Chris Montez movie-in-the-making gets a sneak preview August 15th at the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans

Lucky participants at the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans are about to become a very select film audience on the morning of Saturday, August 15th, when they get the first sneak preview of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story.

And of course, it's a got a Beatles twist.

Tommy Roe and Chris Montez, who headlined a UK tour in 1963.
The Beatles were their opening act.

We've been hearing about the Chris Montez film bio project since last summer, when it was announced by our pals at Frozen Pictures. While the guys have spent the past twelve months running their Neil Innes biopic, The Seventh Python, through film festivals and special screenings around the country and the world, they've also been shooting the definitive work about the influential and diverse rock and pop musician who went to school with the Beach Boys, launched the lounge movement, and is hailed as the successor to the first Mexican-American rock star, Ritchie Valens.

Chris Montez at the site of the Wilson brothers' childhood home
(a California Registered Historical Landmark),
where he'd jam with the future Beach Boys

We caught up with them earlier this month at the Grammy Museum, where Chris was participating in a tribute to Ritchie Valens, and their crew has been filming around Chris' hometown, Hawthorne, California.

In March 1963, Chris headlined a tour of England with Tommy Roe. The opening act was a group called The Beatles. That month will be the focus of the preview shown in the ballroom of The Hyatt Regency O'Hare on Saturday morning, August 15th.

"We're looking forward to the fans at the Beatles Fest," says director Burt Kearns. "We got a great reception when we screened The Seventh Python and now we're able to give a little back with some Beatles history. Chris' Beatles tour took place at the cusp of Beatlemania. Their first album was released midway through, the fans were wild-- the audience will be very surprised at the revelations."

"Including the truth about Chris' fist fight with John Lennon. It's been forty-seven years, and no one's gotten the story right until now," says producer Brett Hudson, who will also be performing at the Fest with Mark Hudson-- another third of The Hudson Brothers.

The Seventh Python-- the hit of last year's Chicago Beatles Fest-- won't be forgotten. The film is being screened at the world-renowned Comedy Shrine club in neighboring Naperville on Friday, August 14th.

Retraction: Danny Gans was not treated by Dr. Conrad Murray

We've gotten word from the attorney for Danny Gans' estate, family, DG Entertainment and other affiliated entities that our story, "Did Dr. Conrad Murray provide prescription drugs for Danny Gans?" was "outlandish, defamatory and false" and that we have caused, among other things, severe emotional distress to Danny Gans' family.

As it turns out, Danny Gans did not receive any prescriptions from Dr. Conrad Murray, and, as we reported, Dr. Murray's attorney Ed Chernoff made it clear that Dr. Murray never treated Danny Gans, nor did he have anything to do with Danny Gans' tragic death.

Our report was not malicious and we have always paid respect to Danny Gans' tremendous talents, influence and good works. Tabloid Baby is interested only in getting answers that have not been reported or sought by the Las Vegas news media.

In this case, the "talk around town" that we reported on was obviously inaccurate and our call to the Las Vegas news media to investigate was overshadowed by the publicity surrounding the questions we posed.

We therefore retract the story and apologize to Danny Gans' family and estate and organization.

The Seventh Python returns to Chicago!

Friday, August 14th, The Comedy Shrine
22 E. Chicago Avenue Naperville, Illinois 630.355.2844

So what is it with The Seventh Python and Chicago? The veddy-Anglocentric award-winning nonfiction feature about the veddy-British musical satirist, rock 'n' roll legend and Monty Python compatriot Neil Innes from our pals at Frozen Pictures returns to the Chicago area on Friday, August 14th, with a one-night-only screening and (two-thirds) Hudson Brothers performance at The Comedy Shrine.

The announcement is great news for comedy and Monty Python fans... but begs the question why, after entertaining audiences and winning standing ovations around the world-- from Perth, Australia to the New Jersey Meadowlands-- The Seventh Python keeps returning to the City of Big Shoulders in the American Heartland?

