Andy Kaufman died 25 years ago today, on May 16,
1984, which makes this an appropriate time to dredge up the following
story.
ANDY KAUFMAN'S LAST
PERFORMANCE By Michael
Dare
New Wave Theatre was a show on the USA
Network in the early eighties, the very start of cable TV. For a brief while, it
was the most vital, cutting edge show coming out of Los Angeles, showcasing
dozens of local bands like the Blasters and the Dead Kennedys who didn't have a
chance of exposure anywhere else. The show was hosted by Peter Ivers, a
singer/songwriter performance artist whose biggest claim to fame was having
composed "In Heaven (The Lady in the Radiator Song)" from David Lynch's
Eraserhead. He
wore outlandish clothing and spouted intellectual Zen Buddhist philosophy in
between the punk bands, asking them questions like "What is the meaning of
life?" instead of "Tell us about your latest recording." He came off a bit smug,
so the bands tended to hate him, but his peaceful rantings lent an interesting
yin to the extreme violent yang of the music on the show, which was written,
produced, shot, directed, and edited by a madman named David
Jove.
New Wave Theatre came to an end when
Ivers was bludgeoned to death in his home in downtown L.A. The murderer has
never been caught, though many suspect it must have been a member of a band who
had appeared on the show and got pissed off at Iver's hippy-dippy
questions.
Ivers was a Harvard graduate, and in memory of him,
they initiated the Peter Ivers Visiting
Artist Program. He had many powerful friends in Hollywood, including Harold
Ramis. Harold wanted to see the spirit of New Wave Theatre live on, so he
agreed to executive produce a show called The Top for local TV, once
again produced and directed by David Jove, and featuring many of the New Wave
Theatre gang, including me. He also supplied Chevy Chase as a host, with
guest stars Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd.
The
Peter Principle immediately came into play, and I'm not talking about Ivers.
Jove, who worked well with his underground crew and punk bands, editing in his
own private bay in his cave-like home, was totally out of his league in the real
world of television. New Wave Theatre was shot guerrilla style, and he
was in charge of absolutely everything. Faced with an actual production staff,
he found himself completely incapable of delegating authority, preferring
instead to boss everyone around, telling them specifically what he wanted them
to do, and ordering them not to do anything else. He literally ran around
stopping people from doing their jobs. It was nuts. Everyone hated
him.
I
was hired as head writer because Ramis insisted that he hire a head writer. Jove
made it quite clear to me that every single word uttered by anybody on the show
was to be written by him and him alone. I pointed out that Chase, Dangerfield,
Murray, and Aykroyd were pretty funny guys, and he might want to give them some
leeway to do their own material, but he would have none of it. No one would do
any of their own material. They would only say what Jove told them to say. I was
welcome to attend every conference so that it would look like I was earning my
pay, but I would not be allowed to actually write anything. Thus I got to
personally witness one of the greatest self-destructs I've ever
seen.
At
the first writer's meeting, there was me, Jove, Chase, and Ramis. First Ramis
introduced everybody and told his version of what the show should be, the
version he thought would make the network happy. Then Chase got up, walked
around the room talking, and for fifteen minutes was the funniest human being I
had ever seen. At this point he hadn't done any television since Saturday
Night Live, and he clearly found his role as movie star stifling. He was
simply bursting with hilarious ideas. I took copious notes and saw my career
ahead of me in bright lights as the head writer of Chevy's comeback show, which
would clearly be one of the funniest on television.
Then it was Jove's turn. One by one, he shot down every single
one of Chevy and Harold's ideas. He made it very clear what the show was going
to be. Despite what Ramis had told the network, it was going to be the David
Jove show. He then ran through HIS list of ideas, like constantly cutting back
to the control booth, which would be run by animals. Like the talk show portion
of the show which would feature nothing but baby ducks. Like his wife and child
performing a song. One by one, Chevy and Harold shot down every single one of
David's ideas. There was a horrifying silence. Chevy threw out another idea.
David turned it down. David threw out another idea. Harold turned it down,
throwing out another idea of his own. David turned it down.
