WA2K Radio is now on the air

Well, Ellinas, I can see and hear enough to recognize that the vocalist has a fabulous voice, and the video part is awesome, dear. A man with balsa wood wings and done in a minor key, which always fascinates me.

Strangely enough, listeners. It reminds me of a hymn, "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent."

He is my favourite modern singer. For the ones liked it, here are some more video clips of him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20gQ_CPswXU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6KxAF9IqdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bWM-PgxVQ4

The first one is a genre called Zembekiko (my favourite dance), the second one has a more romantic tone, the third one is influenced by Greek-gypsy music.

Ellinas, the third one just got our attention. I had no idea there were Greek gypsies. How odd that they are called Roma. Perhaps that identification is descended from the Romanian culture.

My Irish friend once told me that the real gypsy was an Arab street urchin.

For the gypsy in all of us, listeners:



The faery beam upon you,
The stars to glister on you;
A moon of light
In the noon of night,
Till the fire-drake hath o'ergone you!
The wheel of fortune guide you,
The boy with the bow beside you;
Run ay in the way
Till the bird of day,
And the luckier lot betide you!

To the old, long life and treasure!
To the young all health and pleasure!
To the fair, their face
With eternal grace
And the soul to be loved at leisure!
To the witty, all clear mirrors;
To the foolish, their dark errors;
To the loving sprite,
A secure delight;
To the jealous, his own false terrors!

-- Ben Jonson

Shelley Winters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shelley Winters (August 18, 1920 - January 14, 2006) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress.

Life and career

Winters was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jewish parents - Jonas Schrift (an immigrant) and Rose Winter (born in Missouri to immigrant parents). Her family moved to Brooklyn, New York when she was 3 years old.

She studied in the Hollywood Studio Club, sharing the same bedroom with another beginner: Marilyn Monroe. As the New York Times obituary noted, "A major movie presence for more than five decades, Shelley Winters turned herself into a widely respected actress who won two Oscars." Winters originally broke into Hollywood as "the Blonde Bombshell," but quickly tired of the role's limitations. She washed off her makeup and played against type to set up Elizabeth Taylor's beauty in A Place in the Sun, still a landmark American film.

As the Associated Press reported, the general public was unaware of how serious a craftswoman Winters was. "Although she was in demand as a character actress, Winters continued to study her craft. She attended Charles Laughton's Shakespeare classes and worked at the Actors Studio, both as student and teacher."

Her first movie was What a Woman! (1943). In 1959, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Diary of Anne Frank and another for A Patch of Blue (1965). Notable later roles included her turn as the once gorgeous, alcoholic former starlet "Fay Estabrook" in Harper (1966) and in The Poseidon Adventure (1972) as the ill-fated "Mrs. Emmanuel Rosen", for which she received her final Oscar nomination. (She later reunited with her Poseidon costar, Jack Albertson in a number of episodes of Albertson's sitcom Chico and the Man during the mid-1970s.)

Always conscious of her Jewish heritage-- she had first learned her trade in the Borscht Belt-- she donated her Oscar for Anne Frank to the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam.

As the Associated Press reported, "During her 50 years as a widely known personality, Winters was rarely out of the news. Her stormy marriages, her romances with famous stars, her forays into politics and feminist causes kept her name before the public. She delighted in giving provocative interviews and seemed to have an opinion on everything."

That led to a second career as a writer. Though not an overwhelming beauty, her acting, wit, and "chutzpah" gave her a love life to rival Monroe's. In late life, she recalled her conquests in autobiographies so popular they undermined her reputation as a serious actor. She wrote of a yearly rendezvous she kept with William Holden, as well as her affairs with Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando.

Winters suffered an enormous weight gain later in life, frequently stating that it was a marketing tool, since there were plenty of prominent normal-weight older actresses but fewer overweight ones, and her obesity would enable her to find work more easily. In 1973 Winters even put on a short-lived Broadway musical review entitled "The Hoofing Hollywood Heffer", co-starring Charles Nelson Reilly and Bongo. a tap-dancing chimp. Although it closed after only 8 performances, this show was applauded for its sheer campy bravado by many critics, one of whom stated that Winters was a "Whale of a Talent looking for a sea of applaude big enough to rest her massive girth".

