King Arthur Movie Tristan

I spent the better part of a week in the summer of 1977 in the back seat of a white Thunderbird with black vinyl roof going to Florida and back. For entertainment I had dad's really lousy radio stations, and a Cream magazine. I read and re-read Lisa Robinson's account of Led Zeppelin's 1977 tour, a review on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers upcoming debut album, and a story on a hot new girl band, The Runaways. Joan Jett at 16 (remember, I was 14), Lita Ford, and the gorgeous Cherie Currie fronting the band in bustier and stockings. That was a long drive.

Now comes word that those Runaway days will be immortalized on celluloid with a 2009 movie adaptation of the bands success. Twilight star Kristen Stewart is slated to play Joan Jett, who is listed as an executive producer.


Jay Leno has agreed to do a show at 10:00 every weeknight after he stops hosting the Late Show next spring. This means NBC is out of the one-hour drama game, and into the sucking up to Jay game. It was announced previously that Conan O'Brien would replace Leno in the spring. Leno had previously announced his retirement, but has since decided that he would rather stick around. There were rumours that he was going to do a show for rival ABC. We'll let Leno tell the rest:

Those were rumours started by a disgruntled employee - me.

Like I said, NBC is now officially in the sucking up to Jay game.

Jennifer Aniston, 40 and looking great, has appeared on the cover of this months GQ magazine wearing nothing but a tie. Let me repeat for the men: Nothing-But-A-Tie.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is a potty mouth TV chef here in America. In Britain, however, he is way up the celebrity scale, with his name appearing daily in the gossip tabs. Much of his fame comes from his bad guy on TV/dedicated family man in reality persona. It is under this guise that news of a reported seven year affair between the chef and serial mistress Sarah Symonds. Symonds was Jeffery Archer's bad girl at one time, among others and authored the book "Having An Affair? A Handbook For The Other Woman."

Ramsay has both denied the report, and reportedly has apologized to his wife Tana over the affair.

I'll tell you, if I was on Hell's Kitchen next season, the first time he called me stupid (which he does to everybody), I would retort "Oh, great. I'm being called stupid by a man who had an affair with a woman who wrote a book on having affairs."

I tell you, I can't get the audio out of my head about what a Gordon Ramsay affair would sound like:

"Not like that, stupid, like this. Do I have to everything my f***ing self?..."

Review in Brief: Twilight (as told by Miss Hespeler)

It was really cheesy, but good cheesy.

Was that Jason Priestly I heard on the radio the other day talking about kids these day? Brandon from 90210 complaining that the kids these days don't take what their doing seriously enough?

You know you're getting old when that kid you used to complain about is now complaining about kids.

Review in Brief #2: Guns and Roses Chinese Democracy.

Loud, but not worth the wait.

Irony Alert: speaking of Chinese Democracy, in an example of true irony, not sarcasm dressed up as irony ala David Letterman, the Chinese government has banned the album Chinese Democracy in China.


Bruce Springsteen released his first single of his new album this week: Working on a Dream. The song is the title track from Springsteen's upcoming album, scheduled for release January 27th. He released it as a free one day download. It is now available on itunes for 99c until December 9th.



Rock and Roll Heaven acquired a new, however unlikely, rhythm section this week

Locally, former Platinum Blonde bassist Kenny MacLean (1956 - 2008) passed away of natural causes at the age of 52. MacLean has been active in the local music scene for over twenty years, and held a release party for his latest CD, Completely, Sunday night. He died through the night after the event.

Internationally, English drummer Michael Lee (1969 - 2008) passed away on Tuesday from what is presently being listed as unknown causes. He was 39 years old.

Lee played with Thin Lizzy, the Cult and Echo and the Bunnymen through his career. But he is most remembered here in Hespeler for his work with both Robert Plant and subsequently, Page & Plant. When former Led Zeppelin frontmen Jimmy Page and Robert Plant banded together to work up new material and rework some old Led Zeppelin tracks in 1994, Michael Lee joined them on drums. He would stay with them through the dissolution of the partnership in 1998.

Here's a clip of Page and Plant, with Michael Lee playing drums.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

Blair MacLean (1943 - 2008). So sad to hear of the death of the surviving member of MacLean & MacLean, Blair MacLean, of heart attack at age 65 last week. Canadian comedy duo MacLean & MacLean ran from 1972 to 1998, but had their greatest successes through the 1980's. It is still not Christmas around the Hespeler Towers without MacLean & MacLean Go To Hell spinning once on the turntable.

MacLean's partner, brother Gary MacLean passed away in 2001 of throat cancer. To mark the kind of man he was, Blair and his wife moved from Nova Scotia to Winnipeg to help care for Gary's sons after his death.


Note: That's all I got around to writing last week, and normally would have scrapped the whole thing, but I felt I wanted to pay small homage to Blair MacLean.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

David Duchovny and Tea Leoni announced they were separating this week, making two the number of women on AHIH's list that have split from their ingrate husbands in the last year: Shania Twain and Tea Leoni. Duchovny, star of the brilliant Californication, recently underwent rehab for "sex addiction," which apparently doesn't mean he's married to Tea Leoni therefore, he can't leave her alone.

Less interesting, if more newsworthy, the definition of "girl with cooties" herself, Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have also split. She apparently referred to him at a concert this week as emotionally retarded. I don't know about his emotions but "married to Madonna" and retarded seem to me to go hand in hand. Not to mention blind and teeming with cooties.

Review in Brief: Rocknrolla: violent, fast and funny - classic Guy Ritchie.




Farewell to Frank Kerr (1957 - 2008), AKA Teenage Head lead singer Frankie Venom who passed away this week of throat cancer at the youthful age of 51. I was never a big fan of the Head, but they play a significant role in my marriage and to this day I meet people who proudly tell me they were at the Ontario Place 1981 Teenage Head riot.

