Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Who is Jesse Gregory James?

Who is Jesse Gregory James?  The entertainment and acting world knows him as Jesse James. He is an American television personality and CEO of West Coast Choppers, a manufacturer of custom-made motorcycles. James is the current host of Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike TV, focus of documentary Motorcycle Mania and former host of series Monster Garage, both on the Discovery Channel.

Career

Custom motorcycles and cars

James was born April 19, 1969. James started his career after several years as the bodyguard with Danzig and occasionally for other heavy metal bands such as Slayer and Soundgarden,[2] James opened West Coast Choppers in his mother's garage in 1992. The company grew quickly and soon moved to a larger facility for select customers and companies. About 200 bikes have been built at West Coast Choppers. West Coast Choppers is also sponsoring race teams in Top Fuel Drags and Super Late Model NASCAR. James recently bought custom car business Austin Speed Shop and has expanded into the custom car business. James has also built and is racing an off-road Trophy Truck and a Figure-8 race car.

Other business ventures

He is the owner of the Cisco Burger restaurant, which opened on April 28, 2006, just down the street from West Coast Choppers. The 1950s style hamburger stand — named after his beloved pit bull who is now deceased — features Angus beef burgers, low-fat burritos, organic vegetables, and biodegradable wrappings. James also has partial ownership in the South Austin Speed Shop in Austin, Texas.
Other business ventures include the Chopperdogs fan club and the Jesse's Girl clothing line. Since 2006, James has nationally published Garage magazine.[3]

Television

In 2000, the Discovery Channel made the documentary Motorcycle Mania, which chronicled James' everyday life. Following the success of the documentary, the Discovery Channel approached James with an offer to host a new show called Monster Garage where James and a crew of mechanics modified vehicles under a short deadline.
James later established Payupsucker Productions, under which he produced shows like History of the Chopper, Iraq Confidential with Jesse James and Green Scream, in which James plans to break the land speed record with an eco-friendly hydrogen car.
Through James' show "History Of The Chopper" there are also glimpses of his involvement with the Hells Angels and other 1% outlaw motorcycle clubs.
He appeared on the second season of Celebrity Apprentice. Each celebrity played to raise money for a favorite charity; James selected to play for the Long Beach Education Foundation.[4] Due to his poor performance in raising funds, James was fired by Donald Trump on the second-to-last show which aired May 3, 2009.
His show Jesse James is a Dead Man premiered on Spike TV on May 31, 2009. The show features James doing death defying stunts. The first episode set a ratings record for Spike, drawing the largest audience ever for an unscripted series on the network, with 2 million viewers.[5] The show is produced by Spike TV, BASE Productions and James' company, PayupSucker Productions.[6]
In conjunction with that appearance Marvel Comics created a special one-shot comic book where he evades death once again after considering retirement, and made it available in comic book stores for free distribution.[7]
James has appeared on an episode of Street Customs where he had his pickup truck customized by West Coast Customs.[citation needed]
He appeared in an ad for T-Mobile's Google cell phone with Whoopi Goldberg and Phil Jackson.[8]

Legal troubles

In 2007, James was fined $271,250 by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) after state officials determined that he had sold motorcycles in violation of the California's clean-air laws. According to police, James' customized bikes were emitting 10 times the legal limits of hydrocarbons. Investigators also found that the motorcycles did not have state-certified emissions equipment on their exhaust and fuel systems. The bikes were sold between 1998 and 2005.[9]
In July 2008, James faced a $422,680 breach of contract lawsuit from Michael Jones, a customer who hired James to build him a custom car, who contended that after paying $270,000 over two years, the car was not completed, and that James informed him that it would cost between $600,000 and $700,000.[10] That September, James faced another lawsuit from his former lawyer for $327,533 in unpaid fees.[11]