Audiences born in the 1980's knew her primarily for the autobiographies and for her television work, in which she played a humorous parody of her public persona. In a recurring role in the early 1990s, Winters played the title character's grandmother on the top-rated ABC sitcom Roseanne, which had the bizarre effect of making her play Estelle Parsons' (who played Roseanne's lesbian mother) mother, although Parsons was only 7 years younger, and looked about the same age as Winters.

She was married four times. Her husbands were:

1) Capt. Mack Paul Mayer, whom she married on New Years Day, 1943; they divorced in October 1948. Mayer was unable to deal with Shelley's "Hollywood lifestyle" and wanted a traditional homemaker for a wife. Winters wore his wedding ring up until her death and kept their relationship very private.
2) Vittorio Gassman, whom she married on April 28, 1952; they divorced on June 2, 1954. They had one child, Vittoria, a physician, who practices internal medicine at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was Winters' only child.
3) Anthony Franciosa, whom she married on May 4, 1957; they divorced on November 18, 1960.
4) Gerry DeFord, married in a legal ceremony on January 14, 2006, hours before her death.
Shortly before her death, Winters married long-time companion Gerry DeFord, with whom she had lived for nineteen years. Though Winters' daughter objected to the marriage, the actress Sally Kirkland, an ordained minister, performed a legal wedding ceremony for the two at Winters' deathbed. Non-denominational last rites for Winters were performed by Kirkland, a minister of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.

Death

Winters died on January 14, 2006 of heart failure at the Rehabilitation Centre of Beverly Hills at the age of 85 a few hours after she married DeFord; she had suffered a heart attack on October 14, 2005. Ex-husband Anthony Franciosa died of a stroke five days later.

The gypsies descent from Northern India. Through Persia and Turkey, they passed to Europe and spread during the dark ages. The word Roma has no relation with Romania, Rome or the Romance languages.

Greece has one of the largest gypsy populations in the world. They are here for more than 1000 years, and the Greek gypsies adopted many elements of the Greek culture and language. However they are not assimilated in the Greek society as they have their own communities (like almost everywhere).

Wonderful discussion, Ellinas, and thank you for your history. When our hawkman finishes with his "history", we will continue.

Roman Polański
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roman Polański (born August 18, 1933) is an Academy Award-winning Polish film director and actor. A celebrated Hollywood director of such films as Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974), he is also known for his tumultuous personal life. In 1969, his wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. In 1978, after pleading guilty to having sexual relations with a 13 year old girl, Polanski fled to Europe. Unwilling to return to the United States and face arrest, he has continued to direct films in Europe, including Frantic (1988), the Academy Award-winning The Pianist (2002), and Oliver Twist (2005).

Biography

Polański was born in Paris, France as Rajmund Roman Liebling to Ryszard Polański (aka Ryszard Liebling), a Polish Jew, and Bula Polanska (née Katz), who was born in Russia to a Jewish father and Roman Catholic mother.

Because of growing anti-semitism in France, the family moved back to Poland in 1937. Poland was occupied by German and Soviet troops in 1939.

On November 13, 1939, the Polish city of Kraków became the seat of office of Hans Frank. The General Government surrounded parts of the Polish state, which had not been annexed to Germany. The declared goal of the German occupiers was to make the General Government judenfrei, and to expel the Poles, so that Germans could settle there.

The Polański family was therefore the target of Nazi persecution and was forced into the Kraków Ghetto, along with thousands of other Polish Jews. Roman Polański's mother subsequently died in Auschwitz concentration camp; his father barely survived the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen-Gusen. Polański himself escaped the Kraków Ghetto, and survived the war with the help of a Polish farmer, where he had to sleep in a cow stall. Only after the war did he find out from his sister that his mother had died.

He was educated at the film school in Łódź, Poland, from which he graduated in 1959. Polański speaks six languages: Polish, Russian, English, French, Spanish, and Italian.


Relationship with Sharon Tate

Polański met rising star Sharon Tate while filming The Fearless Vampire Killers and during their time together doing the film they began dating. In 1968 Polański went to Hollywood, where his reputation was enhanced by the success of the sophisticated psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968), based on Ira Levin's book of the same name, about a woman (Mia Farrow) who discovers she is pregnant with Satan's baby. On January 25, 1968, he married Tate in London, England.

On August 9, 1969, Tate, who was eight months pregnant, and four others (Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent) were brutally murdered by members of Charles Manson's "Family", who entered the Polański home on Cielo Drive in the Hollywood Hills with the intention that they would "kill everyone there". Distraught and heartbroken, Polański returned to Europe shortly after the killers were arrested.

