Celebrities Save The Day Again!

What a day! It was my day off but typically Sunday's is the day when i can only contact celebrities for advice so typically the day started off with me running out of Blusher and i was stood in Boots faced with far too many shades so i calmly called former Make Up Artist Mariah Carey for help and she advised that as i have fair/light skin, i would be best off going for a shade of soft pink, light coral or peach. Thanks Mariah.
I had a long walk back to my car and my new shoes were rubbing so i rang the only former Shoes salesman i know, George Clooney who told me the best way to break in new shoes quickly is to go the woman's toilet, put my shoes under the hand heater and when they are soft, put them, on and walk around, which i did and it worked so you saved me a few blisters there George and yes, i do understand that the 500m injunction remains in place.
I decided as i missed breakfast i would stop off for a sandwich but when they asked me what bread i wanted, i asked them to wait while i gave Kate Winslett a call, she used to work as a sandwich maker in a Delicatessen and she said i should go for Sourdough bread as it has a low glycemic index and will not cause tiredness due to a sugar crash later in the morning.
After her generous help i didn't want to bother her with my coffee Carb question so called one time waitress Sandra Bullock instead who said that either an Espresso or Americano would not cause me to falter on my keto diet.
It was on my way home that i clipped a cyclist with my wing mirror, he was riding in the middle of the road to try and overtake me at a junction when i hit him and he was saying he was going to sue me so i rang Gerard Butler who was a lawyer but he said that as he overtook my car, he must have been 'cycling furiously' which is a fineable offence under the 1847 Town Police Clauses Act, so i told the cyclist to pick himself up and he is lucky i don't report him to the fashion police for wearing lycra.
When i got home i realised that such was my haste to get the blusher this morning, that i came out without my key so i thought about it for while before phoning ex-fireman Steve Buscemi for advice on breaking down my door and being a real sweety, he suggested i hit the weakest part of the door, the opposite side to the hinges, with a heavy object which meant that the ugly gnome Auntie Karen sent me last Christmas came in handy after all.
With a busted door i had no choice but to telephone one time carpenter Harrison Ford for the best front door to buy, he was filming but stopped to say i should go for a Accoya Wood Door as it is tough and comes in an inherently modern design that still boasts an authentic appearance.
I just had time to make the Choux buns that i had promised the kids but i couldn't find my recipe book so in a panic i checked my celebrity list and thankfully had Harry Styles who was a baker before finding fame in One Direction and he explained that i had to gently heat milk, butter and water until the butter has melted, then bring to the boil before beating in the eggs gradually to a smooth dough.
All i had left to do was wash up but i had used the last of the washing up liquid to blow bubbles at the cat earlier and now all the shops were shut but good old Dwayne Johnson came to the rescue, he said that in his previous employment as a dish washer they would sometimes use very hot water and a little biological washing powder as a substitute.
Thank you Celebrities!!

Wife Beater Johnny Depp

There is speculation that Johnny Depp's film career may well be over and i say good, it damn well should be after a judge ruled that the Sun Newspaper labeling him a wife beater was 'substantially true'.
His attempts to paint her as a 'gold-digger, a shrew, a compulsive liar and an adulterer' backfired badly on him as the judge described her as 'a reliable witness' as we heard stories of Depp violently attacking her, throwing a mobile phone at her face 'with extreme force' and enduring 'excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse' on at least 14 occasions.
Depp insisted the trial was about his reputation but that now lies in tatters and studios and producers will be hesitant to work with someone whose name will now have 'wife beater' tagged onto it and the fact that he did it in an English Court where the burden of proof in a defamation case is on the victim to prove it is true, rather than in America where the defamed person has to prove it isn't true, just makes it even more harmful for the star.
The judgement is that Amber Heard proved it was true that Depp is a wife beater, and there should be no coming back for him from that.

