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Eli Whitney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 - January 8, 1825) was an American inventor and manufacturer.


Biography

Born in Westborough, Massachusetts, the son of a farmer, Whitney graduated from Yale College in 1792, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. On January 6, 1817 he married Henrietta Edwards and they had four children.

Invention and innovation

Cotton gin

Whitney is credited with creating the first cotton gin in 1793, a mechanical device which removed the seeds from cotton, a process which until that time had been extremely labor-intensive. This contributed to the economic development of the Southern states of the United States, a prime cotton growing area; some historians believe that this invention allowed for the African slavery system in the Southern United States to become more sustainable at a critical point in its development.

While his ideas were innovative and useful, they were so easy to understand and reproduce that the concepts and designs were readily duplicated by others. Whitney's company that produced cotton gins went out of business in 1797.

There exists question today over whether the cotton gin, which Whitney received a patent for on March 14, 1794, and its constituent elements should rightly be attributed to Eli Whitney; some contend that Catherine Littlefield Greene should be credited with the invention of the cotton gin, or at least its conception. It is known that she associated with Eli Whitney (along with other historical figures such as George and Martha Washington).


Eli Whitney is also credited with the creation of interchangable parts and mass production of rifles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney

ean Sibelius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jean Sibelius (December 8, 1865 - September 20, 1957) was a Finnish composer of classical music; he also studied the violin as a young man. Together with the work of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Sibelius's music is synonymous with Finnish national identity.

Sibelius was born into a Swedish-speaking family in Hämeenlinna in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. He was given the names Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, but from an early age he adopted the name of his French uncle Jean. His family consciously decided to send Jean to an important Finnish language school. "Janne" as he was called, attended The Hämeenlinna Normal-lycée the years 1876-1885. This should be seen as part of the larger rise of the Fennoman movement, an expression of Romantic Nationalism which was to become a crucial part of Sibelius' artistic output and politics.

His most famous compositions are probably Finlandia, Valse Triste, the violin concerto, the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela (a movement from his Lemminkäinen Suite). However he wrote much more, including other pieces inspired by the Kalevala, seven numbered symphonies, over 100 songs for voice and piano, incidental music for 13 separate plays, an opera (Jungfrun i tornet, which remains unpublished), chamber music including a string quartet, piano music, 21 separate publications of choral music, and Masonic ritual music.

The Finnish graphic designer Erik Bruun used Jean Sibelius as the motif for the 100 markka note in Finland's final markka series.


Musical style


Jean Sibelius was part of a wave of composers who accepted the norms of late 19th century composition, but sought to radically simplify the internal construction of the music. Like Antonin Dvorák this led him to seek idiomatic melodies with an identifiably national character; but he also brought a unique and idiosyncratic approach to developmental technique. He was influenced by Ferruccio Busoni and Peter Tchaikovsky; the influence of the latter is particularly evident in his un-numbered choral symphony Kullervo, from 1891, as well as his Symphony No. 1 in E Minor of 1899: indeed the influence of these two composers is evident as late as his Violin Concerto of 1903. However, he progressively stripped away formal markers of sonata form in his work, and pursued the idea of continuously developing cells and fragments until coming to a grand statement at the end. The synthesis was often so complete that it was thought that he began from the finished statement and worked backwards.


Sibelius built much of his music with melodies that have very powerful modal implications, and that are drawn out over a number of notes. Like his contemporary, the Dane Carl Nielsen, he studied Renaissance polyphony closely, which accounts for much of the melodic and harmonic "feel" of his music. His harmonic language is often restrained and reductive in comparison with that of many of his contemporaries, and makes frequent use of pedal points. He stated "music often loses its way without a pedal." Because of this, Sibelius' music is sometimes considered insufficiently complex, but he was immediately respected by his peers, including Gustav Mahler. Later in life he was championed by critic Olin Downes but attacked by composer-critic Virgil Thomson. Perhaps one reason Sibelius attracts the ire of critics is that in each of his seven symphonies he approached the basic problems of form, tonality, and architecture in unique, individual ways.

Sibelius over time sought to use new chord patterns, including naked tritones, for example in the Symphony No. 4, and bare melodic structures to build long movements of music, in a manner similar to Joseph Haydn's use of built-in dissonances. Sibelius would often alternate melodic sections with blaring brass chords that swell and fade away, or he would underpin his music with repeating figures which push against the melody and counter-melody. His work is rich with literary reference, even when not explicit. The Second Symphony has a movement that has been compared to the statue in Don Giovanni sneaking by moonlight, while the stark Fourth Symphony combines work for a planned "Mountain" symphony with a tone poem based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. He also wrote several tone poems based on Finnish poetry, beginning with the early En Saga and culminating in the late tone poem Tapiola (1926), his last major composition.

He published only a few minor pieces after 1926, and said he destroyed the score for a completed 8th numbered symphony. His last large works were the Sixth and Seventh symphonies, incidental music for Shakepeare's The Tempest and Tapiola. As reported in the Manchester Guardian newspaper in 1958, Sibelius summed up the style of his later works by saying that while other composers were engaged in manufacturing cocktails, he offered the public pure cold water. But for nearly the last thirty years in his life (primarily after World War I and a 1911 operation for suspected throat cancer), Sibelius avoided talking about his music and composed nearly nothing. In any case he was always a very self-critical composer.

Sibelius has fallen in and out of fashion, but remains one of the most popular 20th century symphonists, with complete cycles of his symphonies continuing to be recorded. In his own time, however, he focused far more on the more profitable chamber music for home use, and occasionally on works for the stage. Currently Paavo Berglund and Sir Colin Davis are considered major exponents of his work. Other classic sets of recordings of the symphonies are by John Barbirolli and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Recently Osmo Vänskä and the Sinfonia Lahti released a critically acclaimed complete Sibelius cycle, including unpublished or retracted pieces such as the first version of the Symphony No. 5 (1915).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Sibelius

Sammy Davis, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sammy Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 - May 16, 1990) was an American "all-around" entertainer. He danced; sang; played vibraphone, trumpet, and drums; did impressions; told jokes; and acted.


Biography

He was born in Harlem, New York City to Elvera Sanchez, a Puerto Rican woman, and Sammy Davis, Sr., a black man, who were vaudeville dancers. As an infant, he was raised by his paternal grandmother. When he was three years old, his parents split up. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour.

As a child he learned how to dance from his father, Sammy Davis, Sr. and his "uncle" Will Mastin, who led the dance troupe his father worked for. Davis joined the act as a young child and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his long career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing.