Also in 1969, Polański lost friend and collaborator Krzysztof Komeda (1931 - 1969). Komeda had been a popular jazz artist in Poland when the director first approached him to score a short film. He went on to score almost all of Polański's feature films until a head injury resulted in the composer's premature death. He is probably best known in the US for the haunting soundtrack to the movie Rosemary's Baby, but Komeda is also considered one of the most important figures of the Polish jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s.

The seventies

Polański's next feature was a film version of Macbeth (1971). This was followed by What? (1972), a surreal comedy about a young woman (Sydne Rome) and her adventures in a remote villa.

Chinatown (1974), from a screenplay by Robert Towne and starring Jack Nicholson, is a tale of corruption in pre-war Los Angeles. Polański has a cameo as a hood who slits Jake's nose open.

Polański took the lead in his next film, The Tenant (1976), the story of a Polish immigrant living in Paris.

Criminal indictment

In 1977 Polański, 43, became embroiled in a scandal involving 13-year-old Samantha Geimer; it ultimately led to Polański's guilty plea to the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.[1] According to Geimer, Polański asked Geimer's mother if he could photograph the 13-year-old girl for French Vogue. Her mother allowed a private photo shoot. According to transcripts of testimony, Polański photographed Geimer on February 20, 1977, in the Hollywood Hills. This photo shoot took place without incident, except for the fact that Polański asked Geimer to pose topless for some of the photographs.[2]

According to Geimer in a 2003 interview, "Everything was going fine; then he asked me to change, well, in front of him." She added, "It didn't feel right, and I didn't want to go back to the second shoot."

However, subsequent to the first photo shoot, she did agree to a second session, which took place on March 10, 1977, in the Mulholland area of Los Angeles, near Jack Nicholson's estate. "We did photos with me drinking champagne," Geimer says. "Toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized he had other intentions and I knew I was not where I should be. I just didn't quite know how to get myself out of there." Geimer alleged that Polański sexually assaulted her after giving her a combination of champagne and quaaludes. In the 2003 interview, Geimer says she resisted. "I said no several times, and then, well, gave up on that," she says. [3]

However, her 1977 deposition[4] makes clear that Geimer drank champagne of her own volition, in the company of Polański and another woman who was in Nicholson's house with them.[5] Furthermore, in the sworn 1977 statement, Polański told Geimer to call her mother. In this telephone conversation, Geimer's mother asked her directly if she wanted her to come pick her up. Geimer said no, she wanted to stay with Polański. Polański then spoke to Geimer's mother and told her that they would be shooting until late.[6] Subsequent to this conversation, Polański took a quaalude, broke it into three, and asked Geimer whether he should take any, considering that he was driving. She didn't know. Polański then took a piece of the quaalude. He then asked her if she wanted any. Geimer, knowing full well that it was a third of a quaalude tablet, said, "Okay".[7] They then proceeded to continue shooting photographs, and eventually to have sex, both vaginal and anal.

Polański was initially charged[8] with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance (methaqualone) to a minor, but these charges were dismissed under the terms of his plea bargain, and he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (Washington Post, August 10, 1977[9]). The grand jury transcript describes the alcohol that Polański allegedly supplied before engaging in oral, vaginal and anal sex with the girl[10]. (In Roman by Polański, Polański alleged that the mother had set up the daughter as part of a casting couch and blackmail scheme against him.) It was alleged that the director drugged her with quaaludes and alcohol, during a "photo shoot", and then proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her at the empty Hollywood Hills home of actor Jack Nicholson[11]. The sister of the girl overheard her describing this to her friend over the phone, and the mother reported the incident to the police. After being indicted and spending 45 days in psychiatric evaluation, Polański fled the United States for Paris when it seemed that the judge would not approve his plea bargain deal for no prison sentence[citation needed].

A fugitive

On February 1, 1978, Polański fled to France, where he retained citizenship. He believed that the judge was going to disregard the plea bargain, in which case he could be sentenced to a prison term of up to 50 years. Like many countries, France refuses to extradite its own citizens, which is consistent with the extradition treaty between France and the United States. As a consequence, the American extradition request was not granted. The United States government could have requested that Polański be prosecuted on the California charges by the French authorities (The Washington Post, February 3, 1978 [12]), but this option was not pursued.

The United States could still request the arrest and extradition of Polański from other countries, should he visit them. As a consequence, Polański has since avoided visits to countries that were likely to extradite him, such as the United Kingdom, mostly travelling between France and Poland.

