April Birthdays

Since it's April, time to say Happy Birthday

Jet Li

-Birth name: Li Lian Jie

-DOB: 4/26/1963

-Where: Beijing, China

-He's known for his incredibly lightning fast martial arts

Ritchie Blackmore

-Birth name: Richard Hugh Blackmore

-DOB: 4/14/1945

-Where: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England

-Even as a teenager, when he played guitar, he felt the need to play incredibly fast

Jeremy Clarkson

-Birth name: Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson

-DOB: 4/11/1960

-Where: Doncaster, United Kingdom

-He's known for his outspoken nature

Eddie Murphy

-Birth name: Edward Regan Murphy

-DOB: 4/3/1951

-Where: Brooklyn, New York

-His mother was a telephone operator and his father was a transit police officer who also did amateur stand up comedy and acting in his spare time

Roddy Piper

-Birth name: Roderick George Toombs

-DOB: 4/17/1954

-Where: Saskatoon, Canada

-DOD: 7/31/2015

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He earned his nickname "The Piper" from his talent at playing the bagpipes

Sebastian Bach

-Birth name: Sebastian Philip Bierk

-DOB: 4/3/1968

-Where: Freeport, The Bahamas

-When growing up in The Bahamas, he was the only Caucasian child in a class of predominantly black children

Federico Castellucio

-DOB: 4/29/1964

-Where: Naples, Campania, Italy

-Because of his role as Furio on The Sopranos, with his very convincing Italian accent, people thought he was an actual Italian actor who spoke broken English when he in fact he was born in Naples, Italy, but grew up in Paterson, New Jersey

Michael Imperioli clarifies the "Goodfellas" scene

Michael Imperioli was in the 1990 film Goodfellas. He played the young kid Spider, who gets shot by Joe Pesci twice. Once for not moving fast enough, which results in getting shot in the foot. The other time he's fatally shot for mouthing off to Tommy DeVito, a psychopathic mobster played by Joe Pesci. Michael explains in greater detail about those scenes.

During an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace, Michael Imperioli goes into detail about the scene in Goodfellas that sent him to the hospital and had doctors thinking he'd really been shot. At 23, this was Imperioli's big break into Hollywood. "Working with Scorsese was a dream come true. It's like going from college to play on the Yankees in the World Series or something." Working with actors like Joe Pesci or Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta was more than "thrilling" for Michael. "For some strange reason, I really like when the stakes are high. I like being under a lot of pressure, in terms of work." He gives credit to Scorsese with being comfortable on set. "Marty made me feel so comfortable. From the moment I met him, the moment I got there, he made me feel like I belong there. And I was an actor. And the very first job I had in film, the director did not make feel that way."

He says Scorsese "was very, very kind, and I think knew that - how important it was to me. Because I had been trying, I had been studying and trying to get work for, at that point, six years, you know? Most of what you see is all improvised, which is even more a testament to how trusting he is of actors, especially young actors. Working with legends here, you know, allowing them to just be free to say what they want and respond how they want to respond is pretty, pretty amazing." He also recalls a moment when he was injured while filming the iconic scene where he is shot and killed by Joe Pesci.

"I'm supposed to go flying back into the bar and hit the ground with three bullet holes. They have a stunt double. I said 'No, I want to do my own stunt.'" When he hit the bar, the glass he held in his hand broke, slicing open two of his fingers. "I look up and see Robert De Niro looking down at me. The injury was pretty bad." An assistant drove Imperioli to the hospital, where, seeing the fake blood and bullet holes, thought he had been shot pretty severely. He said "Three bullet holes in my chest and it's Queens, New York. They think I'm about to die. They think I'm delirious, talking about Robert De Niro." when he tried to explain he was filming a movie with Robert De Niro. "So, they put me on a stretcher, wheel me into trauma, and I'm telling them what's happening. They won't listen to me. Finally, they start going into my shirt and see all the squibbing, the wires. I said, 'Told you. I'm doing a movie. I cut my fingers.'"

Two hours later, the staff stitched up his fingers and sent him back to the set, where they filmed more scenes of his death. Imperioli focused on work and didn't "engage in a lot of chitchat" with the other actors on set. "The last thing I wanted to do was talk to them about acting, because, I knew that's not what they wanted to hear." He did make a suggestion that, as he put it, "really took a lot of b---s. I just kind of trusted my instincts, because of Marty because he made me feel that way." He asked the person in charge of props to allow him to reset the poker table where the wiseguys are gambling. His character, Spider, was their "errand boy". He got them drinks, cleaned ashtrays and more. It was Imperioli's idea to move the bottles so that he could face the wiseguys when he made their drinks instead of facing away, so he could see who needed a refill. Making a suggestion like that is "something an actor really would never do. Because first of all, it's a union job. And you don't mess with union workers, right? Or you really might get shot." He said. Also, "the props were very specific. They have these continuity issues, depending on how long they're moving the camera around, and everything's got to be the same."