Mastin and his father had shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy, for instance, but during World War II, Davis served in the United States Army, where he was first confronted by strong racial prejudice. As he said later, "Overnight the world looked different. It wasn't one color anymore. I could see the protection I'd gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that I'd never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong. It was as if I'd walked through a swinging door for eighteen years, a door which they had always secretly held open."

While in the service, however, he joined an entertainment unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking," he said.

After he was discharged, he rejoined the dance act and began to achieve success. He suffered a setback on Nov 19 1954, when he almost died in an automobile accident in Oro Grande, California on a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and lost his left eye. The accident occurred on a bend in U.S. Highway 66 at a railroad bridge. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Davis converted to Judaism after reading Paul Johnson's A History of the Jews in the hospital. One paragraph about the ultimate endurance of the Jewish people intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three centuries of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush". The next year, he released his second album.

The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956. In 1959 he became a charter member of the Rat Pack, which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra. After he achieved success he refused to work at venues which would practice racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas, Nevada casinos.

In 1960, Davis caused controversy when he married white Swedish-born actress May Britt. Davis received hate mail when he was cast in the Broadway musical adaptation of Golden Boy in 1964, but that did not bother his fans. The play was (at first) a success, but closed quickly. At the time Davis starred in the play, interracial marriages were forbidden by law in 31 US states out of 50, and only in 1967 were those laws abolished by the US Supreme Court. The couple had one daughter and adopted two sons. They divorced in 1968, after Davis admitted to having had an affair with singer Lola Falana.

That year Sammy Davis, Jr. started dating Altovise Gore, a dancer in "Golden Boy". They were wed in 1970 by Jesse Jackson. They remained married until Sammy Davis, Jr.'s death in 1990. In either the late 1960s or early 1970s, Davis allegedly joined Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee.

Sammy Davis, Jr. was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Corporation. This admission led to him making a cameo apearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980.

In his autobiography, Davis describes his swinger lifestyle which included alcohol, cocaine, and women. He also chronicles his financial difficulties.

He died in Beverly Hills, California on May 16, 1990 (the same day as Jim Henson) of complications from throat cancer at the age of 64. Davis is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Davis_Jr.

Maximilian Schell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Maximilian Schell (born December 8, 1930) is a Swiss-Austrian actor. His late elder sister, Maria Schell, was also an actress, as are his two other far less well-known siblings, Carl and Immy (Immaculata) Schell.

Born in Vienna and raised in Zurich, Switzerland, he made his Hollywood debut in 1958 in the World War II film The Young Lions. In 1961, he took the role of the defense attorney in Judgment at Nuremberg, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a role he had initiated in a live television performance. 1974's The Pedestrian, which Schell wrote, produced, directed, and starred in, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Schell has refused to be typecast. Although he was top billed in a number of Nazi-era themed films as The Man in the Glass Booth, A Bridge Too Far, Cross of Iron, The Odessa File, Julia and Judgment at Nuremburg, he has also appeared in Topkapi, The Black Hole, The Freshman, Stalin, Deep Impact and Candles in the Dark.

Schell has also served as a writer, producer and director for a variety of films. In 2002 he released My Sister Maria, a documentary about the career of and his relationship with Maria Schell.

In 2000, he collapsed and was diagnosed with pancreatitis related to his diabetes. At the time, he was starring on Broadway in the premiere of the stage version of Judgment at Nuremberg, changing roles from the defense lawyer to the lead judge on trial for crimes against humanity.

Since the 1990s Schell has appeared in many German language made-for-TV films, such as the 2003 film Alles Glück dieser Erde (All the Luck in the World) opposite Uschi Glas and in the mini-series The Return of the Dancing Master (2004), which was based on Henning Mankell's novel.

He is godfather to Angelina Jolie, daughter of Jon Voight and Micheline Bertrand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Schell

Flip Wilson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Clerow "Flip" Wilson (December 8, 1933 - November 25, 1998) was an African-American comedian and actor. His flippant sense of humor earned him his nickname while he was serving in the United States Air Force.

From 1970 to 1974, he hosted the popular television program The Flip Wilson Show. Guest stars such as Ed Sullivan, Ray Charles, Raymond Burr, B.B. King, and many others appeared on his show. As one of the few black men to host his own network television program, Wilson was an influential cultural figure in the 1970s.

He made many guest appearances on other TV comedies and variety shows, and acted in TV and theatrical movies including Uptown Saturday Night and The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh.

As a comedian, Wilson was known for creating such characters as "Reverend Leroy" (pastor of "The Church of What's Happenin' Now") and "Geraldine," who was famous for the catch phrases, "The devil made me buy this dress," and "What you see is what you get"?-later borrowed by various technology workers to become the term "WYSIWYG".

From 1985 to 1986, Wilson played the lead role in the sitcom Charlie & Co..

Wilson was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and died of liver cancer in Malibu, California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_Wilson

David Carradine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


David Carradine (born John Arthur Carradine December 8, 1936 in Hollywood, California) is an American actor and former Marine.

Born of Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, German, Spanish, Ukrainian, Cherokee Indian and Italian descent, he is the son of actor John Carradine, and the half-brother of both Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine. He starred in the television series Shane, but was best known for the role of Kwai Chang Caine in the series Kung Fu. He has also played many roles in motion pictures, beginning with one as a gunslinger in Taggart, a 1964 western film based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. Most recently, he played the title role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill volumes one and two, starring Uma Thurman. He currently appears as the host of Wild West Tech on the History Channel, taking over the duties from his brother Keith.

David Carradine is also known for producing and starring in several exercise videos teaching Tai chi and Qi Gong exercises.

