Legendary Producer Dick Clark Dead At 82

Dick Clark, perhaps one of the greatest icons in TV and music production has died of a massive heart attack at the age of 82. Not only famous for his AMERICAN BANDSTAND television show, but for numerous other productions, Dick Clark was one of television's greatest production figures for decades. Dick Clark's AMERICAN BANDSTAND really helped to introduce rock and roll as mainstream entertainment to the American public, giving so many artists a showcase for their songs long before the music video and MTV took video images and music to new higher levels. Dick Clark was also the producer of other entertainment such as the game show PYRAMID and his DICK CLARK'S ROCKIN' NEW YEARS EVE as well, giving the rock and generation a hip alternate to the more conservative New Years programming on the other networks.

Dick Clark also was the host of some rock and roll countdown radio shows, and even filled in for Casey Kasem's AMERICAN TOP FORTY on occasion. Dick Clark still contributed some music profile segments to the syndicated oldies show, REWIND WITH GARY BRYAN, which is aired on many radio stations throughout the U.S., and offers some neat little interview segments each week.

One major feature of AMERICAN BANDSTAND each week was the top ten songs of the week list, which David Letterman has managed to turn into a long running comedy feature on his own television programs. Clark and Don Cornelius, the creator of SOUL TRAIN, were at times rivals, although they did manage some joint music productions.

Although the beloved producer and announcer always maintained a youthful appearance throughout his life, often appearing considerably younger than his actual age, Clark suffered a significant stroke back in 2004, yet worked hard to make a comeback and appeared on his own ROCKIN' NEW YEARS EVE shows as late as this past year's 2012 show. He had an immediately recognizable and famous voice that well loaned itself to advertising and promotions as well.

Dick Clark leaves us as one of the most influential television personalities of our generation.

Ted Nugent's Stupid Comments At St.Louis NRA Convention Under Investigation

Leave it up to raw meat rocker Ted Nugent to make some crazy statements at an NRA convention that would lead to him being put under federal investigation. But, speaking before thinking seems to come natural for Nugent, who's main popularity as a rock star has long since waned back by the late 70's. The last thing the NRA needs is for lunatics like Nugent to characterize their organization as a loose confederation of kooks with guns rather than sane and responsible persons in possession of potentially dangerous weapons.

The whole mess also reflected poorly on Mitt Romney as well, because Ted Nugent has publicly endorsed Romney. Romney, himself was speaking at the convention in St. Louis as well. But, Mitt Romney's connection to the NRA is also in question. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney once had a disparaging comment about the NRA, but then later joined the organization shortly before he ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, losing to John McCain for the GOP nomination that year. Romney further claimed to like to hunt on one hand, but then also joked about not knowing which end of the gun to point because he claimed to know so little about firearms. There isn't really much evidence that Romney is any gun enthusiast at all, and that he simply joined the NRA in 2008 merely to advance his political credentials with gun issue voters who support the NRA. Given his contradictory views on the NRA, it is actually difficult to judge whether Romney is actually a dependable gun rights supporter or a gun control advocate. His views on that issue are just that convoluted. Then again, Nugent seems to be rather confused himself.

Ted Nugent's comments about President Obama also seemed rather surprising partly because the president hasn't really promoted any new legislation regarding firearms, and has publicly supported the Second Amendment as well, which indicates that he has many moderate positions in some areas compared to some Democrats who are at the forefront of gun control legislation.

In August 2010, Ted Nugent was arrested for hunting violations which included baiting a deer and then not having properly signing hunting tags. Further, during the filming of a TV show, Nugent was reportedly witnessed killing an immature buck according to another source. Nugent may like to hunt, but he hasn't always followed the rules and it cost him a $1750 fine when he was forced to plead no contest to the charges stemming from the hunting violations arrest.