Since the film's premiere at the American Cinematheque's Mods & Rockers Film Festival in Hollywood, it's played at:

The Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans...

The Chicago International Movies & Music Festival...

The Wilmette Theatre...

and now..

The Comedy Shrine
22 E. Chicago Avenue
Naperville, Illinois
630.355.2844

So what's the secret to Chicago?


"The secret to Chicago is-- there is no secret," says Seventh Python director Burt Kearns. "Chicago is a comedy capital. They've got The Second City there, but also universities, where some of the finest comics and comedy writers were schooled. There are a lot of comedy legends in and around Chicago."

One of those legends is Dave Sinker. The longtime Hudson buddy, Emmy-winning writer and Second City veteran runs The Comedy Shrine, and came up with the idea of bringing back The Seventh Python for a return engagement.

The Friday evening show on Chicago Avenue in Naperville is set to begin with a screening of the hilarious film starring John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Aimee Mann, Matt Groening and many others, followed by a special performance by Brett and Mark Hudson (they'll arrive after they appear at The Fest for Beatles Fans at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare). Brett produced the film. Mark, the noted music producer and performer, was music supervisor.

Click here for tickets. Arrive early so you'll have some time to check out the extensive comedy memorabilia collection. They don't call it The Comedy Shrine for nothing.

Gans to Jacko to Murray: Las Vegas news media hometeam drop the ball again

Interesting to see this morning that once again the Las Vegas print media is not exactly providing blanket coverage of its most far-reaching news story of the day. The police investigation into celebrity drug addiction and the issuing of fraudulent prescriptions is the biggest of its kind, is receiving international coverage and is centered on Flamingo Road in Las Vegas, where investigators searched the offices of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.

One Los Angeles detective only hinted at the scope of the scandal when he said:

"It’s long been suspected that friendly doctors have been enabling celebrities in Hollywood to feed their habits. However, the real extent of what’s been going on is truly shocking. We are uncovering a massive trade in fraudulent prescriptions.”

So where are the Las Vegas newsmen? The Las Vegas Sun is on its third day of covering prostitution at the Rio pool, The Review-Journal notes that Wynn resorts profits freefell 91 percent in the second quarter (the one during which his star attraction Danny Gans died), but they continue to shy away from the big embarrassments.

In fact, Vegas McCloud impersonator and Review-Journal editor Tom Mitchell has yet to assign a reporter to follow upon his gossip columnist's July 11th item about a local doctor aproached to provide drugs to Jacko:

"How widespread has the practice of doctor-shopping become in Las Vegas? Will the investigation into Jackson's prescription drug abuse lead back to the Las Vegas medical community, given Jackson spent a good deal of time here in recent years? Will the intense scrutiny uncover more leads in Danny Gans' drug-related death?

"Doctor-shopping 'has become very common'...

"The physician felt pressured to accommodate a VIP. He treated a high profile casino executive who wanted sleeping pills. A week later, the executive wanted a refill and a week after that he requested another refill 'and I said no'...

"The sad thing, he said, is that someone else filled the void. "'It's Elvis Presley all over again.'"

As we'd predicted, the Danny Gans story has become a watershed moment for the news media in Las Vegas. How long can they run? And what's their excuse this time?

(UPDATE: The Sun posted a brief story on the records seized from Dr. Murray on its website at 2:55 pm. The Review Journal ran five sentences at 3:12 pm.)

Rev. Ike

When we heard Reverend Ike died this week, the words, "pie in the sky"... "sweet bye and bye..." and "now" came to mind immediately. After all the time we spent covering crooked television evangelists, we looked back with fondness on Reverend Ike, the first TV preacher to take advantage of the soliciting power of television, and a man who was refreshingly up front about his mission: while he preached prosperity, his purpose was soliciting donations, preferably in paper cash (He'd say, “Change makes your minister nervous in the service.”)

