Richie Hayward, RIP

Richie Hayward, was an excellent drummer. He was the co-founder of the amazing jam band 'Little Feat', that played rock, country, jazz and blues. The band and Richie Hayward are being remembered for songs like "Willin."

The Associated Press reports that he died yesterday, Thursday morning, after complications of pneumonia. He was 64. Richie Hayward had liver cancer.

The AP reports -- "In a letter to fans last August, Hayward wrote about his predicament, but sounded hopeful: 'My intent is to come back to the band, as soon as I am physically able. Your love and support will mean a lot to me, more than I can say. I love and will miss you all, and I will see you again on the proud highway.' He last performed with the band on July 11."

When I hear the news that a singer or member of a band has died, whose music I have spent hours listening to, I find myself recalling from my memory scenes of where I was and of what I was doing when I first heard a song or a tune of theirs. What drew my attention away from what I was doing, to listen to their work. This morning, when I heard of Richie Hayward's passing, I found myself surfing the net and my memories. Watching video clips of Little Feat performing music, and appreciating the work off Richie Hayward, and of his friend Lowell George, who went before him.

Richie Hayward, RIP

Richie Hayward drum solo

Little Feat - Willin'

Steven Slater, American Instant Folk Hero

Pulling A Steven-Slater: It's In The Way You Quit Your Job

Sometimes the job gets to the best of workers, especially when the job requires dealing with the public, and among the public are more than a few very difficult customers. I've been there.

Yesterday morning, Steven Slater, a flight attendant at Jet Blue Airline, came to the point when he said enough is enough and became an instant Internet folk hero.

Who hasn't had days like Steven Slater and who, working in the service field, haven't had to deal with a difficult customer or two and wanted to pull a Steven-Slater?

The Associated Press reported that a difficult passenger defied requests to stay seated, then accidentally hit Mr. Slater in the head with her luggage. "When the flight was still waiting to take off from Pittsburgh, two female passengers got into an argument over space in the overhead bins. That's when Slater was struck in the head. The dispute flared up again after the plane landed in New York when one of the women, who had been asked to gate-check her bag, was enraged that it wasn't immediately available.The woman was outraged and cursed him out a great deal. Slater addressed the passengers on the intercom. "Those of you who have shown dignity and respect these last 20 years, thanks for a great ride." Mr. Slater had a few choice words for the passenger who cursed him, then he took two beers from the galley and exited the plane using the emergency slide. This was a no-no. He was arrested;(since released), and has been arraigned on charges that seem bogus.' But might not be, depending the spin the Port Authority puts on the manner of his exit. The charges are criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing

The authorities have put the word out overnight that Mr. Slater is facing serious charges.They emphasize that pulling exit (a plane's) chute is serious The authorities certainly don't want workers pulling a Steven-Slaters.

Anyway, Mister Slater seemed relieved to having quit his job, and he has gathered many thousands of fans on Facebook from folks who understand what drove him to the point of quitting his job in such a dramatic fashion.

Phil Mickelson: Mystery Solved

Now, just as Phil Mickelson was about to make the move to replace Tiger Woods in the standings, as the number one golfer on the PGA tour, his golf game has fallen into a severe slump. Yesterday, the world learned the reason why. Mr Mickelson revealed, on Tuesday, that he has psoriatic arthritis, which is a painful condition that could make playing the game of golf very difficult.

But, Mr. Mickleson told the Associated Press, "For five or six weeks, I was a little unsure of how this was going to affect me long term, career, what have you. Now that I feel confident it's not going to affect not only the rest of my career or the rest of my life, but even in the short term it shouldn't have an effect".

In the video, Mr. Mickelson says, 'psoriatic arthritis causes the immune system to attack the body's joints and tendons." He says, he is on medication that brings the illness under control. See the video.

Mickelson Still Following Tiger

Following Tiger Into A Boogie hole

For a good while now Tiger Woods has been in a slump, and for a while now the talk has been that Phil Mickelson is getting ready to make his move on the PGA Tour to replace the Tiger as the number one ranked golfer in the world. But judging by the way Mr. Mickelson has been playing, one would think that he feels psychologically comfortable being number two to the Tiger. This weekend both champions played in the Bridgestone Invitational.tournament, and both performed dismally. They were blown out. Lucky for their ranking in the standings, another relatively unknown, Hunter Mahan, won the event. He won by two shots.

