Hager Twins Reunion

You remember The Hager Twins from Hee Haw (that's them with Roy Clark last year).

Well, Jon Hager, who with his identical twin brother Jim performed in the musical comedy duo on the immortal corny television series that brought so much great country music to mainstream America, was found dead in his apartment in Nashville yesterday morning. He apparently died in his sleep.

Jon was 67 and had been in poor health and was depressed since Jim died of a heart attack in May.

You know, if this keeps up, we're going to have to change the name of this site to Dead Baby or else start a spin-off site like we did with the Israeli baseball stories.

Local paper: Ray Dennis Steckler's obituary

Jan. 10, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

B-movie legend Steckler, 70, dies

Las Vegas filmmaker suffered heart disease

By CAROL CLING

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Services will be held Sunday for filmmaker Ray Dennis Steckler, a longtime Las Vegan whose no-budget hits (including "The Incredible Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies") made him a B-movie legend.

Steckler died Wednesday night at Sunrise Hospital following a 10-year battle with heart disease. He was 70.

Steckler had been hospitalized since Nov. 19, but had been in and out of the hospital "on and off since June," said his wife, Katherine Steckler.

Last August, doctors told Steckler that he had less than nine months to live, she added.

Yet even as he faced the end, Steckler said, "'I am the luckiest man in the world,'" his wife recalled. "'I made a living doing something I love.'"

Granted, Steckler never became a Hollywood heavyweight with multimillion-dollar budgets at his disposal.

"If you don't have any money, it won't stop you if you really want to make movies," Steckler said in 2007 when "Grindhouse" -- a big-budget, two-in-one homage to Steckler-style exploitation fare -- opened in theaters.

"Grindhouse" directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez "made two movies for $70 million," he said. "And we used to make them for $10,000 apiece."

Yet even with micro-budgets and unsung performers (including Steckler himself, performing as Cash Flagg), such favorites as 1964's "Mixed-Up Zombies" and 1966's "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" made him a hero to cult connoisseurs around the world.

Born Jan. 25, 1938, In Reading, Pa., Steckler began making movies as a teen with an 8 mm camera his stepfather bought him.

His passion took him to Hollywood, where he became a freelance cinematographer working on mainstream productions in addition to his own incredibly strange creations.

Steckler moved to Las Vegas in 1970 and taught filmmaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Later he operated local video stores, where fans could meet the man behind the movies.

Yet the auteur behind "The Thrill Killers" also was a loving family man, "the room dad" at his daughters' schools, who "was the one on the field trip, videotaping it for all the kids in the class," Katherine Steckler remembered. "He was a hands-on dad."

In addition to his wife of 23 years, Steckler is survived by daughters Linda Arnold of Maui, Hawaii, Laura Steckler of Sunland, Calif., and Morgan and Bailey Steckler, both of Las Vegas; sister Judy Conrad of Reading, Pa.; and two grandchildren.

His funeral, which is open to the public, will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Palm Mortuary-Eastern, 7600 S. Eastern Ave.

Ray Dennis Steckler, wild auteur

We first encountered Ray Dennis Steckler in the early Nineties when we arrived in Los Angeles and were introduced to his 1962 movie Wild Guitar, which was a hit VHS revival among our post-punk rockabilly friends along Hollywood Boulevard.

Some years later, working on some television series, we got in touch with Ray with the intention of telling his story. The auteur had settled in Las Vegas where he worked out of a strip mall and continued to make his movies, those great low-budget affairs that were shot without sound, relayered in post, unleashed at drive ins to play third billing behind Mexican wrestling flicks or dumped in offbeat video stores. Ray was all full of enthusiasm and new movie ideas as well as stacks of naked audition tapes of the would-be actresses who for some reason came to Las Vegas to find Hollywood and found their way to the strip mall instead. He sent us boxes of tapes including his Ruehlian classics like Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (originally titled Rat Fink A Go Go but when the titlemaker got it wrong, they stuck with it), The Lemon Grove Kids, a Bowery Boys homage in which he played his familiar Huntz Hallian character, and Las Vegas Serial Killer, a real creepfest from the late Eighties. Ray was a low budget, wacky inspiration. We just found out he was dead and wanted to give a mention before we headed out.

He was still out there, casting and shooting to the end. More information here and here.