Finally, Chevy said "Why don't we
satirize Thriller?" which was Michael Jackson's latest video that had
just started airing that week. This was my cue. Just before the meeting, I had
told David my idea for satirizing Thriller with Chevy Chase, replacing
the words "it's a thriller in the night" with the words "it's a Chevy in the
night," and having Chevy turn into a Chevy instead of a werewolf. Chevy and
Harold looked at me and I said "That's a good idea," but just as I was about to
tell my concept and justify my presence in the room, I felt a kick under the
table. I looked at Jove, who surreptitiously lifted up his shirt to reveal a
revolver in his belt. The message was pretty obvious: if I told my idea, which
Chevy and Harold would clearly like, he would shoot me. I kept my mouth shut.
The meeting ended in stalemate and a death threat.
Finally, it was time to shoot the opening episode with a live
audience. The rehearsal with the bands had gone well. Jove had scored quite a
coup getting Cyndi Lauper to perform Time after Time. She was fantastic.
The audience packed in, full of punks who were fans of the original New Wave
Theatre, and expecting more of the same. Jove, who was used to actually
being on the stage as the main hand-held camera operator, found himself stuck in
the booth in back, having no idea how to give orders to the crew on the stage.
As it turned out, he wouldn't need to.
There was a fanfare, an announcer
said "Ladies and Gentlemen, it's THE TOP!" I had written Chevy several
opening monologues. Chevy had written himself an opening monologue. But right
before he went on, Jove had gone up to him and made him put on a punk costume
with a spiked wig, telling him to just go on stage as a punk and wing it. Chevy
came on stage in his punk costume, looking pretty uncomfortable since he wasn't
sure what he was supposed to do next.
The opening music kept playing. He stood there. A bunch of
punks in the front row, aroused by the music, jumped on stage and started slam
dancing.
A word here about slam dancing. Slam
dancing consists of jumping up and down like you're on a pogo stick while
bouncing off of those near you. That's it. It works particularly well on a VERY
crowded dance floor with VERY loud music; everyone caroming off each other like
a million balls in an insane punk pinball game. Unless you know that slam
dancing is a dance, you would have no idea that you were witnessing something
other than a riot.
Chevy had apparently never seen slam
dancing. All he knew was that a bunch of punk assholes were jumping up and down
trying to bounce off him. He pushed one of them away. They pushed back. He
pushed back. Chevy got cold-cocked and knocked off the stage. He got up, walked
to his dressing room, and didn't come out. The show was over after a full thirty
seconds of production.
It was a disaster and everyone blamed
Jove. Chevy blamed him for not letting him do the monologue he wanted to do. He
quit and refused to work with Jove again. I blamed Jove for not doing MY
opening. Harold blamed Jove for inviting the punks in the first place and
seating them in the front row. Jove blamed the system for not letting him be on
the stage where he could have stopped it from happening instead of being cooped
up in the booth.
The network was still owed a show.
Harold Ramis took charge. He arranged for a second taping a week later, getting
Andy Kaufman to fill in as host. He threw out Jove's script and got a pair of
handcuffs to keep him in his seat in the production room during taping. During
one production meeting, he took a phone call, walking around the room,
stretching the cord of the phone as he walked. When the conversation ended, he
was on the other side of the room, and he simple let go of the phone, which flew
across the room hitting David Jove smack in the middle of the forehead. It was
the funniest moment of the whole production.
The second shooting was much more controlled.
No punks allowed. Backstage before the show, Kaufman was as friendly as could
be. There was not a hint of star ego as I hung out with him in the dressing
room, taking his picture as they put on his make-up. As head writer of the show,
I had absolutely nothing to do with the words that were to come out of his
mouth, so I asked him what routines or characters he would be doing. "None," he
said. "Just myself."
There was a fanfare and Dan Aykroyd's voice came over the loudspeakers:
"Under no circumstances attempt to watch this show without a working television
set." The monitors showed rapid, one frame cuts of star fields (one of Jove's
specialties), then cut to the control booth, which was manned by three guys
wearing big paper mache animal masks. A deep announcer's voice filled the room.
"And now, from Hollywood California, the entertainment capital of the world, we
welcome you to The Top!"
The list of guests followed: Cyndi
Lauper, The Romantics, The Hollies, special guests Dan Aykroyd, Rodney
Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Lili and Lotus, and Robert Roll as George Gerkon.
