Goodnight Liz

A handful of celebrities are known by one name (Madonna, Cher, etc.). But there was one celebrity who was simply known by her shortened three-letter name. Liz. In the acting world, there was and will only be one Liz. But Liz left us this morning, and Hollywood lost perhaps the last icon of the Golden era. The days of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Vivian Leigh, Ingrid Bergman and others are now of the past.

Memories of An Old Friend

Daryl Lee was one of the nicest people I knew. He always had a smile on his face and never let the pressures of work get to him. When I first became a floor manager in 2005, he taught me a lot about how to do my job and I owe a lot to him. One of my favorite memories was when Tommy, Sony, him and I went to see the Russell Peters show for Tommy's birthday. We got front row seats and Peters even made jokes about Daryl (part of Peters' schtick). We had such a good time. There were so many good times. And even though I hadn't heard or seen much of him since the COB closed, I never forgot the good times. Thanks, buddy. Rest in peace.

One Year Ago (Already?)

I remember hearing early in the day of the passing of one of the most iconic actresses I knew growing up. I was sad because I recalled how much I enjoyed Charlie's Angels, and "the poster". And then, many say unfairly to her, somebody else passed away. Most of us remember who that is. I can't it's been a year already since the passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

RIP Patrick Swayze

"No one puts Baby in the corner".

He finally lost his battle with pancreatic cancer but it was a gallant fight. What was once thought to be only a week or month became an 18-month fight.

It only seemed like yesterday that I saw Dirty Dancing and Ghost for the first time, when in fact it's been 22 and 19 years now. How time flies.

Birthday

Even though the media frenzy hasn't subsided, I do wish to note that Michael Jackson was to become 51 on August 29. Many hated him for what he allegedly did, but I remember him for his music. So Happy Birthday MJ.

Death of a Laptop

The hard drive on my laptop died a few days ago. Luckily I'd installed Norton and subscribed to some online backup thing that saved some of my documents. But it will be a long process to get the files back. The alternative is to bring my broken hard drive to one of those disk recovery services and pay over $500. I'll see what I can recover. Music I can redownload. But the sad part is all the emails I've saved may be gone. Boo hoo.

Enough Already

I chose to remember MJ for his music and not his private life. The same can't be said for the hypocritical journalists who one minute are making fun of him and the next are mourning him. Let him rest in peace.

RIP Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Flashback to the night of August 31, 1997. I remember I was dealing roulette that night when the dealer supervisor whispered to me "Princess Diana just died". I remember how sad I was that night. I watched the TV report in the breakroom and was in shock.

Today, 12 years later, I felt that same sadness. Yes, for the last few years Michael Jackson was only remembered for a lot of bad things, from his reclusiveness to his strange behaviour to his lawsuit. Maybe as a person he was somebody that wasn't liked.

But I remember Michael Jackson for an album that was released 27 years ago, perhaps the greatest album of all time. Who hasn't danced to Thriller, or any of the other amazing hits? He has influenced so many musicians from his music to his dancing. There shall be no one else like him. His music will live on forever.

RIP Farrah Fawcett 1947-2009

After a long battle with cancer, Farrah Fawcett passed away this morning. Has it really been over 30 years since she first appeared on TV as one of Charlie's Angels? Even though she only appeared for a short time on the show she became a 70's icon. Her relationship with Ryan O'Neal more or less stood the test of time. Once again the world has lost a great person too soon.

RIP Danny Gans

It is with sad news that I report the death of one of Las Vegas' most famous performers. Mr. Gans passed away the morning of May 1 and I only found out about this sad news today. I was fortunate to have finally got to see his show at the Wynn on my last trip to Vegas the end of March. His impersonations of performers was amazing. Another life lost way before his time.

Natasha Richardson 1963-2009

I am saddened by the sudden and tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson, the wife of Liam Neeson. She died in a freak accident while skiing in Montreal. Sometimes your time comes far too soon, and without warning. May she rest in peace.