The Associated Press reports that "with Woods struggling, Mickelson could have moved up a spot to become No. 1 in the world rankings. Instead, he also had an abysmal round, shooting a 78. 'You're only as good as your last performance,' Mickelson said after falling from a tie for 10th place all the way to a tie for 46th. 'This wasn't very good.'"

The Tiger played his worst game ever at the Bridgestone. His play as been downhill since the news of his sex scandal broke last November. Why Mickelson; is playing so poorly as of late is the mystery.

Patricia Neal , R. I..P.

Patricia Neal has died. She passed yesterday, Sunday, at her home in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard.. She died -- the Associated Press reports, "surrounded by her family." She had lung cancer. She was 84.

What do I remember about Patricia Neal off the top of my head? She won an Oscar for "Hud," a film released in 1963, which also starred Paul Newman, who also should have won an Oscar for the film. She was married to Roald Dahl, the English writer of children books, (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). They got divorced (in 1983). Mr. Dahl is no longer with us, (died in 1990). She was the female lead in the science fiction classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still, " which starred Michael Rennie. She was the kid's mom. This is he first movie I remembered seeing her in. I saw it on television. I was impressed, obviously, by the robot.. I thought, Ms. Neal played a good kid's mom, which is saying, I thought she was an effective actor.

After doing a little checking and remembering.--- She starred in Robert Altman's "Cookie's Fortune." She had a long career on the screen, movies and television, and the Broadway stage.

Patricia Neal , R.I.P.

Rudy's Daughter Shoplifter?!

New York City's former mayor and former candidate for the GOP nomination for President, tough guy, Rudy Giuliani -- his daughter has been busted, the charge is misdemeanor shoplifting. The young Miss G is accused of snatching a hundred dollars worth of stuff at a beauty supplies store in Manhattan, according to the NYPD. The New York cops say that Miss Caroline Giuliani was seen on security cameras pocketing items. See the video.

Well, the girl has a rich daddy, who got rich cashing in on 911, and on being this really tough New York City mayor. Tough on crime, tough on anybody else, who he thought he could get tough on. His daughter is an alleged thief, but she shouldn't be judged on who her daddy is, and likewise. Just because his daughter got hauled in by the New York cops, he shouldn't be judged by her alleged misdeeds. The girl is a student at Harvard, for goodness sakes! Her daddy is embarrassed. Nobody is happy about this, not even the zillions of New Yorkers, whom Giuliani railed against for not properly raising their kids

Well, daughters embarrassing their famous daddies are making the news this week, and Giuliani's embarrassment could have been worse. Laurence Fishburne's daughter made a porn flick.

Mitch Miller, R.I.P.

Mitch Miller is dead at 99. All the good people do not die young. All the talented do not go early. The Associated Press reports that Mr. Miller died Saturday in a New York hospital after a short illness.

He wasn't a rock-n-roller. He was pre-rock -n-roll. He was Tony Bennett, Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney and Johnny Mathis kind of music, the popular stuff with ballads, that required orchestras with strings. He was a record executive and sat on top of the world of the popular music in the 1950s and the early 1960s. He was an orchestra leader, with a popular TV show in the early 1960s, which I remember watching. The show was called 'Sing Along With Mitch.'

I remember singing along to the lyrics superimposed on the screen, and following the bouncing ball, as I sung, and imitating him conducting. I wasn't the only one in the family singing along.

He featured Leslie Uggams on his show. She was a young African- American singer of great talent. His advertisers and some of the local stations disapproved, pressured him to drop her. He refused to bow to pressure. He wanted to feature the best talent that he could find..

Mitch Miller, American musician, bandleader, music innovator, R.I.P.

Justin Bieber to Write Book?

