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28 May 2010 15:42

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Culture: RIP Gary Coleman: Let’s give the guy a little respect, OK?

  • Gary Coleman’s story may be one of the saddest child star stories ever. Coleman, who died at 42, deserves respect from an obit. Doesn’t he? For nearly a decade, he was a pint-sized legend that ranked up there with Lucille Ball. Then it all fell apart. His life is a sad tale. Not only is he the ultimate example of how typecasting can ruin a career (although the four People’s Choice Awards did help soften the blow in the early ’80s), but he had all sorts of awful things happen to him throughout his life. A few examples:
  • Trust misappropriationSure, Coleman spent all of those years on “Different Strokes,” but he didn’t get rich of it. Why? Because his parents and manager reportedly mis-managed his trust fund. As a result, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1999.
  • trouble with the lawWhile we don’t exactly want to play Coleman as an angel with a halo over his head, we can’t help but think his financial troubles eventually led to myriad troubles with the law, including assault and domestic violence charges.
  • selling out his imageOver the last two decades of his life, he had to suffer through humiliating appearance-oriented jobs just to pay the bills. It’s pretty troubling that his last credited role was in a film called “Midgets vs. Mascots.” His entire IMDB is a mess. source

03 May 2010 12:17

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15 Feb 2010 10:58

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Music: Mm-mma-mma-my Sharona, he’s dead: The Knack’s singer R.I.P.

  • Doug Fieger, the guy who turned a crush into a pop song that will never go away, died yesterday at age 57. Fieger, who died of cancer, put his mortality this way: “I’ve had 10 great lives. And I expect to have some more. I don’t feel cheated in any way, shape or form.” source

28 Aug 2009 20:20

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14 Aug 2009 00:11

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Music: Five key moments in guitar innovator Les Paul’s life (R.I.P., bro)

  • Paul, a jazz musician, decided to get more sound out of his guitar by putting a log in the middle. In the process, he invented the solid-body guitar. source
  • Paul experiments with a tape recorder in his garage. He layers his guitar’s tone on one song, “Lover,” and invents multi-track recording. source
  • Paul divorces his first wife and marries Mary Ford, his music partner. The two spend much of the early 1950s as major musical stars, notching hits until 1955. source
  • Gibson asks Paul to promote its new solid-body guitar; Paul influenced the guitar’s design only a little, but the guitar’s name helped build Paul’s legend. source
  • Paul never gave up his craft and continued to be a musical icon late in life, playing NYC clubs well into his 90s. Paul died Thursday at 94. His legacy is insane. source