"If they have problems, Ryan and he need to talk about it after the race, beat each other up, I don't care. But to destroy two race cars that cost a whole bunch of guys at two shops a lot of work,'' he added, "that's just stupid.''
From Associated Press Sports, Jim Litke
August 28, 2005: Keith Richards on drugs, guns, music and Live8
The
grim reaper is at home watching TV when the doorbell rings. He opens up and
Keith Richards is standing there in hooded black sackcloth, a sharp-looking
scythe at his side.
"Sorry," says the Rolling Stones' seemingly indestructible guitarist. "Your number's up."
Presented with the above vignette, Richards gets the joke. "Yeah, I'd like to see the Reaper off," he says with a gruff laugh, "but people shouldn't try and do what I've done with my body, because not everybody can."
As though to underline that truth, he swigs at a large vodka and orange-based concoction called a Nuclear Fall-Out. Would I like to try one? No, I'll stick with beer, thanks.
Sixty-two in December, Richards is enjoying his tipple while chain-smoking full-strength Marlboros.
Though it's only 5.30pm, his skulls-and-guitars-appointed dressing room is candle-lit and heavy with incense. A small coffin-shaped box on the table lies open revealing Richards' rolling papers.
He's wearing lime-green work boots and a black tracksuit top with the word "Jamaica" emblazoned in yellow on the back.
You take in his gnarly knuckled fingers, his swarthy, heavily latticed face. On his right hand is the familiar silver skull ring that he has long worn as a memento mori.
Richards' eyes are so brown they're almost black. Juju trinkets dangle from his gloriously unkempt hair.
An amiable rogue who has been described as "a grinning baboon" and "the human riff", the guitarist is surprisingly well spoken. As the vodka kicks in he starts to slur a little.
Richards' dressing room is in a school in a quiet suburb of Toronto, Canada, where the Rolling Stones are rehearsing for their upcoming tour of the United States.
By Richards' account, rehearsals are going well. Is thinking of the 43-date tour like contemplating Everest?
"No, it's like downhill skiing! Nobody is dragging their ass to come on this one." Even Charlie Watts, traditionally the most touring-reticent Stone, can't wait to get going - despite the drummer's recent battle with throat cancer.
Later, when I sit in on the Stones' rehearsal session, it's clear that Richards' claims about the camp's high morale are valid.
It's fascinating to watch: Richards perusing the set-list through dainty pince-nez while he and 58-year-old Ronnie Wood's gritty guitars spar to glorious effect.
Mick Jagger - 62, black baseball boots sans laces, 28-inch waist still intact - looks almost boyish.
If the Stones' appetite for their upcoming jaunt is tangible, Richards was less enamoured with the notion of Live8, and vetoed the idea of the Stones playing the event.
"I didn't understand why everybody who was trying to coax me in happened to be knighted," he says.
"I got hit on by Sir Bob and Sir Mick, but I said to Mick, 'We ain't doing it, pal. You can do it, but I ain't.'
"Decreasing debts?" the guitarist goes on. "It all seemed a bit nebulous to me. Plus I couldn't believe the amount of pressure, even from 10 Downing Street.
"I heartily applaud what they were trying to do, except that it was tied in with Government policy and I always try and separate politics and music. I mean, Bob's a nice bloke and all that, but ultimately he's the one who comes off best, isn't he?"
The new album, A Bigger Bang, is their first studio outing since 1997's Bridges to Babylon, and as its title suggests, it sees the world's greatest extant rock band shirking complacency and roaring loud.
Not every track is a classic but Laugh, I Nearly Died is as agreeably raunchy as anything on Sticky Fingers, while Rain Fall Down is the band's funkiest moment since 1983's Undercover of the Night.
Elsewhere, on the flagship single Streets of Love, an uncharacteristically lovelorn Jagger delivers one of the most compelling performances of his career, his diction masterful and his ad-libs on the fade-out unmistakably heartfelt.
Lyrically, it's one of several songs on the new record that have led some to posit that the work is partly Jagger's love-letter to his estranged wife, Jerry Hall.
With Watts recuperating and Wood facing equally testing times (the guitarist was devastated when his first wife, Krissy, took her own life earlier this year), Richards says he and Jagger were forced to pull their fingers out on A Bigger Bang.
"Mick and I got the news that Charlie was going in for treatment just as we started writing. We thought, 'Should we put things on hold?' But then it was, 'No, let's forge ahead - it will be a good incentive for Charlie.'
"Mick playing great guitar helped," Richards continues. "I sleep downstairs and the studio is upstairs. One night I thought I was hearing this old Muddy Waters track I didn't know, but it turned out to be Mick working on a slide part for Back of my Hand.
"He's always been a good, smooth acoustic player, but the electric seemed like an untamed beast for him until this year."
