Today's Blind Items - Paranoia

Back in the day, there was this A- list Christian pop singer. Let us call him (AA). At the time this happened he was selling out churches and getting a couple thousand people a night at his concerts. He won multiple Dive Awards and was nominated for some GRAMMY Awards too. One of the members of his band was bordering between HIV+ and full blown AIDS. The disease had definitely started to take its toll on him, but he was still touring and playing and managed to keep up with everyone else.

No one outside the band knew about his diagnosis. If the news ever got out, the singer would be forced to fire the band member. The crowds the singer was playing to would have stayed away in droves. Added into this mix is that the band member was married to a woman who was also HIV+ but not sick at all and never did get sick and is to this day very much alive. I am still very unsure as to how she became HIV+. There is the one story that she got infected by her husband. The other story is that she perhaps made her living doing on the side sex work and became infected that way. Our band member also toured with another group. Whenever he toured with that group, AA and the band member's wife would hook up. This was a long time thing. Whether her motive was to make sure her husband kept his job or because she actually cared for AA, this relationship did go on a long time. 

AA knew the wife was infected, but never used protection with her. Ever. She had convinced him he would be safe. At about the time the band member started getting really sick and couldn't tour any longer, AA and the wife broke things off.

It was a short time after that happened, that AA was asked by his record label to get a life insurance policy that would cover them if he died. AA said sure, and then he was told he would need to have blood drawn for the test. It was then that he freaked out. He didn't want to know if he was infected. He had never thought about it until that moment when it was front and center. He put the test off as long as possible and finally quit his record label just so he didn't have to get his blood drawn. He became paranoid and refused to go on tour. He became a recluse and just left the industry cold turkey. This went on for four or five years and he became more and more withdrawn from society. Then, one day he was driving his car and ended up in a very bad accident. He was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital. When he woke up, he was being given a transfusion. He freaked out. For the first two days he was there, he was waiting for them to tell him the bad news that he was HIV+. He finally worked up the courage to ask the doctor and the doctor told AA that he was definitely not HIV+. AA literally cried for hours at the news. He never did regain his previous fame. He had been away too long and burned too many bridges. 

Blind Items Revealed #9 - Anniversary Month

March 30, 2016

Part One

On Sunday night I was surfing the internet and saw an article about Bangkok.. Specifically a hotel in Bangkok that was undergoing a renovation. I remembered staying in that hotel like it happened yesterday, but is getting on towards a decade. I have always wanted to write about what happened that trip but I don't think I am a good enough writer to convey all that was going on around me during that trip. It is one thing to describe the action, which I will do, but the heat and humidity soaking through clothes after just a few minutes or the massive case of food poisoning that made one 24 hour window a foggy haze of trips between an unforgiving to small couch and the cold tile floors of the bathroom.

I had never been to Thailand before and have never been back since. This all happened shortly after the whole traipsing through Europe thing looking for the director. My job this time was a little different. I didn't have to find anyone, because I knew where they were, but I had to see if the actor needed to be replaced before things got too far along. The actor was a mess of drugs and booze and Thailand was not helping things.

I was sitting at home getting ready to go to work. I got a call and was told to pack a suitcase and bring my passport to the office. Originally I was told I was going to be gone for a week which is pretty fast when you are traveling halfway across the world. In reality it ended up being about half that amount of time.

I get to the office and am introduced to an actor. You all know him. Good looking. Short. Chain smoker. Has a lot of sex with actresses (now Instagram models) and makes generally bad movies. His last name is almost a slur. Probably will be someday. He was supposed to go on this trip with me. Let us call him JM. The last time I saw JM on that trip was in an airport bar getting hammered with a group of flight attendants who had their trip canceled because the airplane that was going to take them back to Poland had been grounded back in Poland. Yeah, I asked him about that a few years later and he barely remembered it. I think parties like that happen to him frequently. Presumably JM was going with me in case the actor in question was just too far gone to even work any longer. Two totally different looking actors. You can tell this was a really high quality project. This ended up being straight to DVD. Somehow, over time they have sold over 250,000 DVD's of this movie. I know. Crazy. I never saw any of it.

