In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. A crisp copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
Prosecutors determined Tuesday that there was no criminal conduct involved in the March death of R&B singer Sean Levert, who was in jail when he became ill. Levert, a member of the 1980s R&B trio LeVert and son of lead O’Jays singer Eddie Levert, died March 30 after he was taken from the Cuyahoga County jail to a hospital. Prosecutor Bill Mason ruled out criminal conduct after his office reviewed an internal investigation conducted by the sheriff’s department. The coroner previously ruled that the 39-year-old Levert died from complications of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease. Levert’s widow, Angela Lowe, filed… Read more »
British pop star George Michael has a tip for U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama — team up with former rival Hillary Clinton. Michael, 45, touring North America for the first time in 17 years, told fans during a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden that “I know you guys all need a change.” He admitted he doesn’t know what kind of change Obama would bring if elected, saying that after “months of watching CNN” he still does not know what Obama or Clinton stand for. But he went on to say that the Illinois and New York… Read more »
A woman who stalked Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for using her work computer at Sandia National Laboratories to track and harass him and his wife. Devon Townsend has 60 days to surrender to a minimum-security prison in Phoenix, where she is expected to receive mental health care. She had pleaded guilty to stalking and other counts. Townsend, who worked in Sandia’s technology and manufacturing group, used lab computers to illegally access private information about Bennington and his wife, Talinda, in 2006. According to a plea agreement, Townsend said she obtained… Read more »
Nikki Sixx made history this past Thursday, September 6th, when he was recognized as the first member of the rock world to speak on Capitol Hill for NAADAC’s 18th Annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month luncheon. Senators and Congressmen waited in line to meet with Nikki and show their appreciation for his enormous efforts on drug and alcohol awareness. Tune in to VH1 News and VH1 Classic to see the video footage of Nikki Sixx from Capitol Hill this Thursday, September 13. Nikki Sixx begins his journey of advocating to the youth of today, all and sundry, with… Read more »
A Hempfield Area High School sophomore spent 12 days in juvenile detention after authorities in Westmoreland County mistakenly charged him with making a March 11 bomb threat, in part because the district had not changed its clocks to reflect daylight-saving time. Cody Webb, 15, of Hempfield, was arrested March 12 and charged with a felony count of threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and misdemeanor counts of making false alarms to public entities, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and making terrorist threats. Webb, an honors student involved in student council, tennis and the Japanese Club, was immediately taken to the… Read more »
Up-and-coming rock outfit Say Anything has channeled teen angst into a clever video for its new single, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too,” which premieres Monday (March 12) on MTV’s “TRL.” The song’s key lyric is “I called her on the phone and she touched herself,” and in the clip, frontman Max Bemis places said calls to various females from a mansion, as his butler wheels by a gourmet meal. Later, the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler, makes a cameo. “He’s a very good family friend,” Bemis told Billboard.com of Winkler during a break from recording Say Anything’s next album at… Read more »
Washington, D.C., probably hadn’t seen anything like it since 1985, when Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and punk provocateur Jello Biafra testified before Congress during the height of the obscene lyrics witch-hunt: Tatted and pierced pop-punkers holding court on Capitol Hill. Members of Sugarcult and Hawthorne Heights took part in a press conference held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesday to announce the kickoff of the fifth annual Take Action Tour, and to raise awareness – and federal funding levels – for teen-suicide prevention programs across the country. “It’s one thing when you’re promoting your band, because you feel… Read more »
All things must pass-including criminal sentences-and that has the family of the late George Harrison ticked off. The rocker’s wife and son are angrily objecting to the release last week of the deranged fan who broke into the ex-Beatle’s mansion in December 1999 and nearly killed him in a knife attack. An independent panel in England comprising a judge, a psychiatrist and a British citizen determined 36-year-old Michael Abram, a former drug addict who suffers from schizophrenia, was well enough to be released back into the community and set him free on July 4 from the Scott Clinic, a psychiatric… Read more »
Singer Connie Francis accused Universal Music Corp. in a $40 million lawsuit Monday of allowing her music to be used in porno movies, saying the label took advantage of her mental illness. The federal lawsuit details Francis’ battle to maintain her mental health after she was raped and tortured in a hotel room in 1974. Universal knew about her illness when it licensed four of her songs to be used in a pornographic video about a gay prostitute, the lawsuit said. Francis also accused Universal of failing to properly pay royalties on unspecified recordings. Calls to Universal and the singer’s… Read more »