Trivia

* He studied drama at San Francisco State University.
* He began studying the Martial Arts after getting cast in Kung Fu.
o Originally, Bruce Lee was supposed to be the lead for "Kung Fu," but the TV station for which the show was to be aired on deemed Lee's looks "too Oriental [sic]." Hence, Carradine was chosen instead.
* He was convicted of drunk driving in October 1998. He subsequently served 48 hours in jail and did community service.
* Has a lifelong fascination with Eastern philosophies and culture which resulted in his writing the book Spirit of the Shaolin about the philosophy of Kung Fu.
* Has a devotion to music - has recorded 60 tracks from various musical genres and has sung in several movies.
* Has been married and divorced four times:
o Donna Lee Becht (December 1960 - ?) (divorced) 1 child
o Linda Gilbert (1977 - 1983) (divorced) 1 daughter
o Gail Jensen (4 December 1988 - 1997) (divorced)
o Coco d'Este (20 February 1998 - 12 December 2001) (divorced)

* Carradine also played a recurring role in seasons two and three on the television show Alias.
* He currently lives in L.A. with girlfriend Annie, her four kids and their three dogs.
* Carradine appeared in an episode of Disney's Lizzie McGuire. A yet-untitled Jet Li picture was auditioning boys Matt's age for a sidekick role, and Carradine played an old friend of Lizzie's father who taught Matt a few karate moves for his audition tape. When asked how he knew David, Mr. McGuire replied cryptically, "He's like a brother to me"--an in-joke, since Robert and David are real-life brothers. A large part of the episode, too, parodies Kung Fu, Carradine's most famous project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carradine

James MacArthur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

James Gordon MacArthur was born December 8, 1937 in Los Angeles, California. For eleven years, James MacArthur played the role of Dan (Danno) Williams, reliable second-in-command to Steve McGarrett (played by Jack Lord), head of the fictional Hawaiian State Police Squad, Hawaii Five-O. The role made his name a household word and won him fans all over the world.

For many people, the name James MacArthur immediately invokes a jumble of images: a plane streaking across the sky; the swinging hips of a young girl dancing a hula; the flashing light of a police car, speeding through the night; the Aloha Tower; Punchbowl Cemetery, and, of course, Jack Lord posed majestically on a hotel balcony. They begin to hum the Hawaii Five-0 theme, which they had long thought forgotten but which had merely been lying dormant amongst old memories, and once again, they can hear Jack Lord snap, "Book 'em Danno."

So great was the popularity of the series, and of MacArthur's character, that it is easy to overlook the fact that he had a flourishing career long before the advent of Hawaii Five-0, and remained active in movies and TV and on the stage long after its demise.

He was adopted as an infant by playwright Charles MacArthur and his wife, actress Helen Hayes, he grew up in Nyack, New York, along with the MacArthurs' biological daughter, Mary, also an actress. He was educated at Allen Stevenson School in New York, and later at Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he starred in basketball, football and baseball. In his final year at Solebury he played guard on the football team, captained the basketball team, was elected president of his class as well as of the Student Government and the Drama Club, rewrote the school's constitution, edited the school paper, The Scribe, and played Scrooge in a local presentation of A Christmas Carol.

While at Solebury, Jim started dating a fellow student, Joyce Bulifant. They were married in November, 1958 and divorced nine years later.

Jim was growing up around the greatest literary and theatrical talent of the time. Lillian Gish was his Godmother and his parents' guests included such personalities as Ben Hecht, Harpo Marx, Robert Benchley, Beatrice Lillie, John Barrymore and John Steinbeck. This environment would present him with opportunities and challenges not experienced by other young people.

His first radio role was on Theatre Guild of the Air, in 1948. The Theatre Guild of the Air> was the premiere radio program of its day, producing one-hour plays that were performed in front of a live audience of 800. Helen Hayes accepted a role in one of the plays, which also had a small part for a child. Her son was asked if he would like to do it, and agreed.

He made his stage debut at Olney, Maryland, in 1949, with a two week stint in The Corn is Green. His sister, Mary, was in the play and telephoned their mother to request that James go to Olney to be in it with her. The following summer, he repeated the same role at Dennis, Massachusetts, and his theatrical career was underway. In 1954, he played John Day in Life With Father with Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney. However, young James did not get a fast-track into important Broadway productions just for being Helen Hayes' son. Instead, he received his training in summer stock.

He also worked as a set painter, lighting director and chief of the parking lot. During a Helen Hayes festival at the Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod, he had a few walk-on parts. He also helped the theatre electrician and, in fact, grew so interested that he was allowed to stay on after Miss Hayes' plays had ended. As a result, he lighted the show for Barbara Bel Geddes in The Little Hut and for Gloria Vanderbilt in The Swan. When he visited Paris with his mother as a member of The Skin of Our Teeth Company, he was in charge of making thunder backstage with a four-by-eight sheet of metal.

In 1955, at the age of 18, he was chosen to play Hal Ditmar in the TV play Deal a Blow. The play was directed by John Frankenheimer and starred MacDonald Carey, Phyllis Thaxter and Edward Arnold. In his scenes with the veterans, James showed that he was more than capable of matching experience with ability, and his "sensitive and intelligent" portrayal of the misunderstood teenager, teetering on the brink of delinquency, was lauded by critics and viewers alike.

In 1956, Frankenheimer directed the movie version of the play, which was renamed The Young Stranger, and James MacArthur was again chosen for the starring role. Once again, his performance was critically acclaimed, and earned him a nomination in the Most Promising Newcomer category at the 1958 BAFTA awards.

During summer breaks from Harvard University, where he was studying history, he made The Light in the Forest and Third Man on the Mountain, for Walt Disney. Then, deciding to make acting his full time career, he dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year, and made two more Disney movies, Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson. These movies are now regarded as 'classics,' and are still popular more than forty years later. In February, 2003, Conrad Richter's novel The Light in the Forest was one of the books selected for Ohio's One Book, Two Counties project. Jim was invited to be a guest speaker, and spoke of how the book was turned into the film, and his experiences making the movie. When Swiss Family Robinson was released in DVD format, he was asked to provide background commentary and other 'bonus' material for the DVD.

He made his Broadway debut in 1960, playing opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March. For his performance, he received a Theater World Award. Then came roles in Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Moon Is Blue, John Loves Mary (with his wife at the time, Joyce Bulifant), Barefoot in the Park and Murder at the Howard Johnson's.

He then went on to star in such movies as The Interns, Spencer's Mountain, The Truth About Spring and Cry of Battle, as well as in the rather less successful The Love-Ins and The Angry Breed.

On the set of The Angry Breed, in 1968, Jim met Melody Patterson, who was to become the second Mrs. James MacArthur. They were married on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, in July, 1970, and divorced several years later.)

In 1963, he was a runner up in the 'Top New Male Personality' category of the Golden Laurel Awards.

Between movie and theatre roles, Jim was also much in demand for television guest appearances, which included parts in Studio One, G.E. Theatre, Bus Stop, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Eleventh Hour, The Great Adventure, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Wagon Train, Great Adventure, Combat, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High, Tarzan and a particularly chilling performance as baby-faced opium dealer 'Johnny Lubin' in The Untouchables episode, Death For Sale.

Though not all his movie characters were 'starring roles,' and some of them were quite brief, for the most part they were pivotal to the plot. His role in The Bedford Incident was that of a young ensign who became so rattled by the needling of his Captain (Richard Widmark), that he accidentally fired an atomic weapon, thus (we are given to understand) starting World War III.