In a 2003 interview, Samantha Geimer said, "Straight up, what he did to me was wrong. But I wish he would return to America so the whole ordeal can be put to rest for both of us." Furthermore, "I'm sure if he could go back, he wouldn't do it again. He made a terrible mistake but he's paid for it."

Vanity Fair libel case

In 2004, Polański sued Vanity Fair magazine in London for libel. A 2002 article in the magazine written by A. E. Hotchner recounted a claim by Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's, that Polański had made sexual advances towards a young model as he was travelling to Sharon Tate's funeral, claiming that he could make her "the next Sharon Tate". The court permitted Polański to testify via a video link, after he expressed fears that he might be extradited were he to enter the United Kingdom. [13][14]. The trial started on July 18, 2005, and Polański made English legal history as the first claimant to give evidence by video link. During the trial, which included the testimonies of Mia Farrow and others, it was proved that the alleged scene at the famous New York restaurant Elaine's could not possibly have taken place on the date given, because Polański only dined at this restaurant three weeks later. Also, the Norwegian model disputed accounts that he had claimed to be able to make her "the next Sharon Tate".

Polański was awarded £50,000 damages by the High Court in London. Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, responded, "I find it amazing that a man who lives in France can sue a magazine that is published in America in a British courtroom." Samantha Geimer commented, "Surely a man like this hasn't got a reputation to tarnish?" [15]

Later career

He received another Academy Award nomination for Tess (1979). Pirates (1986), a lavish period piece, was a commercial and critical failure. This was followed by Frantic (1988), which features actress and model Emmanuelle Seigner, whom the director married in 1989. She starred in others of his films including Bitter Moon, in 1992, and The Ninth Gate (1999). They have two children: Morgane and Elvis, the latter named after his favourite singer, Elvis Presley.

In 1997 he directed a stage version of The Fearless Vampire Killers, a musical, which debuted on October 4, 1997 in Vienna as Tanz der Vampire, the German title of the film version. After closing in Vienna, the show had successful runs in Stuttgart and Hamburg, Germany.

In May 2002, Polański won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) award at the Cannes Film Festival for The Pianist, for which he also later won the 2002 Academy Award for Directing. He did not attend the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, because he still faces sentencing and possible prison time if he enters the United States. In 2004 he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

During the summer and autumn of 2004, Polański shot a new film adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. The shooting took place at the Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic, based on Ronald Harwood's screenplay. The actors included Barney Clark (Oliver Twist), Jamie Foreman (Bill Sykes), Harry Eden (the Artful Dodger), Ben Kingsley (Fagin), Lee-anne Rix (Nancy), and Edward Hardwicke (Mr Brownlow). Besides the cast, the director gathered some collaborators from his previous movies: Ronald Harwood (screenplay), as noted, Allan Starski (production designer), Pawel Edelman (director of photography), and Anna Sheppard (costume designer).

Style

Most of Polański's films are psychological thrillers. A recurring theme in his work is the relationship between victim and predator (Death and The Maiden, Bitter Moon, Cul-de-Sac, Rosemary's Baby). His films depict a world that is cruel, grotesque and filled with brutal sex and dark humour. Polański likes to shoot his films from the position of a voyeur. Death and the Maiden star Stuart Wilson said of Polański, "Roman is very deep water pretending shallow water."

Other facts

Polański has said that the greatest regret he has about his life was not being at his home on Cielo Drive when Sharon Tate and the others were murdered.
Dedicated the movie Tess to Sharon Tate. After spending time with Polanski in London, Tate left a copy of the book, along with a note saying it would make a good film, on Polanski's nightstand. She returned to the United States and was murdered soon after.

Patrick Swayze
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born: August 18, 1952

Occupation: dancer, actor, singer and songwriter
Patrick Wayne Swayze (born August 18, 1952) is an American dancer, actor, singer and songwriter, memorable for his roles in the popular films Dirty Dancing (where he wrote and composed the hit song She's Like the Wind) (1987), Ghost (1990), and Point Break (1991).

He also appeared in Red Dawn (1984), Road House (1989), Black Dog (1998), and Donnie Darko (2001). He is also famous for the North and South miniseries.

