Death of a Music Legend

The news of Whitney Houston's death is shocking and yet it isn't. She was on a downward spiral for a long time. Her troubled, self destructive marriage to Bobby Brown, her ravenous addiction to drugs; all this contributed to destroy the once beautiful, glorious singer. Perhaps the pressures of fame were too much for her, perhaps she would have been happier leading a quiet life and singing in a chorus in a little town somewhere, but her talent was too great, her voice too magnificent and needed to be shared with the world. She was a tragic figure but she gave us the gift of her music for many years and that's the gift that will endure. Her legacy is her music, that powerful, shining voice that came from a secret reservoir inside her soul and reached out to touch us all. Thank you for making us dream, Whitney, thank you for making us fall in love to your music. A grateful world bids you farewell with sadness and awe today.

Farewell Jeffrey Zaslow

The tragic, untimely death of author Jeffrey Zaslow in a freak accident yesterday in Michigan, left me shocked and dismayed. Life is fleeting but he made the most out of his relatively short life. He did what he was meant to do in this life and that was to create. That he was taken so suddenly and so brutally, this wonderful man who co-wrote "The Last Lecture" and many other substantial books, is one of the great ironies of life, and I'm sure he would have chosen to make his demise with time to say goodbye to his loved ones if he'd had the chance. Yes he led a full life, yes he knew what was really important but one still feels a deep sense of loss, a feeling of being gypped somehow. He had so much more to give but it wasn't meant to be. May he rest in peace.

JFK's Intern

Another hot little book has made its salacious appearance, folks. "Once Upon a Secret," by a certain intern who alledgedly had an affair with JKF when she was a sweet, innocent, virginal nineteen year old, and he, an aging, lecherous forty five year old. She calls it an affair, but it doesn't even qualify for that. It was more a relationship between a John and a call girl (and a cheap one at that) because other than the privilege of sleeping with the "president," she didn't get much out of it. In the round of interviews she's done to promote "her book," she says she never felt bad about losing her virginity to him on their second meeting in the White House, not did she feel bad about Jackie, the children or herself for that matter. "Maybe I was shocked it happened?" she says batting her eyelashes, this sixty eight year old woman who seems to have weathered her years very well. She feels bad about servicing another man in the pool, however, because the president asked her, although she admits that she didn't feel bad about it at that point. "Maybe I feel bad that I didn't feel bad?" she asks, smiling sweetly. "You know what I mean?" Her motivation is not money, she says, but wanting to unburden herself of the secret she's kept for fifty years. But why would she feel the need to unburden herself of something that she never felt was bad or shameful to begin with? Meredith looked baffled, but like the excellent interviewer she is, she handled the awkward moment beautifully. She will make a ton of money and that is her only motive for writing this sordid book, which does nothing but soil her own reputation by making her look like a fool. As for the president, we all know he was a great womanizer so there's no surprise there. He already paid the ultimate price so his mystique will continue unabated.

Greg Kelly's Accuser

All charges against Greg Kelly (TV talk show host and son of NYPD Commissioner) were dropped today and he will be free to resume his life and career, but the damage to his reputation has already been done because there will be many people out there who would look at him with a jaundiced eye wondering what really happened; and all because his quick pick up wanted to come back for seconds or needed some publicity to ignite her modelling career (she's an aspirant model, folks) and is probably finding it hard to get work the usual way. The worst thing of it all is that she won't even face any punishment from the law. How is that possible? Her story had holes all over the place right from the beginning and should have never been brought to the public, yet it was and she succeeded in humiliating and embarrassing the host. I'm afraid that as long as these women can press false charges against men due to variety of reasons without any punishment, many more will suffer. When are they going to be held accountable? And when are men going to learn that those one night stands simply do not pay? I hope Greg Kelly learns from this and never does it again. As for her, she should consider herself darn lucky she got away with it. Some day the law will stop being so tolerant of these liars and will have to prosecute them for bringing false charges.

A Real Greek Tragedy

The Susan Powell story is a real Greek tragedy, there's just no other way to describe it - married to a monster, being constantly harassed and molested by a pervert father in law - living in terror for years, and finally ending up dead at the hands of her sick husband. And if that weren't enough, now her children and monster husband are dead by fire in a horrific murder suicide. The law failed these children miserably. The sick individual who killed them was under the umbrella of suspicion for years, but because they only had circumstantial evidence, they allowed him to keep the children until recently, and he continued living his miserable life unscathed, spreading vicious innuendo about the victim running off with another man, etc. Now two beautiful, innocent children are dead at the hands of this monster who couldn't even do one decent thing in his life and take himself alone, no, he had to take his children with him. He should have been arrested immediately after his wife went missing, instead the cops pretended to buy that cockamamie story that he went camping in a blizzard, in the middle of the night while his wife went running to her lover, or that she simply vanished into thin air by black magic. The law has to change. It has to stop protecting criminals. If the circumstantial evidence reeks to high heaven that should be enough to arrest an individual. Had they done that with this psycho, the two tragic children he murdered would be alive today.

Adieu to Ben Gazarra

Adieu to a wonderful actor who left a lasting legacy. His dark looks, brooding manner and famous intensity were his trademark, yet one always suspected there was more, much more under the surface that hadn't been explored yet. His piercing eyes, which were his best feature, couldn't hide an inner sadness and a melancholy nature. One sensed that for Ben Gazarra life was a painful affair. There was always a loneliness and heaviness there that nothing seemed to alleviate, it's what gave his work its power, what had us remembering him long after the movie was over. He never sought fame,riches and power like many of his contemporaries, instead, it seemed to be the work he was after. And it is that rich, varied tapestry of work which will now survive him.

Joaquin Phoenix

Last night I saw the infamous "mockdocumentary" that this gifted actor engaged in last year. I was switching channels and caught it quite by chance(already started, thank God) on Starz. The question that begs an answer is why would he engage in such stupidity and such brutality? He was bloated, foul mouthed, abusive, unkempt and quite gross in this painful to watch video, for what purpose? To shock people? To make fun of them? He looked like an utter fool making the real breakdown with Charlie Sheen seem like a walk in the park. Didn't he learn anything from his brother's tragic, untimely death? Why would he want to discredit himself in such a manner? Maybe he's not as solid as I thought he was and he may also have a monkey on his back. This horrid video is probably one of the most destructive things he did because there are many people out there now (including me) who actually think that there was a lot of truth to it.