Personal life

James' Discovery Channel website states that his great-great-grandfather was the famous outlaw's cousin.[12] However, Eric James, president of the James Preservation Trust, which tracks claims of being a relative of the outlaw, says it can not find a record of him in the family tree, and has asked him to provide a family genealogy and DNA sampling for the Trust to review; he has not accepted the offer.[13][14][15]
Karla James
Janine Lindemulder
James has three children—a daughter and a son with his first wife, Karla, and a daughter with his second wife, adult film star/producer Janine Lindemulder.[16]
On July 16, 2005, James married actress Sandra Bullock, whom he met when she arranged for her 10-year-old godson, a fan, to tour the set of Monster Garage.[17]
In October 2009, James' ex-wife Lindemulder, who had been jailed for six months for tax evasion, sought to regain custody of her then five-year-old daughter with James, Sunny, after James had been granted sole guardianship of her. James sought to retain full guardianship, citing fear of the environment in which his daughter would be placed if returned to Lindemulder.[18][19] In December, James won custody, and Lindemulder was given weekly visitation rights during the daytime.[20]
Kat Von D Alias (Michelle "Bombshell" McGee)
In March 2010, tattoo model and stripper Michelle "Bombshell" McGee claimed she had an 11-month affair with James while Bullock was on location filming The Blind Side.[21] Shortly thereafter, James acknowledged that he had shown "poor judgment" with regard to the reports he had been unfaithful to his wife.[22] Bullock is caring for James' daughter Sunny in Los Angeles while he attends rehab at a facility in Arizona that specializes in drug, alcohol and sex addiction.[23][24]
On April 28, 2010, Bullock told People magazine that she was filing for divorce.[25]
On June 28, James' divorce from Bullock was finalized[26] with the grounds cited as "conflict of personalities." [27]

Jesse James and tattoo artist Kat Von D announced their engagement in January 2011.
 

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Monday, April 11, 2011

Who is Gerard Arthur Way?

Who is Gerard Arthur Way? The music and entertainment world knows him as Gerald Way, he is an American musician and comic book writer who has served as lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance since its formation in 2001. He is also the writer of the Eisner Award-winning comic book The Umbrella Academy.

Early life

Gerard Way was born April 9, 1977 in Summit, New Jersey[1] to Donna Lee (née Rush) and Donald Way. He has Italian ancestry on his mother's side and Scottish ancestry on his father's. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and first began singing publicly in the fourth grade, when he played the role of Peter Pan in a school musical production. His maternal grandmother, Elena Lee Rush, was a great creative influence who taught him to sing, paint, and perform from a young age; he has said that "she has taught me everything I know".[2]
At the age of 15, Way was held at gunpoint, as he said in an April 2008 Rolling Stone interview: "I got held up with a .357 Magnum, had a gun pointed to my head and put on the floor, execution-style." He went on to say that "no matter how ugly the world gets or how stupid it shows me it is, I always have faith."[3]
Way attended Belleville High School until he graduated in 1995. Deciding to pursue a career in the comic-book industry,[4] he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.[2][5]

Career

Music

As teenagers Gerard and his brother Mikey Way, who later became the bassist of My Chemical Romance, were influenced by the bands Iron Maiden and The Misfits as well as British artists such as Pulp, Blur and Morrissey and The Smiths. Way originally wanted to be a guitarist. His grandmother bought him his first guitar at the age of eight and he played in short-lived bands such as Ray Gun Jones and Nancy Drew with future bandmate Ray Toro, but when he was not successful (one band kicking him out due to his lack of skill with the guitar), he chose to concentrate on his art career.

Way was working as an intern for Cartoon Network in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Seeing the effects of the attacks first-hand prompted Way to change his views on life in the following weeks. He told Spin magazine, "I literally said to myself, 'Fuck art. I’ve gotta get out of the basement. I’ve gotta see the world. I’ve gotta make a difference.'"[6] To help deal with the emotional effects the attacks had on him, Way wrote the lyrics to the song "Skylines and Turnstiles", which has since been identified as the first song by My Chemical Romance.[7] Soon after, My Chemical Romance began to assemble as a band.
Way has contributed vocally to bands such as Every Time I Die's 'Kill The Music', Head Automatica's 'Graduation Day', Say Anything's "In Defense Of The Genre", and The Oval Portrait's "From My Cold Dead Hands" and "Barnabus Collins Has More Skeletons In His Closet Than Vincent Price".
In many interviews Way has stated that music turned out to be an effective outlet to deal with his longtime battles against depression, alcoholism and prescription drug use. The use of music as a way to resolve personal battles has caused Way to create deeply personal songs such as "Helena,"[8] which was written in memory of his late grandmother.
In early 2009, Way and Japanese rock singer Kyosuke Himuro co-produced the new theme song for Advent Children Complete, the Blu-Ray director's cut of the movie sequel to the popular video game franchise, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. He is also credited with writing the lyrics, and singing alongside Himuro. The song is entitled "Safe and Sound," and according to Himuro's website, will be available on iTunes on April 29, 2009.[9] "Safe and Sound" is only heard on the Japanese release of the film; the English release uses Himuro's "Calling" (the original ending theme for Advent Children) in place of it.