Scorsese liked the idea and moved the bottles. "When I think about it now, I'm like 'I would probably never even think of doing that now because I just assume that the prop guy is going to do it right. I don't need to do that.' But there was something instinctual. And Marty made you feel like he wanted you to really live this."

How Producers of The Sopranos Found Federico Castellucio to be perfect for the role of Furio

The Sopranos is an HBO program about a fictitious mob family in New Jersey. Producers had come up with a character named Furio Giunta, an Italian brought over to do work for the family. Producers found Federico Castellucio to be perfect for this role.

In Season 2, the crew heads to Italy and there's a sudden wave of new sights and sounds. When the crew arrives in Naples in the episode "Commendatori", Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli singing in the background, Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) start commenting on the interesting area

Christopher tells Paulie and Tony (James Gandolfini)"You know what I noticed on the plane? Even the skanks ain't worth f---ing." Inside the hotel, Tony meets their Italian point of contact Furio Giunta, played by Federico Castellucio. Later that night, at dinner, Tony notes Furio's ability to manage things well. It's also noticed that Furio can handle potential threats. When talking a deal in Naples, Tony includes Furio in on things as one of the terms of his negotiation. That episode introduced a new character for the next few seasons of The Sopranos. Writer-producer Terry Winter stated that Castellucio would be perfect as Furio right from the beginning

During a visit to the July 27 episode of the podcast Talking Sopranos, Terry Winter talked about the auditions for the character of Furio Giunta. The character required an actor who not only spoke fluent Italian, but could also handle himself and would serve as the love interest for Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco). During his interview on the podcast, Winter recalled "We went through so many guys. And everybody sounded like Mr. Bacciagalupe from Abbott & Costello. It was horrible." When Castellucio walked in, it was like fate. He was perfect from the beginning

Winter continued. "I said this to Federico and it's the God's honest truth: He is exactly what I thought about when I wrote the character." He wasn't ready to commit to anything until he saw Castellucio in action. "I worked on The Great Defender and we had an actor who had to throw a punch in a scene. We didn't think to ask the guy to let us see him throw a punch. On the day [of the fight scene], it was clear he never threw a punch before." Winter had Castellucio throw a punch. Despite seeing some actors' worst fighting skills, Castellucio impressed all who seen his work. Winter said "Holy s---. This is the guy." Since TV shows don't shoot in sequence, Winter refers to an episode titled "Big Girls Don't Cry", where Furio goes through a New Jersey brothel. This was shot prior to going to Italy for the "Commendatori" episode. It was clear Federico Castellucio got the role of Furio even before the crew went to Italy

Replay by Amy Daws

 This is a recent book written by American author Amy Daws, known for her London Lovers series and her other successful series The Harris Brothers. This book focuses on the Bethnal Green FC team lawyer and all around janitor of all things media blitzed and legal, Santino Rossi

Santino Rossi is a British-Italian lawyer for Bethnal Green FC. Managed by former legendary Manchester United player Vaughn Harris, this whole team is his life. Santino Rossi is known by the Bethnal Green team as the "two month chump", because of his inability to maintain a relationship for longer than two months. There is one woman he wants, but they parted on bad terms. They both have demons from their past the other doesn't know about.

Tilly Logan is the younger sister of Bethnal Green player Maclay "Mac" Logan, a hot-tempered, red-headed Scottish spitfire who requested a short term transfer to the Glasgow Rangers when his father was sick as a dying request. Now that he's back in London on Bethnal Green and expecting his first child with his wife Freya, Tilly offered to move in to help with the baby. She didn't think she would run into Santino as often as she does.

