I Was Just Thinking...

I saw this picture of Paris Jackson today and it got me to thinking about Michael Jackson's kids and where they are now. You know how a picture or a story gets you thinking about people that really aren't in your realm of life, yet you can't stop wondering what happened to them?

A quick internet check on Paris finds the 17 year-old beauty seemingly happy and attending a private boarding school in Utah. She certainly has turned out to be a beautiful young lady, and social media pictures show her to be dating.

Her 18 year-old boyfriend, Chester Castellaw, is a soccer player for the Real So Cal youth soccer club. When not away at school she resides with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson and cousin Tito in California and her two brothers. She seems to be doing much better since her reported suicide attempt when she was 15.

Her brother Prince Michael also seems to be faring well.

The Loyola Marymount student, 18, is focusing his studies on a career in film and television. Reportedly a great student, Prince is said to be committed to his studies and focused on receiving a degree. Good thing because as the heir of his father's vast estate, he will need a good head on his shoulders to navigate all that entails. Talk about pressure. Let's keep our fingers crossed he stays the course. I think it would be a great testament to his late father.

Last, is their brother, Prince Michael II, "Blanket" who is 13.

Reportedly bullied for his name "Blanket", he changed his name to Bigi Jackson. Blanket, as he was known by his family, is said to be quiet, funny, respectful and helpful to others. Here's hoping he can live a somewhat normal teen aged life.

After reading and reporting all of that, I am left to wonder why I care? But strangely I do care-Michael Jackson's children were the young and  innocents caught in the madness that was his life. I could be wrong, but it looks like his mother is doing a good job raising his children. And as I said before, it would be nice if despite it all, the 3 kids turned out to be decent, happy and successful adults. As a parent, that's the best you can hope for.

"Can We Talk?"

I'm devastated by yesterday's news of Joan Rivers passing.

She was one of a kind, an icon, a pioneer in the industry. She will be mourned and missed by all who loved and knew her. And I was one of them. Joan went before she possibly should have, the result of a routine throat surgery she probably didn't need. Tragic. I was fortunate enough to see her in person last November and I'm glad I did. She was spectacular! Pure Joan, uncensored and politically incorrect but nonetheless hilarious and heartwarming. I am a huge fan and today I'm sad she has left us.

The piece below debuted here on August 21, 2012. I was already Joan Rivers fan but gained a new found love/appreciation for the woman that was Joan Rivers when I watched the 2010 documentary on Joan, "Piece of Work".

The Joan Ranger's salute you. RIP Joan.

She Hates Everybody

I'm a Joan Ranger.

I love Joan Rivers. Yes, I know, she's crass, mean, insulting and mostly inappropriate, but she's hilarious and she always leaves me laughing.

She is currently starring in two shows; one reality show on WE TV called "Joan and Melissa" and "Fashion Police" on E.

On "Fashion Police", she is incredibly funny yet politically incorrect in her impeccably timed Joan Rivers way. She commands the floor with her panel of fashion "experts", but make no mistake, Joan is the show. It's well worth the watch.

I became a fan a couple of years ago when I came across the documentary "Joan Rivers. Piece of Work." It released in Jan 2010 and was filmed during one year of Joan Rivers life when she was 75 years old. It followed her through her crazy, schedule of appearances and performances.

This lady works. I gained an incredible appreciation for her work ethic. She was non-stop. Joan makes no bones about the fact that she has to work to support her opulent lifestyle, yet she admits to needing the work to boost her self esteem.

Notorious for her abuse of plastic surgery, Joan admits quite openly to being very insecure. She does it all too. At the time of filming, Joan was still working every day, attending several personal appearances, doing comedy shows and regularly traveling across country. A schedule that would have made even a younger person, question why. Yet Joan seemed to revel in it, and she hardly complained.

This lady is no dumb blonde, either. Fresh off her "Celebrity Apprentice" win in 2009, "Piece of Work" showed Rivers the business woman for the shrewd artisan she is. Her jewelry line is one of QVC's most successful sellers to date and that is just one of the many projects that Joan is attached to.