Writing

Gerard Way's first attempt at writing a comic was at the age of 16, writing a short-lived comic series called 'On Raven's Wings', which was cancelled after Issue 2 due to losing the art team; he was credited as Garry Way.[10]
In 2007, Way began writing the comic-book miniseries The Umbrella Academy. Way wrote the story and illustrated the original version, but cartoonist Gabriel Ba recreated all of Way's original drawings in the final version. A few of Way's first drawings of the characters can be seen in the last few pages of the first book in the series, "The Apocalypse Suite".
The Apocalypse Suite was first released by Dark Horse Comics in their Free Comic Book Day issue on May 5, 2007.[11] Since then, an eight-page story has been published on MySpace, entitled "Safe & Sound".[12] The first official issue was released on September 19, 2007.[13] The first issue to sell out and consequently there was a second printing released on October 17, 2007.[14] The next installment was released on November 26, 2008.[15]
He and fellow artists Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan are currently in the process of developing and creating a new comic-book series titled "The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys", which Way announced at Comic Con 2009.

Cartoons

In 2001 Way co-created a cartoon with Joe Boyle called The Breakfast Monkey. They pitched it to Cartoon Network, but the network declined to pick up the concept on the grounds that it was too similar to the existing property Aqua Teen Hunger Force.[16]

Personal life


Way has struggled with alcoholism and prescription drug addiction for many years and has now been sober since August 2004.[17] In a recent issue of Spin magazine, he said that, having become a happier person and feeling more in control, he has been able to enjoy the occasional recreational drink.
On September 3, 2007 after a concert in Colorado, Way married LynZ of Mindless Self Indulgence backstage on the final date of the Projekt Revolution tour. A member of Live Nation's touring staff that was also an ordained minister performed the low-key ceremony.[18] He currently lives with his wife in Los Angeles, California.[19] Their daughter, Bandit Lee Way, was born in California on May 27, 2009.[20]

Discography

My Chemical Romance

Year Album details Chart peaks Certifications
(sales thresholds)
US
[21]		 AUS
[22]		 AUT
[23]		 CAN
[21]		 GER
[24]		 IRL
[25]		 JPN
[26]		 MEX
[27]		 NZL
[28]		 SWE
[29]		 UK
[30]
2002 I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
— — — — — — 250 — — — 129 UK: Gold[31]
2004 Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
28 38 73 — 57 36 73 — 30 — 34
2006 The Black Parade
  • Released: October 23, 2006
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Format: CD, CS, DD, Enhanced CD, 2×LP
 2 3 4 2 11 5 10 35 1 4 2
2010 Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys
  • Released: November 22, 2010
  • Label: Reprise Records
  • Format: CD, DD
 8 10 15 13 18 14 8 9 4 — 14
"—" denotes a release that did not chart












 

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Who is Deryck Jason Whibley?

Who is Deryck Jason Whibley?[1]  The entertainment and music world knows him as Deryck Whibley he is a Canadian musician and producer, best known for his work as the guitarist, lead vocalist, songwriter and producer of the Juno Award-winning rock band Sum 41.

Early life and Sum 41

Whibley was born March 21, 1980 in Scarborough, Ontario. He never met his father, and talks of it in the song "Dear Father" from Sum 41's fourth album Underclass Hero.[2] He is of English descent. He was in several bands before he met Steve Jocz in high school. His first band was called "The Powerful Young Hustlerz", a hip hop band that covered songs from The Beastie Boys and N.W.A. Deryck and Steve became good friends and started a band called "Kaspir" after Deryck convinced Steve that he was the best drummer around. The band consisted of Whibley as lead singer, Jocz on drums, Mark Spicoluk on bass, Dave Baksh and Marc Costanzo on guitar. They later fired Spicoluk due to him getting into too much trouble, and Costanzo left to form the pop band, Len. Richard "Twitch" Roy was the replacement bassist for Spicoluk before being fired for crashing the band's touring van on an East Coast Canadian tour. They changed their name from "Kaspir" to "Sum 41" (the 41st day into the summer when the band got together) for a supernova show. They then added Cone McCaslin to the lineup.