In The Battle of the Bulge he again played the role of a young and inexperienced officer. This time, however, the officer found courage and a sense of responsibility.

It was his brief but memorable appearance in the Clint Eastwood movie, Hang 'Em High, that eventually led him to the role of Dan Williams in Hawaii Five-0.

In 1967, Leonard Freeman, the producer Hang 'Em High, produced the pilot for a new television cop show, Hawaii Five-0. Before the pilot went to air, it was shown to a test audience. The show was well received, but the audience did not like the actor playing the role of Dan Williams. Freeman remembered the actor who had appeared as the traveling preacher in Hang 'Em High, who came on the set, did the scene in one take and was gone. He called James MacArthur and offered him the role of Dan Williams.

Hawaii Five-0, one of the most successful shows in television history, ran for twelve years.

Leaving Hawaii Five-0 at the end of its eleventh season, Jim returned to the theatre in The Lunch Hour with Cybill Shepherd.

He appeared in A Bedfull of Foreigners in Chicago in 1984, and in Michigan in 1985. He followed this with The Hasty Heart, before taking a year out of showbusiness. In 1987, he returned to the stage in The Foreigner, then played Mortimer in the national tour of Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross and Larry Storch.

In 1989, he followed another stint in The Foreigner with Love Letters and, in 1990 - 1991, A Bedfull of Foreigners, this time in Las Vegas.

Since leaving Hawaii Five-0, Jim has also guest-starred on such TV shows as Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Vega$, as well as in the mini series Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story and The Night the Bridge Fell Down, and in the 1998 TV movie Stormchasers: Revenge of the Twister, with Kelly McGillis.

Throughout his career, Jim has also found time for various other ventures. During 1959 - 1960, between movie and theatrical successes, he was a partner with actor James Franciscus and Alan Ladd Jr. in a Beverly Hills telephone answering service; in June 1972 he directed The Honolulu Community Theatre in a production of his father's play The Front Page, and for a while in the 1990s he was part owner of Senior World publication as well as writing the occasional celebrity interview.

In the year 2000, he joined the ranks of those celebrities who have been awarded their own 'sidewalk star' in Palm Springs.

These days, Jim enjoys spending time with his third wife, H. B. Duntz, his four children and six grandchildren. He continues to make personal appearances at conventions and 'Collectors' Shows,' to greet fans and sign autographs, and at celebrity sporting events. A keen golfer, he was the winner of the 2002 Frank Sinatra Invitational Charity Golf Tournament.

He is still much in demand for television and radio specials and interview programs. His most recent appearances include spots on Entertainment Tonight, Christophers Closeup and the British BBC 5 Radio obituary programme, Brief Lives, in which he paid a moving tribute to late Hawaii Five-0 cast mate, Kam Fong.

In April, 2003, Jim traveled to Honolulu for a brief return to the stage in a cameo role in Joe Moore's play Dirty Laundry, appearing as a priest accused of molestation.

With many of his films now being released in DVD format, Jim has found a new audience, as he has provided interviews and 'behind the scenes' commentary to be included as 'extras' with DVDs of not only his own movies, but also those of his mother, Helen Hayes.

Rumors persist, about another attempt at a movie version of Hawaii Five-0, leaving die-hard fans with the hope that Jim will once more be seen in the role that he made famous. He comments, "I certainly would not be playing Danno but perhaps some sort of character ... maybe an old man leering at the young girls on the beach!!"

Jim is also developing a one man show based on his life and career, which he has tested at a couple of venues near his home, with encouraging results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_MacArthur

Well, folks, we're following Bob's bio's. Really nice selections today, Hawkman.

Back later, everyone.

This is cyberspace, WA2K radio

Jim Morrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Jim Morrison (8 December 1943 - 3 July 1971) was a singer, songwriter, writer, and poet. Born James Douglas Morrison in Melbourne, Florida, he was the lead singer and lyricist of the popular American rock band The Doors. He was also an author of several poetry books. His common-law wife was Pamela Courson.


Biography

Early years


Morrison was the son of Admiral George Stephen Morrison and his wife Clara Clark Morrison, both employed by the United States Navy. According to Morrison, one of the most important events of his life came about in 1947 during a family trip in New Mexico. He described the event as follows:

The first time I discovered death... me and my mother and father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were driving through the desert at dawn. A truckload of Indians had either hit another car or something- there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. I was just a kid, so I had to stay in the car while my father and grandfather went to check it out. I didn't see nothing ?- all I saw was funny red paint and people lying around, but I knew something was happening, because I could dig the vibrations of the people around me, and all of a sudden I realized that they didn't know what was happening any more than I did. That was the first time I tasted fear... and I do think, at that moment, the souls of those dead Indians ?- maybe one or two of them ?- were just running around, freaking out, and just landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it.

Morrison would later revisit this event in the bridge to the song "Peace Frog": "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding / Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile egg-shell mind."

Morrison graduated from high school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1961. His parents thought he was incorrigible and sent him to live with his grandparents in Clearwater, Florida. As an adult, he was estranged from his strict, conservative parents, so much so that, in a 1967 interview, he claimed they were both dead.

He took classes at St. Petersburg Junior College (1961-62) and Florida State University (1962-1964, where he was for a time a roommate of George Greer), appearing in a recruitment film [1] for the latter school. Morrison met Mary Werbelo at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach during the summer of 1962. In January 1964, he left Florida and headed for California and Werbelo moved out to California to be with him. In the summer of 1965, Werbelo broke up with Morrison. Ray Manzarek later said that the song "The End" was a goodbye to Werbelo. In a 1990 letter to the Los Angeles Times, John Densmore stated that the song "Crystal Ship" was a goodbye love song to Werbelo.


With The Doors


In 1965, after graduating from film school at the University of California, Los Angeles, he led a bohemian lifestyle in nearby Venice Beach. A chance encounter there with fellow UCLA film student Ray Manzarek led to the formation of The Doors, and they were soon joined by guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The name The Doors came from an Aldous Huxley book, The Doors of Perception, in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by William Blake: "When the doors of perception are cleansed/Things will appear as they are, Infinite". A door can be seen as a transition between two worlds; you don't know what's going on in the other world until you cross that transition. As Morrison himself put it, "There are things known and things unknown, and in between are the doors."

The Doors became one of the most popular rock bands ever. Their blend of blues, jazz and rock was something that had never been heard before. The sound was dominated by Morrison's deep, sonorous baritone voice and Ray Manzarek's unique keyboard.