Guilty: NBC News bosses are giving Ann Coulter the same treatment they gave Tabloid Baby

Word that NBC News execs decided-- or tried-- to ban Ann Coulter from appearing on Today and other news-related shows on the network and their cable outfits comes as little surprise to folks in this office. NBC did the same thing when Tabloid Baby was published nine years ago. Author Burt Kearns headed to New York City for a book party at Elaine's and promised appearances on various NBC outlets only to find the appearances were canceled-- in one case axed personally by the top news banana at the time, Tom Brokaw, the guy who puts his name on all those committee-written "baby boomer" books. As in the case of Ann Coulter, Kearns' view differed from their party line. Back then, the other networks followed-- with the exception of Fox, on which the book shed the most light.

Nov. 11, 1999
The New York Post
Neal Travis’ New York

INTERVIEW TAB-LED

WHILE network news organizations have adopted many tabloid-TV practices, they don't like to admit it - and certainly don't want anyone getting air time to talk about the way standards have changed. Burt Kearns, in town to launch his book, "Tabloid Baby," just learned the power of establishment television. Kearns was scheduled the other evening to do John Gibson's MSNBC show, talking about the way the tab stars of "A Current Affair" outperformed traditional news anchors - including NBC's Tom Brokaw - at the tumbling of the Berlin Wall 10 years ago. Kearns was pre-interviewed and the cable channel arranged a limo to take him to their studios over in New Jersey. Just an hour before the car arrived, they canceled him. He was told Brokaw - who has his own memoir to plug and who regards the news very seriously - was taking his place.

Disneyland 2009

Returned to Disneyland for the final day of the holiday decorations and thanks to an unexpected new deal that spreads out payments throughout the year, wound up renewing our annual passports. They don't include strollers any more.

Was it just us or does Clarabelle seem to be exposing a huge pair of knockers? Aah, just us...

Met a very nice and gracious young kid's television star in Frontierland. She posed for pictures and introduced us to her mother. Turns out she's a star on Nickelodeon, though.

Zoo

Don't believe in signs, but this just hit our email

Glenn Goldman of Book Soup

Sad news. Glenn Goldman, the owner of Book Soup on the Sunset Strip, has died. His death today from pancreatic cancer comes the day after he announced he was putting the legendary bookshop up for sale. Glenn opened the place in 1975. It was more than a literary oasis on the Strip across from Tower Records and the coolest bookstore in L.A.; it remains a center of cultural activity, packed with books of all genres, as good with the fiction as it is on the industry essentials and current events.

Book Soup was a major stop on the Tabloid Baby author tour nine years ago. Author Burt Kearns read and led the discussion in the Book Soup Annex that occupied the adjoining storefront and signed lots of books that filled the top shelf of Book Soup's essential entertainment section for months to come. His name was on the same marquee that bears the announcement this evening. Glenn was 58. He was a low key, quiet force. If you saw him around the place, you might not realize he was the pioneer and owner of one of the most famous indie bookshops in the nation (and famous in tabloid-- the Menendez brothers reportedly ordered books from the place from jail). Sad news for those who knew him; sad on a wider scale for those of us trying to keep independent bookstores alive.

(A friend says Glenn put the place up for sale "he knew he was dying" and wanted his two sons to have the windfall. Book Soup's general manager says in a statement: "Nobody here is looking for a new job. The store remains an extremely viable business, and the entire staff wants to carry on the legacy of Book Soup.")

Photo by Carolyn Kellogg

In wake of Israel's Gaza attacks, Our Man Elli's interview with Jon Voight is a hot topic again

Israel's recent retaliation in the Gaza Strip has directed worldwide attention to Elli Wohlgelernter-- recently announced as Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year-- and his videotaped interview with an unlikely Hollywood Zionist.

Our Man Elli in Israel was honored for his tireless, influential and groundbreaking coverage of the Israel Baseball League and its surrounding hoopla and mischief, but as a correspondent for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, he also covers politics and war. In May, he interviewed actor Jon Voight, who stands out in his industry as a conservative, pro-Israel hawk, touching on the issues of Hamas and the rocket attacks directed at Israel from Gaza. The interview was posted on YouTube and on this site in the Spring, and has been subject of a surge in viewership after Israel's raids this week.

By this morning, the clip had logged more than 100,000 views.