I hope to God that when I am her age, I have half the stamina that she has. And that's not something you can buy from a plastic surgeon. You gotta have hutzpah! Forbes has estimated Rivers net worth at $290 million, and that's a hell of a lot of hutzpah.

Say what you will about her.
She's probably already heard it and incorporated it into her act and made it ten times funnier. 

Death Of A Superstar

News of L'Wren Scott's suicide comes after the 49 year old designer was found yesterday morning in her New York apartment by her assistant. L'Wren Scott, by all reports, was a fashion superstar. Her high end fashion line bearing her name was a red carpet staple amongst A-list celebs like Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Amy Adams. Her love life was A-list too. She was the long time girlfriend of the one and only Mick Jagger. Sources report that the two were very much together at the time of her death and Jagger is said to be "devestated" by the news.

On the surface, everything looked to be as if she was living a dream. A successful fashion house known in celebrity circles, a rock star boyfriend (some would argue the ULTIMATE rock star boyfriend) the perfect picture of success and someone who had achieved rank to the pinnacle of her profession. "Picture" being the operative word. What we now know is that that picture was a facade. Truth be told L'Wren Scott had been plagued with financial woes lately and her company was rumored to be at least $6 Million in debt.

I am touched by her death on so many levels:

• As a woman closer to her age than not
• As a business woman-trying to achieve that "brass ring" in my profession
• As a person who envied her life from the outside looking in

I wonder how deep and dark her personal issues got, to make her take her own life. Loosing face in an industry that she was so well respected had to be devastating, but not uncommon. She certainly was not the first to face financial trouble and unfortunately she won't be the last. The sad truth is the line between success and failure is all to close in many professions. How bad does it have to be? How does one get to that desperate point?  

My thoughts and prayers go out to her loved ones...yet she continues to dominate my thoughts. I'm sorry she felt that desperate and I wonder if something could have been done to prevent her death. I guess we will never know. 

Heroine In Heaven

Nora Ephron has left the building.

And while I never knew the woman who would turn out to be the essayist, Oscar nominated screen writer and movie director of a generation, I knew her well. Or should I say she knew us well, the "us" being women everywhere. Norma had a unique gift. She could see it then she could write about it.

She could write the hell out of anything and she caught the attention of people in her profession early in her career at The Post. When she fell into Hollywood, quite by mistake, Ephron's prose was so real and funny that it was hard not to see her genius. She turned her divorce from Watergate journalist, Carl Bernstein into literary and Hollywood gold with her novel "Heartburn", which was turned into a screen play and she never looked back. Not bad when you have Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson playing out your life story. Her many screen writing credits brought her the opportunity to direct and in 1993, she landed her first hit with "Sleepless In Seattle".

She continued to succeed as woman in the exclusive boys club in Hollywood and her credits are impressive. "When Harry Met Sally", "You've Got Mail" and "Julie & Julia" to name a few. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the mind of Nora's genius. Today, as I read the articles and obits on this legendary lady, one specific essay stands out. Interesting that it was not written for Hollywood or for publication. It was written as a Commencement Address to the 1996 graduates of Wellesley College, her  alma mater. She talked about how upon her entrance to Wellesley, in the fall of 1958, there had been an article in the Harvard Crimson stereo typing women's colleges. Wellesley, it said, was a school for tunicata-(a fish who spend the beginnings of life swimming around exploring the ocean and the second part of life lying on the ocean floor breeding). Nora went on to recall how 25 years later, everyone of her classmates still remembered the definition of the tunicata.

Long story short, the world of Wellesley in those days so long ago, taught Nora and her classmates that they were in college attendance to marry success not achieve success. It would seem that Nora made a career out of proving them wrong. Be your own heroine.

And those words certainly resonate with me.

In closing her Commencement Address Nora said this, and I will remember this always and make it a mantra:

"Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope that you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women."

Dreamy Davey Jones

Aw crap, we lost another one that made me wistfully sad to see 'em go. I felt that way when I heard about Davey.

I used to worship The Monkees. I watched that show faithfully everyday on Channel 56. I remember it was wedged somewhere between the Banana Splits and the Brady Bunch and I never missed it. Mike, Mickey, Peter and Davey were the dreamy foursome that captured the hearts and the imaginations of generations of kids. What's funny is that I was just born when the Monkees TV show originally aired and was just 2 when it ended. Thanks to the magic of syndication, a whole new generation of kids like me were able to watch and enjoy The Monkees.