This is how Richards goes on: holding court, spinning anecdotes, and leaving no buckle unswashed.
No surprise, then, that he has reportedly been offered a part in Pirates of the Caribbean III.
While his pal Johnny Depp famously used Richards as a template when playing the roguish Jack Sparrow, the guitarist says he can neither "confirm nor deny" his own involvement in the trilogy.
"What I can tell you," he says, "is Johnny came down to the studio to talk about the movie. Behind him was, like, the Disney wardrobe department or something, and we spent the rest of the afternoon hilariously dressing up in pirate clothes. I'm up for doing the film and so is Johnny, so hopefully we can schedule something in ... I'd obviously bring my own cutlass, ha ha!"
Joking aside, this last is not a fact that anyone who knows Richards would doubt. Ask director Julien Temple. Before he worked on the 1983 video for Undercover of the Night, Richards reportedly flicked open a switchblade, held it to Temple's throat and said, "You better not [expletive] up."
His liking for firearms has been well documented too, but he says that these days he leaves his handgun in the drawer at home. Asked what the biggest misconception about him is, Richards is stumped for a few moments. The public face of Keith Richards, he says, is a caricature with a large element of truth in it.
"I've been cast in the role of the rascal and I accept the role gracefully," he laughs, "but everybody changes.
"The problem is that, when you've been famous for this long you drag all the key events and rumours of your life around with you like Jacob Marley's chain."
These would include the night he wrote the riffs for Satisfaction and Brown Sugar, the bloodbath that was the Rolling Stones at Altamont in 1969, the mysterious death of Brian Jones earlier that year, and the persistent myth that a Swiss blood transfusion process akin to premature embalming was what enabled Richards to temporarily kick heroin prior to an important 1973 tour of Europe.
The biggest myth about him, he now posits, is probably that he was constantly endangering himself with drugs.
"Actually, I would take drugs quite responsibly," he says. "A nice fix at breakfast, one for elevenses, and another one at teatime - it was like breaks at the cricket, or something.
Richards' main home is still in Weston, Connecticut, with Patti Hansen, the Staten Island-born model he married in 1983.
It was at home on the couch that Richards penned This Place is Empty (without you), a fine country-style ballad partly written for Hansen from the new album, that he croons raggedly a la Tom Waits. The lyrics may also take in empty nest syndrome.
"Our daughters, Theodora and Alexandria, have grown up and got their own apartment in the city," he says.
There are also grandchildren to enjoy, fathered by Richards' son, Marlon, who with Angela, his other child by Anita Pallenberg, is now well into his 30s.
What, though, of absent friends and family? Richards has lost Brian Jones, and his own father, Bert. He has lost musical soulmates such as country star Gram Parsons, and the Rolling Stones' unofficial extra member and keyboard player, Ian Stewart.
"These people resonate; you never forget them. I miss all those cats."
And Brian? Is it all just too long ago now?
"Brian could be the most frustratingly obnoxious, nasty person. Which he never was until the minute we had a hit record. It was a fame thing, maybe; something seemed to snap in him."
At that, our time is up. One last question, though: does he have any kind of fitness regime prior to going on the road? "Yeah," he deadpans, "It's called rehearsals."
"Mick's your guy for a fitness regime and a schedule," he adds, "but then he has to cover a lot more stage than me.
"When I wake up in the morning I just say, 'Ahh! Jah wonderful! Let's see what the day brings.' I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be anywhere."
WHO: Keith Richards, guitarist for The Rolling Stones. Mr Indestructible.
BORN: December 18, 1943, Dartford, Kent.
GREATEST RIFFS: Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women.
LATEST: new Rolling Stones album A Bigger Bang is released on September 3.
From the New Zealand Herald, James McNair
August 25, 2005: This tour likely to be the last for Osbourne
Ozzy
Osbourne, 56, learned in May he has the tremor-inducing neurological disorder
Parkins syndrome (not to be confused with Parkinson's disease). That and the
effects of a lifetime of drugs and booze have compelled Osbourne to announce
this will be his last Ozzfest appearance as headline attraction.
Though Ozzfest will continue, the man whose obituary will surely recall episodes such as offending the keepers of the Alamo, snorting ants and decapitating bats with his teeth, is on medication and under doctor's orders to slow the touring pace.
Earlier this month, Ozzy had to cancel Ozzfest or withdraw from its lineup three times in one week. Subsequent cancellations have been blamed on scheduling conflicts. Osbourne has been battling retirement since 1995 when he famously announced his Retirement Sucks tour and resumed his fast-paced touring lifestyle.