The YouTube rankings at the turn of the New Year reflect its prominence:

#100 - Most Discussed (All Time) - News & Politics - Israel
#20 - Most Responded (Today) - Israel
#7 - Most Responded (Today) - News & Politics - Israel
#72 - Most Responded (This Week) - Israel
#23 - Most Responded (This Week) - News & Politics - Israel
#53 - Most Viewed (All Time) - News & Politics - Israel
#36 - Top Favorited (All Time) - News & Politics - Israel
#24 - Top Rated (All Time) - News & Politics - Israel

More fuel for Elli's Pulitzer, we'd say.

Drudge headlines news we reported yesterday

We woke up on New Year's morning and questioned the wisdom of CNN's decision to not only ape its Time Warner cousin, the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com by partnering its camp newsreading star with a cult comedian and treating the Times Square ball drop like the West Hollywood Halloween Parade, but to also include crass, distasteful TMZesque commentary on the internationally-seen report ("Happy New Year, and yes, this is CNN").

This morning, a day late and a scoop short, the Drudge Report copies us. Today, talk radio hosts in search of material will use Drudge for their phony outrage.

(We don't like using words like "ironic," but only days ago we noted the TMZ's waning influence in 2008. Perhaps the Griffin-Cooper display was the corporate overlords' way of pumping it up.)

Happy New Year, and yes, this is CNN

Well, we suppose this is one way to chip away at Fox News' numbers-- but this is CNN? Listen to the very end. And hand Ted Turner the Prozac.

(The clip above features Tabloid Baby's Person of The Year for 2005. Prescient, no? Click here to meet Tabloid Baby's Person of The Year for 2008, and here for Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year.)

Tabloid Baby's Person of The Year for 2008

Brett Hudson
Tabloid Baby's 2008 Person of The Year

“I want to show that when it comes to cancer,
there are alternatives, and recovery begins
when you take your destiny into your own hands.”

Thirty years ago, Brett Hudson was an "Apple Pie Hero," an All-American pop star with hit records, sold-out concert appearances, several television comedy series and starring roles in movies. As a third of The Hudson Brothers, he'd have no idea the kind of hero he'd become in 2008, as he shared the story of his battle with throat cancer and spread the news of treatments available to those who are able to look beyond the practices of the American medical and pharmaceutical establishments.


Brett Hudson is well-known in Hollywood. Everybody knows Brett Hudson. Since The Hudson Brothers hung up their guitars and matching sweaters in the early Eighties, he's forged a successful and influential career as a television and movie writer and producer. From the cult movie Hysterical to the sports comedy classic Cloud 9, from the landmark comedy series Offshore Television to his groundbreaking documentary work with Frozen Pictures, he's a skilled professional, visionary, mentor-- and one hell of a raconteur.

But it was his decision to seek alternative treatments after a cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2007 that led him on a course that's saving lives and giving hope to thousands of Americans who had been told that death was the only answer.

It began when he set about turning his ordeal into a documentary project. The Klinik tells an only-in-Hollywood story that is finally rubbing off on the rest of the country.

As it states on the project's website:

"...After weeks of grueling chemotherapy that shrunk his frame, took his hair, sapped his energy and wracked him with nausea that no medical marijuana could ease, all he could look forward to were brutal radiation treatments that would do irreparable damage to his body… possibly take his voice… or even kill him.

"And then he got a call from Cher.

"Yes, that Cher.

"Brett’s old friend from his days as a Seventies television star told him there was a better way. It wasn’t the American way. But it was a way that could kill his cancer-- and not kill him in the process. The treatment would be far more precise and less invasive than what is offered in the States. It would attack the tumor and not batter his body. Brett wouldn’t lose his taste buds, his larynx, or have to learn to swallow again...

"Days before he was set to be strapped to a table in Los Angeles for the first of seventy radiation blasts, Brett Hudson booked his trip. His destination: a small private hospital in a charming village at the foot of the Alps: The Klinik."


Key to his influence is a blog on that Klinik movie site, in which he shares his experiences, frustrations with insurance providers, medical treatments and progress-- and, beginning with a shocking installment on November 7th, his current radiation and chemotherapy regimens after additional cancer cells were detected.

All of this life-changing business happened to coincide-- and in fact, push along-- plans for an unexpected reunion of the Hudson Brothers. While brother Bill Hudson (Kate Hudson's dad) finished his first-ever solo album, Brett and brother Mark appeared at Beatles fans conventions in Las Vegas and Chicago. Mark told the legions of fans about Brett's fight, and within days he'd become a lightning rod for people across the country.

And even though Brett Hudson continues his recovery through a brutal regimen, he spends hours on the phone and online with strangers, leading them in directions they might never have expected or hoped for.