Shut Up And Sing

That deafening noise across the UK this morning was thousands of British Justin Bieber fans dumping their merchandise into rubbish bins because us British will put up with many things from our stars, but bigging up God and his merry band, nah.
Bieber has said that he has launched into a new direction and that direction is towards the made up man in the sky with the big long beard and good for him if that floats his boat, or Ark, and it may play well in the altogether more Religious USA but over here it puts him in the same league as Cliff Richards and that's not a cool league to be in.
Tony Blair admitted that he was afraid to speak out about his faith while he was prime minister for fear that voters would regard him as 'a nutter' although to be fair we reached for the 'war-mongering tosspot' first, and then the 'religious nutter' but he had a point because in the UK coming out as part of the God Squad sounds the death knell for anyone in the public eye unless you are the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Bieber's story is that everything that’s happened to him over the past decade, the drugs, the women, the negative headlines caught up with him and one night while staying at a Pasteur's apartment, it dawned on him that: 'I shouldn’t be on the planet still. I think it was by the grace of God so i need Jesus in my life'.
Not being one to miss a chance to recruit one of the most famous people and their bank account in the World to his gang of holy rollers, the Pasteur signed up Bieber to his cause and has been showing him the path of Jesus ever since apparently, a path that has lots of cash-point machines probably.   
If Bieber thinks hitching his star to God and his son will give him some sort of inner and mental peace then there is no harm, to his career this side of the Atlantic certainly, that's as dead as the parrot in the Monty Python sketch, but if it soothes his troubled mind then he can knock himself out with all the rosary beads and candles he can carry for all we care.  
If he thinks he can bang on about Jesus being some sort of saviour to British crowds then he can expect shouts of 'Shut up you weirdo and just sing 'Babe' to be hollered at him because we have a long history of mocking anyone who comes to the British public clutching a Bible, and damn right too.

About Time Piers Morgan Did Some Good

During the current Coronavirus pandemic, Piers Morgan is on the end of a lot of admiration for actually been doing his job well and holding the Government feet to the fire but he has a long way to go to be forgiven for all of the awful stuff he has done in the past.
While editor of the News of the World, he was sacked by Rupert Mrdoch for publishing photographs of Earl Charles Spencer's wife leaving an addictive disorders clinic and moved to the Daily Mirror where he was warned for a breach of the Code of Conduct and using insider information when he purchased £67,000 worth of Viglen shares in his first wife's name the day before the Daily Mirror's City Slickers column tipped Viglen as a good buy, sending the shares soaring, his first wife soon becoming his former wife after his affair with a fellow journalist.
He was then sacked by the Mirror in the wake of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs allegedly showing Iraqi prisoners being abused by British Army soldiers and after discovering they were fakes, refused to apologise, stating that the abuse shown in the photographs is similar to the sort of abuse which was happening in the British Army in Iraq at the time.
He is also currently under police investigation for his role in phone hacking allegations during his time as Mirror editor and don't expect Jeremy Clarkson to appear on any of his shows anytime soon, the former Top Gear presenter has vowed to punch him on sight.
The Clarkson row started after the Mirror obtained printed paparazzi photographs of Clarkson kissing a woman who wasn't his wife and Clarkson then punched him at the 2004 Press Awards to cheers from the watching journalists.
Piers Moron as Ian Hislop calls him, may finally be doing a bit of good but that's finally after a career of being a massive, massive idiot.