Body Builder Porn Star Dies From Police Tasers

Popular porn star, Sledge Hammer(Marland Anderson), a 6 ft 4 inch body builder, died after police were forced to use tasers on him to subdue him after an extreme panic attack at his home. Apparently, his girlfriend called 911 for help after the body builder who appeared in over 800 adult films since the 1990's suffered what appeared to be a terrible panic attack. Paramedics attempted to put him in an ambulance, but he freaked out where 8 police officers attempted to subdue the strongman who broke his handcuffs and gurney in the ambulance, so police had to taser him, which apparently triggered some sort of heart attack.

Apparently, the actor and body builder had some sort of extreme panic attack that he was unable to deal with, and cut himself in an attempt to commit suicide. His girlfriend called for help, but with his extreme strength and fear from his panic reaction, he broke the handcuffs and ambulance gurney with his great strength, where only eight police and their tasers were able to finally get him under control enough to bring him to the hospital emergency room. But, he later lost consciousness at the hospital and died of a heart attack five days later that was suspected to be triggered from the use of the tasers meant to get him under control so he could be transported for emergency care at the hospital.

A police investigation will take place on how an event meant to get someone emergency medical care somehow went so badly.

Some evidence exists that the bodybuilder became a heavy user of marijuana in recent years, besides having a genetic disposition toward panic attacks, both of which factors likely played a large role in the tragic events that eventually took his life.

Think You Had A Bad Weekend? Movie Has $83 Gross Weekend

Unbelievable, but true. one movie actually had just a $83 gross opening weekend, while a few big movies grossed millions in box office receipts. THE BEAT HOTEL is actually a very serious and decent documentary movie that received a great write-up in THE NEW YORK TIMES, but that sure didn't help the film to gross anything more than just $83 this weekend. The average garage sale would have brought in bigger revenues than this did.

Filmmaker Alan Govenar put together an intriguing documentary about a low-rent Paris boarding house that became home to such avant garde counterculture figures like Alan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Gregory Corso, yet it seemed like very few people even bothered to buy a ticket this past weekend to this very good film which, unfortunately played in just one theater nationwide in it's far less than underwhelming box office debut.

One might ask if the paltry $83 gross was even enough to pay for the rent, lights or pay scales to keep the projectionist employed to run this hour and a half film. probably not.

Unfortunately, THE BEAT HOTEL nows establishes a dubious record for perhaps the very worst national debut for a very good art-house film. And that's deeply sad.

Love Me Two Times?: Doors Guitarist Has To Return Gift Mercedes For Smaller Model

Robbie Krieger, the guitarist for the legendary Doors bought his wife of 40 years a nice new large Mercedes ML350 SUV as a gift. But, as nice as this wonderful gift was, it appears that he was sent back to exchange this pricey gift for a smaller GLK350 model. Not sure if she liked the better gas mileage of the smaller model or the easier parking ability, but the guitarist was very happy to make the major league gift exchange.

Love me two times? Visit the Mercedes dealer twice today?

Robin Gibb In Coma, Could Die Soon

Only last month, Robin Gibb, 62, from the legendary Bee Gees seemed like he had been making a miraculous health comeback and even made a guest singing appearance at a charity event. But, then he needed further intestinal surgery on March 25, and then his health problems started to deeply worsen from there. Now, the singer has reportedly fallen into a coma, with his family at his bedside where he could possibly die very soon. It's only the latest tragedy to strike the famous Gibb family who were once nearly second to The Beatles in popularity and record sales for many years.

Rather than a sustained popularity, The Bee Gees had two major periods of huge popularity and explosive record sales. In the later 60's and into around 1971, the band had a string of successful singles such as "I've Got To Get A Message To You", Lonely Days" and "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart". But, then the group re-invented itself as the kings of the disco sound starting in 1975 with the #1 single "Jive Talkin'', and a huge wave of sustained popularity with a string of ten ten or #1 singles such as "Nights On Broadway", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive" that lasted until the August 1981 #1 single, "Love You Inside Out". After that string of hits, many Bee Gees singles ands albums were far less successful, until the July 1989 single, "One" which hit at #7 on the U.S. charts. But, The Bee Gees managed to offer both new studio singles and albums until 2001, and some compilation albums after that time up until 2010.

