Lenny Kravitz: In hospital with flu complications
February 12, 2008
Grammy award winning American singer, songwriter, record producer and arranger Lenny Kravitz has been hospitalized due to complications from bronchitis. Kravitz came down with the flu in January and has been suffering from severe respiratory tract infections. The European tour to promote the new album It Is A Time For Revolution has been postponed.
Lenny Kravitz spokesperson issued the following statement, "Due to extreme dehydration and fatigue, doctors were unable to control it with outpatient treatment and advised the singer to check into the hospital. He was taken this morning to the emergency room at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami for immediate treatment."
Kravitz retro hippie reggae funk rock style of music are in part a result of the early musical influences of Count Basie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, Sarah Vaughan, and the rock music of Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, and The Who. To date, Kravitz has released nine albums: Let Love Rule, Mama Said, Are You Going My Way, Circus, 5, Greatest Hits, Lenny, Baptism and It is Time for a Love Revolution.
Delta Burke: Designing Women star in Psychiatric Ward
February 6, 2008
Best known for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the television series Designing Women, tv, stage and film actress Delta Burke checked into a psychiatric hospital because her medications were not working in the treatment for severe depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and an excessive hoarding disorder.
According to a taped conversation with Burke published on the TMZ blog, Ms Burke shared they suspect she has not been properly diagnosed. Of her mental suffering, Burke spoke most about wanting to get her hoarding issue under control.
She explained, "Okay — have you seen those shows where they don’t find the body for days and they go in to clean up and it’s stacks of newspapers up to the ceiling? That’s hoarding and I hate it."
Ms Burke was voted Most Likely to Succeed in high school. She went on to win Miss Florida. Of the Designing Women cast members, Ms Burke received two Emmy nominations for Best Actress as Suzanne Sugarbaker. She has a recurring role on Boston Legal as Bella Horowitz, a former love interest of William Shatner’s character Denny Crane. Currently, it is reported she is reprising her role as Noleta in the upcoming 2008 Del Shores’ TV series Sordid Lives: The Series.
Delta Burke has been married to actor Gerald McRaney for nearly twenty years. We wish Ms Burke and her family all the best.
Shell Kepler: General Hospital Amy Vining has died
February 2, 2008
Television actress and daytime soap star Shell Kepler has passed away from renal failure. Kepler, who appeared in TV shows CHiPS, Garry Shandling Show and Three’s Company, was best known for her role as Amy Vining on General Hospital.
"I love the soaps," explained Kepler. "I’ve been watching General Hospital since I was three years old and I really care about the characters. I’ve grown up with them."
Kepler made the decision to become an actress at the age of two after watching The Wizard of Oz. She appeared on stage for the first time at the age of nine in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Kepler was an astute businesswoman, investing in real estate and the stock market. After retiring to Portland, Oregon, she devoted her time to charity fundraising. Shell Kepler was 46.
Led Zeppelin has new herb habit
January 13, 2008
Party all night, work all day. Until you reach your 40s, this lifestyle can be pulled off with relative ease. Somewhere past 40, the recovery time from a night of drinking or drugging elevates the high to an activity not worth the cause and effect.
If you are past 40, I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I found it amusing when a reporter found it noteworthy in Whole lotta herb tea of Led Zeppelin’s stairlift to heaven that on the band’s reunion tour Led Zeppelin passed on the alcohol for herbal teas.
According to the article, Led Zeppelin has traded the coke lady for the cup of tea lady. Led Zeppelin requested the band’s backstage dressing room be stocked with caffeine-free herbal tea and sparkling water. Respectfully, Robert Plant is 59, John Paul Jones is 61, and Jimmy Page is 63. At some point, most of us grow up into sensible recreations. Living your life like its a mental train wreck or waking up in the morning feeling chewed up and thrown away has been replaced by healthy organic living habits. It’s the new buzz.