Once they start to get to know one another, everything comes out, including the dark secrets they kept from each other. Santino tells her that he is the product of a rape his mother experienced in Italy before moving to the UK. Her family moved to the UK to try and get her a fresh start. His mother told him and pushed him to be successful so he could be better than the man who helped conceive him. Tilly tells him that when she first moved to London because of her brother, she and her work friends had gone out drinking and one friend had given her a pill that knocked her out. When she came to, she was in a strange place with a strange man on top of her, raping her. She then became pregnant with this stranger's baby. She also battled with alcoholism as well. As they begin getting to know each other again, they start falling back in love and before long, they're engaged. Of course, Santino tells his story to Mac and he now understands his sister's boyfriend and also respects him more

Elsewhere, Vaughn Harris hands Santino a contract for a new player Bethnal Green is trying to obtain, an American player named Zander Williams. This player had asked to negotiate housing into his contract. While working late one night working on the contract, Santino receives a call from Jane Williams, Zander's mother. She gives him the truth about Zander-he is, in fact, Vaughn Harris' own son. She had a drunken fling with him after his first wife, Vilma died. She became pregnant and moved to the US, not telling Vaughn about the baby. She tells Santino that they had both gotten drunk one night and it, more or less, just happened. They had a fling. Ever since he received the news, Santino debates on whether or not to tell Vaughn that the player he is so bent on trying to obtain is his own son. Not believing one word, he goes to the apartment (flat in British English) that Zander is living at to have him sign the contract and become an official green and white-wearing Bethnal Green player. The mention of who this player's father is still runs in his head as he waits for the door to open. When it does, he sees the young man and reality hits Santino like a ton of bricks-this young man looks extremely and dangerously close to former Manchester United player Gareth Harris and also...Vaughn Harris.

March Birthdays

Since it's March, it's time to say Happy Birthday

Michael Imperioli

-DOB: 3/26/1966

-Where: Mount Vernon, New York

-Other than playing Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, he played Det. Nick Falco on Law & Order

Steve Harris

-Birth name: Stephen Percy Harris

-DOB: 3/12/1956

-Where: Leytonstone, London, England

-He is the bassist/founding member of Iron Maiden

Dee Snider

-Birth name: Daniel Snider

-DOB: 3/15/1955

-Where: Massapequa, Long Island, New York

-Met his wife Suzette in 1981

Eric Idle

-DOB: 3/29/1943

-Where: South Shields, England

-Is an accomplished guitarist

Gary Oldman

-Birth name: Gary Leonard Oldman

-DOB: 3/21/1958

-Where: London, England

-Known for playing psychopathic characters

Angus Young

-Birth name: Angus McKinnon Young

-DOB: 3/31/1955

-Where: Glasgow, Scotland

-Known for his school boy uniform

Rocco: A Mafia Romance (Ruin & Revenge series Book 3) by Sarah Castille

This is the last and final installment of the Ruin & Revenge series by Sarah Castille

Summary
-Rocco DeLucchi is the best in his business when it comes to being a Mafia enforcer. He's cold, hard, takes no prisoners. He's also efficient and clean in his job, leaving nothing behind, which all the more impresses his bosses. One night, he encounters, by accident, the one woman who managed to see past the hard muscle and heavy tattoos in to his heart, to see the one woman who sees him for what he really is-a kind hearted, quick to protect man

-Grace Mantini has spent her life surrounded by the mob. Her father is the don's right-hand man and any time she can get away from things like hits on people and general mob life, she'll do it. One day, Rocco comes back into her life and at first she is annoyed because he betrayed her and broke her heart. She distinctly remembers him as being the man that ferried her and her brother to school, as a driver for their father. But as time goes on, they start to fall for each other once more.

Nico: A Mafia Romance (Ruin & Revenge Series Book 1) by Sarah Castille

This is the first in a series called Ruin & Revenge.

Summary
-Nico Toscani is one of the top crime bosses in Las Vegas. He's the boss or Don in Mafia talk, of the Toscani crime family. The only other rival to him is the Cordano family. But he meets a woman named Mia Cordano, who was brought to his office because one of his security guards caught her trying to break in. He is about to realize he may have just met his match

-Mia Cordano is not your average, typical woman. The daughter of a Mafia boss, she is dying to get out from under that Mafia world. Her father is trying, very stubbornly, to transform her into a typical Mafia princess-obsessed with fashion and appearance and good for only keeping house and raising kids while her mobster husband hits the town with mistresses. She runs a successful IT firm in Vegas and over time, she succumbs to Nico's powerful charm, all the while both the Toscani and Cordano families are battling over control of the city.