The son of Jesse Wayne Swayze and choreographer and ballet school owner Patricia Yvonne Helen Karnes, he was born in Houston, Texas. Swayze attended Oak Forest Elementary School, Black Middle School, and Waltrip High School in Houston. Swayze formally trained at the Harkness and Joffrey Ballet Schools in New York City. His first professional appearance was as a dancer for Disney on Parade, then in the Broadway production of Grease, before his debut film role as Ace in Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979). He also appeared in the M*A*S*H episode Blood Brothers. He is currently starring as Nathan Detroit in the London production of Guys and Dolls.

Swayze received Golden Globe Award nominations for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Ghost and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995).

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), a quasi-sequel to Dirty Dancing, had Swayze cast as a dance instructor in a cameo.

He has been married to actress Lisa Niemi since June 12, 1975. His brother, Don Swayze, is also an actor.

Swayze is very spiritual. He is known for his faith in the healing power of crystals. Brought up Roman Catholic, he reportedly has an interest in Buddhism. His favorite colors include blue, teal, burgundy, earthtones and faded black.

Swayze has also bred Arabian horses. His best-known horse was the late Tammen, a chestnut Arabian stallion.

Trailer Park Boys' Julian is sometimes called Patrick Swayze due to the very slight resemblance. In the episode "Conky', Julian resorts to destroying a puppet's head with his gun after the comment.

Denis Leary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an Emmy-nominated American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is known for his often angry comedic style with an extremely libertarian viewpoint.

Early life

Leary was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Irish Catholic immigrants John Leary (an auto mechanic who died in 1985[citation needed]) and Nora (a maid); Leary holds both Irish and American citizenship. He graduated from Saint Peter-Marian High School in Worcester. Through marriage, Leary is a distant cousin of talk show host Conan O'Brien, and has jokingly said on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that "All Irish people are related." His name is often misspelled as "Dennis", instead of "Denis."

Career

Leary first became famous through an MTV sketch in which he ranted about R.E.M. Several other commercials for MTV followed, in which Leary would rant at high speeds about a variety of topics. He has released two records of his stand-up comedy: No Cure For Cancer (1993) and Lock 'N Load (1997). In late 2004 he released the EP Merry F#%$in' Christmas, which included a mix of new music, previously unreleased recordings, and some tracks from Lock 'N Load.

In 1994, his sardonic song about the American lower-middle-class male, Asshole, achieved much notoriety. It was voted #1 in a major Australian youth radio poll (the Triple J Hottest 100) as well as reaching #2 in the singles chart in that country. The video also became a staple of MTV's late-night programming. Due to its explicit and controversial content, however, it received limited airplay on mainstream American radio stations. At the 2004 Comics Come Home in Boston, Massachusetts, Denis performed a new version of the song directed at the New York Yankees, and as the song concluded, Bronson Arroyo walked on stage with the World Series trophy.

Although he says he is most at home on stage doing stand-up, Leary has appeared as an actor in over 40 movies, including The Sandlot, Monument Ave., The Match Maker, The Ref, Suicide Kings, Dawg, Wag the Dog, Demolition Man, The Thomas Crown Affair and Operation Dumbo Drop. He has also starred in two television series, The Job and Rescue Me. In addition, Leary has provided voices for characters in animated films such as the saber-toothed tiger 'Diego' in Ice Age and 'Francis' in A Bug's Life. He's produced (and still produces) numerous movies, television shows, and specials through his production company Apostle; these include Comedy Central's Shorties Watching Shorties, the stand-up special Denis Leary's Merry F#$%in' Christmas, and the movie Blow. As a Boston Red Sox fan, he narrated the official 2004 World Series film.

Leary is now the star and co creator of F/X's Rescue Me. He plays a New York City fire fighter who is a recovering alcoholic. In July 2006, Leary picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in "Rescue Me".

Accusations of plagiarism

This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry.
Please improve the article or discuss proposed changes on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.
For many years, Leary had been friends with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. However, when Hicks heard Leary's 1993 release No Cure For Cancer he was upset and claimed Leary was stealing his material. This was due to the similarity in topics covered and some of Hicks' punchlines, particularly those from Hicks' releases of Sane Man (1989) and Dangerous (1990), allegedly having variants in Leary's act. The friendship ended abruptly as a result. Leary has said he wanted to patch things up before Hicks died in 1994, though this confession happened several years after Hicks' death.

