Entertaining Posts: 03/08/11

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Former Alice in Chains rocker Mike Starr dies

LOS ANGELES | Tue Mar 8, 2011 8:18pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former Alice in Chains bass player Mike Starr, who went public with his drug problems on the reality TV show "Celebrity Rehab," was found dead in a Salt Lake City house, police said on Tuesday, nine years after the rock band's singer died of an overdose. Starr was 44.

A spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Dept. said officers responded to a call about a possible body at a residence southwest of downtown earlier in the afternoon.

"There is nothing to indicate that this was foul play by another individual," the spokesman said.

He did not have any information about the state of Starr's body, or who made the call. The medical examiner's office will likely conduct an autopsy on Wednesday, but the results of toxicology tests could take up to two months.

Starr was fired from the band shortly after the release of its breakthrough 1992 album "Dirt," which was packed with drug-related songs. In 1994, he was sentenced to 90 days in a Texas jail for stealing a piece of luggage at the Houston Intercontinental Airport.

His former bandmates meanwhile, with replacement Mike Inez on board, enjoyed even greater success at the helm of the Seattle "grunge" movement. But singer Layne Staley's drug battles put the brakes on the band in 1996. His decomposed body was found in a Seattle apartment in April 2002.

Starr was possibly the last person to see Staley alive, and admitted to feeling deep guilt about not calling 911 after a sick Staley had warned him against it.

"I wish I hadn't been high on benzodiazepine (an anti-anxiety sedative). I wouldn't have just walked out the door," a tearful Starr said last year on "Celebrity Rehab," a VH1 reality show hosted by addiction medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Starr said later on Pinsky's syndicated "Loveline" radio show that he felt "naked without Layne in this life. Still to this day, I don't care ... about them dismissing me from the band. I love Layne for the human being that he is. I just really miss him."

Starr was unable to beat his demons despite the rehab stint. He was arrested in Salt Lake City three weeks ago on an outstanding warrant related to an earlier drugs charge, and was also carrying unauthorized prescription medications.

TMZ, which broke the news of Starr's death, quoted his father as saying, "It's a terrible shock and tragedy."

Pinsky said on Twitter: "Devastating to hear of Mike Starr succumbing to his illness. So very sad. Our prayers are with his family."

There was no immediate comment from Alice in Chains, which has reunited with some success in recent years.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman, editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

Charlie Sheen outranks Obama and Lady Gaga in social media

LOS ANGELES | Tue Mar 8, 2011 8:37pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you think Charlie Sheen has been "winning" media attention these past few weeks, you'd be right.

The now former "Two and A Half Men" star has topped all Internet and social media discussions since the beginning of 2011, beating out buzz and controversy surrounding the iPad, singer Lady Gaga and U.S. President Barack Obama, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the Global Language Monitor.

"Charlie Sheen...is everywhere. The growing pervasiveness of social media only enhances this global echo chamber," said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor.

Payack used an algorithm to analyze the top 20 persons (or things) of interest on blogs, Internet-only news sites and social media sites like Twitter and YouTube between January 1 and March 8, 2011. Sheen was first, followed by Apple's iPad, Lady Gaga, Obama and Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin.

But the wayward TV star ranked just 18th among the top 75,000 traditional print and electronic media sites covered in the survey.

Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were the top three persons of interest on the traditional media list, "which shows what happens when you have an editorial process that helps discern which news is most significant for the reader," Payack said.

Still, after weeks of bizarre behavior, insults to producers of his old show and boasts about having "Adonis DNA" and "tiger blood," pop culture and social media users just can't seem to get enough of the 45 year-old actor.

And on Tuesday, a comic book was added to an eclectic list of products marking Sheen's public meltdown. Publisher Bluewater Productions said the actor's "life, career and recent shocking behavior" would be the subject of a 32-page biography comic book for release this summer.

The comic joins a Sirius XM "Tiger Blood Radio" channel, and an extra strong strain of cannabis on sale in California medical marijuana dispensaries.

