December Birthdays

It's the last month of the year. Time to end the year right by saying Happy Birthday!

Stevie Young

-Birth name: Stephen Crawford Young Jr.

-DOB: 12/11/1956

-Where: Glasgow, Scotland

-He is the nephew of AC/DC founding members Angus Young and his brother Malcolm Young

Rick Savage

-Birth name: Richard Savage

-DOB: 12/2/1960

-Where: Sheffield, England

-He suffered from a small bout with Bell's Palsy in January 1994, but has regained the feeling in most of his face

Richard Hammond

-Birth name: Richard Mark Hammond

-DOB: 12/19/1969

-Where: Solihull, England

-He and his wife Mindy own a home just outside of Cheltenham with their two daughters Isabella, aka "Izzy" and Willow and a handful of animals, such as chickens, a rabbit, two cats, four dogs and three horses

Cliff Williams

-DOB: 12/14/1949

-Where: Romford, Essex, England

-His first album with AC/DC was 1978's Powerage

Maggie Smith

-Birth name: Margaret Natalie Smith

-DOB: 12/28/1934

-Where: Essex, England

-Her best known role to this day is the formidable assistant headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall in the famed Harry Potter series

Phil Collen

-Birth name: Phillip Kenneth Collen

-DOB: 12/8/1957

-Where: London, England

-He realized he had a problem with alcohol when he started blacking out and not remembering things

Denzel Washington

-Birth name: Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.

-DOB: 12/28/1954

-Where: Mount Vernon, New York

-He would become known for playing real life historical figures, such as Steven Biko, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Coach Herman Boone, Malcolm X, Frank Lucas, Melvin B. Tolson

Lemmy Kilmister

-Birth name: Ian Fraser Kilmister

-DOB: 12/24/1945

-Where: Stoke-On-Trent, England

-DOD: 12/28/2015

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix when he was younger

Dave Murray

-Birth name: David Michael Murray

-DOB: 12/23/1956

-Where: Edmonton, London, England

-As a child, he moved around with his mother and two sisters to avoid their father's angry moods

Lucy Liu

-Birth name: Lucy Alexis Liu

-DOB: 12/2/1968

-Where: New York City, New York

-She speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese fluently

Keith Richards

-DOB: 12/18/1943

-Where: Dartford, Kent, England

-Met Mick Jagger as a teenager while on his way home from art school

November Birthdays

Since it's November, time to say Happy Birthday

Billy Idol

-Birth name: William Michael Albert Broad

-DOB: 11/30/1955

-Where: Stanmore, United Kingdom

-He was on Casablanca Records, the same label as Kiss, but left that management due to issues with management

Tommy Thayer

-Birth name: Thomas Cunningham Thayer

-DOB: 11/7/1960

-Where: Portland, Oregon

-Was previously in the band Black 'N' Blue

Rick Allen

-Birth name: Richard John Cyril Allen

-DOB: 11/1/1963

-Where: Sheffield, England

-He came up with the idea of playing drums with one arm after recovering in the hospital from his injury

Roger Glover

-DOB: 11/30/1945

-Where: Brecon, United Kingdom

-When he first joined Deep Purple, he was often the hapless victim of pranks by the band's guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore

DJ Ashba

-Birth name: Daren Jay Ashba

-DOB: 11/10/1972

-Where: Monticello, Indiana

-Played guitar for Guns 'N' Roses before joining the band Sixx A.M.

Frankie Banali

-DOB: 11/14/1951

-Where: Queens, New York

-DOD: 8/20/2020

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He was the last member of the original lineup who retained the rights to the band name

Rudy Sarzo

-Birth name: Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavielle Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont

-DOB: 11/18/1950

-Where: Havana, Cuba

-He played bass with four of the biggest names in hard rock and metal: Whitesnake, Dio, Angel, Quiet Riot

Steven Van Zandt

-Birth name: Steven Lento

-DOB: 11/22/1950

-Where: Winthrop, Massachusetts

-His famous head scarves, that he is always wearing, come from the fact that when he was a teenager, he was in a car crash and his head went through the windshield. He got a massive scar going down the center of his scalp and since then, the hair doesn't grow in right. He covered his head in scarves because of the scar on his head

