Singer Mindy McCready dies at 37

Country singer's career recently plagued with personal problems

Mindy McCready, who hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career, has died. She was 37.

The Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that McCready was found dead at a residence in Heber Springs from what appears to be a single, self-inflicted gunshot to the head. An autopsy is pending.

It wasn't the first suicide attempt for the troubled singer, whose list of problems only continued to grow in 2013.

McCready entered court-ordered rehab earlier this month after her father told a judge she was no longer taking care of herself or her children and was abusing drugs and alcohol. Her sons were put in foster care at the time, but it's not clear where Zander and Zayne were at the time of McCready's suicide.

McCready's longtime boyfriend David Wilson, the father of her younger son, died last month in Arkansas. Authorities found his body on the same porch they discovered McCready's on Sunday and his death also was investigated as a suicide.

Wilson's passing struck McCready hard. She issued a statement last month lamenting his death. She called him her soulmate and a caregiver to her sons in an interview with NBC's "Today." She said she'd never gone through anything as painful as his passing.

"I just keep telling myself that the more suffering that I go through, the greater character I`ll have," she said, according to a transcript of the interview.

News of McCready's death spread quickly Sunday night on Twitter with major country stars paying their respects to Nashville's onetime darling.

"Too much tragedy to overcome. R.I.P Mindy McCready," wrote Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks.

And Jason Aldean added: "Just heard about Mindy McCready. My thoughts and prayers are with her 2 boys and her family."

Melinda Gayle McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994 still in her teens with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records.

In 1996, her "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1 and its dig at male chauvinism endeared her to females. Her other hits included "Ten Thousand Angels," also in 1996, and her album by that title sold 2 million copies.

She would spend the next 15 years chasing another hit as personal problems began plaguing her in 2004. Her problems would include a custody battle with her mother over one of her sons, an overdose and discord in her love life.

McCready took her older son Zander from her mother and the boy's legal guardian, Gayle Inge, in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas without permission over what she called child abuse fears. Authorities eventually found McCready hiding in a residence without permission and took the boy into custody.

She and Wilson had a son, Zayne, in April of 2012. The older son is by former husband Billy McKnight.

In May 2010, she was hospitalized briefly after police responded to an overdose call at a home in North Fort Myers, Fla., owned by her mother. This followed a stint on "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," where she delcared herself clean from drugs. She is the fifth celebrity appearing on that show to have died.

In 2004, she was charged with obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy. She pleaded guilty and was placed on three years' probation.

She violated the probation with a drunken driving arrest in May 2005. A few days after that arrest, she was beaten and her boyfriend at the time was charged with attempted criminal homicide. Then she attempted suicide in July 2005, overdosed in September 2005 and slit her wrists again in December 2008.

Also that year, McCready was charged in Arizona with hindering prosecution and unlawful use of transportation. Those charges stemmed from an alleged attempt in June 2005 to purchase two high performance boats, but she claimed she was trying to stop a con man.

In July 2007, she was arrested in her hometown of Fort Myers, Fla., on misdemeanor charges of scratching her mother on the face during a scuffle and resisting sheriff's deputies.

She made headlines again in April 2008 when she acknowledged a longtime relationship with baseball great Roger Clemens. Published reports at the time said she met the pitcher at a Florida karaoke bar when she was 15 and he was 28 and married.

In June 2008, McCready was arrested and charged with violating her probation, specifically falsifying her community service records relating to the 2004 drug charge. A month later, she entered an extended care facility for undisclosed treatment, and followed that with a 60-day jail sentence in the Williamson County jail.

Growing up in Fort Myers, she took seven years of private vocal lessons and later sang in karaoke bars.

After getting her recording contract, she did concert appearances with top country stars including George Strait, Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson.

Her other singles included "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now," "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)" and "You'll Never Know."

In 1998, she was engaged to actor Dean Cain, but they never married.