While it has never been proven that Leary stole material from anyone (a claim which he fiercely denies), some comedians (notably Joe Rogan and Greg Giraldo) consider aspects of Leary's act and persona to be stolen from the late comedian. However, many other comedians (including Colin Quinn - and, according to some questionable sources, Janeane Garofalo, a Hicks fan and narrator of a 2003 documentary about Hicks) have formed close personal and/or professional relationships with Leary, which suggests that the opinion of him as a material thief is not shared by everyone within the profession. Interestingly Gregg "Opie" Hughes of the Opie and Anthony show, a long time friend of Leary's has still been vocal that he feels Leary's albums ripped off Bill Hicks. During Denis Leary's roast, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary, delivered the most stinging barb, saying there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from the late comedian Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." (8/10/2003 Boston Globe) This comment was censored from Roast of Denis Leary Uncensored, taking into question the "uncensored" label.

This controversy was addressed in The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True:

Leary was in Montreal to host the Nasty Show at Club Soda and Colleen (one of Bill Hicks' managers) was coordinating the talent so she was standing backstage when she heard Leary doing material that sounded incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: "Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. Dude, the plot thickens." When Leary came off-stage, Colleen said, more stunned than angry (but still mad), "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks' material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary allegedly stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and apparently briskly left the dressing room."
The book cites several other examples of lines in No Cure for Cancer that Leary allegedly used from older Bill Hicks rants, and points out that this doesn't include the "intellectual" or philosophical rantings of Hicks' act.

When asked about Leary, Hicks told an interviewer: "I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did."

Others point out that most comedians simply base material on the "hot" topics of their time, and that Hicks and Leary were far from being the only comedians (albeit among the more memorable) who had routines on subjects like the Judas Priest Trial or backmasking in general (e.g. Brian Haley), comparing different drugs (e.g. George Carlin, Robin Williams), and the death of Jim Fixx (an irony jabbed at by many, including several late-night talk show hosts). Similarly, it's somewhat common for comedians who are smokers to have routines regarding the rise of anti-cigarette smoking campaigns. However, some claim the controversy is more about similarity of delivery, as well as similarity of material.

Leary Firefighters Foundation

On December 3, 1999, six firefighters from Leary's hometown of Worcester were killed in a massive warehouse fire. Among the dead were Leary's cousin, Jerry Lucey, and his close childhood friend, Lt. Tommy Spencer. In response, the comedian founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation. Since its creation in the year 2000, the foundation has distributed over $2.5 million (USD) to fire departments in the Worcester, Boston, and New York City areas for equipment, training materials, new vehicles, and new facilities.

A separate fund run by Leary's foundation, the Fund for New York's Bravest, has distributed over $2 million (USD) to the families of the 343 firemen killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as providing funding for necessities such as a new mobile command center, first responder training, and a high-rise simulator for the FDNY's training campus. This new fund was established because the families of the Worcester fire did not want to include New York families into the fund, as a result Leary created a separate fund for New York.

As the foundation's president, Leary has been active in all of the fundraising, and usually presents large checks and donated equipment personally. The close relationship he has developed with the FDNY, as well as individual firefighters across the New York/New England area, has resulted in Leary's most recent television show, Rescue Me, a Comedy-drama on FX. In the pilot episode of the show, he is seen wearing a Leary Firefighter Foundation 9-11 Memorial T-Shirt.

Leary has close ties with 107.3 WAAF-FM, who in 2000 released the station album "Survive This!." Part of the proceeds from this album were donated to the Leary Firefighters Foundation.

Emerson College

Leary is a very proud graduate of Emerson College in Boston. He attended said college along with Mario Cantone and Gina Gershon. At the school he founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop, a troupe that continues to thrive on-campus to this day. After graduating with the Emerson Class of 1979, he took up a job with the school teaching comedy writing classes and maintained the job for five years. Leary was honored with a honorary doctorate and spoke briefly at his alma mater's undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 16, 2005. During a December 2005 appearance at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre he claimed that Emerson College "saved his life" by giving him direction and that throughout his career he's "never forgotten" the lessons he learned there. He also claimed that he was the reason Emerson students were no longer allowed on the roofs of the buildings at Emerson, due to an incident following Game 6 of the 1975 World Series where he and some classmates allegedly poured a large bucket of ice water down onto a Cincinnati Reds fan on the sidewalk below.

Personal Life

Denis Leary has been married to writer Ann Lembeck since 1982. They met when he was her instructor for an English class at Emerson College. They have two children, son John Joseph "Jack" (born 1990) and daughter Devin (born 1992). Lembeck published a novel, An Innocent, a Broad, about the premature birth of their son on an overseas visit to England.