Professional career



Besides Sum 41, Whibley developed a professional career in the music industry as producer and manager. Deryck was part of Bunk Rock Music, a music management and production company. He produced for No Warning with the company as well. Since parting ways with Greig Nori, he sold his part of the company in early 2005.
During the Sum 41 hiatus in 2005 and 2006, he worked with Tommy Lee on guitar and backing vocals for his album, Tommyland: The Ride, and A Million in Prizes: The Anthology with Iggy Pop.
He worked as the producer of We Have an Emergency, the debut album by Sum 41 co-member Cone McCaslin's side project The Operation M.D.. In 2007, he mixed the debut album of the band Permanent Me. He was also involved with the Avril Lavigne album, The Best Damn Thing, where he produced and played guitar.[3]
Besides his musical career, he has worked on occasion as an actor. He portrayed the character Tony in the movie, Dirty Love, and himself as a guest character in King of the Hill.
In November 2007, Whibley suffered a herniated disk while drumming on the song "Pain for Pleasure". This happened while Sum 41 was on tour with Finger Eleven, and the remainder of the Strength in Numbers Tour was canceled although Finger Eleven did travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba to play the show with Die Mannequin and Inward Eye in replacement of Sum 41.[4]
On the Operation M.D.'s second album Birds + Bee Stings, which was released on June 29, 2010, Deryck mixed one track entitled "Sick + Twisted". He also played keyboards and piano on the same track. Deryck has also joined the band live, playing guitar on this song, on December 21, 2010, at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario.
Deryck contributed some guitar to Tommy Lee's side project Methods of Mayhem's second album A Public Disservice Announcement which was released on September 21, 2010.

Personal life

Whibley married fellow singer Avril Lavigne in 2006. The couple occasionally performed together, and they have spoken about their relationship in interviews. It was announced on September 17, 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley separated. Lavigne initiated divorce proceedings in October 2009 claiming irreconcilable differences.[5]
On August 5, 2010, Deryck Whibley was hospitalized after he was attacked in a bar in Japan late at night by three unknown males.[6] After an MRI scan, it was revealed that Deryck slipped a disc in his back for the second time.[7] Advised not to play, Whibley rejoined the band on August 8 in Osaka for the Summer Sonic Festival.[8]

Marriage to Avril Lavigne



Whibley and Avril Lavigne, began dating when she was 19 years old, after being friends since she was 17.[9] Only a few weeks before they met, Lavigne had publicly stated that she was having trouble meeting boys because her bodyguards scared them away. In June 2005, Whibley surprised Lavigne with a trip to Venice, including a gondola ride and a romantic picnic, and on June 27th, he proposed to her.[10]
She initially wanted to have a "rock n' roll, goth wedding", but she admitted to having doubts about going against tradition. "I've been dreaming about my wedding day since I was a little girl. I have to wear the white dress.... People thought that I would [wear a] black wedding dress, and I would have. But at the same time, I was thinking about the wedding pictures, and I wanted to be in style. I didn't want to be thinking, 20 years later, 'Oh, why did I wear my hair like that?'"[11]
The wedding was held on 15 July 2006. About 110 guests attended the wedding, which was held at a private estate in Montecito, California.[12] Lavigne, wearing a gown designed by Vera Wang walked down the aisle with her father, Jean-Claude, to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March". Lavigne chose a colour theme of red and white, including red rose petals and centerpieces of distinctly coloured flowers. The wedding included cocktails for an hour before the reception and a sit-down dinner. The song "Iris", by the Goo Goo Dolls, was played during Lavigne and Whibley's first dance.[13]
Seven months into their marriage, Lavigne stated that she was "the best thing that's ever happened to him", and suggested that she helped Whibley stay off drugs since they'd begun dating. "He doesn't do drugs. Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I wouldn't be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started dating. I've never done cocaine in my life, and I'm proud of that. I am 100 percent against drugs."[11] The marriage lasted a little more than three years. It was announced on 17 September 2009 that Lavigne and Whibley had split up and that divorce papers would soon follow.[14] On 9 October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. She later released a statement reading, "I am grateful for our time together, and I am grateful and blessed for our remaining friendship."[9] The divorce was finalized on 16 November 2010, officially ending the marriage.

Discography

Sum 41

 
















 

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Who is Virginia Madsen?


Who isVirginia Madsen? The entertainment and acting world knows Madsen as an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience. Two decades later, she had an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated role in the 2004 film Sideways.