Cutting Celebrities Some Slack

For every bad guy we hear of forcing their employees to come into work during a pandemic (Sports Direct's Mike Ashley and Wetherspoons Tim Martin) who i hope we will all remember when this is all over, there are plenty of good guys who are donating time and money, everyone of the 1.4 million NHS Staff and workers in essential roles keeping the country ticking over and the 500,000+
volunteers to support vulnerable people, every single one a bloody hero.  
In the world of celebrities there are some big names giving something back and each of these deserve a pay on the back also. 
Angelina Jolie has donated $1m to a charity to provide meals for children from low-income families across the US while schools are closed and Rihanna has donated $5m towards around the world.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have donated $1m to help provide food for older people and low-income families and tennis star Roger Federer has donated 1m Swiss francs for vulnerable families and Arnold Schwarzenegger has matched it with $1m towards the relief effort while Lady Gaga is donating 20% of from her profits from her HAUS line to support food banks and Gwyneth Paltrow has donated $100,000 to help health workers.
Justin Bieber has donated £23,500 to a children's charity in China, Donatella Versace has given €200,000 to the intensive care department at a Milan hospital and Kristen Bell's $150,007.96 is going to a Children's charity.
Stars including Ariana Grande and Justin Timberlake have also pledged donations to a range of good  causes while Man City's Pep Guardiola has donated €1m and  Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has been preparing food parcels for the vulnerable and Elton John, Billie Eilish and Mariah Carey have organised a living room gig to raise funds.
I am sure that there are more celebrities donating time and money and we should remember the selflessness next time one of them acts a diva or does something to rile us and at least cut them some slack as they have some some well deserved credit in the bank.
As for the likes of Mike Ashley and Tim Martin, you really do hope karma is a thing.

The Deplorable Geoffrey Boycott

The bizarre thing about Geoffrey Boycott being nominated for a Knighthood is that Theresa May, on putting his name forward, she must have known about his conviction for assaulting his then girlfriend in 1996.
Nobody can forget the horrific pictures of the damage the 22 punches to her face and body that he delivered left on her, damage that he denied causing, blaming it on 'her slipping on a carpet', dismissed by the testimony of a doctor who explained that the injuries could not have been caused in the way described by Boycott.
Sacked by the BBC, Sky and The Sun, he went to work in India as he was toxic in the UK and has remained so which makes it even more unbelievable that Theresa May would even contemplate knighting him.
The shadow minister for women and equalities, quite rightly said: 'Celebrating a man convicted of assaulting his partner by giving him a knighthood is an insult to victims and survivors of domestic violence'.
If he has anything about him he would have refused to accept it but instead he said that he: 'didn't give a toss what people thought' which shows everything about the deplorable, coward of a man.

Celebrities Who Almost Didn't Make It

James Dean career lasted a year, making 3 movies two of which came out after his death while Philip K Dick died months before Blade Runner was released, Van Gogh only sold 1 painting and that was to his brother while Franz Kafka, Herman Melville and Jane Austin were relatively unknown in their lifetimes but there are stars today who found themselves face to face with the Grim Reaper before finding fame.
George Clooney had a scooter accident in Italy that saw him fly 20 feet in the air above the car while
Owen Wilson came close to dying of a pill overdose and was saved by his brother and Leonardo DiCaprio survived a shark attack when a Great White managed to get into the feeding cage he was stood in. 
No surprise that Ozzy Osbourne has come close to death a few times but the closest was when he overturned his quad bike and suffered a broken collarbone, eight fractured ribs and damaged vertebrae in his neck and Gary Busey suffered a cracked skull following a motorbike accident.
Jane Seymour suffered an allergic reaction to a penicillin injection which almost proved fatal and Sylvester Stallone was punched so hard in his chest while making a Rocky film that his heart swelled and he spent several weeks in intensive care but Orlando Bloom was almost paralysed when he fell three stories attempting to climb a drain pipe.
Donald Sutherland said that Doctors said that he had actually died for a short time when he was struck down by meningitis, Johnny Depp nearly met his maker when fell off a horse and underneath the hooves of the horse he was riding, 50 Cent was shot nine times in his hand, hip, both legs, chest and his face but all his vital organs were miraculously missed, Sharon Stone tore an artery at the base of her skull and suffered a  brain hemorrhage and George Lucas was in a car crash which left him hung between life and death for a week.
Probably the two most fortunate to still be with us celebrities are Travis Barker of Blink 182 and Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe.
Sixx overdosed on heroin and was declared dead after medics initially failed to resuscitate him while Barker was in a Learjet which crashed and killed four of the six people on board and suffering burns, he required 16 surgeries and skin grafts.