People I Would Find Interesting to Read About

It seems like every time you turn your head, some famous person is coming out with a memoir or autobiography. Just recently, Def Leppard's lead guitarist Phil Collen released an autobiography called Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard and Beyond. BTW, it's good especially if you're a Def Leppard fan and/or a fan of Phil Collen ;)

Here are some people that I would love to read about

Geezer Butler

-I'd love to read about Geezer because out of all the books I've ever read about Black Sabbath or any of it's members, they all say that the lyrics come from Geezer. He has to be a pretty intelligent guy coming up with lyrics that deep, about stuff you'd never imagine hearing in songs. After reading that book I Am Ozzy about Ozzy Osbourne, he describes Geezer as an intellectual guy. When he's not writing lyrics, he's buried nose deep in a book about poetry or ancient Greek warfare, how he's a vegan and that came in handy during the early days of Sabbath, etc. Or how Geezer was actually training to be an accountant and how he worked in the accounting department of a factory in Aston. I'd love to read about him because he just seems like a very interesting person. Not to mention, he just looks like an overall sweet guy, like he'd be the most down to earth person you'd ever meet.

 

Nikki Sixx

-After reading that book The Dirt, which is essentially Motley Crue's own biography, reading the parts about Nikki Sixx interested me. He moved a lot when he was a kid. He was considered a quiet and polite young man who was into bands like Blue Cheer, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, etc. He had dreams of becoming a musician. But he also had a wild streak. He slit his wrists and accused his mother of attacking him. Or when he moved to somewhere out west, kids made fun of him, calling him things like poor white California trash. That had to be brutal. Not to mention, one of Crue's more famous songs, "Kickstart My Heart" was inspired by Nikki's heroin overdose and the adrenaline shot injected into his heart along with the fact that after he was checked into the hospital for it, he got up and walked out. Nowadays, he fronts a band called Sixx A.M., which consists of him on guitars, DJ Ashba on bass and James Michael on vocals, each person's name making up the name of the band. Something else that I never really knew is that Nikki Sixx's real name is Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana. He was named after his father, Frank Ferrana. So essentially, Nikki Sixx is Italian. Hmmm, no wonder he's so good looking, lol!!!

 

 

Rob Halford

-I've been a Priest fan since early college. After seeing the video for "Turbo Lover" on VH1 Classic, I've been forever hooked, lol. I'd love to read about what it was like when he was younger, what got him into music, how he got into Priest and other cool stuff. Or what it was like when he finally came out of the closet in the late 1990s. I'm sure a lot of Judas Priest fans realized he was gay way before he ever came out. It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out something's up when he was never seen or photographed with women, wearing black leather studded clothing and bondage gear, carrying either a whip or riding crop on stage with him or wearing handcuffs on his hips, lol. But, all in all, he's still a phenomenal singer. From the way I hear it, Rob is an incredibly kind person, the kindest, most down to earth person you could ever meet. The sweetest guy alive. I'm sure all the guys in Priest are like that. I would love, more than life itself, to meet Judas Priest. I'd make sure to have my sister with me. The looks on her face would be priceless!!! I know I laugh a lot when my sister says he's so cute even though he's gay! I agree with her. Despite being gay, he's still an incredibly handsome man. And I personally think that my sister finds him cute with the additional tattoos, lol!!

Glenn Tipton

-He's cute. Blonde haired and English. Kind of a weakness for me, lol. What else can I say, lol? Besides, he's handsome for his age. My sister, on the other hand, thinks he's really cute in leather, lol. Not to mention he's an amazing guitarist. From the way I read it in this book about Judas Priest called Judas Priest: Heavy Metal Painkillers, it sounds like Glenn writes a majority of the lyrics. How awesome is this? I never knew he's the one who usually wrote the lyrics. Or it might be someone else who occasionally writes. I guess it's all a matter of working together on the lyrics of songs.

 

 

 

Bruce Dickinson

-I know a lot of people might be confused by this, as I only started listening to Maiden very recently, I see all sorts of cool stuff about Bruce on the internet, about how he visits sick kids in the hospital, does all sorts of nice things, how he battled cancer, how he is a fully licensed commercial pilot and flies the Maiden jet Ed Force One with the band on board to their gigs. I would very much like to read about him. He seems interesting. Not to mention I'm completely amazed by how good Maiden is. To be 100% honest, I always thought Iron Maiden was what I call a "screamo metal band", you know, the metal bands with the singer who is usually screaming so loud or their voice is so distorted you don't know what they're saying? After hearing "Flight of Icarus", that soon changed, thank God!!! I can safely say that I've never had a bad word or insult against these guys. I simply didn't know where to start because, like all musicians, they have a severely long song catalogue.

