Will you still love me...

So I was watching Letterman last night and Paul McCartney was the guest (both interview and musical). Turns out he played a mini-concert on top of The Late Show marquee. What?! I can't believe I didn't know about this! I totally would have gone! It's like 3 blocks from me too. I will be sick about that for the rest of my life.
I love The Beatles. I love Elvis and Michael Jackson too. Sue me. All of them have memories attached from my life to their songs.
I was about 15 when The Beatles Anthology was broadcast on ABC. It was right around Thanksgiving. All my family was in town (brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews), and we all watched as a family each night. It was bonding.
My brother is 17 years older than me; he was always my hero. He was a real Beatles fan, and I felt more connected to him by liking them too.
That's what makes pop phenomenon like the Fab Four great. It's not just the musical value (although high), it's the warmth we feel when thinking back on those memories. Unless of course you were beaten without mercy every time "Hey, Jude" played.

Headlines are good:

30 Rock got over 20 Emmy nominations today. Amazing, 30 Rock gets just enough audience to stay on air, yet Transformers 2 is one of the biggest box office hits ever.

David and Courtney Arquette have both signed on for Scream 4. When asked if he was going to sign on too, Liev Schrieber laughed and said, "Sorry guys, I actually have had a career since then."

Even though his character has been dead for awhile, expect Jamie Kennedy to try and weasel his way into Scream 4.

Amy Whinehouse has been granted a divorce. Aw really? Things were looking so bright before that.

Here's part of what I missed:





Tomorrow: No post tomorrow, shooting a short film. For Monday give your thoughts on the black summer campers getting kicked out of the "white-friendly" pool in Philly. I'll talk about it at the top of the week.

Americans' Idol

First off, having "King" in your name or title is not a good thing. The King dead at 42. The King of Pop dead at 50. Original King of Comedy Bernie Mac dead at 50. Martin Luther King, Jr. dead at 39. King of the Jews dead at 33. King of Queens dead at 9 seasons. King of Kong's social life stillborn. Lesson to be learned? No.

So, who is the next world superstar icon?

Abbi writes, "Beyonce in 30 years. That is, if marriage and fancy restaurants don't make her tubby. In that case she's the next Aretha Franklin."

Sorry, Beyonce doesn't cut the mustard. "Why?" you ask. Because she got caught on camera falling down the stairs followed by some embarrassing headbanging. Icon? Not in the YouTube generation Sister.

My pick? Since Madonna, Obama, and Oprah are already icons they don't count. I say the next world icon is... Dane Cook. Don't think he's stopped at his domination of the comedy world. He's gunning for it all. Plus he's the King of Myspace.

Headlines comin' at ya:

A tape of LeBron James being dunked on by a college player has been confiscated by Nike. "Just do it... and we'll make sure nobody ever knows that you did."

Bill O'Reilly has issued a statement saying, "Michael Jackson is no black icon." Because when you think expert on black culture, you think Bill O'Reilly.

O'Reilly says MJ is no black icon. He followed that gem with, "Mexicans love Rush Limbaugh."

Mariah Carey apologized for her performance in Jackson's memorial service. Now if we can get her to apologize for "Glitter."

Let's see this one again:

Tomorrow: What is the greatest TV show ever? Make your suggestions in today's comments and I'll address them tomorrow.

Peter King, not cool dude.

So Representative Peter King thought, "Hey, Michael Jackson's death has affected a couple billion people: perfect time to rip him a new one."

Yeah, Mr. King (no, no relation to MLK--surprise surprise this one is whiter than a klansman's dandruff) decides it is perfectly acceptable to rip into MJ a couple days before his funeral because he thinks the entire world is making a mistake by "honoring a pervert." Yeah, there's no perversion in the political world. Watch, he's going to end up with little boys' bodies in his basement.

Oh lucky me, he's in New York and wants to run for the Senate. Maybe we should all reach out and let the congressman know exactly how much of a Peter he really is. I know I'll love voting against him... if he makes it that far.

Headlines:

Sylvester Stallone turned 63 this week. Ahh, a birthday for every Rocky sequel.

Fred Savage turns 33 on July 9th. Seriously, he's only 33? I swear he's been in show business for at least 34 years.

A teacher in Maine is in trouble for having a mock marriage to one of his 4th graders. Don't worry, marrying a 4th grader hasn't hurt Woody Allen's career.

Look for the new Fox show, "Are you married to a 4th grader?" this fall.

Abbi got me looking for this:

Tomorrow: Who's the next world Icon?

What Happened to the 80's?

My previous two posts got me thinking about the 1980's. It was a really awesome, fun, over-the-top decade, but what happened to it? A disproportionate number of stars from the day are gone, recluses, tragedy stricken, or straight-up crazy!

Let's just take a look at some of the 80's icons (seriously, I don't even have to write punchlines for these people; their names say it all):

Madonna

Mike Tyson

Tom Cruise

Michael J. Fox

Sylvester Stallone

Eddie Murphy

Cher

Farrah Fawcett

Van Halen (EVERYBODY in the band)

and the biggest star of them all Michael Jackson.

