Now that the coroner has revealed Cory Monteith’s cause of death– heroin overdose with alcohol–there will be a lot of questions. What kind of rehab was he in? Why was he in the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel for a week? What about all these people who saw him or who were with him in the days leading up to this event? If Monteith was shooting heroin, didn’t anyone see tracks on his arms? This isn’t to lay blame. But it’s a little perplexing that this went on and on without any red flags. The coroner won’t say anything more about the heroin, so the precise descriptions are hard to get. But this isn’t like an overdose from pills too much cocaine, drinking to excess. This is the hard stuff. Stay tuned…
Jay Z Reaches Holy Grail of 500K Debut, Number 1 with “Magna Carta”
Jay Z reached his own Holy Grail: his “Magna Carta” album sold 528,802 copies and debuts this week at number 1. That amount is ten times the copies of the number 2 album, singer Ciara’s self titled new collection. Indeed, for mid summer, this past week was pretty ho ho, sales wise. The number 50 album sold only 6,525 copies for example. And Kanye West’s “Yeezus” album, lacking a real hit single,” is still in the top 10. But the 28,000 copies it sold is what Kanye spends on hoodies. On the upside, Kanye’s been selling $120 t shirts to someone this week.
“Magna Carta” also sold 1 million copies at half price to Samsung, which gave them away to holders of their devices. No one knows how many of that million actually went to people. But since Samsung hasn’t made an announcement of any kind, it could be the numbers were lower than hoped for. A lot of people didn’t like giving all the info Samsung was requesting in exchange for the free download. Anyway, the million Samsung copies don’t count on the charts.
The album is already number 2 in real time on iTunes. It may not have “legs.” But the Justin Timberlake single “Holy Grail” is a hit. Maybe Justin will include a non-rap version on his album the way Alicia Keys did with “Empire State of Mind.” We can only hope.
PS “Magna Carta” broke a record at Spotify– 14 million streams. Biggest ever. One of them was mine. You’re welcome, Jay Z!
“Glee” Star Cory Monteith Autopsy Results: “Primarily Heroin,” Drug Toxicity and Alcohol
UPDATE: “Glee” star Cory Monteith died of a mixture of heroin, drug toxicity and alcohol according to the Vancouver coroner. Barb McLintock of the British Columbia coroner’s office says in this video “primarily heroin.” Wow. Some rehab. Heroin has to be a result much more severe than anyone expected. And I do wonder how he could have been in that condition for week and no one noticed.
Earlier I told had been told by the coroner’s office that the results of the autopsy would be inconclusive and I went with that. Well, blame it on Canada.
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Kinky Boots: First the Musical, Now the Actual Boots (Are You Surprised?)
“Kinky Boots” as a movie was so-so in the U.S. But now thanks to Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, it’s a Tony Award winning musical. How long did you think it would take for someone to make the actual boots? Into the fray jumps publicity-loving marketing expert Kenneth Cole. He’s manufacturing a line of Kinky Boots for the fall. All proceeds will go the Kenneth Cole Foundation which is in turn supporting the Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT advocacy group. It’s all good! The boots are priced from $150-$400, but if a buyer presents a “Kinky Boots” ticket stub, they get 20% off.
Listen: Sting — First Song from Coming Broadway “The Last Ship”
The first single from Sting’s new album, “The Last Ship,” is released today officially on iTunes. “Practical Arrangement” has been on You Tube for about a week (who knew?). The song is also from the coming Broadway show of the same name. It’s a nice lead single release but don’t expect this to be Top 40. This is purely for the enjoyment of hearing a beautiful ballad that will fit like a jigsaw puzzle piece into the whole show. “The Last Ship” is Sting’s first new original work in several years. It’s going to surprise people, because as much as we might want a new rock album, he continues to expand and grow as a composer. Lovely song, and wait til you hear the rest.
Country Superstar Randy Travis “Stabilized,” Still Critical, Had Been on Life Support
If Randy Travis survives everything he’s been though the country superstar will have enough material for five albums. Let’s pray that he makes it. Travis has made it through surgery and a stroke, and congenital heart failure. Things were so bad, his publicist now reveals, he was put on life support. Here’s the transcript of this afternoon’s press conference:
TRANSCRIPT:
((Dr. Michael Mack))
My name is Michael Mack. I’m a cardiac surgeon and the medical director of cardiovascular disease at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas.
I am joined by Dr. Erwin who is an intensivist at The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano and Mary Davis who is the fiancée of Randy Travis.
We would like to update you as to Mr. Travis’ condition since our last statements early last week.