Richie Faulkner Opting Out of Playing Alongside Judas Priest at Rock Induction Concert

Richie Faulkner, the guitarist who took over for KK Downing in Judas Priest, is kindly offering to step aside as the Metal Gods play a concert in honor of their induction into the Rock Hall of Fame

In an interview with Metal Rules, Faulkner stated "From my point of view, I offered to opt out. I didn't need to be there. The guys wanted me there as part of the band. I'm part of the band in 2022. They wanted me there, even though I wasn't inducted. So that was really nice of them, and from my point of view, I was just happy to be there supporting them and being a part of the band in 2022. So it was a great night."

Faulkner describes himself as "a huge Judas Priest fan". So "to be part of a three guitar attack team, which Priest has never done before, as far as I'm aware...it was an experience. If it was a one time experience or whether it was something for the future, who knows? But even if it was a one time experience, it was just something to relish and just to remember forever, really. It was fantastic."

In a separate interview, front man Rob Halford praised Faulkner's ability to move forward, despite health issues plaguing him. "He's a miracle man." Halford stated, before continuing that Faulkner "needed to be there because originally he said 'I don't think I should be on stage.' I said 'Richie, you have to be on stage. It's important. I can't properly express the words - it's a feeling for me. I feel you need to be on stage with us' and so did everybody else. Everybody felt that way." He continued, by saying "it was important that he was on stage and showing people the wonders of survivability and the great things that the medical profession and healing and health world can do, and [with] the Lord's divine intervention, all of these things kept Richie with us. I said 'Richie, you need to be on that stage, especially if I do some hair whipping with K.K.' They do their hair whip!"

The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck

Recently released, this book is very good. I just finished this book last night before I went to bed.

Summary

-Five complete strangers- Coral Winthrop, John Wilder, Lexa Wilder, Ed Marshall and Charles "Chuck" Mays- all receive an invitation to the mysterious Fifth Avenue Story Society, which meets every Monday night in the Bower conference room. No one knows who sent out the invitations, but curiosity brings them together. They keep returning every Monday night and as time goes on, the five people start to develop feelings and trust in each other. They all are as different as can be imagined. They all come from different backgrounds, walks of life, each with their own problems. But, together in this society, they feel they can unwind and release their emotions and speak their minds freely.

-There's Coral Winthrop, the CEO of CCW Cosmetics, who's wondering why her company is failing and realizes there is someone embezzling money. Charles "Chuck" Mays is a divorcee with two kids trying to get custody of them. John Wilder is an assistant professor of English at NYU still reeling from the death of his brother and the revelation that one of his literary idols, Gordon Phipps Roth, is a fraud, that he claimed credit for stories written by a woman named Birdie Ainsworth. Lexa Wilder is an assistant at an up-and-coming fast food joint whose CEO, Zane Breas, is determined to keep her underemployed and his assistant forever. Finally, there's Ed Marshall, a 78 year old widower who works as the superintendent for the co-op he lives in. He's trying to write the greatest love story ever told- the story of his wife Esmerelda, aka Esmie and him, while trying to accept the fact that, in the end, Esmie had changed and thus, fallen out of love with him

TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo

This book, along with Sari, Not Sari, came out at the local library during Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It took a little longer to get this book because there were so many holds on it to read it.

Summary

-Tejinder Powar, aka "TJ" is on her Vancouver, British Columbia's high school debate team. So is her cousin Simran Sahiba. One day, a horribly mean meme showing a hair Simran, with heavy body hair and unibrow, makes it way around, causing nothing but pain for Simran. TJ is also part of the meme, but listed as the pretty counterpart to her cousin. One night, after a romantic encounter with her boyfriend goes horribly wrong, TJ decides to try something. She is going to forego her waxing and shaving and see if people still care about her, even though she has the same heavy body hair issue as her cousin. And despite the fact that her classmates are unused to seeing her like that, a fellow debate team member can't seem to stay away from her. He's almost attracted to her naturally beautiful, but hairy body.

Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh

This book, along with TJ Powar Has Something to Prove, had come out during Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at the local library. I like it because it's interesting to read about the Indian culture in this book. It's really funny in some parts because of the characters in the book being open about their culture and speaking their mind. I laughed out loud a few times. Not only that, I work for a doctor's office where the majority of the doctors employed there are of this particularly interesting culture. I often hear them talking about holidays like Diwali, which is a big tradition in Indian culture. It celebrates Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of light and prosperity

Summary

-Manny Dogma is a CEO of a company called Breakup Inc. She helps couples manage breakups. She helps couples get the courage to go back out and try dating again or help manage the backlash of dating. She gives dating advice and helps make sure that there's no bad results of a breakup. One day, an assistant of hers tells her that there is a particularly annoying client in her office, waiting. This client, Sammy Patel, has been coming in, non stop, to ask for a favor. That favor being he needs a date for a cousin's wedding. And his idea of that "date" is Manny. Meanwhile, Manny is dealing with the backlash of a magazine showing her several shades fairer than her normal beautiful brown skin. Her assistant suggests going with Sammy to his cousin's wedding to ger her mind off the magazine. He also makes her a deal-if she goes with him to his cousin's wedding, he will teach her all about Indian culture, her heritage. He will teach her to properly wear a sari. He will teach her to dance Bollywood style. She finally relents and goes with him to the wedding and eventually, falls for Sammy.

Rock musicians react to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II

It's a shocking bit of news, but Queen Elizabeth II has passed. It seems her death has even shocked the world of music.

A lot of musicians had expressed their deepest condolences to the Royal Family for the loss of their Queen.

On Twitter, Black Sabbath bassist/songwriter Terence "Geezer" Butler wrote "I remember the street celebrations when she was crowned Queen. Always a staple of growing up in England. GSTQ - RIP."

Butler's former bandmate, Ozzy Osbourne, also wrote on Twitter. "I mourn with my country the passing of our greatest Queen. With a heavy heart, I say it is devastating the thought of England without any Queen Elizabeth II."

The Rolling Stones made sure to show their respect and sympathies to the Royal Family. They called the Queen "a constant presence in their lives as in countless others." Jagger stated "For my whole life Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has always been there. In my childhood, I can recall watching her wedding highlights on TV. I remember her as a beautiful young lady, to the much loved grandmother of the nation. My deepest sympathies are with the royal family."

Elton John took a similar route to The Rolling Stones. John stated "Along with the rest of the nation, I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's passing. She was an inspiring presence to be around and led the country through some of our greatest, and darkest, moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth. Queen Elizabeth has been a huge part of my life from childhood to this day, and I will miss her dearly."

Def Leppard commented on their Twitter feed. They wrote: "Dignity. If there's ever one word to describe this wonderful lady & monarch it's dignity. We will never see the likes of this again."

Even American musicians were mourning the loss of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Sebastian Bach wrote on his Twitter feed "Cant help but think of Dads painting on this day. Hope the painting is still in good condition. RIP #QueenElizabeth a leader who brought the whole world together

October Birthdays

Since it's October, time to say Happy Birthday

KK Downing

-Birth name: Kenneth Keith Downing

-DOB: 10/27/1951

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-Is one of the founding members of Judas Priest

Hugh Jackman

-Birth name: Hugh Michael Jackman

-DOB: 10/12/19668

-Where: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

-He has a degree in communications with major in journalism from the University of Technology Sydney

Sting

-Birth name: Gordon Thomas Matthew Sumner

-DOB: 10/2/1951

-Where: Wallsend, Newcastle, England

-Earned his nickname "Sting" from his habit of wearing a black and yellow striped sweater during his early days in music

Kate Winslet

-Birth name: Kate Elizabeth Winslet

-DOB: 10/5/1975

-Where: Reading, England

-She turned down the roles played by Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love and Jodie Foster in Anna and The King