Yesterday, Monday, there was an announcement of big news in the publishing world! No, not another undiscovered until now, some lost masterpiece by the likes of Shakespeare, more important than that to pop culture. The sixteen year-old pop sensation, singer Justin Bieber has signed a big money deal with really, big-time book publisher HarperCollins to write a book.

Can he write? If he can sign his name, he can write. And besides the book will be his memoirs, his autobiography. And it's going to be an illustrated book. And all he has to do is to put pictures of himself, smiling, in the book, write a few captions, and go on the Internet and tell his zillions of little girl fans to buy it, and they will, and it will be a best seller, and in the world of publishing that is all that counts. Period.

Everybody knows the title of a Justin Bieber self written book is not important. It will be a big seller, with his name and picture on the cover. But, so one will know what to look for, HarperCollins said in their press release, the book will be titled, "Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story."

10 Things NOT to Do in Public



  •  Unless you are under the age of three (and then it is still questionable), DO NOT pick your nose in public. I don’t want to see you flicking your boogars all over the streets, I’m tired of looking at you digging for gold that you will never find in places that should not be explored, and it truthfully makes me wonder if maybe you are perchance in need of a little help in the nose regard.
  •  Expose your flab unnecessarily. The exception of course is if you are actually participating in a sporting event and no, walking slowly in the mall DOES NOT count. I don’t care if you are larger than the average person, I just don’t feel its appropriate to display your flab in most cases.
  •  Shout at women who would never condescend to speak to you in the first place- not because they are stuck up, but because most women are not particularly wooed at the sound of “Nice tits”. Some are, but unless you are as good-looking as they are or they are extremely intoxicated, it won’t get you anywhere. Guaranteed.
  •  Masturbate. This goes into the category with the flab. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, but whipping it out in public is extremely inadvisable. No one wants to clean up your mess.
  •  Cut off pedestrians with your car. As tempting as the idea of scaring the occasional pedestrian may be, you are driving, they are walking, accidentally hitting them is NOT really that good of an idea. Call it a cultural thing.
  •  Brag about your accomplishments and who you know to people that could care less. The time to do that is maybe in a job interview, or maybe to your Grandma or perhaps a family member, but most people don’t care.
  • Spit. I know that it is acceptable in Asia, but this isn’t Asia. I don’t want to step on your Loogey, no matter how attractive you think it might be.
  •  Vomit on the sidewalk. In some places, sidewalk vomit is actually called “Pizza” - this doesn’t make it ok or endear you to anyone at all.10.  Play pocket pool. It is a lot more obvious than you think it is when you do it. No matter how secretive you are, all eyes be on you wondering wtf is that guy doing.

Bear Rescues Bear

In Laconia, New Hampshire a black bear entered a home of humans to rescue a bear. Well, a stuffed bear.

The Associated Press reports that a black bear walked into a New Hampshire house through an open door, (In New Hampshire are doors still left unlocked and open? Isn't that a neighborly thing?), ate two pears and a bunch of grapes, (This bear seems to be a healthy eater), took a drink from the family fishbowl (Well, maybe the bear couldn't find a clean glass), and grabbed a stuffed bear on its way out the door (Maybe the bear needs glasses and mistook the stuffed bear for a relative? So this wasn't theft but a rescue attempt!.)

Fox Cable News probably would have race baited the story as followed -- A BLACK, socialists bear, an obvious racist, broke into the house of a white New Hampshire family. This bear is an Obama supporter, is for his communist agenda to redistribute the wealth. It stole food, water, and a family heirloom, (the stuffed bear). This theft has left a white family heart broken and devastated. To top off this outrage, Eric Holder's Justice Department has refused to indict and to prosecute this black bear!

Or Fox Cable News might have hyped the terrorist angle. A new threat to America! A terrorist attack right here on the home front. From an American backyard, a jihadist bear invaded an American home. A brave American family valiantly fought off the attacker and saved the family's pet, an America goldfish, which was seconds from being taken as hostage or as food. The jihadist made off with a hostage, the family stuff bear. Where is Obama's Department of Homeland Security, when an American family pet can be threatened, and the family's stuffed bear can be taken from its home by a jihadist? How do we know the bear is a jihadist? Everybody knows that Bin Laden's jihadists love to wear black.

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