As events have occurred it’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together. It’s been much clearer as to what events transpired and what Mr. Travis’ medical condition is.
On Sunday, July 7, he was admitted through the emergency room of Baylor McKinney hospital whereupon he was put on life support. He was then transferred here to The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano for a higher level of support.
For the first 48 hours after transfer he required mechanical devices to support his circulation and his heart.
His heart did respond positively to that and after a 48-hour period of time we were able to wean him from that support.
During this period of time of resuscitation, he suffered a stroke. As a result of that stroke, pressure built up in his brain that required an emergency neurosurgical operation to relieve that pressure.
That operation was successful and Mr. Travis has awakened since that operation.
In terms of putting together the sequence of medical events, we were concerned initially that he had acute viral myocarditis as a cause of this.
As we’re able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, he did suffer an acute viral illness over the past three weeks, but that seems to have tipped over a more chronic condition.
He has what’s called idiopathic cardiomyopathy, which means he has scarring of his heart muscle that is causing his heart to be weak and not able to support his circulation without help of either medical devices of medication.
We performed a biopsy of his heart muscle and it shows scar tissue. It does not show active infection. From the appearance on echocardiograms, which are images of his heart, this is not the appearance of either drugs or alcohol causing the heart condition.
Mr. Travis does have a family history of cardiomyopathy and it is more likely related to that.
At the current time, Mr. Travis’ condition is stabilized and I would like to turn to Dr. Erwin for a further update.
((Dr. Gary Erwin))
Thank you. As Dr. Mack mentioned previously, Mr. Travis is no longer requiring any mechanical devices that help support his heart. He does remain on intravenous medications to help support his heart, but we are decreasing the doses of those everyday and actually beginning to start him on oral medications which he will use long term to help support his heart.
As a result of his heart condition, acutely, and the stroke, he was put on a ventilator to help him breathe during his hospitalization. He remains on that, but we are decreasing that support daily.
He is breathing spontaneously with the help of the ventilator and hope to have him weaned off of that very soon breathing completely on his own.
In terms of his stroke, he has responded well to the surgical procedure he had to relieve the pressure in his brain. We’re seeing improvements in brain scans showing decreased swelling of his brain. He is awake and alert interacting with his family and friends and beginning to start doing some early physical therapy.
We do anticipate that he will need to stay here at The Heart Hospital for another two to three weeks to stabilize his heart during which time we will begin aggressive physical therapy. After he is discharged from here, we anticipate transfer to an inpatient facility where can receive aggressive physical therapy. We anticipate it will take months to recover from the stroke.
I would now like to ask Mary Davis, Randy’s fiancée, to say a few words. Mary.
((Ms. Mary Davis))
Thank you. First and foremost, I just want to thank the friends, the family, the outpouring of love and affection that has shown up at the hospital and at home and through several different avenues of support.
I know that those are prayers that have helped mend his heart along with the skilled hands of the physicians and doctors and nurses here at The Heart Hospital of Baylor in Plano.
I know that Randy feels each and every one of those. He feels the hands of the doctors and the care of the nurses and the love of his fans. His friends and family have all been touched by that. He is responding well to voices and he sees and he understands. He’s miles beyond where any of us thought he would be a few days ago.
It’s heart-warming to see that we have such a strong person under there that’s willing to fight with us. We all know now that we had greatness to work with. We ask for your continued support. I know that Randy will be so touched by that when he understands the magnitude of it all.
So thank you and I appreciate everything everybody has done here at the hospital to give us the outcome that we’ve received. With the understanding now in retrospect that this could have occurred anywhere at anytime. We were in the finest place we could be to have the best outcome that we could ever have. Thank you.
((Dr. Michael Mack))
Although Mr. Travis is still in critical condition, it has stabilized. We do not anticipate significant changes on a daily basis, but we will keep you informed as his condition improves.
“Glee”: Cory Monteith Missed the Last Three Episodes of Season Four
There’s a lot of speculation about that will happen on “Glee” now that Cory Monteith is gone. But fans and those who don’t know much about “Glee” (like me) should remember that Monteith missed the last three episodes of this past season anyway. He went into rehab on March 31st. His character, Finn, was last seen joining a fraternity at his college. Plot -wise, Finn was left in limbo with an ellipsis(three dots)…
So now what? The show could easily write him out altogether, with news of happiness and success away at school. A brief memorial montage would be suitable. I certainly hope “Glee” won’t kill Finn and stage a funeral. That would just be beyond exploitation. I doubt the actors or crew would elect to go through that ordeal.