Brian Johnson

-Birth name: Brian Francis Johnson

-DOB: 10/5/1947

-Where: Dunston, United Kingdom

-He wears his unique hat because from the part of England he's from, everyone wore a hat, so it was a nod of respect to the locals

Chris Slade

-DOB: 10/30/1946

-Where: Pontypridd, United Kingdom

-His first album with AC/DC was The Razor's Edge

Mikkey Dee

-Birth name: Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou

-DOB: 10/31/1963

-Where: Gothenburg, Sweden

-He claims he had blisters on his hands from playing the manic, breakneck style of music Motorhead was known for

"Fast" Eddie Clarke

-Birth name: Edward Allan Clarke

-DOB: 10/5/1950

-Where: Twickenham, United Kingdom

-DOD: 1/10/2018

-Where: London, England

-He formed a band called Fastway with UFO bassist Pete Way after leaving Motorhead

Glenn Tipton

-Birth name: Glenn Raymond Tipton

-DOB: 10/25/1947

-Where: Blackheath, United Kingdom

-The song "No Surrender" from Judas Priest's Firepower album is about Tipton's fight with Parkinson's Disease

Ken Watanabe

-DOB: 10/21/1959

-Where: Uonuma, Japan

-His big break into Hollywood came when he starred in the film The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise

The Addams Family Values (1991)

This is the sequel to the 1991 movie

Summary

-The Addams Family comes to the rescue of Uncle Fester, who has fallen in love with a gold digging black widow named Debbie

Cast

-Raul Julia: Gomez Addams

-Anjelica Huston: Morticia Addams

-Jimmy Workman: Pugsley Addams

-Christina Ricci: Wednesday Addams

-Christopher Lloyd: Uncle Fester Addams

-Joan Cusack: Debbie Jellinsky

-Carol Kane: Granny

-Carel Struycken: Lurch

-David Krumholtz: Joel Glimmer

-Dana Ivey: Margaret Addams

-Peter MacNicol: Gary Granger

-Christine Baranski: Becky Martin-Granger

-Mercedes McNab: Amanda Buckman

Did You Know?

-When Wednesday and Joel meet for the first time at camp, in the background Pugsley can be seen attempting to hang himself

-The swimsuits that Pugsley and Wednesday wear are Victorian-style swimsuits, from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Throughout the film, numerous references to the Victorian era are made and seen in and around the Addams house. The all black clothes, towering mansion-like house and decor are all modeled after Victorian decor

-This was the final film for Raul Julia, who died on Oct. 24, 1994

-The character Pubert Addams was played by two twin girls named Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper

-When Morticia gives birth, her bed is shaped like a coffin

-Gomez is seen throwing weird ingredients together into a bottle for Pubert after the wedding reception. It's a supposed cure for a hangover called a Prairie Oyster. It included vodka, worcestershire sauce and a raw egg. When Gomez gives the bottle to Pubert, he states "hair of the pup", a reference to "hair of the dog that bit you". This phrase translates into drinking a small amount of what got you intoxicated in the first place. The baby is even wearing sunglasses, suggesting a hangover

-When Gomez and Morticia and Wednesday and Joel each say "cara mia" and "mon cher", they are saying the same thing, but in different languages. "Cara Mia" is the feminine form of "my darling" in Italian and in French, "Mon Cher" is the masculine form of "my darling"

-The song being played by Lurch at Fester's wedding is "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof

-In almost every scene Morticia was in, her eyes were illuminated, to highlight her unique look

-The play Gary puts on is not only "puerile and under dramatized" (as Wednesday describes it), but also factually incorrect. The Chippewa tribes are from the Midwest. Pocahontas was a member of the Powhatan tribe, native to Virginia. She nor the Chippewa tribe would have been in attendance at the first Thanksgiving. Not only that, by 1621 (the first Thanksgiving), Pocahontas had been deceased for four years

-When Pugsley, Wednesday and Joel are exchanging cards on serial killers, Joel remarks that he has every card in his Serial Killer Collection "except Jack the Ripper and that Zodiac guy." Jack the Ripper and The Zodiac Killer are two of the world's most famous unsolved cases