Among Morrison's more famous nicknames are "Mr. Mojo Risin' ", an anagram of his name, which he eventually used as a refrain in his final single, "LA Woman", and "The Lizard King" from a line in his famed epic poem Celebration of the Lizard, part of which appeared on the Doors' 1968 album Waiting for the Sun and which was adapted into a musical in the 1990s.

Morrison famously lived by another quote?-this one from poet William Blake?-"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom"; Even before he formed The Doors, he took hallucinogenic drugs, drank alcohol in legendary proportions, and indulged in various bacchanalia, sometimes showing up for recording sessions while inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song "Five To One").

In 1970 Morrison underwent a Wiccan handfasting ceremony, which writer Patricia Kennealy insists was a wedding of some sort, but he did not take the ceremony seriously, a fact verified in an interview with Kennealy in the book Rock Wives. She also wrote a biography about her life with Jim, a relationship which did not endure since he had several other women in his life, most notable being Nico from Velvet Underground. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in her biography, as does one Linda Ashcroft in a book that claims a relationship with him, and one Janet Erwin, who tells her story in an article ("Your Ballroom Days Are Over, Baby"). Morrison's most consistent and lasting (romantic) relationship was to common-law wife Pamela Courson.

In the years after the Doors' meteoric rise to fame with their self-titled debut album and its hit single "Light My Fire", Morrison's "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" lifestyle caught up with him; he eventually became a full-fledged alcoholic, and the band suffered as a result of it.

During a 1969 concert in Miami, an intoxicated Morrison was charged and ultimately convicted of indecent exposure and open profanity.


Death


Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 with the intention of concentrating on his writing and quitting drinking.

He died soon thereafter, though, on 3 July 1971, in his bathtub at the age of 27; many fans and biographers have speculated that the cause of death was a drug overdose, but the official report listed "heart failure" as the cause of death. Morrison is buried in the famous Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris, his fans there being generally perceived as a nuisance, leaving litter and graffiti behind, to the point where a new burial site has been suggested. At present the tomb is surrounded by a fence and the original grave was changed due to the large amount of graffiti not only on Morrison's grave, but on the graves nearby.

Many people believe Morrison is still alive to this day living in seclusion with his wife, Pamela Courson, although no strong evidence exists to support that, especially since it is said that Pamela died three years after Morrison's death of a heroin overdose. It is also said, however, that the only person to see Morrison's dead body was Courson herself; when The Doors' manager arrived in Paris after being notified of Morrison's passing, Morrison's body was already in a sealed casket. Exacerbating rumors of Morrison faking his own death is the fact that he is quoted as saying to his fellow band members that he wanted to fake his own death, and that he would come back and contact them under the alias "Mr. Mojo Risin", which is an Anagram of "Jim Morrison", and which Morrison had already referred to himself as on the title track of L.A. Woman.

Legacy

Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers in rock history, as The Doors' catalogue has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day, he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy and mysterious. The leather pants he was fond of wearing onstage have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.

Jim Morrison was a huge fan of music and poetry. Like nearly every blues musician he occasionally paid homage to his favorite poet's (such as William Blake) and lyricists in his own lyrics (Manzerak, Ray 1999 Light My Fire, Berkley Trade; Berkley Bo edition). Like Bob Dylan, The Doors are more famous for their covers of some songs than the original composers. Howlin Wolf's "Back Door Man" and Kurt Weil's "Whiskey Song" (from a Bertolt Brecht play) are notable examples of songs that The Doors made their own.

Morrison's performances have influenced many, including Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, Ian Astbury, Nine Inch Nails, Eddie Vedder, and, to an extent, Marilyn Manson.


Jim Morrison in fiction

In the early 1980s, low budget filmmaker Larry Buchanan made the film Beyond the Doors aka Down On Us, which advanced the theory that Morrison, along with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were killed by the government in an attempt to stamp out "radicals."

Morrison's story was filmed in 1991 with Oliver Stone's biopic The Doors, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. Kilmer was Stone's second choice for the role, the first being The Cult lead-singer Ian Astbury. Incidentally, Astbury would go on to join the new incarnation of The Doors in 2000, as its singer. [2]

Although, it has not been confirmed, Bob Burden, creator of the underground comic book series Flaming Carrot Comics has dropped several clues that the title superhero is supposed to be Morrison.

In Wayne's World 2, Morrison appeared to Wayne Campbell in dreams to guide him.

Quotes

* I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then - whoosh, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again, and they won't be able to forget me - ever.

* I am the Lizard King. I can do anything.(from Not to Touch the Earth [excerpt of Celebration of the Lizard])

* A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.

* They call me the Lizard King?-whatever that means.

* (after the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin) You're drinking with number three.

* A hero is someone who rebels, or seems to rebel, against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them, but obviously that can work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing...but that's not saying that people shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence...Who knows, someday we might conquer death....and disease and war...

* Drugs are like a bet with your mind.

* It's like gambling somehow. You go out for a night of drinking and you don't know where you're going to end up the next day. It could work out good or it could be disastrous. It's like the throw of the dice.

* And if all of the teachers an preachers of wealth were arraigned ... We must try to find a new answer instead of a way. (off "Whiskey, Mystics And Men)

* When you make your peace with authority, you become authority.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison

Gregg Allman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Gregory Lenoir Allman (born December 8, 1947 in Nashville, Tennessee), known as Gregg Allman (sometimes spelled Greg Allman), is a rock and blues singer, keyboard player, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band and as one of the greatest white blues singers ever.

Raised in Daytona, Florida along with his older brother Duane Allman, Gregg took an interest in the guitar before Duane did. But while Duane would soon become the superior guitarist, Gregg focussed more on vocals. Little Milton was one of his favorite singers to listen to.

In the mid- to late-1960s, the Allmans played in a series of bands including The Escorts and Allman Joys, mostly gigging around their native American Southeast. Toward the end of the decade, The Allman Joys relocated to Los Angeles, California, and were signed to Liberty Records, which renamed them the Hour Glass. Strongly controlled by the label, the group produced a pair of psychedelic blues albums. All the players were deeply dissatisfied with the results; Duane Allman in particular spoke bitterly of the Hour Glass's output.