[Photo credit: Ella Mullins on Flickr]
Helen Mirren in Oxfam Unwrapped: Give a decent gift
December 16, 2007
Award-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, funny man Rob Brydon and musician Will Young appear in a comical tongue-in-cheek and yet serious OxFam Unwrapped PSA appealing to the sensibilities of Christmas shoppers to give a decent gift this holiday season.
Instead of, say, another talking fish or dancing pig.
Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries working to end global poverty and injustice.
Two of the most popular gift donations are sheep and life-sustaining crop trees. Green gifts include a can of worms, fair trade honey, bicycle, sponsorship of a farmer, and a quinoa crop. For the truly hard to buy for on your Christmas gift list is the exotic purchase of a crocodile life.
(video of ad follows after the jump …)
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Harry Potter: JK Rowling green publishing saves ancient forests
December 2, 2007
Creator of young waif wizard Harry Potter and the imaginary magical world of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry author JK Rowling accepted The Order of the Forest award from the Canadian environmental organization Markets Initiative in recognition of her influence in the book publishing industry shift to green printing practices.
When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was set to go to print, Rowling requested publishing houses use environmentally-friendly paper sources.
As a result, the pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did not threaten the destruction of trees in ancient or endangered forests. In addition to the 197,685 trees still standing, the green publishing practices conserved 327,657,453 liters of water and eliminated 7,876,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions traditional printing would have spewed into the atmosphere.
Markets Initiative credits Rowling with launching a trend that has seen an additional 300 publishers, including HarperCollins UK, Random House US and Scholastic, adopt green printing policies.
Kanye West suffers tragic loss of mother Donda
November 12, 2007
Hey Mama, I wanna scream so loud for you,
cuz I’m so proud of you
Let me tell you what I’m about to do,
I know I act a fool but, I promise you I’m goin back to school
I appreciate what you allowed for me
I just want you to be proud of me — Hey Mama Kanye West
Mother of hip hop artist Kanye West Donda West has died unexpectedly from surgical complications. Kanye and his mother Donda had a loving and supportive relationship. Donda was devoted to her son Kanye. Kanye was devoted to his mother Donda.
Earlier this year, a book written by Donda West Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar was published. An excerpt from an Amazon editorial review of Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar reads:
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Al Gore: Global warming Nobel Peace Prize concert
November 8, 2007
In honor of Nobel Peace Prize winners Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has announced this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Concert will feature musical artists Melissa Etheridge, Annie Lennox, Alicia Keys, KT Tunstall, Earth Wind & Fire, Nick Davies, Juanes and Junoon.
Presented by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the Peace Prize Concert will be held on December 11 at the Spektrum Arena in Oslo, Norway. Tickets to the concert can be purchased through Oslo Spektrum and Billlettservice.
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George Osmond: Donny and Marie Osmond father dies
November 6, 2007
Dancing with the Stars competitors and fans have experienced both shocking and sad news this season with the death of Jane Seymour’s mother, Marie Osmond’s fainting spell, Jane Seymour’s food poisoning and now the death of Donny and Marie Osmond’s father George Osmond.
George Osmond passed away at home in Utah from natural causes. He was reported to be in good health and in good spirits just days before his death.
Entertainment Tonight reported the loss of the Osmond family patriarch as Donny happened to be in the studio taping a segment to be aired later that evening on ET when he received the news. The day before the death of his father, Donny had been visiting the ET set and spoke with Mary Hart about his father’s health.
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Drew Carey: Medical marijuana freedom video
November 3, 2007
Drew Carey has gained an impressive entertainment resume with such hits as The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line is it Anyway? In addition to currently hosting The Price Is Right and Power of 10, comedian Drew Carey has taken on a more serious role as host of The Drew Carey Project, a series of videos for the nonprofit educational group Reason Foundation that examines freedom in the lives of every day people.
Premiering in mid-October, the second episode features medical marijuana use and the conflict between states that have legalized medical marijuana use and the continued federal war on drugs.
Here is the ten minute video documentary from The Drew Carey Project:
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