-The gun that Debbie points at Fester is a Magnum Research Desert Eagle .50 caliber AE. It's said to be the most powerful handgun in production

-The mask Pubert wears when he's sleeping is similar to the mask worn by Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs

-When Debbie is moving into her mansion, there is a photo of her being taken in. Right down to the green gown, it bears a strange resemblance to a photo of Diana Spencer, aka Princess Diana, taken to commemorate her engagement to Price Charles

-Three of the actors in this film-David Krumholtz, Peter MacNicol and Christopher Lloyd-all appeared on the 2005 TV show Numb3rs, which was about a mathematician using equations to solve crimes with the FBI

-When Debbie tells Fester "no woman in her right mind could ever love you", this is a nod to the woman Fester falls in love with. A woman named Dementia is hired to be the nanny for Cousin Itt's child What. They both explain what their names mean. Dementia means insanity while Fester means to rot. Dementia would love Fester because she isn't in her right mind

-When Debbie mentions her second husband getting hacked to death by an axe and Grandma sighing nostalgically when she sees the slide, is a reference to the Addams Family having ancestors and past friends who were famed serial killers

The Addams Family (1991)

This is one of my sister's favorite movies. She often says that if everyone had a relationship like Gomez and Morticia, no one would ever feel unwanted.

-Two con artists have a plan of getting money out of an eccentric family using a man claiming to be their long lost uncle

Cast

-Raul Julia: Gomez Addams

-Anjelica Huston: Morticia Addams

-Christopher Lloyd: Uncle Fester Addams

-Dan Hedaya: Tully Alford

-Elizabeth Wilson: Abigail Craven

-Carel Struycken: Lurch Addams

-Dana Ivey: Margaret Alford

-Paul Benedict: Judge Womack

-Christina Ricci: Wednesday Addams

-Jimmy Workman: Pugsley Addams

-Christopher Hart: Thing

Did You Know?

-After the premier of the movie, children would see Raul Julia out in public and recognize him as Gomez Addams. This brought a smile to his face. He said this was his favorite role and that, according to his family, this recognition was especially important to him during the final months of his life. It was important to him because he loved making kids happy

-Christina Ricci improvised the sleeping position for Wednesday, which was sleeping with her arms folded across her chest

-Wednesday's name was inspired by the Mother Goose poem that includes the line "Wednesday's child is full of woe."

-In the original TV series from 1964, Uncle Fester Addams was the brother of Morticia's mother. In this film, he is the brother of Gomez

-On the original TV show, the Addams family had a pet lion named Kitty. In the part of the film where Gomez is entering the vault for the first time, a lion's roar can be heard. He is also seen and heard cracking a whip and saying "Down, Kitty!"

-To get Morticia's rigid figure, Anjelica Huston wore a metal corset. She also endured getting gauze eye lifts, fake nails applied and neck tucks

-By the time this movie had gone into production, most of the adult cast from the original TV show had passed, except for John Astin, who played Gomez. He outlived Raul Julia, who played the film version of Gomez and died in 1994. He also outlived Ken Weatherwax, who played Pugsley on the TV show, who died in 2014

-Bruno Kirby, who starred in The Godfather, Pt. II, lent his fat suit to Christopher Lloyd to play Uncle Fester

-During the scene where Fester comes to the Addams house, his suitcase bears stickers from locations known for horrible events and disasters, such as Elba, Jonestown, The Bermuda Triangle, Death Valley, The Black Hole of Calcutta, Three Mile Island, Alcatraz, Pompeii, Devil's Island among others

-The car that the Addams family uses is a 1932 Packard Twin Six

-Olivia Hussey and Cher were considered for the role of Morticia

-When this movie came out, Christina Ricci was only 11 years old

-The book that unlocks the vault is titled "Greed" and authored by J.P. Addams. This is a nod to American banking legend John Pierpoint Morgan, aka JP Morgan, whose bank is still operating to this day, only under the name Chase Bank