In 2004, Osbourne was stricken with bronchitis and replaced by Judas Priest singer Rob Halford during Sabbath's headlining Ozzfest gig in Camden, N.J. Osbourne is expected to continue recording with Black Sabbath or as a solo artist, but future touring will likely be limited to special guest appearances. It seems Ozzy is not as sprightly as Keith Richards.
From the San Antonio Express-News, David Glessner
August 25, 2005: Madden edges closer to Hall
CANTON,
Ohio – John Madden, whose .731 winning percentage through 10 seasons
as coach of the Oakland Raiders is the second-highest in the NFL among coaches
with at least 100 victories, yesterday was nominated for the Pro Football
Hall of Fame.
Members of the Hall's Veterans Selection Committee also nominated Rayfield Wright, an offensive tackle on 11 Dallas Cowboys teams in the 1960s and '70s, all of which were at least division champions.
The Veterans Selection Committee considers only candidates whose careers concluded 25 or more years ago.
Madden and Wright must win approval of the Hall of Fame's selection committee when it meets Feb. 4 in Detroit, the day before Super Bowl XL.
Among the 22 persons whose qualifications were weighed by the Veterans Selection Committee yesterday was former Chargers quarterback John Hadl. He was eliminated in the voting to cut the candidates from six to four.
Madden's Raiders teams were 112-39-7 (including postseason) and won seven AFC West titles and one Super Bowl. Only the late Vince Lombardi (.736) has a higher winning percentage.
From SignOnSanDiego.com, Jerry Magee
August 19, 2005: Courtney Love Ordered Into Drug Rehab
Courtney
Love tearfully admitted using drugs in violation of her probation terms today
(Aug. 19) in Los Angeles. The rocker-actress was ordered into a 28-day drug
treatment program by a judge who said he had wanted to put her in jail.
"I think that you need to hit rock bottom before you make a decision about what you're going to do in the future," Superior Court Judge Rand Rubin told the sobbing Love.
She was in court for allegedly being under the influence of a controlled substance, which wasn't identified. Love's voice cracked as she said, "Yes, your honor," when asked by Rubin if she understood she was admitting to three probation violations.
The 41-year-old Love was told to enter a drug treatment facility by the end of the day. Her attorney, Howard Weitzman, wouldn't disclose the name of the facility or whether it was a lock-down program.
The judge ordered her back to court Sept. 16 for sentencing on the probation violations. "There will be sentencing and some further consequences at that time," Rubin said. "I think you either need a long-term drug program or a long term in County Jail."
Outside court, Weitzman said Love had had a relapse but will "deal with it."
"She's serious. She's sincere. And she's pretty tenacious about getting her life in order." Weitzman said. The lawyer explained Love had violated terms of probation in one case but that "if you violate in one you violate in all."
Love, the former lead singer for the band Hole and the widow of Kurt Cobain, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge on Feb. 10. She was already on probation in two unrelated drug cases.
Earlier this month, the judge issued a bench warrant for Love's arrest, but he agreed to hold it pending today's hearing.
At a red carpet event this month, Love said: "I'm clean and sober for over a year and no one seems to care! They're like, 'Oh, her dramatic weight gain.' So, stop making fun of me!"
In July, a judge praised the singer for making progress in a court-ordered drug treatment program. The treatment is tied to a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of a controlled substance in 2003 when police alleged she tried to break into a former boyfriend's home.
From the Associated Press
August 18, 2005: A Comedian's Life, Under the Microscope
In
"Unspeakable: Richard Pryor Live & Uncensored, a Dramatic Fantasia,"
the audience learns that the comedian was abandoned by his parents and brought
up by his grandmother in a brothel in Peoria, Ill. He also suffered from a
crippling drug habit that contributed to the breakup of at least one of his
marriages (he had had seven by publication time) and his inability to express
love. And, oh, yeah, he was funny, too.
The problem with stories about the life of Mr. Pryor is that they often get bogged down in the offstage drama and lose sight of why we cared about him in the first place. Granted, it's a tricky business, since as Bill Cosby once said of Mr. Pryor: "The line between comedy and tragedy is as fine as you can paint it." But in this meandering biographical drama, written by Rod Gailes and James Murray Jackson Jr., the tragedy wipes the comedy off the stage. The script is weighted down with far too many drugged-out scenes, a humorless portrait of Mr. Pryor's friend, the comedian Paul Mooney (played by Paris Campbell) and a bizarre metaphorical character called Rat (Deborah Keller) who should be cut.
Still, there is one major reason to recommend this show: the magnetic lead performance by Mr. Jackson. Mature beyond his years, the young writer and actor renders the emotional turmoil of the role with brutal honesty, while also managing the daunting task of performing comedy as Mr. Pryor. Trained by Susan Batson, the acting guru who helped Sean Combs prepare for "A Raisin in the Sun," Mr. Jackson has nailed the comedian's distinctive voice - shifting from a strained croak to the smooth music of a bass drum. But that doesn't prepare you for his physical impersonation.