After its second album, the band broke up and Duane Allman returned to the South, playing sessions at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In time, he would put together the group that would become The Allman Brothers Band - Duane and Dickey Betts on guitars, Berry Oakley on bass, and Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson on drums. Liberty Records believed that Gregg Allman had potential as a solo act, and allowed the rest of the Hour Glass to go on condition that he stay in California to record for them. Gregg quickly grew miserable with this arrangement, and when Duane called from Jacksonville, Florida in March 1969 to say that he had assembled a band that needed a singer, Gregg jumped at the opportunity. He had long wanted to play the Hammond Organ, and was given one immediately upon joining the band, which he had to learn to play in a hurry; the style he developed has been compared to that of Jimmy Smith. He has played the Hammond B-3 and handled much of the lead vocal and songwriting duties for the band (when it has been together), along with occasional piano and guitar contributions, ever since.

His fame will always be primarily linked to The Allman Brothers Band, but beginning in the mid-1970s, Gregg Allman carved out a solo career. His first album, Laid Back, was released in 1973 to a positive critical reception. It included a couple of reworked Allman Brothers songs, such as a horn-laden, swampy version of "Midnight Rider" (one of the band's most famous songs) that made it to #19 on the Billboard singles chart, and originals like "Queen of Hearts", which Allman and the band felt did not quite fit the Allman Brothers sound. There are also a few cover songs on the record, such as the traditional "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and an acclaimed take on former California roommate Jackson Browne's morose classic "These Days".

Allman's solo career has continued intermittently throughout the subsequent decades, sometimes touring when the Allman Brothers is off the road. Generally, these solo efforts - first with the Gregg Allman Band, and later with Gregg Allman & Friends - eschew lengthy guitar solos and cast Allman more in the mode of his favorite soul singers. The bands often include a horn section and are more groove-oriented. The template of mixing originals with reworked Allman Brothers songs and covers of blues, R&B, and soul classics remains in place.

Allman's biggest hit single came in 1986 with "I'm No Angel", from the album of the same name. The song's production is overly slick, as befits the time it was recorded, but it is in a sense a more radio-friendly take on a prideful blues boast, which he has always done well. It fits with Allman's persona as a singer, although he did not write the song.

As an actor Gregg had roles in the films Rush Week (1989) and Rush (1991).

Gregg Allman struggled with drugs both legal and illegal, primarily cocaine, heroin, and alcohol, from the 1970s onward. But he is sober as of the mid-1990s and has often spoken in interviews of being revitalized and enjoying life again. Not surprisingly, his output and the quality of his vocals have improved with sobriety. He continues to tour every year with both The Allman Brothers Band, which in 2003 released its first studio album in nearly a decade, and Gregg Allman & Friends.

Gregg Allman was married to singer/actress Cher from 1975 to 1979, a relationship that gave Gregg more general celebrity than he ever had as a musician. Together, they had a son, Elijah Blue Allman, who grew up to become a musician as well. Gregg and Cher even tried an unlikely musical collaboration, releasing the album Two the Hard Way - billed as Allman and Woman - in 1977. It was universally panned and has long since been out of print.

Gregg was married to wife Julie from 1979 to 1981; they had a daughter Delilah Island Allman. Gregg's son Devon Allman, from another relationship, is also a musician and has led several bands.

Gregg was subsequently linked to porn actress Savannah in the late 1980s, before marrying Stacey Fountain in 2001. They currently reside in Richmond Hill, Georgia.

Allman makes a brief, speaking cameo in the Family Guy episode "Let's Go the the Hop."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Allman

Kim Basinger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Kim Basinger (born December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia) is an American film actress of Irish, Swedish and 1/8th Cherokee descent. Entering the profession after great success as a model, her most prominent appearances include 9½ Weeks (1986), Batman (1989), and L.A. Confidential (1997) for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. From 1993 to 2002, she was married to actor Alec Baldwin, with whom she later engaged in a long legal custody battle regarding their child. After separating from Baldwin, she had a relationship with the rap artist and actor Eminem.

The small town of Braselton, Georgia, was bought by Basinger in 1989 for $20 million, with the hopes of establishing the town as a tourist attraction with movie studios and a film festival, but she met financial difficulties and sold it in 1993. The town is now owned by developer Wayne Mason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Basinger

Teri Hatcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964 in Sunnyvale, California) is an American actress. She gained attention for her role as Lois Lane in the television series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman co-staring with Dean Cain. Hatcher achieved her greatest fame to date starring in the show Desperate Housewives.

Hatcher's father was a nuclear physicist and her mother was a computer scientist (both of English descent). She attended Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. In 1994, she married actor Jon Tenney; they had a daughter, Emerson Rose, and later divorced.

Career

Hatcher began her performing career as a young girl taking ballet lessons at the San Juan girls' ballet studio in downtown Los Altos before studying acting at the American Conservatory Theater. One of her early jobs was as a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader/dancer in 1984. During this time she appeared as one of the mermaids on the show The Love Boat in its final season.

While probably most noted for playing Lois Lane in the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, she was also in Spy Kids, the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, and many other films. She has also made guest appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Seinfeld, and had a recurring role in MacGyver as his young friend, Penny Parker. Hatcher also appeared in a series of popular Radio Shack television commercials alongside NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long.

In 1997, Hatcher was voted "Sexiest Woman in the World" by the readers of FHM.

She now stars as the single mother Susan Mayer on ABC's Desperate Housewives, a role for which she won the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe Award in January 2005. In July 2005, she was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Best Actress in a Comedy Series category for the same role, along with co-stars Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross, with Huffman the eventual winner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teri_Hatcher

Sinéad O'Connor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor (born December 8, 1966) is a critically-acclaimed, Irish pop music singer and songwriter. As well as her music, she is known for her unconventional appearance (she often has her head shaved) and controversial opinions.

Early life

O'Connor was born in Dublin and was named after Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish President Eamon de Valera and mother of the doctor presiding over the delivery, and Saint Bernadette of Lourds. She was the middle of five children, sister to Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. Joseph O'Connor is now a notable novelist.

Her parents were John O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor. The couple married young and had a troubled relationship and split up when O'Connor was eight. The three eldest children went to live with their mother, where O'Connor claims they were subject to frequent physical abuse. John O'Connor's efforts to secure custody of his children in a country which routinely gave custody to the mother and prohibited divorce caused him to become chairman of the Divorce Action Group and become a prominent public spokesman. At one point, he even debated his own wife on the subject on a radio show.

In 1979, Sinéad O'Connor left her mother and went to live with her father and his new wife. However, her shoplifting and truancy caused her to end up in a reform school at age 15, the Grinan Training Centre run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience which made her later comment "I have never ?- and probably will never ?- experience such panic and terror and agony over anything". (Rolling Stone, April 1988)

One of the volunteers at Grinan was sister of Paul Byrne, drummer for the band In Tua Nua, who heard O'Connor singing "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand. She recorded a song with them called "Take My Hand" but they felt that at 15, she was too young to join the band.