"This is your suicidal announcer, Bill Martin," he concluded as the screen
showed a baby duck walking around a miniature talk show set. Cut to a living
room full of aliens watching a TV set. "And now your host, Andy Kaufman."
Finally, he went on stage, doing an opening that wasn't written by me,
but contained remnants of Jove reworked by Ramis. It was nothing special. "Hi
everybody" he waved.
"Hi Andy" the whole audience
replied. Then a phone rang and Andy answered it. On the monitor, we saw a
tape of Rodney Dangerfield on the phone saying "Andy, what's going on? When
are you going to show Rappin' Rodney? I gotta go to the
bathroom."
Andy did a double, a triple, a
quadruple take looking at the phone. The screen cut to a little old lady
saying "Now you stay tuned to The Top." A multi-colored fright wig
appeared on her head. "Do you hear me?" she said shaking her finger at the
screen. Cut to commercial.
During the rest of the show, Andy did
little more than introduced the guests and take calls from Rodney. Aykroyd and
Murray were wasted in a pre-taped segment which looked like Jove just got them
stoned and babbling at each other. Dangerfield's segment consisted of the phone
calls to Kaufman and his Rappin' Rodney video. The closest thing to
comedy was supplied by Robert Roll doing a totally incomprehensible commercial
satire written by Jove.
When the show was aired, there was no writing credit. During the final
credits, which were shown over a rather sweet performance of a song about heaven
by Jove's wife and daughter, Lotus Weinstock and Lili Hayden, I was called a
"Creative Consultant."
Kaufman's performance in The
Top seems to be unique in his career. He wasn't playing a character. He
wasn't putting anyone on. He wasn't trying to be funny. There was an absolute
lack of irony. It actually wasn't a performance; he was simply being himself,
doing a favor for a friend, dropping every facade he had ever used, dropping any
attempt at being clever or cute or even entertaining. Other than the remarkable
circumstances leading to his filling in for Chevy Chase, it wasn't even worth
writing about. He smiled a lot and just came off as a totally nice guy, without
pretense, someone you could share a beer with. Anyone tuning in to see any of
his trademark idiosyncrasies would have been pretty disappointed.
At the time, I saw it as a complete
waste of his phenomenal talents, but looking back now, I see it as a moment of
incredible clarity. He probably knew he was dying. He didn't have anything else
to prove to anybody. He could afford to just be himself, and that was good
enough. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it goes," he said. "Good-bye from The
Top." He put his hand over his heart, looked at the audience, wide-eyed and
innocent, and said "We love you" before walking off the stage. He died four
months later. It was his last public appearance.
Carla Meyer: Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis has some advice (McClatchy Newspapers)
Paul Haggis directed and co-wrote "Crash," named best picture at the Academy Awards in 2006, and scripted "Million Dollar Baby," honored as best picture the previous year. Winner of a screenplay Oscar for "Crash," Haggis also was nominated for "Baby" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."
Meanwhile, with little notice or fanfare, the space shuttle Atlantis was launched Monday on what has been said is a critical and dangerous mission to repair the Hubble telescope in order to keep it operation for 5 more years until its replacement is ready. NASA's 2010 budget is 18.7 billion dollars which includes a 5% increase under Obama's stimulus plan.
Friday, 1 May, we started 2 book-giveaway contests, courtesy Hachette Books.
There will be 2 trivia questions every day - one will feature Asian heritage, and the other will focus on Latino book month.
The contests will run concurrently for at least 2 3 weeks, but may go longer.
There will be at least 2 winners, (1 per set of questions), per week.
At the conclusion of the giveaway, a prize will be awarded for tenacity.
You may only win once per giveaway.
Each winner will receive the whole set of five books for that giveaway.
Rules and/or format may be altered if necessary - I'm not psychic.
Harold Russell is one of 2 non-professional actors to have won an Academy Award in an acting category. Who is the other?
Haing Ngor
Source
Dr. Haing S. Ngor (March 22, 1940 - February 25, 1996) was a Cambodian American physician, actor and author who is best known for winning the 1985 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the movie The Killing Fields, in which he portrayed journalist and refugee Dith Pran in 1970s Cambodia, under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. His mother was Khmer and his father was of Chinese descent. Ngor and Harold Russell are the only two non professional actors to win Academy Awards in an acting category.