The younger brother of the the elder Gibb brothers, Andy Gibb, also achieved something of a teen idol status for a time as a hot performer on his own. But, then just like their Bee Gees single, "Tragedy", a string of bad events started to hit the Gibb brothers. In 1988 at the age of 30, Andy Gibb died of a heart inflammation condition. In 2003, 53 year old brother Maurice died of a sudden heart attack, leaving only Robin and his young brother, Barry as surviving Gibb brothers. Now, Robin Gibb is facing life threatening health conditions, as a pneumonia complication is said to be a main cause for the coma that the famous singer has fallen into.

All we can do at this point is to offer Robin Gibb our best wishes and prayers accordingly. We certainly wish both him and his family the very best at this critical moment.

HUNGER GAMES Leads Friday Box Office Over Both THE THREE STOOGES and CABIN IN THE WOODS

Although, THE THREE STOOGES is posting strong Friday numbers, estimated around $5.6 million dollars opening night, THE HUNGER GAMES is still expected to remain the weekend's overall box office favorite. The film took in an estimated $6.4 million on Friday, besting those three crazy guys and the unusual horror flick, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, which took in an estimated $5.5 million.

The expected box office weekend win of THE HUNGER GAMES will give the film four weeks of box office top spot wins, and the film will top the $322 million it has already earned when this weekend's figures are expected to add another $20 million or so.

With the end of some teen-friendly franchise films like the HARRY POTTER series, THE HUNGER GAMES, will give younger audiences a new genre series to look forward to in coming years.

The Farrelly brothers had real difficulty making THE THREE STOOGES because actors such as Sean Penn and Jim Carrey kept leaving the troubled project, where the film looked to be dead on arrival several times since it's 1996 plans to be produced. It almost seemed like a miracle the film was ever made, yet actors Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulis have proved to be better than most critics expected, where many critics actually found the film to very funny.

Bob Dylan's A Huge Fan Of The Three Stooges

A funny and surprising little tidbit is that famed singer-song writer, Bob Dylan is a huge fan of The Three Stooges. In fact, when the Farrelly Brothers sought permission from Dylan to use one his legendary songs, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", Dylan was very gracious and excited to play a part in the film by providing this song. Dylan had an interesting perspective on The Three Stooges as well, where he tended to view Moe as the "smartest" on one hand, but considered himself a fan of Moe's brother, Shemp. In fact, Shemp seems to have some strong appeal among the very intelligent. Bob Costas, for example is a big lover of Shemp as well.

A person can almost imagine Bob Dylan saying something like, "Yeah, Curly Joe Derita, not so much. But, Shemp, whoaaa!".

Even though Bob Dylan is a fan of the Stooges, strangely, the older he gets, the more he looks a little like Vincent Price. The legendary singer-song writer turns 71 May 24.

Dennis Rodman And His Lawyer Need To Get On The Same Page

In order to defend Dennis Rodman in court for owing $808,935 in child support as well as an additional $51,441 in spousal support, Rodman's lawyer submitted court papers claiming that the controversial former NBA great player was both sick and broke. That would be clear enough of a defense, but Dennis Rodman decided that he needed to further complicate matters by appearing on NBC's TODAY SHOW to refute that he was neither broke nor ill. Now, you only have to wonder what his lawyer has to say. Having Dennis Rodman as your client takes the patience of a saint to stay sane.

You also may wonder what happens next when the judge in the ongoing child and spousal support case will be when the defendant says one thing in his official legal brief, but then goes on national TV to refute his own legal claims.

They say a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. They also say that a lawyer who represents Dennis Rodman in court, also has a fool for a client.

