Features
Odds & Ends: Springsteen, Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse & The Troggs
The Boss At The Grammys
The star-laden list of performers for the 54th annual Grammy Awards gained another top-tier act with the news that Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band will perform at the event.
Springsteen and his E Street cohorts join a lineup that’s already packed with talent. The list of artists performing during the awards show Feb. 12 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center includes Adele who will be performing live for the first time since she underwent throat surgery in late 2011. The Grammy lineup also includes several match-ups such as Coldplay performing with Rihanna; Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson and Glen Campbell with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton. Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift will also perform on music’s biggest night.
The Grammy Awards has upped its list of presenters, adding Jack Black, ?uestlove from The Roots, and Ringo Starr.
The 54th annual Grammy Awards airs Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
Courtney & Pets Don’t Mix
Substance abuse chronicler TheFix.com has published an e-book about Courtney Love titled “Courtney Comes Clean.” Based on several months of correspondence between Love and author Maer Roshan, the book details several incidents in Love’s life, including when she fell into an “endless spiral” after her husband, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, died.
“I was doing drugs from the moment I woke up till the time I went to bed,” Love said. “I was out of it most of the time. I was naïve. I was stupid. I did what I was told to do. And by the time I figured out what was going on, I didn’t have a dime to my name.”
But not all revelations came from Ms. Love. TheFix also got its hands on details from daughter Francis Bean Cobain’s 2009 court deposition in support of obtaining a temporary restraining order against the Hole singer. In the deposition Francis Bean talked of her mother’s famed behavior.
In a sworn statement, Francis Bean detailed what happened when Courtney visited the home of ex-boyfriend James Barber.
“She took me in a taxi to his house in the middle of the night, and from outside the house, in her bare feet, she screamed at him, threw rocks at the house, and threatened to burn his house down,” Francis Bean said. “His children were inside the house, but that did not stop my mother.”
Francis Bean goes on to talk about her mother’s drug history, saying her mother “basically exists” on “Xanazx, Adderall, Sonata, Abillify, sugar and cigarettes.”
But what’s really getting Internet traction are the remarks Francis Bean made in the deposition about Courtney and her daughter’s pets. Francis Bean claimed that a cat died after “getting entangled in piles of Etsy fabrics, boxes of paperwork, trash and other possessions,” reports TheFix. Francis Bean also said a dog died after eating Love’s pills.
Evidently the court was concerned about Courtney’s past pet history. In addition to keeping her away from daughter Francis Bean as well as Bean’s grandmother and aunt, the restraining order also kept Courtney away from Francis Bean’s dog, Fester.
Winehouse Coroner Not Qualified
There are rumblings out of Britain that the inquest into Amy Winehouse’ death may have been illegal because the coroner was unqualified
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway was in charge when an inquest determined that Winehouse had died from alcohol poisoning.
But Greenaway quit her job one month later after word got out that she wasn’t qualified for the position of coroner.
Greenaway was appointed to the position by her husband, Inner North London Coroner Andrew Reid, according to London’s Mirror newspaper. However, it emerged shortly after the inquest that while Greenaway had been a lawyer in her native Australia for 10 years, she wasn’t qualified to to be a coroner in the United Kingdom, according to the Sun newspaper which states coroners must have five years experience as a solicitor to qualify for an appointment.
Now Winehouse’s parents are looking at the prospect of another inquest into their daughter’s death.
“We were informed the coroner was taking guidance from more experienced professionals and the verdict doesn’t’ appear to be in any doubt, but it’s upsetting to have to go through all this again,” said Mitch Winehouse. “We just hope that matters can be resolved soon.”
‘Wild Thing’ No More
The voice behind the 1966 rock classic “Wild Thing” is hanging up his microphone.
Blame it on lung cancer. Troggs singer Reg Presley said he had been diagnosed with the disease after he became ill during a gig in Germany in December, according to Reuters.
“I am receiving chemotherapy and at the moment not feeling too bad,” Presley said.
While The Troggs’ version of Wild Thing was the most famous version of the song written by Chip Taylor, it wasn’t the only rendition of the tune. The Wild Ones, Jimi Hendrix, even the late comedian Sam Kinison, are among the folks who have taken a stab at the famous song.
At one time Presley joked about spending the royalties he earned from “Wild Thing” on investigating crop circles and UFOs.