The gist of what I am doing is told to me in the office and by 11 in the morning I'm at LAX and by 1130 I am abandoned by JM. Because this was last minute and the producers were cheap, I was thrown on a flight that connected through Taiwan. Lovely airport Taiwan. never saw anything else. That was a 13 hour flight and then the layover and then another 3 or 4 hour flight. I get picked up at the airport around midnight local time. Did I tell you about the middle seat I had on the 13 hour flight? I think I may have mentioned I am a large person. The people on either side of me may have been larger. They also enjoyed their meals loudly while talking around me both front and back. Good times.

I was picked up at the airport and was dropped off at the hotel which I spoke about before. American chain. From the outside it looked the same as any other of their hotels. Inside? Even though it was past midnight, the inside was packed. The entire lobby was filled with an AARP convention's worth of men and their 18 year old girlfriends. The lobby bar and restaurant were filled with these couples. I have never seen so much grab ass in my life. When we were driving in the car the final few blocks to the hotel  saw the occasional couple, but this was full on in your face. The noise was deafening. The guys were all talking to each other while the women were talking to each other and the only interruptions occurred when one of the old guys would shove his grizzled tongue down the throat of one of the teens while fondling her beneath her barely there clothes.

You know, I don't judge and am open to just about anything, but it was just so in your face. It is like someone dry humping in an elevator or a Starbucks line. I don't care if you are dry humping in public, but when you have 12 inches of space between you and a person you don't know, maybe you should wait a minute or two or go someplace where you don't have to worry about hitting someone else with the follow through on your thrusting.

Part Two is more lobby fun and we meet the actor I am there to see and another actor who is not as prim and proper as he likes to pretend to the world.

Part Two

March 31, 2016

Was every guy in the world over the age of 60 in this hotel lobby at this particular second? That was what I was wondering as I made my way to a bank of elevators in the middle of the night headed to my room. The financial part of my brain kicked in and I thought if this was one random hotel on a random night and if this was being repeated all over the country, the amount of dollars brought in by this to the country must be staggering. In the elevator I was joined by two couples who obviously were about to head up to their rooms to finish what they had started in the lobby. One of the guys, who, judging by his accent was Australian, started speaking to me. While holding on to the breast of his female companion, he looked me up and down in my wrinkled suit and bloodshot eyes and said what I needed was a drink and a lady and the world would be all good again. The fact that he said this while missing several teeth and booze breath that would challenge the capability of a breathalyzer I wasn't sure I ever wanted to see that world of which he spoke. Before I could reply he then boasted this was the third woman he was taking to his room that day. He then did that whole Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi thing with the other guy in the elevator, who up to that point had been making out with the woman who was with him. Not making out in a Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams Notebook way or even porn making out. This was like some guy who had practiced on a pillow for forty years and was making his first foray into the real thing. Did I tell you before how slow the elevator moved and how tall the hotel was? I finally got to my floor. The door opened and when I steppe out in the hallway I gasped for air. I realized that I had been holding my breath after getting a whiff of the vapors those guys had been emanating.

The room? Nothing unlike any other of the hotel's worldwide properties. You know, balcony, blackout curtains, mini-bar with boxes of condoms and sex toys individually wrapped. Oh, did I mention the lubes, oils or natural Viagra also for sale?

I was so exhausted but couldn't sleep. I took a shower and climbed into bed. I wish I had been like Gordon Ramsay in Hotel Hell and brought a sleeping bag with me. I flipped through the million cable channels and watched rugby until I fell asleep.

I know all of you like to get straight to the celebrity blind parts of these things, but all of this was part of it and the experience. I guess I preferred Hollywood where vices are hidden and you have to pry out the secrets.

My meeting was at 11 in the morning. That is my recollection. It has been awhile now. I do remember I had time to go slow in the morning. There was no rushing around. My original plan was to eat in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Have you ever seen a bar in the daylight? That harsh light they try so hard to block out of nightclubs? The restaurant was nice enough in the daylight, but the aftermath of a night of drinking and partying was evident everywhere. Not in the room itself, but the people. i'm sure by later that night, most of these guys would be ready to go again, but that hotel restaurant was a really depressing sight I won't soon forget.

i wandered outside and saw a place to eat. Everything was open. i remember exactly what I ate. It was pork Pad Thai. It was to be the only meal I ate the entire visit. I took a cab over to the set and it was not like any set I had been on before. There was no main area where everyone parked and then shuttled over to the set. This was one big conglomeration of trailers and equipment and food stalls and tables and makeshift bars. There were literally women everywhere. Apparently to film there, the production had to hire not only crew, but also their families and second cousins and friends down the street. It was an army of workers. In Hollywood, with that number of people on set, the entire budget of this movie would be gone in a couple of days. Here, they would be able to film for six weeks. I asked around and found the actor I was looking for. I tried to find the producer contact I was supposed to meet, but apparently he was getting a massage. Uh huh.