And Davey? He was my favorite. He had those teen heartthrob looks and a killer smile all wrapped up in a pint size package with an adorable British accent. I had more that a few pictures of Davey on my bedroom wall. The Monkees will always hold the best of memories for me.

The group was criticized for being a band formed around a TV show and for not having the chops of a group that had been together for years. What did they know? 45 years later their music still stands and plays on major radio stations around the country and when Diane Sawyer reads your obituary on World News Tonite, I guess you can say you did something right.

At 66, Davey was taken much too young, but somewhere up in heaven today there are a few more Daydream Believers than there were yesterday.

Crack is Wack

We lost another one to the almighty pipe. Tragic, really. But not surprising.

Poor Whitney.

Some wondered what took so long. Some wondered how her drug habit grew to the gargantuan proportions that it was, and some wondered why? She really seemed to "almost have it all"; so much for having it all. Whatever it was that she had, she tried very hard to surpress it and it eventually killed her.

I was curious about the woman, the legend that is Whitney because I remember her. I can mark the important events of my life with her music and she was a big part of my youth. Yesterday I scoured the Internet for answers.

I came across an interview with Oprah and read through to find some answers. What I found was a woman who was deeply conflicted and somewhat regretful that her star shone brighter than her husband's. It was an issue between them and quite possibly the root of her evil. On the outside she seemed to have everything. The money, the fame, the voice, the beauty and deep inside she had the demons. She was deeply religious and she believed in marriage and there is no denying, they abused drugs together. Insiders still blame him for her downfall, yet they split in the fall of 2006 and Whitney continued to use drugs.

One thing we can all agree on, there was no other voice like hers. Her story will always start with her voice, yet end with her drug habit. Her legacy tainted, now cautionary tale for us to tell our children. What we are left with is her music.

And we will always love her music.

The Lion No Longer Roars

Senator Edward Kennedy died last night at the age of 77.

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," his family said.
It's been a tough few weeks for the Kennedy clan. The latest of Joe and Rose Kennedy's children to pass, Ted and his sister Eunice, who died less than a few weeks ago, leave a legacy of public service and political fortitude like no other family in political history.

At a time when health care is at the forefront of the President's political agenda, Ted Kennedy's passing calls to mind his efforts in the health care arena. His name adorns almost every piece of legislation for the advancement of health for Americans in the past five decades. There are those who now speculate what the impact of Sen. Kennedy's absence from the Senate floor will have on President Obama's health care proposals. A tireless advocate for civil rights and welfare rights, Senator Kennedy fought for the advancement of the people of America and his constituency.

Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in May of 2008, Ted silenced the doctors and critics when her returned to work at the Senate not long after stringent radiation and chemotherapy treatments. He lived almost a year to the day of his address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention where he spoke of his ilness and Obama's message of hope. There was still work to be done, and as long as Teddy could handle it, he wanted to continue on with his life's work.

Ted Kennedy was certainly not without controversy. He took his Senate seat in 1962, a seat that was vacated by his brother John when he was elected to the higher office of the President, and never quite realized his own political goal of high office. The fate of Senator Kennedy and high office was pretty much sealed with the 1969 Chappaquiddick scandal. We may never know what truly happened in that auto accident that left a young woman dead, but Senator Kennedy was never able to truly atone politically for the tragedy.

As a Massachusetts resident, I cannot help but mourn the loss of our own son, public servant, and advocate of the people. I may not have agreed with his political agenda at times, but I recognize that today, the world has lost a great one. The last surviving son of a family of political giants, bred to wield the power of elected office. They say he was the last of the natural politicians. In this country, I would venture to say that the Kennedy family were the closest thing we had to royalty. To the people of this largely Irish-Catholic commonwealth, Ted Kennedy was our Elvis. He may not have been cannonized as a Saint, but we adored him and respected what he represented and from where he came.

The Lion may have been silenced, but the word passing around the internets today somehow sum up Senator Kennedy's legacy and how his voice will still be heard; "In lieu of flowers, pass health care."