Onstage, he is the spitting image of the Mr. Pryor we all know - the herky-jerky strut, the rubbery face and those exasperated eyes. But in the offstage moments, his Mr. Pryor is something else altogether, quieter, more unsure of himself. Even his face looks different. He is a broken man, hard and cruel, with watery eyes. It is painful to watch Mr. Jackson in that mode - especially because it is gratuitous - but you have to respect his talent. See "Unspeakable," part of the International Fringe Festival, if for no other reason than you can say you saw him way back when.
"Unspeakable: Richard Pryor Live & Uncensored, a Dramatic Fantasia" plays through Wednesday at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street; (212) 279-4488
From the New York Times, Jason Zinoman
August 14, 2005: Sterling Marlin's father dies at 73
Clifton “Coo Coo” Marlin, one of NASCAR’s early stars and father of current Nextel Cup driver Sterling Marlin, died early Sunday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 73.
Marlin died in his hometown of Columbia, Tenn., said officials from Chip Ganassi Racing, which fields cars for Sterling Marlin.
“Members of Chip Ganassi Racing will begin racing festivities this morning at Watkins Glen International with heavy hearts as Sterling mourns the passing of his father,” the team said in a statement.
NASCAR president Mike Helton informed the Cup drivers of Marlin’s death at their pre-race meeting at the track.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to Sterling and his family,” Helton said. “It wasn’t just Sterling’s father. He was a pioneer (in the sport).”
Sterling Marlin had returned home from this week’s race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., to be with his father. Scott Pruett was scheduled to replace him in Sunday’s event.
Although he never won a NASCAR points race, Coo Coo Marlin was one of the sport’s earliest stars. A hard-nosed racer who made his name racing around the short tracks in Tennessee and Alabama, he became a regular at the Tennessee Fairgrounds, running against the likes of Bobby and Donny Allison and Red Farmer.
Marlin won his first title at the Fairgrounds in 1959. He added titles in 1962, then again in 1966 and 1967. His four titles were a record at the now-defunct race track.
Marlin moved on to NASCAR, where he made 165 Cup starts from 1966 to 1980. He had no wins, but earned nine top-fives and 51 top-10 finishes. His series best points finish was 20th in 1975.
“He was a great competitor,” said Richard Childress, who raced against Marlin before becoming a NASCAR team owner. “He was a lot of fun. I’ll tell you, he lived life every day having a ball.”
Recognized as a driver, Marlin also was well-known for a work ethic that kept him maintaining the land on his Tennessee farm until his death. He passed that work ethic on to his son, Sterling, who despite being a two-time Daytona 500 winner still spends his weekdays working on the farm.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Coo Coo’s name to the American Lung Association.
From the Associated Press
August 13, 2005: Roasters of 'Stacked' Star Romp High to Low
Sweet,
easy Pamela Anderson - centerfold, actress, philanthropist - enters a snake
pit of twisted and talented comedians Sunday night on "Comedy Central
Roast of Pamela Anderson." Let's cut to the chase: She's wearing a translucent
black top, and she's braless.
But that top - which can be seen straight through when the lights shine on it - may actually be among the least scandalous elements of the sick yet riveting roast, which was filmed Aug. 7 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles.
Among the most scandalous moments : jokes about genitals; the self-consciously scummy, diseased personas of almost everyone on the dais; and Courtney Love, the bloated musician, who throughout the proceedings acted as if she belonged in an institution. Again.
With Ms. Love thrashing around, it can be hard to remember that it is Ms. Anderson's night. Smoking cigarettes, Ms. Love heckled the comedians and flipped people off, regularly flashing her underwear and pulling up her top. When not lurching toward center stage in raw bids for attention, she slumped so far down in a white sofa that some of the male comedians - particularly the M.C., Jimmy Kimmel - appeared to prop her up. Toward the end of the roast, she reclined entirely.
"How is it possible that Courtney Love looks worse than Kurt Cobain?" the comic Jeffrey Ross asked. Is that line even legal?
But when people joked about Ms. Love's history of substance abuse, she would respond slurrily, "I've been sober for a year!"
"If you're not on drugs," Mr. Kimmel shot back at one point, "you've got problems."
As an event to raise money for PETA, the charity organization supported by Ms. Anderson, the evening proceeded without the wood-paneled gentlemen's-club ambience of the old Friars Club roasts. (Comedy Central no longer broadcasts these.) Instead, the graphics in the title sequence, which set the tone for the night, appeared to be inspired by tattoos, videogames and mud-flap detailing.