Talk about using your celebrity, influence and fame for doing good.

Check in with Brett Hudson's blog and watch for The Klinik.

Fan art:

Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year

Elli Wohlgelernter
Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year

You know him as Our Man Elli in Israel. Television viewers and newspaper readers in Israel know him by the sign-off and byline of Elli Wohlgelernter. We've known him for 27 years as Elli, the New York Super Jew, Woody Allen's brain in the body of Tony Roberts, the rabbi's kid from the Columbia J School who wound up at the New York Post, then the desk at Channel 5's legendary 10 O'Clock News, then on to a cross-country and ultimately international journey that would land him in jobs on weekly newspapers, at television stations, in Hollywood and ultimately lead him to Jerusalem, where he settled 17 years ago, started a family, ended a marriage, and in 2006 embarked on a solitary journalistic grind that influenced the future of a nation and a sport.

Elli's coverage of the machinations behind the Israel Baseball League led to great anger among his countrymen, resentment by his colleagues and a concerted effort by his story subjects to smear him.

But for close to three years now, he's followed the story, exposed the scandals, protected lives and broke news on a momentous saga that the rest of the world media has yet to come to grips with.

And he did it for free.

The relevance? Go to our Baseball in Israel archival site and read the entirety of his Israeli baseball coverage. Then look to the recent arrest of Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street macher who allegedly bilked his fellow American Jews of 50 billion dollars.

The scope of the baseball story is not nearly so large, and the charges are not criminal, but the parallels are many. And the chutzpah is unmatched.

Elli's nation is at war this week, and his attentions are elsewhere. But as he looks toward Gaza, his IBL reportage lays the groundwork for other journalists and historians to dig even deeper, and (along with a change in rules that allows Internet journalism) rightfully led to his nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

It also seals his position as Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year.

The Person of the Year?

Stay tuned...

Who will be Tabloid Baby's Journalist of The Year and Person of The Year for 2008?

When we give out our year-end honors, we wait for the end of the year. We don't write them up in November or agree on the finalists when there are still four weeks in the year to go and miss out on the most choice contenders, as happens with so many death roll calls (see The New York Times Magazine). So now, with mere hours left in 2008, we figure it's time to add up the votes from the Tabloid Baby staff, readers and pals and announce our people of the year.

To be honest, last year's Person of The Year and Journalist of The Year contained a tinge of journalistic cynicism amongst the optimism, but both turned out to be pretty good harbingers and influences for 2008.

Our Journalist of The Year for 2007 was Harvey Levin, the shaved bronzed midget frontman for the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com and its whitewashed syndicated sister. "Who did more damage to entertainment reporting in 2007 than Harvey Levin?," was the query we posed. "In 2007, he and his gutter operation did indeed wield that dagger and in the process almost singlehandedly transformed Hollywood entertainment reporting into a gutter-level street battle fueled by self-hatred, jealousy and anger, with no concern for what once determined greatness, excellence or fame."

The title we bestowed on Harvey led other news organizations to take a closer look. Even Playboy magazine asked our editor to weigh in on its Levin coverage. And hoist by its own mantard, TMZ.com the noxious website sank to the same irrelevancy as its camp, inconsequential whitewashed syndicated television version-- less a journalistic force than a distasteful obscene Internet embarrassment to its corporate overlords at AOL Time Warner.

People noticed.

Michael Lohan, our 2007 Person of The Year, lived up to the expectations we had a year ago when we wrote that we "look forward to new grand schemes and projects, more unexpected headlines." Paternity questions and fights with Lindsay's lesbian love aside, Michael has found fame in his own right, is headed to Sundance next month with more than one project and only this week launched his own website as he continues his quest to get out the "the truth."

Harvey Levin failed in his quest to kill tabloid. Thanks in part to Michael Lohan, Tabloid Lives.

So tonight, we announce

Tabloid Baby's 2008 Journalist of The Year

and

Tabloid Baby's 2008 Person of The Year.

Stay tuned...

Dr. Ruehl pays tribute to Ann Savage

Sexy film noir femme fatale Ann Savage died in her sleep on Christmas Day at age 87, and as soon as word hit, Tabloid Baby pal, contributor and columnist Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Ph.D. was on the line, ready to offer his highest tribute:

"In 1945, she starred in the film noir classic, 'Detour,' as perhaps the sharpest-tongued villainness ever to grace the silver screen, delivering an Oscar-caliber performance. Of course, such a low-budget Edgar Ulmer production would never be considered for such honors, but her tour de force characterization was on a par with that year's winner, Joan Crawford (for the superb work in "Mildred Pierce").

