Whitney Houston, pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and royal image were destroyed by drug use, volatile behavior and a rocky marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.
Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards, where she once reigned supreme. Her death is sure to leave a line of heavy hearts on the red carpet of Sunday’s ceremony.
Houston’s long-time manager and mentor, Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it is unclear if it’s going forward.

At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. Her effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that combined her gospel roots with modern pop music wowed audiences everywhere. Beautiful, poised, and never over the top sexy, her musings on self-love and falling in love, brought to life by stellar pipes made her a role model and a highly coveted commodity.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She influenced future pop princesses Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey, among others. In fact, Carey sounded so much like Houston when she landed on the scene that many confused the two singers.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a cautionary tale of the ravages of substance abuse. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side. She also declared, “Crack is whack.”

It was a tragic fall both personally and professionally for a history-making superstar with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union, given their diverse public image. The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993. Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston stood by her man. Meanwhile, seemingly making excuses and throwing herself under the bus.

“When you love, you love,” she said. “I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images?… I am nobody’s angel.”

Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, and her role in “The Bodyguard” would betray that “devil’s angel” proclamation, however, and rather seal her reputation as America’s Sweetheart.

Her rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” won two Grammy’s and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen a couple more times, and received praise from both critics and audiences alike for her on-screen roles as well as their accompanying soundtracks.

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was on drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. I was losing myself.”

Whitney has stated that her marriage to her abusive husband Brown was a catalyst for her drug use (something the public already suspected). They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010, after having dropped out of the spotlight for several years. (Aside from the tortuous reality show “Being Bobby Brown” which only cemented Houston as a drug addict in a very unhealthy relationship.)

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. Live television appearances revealed the toll crack had taken on the singer’s once pristine and powerful vocal abilities, and a world tour launched overseas proved no better. Many walked out, unimpressed or angry. Canceled concert dates raised eyebrows that the singer may have fallen off the wagon, but she denied those claims, blaming illness instead.

Whitney Houston, one of my all-time favorite singers – may you rest in peace, sing with the Angels, and make heaven a better place for all who enter after you.

———————————————–
Republished by Hollywood Today.

Frances Bean Cobain: Courtney Love was a bad mom by NMAtv

[Above: NMA.TV strikes again! The Taiwan-based video news-site converts sensationalized media into animated parodies. Think Casey Anthony...]

A new tell-all e-book “Courtney Comes Clean” was released Wednesday by The Fix, a publication about recovery, started by ex-New York Mag editor Maer Roshan. This Courtney-collab promises to courier us to the peaks of the social climber’s fame, down to the depraved moments setting up her next syringe. The alleged hoarder (Frances Bean purports that Love also set multiple house fires by falling asleep with lit cigs under the sheets, and killing the family dog with littered pharms) issues grievances about AA, among other things.

Meeting a dozen times over a nine-month period, “Courtney Comes Clean” editor Roshan was said to have kept lines open 24 hours a day – namely, with Courtney emailing, tweeting and texting her every move.  One could speculate the chirps included verbose ruminations on life, eating, plaid, and death. One sure-fire way to win over mathletes and crack addicts alike, is to admit that when hitting the pipe, she became an even more Beautiful Mind.  Love says that crack made her better at math.  This alone is worth the e-book’s nominal asking price of $2.99.

Her future plans include auctioning off Cobain’s estate, and of course, the rumored film about her late-husband’s life, which has been in the works for a couple years, and is based off the book, “Heavier Than Heaven,” also authorized by Love.

Buy the e-book from Barnes & Noble, then wash your hands.  A bunch.

Wow! Lana del Rey is a new discovery for me, and I’m mesmerized! Her smoky mezzo growl, paired with nihilistic lyrics in Born to Die are truly unique.

“Come and take a walk on the wild side/Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain/you like your girls insane.”

The “Kill Kill” singer bears uncanny inspiration from Celtic mythology in her vid, sitting throne-like, flanked by two wild tigers (reminiscent of Sekhmet, though she sat with lions) and her stunning, icy good looks, belied by heartbreak, are resonant with boldness straight from Freyja’s handbook. She accepts her fate of lonely Friday nights and tattooed lovers with dual personas, but pushes the envelope anyway. And despite NY Times bemoaning her and the world questioning her credibility, manufactured celebrities can still put out from time to time, and we all know: guilty pleasures make the world go round.