The roast was informal and coed, with Mr. Kimmel's first lady, Sarah Silverman, and the fat insult comic Lisa Lampanelli getting top billing. Bea Arthur, the ranking roaster, appeared if not shocked then certainly chastened by how low the jokes were going.
Ms. Anderson, on the other hand, appeared amply prepared for the jokes about her promiscuity, her surgical enhancements, her rumored moronism. ("Don't be fooled by the dumb blonde routine," Mr. Kimmel said. "This woman is as smart as a rock.")
Some jokes, though dirty, even seemed to please the pert pinup. Nick DiPaolo, noting that Ms. Anderson's body was so perfect that it seemed to defy the laws of digestion, speculated: "I think frozen strawberry yogurt comes out of it. It's in a swirl. It's got sprinkles on it."
Ms. Anderson beamed with pride.
She was also gracious, though more subdued, when Mr. DiPaolo slammed her work on television.
"As an actor," he said, "you have the emotional range of Terri Schiavo."
He added, "If I was a baby seal and I had a choice between being clubbed to death or watching an episode of 'Stacked,' I'd be like, 'Somebody call J. Lo and let her know her mittens are ready.' "
Some of the scheduled roasters, including Lady Bunny and Eddie Griffin, had their quips cut from the television version. The remarks of others, including the comedian David Spade and the Playboy king Hugh Hefner, appeared on video.
Mr. Hefner - who had Ms. Anderson on the cover of Playboy a record 11 times - turned sober in his speech. "In all seriousness, Pam, may your spirit and drive continue to inspire women everywhere to whip out their melons. Or, I mean, to throw off the chains of our sexually oppressive society."
The Bunnies who flanked Mr. Hefner cried out in protest. Mr. Hefner assured the girls that they would still get to use chains with him.
Surprisingly, given Ms. Love's oscillation between catatonia and exhibitionism throughout the night, Comedy Central chose to broadcast her own effort at roasting her friend Pam. "Don't worry," Mr. Kimmel said, introducing Ms. Love. "She slipped herself a roofie before the show."
But the former Hole singer plowed through a decent set of jokes, though she stumbled scarily as she started, saying that because she's sober now, "all these drug yokes - jokes - are tired." She savored her error for a beat and went into brief reverie: "Yokes. Jokes."
Referring to the reputation she and Ms. Anderson share for being good in bed, she also recognized a difference: A guy wants to have sex with Pam "and tell all your friends about it." With Ms. Love, a guy wants to have sex, "and tell none of your friends and see a doctor."
Ms. Love herself seemed to require the attention of a doctor. But she still insisted from the sidelines, "I've been sober for a year!"
"You got it, doll," said Sarah Silverman, unpersuaded, at one point. As Ms. Silverman told the crowd, "I was curious to see which Courtney Love was going to show up: the smeared-lipstick crazy coke whore or the violent smeared-lipstick crazy coke whore."
By the end of the raucous, nauseating and often funny night, it still wasn't clear.
Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson
Comedy Central, Sunday night at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.
From the New York Times, Virginia Heffernan
August 10, 2005: Courtney in Trouble
Again
Love accused of violating her probation
Days
after telling reporters at a red carpet event that she has been "clean
and sober for over a year," Courtney Love was charged today with violating
the terms of her probation.
Los Angeles District Attorney Gina Satriano filed the motion, which accuses Love of being under the influence of a controlled substance at a July 20th event for Liz Phair at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. According to Love's publicist, a concerned friend of Love's called an ambulance to take the singer -- who had been feeling "faint" and "nauseous" -- to a local hospital, from which she was released "immediately." According to a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, a report was taken and its contents were marked confidential.
This new motion against Love was filed as her lawyer, Michael Rosenstein, returned to court to give reports on the singer's probation for both a misdemeanor assault charge filed last summer and a misdemeanor health and safety violation, reduced from two felony drugs charges filed in late 2003. Both of Love's probation deals required that she attend a drug treatment program and be subjected to random narcotics tests.
Though violating her probation could result in a maximum penalty of up to one year in the county jail, a spokesperson for the D.A.'s office said "some sort of treatment program" is far more likely.
At press time, Love's representatives could not be reached for comment.
From Rolling Stone
August 9, 2005: Ozzfest Show Moved Back
According
to the Chico Enterprise-Record, Bill Graham Presents announced Monday (08/08)
that it has postponed Ozzfest 2005, an all-day heavy-metal concert scheduled
Sunday (08/14) for Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Marysville, CA.
The concert, featuring the Ozzy Osbourne-fronted Black Sabbath, along with Iron Maiden, Rob Zombie, Killswitch Engine and more, will take place Monday (08/15) instead.
"Contrary to published reports that Osbourne is sick, he is under doctors' advisement that he not perform consecutive shows (he will perform 08/13 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View)," a BGP press release stated.