The actor. You all know him. Honestly you do. Even if I tell you that as it stands right now he is a B- list actor, all of you know him. In a change of pace, lets call him SD. Some people might dispute the whole SD thing, but I'm going with it. He was a mess when I saw him, but not in a I'm taking drugs and going to die kind of way. This was an I partied all night like a rock star because everyone in this country knows my franchise so I partied until an hour before coming to set kind of way. The movie was not tough. There are no sonnets or soliloquies. It was an action movie and plenty of low cost stunt people to do all the action. He just needed to be able to read some lines. He wasn't going to be able to read them until mid-afternoon most days, but since most of the movie took place in late afternoon or night, that was not going to be an issue. He probably would not be able to film with the three topless women in his trailer either, but they would be there when he got back from filming. Apparently our actor had kicked drugs for the trip. Not because he was giving them up but because he was scared of ending up in jail there. He was going to drink the town dry and have sex as much as possible, but I could tell he was going to be ale to film.

This whole process took about an hour. Maybe a little less. I remember one of the women was talking about lunch and who was going to bring it to them and our actor seemed like it was go time for him with them which meant it was go time for me.

As I am walking out of his trailer, I saw two other women go inside a trailer opposite his. No big deal. This was one big sex fest. Then, I saw who was in the other trailer. An actor who looked shocked that I saw him. It was one of those moments a director tries to capture where eyes lock on and you instantly know everything. This actor is well known. B lister through and through. He can get a headlining movie but it would have to be a straight to on Demand kind of thing. All of you know him too. Mr. Married. Mr. Family. Always going on and on about family and family values. It is always the big talkers who are the big cheaters. These women were not going in his trailer to cut his hair or pray with him. He knew that I knew. Right with that look. We are going to call him BC. I had heard a rumor a couple of years earlier that he hooked up with the actress/klepto turned escort. Well, that she orally serviced him while he freaked out about being caught. No one ever believed it. Now I did though. He has done a bunch of movies and television. I'm guessing his credits must total 100. I wasn't going to rat him out but he didn't know that. He could have kicked out the women after he saw me. He didn't.

Tomorrow in the final part, I met an actor for the first time who was a part of my life for that moment forward.

Part Three

April 1, 2016

When you are going to be sick, the last thing you want in this world is to have to face being sick in some port-a-potty in the middle of a film set in the heart of Bangkok. Even in LA, a film set port-a-potty is something you dread. Put that sucker in the middle of a set when it is 90 degrees outside with 90% humidity and see how you feel. Why don't you throw in some jet lag and drenching sweat to go with it. That is what I faced. Almost immediately after spying the cheater head back into his trailer, I could feel it coming. That inevitable feeling you hope will pass that you are going to be violently sick. It felt awful. I frantically looked around and spotted a port-a-potty. I dreaded it but I didn't have much choice. I was going to have to get on my knees in that vile contraption and hope for the best. I so wished I had been drunk right then just to make the whole thing a little more palatable.

I opened the door. Yeah, it was even worse than I imagined. The smell pushed me over the edge and I didn't even bother closing the door as I heaved. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. Honestly, the only saving grace was that I left the door open. Confined inside would have been the end of me. They probably would have found me there at some point. As it was, an actor who we will identify as JC saw me. Legs half out the door, bent over and came over to help. I heard his voice asking if I was OK. Judging from the guy in the suit bent over, he probably assumed I was another victim of the never ending nightlife in the city. A hangover would have been preferable at that point. I knew it was food poisoning. It is an easy self-diagnosis. There is no other explanation for the violent explosion or feeling you get from food poisoning. When I was in the sixth grade I had my first episode. An all you can eat seafood buffet. What could be wrong with warming lights and seafood in an open environment? I tell you that I didn't touch any seafood for a decade after that night.

When JC asked for the second time if I was OK, I wanted to make some kind of smart ass remark, because, I mean who is OK if they are puking in this situation? I whispered food poisoning. I got a knowing nod in return. I still don't think he was convinced at that point that it was not a hangover. It turns out though a week earlier he had dealt with the same issue. The guy actually reached out his hand and helped me up off the ground and took me over to his trailer. Can I tell you a feeling I remember to this day? When he opened the door there was this rush of cold air that came from that space like none I had felt before. It almost knocked me over, but in a very good way. The best way I can describe it to you is to go to somewhere where it is really hot and that first step you take into an air conditioned public space where someone else is paying the air conditioning bill.