"For the record, co-star Tom Neal also delivered the best characterization of his career."

With the passings of Beverly Garland, Bettie Page and Forrest Ackerman, and the probable demise of his legendary, classic, public access series, it's been a tough month for Dr. Ruehl. He offers the latest appraisal on video, above.

Update on Bad Santa's flaming death weapon

A reader sends us this update on our early report on the device allegedly used by Bruce Jeffrey Pardo when he allegedly put on a Santa Claus outfit, allegedly opened fire on a Christmas Eve gathering of his in-laws in the Los Angeles suburb of Covina and then allegedly methodically set their house ablaze, killing nine people before allegedly killing himself:

"The photographs that have been released of Pardo's device, and of his home, indicate that he used the Bykas 16 gallon fuelling system, and a DeWalt D55168 air compressor to make the flame thrower.

"He removed the compressor from the 15 gallon tank on the DeWalt D55168, and replaced it with the 5 lb. CO2 cylinder from the Bykas fueller. He used a regulator on the CO2 to bring the pressure down. Don't know what pressure he used, but as the DeWalt tank could hold at least 200 psi, he could really spray a lot of gas at high pressure. Unregulated CO2 might be 1000 psi.


"The only parts he used from the Bykas system were the CO2 cylinder, maybe the regulator, and perhaps some hardware.

"There are plans around the internet for giant CO2 powered super soaker water guns. He built something similar.

"He could have filled the DeWalt tank with 15 gallons of gas instead of water, and sprayed it all out at 150 psi.

"Yikes."

(Thanks, Anonymous! And thanks to Reuters, which notes the photos are "FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.")

Michael Lohan links his website to Tabloid Baby

Michael Lohan finally has a website on which to present his side of the never-ending battle with the Hollywood machine and various forces surrounding his daughter Lindsay. And though he announces this morning that he and Lindsay have reached a truce in their flammable relationship (Israel and Hamas, take note) and that, like FDR before him, he is beginning a series of weekly radio chats tonight, the real news on MikeLohanOnline is that the site's linked Tabloid Baby!


Our news and commentary resource is listed there with Abolish Slavery, Blackbook 2 and Teen Challenge USA.

We linked to Lohan yesterday. We'll be keeping tabs for you.

We saw Gran Torino last night and will say this morning that Clint Eastwood pretty much has a lock on the Oscar for Best Actor

Delaney Bramlett

.

Now The New York Times catches up with Tabloid Baby's coverage of Howard Stern's irrelevance and probable return to free radio

We've been discussing the disappearance and irrelevance of former radio star Howard Stern for about three years now, since he abandoned his loyal audience for a cashout in the private world of pay satellite radio. All signs have pointed to Stern's eventual return to free radio and this year's proliferation of free Internet radio is hastening the eventuality.

The Los Angeles Times followed our lead in October. This morning, the New York Times shared the writing on the wall.

Some highlights:

The New York Times
December 28, 2008

Satellite Radio Still Reaches for the Payday

By TIM ARANGO

DID you hear what Howard Stern said the other day? Neither did we. But we read about it on a blog.

Mr. Stern, the ribald radio jock who once commanded attention with each off-color utterance and obscene joke, mused recently on the air that he was thinking of retiring when his contract expires in two years. “This is my swan song,” he said.

Back in the day when Mr. Stern was on free radio and had an audience of 12 million, that remark would have cascaded through the media universe. But by switching to satellite radio three years ago, Mr. Stern swapped cultural cachet for big money.

Then — poof! — Mr. Stern all but disappeared. Even Jay Leno, during a recent interview with The New York Times about his decision to stay at NBC to host a prime-time show, cited Mr. Stern as an example of the dangers of obscurity.

…Mr. Stern’s retirement chatter did get one group talking: investors fretting over the fate of Sirius XM Radio, the satellite radio company that has been Mr. Stern’s home for the past three years.

Today, five months after regulators approved a merger of Sirius and XM, satellite radio’s pioneers and former rivals, in a deal that was supposed to deliver their industry to the promised land of profits and permanence, the company faces an uncertain future.

Although Mr. Stern brought listeners and prominence to Sirius, the move had a steep cost. His blockbuster, $500 million, five-year deal fueled a high-stakes competition between the two services that contributed to Sirius XM’s current bind.