Tickets for the postponed show will be honored Monday; refunds are available at place of purchase. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster and bgp.com, according to Blabbermouth.net.
From Ultimate-Guitar.com
August 7, 2005: Wife says disease that silenced Pryor's standup also saved his life
PEORIA,
Ill. - Instead of packed arenas, comedian Richard Pryor's tours now hustle
him through eight different medical checkups a month in what his wife jokingly
calls "the round robin of doctors."
Still, Jennifer Lee Pryor says her husband's crippling multiple sclerosis is a blessing, stripping away his taste for the drugs and alcohol she was convinced would have left him dead instead of just months shy of his 65th birthday.
"As productive and brilliant as he was, he was also self-destructive. He said God gave him MS to slow him down. This disease saved his life," she said in a telephone interview from the couple's California home.
Nearly two decades with the disease has left Pryor in a wheelchair and out of the public eye long after his expletive-laced standup act spawned dozens of movies and made the Peoria native box office magic through much of the late 1970s and early '80s. Entertainers from Bob Newhart to Chris Rock cite Pryor as one of the most influential comedians of all time.
Now, Pryor spends most of his time at his home in the hills near Encino, Calif., with two rescued dogs and his fifth wife, Jennifer. The couple divorced after a brief marriage in the early 1980s but remarried in 2001.
His years out of the public eye haven't dulled Pryor's star in the central Illinois town where he grew up in a brothel run by his grandmother, as depicted in the semi-autobiographical 1985 film "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling."
"From Peoria to Hollywood. How many people can actually do that?" said Joyce Adams, curator of a statewide African American Hall of Fame in Peoria that inducted the comedian as one of its 128 members in 1999.
His speech slurred by MS, Pryor declines interviews, but gets together often with family and friends, including fellow comics Robin Williams and George Lopez, his wife said. She said he also draws crowds every week when he heads out to the movies to see "almost always comedies."
"He's hanging in there remarkably. He's hanging on like a tick on a hound dog's tail," Jennifer Lee Pryor said.
She said MS has rocked her husband's body, but not his mind. Still, he no longer creates the routines that earned him three Grammy awards for comedy albums and the Kennedy Center's first-ever Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998.
"I sense that he feels that he did his thing and he doesn't need to do it anymore. But when he sees the other comics up there doing their thing, I'm sure he sometimes has a sense of 'Damn, I wish I was still out there,'" his wife said.
Pryor's Web site is plastered with tributes from two generations of comedians hailing Pryor as the king of comedy.
"There are many different kinds of comedians ... the observational
humorist, the impressionist, the character creator, the physical comedian,
the self-deprecator, the dirty-joke teller. What made Richard so brilliant
is he was able to incorporate all these styles at once," Damon Wayans,
part of Hollywood's comedic Wayans brothers, said in a posting on http://www.richardpryor.com
Pryor, named the top standup comedian ever in a 2004 Comedy Central poll,
has a better appreciation for his place in comedy history since MS forced
him off stage in 1996, Jennifer Lee Pryor said.
"Reflection is a wonderful thing. ... Richard was so driven he never took the time to understand the force that he was. He was so manic about achieving and creating and producing his work that I don't think he took the time to see his place in the world," she said.
Part of that place is marked in Peoria, where renaming a street in his honor four years ago was nearly derailed by arguments over Pryor's often-raunchy material and history of drug abuse, which included near-fatal burns in a 1980 fire linked to cocaine free-basing.
"They have to remember that Richard never did anything to anyone but himself. He may have offended some ears, but what comedian hasn't?" said Garrie "Pepper" Allen, 66, who went to school with Pryor and now is a barber on the renamed Richard Pryor Place, about five blocks from the comedian's since-demolished boyhood home.
Jennifer Lee Pryor said an artist is working on a sculpture of her husband that the couple may seek to display in Peoria or Chicago. A movie and documentary on Pryor's life also are in the works, said his wife, who doubles as his manager.
The projects could help expose Pryor to a generation that missed his act the first time around, said Bernie Drake, who gives historical tours of Peoria, including the house where "Jo Jo Dancer" was filmed 20 years ago.
"If I have older people on the tour, they all know who Richard Pryor is. If I have younger people, they don't particularly know," said Drake, interim executive director of the Peoria County Historical Society. "That always kind of surprises me."
From the Associated Press, Jan Dennis
August 7, 2005: Totally Tony
Stewart finally earns first Indy win, grabs points lead
INDIANAPOLIS
-- When victory finally came for Tony Stewart at Indianapolis on Sunday, it
was everything he thought it would be.
"This is one of those days, I don't want it to end," Stewart said. "I don't want to see the sun set. It's definitely the greatest day of my life, professionally and personally up to this point."