Actor Steve Martin Welcomes His First Child at 67

There’s a first time for everything – and for Steve Martin that means becoming a father at the age of 67.

The actor/renowned banjo player and his 41-year-old wife, Anne Stringfield, are new parents, Martin's rep confirmed on Wednesday.

Page Six was first to report the baby news, noting the child was born back in December.

“They’ve had a baby, and how they kept it a secret nobody knows. Steve’s very private,” a source told the gossip column. “They are thrilled. They worked hard to have the baby.”

Martin and Stringfield have a history of being hush-hush about big events in their lives.

 When they tied the knot in 2007, they invited 75 guests to a party at their Los Angeles home – and then surprised everyone by exchanging vows. Although it was a quiet affair, it was certainly star-studded. 

“Saturday Night Live” honcho Lorne Michaels was his best man and guests included Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, and Carl Reiner.

Stringfield is a writer and former staffer for The New Yorker magazine. She and Martin started dating a decade ago.

Martin may have been alluding to his new bundle of joy in a recent post on Twitter. When a fan asked if he would bear her children, the funnyman shot back, “Can’t stand ’em.” In another recent tweet, the new dad talked about being tired.

Martin has been spending less time on movie sets in recent years – his most recent flick, “The Big Year” came out in 2011, and “It’s Complicated” and “The Pink Panther 2” were released in 2009. His focus has been on making music and he’s releasing an album with folk/pop singer Edie Brickell in April.

We suspect he’s also working on some children’s songs… at least around the house.

 

Justin Timberlake to appear on 'Fallon' March 11-15 ...Album Release Date fixed for March 19

Justin Timberlake has booked a week of appearances on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in New York to promote his latest album, "The 20/20 Experience," NBC said.

Justin Timberlake arrives at the 55th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10, 2013. UPI/Jim Ruymen 

License photo

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Justin Timberlake has booked a week of appearances on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in New York to promote his latest album, "The 20/20 Experience," NBC said.
The pop star will perform and sit down for chats with Fallon each night from March 11-15.
This will mark the first time any featured artist has appeared on every show during a single week, NBC said.
Timberlake's album is set for release March 19 on RCA Records.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2013/02/23/Justin-Timberlake-to-appear-on-Fallon-March-11-15/UPI-50131361609160/#ixzz2Lj2PpRZ1

Nelson Mandela feature acquired by Weinstein Co.

'Long Walk to Freedom' stars Idris Elba

Elba

The Weinstein Co. is already stocking up for awards season 2014, acquiring domestic distrib rights to the Nelson Mandela biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" starring Idris Elba.

"I am extremely passionate about 'Long Walk to Freedom,' " said TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. "Anant Singh first gave the book to me when the first edition came out. We have been talking about making this film since 1999. There have been a number of stop and goes, but sometimes things work out for a reason, and Anant Singh has done a masterful job in producing this epic story of our times."

Producer Anant Singh has tried to get the film off the ground for more than two decades, communicating with Mandela from prison and acquiring his biography in 1996. "Skyfall" thesp Naomie Harris also stars as Mandela's former wife Winnie, with Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl") directing.

"Les Miserables" scribe William Nicholson penned the script, which covers Mandela's life from childhood in a rural village to becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

Several producers originally chased the book rights, but the longstanding relationship between Mandela and Singh paid off.

"Singh is a producer I respect very much," Mandela said. "Given the resources and backing, he will produce a work of the highest standards and excellence, and it is for that reason, I opted for him."

No release date has been set, but the film is in post-production, making a 2013 release likely. It would join TWC fall kudos-season hopefuls "The Butler," starring Forest Whitaker, and "August: Osage County," starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

The deal was negotiated in London by David Glasser and Michal Steinberg for The Weinstein Company and Anant Singh and Alan Grodin of Weintraub Tobin for Distant Horizon.

Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com

Alec Baldwin being investigated for possible hate crime

 

 

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  Feb. 4, 2012: Host Alec Baldwin and girlfriend Hilaria Thomas arrive for the Inaugural National Football League Honors at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, Indiana.Reuters
  

NEW YORK –  Alec Baldwin’s latest squabble with the media may have him in some serious hot water.
An NYPD rep told FOX 411 the 54-year-old actor is being investigated following an altercation he allegedly got into with a New York Post photographer.
“Our hate crimes task force is reviewing the case,” the rep said.
The Post reported the incident on Monday, in an article that detailed their staff’s side of the story.
The story claims reporter Tara Palmeri and photographer G.N. Miller approached Baldwin outside of his East Village residence in an attempt to get a comment from the actor about reports his pregnant wife, Hilaria Thomas, is being sued.

The duo said they encountered an angry Baldwin who told Palmeri “I want you to choke to death” and fired a racial slur at Miller, who is African American.
Miller, who is a retired NYPD detective, told police the actor called him a “coon,” a “drug dealer” and a “crackhead,” according to The Post.


According to The New York Post, Palmeri gave police an audio recording of the heated moment with Baldwin.
Baldwin and his spokesman denied the allegations to a reporter with NBC's TODAY show.
"This is completely false," Baldwin's spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said of the alleged racial slur.
"The claim of racist remarks is one of the most outrageous things I’ve heard in my life," Baldwin said.
Balwin's former "30 Rock" co-star Tracy Morgan is calling for the actor to apologize if he used the derogatory term.
“If he calls somebody a coon he should apologize,” Morgan said in a radio interview with KISS 95.1.

“There’s no excuse for that. You’re in your 50s,” he added, but he noted he was not certain Baldwin used the slur. "He should apologize IF he did it.”
The division of the NYPD investigating Baldwin focuses on bias-related crimes. An act is considered a hate crime when the victim is targeted because of his or her race, religion, age, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, the New York's hate crime law notes.
The "30 Rock" actor initially posted a series of tweets about the incident but has since deleted them. He has, however, left up links he posted to various articles by the website Gothamist, in which he denies uttering the racial slur.

"If you want to put words in my mouth...I've certainly had my moments,” the actor told the website. “But this is not one of them. I don't think I've ever uttered a racial epithet to someone in my lifetime."
Baldwin most recently starred as Jack Donaghy on the series "30 Rock."  After seven seasons, the show aired its final episode on Jan. 31, 2013. The actor currently hosts two radio shows for the public radio station WNYC, "Here's The Thing" and "New York Philharmonic This Week."

Turkey Man Addicted to Drinking Blood

In an unusual diagnosis, doctors have described a 23-year-old man in Turkey as suffering from "vampirism" after he was caught several times trying to stab people and drink their blood, according to a report.
The man became addicted to drinking human blood after he started slicing his

own arms, chest and stomach with razor blades, and gathering the blood in a cup so he could drink it, doctors say. He soon became addicted and started turning to other sources to feed his habit which he described as being "as urgent as breathing", the 'Daily Mail' reported.
He apparently even got his father to get him bags of the bodily fluid from blood banks, according to the report published in the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
The man, whose name was not revealed, was arrested several times after stabbing and biting others to collect and drink their blood.
He also developed multiple personalities and suffered from amnesia.
"Possibly due to 'switching' to another personality state, he was losing track during the 'bloody' events, did not care who the victim was anymore and remained amnesic to this part of his act," the report said.
"Medical professionals believed his behaviour was a reaction to horrific events in his life, such as witnessing a killing where one of his friends cut off the victim's head and penis," the researchers said.
He had also been traumatised by the death of his four-month-old daughter, and by the murder of his uncle.
Doctors, led by Direnc Sakarya, of Denizli Military Hospital in southwestern Turkey, diagnosed the man with dissociative identity disorder (DID), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and chronic depression and alcohol abuse.
To their knowledge, the man is the first patient with 'vampirism' and DID.
Researchers note that DID is often linked to childhood abuse and neglect. The blood addict's mother was described as having attacked him in 'freak out' episodes during his teenage years, but the man said he had no memory of his childhood between the ages of five and 11.
The man felt tortured by an 'imaginary companion' who forced him to carry out violent acts and attempt suicide.
In a follow-up six weeks after he was treated, the doctors said the man's blood-drinking habits were in remission, but his dissociative symptoms persisted.
The man did not experience any negative physical effects from his gruesome habit, but the human body is not well adapted for digesting blood.
While small quantities may be harmless, anyone who consumes blood often runs a risk of haemochromatosis --an iron overdose - or contracting blood-borne diseases such as HIV if blood is sourced from other people.