That cold air saved me. I am convinced of it. He pointed to a couch in the trailer. This is a guy I had never met but I did a face plant on to that sofa like I had known him for years. That sofa felt like heaven. For the next two hours I would alternate between that sofa and his tiny bathroom. In between, we talked a little bit. I knew who he was of course, but we talked about this and that. Some common people we knew. At some point he had to go film and I told him I could make it the length of a cab ride to make it back to my hotel. He insisted on getting a car for me. Have I told you how great this guy was? I remember just being a shell while in the back of that car on the way to the hotel. When I got there, it must have been late afternoon. Cocktail hour. The noise was not at the same level it had been the night before. Had it really not even been 24 hours since I got to town? I made my way through the throngs of men, some of whom had their afternoon dates with them.

When I closed the door to my hotel room, I dropped down to a section of cold tile that was in between the door and the carpet to the rest of the room. I think I passed out there for a couple of hours. It was definitely dark when my stomach erupted again. The sofa in the hotel was not nearly as comfortable as the one in the trailer. Back and forth I went for most of the night. Time was not something I was paying attention to. No television. Just a dark room and the path between sofa and bathroom.

At some point during all of this I got a call. I remember it was JC and the guy was checking up on me. I don't remember it and I never thought to ask him later, but I must have given him my room number during that call because shortly before sunrise there was a knock at the door and there he was. The guy filmed all night. Instead of going to sleep, the guy came across town to check up on a guy he didn't know. He told me I should get some rest in the bed and not the sofa. I will tell you the hotel bed felt amazing.

When I woke up, there was sun coming through the windows and I could hear people either in the room above or next to me having sex. Loud sex. I also realized it had been hours since I had been sick. I staggered out to the living areas of the room to raid the mini bar for some bottled water. Sitting in a chair in the living room watching television was JC. Yep. He stayed.

I could go on about this guy, but I made it a point from that point on to say positive things about him whenever I had a chance. Bought him dinner and lunches for years every chance I could. Just an angel. No other words to describe it. After making sure I was going to live, he took off to go get a little rest before he had to start shooting again. I had some water, called the airline and moved my flight up to later that night. I wanted out of there. I left almost 48 hours after I arrived. I actually had the same flight crew for the second flight from Taiwan back to LA as I did on the way to Taiwan. I also had a row all to myself. I didn't eat though. I think that stretch of time might be the longest I have gone without eating.

Craziest 48 hour trip.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li/JM: Stephen Dorff/SD: Chris Klein/JC: Michael Clarke Duncan

Today's Blind Items - The Proposal

I went back and looked and I can't believe I have never told this story before. And no, it does not have anything to do with the movie of the same name, but it is a movie that is one starring Ryan Reynolds that is actually decent. RIP Betty White. 

This actress is A list. Honestly, she is probably permanently A list. If she stars in a movie, even well after the peak of her career, she is still the female lead. Always. OK, well not in one of those movies where they throw everyone in a movie, but a regular movie, she is the female lead. She had been dating an actor for awhile and he wanted to propose to the actress. He buys her a ring, which she knows nothing about. He didn't have private jet money back then, but he gets first class tickets to Paris and gets a very suite at this very top end hotel. A side note to the story is that the nicest suite at this hotel had been booked by the wife of an actor that our actress later had an affair with. Anyway, back to our story. Everything is going great. They are having a good time. Then, comes the proposal. He gets a reservation at the restaurant at this Michelin starred place. Not just one star, but two or something like that. A very high end, stuffy kind of snobby French place. The kind where there are no scenes allowed or tolerated. They get there and they are having a lovely meal. It is some kind of tasting menu and the waiter comes over with the next course, and presents it to the actress and to the actor. The actor had planned this and the restaurant had been accommodating, but ONLY because they knew who the actor was and liked one of his roles. Normally, they wouldn't have done so. So, the waiter does the whole voila thing and lifts the top of the next dish and there is a rose and then the actress looks at it and the actor does the whole get down on one knee thing. Right there in the middle of the place. He then asks her to marry him. Her response went something like this. The actor has told the story several times, and seems to change it slightly each time, but this is the basics.