-But, also, I recently found out he will be coming out with an OFFICIAL autobiography in 2018, at least the paperback edition, in 2018. E-book versions of it will come out in 2017. Just needed to toss that out!!!!!!!!!

 

Sylvester Stallone

-I'd love to read about him because he's one of my favorite actors. I'd love to know what it was like growing up for him. If he was ever bullied for the way he talks out of one side of his mouth. I can't imagine he wasn't; kids can be cruel sometimes. Or read about how he got into acting, or what some of the movies he's done over the years were like. I know I either read or heard somewhere that his first acting role was in a soft core porn movie called The Party at Kitty and Stud's, where he played a male gigolo. That had to be severely awkward for him, appearing fully naked and being sex crazed, which unfortunately only adds to that Italian stereotype of Italians being hot blooded. Plus, even if he looks rough in the eyes of most, to me he's still handsome. Those rough looks come from a life of hard action films, lol

Joe Elliott

-I'm a pretty big Def Leppard fan. Have been since college, which is ironically the place where I started listening to a lot of the music I now listen to. After watching Joe Elliott on this VH1 Classic series called Rock Icons, it amazes me that Joe Elliott proudly admits he's obsessed with music. He can't get enough of it. He also said he loves the fact that he can go out and not be recognized all the time, that the sense of anonymity makes him happy. I love watching that episode; you find out all sorts of cool things about him. Like when he was younger, around 8 years old or so, he wrote a song about a girl leaving a boy and he jokingly said "I was 8 years old. I didn't know anything about a girl leaving me". He can also play the guitar. Which I never knew. He can also play the piano. There's evidence of his excellent piano playing in the video for "Miss You in a Heartbeat" by Def Leppard. Hmm, very handsome, lol. He also fronts a side project called the Down N' Outz, which does covers of old Mott the Hoople songs, for which he is a giant fan.

I have definitely got to read this!

Phil Collen, best known as the lead guitarist of legendary British hard rock band Def Leppard, has a memoir set to come out in October

Working together with journalist Chris Epting, Phil Collen will release a memoir titled Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard and Beyond. It will release on October 27 of this year and is the first book written by a member of Def Leppard

Phil says "It's fascinating for even me to look back at my life from working in a factory at 16 years old to eventually travelling the world selling over one hundred million records and all the experiences that come with that journey. I realise that there is a constant evolution of 'me' that is still a work in progress even as I continue to be vital and dynamic in my same occupation for the past 35 years well into my late 50s."

Like most bios, it will feature personal, very rare photos of Phil Collen growing up, his fellow Def Lep band mates both on and off stage

Avenging Angelo

Avenging Angelo

Summary
-After a woman discovers that she is the daughter of a Mafia boss, she seeks revenge on those who killed him with the help of one of his bodyguards, with whom she falls in love

Cast
-Sylvester Stallone: Frankie Delano
-Madeline Stowe: Jennifer Barrett Allieghieri
-Anthony Quinn: Angelo Allighieri
-Raoul Bova: Marcello/Gianni Carboni
-Billy Gardell: Bruno

Did You Know?

The Specialist

The Specialist

Summary
-Ray Quick is an explosives expert who previously worked with the CIA. His former partner is a guy named Ned Trent, who is seriously disturbed. After having a falling out, Ray becomes a freelancer living off the grid. One day, a mysterious woman named May Munro contacts him and wants revenge on the three men who killed her family years ago. He soon finds out Ned is working with the Leon crime family, the people responsible for the death of May's family

Cast
-Sylvester Stallone: Ray Quick
-Sharon Stone: May Munro
-James Woods: Ned Trent
-Rod Steiger: Joe Leon
-Eric Roberts: Tomas Leon

Did You Know?
-Sharon Stone was 36 when this movie went into production, despite her character only being in her twenties

Quotes

Lock Up

Lock Up

Summary
-In prison for a small crime, Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison sentence. Just before his parole, Warden Drumgoole has other plans. He was assigned to a prison with worse conditions after being publicly humiliated by Leone and decides to take revenge by making Leone's life a living hell

Cast
-Sylvester Stallone: Frank Leone
-Donald Sutherland: Warden Drumgoole
-John Amos: Captain Meissner
-Sonny Landham: Chink Weber
-Tom Sizemore: Dallas
-Frank McRae: Eclipse
-Darlanne Fluegel: Melissa

Did You Know?
-The cast consists of actual Rahway Prison inmates

-Sylvester Stallone gave actor Tom Sizemore his big break into acting and they remain friends to this day