Dr. Dre's Beats Sues Headphones Rival

A new Yamaha advertisement quips, "Dr. Who?"

Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Here are some of the celebrities who have come out with branded headphones in recent years: Dr. Dre, Lady Gaga, Ludacris, Quincy Jones, Snooki, Pauly D, Miles Davis...

And here's one company that has eschewed -- and even made fun of -- the celebrity endorsement approach to headphones: Yamaha.
It probably was only a matter of time that one of the trendiest pieces of consumer tech would instigate litigation. If headphones are the new smartphones, perhaps it might be said that Dr. Dre's Beats Electronics is to Apple Computers as Yamaha is to Samsung. Now in a new lawsuit filed in California federal court, Beats says that it has revolutionized the use of headphones as a fashion accessory, and is alleging that Yamaha is trading off the goodwill of its products.
Beats Electronics' lawsuit alleges violations of patents and trade dress from Yamaha's Pro 300, Pro 400 and Pro 500 lines of headphones. (Here's the complaint.)
The plaintiff seeks to protect rights on several of its products -- including its Studio, Solo and Wireless Headphones -- and that its proprietary trade dress extends to "the overall appearance of the shape and design of the headphone, including the size, proportion and curvature of the headband, yoke and earcups."
Beats says that Yamaha has "brought to market a new line of headphones that copied the distinctive aspects of the Beats' Headphones that comprise Beats' Trade Dress Rights."
A side-by-side illustration of the similarities is given.

In addition, Beats shows off an advertisement that Yamaha was using to promote its new line. The ad is given as evidence that its rival intended to copy its distinctive design and trade off the goodwill of Beats'.
Unfair competition or fair celebrity parody? Here's the advertisement:

World's 'ugliest woman' buried in Mexico 150 years after her death

The "ugliest woman in the world" was buried in her native northern Mexico on Tuesday, more than 150 years after her death and a tragic life spent exhibited as a freak of nature at circuses around the world. Born in Mexico in 1834, Julia Pastrana suffered from hypertrichosis and gingival



 hyperplasia, diseases that gave her copious facial hair and a thick-set jaw. These features led to her being called a "bear woman" or "ape woman".


During the mid-1850s, Pastrana met Theodore Lent, a US impresario who toured the singing and dancing Pastrana at freak shows across the United States and Europe before marrying her.

Photo of Julia Pastrana obtained from a facebook upload.

In 1860, Pastrana died in Moscow after giving birth to Lent's son, who inherited his mother's condition. The son died a few days later, and Lent then toured with the mother and son's embalmed remains. After changing hands over the ensuing decades, both bodies ended up at the University of Oslo in Norway.

"Imagine the aggression and cruelty of humankind she had to face, and how she overcame it. It's a very dignified story," said Mario Lopez, the governor of Sinaloa state who lobbied to have her remains repatriated to her home state for burial.
"When I heard about this Sinaloan woman, I said, there's no way she can be left locked away in a warehouse somewhere," he said.

Crowds flocked to the small town of Sinaloa de Leyva on Tuesday to pay their respects to Pastrana, who was buried in a white coffin garlanded with white roses.

"The mass was beautiful," said New York-based Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata, who has led a nearly decade-long campaign to have Pastrana returned to Mexico for a proper Catholic burial. "I was very moved. In all these years I've never felt so full of different emotions.