"You are asking me to marry you. Now? Right here? On f**king Valentine's Day? Is this so you never have to give me another Valentine's Day present for the rest of our lives? Because, you might think this is all romantic and nice, but this is not the day you propose to me you f**king a**hole." You pick a day that is already not romantic. Are you f**king drunk or is this something you had planned?"

This goes on for a couple of minutes, with her voice getting more angry. People are staring and the actor is sweating. The wait staff and management look pained. Finally, the actress turns around and walks out. The actor has zero cash so there is no throwing money on the table and running after her. He has to wait for them to take his credit card and run it and he finally gets outside and she is gone. He goes back to the hotel and she is not there. He can't reach her by phone. 

She left all her stuff in the hotel. For two days he can't find her. He has no idea where she is. Then, on the third day, he opens up a tabloid and sees a photo of her in London on the arm of another guy. The actor threw away all her stuff and then flew back to the US. She later tried to sue him because he threw away some valuable piece of jewelry, but then he threatened to tell everyone what happened. 

Today's Blind Items - The Bookstore - Anniversary Month

Way back when there was still a Borders in LA, I was in it one day in the cookbook section of all places. I love to eat and I love to cook. There was a young woman who came into the section. I was seated on the floor, because there were no chairs. A couple of minutes later, she was seated a few feet away and we started talking about recipes and books and magazines we liked and had a really great conversation.

Fast forward a few weeks later and I am at some party, and the same woman walks up to me and asks if I ever made the recipe we had been discussing. I told her I was going to do it the next day, as a matter of fact and we chatted for five or ten minutes, and she went on her way. The person I was with asked me when I had become such good friends with this at the time A- list actress on a network show that ended way too early.

Over the years we would run into each other and always had time for each other. It was a few years after our initial meeting, that I started a long time feud with this model/terrible actress, who really does not like me because she overheard me calling her thirsty, which she is. Well, the model turned actress suddenly started working with my bookstore friend. And, being the thirsty person she is, she started hanging out with the much more famous actress. 

It was during one of those hang out sessions, that I happened to run into the two of them at a lunch place and the actress insisted on me joining them. Of course I accepted, if only to see the model/actress' look for the entirety of the meal. She had no idea I was friends with the actress. 

Today's Blind Items - The After Party

 *****It is that time of the year. Reveal Day is fast approaching and leading up to it are Reader Photos. Beginning next Monday through July 1st and then again on Reveal Day on July 4th, I will include Reader Photos in the Random Photos post each day. If you would like your photo included, email it to entlawyer90210@yahoo.com*****

One of my favorite stories this A list celebrity (H) ever told me was about a night that happened 25 years ago. He first mentioned part of the story to me shortly after the death of one of the participants who was also A list (S). I knew they had been unlikely friends, but the first night they hung out is what made them friends. The two A listers could not have been more different, until you stop to think about it and realize they are exactly the same. I told this to H multiple times. They were both in marketing. They both had products to sell and always needed to expand their base to keep it growing when others dropped out. They also tried to find as many revenue streams as possible branching from their origin company.

Now, were they polar opposites politically? Definitely. Was S a hypocrite when people were not looking? Definitely. So, on that fateful night 25 years ago, H was not sure how he and S would get a long and arranged for S to be ensnared in multiple gotcha type situations to use to the advantage of H. They were not needed. The two hit it off and after their joint appearance, they headed to H's house. H says it was the only time that S went to the house. Every other time, they hung out at the offices of H because S felt more comfortable there. It was harder to explain away being at a house partying than a business meeting at an office which was also partying, but on the face looked better.

That first night, they decided to ride in H's limo together. H could tell that S was a drinker even though he pretended he was not. Shortly before they got to H's home, he broke down S and he began to drink. H was sober although he did slip from time to time. That night, H gave S a tour of his some and could tell S was horrified but intrigued too and was letting the booze get to him. As the tour ended, H had arranged for a few women to entertain them. The women that were supposed to gotcha moments instead were brought to the house and danced. 

Here is the ultimate crazy part. The thing that made H so devious. One of the women stripping had become famous a decade earlier for bringing down a man very similar to S and here she was, giving S a lap dance and offering to do way more. S didn't know how to act throughout all of this, but never removed his coat and tie and didn't indulge, which can't be said for an offspring of S. H was impressed that S didn't freak out and run and also wasn't going to get caught in some type of compromising position. It cemented their friendship.