Pardon the dopeness!  I actually *really* like these cats.  From Toronto, Antz One have cuteness, esoteric rapping, long O’s, plus they skateboard!  The jazzy intro to Everyday Habit lends way to real storytelling, and an addictive vid that makes you ache to be 17 again, smoking in your bedroom with a pretty honey…

“She liked the smell of my cologne, I called it confidence.”

Live vicariously through these boys… before they blow up… slick track.  The album, A Bugs Life available on hulkshare.

Director Quentin Tarantino has delivered his comprehensive rundown of 2011 films to the aptly named Quentin Tarantino Archives website, and it features enough watering hole convo to open Neil Strauss’s next PUA book. His top-eleven:

1. “Midnight In Paris”
2. “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”
3. “Moneyball”
4. “The Skin I Live In”
5. “X-Men: First Class”
6. “Young Adult”
7. “Attack The Block”
8. “Red State”
9. “Warrior”
10. “The Artist” / “Our Idiot Brother” (tie)
11. “The Three Musketeers”

The Quentin Tarantino Archives houses Tarantino’s full list, including honorable mentions, worst films and his choices for best directors of the year.

List Source: Moviefone.com

This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Barnett, the filmmaker behind the uber-cool HBO documentary, Superheroes.  This inspiring piece of celluloid captures real-life superheroes as they don Stan Lee-esque garb and fight crime in their neighborhoods!  If you love comics, if you love men in tights, if you love altruism and the idea that one individual can really make a difference, well, shoot – call me.  Seriously, though, take a gander and don’t forget to leave a comment below the story!  SUPERHEROES

Director Barnett will be swooping in to read your comments.  So give him a shout and let him know you dig what he does!

Superheroes debuted on HBO, and had its DVD release Nov. 15th.  Catch it playing in select theatres nationwide now!

Stan Lee and Comic-Con’s Favorite Doc ‘Superheroes’ Has DVD Release

Commercial director Michael Barnett swoops in with real-life costumed crime fighters

By Darrah Le Montre

(HOLLYWOOD, CA) HOLLYWOOD TODAY – 11/17/11 – “I would be a little worried about somebody with no real superpower, who puts on a costume, and then runs around challenging criminals,” said comic book pillar Stan Lee about a band of activists that has sprung up to take the law into their own gloved hands.  “Real life superheroes” are anywhere from 18 to 62 years old, run the gamut of ethnicities and backgrounds and often have no real training to fight crime.  But, captured in the award-winning Barnett documentary “Superheroes,” whose DVD hit shelves this week they appear to be the next big thing.

“The film touches on a zeitgeist-y moment.  I think we’re in a very troubled time right now as a society,” Director Barnett says, in a Hollywood Today exclusive.

“Occupy Wall Street is a very power to the people movement.  People are fed up and they feel like they don’t have control and they don’t have a voice.  And they’re trying to create one.  This movement [of real life superheroes] is so on par with that.  Though a little more eccentric, it is a protest,” he asserts.

HBO saved the day, buying the self-funded Comic-Con Indie Film Fest winner, whose budget is yet unreleased, and it debuted on the small screen in October.  The doc reflects a private community that is now under international spotlight.  “Superheroes” is enjoying a limited theatrical release as part of Slamdance On The Road.

Shot over 15 months, this lauded and still slyly hip documentary shines a well-balanced light…

Read the full story at: HOLLYWOOD TODAY

The unlikely, but delightful newly-wed Gaiman-Palmer duo hit the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in L.A. at 8pm Halloween-night opening what will be a 5-city West Coast and North American “mini-tour.”

On the heels of performing with Moby and Stephen Merritt, along with an admittingly “uncomfortable”  Gaiman on keyboards, on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson earlier that day, the twosome were introduced at the Ebell by rad chick comic Margaret Cho.  (Who likened her life-long affection for rice-paper wrapped white bunny candies to her fondness for un-circumsized penises.)  Taking the stage in black and white wedding-esque attire Amanda and Neil began a rowdy costume contest.  Audience members, hand-selected by Cho, donned the stage and accepted varying levels of applause, which determined the ultimate winner: a gay male couple dressed as twin-rabbits.  Creeepy masks. Prize?  Signed merch.