Source
Whose grandfather was one of the 3 original founders of the Bacardi Rum Company?
Desi Arnaz
Source
Desi Arnaz (March 2, 1917 - December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-American musician, actor and television producer.
Desi Arnaz was born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III in Santiago de Cuba to Desiderio Alberto Arnaz (1894-1973) and Dolores de Acha (1896-1988). His father was Santiago's youngest mayor and then served in the Cuban House of Representatives. His mother, Dolores Acha y de Socias, was one of the most beautiful and prominent women in Latin America, and her father, Alberto, was one of the three original founders of the Bacardi Rum Company.
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
1. Haing S. Ngor
2. Desi Arnaz
Charlie answered:
#1) Haing S. Ngor won Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields. No doubt a worthy award, but any depiction of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge needs to be accompanied by some discussion of the US role in creating the conditions giving ascendancy to Pol Pot (who later became a US ally).
Chomsky:
.
..the bombing of inner Cambodia in 1973 was a monstrous crime. It was just massacring peasants in inner Cambodia. It isn't much reported here because nobody paid attention, but it was quite a part in helping create the basis for the Khmer Rouge. Well, the CIA estimate is that 600,000 people were killed in the course of those US actions, either directed or actually carried out by the United States.
From Japan Focus:
"Every time after there had been bombing, they would take the people to see the craters, to see how big and deep the craters were, to see how the earth had been gouged out and scorched . . . . The ordinary people sometimes literally shit in their pants when the big bombs and shells came. Their minds just froze up and they would wander around mute for three or four days. Terrified and half crazy, the people were ready to believe what they were told. It was because of their dissatisfaction with the bombing that they kept on co-operating with the Khmer Rouge, joining up with the Khmer Rouge, sending their children off to go with them. . . . Sometimes the bombs fell and hit little children, and their fathers would be all for the Khmer Rouge.
#2) Desi Arnaz could claim this honorable lineage...
Sally said:
1) Harold Russell is one of 2 nonprofessional actors to have won an Academy Award in an acting category. The other being Cambodian, Haing S. Ngor, for his performance in, "The Killing Fields." Ironically, he was murdered outside of his LA home at age 45. How sad...
AND
2) Desi Arnaz's maternal Grandfather was one of the 3 original founders of the Bacardi Rum Company.
All I can say here is, "Babaloo!"
MAM replied:
Dr. Haing S. Ngor is the other non-professional actor to win an Academy Award for an actor. He won the 1985 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the movie "The Killing Fields", in which he portrayed journalist and refugee Dith Pran in 1970s Cambodia, under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.
Desi Arnaz's grandfather was one of the 3 origianl founders of the Bacardi Rum Company.
Maria in Chicago responded:
Haing S. Ngor
Desi Arnaz
And, Joe S wrote:
Dr. Haing S. Ngor
Desi Arnaz
For those keeping score:
Alan J A-16 | L-16
Charlie A-15 | L-16
DC Madman A-1 | L-1
Gary G A-0 | L-1
Jim from CA A-2 | L-2
Joe S A-16 | L-16
José-Ariel A-1 | L-2
MAM A-16 | L-16
Maria in Chicago A-11 | L-11
Marian the Teacher A-13 | L-13
Sally A-16 | L-16
Tom B A-1 | L-1
Thanks, Michael!
The question was:
Who was the first regular adult character on US prime-time television written for an American of Japanese descent? Bachelor Father's Sammee Tong was Chinese.
Besides, Bachelor Father's premiere episode was 15 September 1957, but a day earlier, on the 14th, "Have Gun - Will Travel" Three Bells to Perdido (1957) debutted, with Kam Tong in the regular co-starring role of Hey Boy.
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', then fills the rest of the night with the SEASON FINALE'Survivor: Brazil'.
NBC opens the night with 'Dateline', followed by more 'Dateline', then the sorta FRESH'Saturday Night Live Short Films'.
ABC begins the night with the SEASON FINALE'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', followed by the SEASON FINALE'Desperate Housewives'.
The CW offers an old 'Friends', followed by the movie 'Licence To Kill'.
Faux has a RERUN'King Of The Hill', followed by a RERUN'American Dad', then a FRESH'Simpsons', followed by a FRESH'King Of The Hill', then a FRESH'Family Guy', followed by a FRESH'American Dad'.