Blind Items Revealed #42 - House On St. Charles

November 16, 2021

It was during Anniversary Month four years ago, that I first mentioned The House On St. Charles. Even though I heard whispers about it a couple of decades ago, my first real brush with it was back in 2006. In fact, it was just a few months prior to the first entry in this blog. It was the first week of June or so and I had been in Europe. I had been hanging out with this one hit wonder who was planning a year of touring in support of their one hit. They had done a late fall tour the year prior when the song hit number one, but had not been able to get more than the quick in and out visas common to new bands. It allows you to hit a couple of cities in ten days and then you have to get out. In 2006, they had the oddest tour dates, I still have ever seen. Two or three days in the US followed by a week or two in Europe followed by a week in the US and the pattern just repeated itself. This particular group had been touring and been successful from this one hit wonder for a couple of years prior to it breaking in the US. The sad thing for them was it was a remake of a song, so the only way they could make big money was to tour as much as possible. I was with them for the last show in Europe prior to them hitting the US again. It was an odd group. It consisted of one really young member and someone a solid decade or so older. They didn't really hang out and the younger person had joined the group when she was not even old enough to drive. They played a show in Europe Memorial Day weekend and then had a week off before another show in Europe and then a week off before their show in the US. After that Memorial Day show, there was a man waiting backstage. An older man who was waiting for the still young singer to finish getting ready. He then escorted her to a limo and she was gone. I didn't see her again until six days later when they played again. Immediately afterwards, the same scenario repeated itself. I didn't see her again until we boarded the plane a few days before their US show, which just so happened to be in New Orleans. On the flight over, we were all back in economy, jammed into three rows of three which was everyone involved in the tour. I asked her if the guy was her boyfriend. She said no, and that he worked for a man she was seeing. She would be seeing him again in the US. Was he flying just to see her? No, he had business. She didn't say what kind of business. What I found out later was the man worked as an EU big shot and was married and sleeping with the singer who was passing along information to someone she knew in her country which is where this man was based. In New Orleans, he was going for a trade conference, and was confronted there about his affair and secrets. He had been confronted shortly after a sexual encounter with the singer. He chose to help rather than have his secrets blasted out in the open. After one more US date, I was done with the tour and went home. Get this though. Right after the US date, they went back home and she started seeing another guy. I don't know who he is. I do know that a few weeks later they were back in the US and once again, playing in New Orleans. The band hasn't existed since a few months after that last New Orleans stop.

DHT/Listen to Your Heart/Edmée Daenen/Flor Theeuwes/Belgium

Blind Items Revealed #41

November 15, 2021

Back in the very very early days of the blog, I had a blind about this former A/A- list female singer who was an A list reality star and comes from a singing family. The blind was about her trying to find a guy to have a baby with and her celebrity friend was helping her, but I think he was more interested in finding a guy for himself. Later on I found out more about it, but never wrote about it. It was such a bizarre story, but heard it from a then employee of the celebrity friend. A year or maybe two after I wrote it, I was at a birthday dinner at a friend's house. One of the guests was the singer. We both knew the host really well and had been friends with the host forever, but for some reason the singer and I had only met once or twice and it wasn't through our mutual friend. Anyway, the singer was drinking and getting a little plastered. A very very fun plastered. I had to ask. I had to know the details on this whole thing. Apparently it was at the request of the celebrity friend. He was having trouble finding guys who he hadn't hooked up with or heard about and wanted something new. He wanted her in on it and to use the pretense of wanting a baby, to find guys. I know, it really makes no sense, but they were also drunk when they came up with the idea. They also decided they couldn't do it in Los Angeles because the idea was he wanted guys he had not seen or met and she would be less well known there. I know, but then again, that was the thinking. They placed an ad in Craigslist and used her phone number. Well, that lasted about 30 minutes before they deleted the ad and then went an got a new phone number they used just for the ad. She said the whole thing was ridiculous because they were sitting in a suite of this hotel downtown and were they going to invite the guy over? To them it sounded innocent, but to guys who saw the ad, they thought it was an escort trying to find clients. They did eventually meet a couple of guys in the bar downstairs, but nothing really ever happened with anyone she said. Fast forward about six months from the birthday dinner party. We see each other again at a party for some store opening and she says she has a confession. She asked if I remembered what we spoke about at the birthday dinner. I said yes, and she said she didn't remember everything because she was kind of out of it, but she said that she did actually hook up with a military guy she met there, but wanted to keep it quiet. She says he had no idea who she was and she wore a black wig. She didn't say whether he responded to the ad or they just met in the bar, and I didn't ask.