If you grew up in Southern Ontario and are of a certain vintage (2 digit age that starts with a 4 say) then Teenage Head was an important band and cultural influence. Here's hoping it was Some Kind of Fun for Frankie

Farewell as well to Levi Stubbs (1936 - 2008), singer for the Four Tops and legendary voice behind one of the greatest songs of all time: I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honeybunch). I've also always loved his voice over work as the plant Audrey II in 1986's Little Shop of Horrors. Stubbs died Thursday at the age of 72 in Detroit.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

Wham! Singer George Michael was arrested last weekend for - ahem - loitering around a mens washroom.

"I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again..." he said in a statement that simply doesn't apply to me.

"And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them."

Oh, OK then.

Singer Clay Aikens announced this week, during his baby's first photo shoot, that he is gay. This leads to a natural question: who?

Last time I reported that James Bond will not drink his classic Vodka Martini in the next Bond movie: Quantum of Solace. Now it is reported that Bond will not use his famous introductory line: Bond, James Bond.

I spend too much time wondering why the current owners of the Bond franchise bother making the movies at all seeing as they seem to like so little about them.

Review in Brief: Kings of Leon - Only By The Night (CD):

Rockin'


Led Zeppelin rumour of the week, courtesy of Ramble On: Last weekend it was reported that Led Zeppelin would issue an ultimatum to Robert Plant: We have a guy, and he can do your job, we are going on tour with or without you. Plant has apparently responded with the word Zeppelin fans have been waiting to hear: hey guys, where you goin? Wait for me...

Paul McCartney played in Israel this week amongst threats from the jihadi set that he would be given the Anne Boleyn treatment. Fortunately for the "cute" Beatle, he had the offer of bodyguard services from Ted Nugent. The Wand Dang Sweet Poontanger offered to guard McCartney with what may wel be the quote of the year:

Regardless that Paul and I have our obvious social, cultural, and culinary differences outside of music, I will not bend or waiver to voodoo religious whackjobs and neither should Paul.

And if guarding Paul didn't work, he could start singing Wango-Tango and confuse the hell out of them.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.

It has been reported that the theme song for the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, will be a duet by Jack Black and Alicia Keys. The duet, reportedly titled Another Way to Die, is the first time a James Bond theme song has been a duet.

Meanwhile, Jim Bond will no longer drink Vodka martinis. The useless pimps who now control the Bond franchise have sold product placement to Coke, who have developed Coke Zero just for the occasion.

"Give me a Coke Zero, and for God's sake don't shake it."

James Bond: Quantum of Solace is scheduled for release Nov. 14th. At Home in Hespeler is scheduled to see it the weekend of Nov. 14.

On Saturday - ahem- singer Madonna dedicated her song Like a Virgin to (yawn) the (streeetch) Pope (zzzzzzzz). I'm sorry, I can't stay awake long enough to finish typing this boring old nonsense about an overrated, unappealing singer/sex symbol (and I use both in the loosest possible terms ever imagined by man or etymologist) courting controversy yet again. Really, why hasn't Madonna just gone away yet? Somebody please wake me when she does.

Last Saturday Oasis singer/guitarist Noel Gallagher wash pushed and knocked down while performing at Toronto's Virgin Music Festival. Gallagher suffered injuries and Oasis have had to cancel a couple of shows since, including the final Canadian show in London, Ontario, and an album release in New York.




The rich and inelegant are swarming Toronto during the ever swanky Toronto Film Festival. Bad news for Lady Hespeler, Jenifer Aniston is in town, and I have my laminated list at the ready. Bad news for me: Colin Firth is in town.

Saturday Fluffernutter - all the fluffy news about those nutty celebrities.


In the movie "Dodgeball," Ben Stiller's creepy character White Goodman is always saying something inappropriate, then following it up with, "just kidding... not really." i.e.:

Kate Veatch: [outside Kate's house] White? What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?
White Goodman: It's called the Freedom of Information Act, Kate. The hippies finally got something right! Ha-ha! Just kidding. But not really.

Apparently P. Diddy, Doggy Dog has been studying up on his White Goodman:

Diddy claims that if he were in the Olympics, he would win a medal for having sex the longest.

"I think that's an event I can do well in. And probably (I can) stay up the longest," Diddy told New York magazine, usmagazine.com reported.

"Just so you know, that's supposed to be funny. Even though I am serious."

Creepy, and not very funny. No, really.

At Home in Hespeler is pleased to bring a new feature to Saturday Fluffernutter: Review in Brief. This week, it’s a movie review - The Sisterhood of the Ya-Ya Pants movie, part II:

"It's pretty good Dad."

Your welcome.

Four songs from U2's upcoming album, No Line on the Horizon, were leaked onto the internet this week. Lead singer Bono was apparently listening to the tracks at his villa in the French Riviera when a passerby recorded them on his phone.

Which leads to the question: how loud was he playing the music that an audible recording could be made from outside the home? And if the owner of the music chooses to play it so loud, has he not placed the music into the public domain?

RIP Jerry Wexler (1917 - 2008).

Wexler helped run Atlantic Records during it's early years when it was producing some of the most enduring records of the rock and roll era, including the Atlantic catalogue of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett. He along with Ahmet Ertegun, signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records. While working with Billboard magazine in the late 1940's, early 50's he coined the term Rhythm and Blues and was portrayed by actor Richard Schiff (Toby Ziegler on The West Wing) in the Ray Charles biopic Ray.

Jerry Wexler died last weekend at his home in Sarasota Florida of Congestive Heart Failure at the age of 91.