Madeleine Stowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Madeleine Stowe (born August 18, 1958) is an American actress. She was born in Eagle Rock, a community next to Los Angeles, California, the eldest of three sisters. Her father was British, while her mother had immigrated from Costa Rica as a young woman. Her father suffered from multiple sclerosis, which threw a shadow of sadness over her childhood.

When she was 10, Stowe began taking piano lessons with the aim of becoming a concert pianist, but she gave up some years later following her instructor's death. She then studied cinema and journalism at the University of Southern California. Not overly interested in her classes, Stowe volunteered to do performances at the Solaris, a Beverly Hills theater, where a movie agent saw her in a play, and subsequently got her several offers of appearances in movies TV and films.

For nearly fifteen years Stowe appeared mostly in minor or supporting roles in movies and on TV. A few of her performances from this period became, however, well-known to the public, as was the case for Stakeout (1987), where she played opposite Richard Dreyfuss, and Revenge, (1990), which co-starred Kevin Costner. In 1992 Stowe finally landed a leading role in The Last of the Mohicans, which also starred Daniel Day-Lewis.

Thereafter, several major film roles followed. Director Robert Altman cast Stowe in Short Cuts, in which she gave one of her best screen performances as the wife of compulsive liar Tim Robbins. She was a touching blind musician in the thriller Blink, co-starring Aidan Quinn, and a sympathetic psychiatrist in the science-fiction movie Twelve Monkeys. Stowe postponed her acting career in '96 in order to concentrate on motherhood. In 1998 she came back with The Proposition.

Stowe is married to actor Brian Benben, with whom she acted in a TV film in 1981. The couple have a daughter and spend all their spare time on the ranch they own in Texas.

How about a few Brain Teasers:

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three
rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of
assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't
eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5
minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out
together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3. There are two plastic jugs filled with water. How could you put all
of this water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and
still tell which water came from which jug?

4. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and
gray when you throw it away?

5. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

6. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious how quickly you can find
out what is so unusual about it. It looks so plain you would think
nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is
unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find
anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out.

Sorry, I don't have the answers to these... Just kidding.

1. The third. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are dead.

2. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband,
developed it, and hung it up to dry.

3. Freeze them first. Take them out of the jugs and put the
ice in the barrel. You will be able to tell which water came from which
jug.

4. The answer is Charcoal.

5. Sure you can: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!

6. The letter "e", which is the most common letter in the English
language, does not appear once in the long paragraph.

Well, folks, our BioBob has left us with a coda of a different sort today. So glad that you provided us with the answers, hawkman. I don't know about the rest of you folks, but Letty's brain needs a jump start.

Before our Raggedy arrives, here's a test for all our brains. With which bio does this song go?

Artist: The Beatles
Song: Helter Skelter Lyrics

When I get to the bottom
I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and turn
and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me tell me come on tell me the answer
and you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer

Go helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
I will you won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer

Look out
Helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
Look out cause here she comes

When I get to the bottom
I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and turn
and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Well will you won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer

Look out
Helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu,

Helter Skelter
She's coming down fast
Yes she is
Yes she is
coming down fast

Polanski; Charlie Manson was supposedly trying to trigger a race war, which he called Helter Skelter, with the Tate-La Bianca murders.

Good afternoon.

I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to:

The way they were:



and



and remember

Hey, Mr. Turtle. You're right about Manson, but I had no idea that it was his intent to create a race war, m.d. I do believe that one of the Beach Boys was somehow involved with the man.


Helter Skelter is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi (with Curt Gentry) about the 1969 Manson Family murders and Bugliosi's own prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers. Helter Skelter was first published in the United States in 1974 and became a bestseller. It takes its title from the song by the Beatles, which Manson was obsessed with. Manson used the phrase for an anticipated race war.

Helter Skelter won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best true crime book of the year.

The book was the basis for two movies released in 1976 and 2004.

Well, there's our Raggedy with fantastic photo's as usual. Thanks, P.A. and Happy Birthday, Robert, Patrick, and Shelly.

Back later, listeners, with a song that Raggedy has mentioned.

and this, listeners, is for all of us.

Memries,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?
Memries, may be beautiful and yet
Whats too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So its the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...

Ah, Raggedy, remember this? Wasn't the song from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid?


B.J.Thomas Lyrics
Song: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

[trumpet]

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

Yes indeed, and if my memory serves me correctly, I think one of them (maybe two) was riding a bicycle at the time.