The British scary story writer and Dresden Dolls founder and lead-singer met while collaborating on Palmer’s macabre art/photo book “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” – a collection of photographs of a dead-Palmer – taken by Palmer, over a period of 14 years.  Gaiman explains how this undertaking brought them together.  Read, also, his latest plight: to help artists create wills for their literary estates.

A charmingly disorganized night filled with on-stage, off-mic banter, impromptu song and reading plans and even a cue-card Q&A of previously scribed audience questions proved utterly lavish in this overly-synchronized Lady Gaga lights/Chris Brown firework world of perfectly framed modernity.  Not to mention, the love between these two is palpable.  (They pecked between songs, and when Gaiman forgot his lyric sheet, Palmer hurriedly scribbled lines on a ripped piece of paper with Sharpie, handed it to him and ran back to her piano.  To which, Gaiman proclaimed aloud: “I love her.”)

NYC-native Palmer sang a cover of “Science Fiction/Double Feature” from Rocky Horror Picture Show along with originals “Runs in the Family,” “Judy Blume,” and latest Twitter-fan-aided ode to 4-stringed, anti-Fascist Machine-killing machine, her I.O.C., “Ukulele Anthem.”  The 35-year old outspoken bisexual even sang “Satellite of Love” for the nearing birthday-boy (Neil turns 50 on November 10th) all the while bragging her landmark sticatto & writhing piano-playing.  Neil read a few poems and a Halloween story he wrote for the New York Times, as well as a silly torch song about heartbreak and computers replacing the ‘cigarettes and bar-fly’ mentality that pervaded society for so long.  Australian duo The Jane Austen Argument opened.

The tour will be recorded, by way of fan funding from a Kickstarter campaign, which surpassed it’s $20,000 goal by $113,000+.  In fact, much of the connection Palmer – now playing as one half of duo Evelyn Evelyn with Jason Webley – has with her fans stems from her DIY, grass-roots use of technology: blogging, free music sites, Twitter.  There, she communicates and even beckons help from them (like during “ReBellyon” a record company dispute re. Roadrunner Records alleged editing out of a music video belly shot, because they felt she looked “fat”).

A standing ovation for the two goth-faves, was followed by Amanda signing merch with her new husband then standing on a table, barefoot, drinking a beer.  Her defiant tongue ring glimmering beneath the florescent light.

Read Amanda ‘Fucking’ Palmer’s blog @ the Ukulele Anthem, with lyrics.

Republished by SuicideGirls.

Since Tuesdays are sometimes a drag to get through, I’ve decided to help you out. Every Tuesday (if I remember) I will post a hilarious, sexy or clever video. Well, I will find it fabulous, hopefully, you get my humour. What can I say? I got your back.

Let’s premiere with:

Late comedian and mastermind, Bill Hicks. Great mind, difficult personality + who famously loved going down (trifecta perfecta) ranting about Pornography, Marketers (sorry, advertising friends) and Feeding the Hungry. Bon Apetit.

Thrilled at a new opportunity to be the co-host of SuicideGirls Radio, which airs live every Sunday on Indie 103.1 from 10pm-midnight.

Starting next month, I will be interviewing sexy female celebrities and artists, who embody feminism in every-day America.  These stealth warriors for femininity will be spirited, and fun.  And together, we’ll throw ideas around and discuss ways to make men’s and women’s lives richer and more satisfying.  Or, we may just dish on dicks, dishes and doing our nails.  Not sure.

Thanks to Nicole Powers, my supportive editor at SG, who – monthly – lets me spout out about everything under the westside sun, in my column, Red, White and Femme.  She introduced this idea, and instantly, I began amassing potential targets.  Who shall the first guest be?  Not sure yet… but party assured, you’ll be the first to know.

They will also be supplying bands and the like, for me to investigate on air.  A request has already been put in for Red Hot Chili Peppers (for which I will personally exalt and worship the mighty creature who delivers Anthony Kiedis to me).

In the meantime, you can learn more about SuicideGirls radio here: SG Radio or listen to podcasts on iTunes, here: SG Radio on iTunes or Old School SG Radio w/Missy.

Thanks for your support, guys.