Danny Baker, Ridiculous, Stupid and Idiotic

Danny Baker, you idiot, what were you thinking or more likely you were just not thinking when you posted a tweet depicting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's son as a monkey.
The radio 5 Live presenter has since held his hands up to say that he made 'ridiculous, stupid and idiotic mistake' and it was all of the above and more but don't then go and try and pin the blame for the BBC sacking you on 'masterclass of pompous faux-gravity' and accuse them of throwing you under the bus.
As Meghan Markle is mixed race with a black mother it was extremely crass to show her holding hands with a chimpanzee with the words 'Royal baby leaves hospital' even if it was a poke at the Royal Fun being a circus show.  
Of course it was always going to be interpreted as about monkeys & race and i was shocked to hear that you had not even considered it would be, so the BBC were quite right to sack you.
Your bleating afterwards and attempt to paint the BBC in a bad light for dismissing you for not being able to accept it was a joke, albeit in bad taste, smells of the casual racism black people and minorities have to put up with all the time from some white folk, the defence being 'I'm not a racist, it was only a joke, get a sense of humour'.
I am sure there will be people defending Danny Baker, saying it's all about political madness gone mad and nobody can take a joke anymore but they will be the same people who have no problem with the connection between black people and sick, racist monkey comments.
Sorry to see Baker go, he was a great Radio Presenter, but at least have the dignity to not blame your ignorant actions on those offended by your image of a mixed race woman delivering a monkey baby.

Renting Celebrities

How much does it cost to get a celebrity to turn up to your Birthday Party? Well if it is Brian Blessed it would set you back £10,000 you could get a sprinkle of celebrity dust on your Birthday Cake by hiring Jimmy Cricket for £3,000 instead. 
And what if you want a former Olympian to open your new office toilet? Eddie The Eagle Edwards Duncan will do it for £3,000 Duncan Goodhew and Sharon Davies will declare the bog open for £5,000 or you can have Daley Thompson for £15,000 while £20,000 will get you either Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy or Michael Johnson.
The Gordon Poole Agency lets you 'rent' celebrities for private events and prices run from £3,000 up to £20,000 plus and includes politicians in the £5,000 range (Anne Widdicombe, Christine Hamilton, David Mellor, George Galloway), £10k (John Prescott, Michael Portillo, Alistair Campbell) or you can spend £15k on Eammon Holmes or blow £20k on James May who would probably have a look at that squeaky clutch pedal as he is there.
Footballer available are Neil 'Razor' Ruddock and Paul Merson (£5k), Kevin Keegan, Stuart Pearce (£10k), David Seaman, Glenn Hoddle (£15k), Ruud Guillet (£20K) or Ryan Giggs (20k plus) while you can discuss googlies and whipping off bails with Phil Tuffnell for just £10k.
There really is a celebrity available for every occasions and every pockets ranging from chefs including Anthony Worral Thompson (£5k) and Paul Hollywood (£20k) or snooker players like Jimmy White and Steve 'Interesting' Davies (£5k) or a game of tennis in the local park with Boris Becker (£20K).
The top celebrities, costing £20k plus are Al Murray, Bear Grylls, Dara O Briain, Emma Willis, Frank Skinner, Graham Norton, Greg Davies, Jack Dee, Jeremy Paxman, Jimmy Carr, Joana Lumley, Lenny Henry, Michael McIntyre, Nigella Lawson, Rob Brydon, Russell Howard and Vic Reeves.
If i start saving now maybe i can get the £3,000 to get Paul Sinha onto our next Pub Quiz Team.