MY has an old 'Bernie Mac', followed by an old 'Raymond', then an old 'House', followed by another old 'House'.
AMC offers the movie 'Outbreak', followed by a FRESH'Breaking Bad'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] The Apprentice UK - Episode 3
[1:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 3
[2:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 2
[3:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 9
[3:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 10
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 11
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 12
[5:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 13
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 18
[6:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 19
[6:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 20
[7:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 21
[7:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 22
[8:00 PM] Any Dream Will Do (90) - Episode 9
[9:30 PM] BritPop: Live Forever - BritPop: Live Forever
[11:00 PM] Any Dream Will Do (90) - Episode 9
[12:30 AM] BritPop: Live Forever
[2:00 AM] Any Dream Will Do (90) - Episode 9
[3:30 AM] BritPop: Live Forever
[5:00 AM] BBC World News
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has all 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' all night.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Employee Of The Month', followed by the movie 'Waiting...', then the FRESH'Dane Cook: Isolated Incident'.
FX has the movie 'Underworld Evolution', followed by the movie 'The Punisher'.
History has 'UFO Hunters', followed by the FRESH'How Bruce Lee Changed The World', and 'Extreme Marksmen'.
IFC -
[6:05 AM] La Lecon de Danse
[6:15 AM] Starstruck
[8:00 AM] Victim
[9:45 AM] Far From Heaven
[11:35 AM] Starstruck
[1:15 PM] Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy
[2:15 PM] Far From Heaven
[4:05 PM] Pizza
[5:30 PM] Kissing Jessica Stein
[7:15 PM] The Rules of Attraction
[9:15 PM] Body of Evidence
[9:15 PM] Body of Evidence
[11:00 PM] The IFC Media Project
[11:30 PM] Milan
[12:00 AM] The Rules of Attraction
[2:00 AM] The IFC Media Project
[2:30 AM] Body of Evidence
[2:30 AM] Body of Evidence
[4:15 AM] The Grey Zone (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'Saw II', followed by the movie 'Joyride 2: Dead Ahead'.
Sundance -
[05:35 AM] Jump Tomorrow
[07:15 AM] Music Rising
[08:00 AM] Episode 4
[08:30 AM] Episode 4
[09:00 AM] Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars
[09:35 AM] The World According To Monsanto
[11:30 AM] Ladette to Lady - Season 3: Episode 3
[12:30 PM] Spectacle: She & Him, Jenny Lewis, Jakob Dylan
[01:30 PM] Day Night Day Night
[03:00 PM] Crazy Love
[04:35 PM] The King of Ping Pong
[06:25 PM] Friends With Money
[08:00 PM] Flying: Confessions...: Part 1
[09:00 PM] Shameless - 408
[10:30 PM] Swimmers
[12:00 AM] Cinderella
[01:45 AM] Bed Head
[02:00 AM] Eraserhead
[03:30 AM] Good Morning Heartache
[05:10 AM] Music Rising (ALL TIMES EDT)
Italian Academy award-winning music composer Ennio Morricone conducts during the Mawazine Festival in Rabat May 15, 2009. The annual music festival, which features musicians from around the world, will run from May 15 to May 23.
Photo by Rafael Marchante
Cannes is not all galas and glamor. For some filmmakers, the journey to the red carpet on the Riviera is fraught with personal risk.
China's Lou Ye and Iran's Bahman Ghobadi are both at the festival with movies made undercover after they were barred from working by the authorities.
Both directors tackle subjects that make officials at home uneasy - gay relationships in Lou's "Spring Fever," and Tehran's underground music scene in Ghobadi's "No One Knows About Persian Cats."
Lou, 44, was banned from filmmaking in China for five years after he brought his last film "Summer Palace" - about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests - to Cannes in 2006 without permission. He shot "Spring Fever," a moody and sexually explicit drama that tracks the romantic entanglements of five characters over the course of a torrid spring season, with a small camera and without authorization in the city of Nanjing.
Ruth Padel became the first ever woman Professor of Poetry at Oxford University after beating an Indian poet in an election Saturday which ended an often bitter contest.
Padel, a distant relative of Charles Darwin, was elected with 297 votes cast by graduates and academic staff of the prestigious university.
Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott pulled out of the race on Tuesday, reportedly amid allegations of sexual harassment dating back to the early 1980s.
The prestigious academic post dates back to 1708 and was previously held by WH Auden and Seamus Heaney.
Actress Sandra Bullock was inducted Friday into a New Orleans high school's "Hall of Fame" after donating tens of thousands toward rebuilding the public school heavily flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Bullock took the auditorium stage at Warren Easton High School to a standing ovation from about 300 people. She said she couldn't take all the credit for renovations after the school suffered $4 million in damages from nearly 10 feet of floodwater from the storm.
"I just write the checks," the actress said, adding she "rides the coattails of people who do amazing things."
Bullock's portrait - drawn in crayon by her 5-year-old stepdaughter Sunny - was added to a school hallway alongside dozens of portraits of alumni who went on to become famous musicians, sports stars, judges and doctors.
This summer, for the second consecutive year, Chinese government pressure will prevent top-tier international music acts from performing in the country's biggest cities.
In 2008, an official crackdown on live events preceded the Summer Olympics in August. This year, the government is eager to avoid potential protest flash points as it braces for the 20th anniversary of the June 4 suppression of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations and, on October 1, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
China's Ministry of Culture canceled April shows by Oasis in Beijing and Shanghai. The leading rock festival, MIDI, which took place in early May, had to leave Beijing for a site in eastern China, away from international media scrutiny. John Legend's April 8 concert in Shanghai and Kylie Minogue's December 1 concert in Beijing were the last shows by major Western pop/rock artists in those respective cities.
The upcoming political anniversaries are so sensitive that many live-entertainment executives based in China were unwilling to comment on the situation. One live-industry source who asked to remain anonymous said, "We were told to 'keep it down'" as his company considered acts to book for this summer.
In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, Legendary entertainers Siegfried & Roy at Disney's The Lion King, Las Vegas premiere at the Mandalay Bay, Friday, May 15, 2009.
Photo by Bob Brye.
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel Prize-winning author, said he may face new compensation claims for remarks he made about the World War One-era killing of Armenians, despite an earlier acquittal in a criminal trial, the Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.
Turkey's Court of Appeals this week overturned a lower court decision that had dismissed the claims of personal damages against Pamuk, 56, paving the way for a new case.
The compensation suit stemmed from an interview with a Swiss magazine in 2005 when Pamuk said "30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed" in Turkey.
Turkey denies Armenians were systematically killed between 1915 and 1923, saying that both sides suffered losses in internecine fighting during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.
Famed Disney songwriter Richard Sherman poses at the premiere of the Disney-Pixar animated film "Up" in Hollywood, California May 16, 2009.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Hollywood actor and former British soccer player Vinnie Jones was acquitted of assault Thursday for his role in a bar fight in downtown Sioux Falls.
Jones, 44, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault for a Dec. 4 scuffle at Wiley's Tavern. Surveillance video showed a bloodied Jones punching Juan Trevino-Barrera, 24, in a hallway minutes after Barrera's friends hit Jones with a beer glass and beer bottle, causing deep cuts to Jones' nose and forehead.
Jones said he received 70 stitches for his injuries - scars from which are still visible. He faced a maximum punishment was one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Barrera, a convicted felon, acknowledged under questioning that he signed a contract with a tabloid newspaper to sell his story and would make more money from it if Jones is found guilty.
Growing up Gotti never included the threat of foreclosure - until now.
That's just what Victoria Gotti, daughter of the "Dapper Don," faces as the latest member of the infamous crime family to be called into court.
Deceased mob boss John Gotti earned the name "Teflon Don" after a series of acquittals before being sentenced to life in 1992 for racketeering and six killings. He died in prison in 2002.
Now, Victoria Gotti is in another court, fighting the threat of foreclosure on her Long Island mansion, the same house used in the "Growing Up Gotti" reality show.
Actors Ed Asner and Elizabeth Docter, voice talents in the Disney-Pixar animated film "Up", pose with Asner's grandson Jake (L) during the film's premiere in Hollywood, California May 16, 2009.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Bald eagles, bouncing back after years of decline, are swaggering forth with an appetite for great cormorant chicks that threatens to wipe out that bird population in the United States.