Meanwhile, as broadcaster CBS and "Two And A Half Men" makers Warner Bros. TV pondered whether to continue production next season without Sheen, sportsbook website JustBet.com posted odds on what would might happen next in the saga.

Most bets are on Sheen getting arrested for driving under the influence (56 percent) or cocaine possession (33 percent).

Sheen has insisted that he is clean and sober, and that the only drug he is on is "called Charlie Sheen."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Avril Lavigne more "emotional," "raw" on new album

By Cindy Martin and Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Tue Mar 8, 2011 12:32pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Canadian singer Avril Lavigne says her fourth album "Goodbye Lullaby," released in the United States on Tuesday, shows a different side to the petulant pop-punkster image she has perfected in the past.

"It is a more emotional, more raw record," Lavigne told Reuters in a recent interview in London to discuss Goodbye Lullaby, released by Sony Music's RCA Records label.

"And I think it's good for me to kind of switch it up a bit and do that."

At 26, and recently divorced, the star who burst on to the scene as a teenager with "Let Go" aims to win over a new audience with the fresh approach while still holding on to her core fanbase.

"I think, if anything, this record ... may be able to gain more of a mature audience along with it, and I hope to keep the same kind of core younger group," Lavigne explained.

"It's different this record for me, but it's very me. It's my personality, it's my style. It's not like I went and did something totally different or anything like that. It just showcases a different side to me and more of that."

Whether the album succeeds will soon become clear when the pop charts are published in the United States, Britain and other key markets where Lavigne's fanbase is strong.

FALLEN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS?

But some critics are concerned that the artist whose total album sales are estimated at 30 million may have fallen between two worlds.

"Avril Too Serene" was the New York Post's headline.

"Right from her 'Sk8er Boi' breakthrough in 2002, punky spunk always separated Canadian rock chick Avril Lavigne from the pack," wrote Dan Aquilante in a two-star review.

"Four discs into her career and after a highly publicized split from her Sum 41 groom, Deryck Whibley, Lavigne's latest record smacks of maturity (that's bad) and is salted with self-blame and doubt (worse).

"Add to that a surprising lack of divorce venom, and the result is a milquetoast breakup album -- a 13-song pileup of easy rock."

Mike Doherty, writing for Canada's National Post, agreed, describing the new album as "a middle-of-the-road collection of mildly yearning, acoustic-guitar-based songs."

Rolling Stone magazine awarded the record three stars in a mixed review, and also noted an obvious change in direction.

Warner Bros to offer movies through Facebook

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Security high as Prince William and Kate in Belfast

By Ian Graham

BELFAST | Tue Mar 8, 2011 9:02am EST

BELFAST (Reuters) - Cheering crowds and armed police greeted Prince William as he flew into Northern Ireland on Tuesday to show off his bride-to-be Kate Middleton.

Amid extremely tight security the smiling, young couple arrived for a day-long series of engagements in Belfast, capital of the British-ruled province, and the surrounding area.

Attacks by nationalist splinter groups trying to end British control are at their highest level since a 1998 peace agreement largely ended three decades of conflict that cost more than 3,600 lives.

The area around their first port of call, Belfast City Hall, was sealed off by police and police marksmen kept watch from surrounding rooftops, while no advance public information had been released.

Workers in offices surrounding the City Hall pressed up against windows craning to get a glimpse of William and Kate, who was wearing a belted, mink-colored, double-breasted coat cut above the knee, with a frill at the base, black opaque tights and black high-heeled shoes. William wore a navy suit.

The trip is the latest public appearance by the prince and his fiancee since their engagement was announced last year, following a launch of a new lifeboat in Wales last month and a visit to the Scottish university where they began their romance.

The couple's visit to Northern Ireland comes days after it was announced Queen Elizabeth would make a historic visit to the Irish Republic, the first by a British monarch since the partition of Ireland in 1921.