Turing Most Important Of 20th Century

BBC Two has been running a great programme over several weeks where viewers were asked to vote for the 'most important and influential person of the 20th Century' and the Finalists came down to Alan Turing, Nelson Mandela, Ernest Shackleton, David Bowie, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammad Ali, and Pablo Picasso.
The words 'most important and influential' makes for some easy dismissing and i don't think anyone could argue that Bowie and Picasso were 'more important' than the remaining five.
Shackleton may have been a great explorer but i can't put him above Turing, Mandela, King or Ali who all had a greater influence on the 20th Century. 
Dr Martin Luther King Jr gave his life for his beliefs and although he was mainly influencing Americans, his influence on race relations worldwide was immense while Nelson Mandela's refusal to accept his countryman's fate ended apartheid in his country although it cost him 27 years of his life which were spent in a prison cell and then in magnanimous brilliance, refused to show bitterness towards his captors.
Ali's pacifism cost him the World Boxing Title and the best years of his career but for most important and influential i would have to go with Turing whose mathematical genius led to modern computers which dominate our lives today.
That he was treated so atrociously by the British Government for being homosexual after doing so much to win the Second World War that he ended taking his own life is shameful and it doesn't even begin to make up for it that the British Public agreed and voted him first.

Wayne Rooney At It Again

When Wayne Rooney was still a Premier League player he was subjected to chants of 'fat granny shagger, he's just a fat granny shagger' due to the revelations that regularly frequented whore houses and had a penchant for the elderly, oh and that he was fat.
Then it was later reported that Rooney was paying £2,000 for sex with prostitutes while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their first child so he is not by any means a moral guardian or role model for anyone except possible Donald Trump or Charlie Sheen so it is no surprise that he is in trouble again in America for drink driving.
He was caught drink driving before here in the UK, arrested while driving a prostitute home, and now has seen the inside of a Washington Police cell due to being arrested on 'public intoxication and swearing charges'. 
That his wife, Coleen, stood by him while he continually played 'away fixtures' with women who were not her, i can't see this causing problems in their marriage, or least not while he is still earning millions anyway.

Celebrities To Help Trump Carry On Being Awful

What must come as a crushing blow for America's white supremacists, Taylor Swift has broken her self-imposed and come out as a Trump hating lefty.
In an Instagram post on Sunday night, Swift wrote that she has been reluctant to publicly voice any political opinions but after two years of the Trump Presidency has decided to speak out against the current administration.
In a scare to comedians and journalists everywhere who have a ready made rich source of material, Swift said that part of what made her voice her opinion was the: 'systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color'.
The fear is that Americans will suddenly realise just how much of a bellend they have running the show and force him out and replace him with someone not such a douchebag and return America to normal.  
That just won't do of course, the man's policies are comedy gold so we need to make sure that he finishes the job of making America not so great again so although Taylor Swift may be against him, there are some celebrities who can sprinkle some gold dust over the pussy grabbing liar.
I am therefore calling on celebrity Trump supporters to undo the damage Taylor Swift has caused by doing something to make Trump appear like a proper grown up.
Roseanne Barr, Scott 'Happy Day's Chachi' Baio, Gene Simmons, Clint Eastwood, Mike Tyson, Stephen Baldwin, Gary Busey, Lou 'The Hulk' Ferrigno, Hulk Hogan and Kanye West we are looking towards you to keep Trump in power and keep comedians in gags.

Katie Hopkins A Racist But Not A Druggie

Katie Hopkins has made a career out of saying pathetic and outrageous things and then getting sued for it so she decided that it was time to turn the tables and took the Daily Mirror to the Independent Press Standards Organisation for their story that she had been detained in South Africa after collapsing from drug use.
The Daily Mirror alleged that the right-wing numpty was detained for taking Ketamine however, that proved to be inaccurate as she was actually detained for spreading racial hatred.
After succeeding in her case, The Mirror was forced to issue an apology and went with the brilliant: 'A previous version of this article suggested that Katie Hopkins was stopped from leaving South Africa because of the consumption of Ketamine. We are happy to clarify that Ms Hopkins was detained for spreading racial hatred, which took place after the Ketamine incident'.
Probably the greatest apology ever although how happy Katie Hopkins is that she was successful in her fight to prove she was detained for spreading racial hatred and not for drug use is another question.
Not that she has much of a reputation left to damage anyway but a bit of an own goal and maybe she should have had the sense to go with people thinking she was a druggie rather than have it confirmed that actually she is an abhorrent racist but to be fair, we already knew that anyway.