Ike was the TV preacher we remember from the Seventies, a cross between Jackie Wilson and Eddie Murphy, and his money message certainly set the stage for the real crooks who'd follow.

Rev. Ike died this week after suffering a stroke two years ago. We were surprised he was only 74. His church as asking for donations in his memory.


And the entire Rev. Ike pitch went like this:

“The love of money is not the root of all evil,
It is the lack of money.
Have you ever seen a rich man
down in the street mugging someone?
No!
You can talk all you want
about the pie in the sky
and the sweet bye and bye,
but what about the good ol' now and now!”

Conflict of Interest: Steve Friess is covering the Michael Jackson criminal case for The New York Times

Remember this next time you consider The New York Times to be "the newspaper of record":

The Times' coverage of the Michael Jackson criminal investigation in Las Vegas is being handled by Steve Freiss, the Las Vegas writer and comp queen who led the campaign to stop news coverage of the secret life and overdose death of local headliner Danny Gans, who later wrote that Michael Jackson's death was "the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson's music," and is now producing and promoting a Michael Jackson "tribute" show (with ticket packages at $504) at the Palms casino.


If ever a reporter would recuse himself from a story-- or an editor would take a second look at whom he assigns-- this would seem to be the case.

But it is not.


Times readers: Caveat emptor.

(Well aware that he has been the subject of Tabloid Baby investigation since he [but not because he] made an attempt to shut down our site early in the Gans case, Friess, mentions his Times assignment in his blog today. Unfortunately, he also reveals the closeknit, corrupt Las Vegas news culture when he writes from the scene of a raid at a medical office:

"Happily, I have some connections. The fine folks at Miles' TV station, KVBC, let me chill inside their news van." ("Miles" is Miles Smith, executive producer at KVBC TV News, the local NBC affiliate, and Friess' unofficial second husband.)

Developing...

Did Danny Gans' death hurt Steve Wynn's bottom line?

How did the drug overdose death of Wynn Encore Hotel & Casino headliner Danny Gans impact the bottom line for his boss Steve Wynn? We'll find out later this week when Wynn Resorts Ltd. reports its second-quarter financial results after the market closes Thursday.

Gans was three months into a longterm, multi-year, multi-million dollar contract at the Encore Theatre when he died suddenly and mysteriously in his bedroom smack in the middle of the second quarter on May 1st.

Wynn Resorts, run by billionaire and major stockholder Steve Wynn, operates casino resorts in Las Vegas and the Chinese island gambling enclave of Macau and has a resort under construction in Macau.

The $700 million Encore at Wynn Macau, due to open next year, is expected to include 600 rooms and suites along with casino, restaurant, retail and lounge space.

A subsidiary of Wynn Resorts Ltd. filed for a possible initial public offering of its Macau assets last week. The action did not come as a surprise to industry analysts.

These analysts expect Wynn Resorts to lose a penny per share on $739 million in revenues, compared with a profit of $1.11 per share on revenue of $825 million in the same period a year earlier.

Gans' death certainly did not help the Wynn Las Vegas operation, which is being propped up by the Chinese business. All casino corporations in Las Vegas are expected to have a rough year, even though many have lowered room rates to keep their hotels filled.

New hotels coming to Las Vegas in the next year will hurt everyone's revenues and earnings.

Wynn Resorts’ stock price has dropped from its 52-week high of $119.74 and closed the second quarter at $35.30.


Gans' showroom at the Encore has remained empty most of the time since his death. Though the local news media refused to investigate the circumstances of his untimely demise at age 52, publish what it knew about his use of painkillers and steroids, or speak to the many sources who claimed the musical impressionist was getting illegal prescription drugs from within his organization, most everyone in the beholden Vegas fourth estate is helping promote New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author and comp queen Steve Friess's 3 pm "Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened To Michael Jackson's Music Birthday Tribute But Not To The Man Show" set for August 29th at the Palms.