A lifelong quest to win a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended with Stewart finally getting his "Holy Grail," and he made sure to draw out the celebration as long as he could while the partisan crowd roared with approval.
It wasn't the native Hoosier's beloved Indianapolis 500, but the former IndyCar champion, who has longed to win a race at the historic speedway, held off a determined challenge from Kasey Kahne to grab an emotional victory in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
As the partisan crowd screamed "Tony! Tony! Tony!" a beaming Stewart said, "You dream about something for so long, you become consumed by it. To finally get to see what it was like coming down that main straightaway seeing the checkered flags was just incredible."
The 34-year-old Stewart, who came to NASCAR in 1999 from the Indy Racing League, where he was a champion, grew up coveting a victory at the historic track on the west side of Indianapolis.
In five tries in the 500, though, he never finished better than fifth. Until Sunday, his NASCAR resume wasn't any better, with two fifth-place finishes his best efforts in six previous starts.
Stewart dominated the Brickyard race in 2002, starting from the pole and leading 43 laps only to fade to a 12th-place finish. He was so frustrated, NASCAR's sometimes bad boy snapped and punched a photographer after the race.
Stewart was again the driver to beat in 2003, leading a race-high 60 laps. But two questionable stops for tires late in the race sent him reeling to another 12th-place finish and left him disappointed and frustrated.
Last year, he never led a lap and finished fifth.
His father, Nelson Stewart, has seen his son stress out in each previous try at Indy, saying, "When you do that, then anything can go wrong. It has (in the past), and that's generally what happens."
Not this time.
Stewart moved from North Carolina back to his hometown, Columbus, Ind., earlier this year and has repeatedly said he has changed his attitude, enjoying life more and not getting upset when things go wrong at the racetrack or away from it.
He came to the speedway this month hopeful and confident, the winner of four of his last six races and riding a string of seven straight top-10 finishes. Besides fulfilling his dream, Sunday's victory vaulted Stewart into the lead in the Nextel Cup standings for the first time since he wrapped up his only Cup title in 2002.
Stewart slept a little later than usual on Sunday morning and skipped the usual sponsor obligations, staying as calm and focused as possible. In the race, he was the epitome of patience -- not his usual style.
It paid off.
This race was up for grabs nearly to the end, with Stewart taking his first lead by passing Brian Vickers with 60 laps to go. But the 25-year-old Kahne, last year's top rookie, didn't make it easy, passing Stewart for the lead with 27 laps left in the 160-lap event -- bringing a groan from the crowd of more than 250,000.
Stewart stayed with Kahne, though. After Jimmie Johnson -- who came into the race as the points leader -- blew a tire and hit the wall on lap 144, bringing out the last of nine caution flags in the race, Stewart took advantage of the restart on lap on lap 150 to regain the lead.
Kahne hung onto the rear bumper of Stewart's orange No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for a couple of laps, but Stewart finally began pulling away and raced on to win by 0.794-seconds -- about five car-lengths.
Stewart, who has climbed the fence to the flagstand after his most recent victories this year, parked his car in the corner of turn two after the cool-down lap and walked up to the foot of the fence, where he popped open a can of soda and started sipping.
Then he got back in his car, started it up and headed for the start-finish line. After getting hugs from his crew, he lay down on the concrete wall at the bottom of the fencing, holding a checkered cloth to his forehead, wearing a giddy grin all the while.
"I'm dying right now," said Stewart, who noted the air conditioning in his driving suit only worked sporadically on the hot day. "Too tired to chase fences right now. Give me five minutes and I'll be ready."
Finally, Stewart regained enough energy to really begin his victory celebration, taking a slow ride around the famed 2.5-mile oval in a convertible truck, smiling and waving to the cheering fans.
He and his crew hung on the fence in front of the main grandstand for a while, then got on their knees and turned their hats backward for the Indy tradition of kissing the yard of red bricks that harken back to the days when the entire track was brick and now mark the finish line.
Kahne, who got his first Nextel Cup victory earlier this season at Richmond, was disappointed for himself but happy for Stewart.
"We had an awesome car," he said. "I just gave up a little bit through the restart. I couldn't do anything with it.
"It was a big win for Tony. He wanted to win this real bad."
Vickers finished third, followed by Jeremy Mayfield, Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears, Mark Martin and four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon.
As great a day as it was for Stewart, it was a disastrous race for Johnson, who started 42nd after his car failed inspection on Saturday.
He was able to drive into the top 20 early in the race but spun out and wound up being sent to the rear of the lead lap cars after making two pit stops for repairs when NASCAR had pit road closed.
Johnson was dazed after slamming hard into the wall late in the race. Calling it the "hardest hit I've taken," he had to be helped out of his car in the pits when the engine caught fire.