In 1983, her father sent her to Newtown School, an exclusive Quaker boarding school in Waterford, an institution with a much more permissive atmosphere than Grinan. With the help and encouragement of her Gaelic teacher, Joeseph Falvy, she recorded a four song demo, with two covers and two of her own songs which would later appear on her first album.

Through an ad she placed in Hot Press in the summer of 1984, she met Columb Farrelly. Together they recruited a few other members and formed a band called Ton Ton Macoute, named for the zombies of Haitian myth. In the autumn, the band even moved to Waterford briefly while O'Connor attended Newtown, but she soon dropped out of school and followed them to Dublin, where their performances gained them positive attention. Their sound was inspired by Farrelly's interest in witchcraft, mysticism, and world music, though most observers thought O'Connor's singing and stage presence was the band's driving force.

On February 10, 1985, O'Connor's mother died in a car accident. O'Connor was devastated despite her strained relationship with her mother. Soon afterward she left the band, which stayed together despite O'Connor's statements to the contrary in later interviews, and moved to London.


Musical career

O'Connor's time as singer for Ton Ton Macoute brought her to the attention of the music industry and she was signed by Ensign Records. She also acquired an experienced manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, former head of U2's Mother Records. Soon after she was signed she embarked on her first major project, providing the vocals for the song "Heroine", which she cowrote with U2's guitarist The Edge for the soundtrack to the film Captive. While she was building bridges she was also burning them. O'Ceallaigh, who had been fired by U2 for complaining about them in an interview, was outspoken with his comments about music and politics, and O'Connor began to adopt the same habits, making controversial comments about the IRA and even directing negative remarks towards U2, who were admirers of her music.

Things were contentious in the studio as well. She was paired with veteran producer Mick Glossop, whom she later derided as "a ******* old hippy". They had differing visions regarding her debut album and four months of recordings were scrapped. During this time she became pregnant by her session drummer John Reynolds (formerly of the band Transvision Vamp) and the record company pressured her to get an abortion. Thanks largely to the persuasion of O'Celallaigh, the record company allowed O'Connor, 20 years old and by then seven months pregnant, to produce her own album.

O'Connor's first two albums (1988's The Lion & the Cobra and 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got) gained considerable attention and mostly positive reviews. She was praised for her unique voice and her original songs. She was also noted for her appearance: her shaved head, angry expression, and sometimes shapeless or unusual clothing.

The Lion & The Cobra was not embraced by the pop mainstream. While "Mandinka" was the lead single, and a remix of "I Want Your (Hands On Me)" became a moderate hit when rapper MC Lyte added verse to it.

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got contained her biggest hit single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", a song written by Prince and arranged for her by him. Public Enemy's Hank Shocklee remixed "The Emperor's New Clothes" that was coupled with the Celtic funk of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave." Pre-dating but included on I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got was "Jump In The River" (which originally appeared on the Married To The Mob soundtrack); the 12-inch version of the single included a remix featuring performance artist Karen Finley in signature X-rated form.

In 1990 she joined many other guests for former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin. (Later, in 1996 she guested on Broken China, a solo album by Richard Wright of Pink Floyd.)

In 1992, she contributed a cover of "You Do Something To Me" to the Cole Porter tribute/AIDS fundraising album Red Hot + Blue. This was followed by the release of Am I Not Your Girl?, an album of standards and torch songs that she had grown up listening to. Her interpretations ran from sublime to overwrought to bizarre, and - coupled with her Garden State Arts Center controversy (see below) - the record lost for her much of the commercial momentum her career had built up until then.

The 1993 soundtrack to film In the Name of the Father featured "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart," with significant contributions from Bono of U2.

1994's more conventional Universal Mother did not succeed in restoring her mass appeal, though its opener, "Fire On Babylon," remains a fan favorite. She toured with Lollapalooza in 1995, but dropped out when she became pregnant. O'Connor was replaced on the bill by Elastica.

Faith And Corage from 2000, largely regarded as a return to form, included the single "No Man's Woman" and featured contributions from Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. On the eve of its release she "came out" as a lesbian, and then confusingly retracted the statement.

Her 2002 album, Sean-Nós Nua, marked a departure in that O'Connor interpreted traditional Irish folk songs, including several in the Irish language. She Who Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide Under the Shadow of the Almighty was a live album that soon followed, at which point O'Connor announced her retirement from music. This proved to be a short-lived retirement, as the reggae album Throw Down Your Arms appeared in 2005.


Garden State Arts Center controversy

On August 24, 1990 O'Connor was scheduled to perform at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. The practice of the venue was to play a recording of the American national anthem before the show began. O'Connor, who said she was unaware of this practice until shortly before the show was to begin, refused to go on if the anthem was played. Venue officials acquiesced to her demand and omitted the anthem, and so O'Connor performed, but they later permanently banned her. O'Connor said that she had a policy of not having the national anthem of any country played before her concerts and meant "no disrespect" but that she "will not go on stage after the national anthem of a country which imposes censorship on artists. It's hypocritical and racist." The incident made tabloid headlines and O'Connor came in for heavy criticism and her songs were banned from a number of radio stations. Frank Sinatra, who performed at the Center the next night, said he wished he could "kick her in the ass." O'Connor replied "I wouldn't be the first woman he has threatened to hit" and her father said Sinatra was too old to lift his leg to kick her.

Saturday Night Live controversy

O'Connor's career received a significant blow?-especially in the United States?-on October 3, 1992, when she appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest, hosted by Tim Robbins. She was singing an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War" to protest sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church [1], and added a lyric about "sexual abuse." She then presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to camera and, saying "fight the real enemy", tore it up. [2]

In the resultant media furore, O'Connor was booed off stages and verbally abused by audiences. For example, two weeks later, booing (and some cheering) appeared in force when O'Connor tried to perform "I Believe In You" at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute concert in Madison Square Garden. She was unable to start the song, and shouted "War" again instead. Afterwards Kris Kristofferson told her to "not let the bastards get you down."

Saturday Night Live had no foreknowledge of O'Connor's plan, and has resisted invitations to rebroadcast the incident (however, it is available on volume four of Saturday Night Live ?- 25 Years of Music[3] DVD, one of SNL's compilation video sets). When Comedy Central occasionally rebroadcasts the episode, the incident is replaced with Sinéad holding up a picture of a smiling black child (this is likely how the song was performed in rehearsal). As part of SNL's apology to the audience, during his opening monologue the following week, host Joe Pesci held up the photo, taped back together.