TMZ's crappy clip show canceled

Beyond Twisted, the clip show brought to you by the subliterate scumbags at the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com, has gotten the axe only three mind-numbing weeks into its eight week "trial run" by Warner Bros. and Fox television stations.

The cancellation is of little surprise and surely pales beside the original decision by cash-tight syndication suits to allow TMZ's shaved bronzed midget frontman Harvey Levin to enter the genre of concise, well-written and often dramatic reality clips, based on his middling success with his sewer site's whitewashed inconsequential syndicated sister.

Giving Harvey Levin and his classless crew of corner boys a daily show that requires subtle writing skills and topnotch production values is akin to giving Chevy Chase (or Sharon Osbourne or Magic Johnson or Howie Mandel or...) a talk show.

Bad enough the show's title sounds like it was spit out by a 13-year-old. One would think hubristic hairless Harvey's corporate overlords would have gotten the picture when he originally pitched the putrid project under the title, "WTF?" (that's the type of wit and style that circulates in his circles). While the show's website has already been purged from the Internet, the official promotional material still refers to the program's content as "funny and gross"-- good examples of the crude, sleazy and childish worldview and methods of a Fagin and his team of street thugs who've soiled the celebrity scene with foul intrusive reports like the one yesterday in which directional microphones were used to record private conversations between sad Lindsay Lohan and her girlfriend, behind a closed gate, in a supposedly exclusive residential neighborhood, at five o' clock in the morning.


Does one's dedication to the arts and entertaining the masses negate all expectations of privacy even while inside one's wall- and hedge-protected home? Has Harvey Levin paid off everyone in the Sheriff's and police departments?

Yet, TMZ spreads like a virus and our criticism goes unnoticed--

NO, IT DOESN'T!


A tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to the scrappy, funny, mysterious and never cheesy newcomer to the celebrity news and gossip scene, Hollywood's Rumor Rat. The anonymous Big Cheese and his rat pack have come out of their hole, nibbling away at bigs like Perez Hilton and joining us in targeting offenders like the Levin gang. Rat has not only proven to have excellent sources inside every syndicated infotainment operation (including Harvey's pit) in town, but manages to come up with scoops that may be overlooked because they hit a week or two before anyone else catches up.

Case in point: the Beyond Twisted cancellation. Rumor Rat had the scoop last Wednesday.

Rumor Rat has the buzz and has generated speculation as to his identity. Once he upgrades his site to include individual story links and reader comments, the Rat is bound to nibble its way to the top.

Las Vegas celebrates a package deal

The Las Vegas celebration of Michael Jackson's 5ist birthday next month ("The Michael Jackson’s Untimely Death Was The Best Thing That Could Ever Have Happened To Michael Jackson's Music Show," at $25 to $504 a ticket, is only the latest intriguing offshoot of the local media's coverup of the life and overdose death of Strip headliner Danny Gans. A Twitter post from the show's producer and promoter adds a new twist. New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author and comp queen Steve Friess celebrated Michael Jackson's death in print, yet raced to be the first to exploit Jacko's legacy with a benefit for public school music programs, all the whole condemning "Jackson the man." Now the journalist is offering package deals at the Palms.

Developing...

(Meanwhile spin through our archives for a deeper view of a fascinating desert saga...)

Farrah Fawcett's Texan lover finds himself in website hot water after blasting Ryan O'Neal in television interview

Greg Lott, the college beau of Farrah Fawcett who maintained a relationship with the actress throughout her life and who was partners with her in a website operation that was shut down by Ryan O'Neal the day before Farrah died, is in the news and making news.

The Texan Lott who, after O'Neal blocked his visits, maintained a weeks-long vigil in Los Angeles while Farrah lay dying, showed up on television in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, over the weekend, blasting O'Neal and Farrah's friend Alana Stewart-- and announcing plans to write his own book about his relationship with Farrah.