Kurt Cobain's Death Still Questioned

On April 8, 1994, the body of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain was discovered in a room that sat above his detached garage, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Almost a quarter of a century later, many still question the verdict of suicide and amongst them former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper who has expressed significant regret that they didn’t examine things more closer.
The key points Stamper alludes to are there were no usable fingerprints recovered from either the shotgun that Kurt allegedly used to end his life or on the shells that had been loaded into it.
Kurt was not found wearing gloves but there wasn’t any hint of gun residue that would have been present on Cobain had he fired the weapon.
While Kurt Cobain likely died on April 5 and his body discovered on April 8, there was two transactions on Kurt’s credit card on April 6 and the last four lines on his suicide note, the only part where he actually mentions ending his life, appears to some to be written by someone else although experts are divided on if this is due to the stress of what he was about to do at the time of writing.
Intriguing but such was the man's impact that he is still being discussed almost a quarter of a century after he died.

Stephen Hawking

It's hard to write about Stephen Hawking without the focus being on the horrendous condition he had to deal with and how he rose to such magnificent heights despite it.
Quite rightly he is being lauded all over the media today for his scientific achievements but there is a great article in the Guardian Newspaper where the focus is on his brilliant sense of humour, the Time Travellers Party where he sent out the invites after the event, the appearances on The Simpson's and Big Bang Theory and the Red Nose Day sketches where actors auditioned to become his voice box and his reworking of the Monty Python Galaxy song.
'It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can lose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general' he said but there are two quotes which should be chiseled into stone and put where everyone can see them.
'We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star' and 'Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet'.
A life very well lived, well done Sir and not just for selling 10 million copies of a book about
general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Another MASH Star Bugs Out

Over the past few years the list of dying stars has been strangely long and the grim list of stars from one of my favourite comedy's, M*A*S*H* has been steadily growing and the sad list has been extended today with news that David Ogden Stiers who played surgeon Major Charles Emerson Winchester III has died aged 75.
The actor replaced Larry Linville's Frank Burns character after Linville left the show after six series.
To anyone over 40, M*A*S*H* was one of the most loved television series ever and regularly crops up in lists of best ever TV shows.
Set in the Korean War, such was the excellence of the show and feeling for the characters that it still appears on TV stations today despite ending 35 years ago.
As the show was around from 1972, most of the shows actors are now in their 70s and 80s so who have we lost so far from the 4077?
Hawkeye Pierce played by the brilliant Alan Alda is still with us as is Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit),  Max Klinger (Jamie Farr), Radar (Gary Burghoff) and BJ Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell).
Hopefully it will be quite a while until we have to revise the list.

Happy Birthday (Probably)

Happy Birthday To you, Happy Birthday to you, I saw a big fat monkey and i thought it was you!
I am confident that someone out there will be blowing out candles on a birthday cake later today because September 26th is the most popular day in the UK to celebrate being another year older.
More children are born in late September early October than in any other time of the year which even with my tenuous grip on maths suggests babies are most likely to be conceived around Christmas.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the most common birthday in England and Wales is 26 September so if you are one of those you share your special day with Ricky Tomlinson, Anne Robinson, Bryan Ferry, Linda Hamilton, Will Self, Michael Ballack, Serena Williams, Olivia Newton-John and Jon Richardson. 
Hope you have a great day and remember at least you are not as old as you will be next year.