Meanwhile, there’s still no adequate explanation for why Monteith was in a Vancouver hotel for six days. He wasn’t filming a show or movie. His girlfriend, Lea Michele, was on a separate vacation in Mexico. It’s a little peculiar that someone with lifelong substance abuse problems, who’d just spent a month in rehab and had missed three episodes of a network TV show consequently, was left to his own devices to like that.
More to come without a doubt…
Jenny McCarthy Added to “The View”– First Topless Co-Host
I told you back on May 21st that Jenny McCarthy was being considered for “The View.” Over the weekend I was told the deal was done. Today ABC made the announcement. Now “The View ” consists of Whoopi (who’s really a superior comedienne to McCarthy), Sherri Shepherd, and Barbara Walters, who’s on the way out. The show is lacking a journalist a la Meredith Vieira or someone from beyond simply the world of entertainment.
I’m told the addition of McCarthy may bring the idea of Brooke Shields coming to “The View” to an end. Back in February I was told Shields was definitely in. But during the spring, Shields told she’d never gotten an offer. Now it seems moot. Maybe they should put Elizabeth Vargas in charge of that show as Walters departs. At any rate, McCarthy will be fine as long as she doesn’t get into spouting her views on autism and vaccines.
With McCarthy we might get New Kids on the Block, adult version, as performers. Word in the tabloids is that she’s dating Donnie Wahlberg. But no Jim Carrey, that’s for sure.
McCarthy becomes the first co-host of “The View” to have posed topless for Playboy. After watching this video, I guess I will be tuning for more Hot Topics this fall.
jenny-mccarthy-americas-sweetheart-returns 1280×720 from etxea on Vimeo.
HBO “Newsroom” Returns: Ironic Nod to Occupy Wall Street As They Take to Streets
On Aaron Sorkin’s much improved “The Newsroom,” Occupy Wall Street is in its nascent planning stages. The show picks up in Season 2 in summer 2011 as OWS is getting itself ready for Zuccotti Park. In real life, OWS revived on Sunday night as well with protests all over the country over the Trayvon Martin verdict. In New York, protesters marched from Union Square up the east side to Harlem. You could watch them on livestream via something called Timcast promoted by Vice magazine. A thousand or so protesters dissipated to a few hundred in the blistering night heat and humidity. Still, it looked pretty bad.
And the coincidence of “The Newroom” was ironic, especially since on the show HBO parent TimeWarner is mentioned as a corporate evil. This season should be good. Already guest stars Jane Fonda, Chris Messina, Marcia Gay Harden are kicking ass. And the core cast seems a lot more revved up, especially Dev Patel as Neil (who’s going to get into the OWS stuff). And Tom Sadoski seems like he’s going to more assertive and distinct. Still loving Emily Mortimer, and worrying that Alison Pill’s character will go to Uganda and have a Lara Logan-like experience. Sorkin sneaks in a funny reference when he has Marcia Gay Harden say Pill looks like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Rooney Mara opened Sorkin’s “Social Network” and played the tattoo girl.
Newcomer Hamish Linklater, meantime, is brought up from the network’s Washington division to fill in for Jim (John Gallagher Jr) who goes to cover the Romney campaign. Linklater plays Jerry Dantana– called “Dantana” and a reference to the real Dan Tana, formerly of the famed West Hollywood eatery. (Yes there was a TV series years ago starring Robert Uhrich I think as Dan Tana.) Jerry gets a tip on a secret Black Ops mission called Genoa. That tip will soon turn “The Newsroom” inside out. Sorkin has come up with an “umbrella” story that looks captivating. I can’t wait for more. And so much dialogue! Wow! More than on
“The West Wing” and the opening monologue from “The Social Network” combined!
Box Office: Travolta-DeNiro Film DOA in First Weekend
“The Killing Season,” in which John Travolta tries out a ridiculous Serbian accent, was dead on arrival this weekend at the box office. Robert DeNiro was praised for his performance, but the movie overall was panned and no one wanted to see it. In 12 theatres “Killing Season” made a total of $25,000. Compare that to “Fruitvale Station” which was in 7 theatres and made $75,000. That’s the whole story right there. “Fruitvale,” rightly so, has taken off like gangbusters. “Killing Season” will eke out another week in theaters and head to video. The other big box office story was “Pacific Rim” finishing third in its first week behind “Despicable Me” and “Grown Ups 2.” This makes “Pacific Rim” another block-bust, which is different than a blockbuster.
“Pacific Rim” will have to depend solely on international sales to put it in the black. So far in the US it’s made $38 million, while abroad it’s done $38 mil. I fear for the studios when foreigners really start to understand English and realize these movies are all the same, just explosions with bad scripts.