Perhaps coincidentally, a posting on the blogsite that had become his forum in the weeks after Farrah's death reports today that the Farrah Fawcett.us website will not be returning to the web, and that for now, Greg Lott is being held liable for all the fans who've ordered Farrah memorabilia from the site and are left holding the bag:

"...Mr. Lott was the manager of www.FarrahFawcett.US and held a minority 25% stake in the ownership with Ms. Fawcett in this website. As you are aware the licensing rights have reverted to the Farrah Fawcett’s estate on June 25 2009 when she succumbed to her long battle with Cancer...

"I realize there are numerous people out there that have not received the items they have ordered prior to the site being taken down by the law firm working for the estate of Farrah Fawcett. Many people have reportedly sent complaints to Paypal as well as their credit card companies, and in one instance to the FBI. I have no response to this as Mr. Lott has not responded to our repeated phone calls or emails..."

The poster for the "Michael Jackson’s untimely death was the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson's music" show in Las Vegas

Steve Friess has kept his name off the poster for the first paid event to exploit the recent death of Michael Jackson, but the Las Vegas stringer for The New York Times, USA Today and other national publications, Gay Vegas author and comp queen who wrote that "Michael Jackson’s untimely death was the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson’s music," is behind the show that he has written pointedly does not celebrate the flawed human being-- "There will be no speeches about Jackson the man at this event. It is all about the songs, the dancing, the art"-- though it is being held on what would have been Jacko's 51st birthday.

$5,000 reward for The Buckshot Bandits

Earlier this month, we reported on driving into the aftermath of a pair of bank holdups in the San Fernando Valley. Shotgun-wielding crooks had made off with thousands of dollars and in one bank left behind a device they said was a bomb. They were, the FBI says, a six-man "crew" dubbed the Buckshot Bandits, suspected of five holdups at various banks in the San Fernando Valley.

While we've been otherwise occupied, the G-Men have offered a five thousand dollar reward and released this new batch of surveillance photos and a phone number--213.485.2511-- for tips.

Sources: Ryan O'Neal's business manager is executor of Farrah Fawcett's estate

Word that Ryan O’Neal will not be receiving any of the proceeds of Farrah Fawcett’s will may be premature. Sources tell Tabloid Baby that the executors who will oversee the inheritance bestowed on her son Redmond, are Richard B. Francis and his son and partner Russell Francis.

Richard B. Francis is Ryan O’Neal’s business manager. After 43 years, Ryan O’Neal is Francis & Associates’ oldest client.

Francis, along with O’Neal and Alana Stewart, was named in the lawsuit by producer Criag Nevius that claims his documentary project and company with Farrah were taken from him unlawfully. Nevius is contesting an "Appointment of Chief Executive Officer and Delegation of Rights" document signed by Farrah in April, which appointed Richard B. Francis as Chief Executive Officer of Sweetened By Risk LLC, and gave him "the full power and authority to take all actions the Chief Manager is authorized to take."

O'Neal, meanwhile, took control of Farrah's cancer documentary project, which had been based on her diaries, and with the help of producers from NBC's Dateline infotainment show, turned it into an updated version of his 1970 film, Love Story.

In interviews and court papers, Nevius has claimed that Francis threatened him physically and professionally.


One source, a friend of Farrah, tells us this afternoon that “the fear” is that Francis or his son could simply assign control of the drug addicted, incarcerated 24-year-old Redmond's money to his father Ryan.

“That would put Redmond right back in his father's control, and that’s the last thing Farrah would want,” says one friend. “It's why she left Ryan to begin with.”

Farrah and O’Neal ended their 15-year relationship in 1997. O’Neal returned as a heavy presence in Farrah’s life after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Ryan and Redmond were arrested together on methamphetamine charges at O’Neal’s Malibu home in November of last year.

In the final weeks of Farrah’s life, O’Neal stated that she had agreed to marry him on her deathbed. Farrah was never made available to confirm his statement. The wedding never took place.