Mike Wallace Passed Up Press Secretary Role For Nixon Administration

Mike Wallace, the legend at 60 MINUTES died this past weekend. He was 93. But, many people don't realize that Mike Wallace was also a big fan of President Nixon and was even offered the press secretary position by the president. Wallace really wanted that job, but also had the opportunity at CBS to do the new 60 MINUTES news show. Wallace eventually chose to go with the CBS job. With so many perceived anti-Vietnam War stories that were run over on CBS News, some people believed that a liberal bias might have existed at the network, so Mike Wallace's love for the former president might come as a bit of a surprise to many persons.

Nixon was an interesting and controversial president even before he completely disgraced himself with his own involvement in the Watergate scandal mess. He was the former two-term vice president under the popular president and general, Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower was the first Republican to break a long rule of the Democrats at the White House that extended from the early days of cleaning up the mess of the Great Depression, to leading America through both WWII and the Korean War. Nixon was known for standing up to tough to cold war rivals like Nikita Khrushchev. But, some like Harry Truman didn't like Nixon much, whom he referred to as a "shifty-eyed Goddamn liar". But, outside of the late President John F. Kennedy, Nixon was viewed as one of the most skillful politicians of the 1960's, until Watergate ruined that reputation and Nixon resigned as one of the most hated politicians of all time. And, although he moved the Supreme Court in a direction not conducive to civil liberties or other things, he did promote open relations with China, where China is now one America's best trading partners and mostly a friend in the world now, and other notable achievements. Nixon was a real mixed bag of much progress on one hand, but other less good elements in abundance as well. Wallace probably was wise not to associate himself so closely with such an administration. Wallace made a worthy decision not to publicly proclaim his politics, and to appear to be more objective for his new story coverage. He was always one of the very best journalists ever.

Wallace also proved that a really well crafted prime time news program like 60 MINUTES could work as entertainment on the ratings hot Sunday night schedule. 60 MINUTES has had an enduring quality for decades now, although most original cast members have either moved on to retirement or even death.

It's hard to believe that Mike Wallace is gone. I don't think he wants to accept that either. My best guess is that his ghost still shows up for work at 60 MINUTES to do the show, refusing to accept death, because there's always that next big news story that only he can manage to cover so well. He was just that good. Evil doers would shake in their boots at the mere mention of the these words, "I'm Mike Wallace". Mike Wallace kept the evil doers honest, and righted wrongs with his blunt and honest journalism.

Mike Wallace did leave us with a very good newscaster son, Chris Wallace, who works for FOX. And Mike Wallace even wrote an inspirational article for the Christian magazine founded by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, GUIDEPOSTS, even though he himself was Jewish. Wallace did overcome a period of depression to make it to the ripe old age of 93, never really seeming to slow down with his workload until retirement from 60 MINUTES only a few years ago. No modern journalist can compare to Mike Wallace. He was the top of his field.

Lindsay Lohan Sells Her Designer Clothes To Pay Bills

As proof that Lindsay Lohan is now almost broke and suffering from huge legal bills and other debts, she was forced to sell a truck load of her designer clothes to a business that resells used clothing. Lindsay Lohan now joins a growing list of celebrities who have suffered such big financial setbacks that they are forced to sell their homes or other treasured personal belongings just to stay afloat financially.

Only days ago, some man attempted to seek six figures from the actress, claiming that he was a victim of a hit and run accident from Lohan. But, her car failed to show any body damage to prove his case. But, it had to be a new concern to the actress who appears to face a serious financial struggle right now, just as she is attempting to put her life back in order.

TMZ even claims that Lindsay Lohan was two months behind in her rent, but made a $23,000 payment recently, avoiding possible eviction as a further sign of her serious economic straits.

There is also some new, but disputed story that Lindsay Lohan may have involved in some nightclub altercation with some woman. But, given that recent attempt by some guy to claim a hit and run despite any physical evidence, this story deserves more investigation.