…The company has never turned a profit and cannot predict when it ever will. Cap that with the struggles of Detroit — the bulk of new satellite radio subscribers come from partnerships with automakers — and you have a set of obstacles that Sirius XM has to overcome at the very moment the recession seems to be deepening.

The satellite radio industry… is facing a media environment that is shifting toward cheaply distributed content over the Internet.

…Who needs satellites… when the world is wired for broadband and Wi-Fi?

Mel Karamzin, the combative, longtime radio man who is the company’s chief executive… asks: “Would I like to have seen Howard get less money? Yes. But I think any company that deals with content would say the same thing.”

Mr. Karmazin, when asked if he thinks Mr. Stern has lost his place in the culture, says: “I think the size of the audience is less today. And I think one of the things Howard was looking forward to with the merger is that we’ll have twice as many subscribers potentially available to listen to him.”

Mr. Stern declined to be interviewed for this article, but his travails are emblematic of satellite radio and Sirius XM’s own shrinking horizons.

It seems that if Mr. Stern were to stay beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of 2010, he would have to accept less money, given the finances of the company and the fact that there are no longer two satellite radio companies battling each other…

“I’m starting to think that he might actually retire,” says Mark Mercer, who since the mid-1990s has written a daily blog about the Stern show, which has become a nearly minute-by-minute account of each program.

…Even Mr. Mercer, as diehard a Stern fan as there is, acknowledges that Mr. Stern’s gig doesn’t have the same influence it once did.

“Once you get used to hearing it on Sirius, it’s not as shocking as it was when you heard him on terrestrial radio and they’d be bleeping him out,” he says.

Michael Lohan launches a website

Michael Lohan, Tabloid Baby's Person of the Year for 2007, is winding up 2008 by starting his own website. The father of once-promising actress Lindsay Lohan and star of the best unsold reality show in the history of television (produced, incidentally, by our pals at Frozen Pictures), has launched MikeLohanOnline.com (aka The Real Story with Michael Lohan).

On the surface, the site is Michael's latest forum in his war against his ex-wife Dina, and Lindsay's girlfriend Samantha Ronson-- though this morning, in its second day of operation, he stated that his intentions are far more benevolent:

"...Let me say that this website is NOT about Lindsay or Samantha. I have no intention of disclosing any information or feelings I may have about either one of them unless it is in defense of what they or one of their 'mouthpieces' might say about me. If in fact, one of their 'sources', so called 'friends' or 'spokespersons' have something to say about me, then I guess we will just have to open up discussion on them as well.

"AGAIN, this website is a forum to shed light on things in a positive and truthful way.

"It is about bringing the world the truth about any situations or stories reported in the media that are worthy of discussing. It is about righting the wrongs and determining facts from fiction.

"This website is an open forum to discuss questionable topics and even introduce you to worthy events (which help others) that you might like to participate in.

"For example; during the Sundance Film Festival, my partners and I will be hosting a series of events which aid numerous charities and initiatives, such as human trafficking, child slavery, ministries, The Crohn's Foundation, various cancer foundations, hunger and other worthy causes..."

Michael's inaugural blog posting yesterday did indeed focus on his dispute with LiLo and SaMAN:

"Today... my darling daughter Lindsay was asked for a comment in response to me saying, 'Samantha is on drugs!'

"Lindsay’s only response was, 'look at him!'

"WOW! Linds, how forthright! Let me ask you; was it me who was actually pictured in the train station with a bag full of prescription drugs? Do you see me out partying with Lindsay, my other children or having raging wars with her? Was it me who jumped out of a DJ booth and punched Lindsay when she was with Calum Best? Did I drive Lindsay around for hours in LA until she fell asleep and before I ran low on gas only to call the paps and sell pictures to them? Uh uh!

"As a matter of fact, I was the one who tried to keep those kinds of parasites away from Lindsay...

"Sure, I made mistakes, but I righted the wrongs..."


Only problem? Though well-known as "Michael Lohan," the site's URL identifies him as "Mike Lohan," which may cause an extra burden on the gossip writers looking to fill space. Despite his protestations about the media machine working against him, ex-con preacher Michael has spectacularly managed to keep himself in the headlines on practically a daily basis since he stepped out of prison two years ago. MikeLohanOnline.com promises to add to the surprises. We've already added it to our links list.

Stay tuned!