Asked if he realized the car was on fire, Johnson said, "No, I don't really remember coming from turn four to the pits. I just remember kind of waking up on pit road and the guys pulling me out of the car. So, it's all good."
Johnson, who fell to second place in the standings, 75 points behind Stewart, was taken to Methodist Hospital after the race for observation.
Another significant yellow flag came on lap 63 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was hit from behind and turned sideways into the inside wall by Mike Skinner before sliding back up the track and making contact with teammate Martin Truex Jr., Scott Wimmer and Robby Gordon.
The crash ended the day for Earnhardt, who was struggling with an ill-handling car and was running far back in the field. It also all but eliminated the fan favorite from contention for a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship that will include the top 10 drivers in the standings and any others within 400 points of the leader after the race Sept. 10 at Richmond.
From the Associated Press
August 5, 2005: Wife is behind Pryor lawsuit, says daughter
Richard
Pryor's daughter Rain is blaming her father's wife Jennifer Lee Pryor for
the lawsuit against her and movie-maker Penelope Spheeris.
The ailing comedian, who has been crippled by multiple sclerosis, reportedly claims that Lee Pryor and Spheeris took the master copy of his first film appearance in Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales and never returned it.
But the situation is shrouded in suspicion, as Rain has a good relationship with her father, and she insists his wife, who has power of attorney, is behind the legal action.
Rain fumes, "My father's wife is using my father's name to action a lawsuit against me."
A source tells British newspaper Daily Express, "The lawsuit was filed in La last week. People were taken aback to see Rain's name on there as she and her father are known to get along. It's a strange state of affairs."
From the World Entertainment News Network
August 4, 2005: Bennett, 79, not slowing down
Happy
79th birthday today to Tony Bennett! The beloved master singer is keeping
things "really down low this year, going out to a restaurant with my
lady, and that's it," he tells us, referring to longtime love Susan Crow.
"We're going big on the 80th one."
Already "several things are in the planning for next season," he says. Concerts, record releases, television? "Yeah, everything."
As for his personal wishes for the landmark occasion, he says, "I'm going to be very honest with you. It was such a sacrifice for my family and me when, for many years, to keep the career going, I kept up a schedule that was quite inhuman. The biggest wish I would have for my birthday is that my whole beautiful family, children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews, could all get together and feel good about each other."
Bennett's son Danny continues as his manager, son Dae is his recording engineer and operates the Bennett Studios where Tony records in New Jersey, younger daughter Antonia is "singing up a storm" in her own jazz career, and daughter Joanna, who shares his artistic bent, is in close touch and, "She's so beautiful."
Not that Tony will be sitting around until the big celebration gets under way. He has a string of summer concert dates ahead including his Aug. 12 and 13 stint at the Hollywood Bowl. "I just love it there, all of Hollywood comes out, and the whole area is so beautiful," he says. He has another album project in the works with his frequent collaborator, k.d. lang. "I have a good idea, but I can't mention the concept yet. It's - that terrible word - commercial," he says with a laugh. And he has a showing of his paintings coming up in Carmel "in about a month and a half." The good life, indeed.
From the LA Daily News, Marilyn Beck and Stacey Jenel Smith
August 2, 2005: Knotts illness delays hometown festival
MORGANTOWN,
W.Va. The failing health of Don Knotts is forcing his hometown of Morgantown,
West Virginia, to postpone a parade and film festival in his honor.
Stacey Brodak is executive director of the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau. Brodak says a doctor for the 81-year-old Emmy-winning actor advised him not to travel across the country from his home in Beverly Hills (California).
She cites "escalating health issues" but does not elaborate.
The Morgantown native with dozens of film credits is best known as the bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show." He also played would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company."
This fall, he'll be the voice of Turkey Mayor in the animated Disney film "Chicken Little."
Brodak says three events will go on as planned this month -- the unveiling of a sidewalk star, the first meeting of the local Don Knotts Fan Club and a display of Knotts memorabilia.
From the Associated Press
August 1, 2005: No laughing matter
Comedy
legend Jerry Lewis got cranky after giving a speech at a Las Vegas convention
last week, confiscating an advance copy of his upcoming autobiography, "Dean
and Me: A Love Story" (Doubleday), from a fan who asked for an autograph,
the New York Post reported yesterday.
The "Nutty Professor" star delivered an anti-piracy spiel at the Video Software Dealers Association's home entertainment convention, then went ballistic when fan Will Keenan presented an advance copy of Mr. Lewis' book and asked him to sign it. Mr. Lewis refused to return the book until Mr. Keenan got on his knees and begged, explaining he'd acquired it legitimately. The cantankerous comic relented and returned the tome, which goes on sale in October, with an autograph.
Mr. Lewis was unavailable for comment.
From the New York Post
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