That's not even counting big, but not quite life-altering stars:

Patrick Swayze

Hulk Hogan

Mr. T

Kirk Cameron

David Hasselhoff

Nell Carter

Entire cast of Diff'rent Strokes

Isiah Thomas

Christopher Reeves

Bo Jackson

Sam Kinison

Andrew "Dice" Clay

Dudley Moore

Paul Ruebens a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman

Whitney Houston

Mel Gibson

It's clear Magic Johnson made a deal with the devil. If he allowed Earvin to continue living and become a business king, he would strike down all other stars from the 80's.

Is there one person who thought Prince would be the most normal guy from the 80's in the year 2009?

Headlines are here:

Kevin Jonas is engaged. First MJ, now this! I can only take so much heartbreak.

Kevin Jonas is getting married. Luckily it makes good business sense--his fiancee is Minny Mouse.

Don't worry, even though Kevin Jonas is getting married, he'll still make crappy music and star as a 14 year old in Disney Channel original movies.

GM told it's investors today to not buy their stock. Yeah, I think they probably got that message about 6 months ago.

GM says to not buy it's stock. Hey GM, if you're just realizing this NOW, it's no wonder you are bankrupt.

GM says "Don't buy our stock... Instead please, PLEASE buy our cars!"

And now a little video that I can't get out of my head:

Tomorrow: Health Care: What should we do? Leave a comment today, and I'll talk about it tomorrow.

Thriller Killer

In Friday's comments Jesse wrote, "I just read that pitchman Billy Mays died. Got one for that?"

OK, this is weird now. Billy Mays? I have a pretty rock solid theory: there is a celebrity serial killer trying to stop me from publishing the "Hollywood Stars Gone Crazy" blog.

After each post, I ask a question for the next day's blog. When the Celebs question was asked, the next Farrah Fawsett succumbs to cancer. I remain undeterred, so they hit me harder with Michael Jackson. They knew I loved him. I had to postpone the blog so I could write about MJ. Now it's Billy Mays. Whoever this killer is, they know my loves in this world: Michael Jackson and infomercials.

I beg anyone with information leading to the arrest or apprehension of this killer, please, PLEASE step forward!

I postpone one more day. If Reggie Miller or Rocky Balboa are found dead tonight, we know my "theory" is not just reality, it has become our national nightmare!

Headlines in the house:

Bernie Madoff was sentences to 150 years in prison, meaning he will be 221 years old when he is set for release. Hey that's prime years for an anti-Christ!

Transformers was #1 at the box office. Produce mindless, talentless garbage and slap a childhood reference in the title and 80's kids will buy anything!

US Soccer lost a close match to Brazil in the finals of the Confederation Cup. Because of their spectacular run through the tournament the team received the highest praise the American public has ever bestowed upon a soccer team: the disinterested sigh.

A fun way to remember Billy Mays:

Tomorrow: Celebrity melt-downs. Abbi has already left a comment that will be addressed. Add yours now.

Michael Jackson

We'll have to postpone the scheduled Friday post until Monday because the news of MJ's death is bigger than any other news story in awhile.

It just can't be real. That's our collective thought right now. Elvis has left the building. MJ has joined him. You don't get bigger than Micheal.

My Michael memories:

In elementary school, my friend Travis had the Michael Jackson LA Gear sneakers (far left in photo).

It was the late 80s/early 90s and it totally wasn't cool to have them. Travis received them as a gift and told everybody they were Michael Jordan's (cause they just said "MJ" on the shoe). Nobody bought it, but to be honest, I wished those were my shoes.

Black Or White debuted and it was overwhelming. Nobody missed the video, and everybody talked about it in school the next day. Great song, but that Macaulay rap lip-sync will always be extremely weird. And it only got stranger from there.

Blaring "Beat It" in my Dad's 1998 Sebring convertible with my friend Grant. This was around 2002 and to be honest, I felt really really cool.

When Scream premiered, I was in early High School. You'd never admit you like Mike, but EVERYBODY watched that video. Teaming up with his superstar sister--even the cool kids were excited.

Now some Headlines:

The news of Michael Jackson's death is tragic. Even worse, TMZ broke the news.

June 25, 2009 will always stand out as a sad day. Farrah Fawcett succumb to cancer, Michael Jackson passed away, and the Pacers drafted Tyler Hansburough. The tri-fecta of bad days.

An autopsy will be performed today to determine Jackson's cause of death. What we may never know is what killed that thing on Donald Trump's head.

Today while preparing breakfast I saw Michael Jackson in a piece of toast, Farrah in my coffee grounds, and Ed McMahon in Cash for Gold commercial in the break room. Is that weird?

Tickets for Michael's 50 sold-out concert dates have now tripled in price on EBay. Apparently some fans didn't quite understand the reports of his death.

James Brown: dead. Michael Jackson: dead. MC Hammer: new TV show. Good to know we still have one legend left.

And here's today's video, Michael Jackson's first TV appearance:

Monday: We'll do yesterday's question--Hollywood stars going crazy in public. Bring up your favorite celebrity breakdown in today's comments and we'll talk about it tomorrow.