Celebrity Endorsements UK Election 2017

If you wanted advice on whether the 4-3-3 formation is better than 3-5-2 then Joey Barton is probably the man to ask but he wouldn't be the first choice to turn to if you needed assurance on what the tax rate should be for higher earners or if large-scale nationalisation of the rail system would benefit the economy but nevertheless he feels it is his duty to wade into the election campaign and tell us that Labour is the way to vote.
It is not just the batting midfielder wagging a finger at us, there is a host of celebrity endorsements for all sides joining the debate who are assuming that voters give a toss what they think about fiscal policy.
As the Conservative Party star has waned, so has their famous supporters with only a handful coming out this time around to demand that we follow their lead in the shape of Jim Davidson, Katie Hopkins and Alan Sugar.
The Labour Party though has a growing list of celebrities sprinkling stardust over events with names breaking cover to support the Socialist including Lily Allen, Danny Baker, Joey Barton, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Alan Davies, Brian May, Ade Edmondson, Daniel Radcliffe, Ben Elton, Charlotte Church, Eddie Izzard, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Vanessa Redgrave.
The Liberal Democrats have not been been blessed with well known names this time around with only John Cleese and Richard Dawkins cheering for them while the poor old Greens only have fashion designer Vivienne Westwood in their corner.
If you are still undecided on who to cast your vote to, we still have a week to go which is plenty of time to discover which way this years winner of Britain's Got Talent is going to vote before we make up our minds.

Kurt Cobain 23rd Anniversary

Unbelievably, today is the 23rd anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana singer who took his own life after a battle with drugs, depression and his fame.
Widely revered as the father of Grunge in the early 90s, the legend continues and t-shirts bearing the Nirvana legend continue to adorn teenagers today who were not even born when the band picked up pop music by the scruff of the neck.
With one amazing album, 'Nevermind' and a couple of average ones, 'Bleach', 'In Utero' and 'Incesticide', Cobain and his band do seem to have endured the years on the strength of a handful of great songs although those few songs did inspire a whole generation of musicians.  
Cobain on the other hand, was the epitome of cool, the long blonde hair, the piercing blue eyes, the languid 'don't care' approach and the downplaying of his and his bands own place in music history.
The album 'Nevermind' was the bands highwater mark and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is as great a song as has graced the charts and although they never hit those heights again, and the Unplugged album released just before he committed suicide split Nirvana fans who either loved or hated it, such was the influence of that album and the four songs from it, that Nirvana and Kurt Cobain will be remembered long into the future.

Has Anyone Gave Tchaikovsky The News Yet?

We seem to be having an epidemic of musicians dying the past 18 months or so but the death of Chuck Berry yesterday is one that seems to sting me that little bit more.
By all accounts he was a massive sleaze in life but putting that to one side for the moment, what a back catalogue of great music he had under his belt.
He was also a real pioneer for the guitar based music which i lean heavily towards and he was one of the few musicians that i lifted above the others when i was learning the guitar as a youngster.
His songs were very formulaic as many musicians tunes are and you could tell almost immediately a Chuck Berry song but so strong was the stencil that he hit upon early on in his career, that he was such a huge success.
The opening lick of Johnny B Goode is musical gold and quite right that it was this song that was the choice to represent humans and be placed upon the Voyager Spacecraft and sent out of the Solar System for any other alien civilisations to discover.
Away from the amazing guitarist and entertainer he undoubtedly was, the other side of him was less pleasant with jail time for armed robbery, carjacking, prostitution and videotaping in ladies toilets.
Berry is placed at number 6 in the Rolling Stone magazine's 'Greatest Guitarist of All Time' list which is deserving as he was at the forefront of that style of music and much copied by those who came after him so such a high placing is warranted even if there was very little variation in what he played.
Johnny B Goode will always be his signature tune but there was so many greats including 'Memphis Tennessee' which was a change from the driving riffs of his usual fare.
He will always be included in the book of music as he should be as he was an amazing guitarist, great lyricist and had an incredible list of songs to his name but as it is hard to separate the man from the music, a morally bankrupt personality.