Early life

Madsen was born September 11, 1961  in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Elaine (née Melson), an Emmy-winning poet, producer and playwright who often works for PBS, and Calvin Madsen, a fireman.[1] Madsen's mother left a career in corporate business to pursue a writing career.[2] Madsen's brother is actor Michael Madsen. Her paternal grandparents were Danish and her mother has Irish and Native American ancestry.[3] Madsen is a graduate of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.[4][5]
Her first effort as a thespian was as her brother’s assistant in magic shows the two would concoct for their family. She later attended the Ted Liss Acting Studio in Chicago and Harand Camp Adult Theater Seminar in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.


Career

Film

Audiences first caught a glimpse of Madsen in a bit part she landed as Lisa in the teen sex comedy Class. She portrayed a role as cellist named Madeline in Electric Dreams (1984), which was the first film release by Virgin Films Production Company.[citation needed] She was cast as Princess Irulan in David Lynch's science fiction epic Dune (1984).[7]
Madsen first became popular with audiences in 1986 with her portrayal of a Catholic schoolgirl who fell in love with a boy from a prison camp in Duncan Gibbons's Fire with Fire. As beauty queen Dixie Lee Boxx, she was the sexy romantic interest of minor-league baseball manager Cecil "Stud" Cantrell (William Petersen) in the made-for-cable Long Gone (1987). She appeared as Maddie Hayes' cousin in the final season of Moonlighting.
She also starred in the 1992 horror film Candyman. During the filming of Candyman Madsen was hypnotised so that her pupils would remain dilated while she acted out certain scenes. The director Bernard Rose wanted the character to not have a typical screaming style of when confronted by the villain. Madsen stated in an interview for the DVD in 2004 that there were some days during filming that she did not remember much due to the hypnotism. She told her director that she did not want to be hypnotised after the initial few experiences.
A couple of provocative film appearances followed: 1990's The Hot Spot with Don Johnson, directed by Dennis Hopper, and the equally steamy Third Degree Burn with Treat Williams. She was also co-host of the TV series Unsolved Mysteries in 1999, the show's final season on CBS.



Madsen appeared in a small but key role in the Francis Ford Coppola drama The Rainmaker (1997) starring Matt Damon. Film critic Roger Ebert said that Madsen had a "strong scene,"[8] while reviewer James Berardinelli noted that "the supporting cast is solid, with turns from... Virginia Madsen as a witness for the plaintiff".[9] Madsen had spent more than twenty years in minor films before her breakout critically acclaimed performance in Sideways (2004). The role catapulted her onto the Hollywood A-list.[10] Her first major role after Sideways was opposite Harrison Ford in Firewall. She later appeared in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, in a key role as the angel. She co-starred with Jim Carrey in The Number 23 and Billy Bob Thornton in The Astronaut Farmer; both films opened in North America on February 23, 2007.
She voiced Queen Hippolyte, mother of Wonder Woman, in the 2009 animated Wonder Woman film.

Television

Madsen has made numerous television appearances including: Star Trek: Voyager, CSI: Miami, Dawson's Creek, The Practice, Frasier, and other series. She starred opposite Ray Liotta in CBS's short-lived crime drama series Smith. She also made many appearances in the final season of the USA series Monk.
She appeared with Kenny Loggins in the music video "I'm Free", from the Footloose soundtrack (1984).
In 2010, she landed the starring role of Cheryl West in the ABC crime series Scoundrels. In December 2010 it was announced that she will be joining the cast of NBC's science fiction action series The Event.[11]

Producer

In 2008, she formed her own film production company called Title IX Prods.[12] Her first project was a film made with her mother called I Know a Woman Like That. The film is a documentary about the lives of older women. Her second project is called Fighting Gravity and is about the inability of female ski jumpers to obtain recognition in Olympic competition.[13]










Personal life


Danny Houston
Billy Campbell
When Madsen arrived in Hollywood, she was engaged to actor Billy Campbell. She married actor Danny Huston in 1989 and they divorced in 1992. Madsen also had a relationship with actor Antonio Sabàto, Jr., with whom she had a son, Jack Antonio (born August 6, 1994).
Antonio Sabàto, Jr.,
Madsen has heterochromia, a genetic trait resulting in different pigmentation of the eyes. Madsen has one green eye, and one half-green, half-brown eye.
She was a member of the US Dramatic Jury at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Awards

Nominations: Academy Awards
  • Sideways (2004) – Best Supporting Actress
Nominations: Golden Globes
  • Sideways (2004) – Best Supporting Actress

Other awards

Wins:

Filmography









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