This was not even O'Connor's first go-around with Saturday Night Live; earlier she had refused to appear on a show hosted by "misogynistic" comedian Andrew Dice Clay. Rather, she had agreed to appear on a later episode hosted by Kyle MacLachlan.

On September 22, 1997, O'Connor was interviewed in Vita, an Italian weekly newspaper. In the interview she asked the Pope to forgive her. She claimed that the tearing of the photo was "a ridiculous act, the gesture of a girl rebel." She claimed she did it "because I was in rebellion against the faith, but I was still within the faith." She went on to quote Saint Augustine, by saying "Anger is the first step towards courage."


Ordination

In the late 1990s, she was controversially ordained into the Independent Catholic group known as the Latin Tridentine Church, by Irish Bishop Michael Cox, in disregard for the prohibition on the ordination of women within Roman Catholicism. As a result she was automatically excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Cox contacted her to offer ordination following her appearance on the RTÉ's Late Late Show, during which she told the presenter, Gay Byrne, that had she not been a singer, she would have wished to have been a Catholic priest. After her service of ordination, she indicated that she wished to be called Mother Bernadette Mary.

In 2003 she announced that she was going to leave the music industry [4] and train to be a catechist (teacher of the Catholic religion to school children).

O'Connor has been married twice. Her first marriage was to John Reynolds, a record producer, writer and musician who co-produced several albums, including her fourth, Universal Mother, in 1994. Her second marriage was to Nicholas Sommerlad, a journalist said to be related to the Queen of Sweden (whose maiden name is Sommerlath), in 2002 but they separated in 2003.

In a magazine article and in a programme on RTÉ (Ryan Confidential, broadcast on RTÉ 1 on May 29, 2003), she outed herself as bisexual, stating that while most of her sexual relationships had been with men, she had had three relationships with women. She has three children, a son, Jake Reynolds, by her first husband, a daughter, Róisín Waters, by The Irish Times columnist John Waters, and a son, Shane.

In 2005 she performed at Madison Square Garden at the Jammy Awards and announced plans to release a reggae-influenced album, named Throw Down Your Arms, in October 2005. ABC Radio News, announcing her new album, reported that she has found solace in the Rastafarian faith, and that the religion "saved her life."

In a 2005 interview by the reggae artist Burning Spear in Andy Warhol's "Interview" magazine, she reported that her mission is to "rescue God from religion."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_O%27Connor

Well, listeners, I must be off to do unpleasant things, and I too must brave the elements.

Bob, I really was taken by Senead's comment about rescuing God from religion.

Later, alligator.

Well, listeners. All of Bob's bio's were familar to me, but somehow Sibelius struck a memory:

Indigo Girls - Finlandia Lyrics
"Finlandia" is a Sibelius composition, which the girls recorded
on
their 1986 EP. Live versions are VERY infrequent, but they have
performed it as recently as last March.

Finlandia.

This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes and dreams, my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Selah

Oh, thank you Letty. I love Finlandia.

And here are the rest of today's birthdays: (I see I didn't post them all last year. )

65 BC - Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
1542 - Mary Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat (d. 1757)
1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch-born British physiologist and botanist (d. 1799)
1765 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (d. 1825)
1815 - Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1905)
1816 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born American financier (d. 1890)
1832 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, American author and folklorist (d. 1908)
1861 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (d. 1947)
1861 - Aristide Maillol, French sculptor (d. 1944)
1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
1864 - Camille Claudel, French graphic artist (d. 1943)
1865 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
1886 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
1890 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (d. 1959)
1894 - James Thurber, American writer (d. 1961)
1911 - Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
1915 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
1918 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
1919 - Peter Tali Coleman, American politician (d. 1997)
1923 - Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-born American chemist
1925 - Sammy Davis Jr., American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, Soviet Union-born cosmonaut
1930 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-born Swiss actor, film director, and author
1933 - Flip Wilson, American comedian (d. 1998)
1936 - David Carradine, American actor
1937 - James MacArthur, American actor
1937 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman (d. 2004)
1939 - Sir James Galway, Northern Irish flautist
1943 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
1943 - Mary Woronov, American actress
1947 - Gregg Allman, American musician
1947 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
1950 - Rick Baker, American film makeup artist
1951 - Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1953 - Kim Basinger, American actress
1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician
1957 - Phil Collen, British guitarist (Def Leppard)
1961 - Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator, and attorney
1962 - Marty Friedman, American guitarist
1964 - Teri Hatcher, American actress
1966 - Sinéad O'Connor, Irish musician
1968 - Mike Mussina, American baseball player
1973 - Corey Taylor, American singer (Slipknot)
1975 - Kevin Harvick, American NASCAR driver
1976 - Dominic Monaghan, German-born British actor
1976 - Naimee Coleman, Irish singer and songwriter
1978 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
1978 - Vernon Wells, American baseball player
1982 - Michael Essien, Ghanaian international footballer
1986 - Amir Khan, British boxer

This is how I'll always remember Maximilian Schell:

Ah, listeners. There's our Raggedy who crept back in on little "puppy" feet, with her celeb updates. Thanks, gal.

Sammy? up on our board. Shell? tacked underneath.

Perhaps, folks, there is room for this guy. <smile>



If I stretch our monitor, no matter, listeners and viewers. It will shrink later on in our broadcast.

While I'm fighting with the Dutch keyboard here - may I aske for a typing or Holland related song, please :wink:

Well, my goodness. There's our Walter. We most certainly will honor your request, honey.

Let me search through our archives.

well Walter, here' a favorite song from the 1950's.
Made popular in the UK by Max Bygraves.

here it is in Dutch --------- Tulips From ATulpen uit Amsterdam (Tulips from Amsterdam)


Als de lente komt dan stuur ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Als de lente komt pluk ik voor jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Als ik wederkom dan breng ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Duizend gele, duizend rooie, wensen jou het allermooiste
Wat m'n mond niet zeggen kan zeggen tulpen uit Amsterdam

Jan uit de polder zei "Antje, ach kind ik mag je zo graag
Hoe moet dat nou liefste Antje, morgen ga ik naar Den Haag"
En bij die oeroude molen klonk onder een hemel zo blauw
"Ik heb je zo lief, en jij hebt me lief
Ach Antje ik blijf jou altijd trouw"

Als de lente komt dan stuur ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Als de lente komt pluk ik voor jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Als ik wederkom dan breng ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
Duizend gele, duizend rooie, wensen jou het allermooiste
Wat m'n mond niet zeggen kan zeggen tulpen uit Amsterdam

msterdam