The eagles, perhaps finding less fish to eat, are flying to Maine's remote rocky islands where they've been raiding the only known nesting colonies of great cormorants in the U.S. Snatching waddling chicks from the ground and driving adults from their nests, the eagles are causing the numbers of the glossy black birds to decline from more than 250 pairs to 80 pairs since 1992.
"They're like thugs. They're like gang members. They go to these offshore islands where all these seabirds are and the birds are easy picking," said Brad Allen, a wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. "These young eagles are harassing the bejesus out of all the birds, and the great cormorants have been taking it on the chin."
The recovery of the bald eagle population has been well-documented, growing from 400 pairs to more than 10,000 pairs in the lower 48 states since the 1960s. But the revival has changed the natural order of things in Maine and other states, threatening other bird species.
If human culture seems obsessed with sex lately, it's nothing new. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known artistic representation of a woman - a carved ivory statue of a naked female, dating from 35,000 years ago.
The figurine, unearthed in September 2008 in Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany, may be the oldest known example of figurative art, meaning art that is supposed to represent and resemble a real person, animal or object. The discovery could help scientists understand the origins of art and the advent of symbolic thinking, including complicated language.
The fixation wasn't just for naked women, though. Early carvings of phalluses appeared in Europe at about the same time.
The tiny statue is carved out of the tusk of a woolly mammoth and is less than 2.5 inches (60 millimeters) long. Instead of a head, it has a ring that scientists think meant it was worn as a pendant looped through string. Paleoanthropologist Nicholas Conard of Germany's Tubingen University reported the discovery in the May 14 issue of the journal Nature.
Event organiser Fabio di Gioia holds a Morpho butterfly in the tearoom of Galleria Borghese's aviary in Rome May 13, 2009. The gardens are hosting a springtime educational event entitled "Tea with the butterflies" running from April 9 to May 23, which allows visitors to sip tea in an atrium filled with the colourful insects. Picture taken May 13, 2009.
Photo by Chris Helgren
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
Ivers was a Harvard graduate, and in memory of him,
they initiated the Peter Ivers Visiting
Artist Program. He had many powerful friends in Hollywood, including Harold
Ramis. Harold wanted to see the spirit of New Wave Theatre live on, so he
agreed to executive produce a show called The Top for local TV, once
again produced and directed by David Jove, and featuring many of the New Wave
Theatre gang, including me. He also supplied Chevy Chase as a host, with
guest stars Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd. 
Then it was Jove's turn. One by one, he shot down every single
one of Chevy and Harold's ideas. He made it very clear what the show was going
to be. Despite what Ramis had told the network, it was going to be the David
Jove show. He then ran through HIS list of ideas, like constantly cutting back
to the control booth, which would be run by animals. Like the talk show portion
of the show which would feature nothing but baby ducks. Like his wife and child
performing a song. One by one, Chevy and Harold shot down every single one of
David's ideas. There was a horrifying silence. Chevy threw out another idea.
David turned it down. David threw out another idea. Harold turned it down,
throwing out another idea of his own. David turned it down. 
Finally, it was time to shoot the opening episode with a live
audience. The rehearsal with the bands had gone well. Jove had scored quite a
coup getting Cyndi Lauper to perform Time after Time. She was fantastic.
The audience packed in, full of punks who were fans of the original New Wave
Theatre, and expecting more of the same. Jove, who was used to actually
being on the stage as the main hand-held camera operator, found himself stuck in
the booth in back, having no idea how to give orders to the crew on the stage.
As it turned out, he wouldn't need to.
The opening music kept playing. He stood there. A bunch of
punks in the front row, aroused by the music, jumped on stage and started slam
dancing. 
There was a fanfare and Dan Aykroyd's voice came over the loudspeakers:
"Under no circumstances attempt to watch this show without a working television
set." The monitors showed rapid, one frame cuts of star fields (one of Jove's
specialties)
Finally, he went on stage, doing an opening that wasn't written by me,
but contained remnants of Jove reworked by Ramis. It was nothing special. "Hi
everybody" he waved. 
When the show was aired, there was no writing credit. During the final
credits, which were shown over a rather sweet performance of a song about heaven
by Jove's wife and daughter, Lotus Weinstock and Lili Hayden, I was called a
"Creative Consultant." 
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