Farrah passed away on June 25th at 62.

Ryan O'Neal left out of Farrah Fawcett's will

$5 million? More like $50 million...

Ryan O'Neal had good reason to attempt to marry Farrah Fawcett on her deathbed: he was not mentioned in Farrah's will.

Sources tell Tabloid Baby this morning say that Farrah left the bulk of her $5.5 million estate to Redmond O'Neal, her son by the contentious Love Story actor, who is now jailed on drug charges.

Ryan O'Neal took control of Farrah's affairs and cancer documentary project after she began to slip in and out of consciousness in the final stage of the cancer battle that ended on June 25th.

Sources tell Tabloid Baby that the $5.5 million figure quoted may reflect Farrah's cash holdings, but that her assets push the total value of Farrah's estate past the $50 million mark.


Farrah's holdings include a collection of Andy Warhol art (some of which depicting her as subject), property in Texas, and the the copyright to the legendary 1976 burnt-orange swimsuit poster, which is worth millions every year in licensing fees.

Farrah was also the majority owner of the film production company, Sweetened By Risk, that produced Farrah's cancer journal documentary that was taken over by O'Neal in April and turned into the morbid, Emmy-nominated NBC special, "Farrah's Story."

April 2008

April 2009

Farrah's production partner is currently suing O'Neal and his associates over the documentary and the takeover, claiming that Farrah signed the necessary documents while in a medicated state.

Developing...

Las Vegas keeping an eye on Tabloid Baby

"Hello Tabloid Baby!"

They're not talking, but they're watching.

The group of Las Vegas journalists who tried their darndest to keep the secret life of superstar Danny Gans from being investigated or revealed in the weeks before the coroner confirmed his death by Dilaudid overdose is keeping close tabs on Tabloid Baby's coverage of their unusual Michael Jackson tribute show.

Beauty queen turned TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, who literally took out a Bible during a news report to demonstrate the clean-living spirituality of her longtime close personal friend, referenced Tabloid Baby in a Twitter message early this morning.


Jacobs was bragging that she had been a guest at a roast for Harrah's Las Vegas president Don Marrandino over the weekend, seated with New York Times stringer, Guy Vegas author, comp queen (as exemplified in this case) and Jackson show producer Steve Friess (who led the campaign to quell Gans coverage) and Norm Clarke, the ubiquitous Las Vegas Review-Journalist gossip columnist who went to print with whatever Jacobs and Friess gave him-- and who revealed that the Marrandino was attended by "500 high rollers" along with the Gans trio.


Listing Friess, Norm as among the "fav pals" she "hung" with, she added somewhat defensively: "Hello Tabloid Baby!"

Hello, Ms. Jacobs.

(As of now, no Las Vegas journalist has written or broadcast a definitive, no-holds barred examination of the circumstances of Danny Gans' life and death.)

New York Times' man in Las Vegas makes shocking Britney Spears death joke as tickets go on sale for his Michael Jackson birthday "tribute" show

Tickets have gone on sale this weekend for the Michael Jackson birthday "tribute" show produced and promoted by New York Times reporter, Gay Vegas author and local comp queen Steve Friess, who celebrated Jackson's death as "the best thing that could ever have happened to Michael Jackson's music" and led the media coverup in reporting the similar prescription painkiller death of local superstar Danny Gans.

In celebrating the queue at the box office, Friess also added a sick Britney Spears death joke to

Friess (right), who is the primary Las Vegas freelance reporter for a number of national and international publications, took the highly unusual step of profiting off the subject of his reportage, jumping at the chance to be the first to exploit Jackson's death with an August 29th 3 pm "tribute" at the Palms Hotel, where Jackson had recorded and where Friess participated in an unofficial wedding ceremony with local television news producer Miles Smith.

"I would never do anything like that. I would never lend my name to anything that charges readers money-- no matter the cause," one Las Vegas-based journalist told us.

