100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time

From 2003, here is the list from Rolling Stone magazine. See if you agree. I would put Eddie Van Halen much higher than number 70. Also I would have put Alex Lifeson from Rush on the list. Feel free to comment on this post and say who would be on your list.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time

Here are their top 10-

1Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones

Television's Richest Personalities

According to Forbes magazine, here are the top 10 earners from June 2006 to June 2007. I don't think that you will be surprised who tops the list.

1. Oprah Winfrey - $260 million
2. Jerry Seinfeld - $60 million
3. Simon Cowell - $45 million
4. David Letterman - $40 million
5. Donald Trump - $32 million
6. Jay Leno - $32 million
7. Dr. Phil McGraw - $30 million
8. "Judge" Judy Sheindlin - $30 million
9. George Lopez - $26 million
10. Kiefer Sutherland - $22 million


Obviously I am in the minority, but I have never seen the appeal of Oprah's show. I watched it a couple weeks ago because David Letterman was the guest but I can count the number of times I have watched Oprah's show from beginning to end on two hands. Jerry Seinfeld has not been on TV for years, but he gets huge residuals from syndication. He also does stand up gigs around the country. His animated film, Bee Movie, comes out later this year. Simon Cowell makes money from American Idol of course, but he also stars on British TV shows and gets a share of earnings from American Idol performers. Letterman gets paid big bucks from CBS, but also gets residuals from reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, which his company, Worldwide Pants, produced. Trump is on the list for The Apprentice, and Leno for The Tonight Show. Oprah pal Dr. Phil's show is still going strong and his $30 million is nothing to sneeze at. Some might not realize how lucrative being a TV judge can be. Judge Judy lives in New York and flies in her own private jet to Los Angeles to tape her show. George Lopez earned big bucks from syndication and stand up. Kiefer Sutherland rounds out the top 10 making $22 million for his Fox show 24. That's almost $2 million per month. I think I could live on that, how about you?

Take the TV Myths Quiz! See if You Can Beat My Score!

I found a cool quiz about television myths. Some are true, some are false. Here's one of the questions-The boy who portrayed Mikey in TV commercials for Life cereal died when his stomach exploded after he consumed Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola, true or false? Take the quiz and see how you do. I got 13 out of 14 correct, so I still retain my crown as "show biz wiz"! Here's the link, http://encarta.msn.com/quiz_282/tv_myths_quiz.html?GT1=10393

Quiz courtesy of msn.com.

Jeff Daniels Stays True to His Michigan Roots

Most actors with the successful resume of Jeff Daniels would live in Los Angeles, but not him. He lives in his hometown of Chelsea Michigan and is the owner of the Purple Rose Theatre. This was named after the Woody Allen film he was in called The Purple Rose of Cairo. The website for this is http://www.purplerosetheatre.org/. He also appeared in Allen's Radio Days. He has been married to his high school sweetheart since 1979. If he had not become an actor he probably would have gone into the family business, Chelsea Lumber Company, which provided all of the building supplies for his theatre. He has released an album of songs he has written, including one titled "If William Shatner Can, I Can Too". His salary for the 1994 comedy with Jim Carrey, Dumb and Dumber was $750,000. His 2001 deer hunting film Escanaba in da Moonlight was shot in the upper peninsula town and the next year Super Sucker was shot in Jackson, Michigan. He was the writer and director for both of these movies. He has had success in comedies, dramas and family films. Here are some of his other notable films;

1983 Terms of Endearment
1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo
1986 Something Wild
1987 Radio Days
1990 Arachnophobia
1994 Dumb and Dumber
1996 Fly Away Home
1996 Two Days in the Valley
1998 Pleasantville
2005 The Squid and the Whale
2005 Because of Winn-Dixie
2005 Good Night and Good Luck
2006 RV

Back in 1980 he had a role in the TV series Hawaii Five-O.


*Information for this entry came from http://imdb.com.

Book Review: The Skills to Pay the Bills, The Story of the Beastie Boys

This book, by Alan Light, tells the story of this groundbreaking rap group. It has interviews with the group and various friends and associates. The Beasties were a punk group at first but then the teamed up with Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons who formed Def Jam records. The label also included Run DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and 3rd Bass. The group put out their first record, Polly Wog Stew in 1982 but did not achieve success until Licensed to Ill came out in 1986. They opened for Madonna and they acquired a loyal following.

Michael Diamond (drums), Adam Yauch (bass), and Adam Horovitz (guitar), are three New York natives of Jewish heritage who play their own instruments and share a quirky sense of humor that is evident in their videos. They sample clips from various groups and their DJ is Mixmaster Mike. I will post some of their best videos on this blog. They have some funny videos directed by Spike Jonze and their appearances on Letterman have been top notch. They have released 13 albums over 25 years and it is impressive how they have stood the test of time.

Discography
1982 Polly Wog Stew (punk rock EP)
1986 Licensed to Ill (breakthrough with Def Jam and Rick Rubin/Russell Simmons)
1989 Paul's Boutique (teamed up with Dust Brothers)
1992 Check Your Head (first Grand Royal label release)
1994 Ill Communication
1994 Some Old Bullsh#@
1995 Aglio E Olio (EP)
1996 The In Sound from Way Out (instrumental)
1998 Hello Nasty
1999 The Sounds of Science (greatest hits, last Grand Royal release)
2004 To the 5 Boroughs
2005 Solid Gold Hits (greatest hits)
2007 The Mix Up (instrumental)

For more info check out www.beastiemania.com