Yet, with memories as long as Dory the Fish's and investigative curiosity lagging slightly behind that of the members of the Warren Commission, the Las Vegas news media have been happily hyping the unusual money-procuring brainstorm without question.

In a post on his casino-promoting blog with a headline that squeals, People On Line At Box Office!!!, Friess previews the sale of tickets that top out at $504, and includes YouTube videos of various local news reports on his endeavour.


Primary among them is a report by Alicia Jacobs (top) the beauty queen turned TV entertainment reporter who used her longtime close personal friendship with Danny Gans to help distract the media and public from the unpleasant facts about his reliance on the drugs that killed him, and in the process diminished her credibiity even in a gladhanding, palm-greasing media environment like "Sin City."

After our coverrage showed the links between Jacobs and Friess in the deliberate campaign to stop coverage of Gans' tragic death, one would have expected her boss at KVBC-TV News to insist that she remove herself from the Jackson concert story. Her boss, however, is Friess' unofficial husband, Miles Smith.


In a shocking footnote to the concert ticket sales posting, Friess makes a sick joke about cashing in on the potential death of troubled popstar Britney Spears.


Under a YouTube video of his co-producer Erich Bergen "singing Britney Spears at the Liberace Museum" (we don't make this stuff up, folks), Friess adds:

"Memo to Erich: If something awful happens to Britney Spears and you decide to do one of these things, you're on your own. :-)"

Friess has ignored repeated requests by Tabloid Baby for an interview or clarifications of his intentions.

American Idol's Glitter Girl killed in hit & run

This year's accelerated celebrity death cycle has taken a swerve toward the reality genre, bumping into the ridiculous along the way, with word this morning that Alexis Cohen, the middle-finger flashing madwoman wannabe who brightened up two seasons (Seven & Eight) of auditions on American Idol was killed over the weekend in a hit and run accident on the New Jersey shore.

Was she walking in the middle of the road? No matter; whoever hit her didn't stop. Homicide charges await. Internet tributes are already pouring in. Expect a salute on the next season of Idol.

Michael Jackson's missing nose makes news one month after we revealed that its tip was absent from Jacko death photo

Rolling Stone magazine is getting lots of play today for a story that was broken by Tabloid Baby within hours of Michael Jackson's death:

Michael Jackson died without his nose.

We alone among the world's journalist noticed and reported that the photo showing Jackson's lifeless corpse on the way into the UCLA Medical Center revealed that the tip of Jackson's cosmetic surgery-damaged schnozzola was missing:

"A study of the photo reveals one detail that's yet to be commented on: Michael Jackson is missing the tip of his nose.

"With his many plastic surgeries, Jacko did much damage to the cartilege in his nose and was rumoured to use putty or a prosthetic to replace the destroyed end...

"It appears that the tip was lost as paramedics worked valiantly to get his heart started, perhaps in a kiss of life."


In a detailed report of Jacko's final days and the hours after his demise, Rolling Stone reports that further attempts to pump some life back into the star had rubbed away the rest of the false appendage, revealing the horrific results of one nose job too many. The once-essential mag quotes a witness who claims to have seen Jacko's corpse on an autopsy table said there was simply a small hole where the singer's nose should have been:

"The prosthesis he normally attached to his damaged nose was missing, revealing bits of cartilage surrounding a small dark hole."

The Daily Mail reports the story today, adding confirmation from a former Jacko housekeeper who adds:

"In his closet he had a jar of fake noses and stage glue, which he told me he used for disguises. But some were similar to his real nose, just without the hole."

Most of the mainstream and tabloid Internet media have attributed the story to the Daily Mail. Only the most perceptive and cutting edge tabloid news sites, like Hollywood's Rumor Rat and the UK's Anorak, cited out story-- on Day One.

A good excuse to follow us on Twitter and receive Tabloid Baby updates. We notice things that others do not. That's what we do.