Jessica Simpson/Ken Paves

Blind Items Revealed #40

November 9, 2021

It was not really a love triangle, and this actually involved more than three people, but I like the name, so I kept it. I need you to go back in time just a bit. I want you to think about all the hype and screaming and click bait articles printed about this movie franchise. There was a mania. People were traveling internationally just to try and get a glimpse of the stars. For most of the time, they were protected on a set, but when not shooting, they stayed in a hotel right in the center of this downtown metropolis. The budget for the movie, despite being a blockbuster, was small. Sharing the same accommodations was the cast of this rebooted television show. The cast of the television show had been coming to town just as long as the movie people, but the movie people shot as quickly and cheaply as possible and bailed. There was definitely partying between cast members of the two productions. At the center of it all was a member of the television cast. She was probably A- list then, but has dropped much further down the list. She comes from a celebrity family. Whenever I would hang out with her, it was strictly a lunch thing. I couldn't keep up with her partying. One Sunday, we are having brunch together and she is massively hungover. She begins to tell me that it was a normal Saturday night party thing. This foreign born A list mostly movie actor had a big room in the hotel, but would always go to the room of our television actress because her kitchen/dining room was laid out differently and he thought it was better for hanging out. Plus, no one could find him there, because he didn't let people know who he was partying with. The only other person he liked to party with is this actress who is probably B/B- list now and was barely B+ list when she was in the movie. The two of them would usually get drunk and maybe do a little coke and then have sex in the bed of the television actress, before joining her for a long slow night of drinking. The night before though, there had been a little twist. The room directly next to the television actress was occupied with an actor who at the time was probably A- list. He has also slid down the list. There came some noises from the room that were obviously sex. So, the trio silently sat there drinking while listening. Our television actress assumed it was the fiancé of the actor joining him for the weekend. They had been together since he cheated on his first wife with her. No one really thought it could be anyone else. Nearing midnight, they all decided to run down to the wine store that was just outside the front entrance. It was dark, and the movie actor wanted a cigarette. So, they all went out the door to the hotel room and walk right into this married alliterate actress leaving the room where the sex had just occurred. This was not the betrothed. The trio just walked away and went on about their business. When they come back about thirty minutes later, both the alliterate actress and the actor with whom he had been making loud noises, kindly asked the trio to not say anything to anyone. They didn't except to friends, but somehow the fiancé found out. Oh, they still got married, but the actor left the show a couple of months after this, and never came back.

Twilight/90210/AnnaLynne McCord/Robert Pattinson/Ashley Greene/Lori Loughlin/Rob Estes

Today's Blind Items - Protection - Anniversary Month

I don't write many wrestling blinds in this particular spot because it can be very difficult to give descriptions for the people involved. You have to go back a little while for this one. A wrestler I enjoyed getting together with when he would randomly appear in town to perform standup comedy was a great story teller. He was not necessarily the best stand up comic, but everyone loved him. I mean how many wrestlers get their stage name used as for the name of this iconic television family. He did. 

He and I went way back when I tried my hand at promoting wrestling. I wasn't very good at it and was still in high school when I tried. He was great and was the reason any wrestlers even agreed to take a chance on me. The very first promotion I did was in a high school gym. I had never been in a ring or seen one assembled, but I was fascinated and got right in that thing when it was ready to go. Our wrestler showed me a couple of things and I knew right away, I would never be a wrestler. I wandered around as others entered the locker room or used the weight room. One of the bigger wrestling names was in the weight room with the biggest name there. They were fighting. At first, I thought they were working out fight moves or what they were going to do, but it was a full on fight. There were no cameras. Just two guys jacked up on steroids trying to beat each other up.

I didn't understand what was going on at the time, but later found out from our wrestler what it was about. There was a female "manager" story line. The manager, to keep her job was passed around by the organization that ran wrestling in that area. To stop being passed around, she needed a protector. A wrestler agreed to do so because he liked her and they ended up married. Every so often the protective wrestler/husband had to beat up other wrestlers who were still trying to treat the manager like property. That always stuck with me and wondered how it was with other organizations at the time.

Today's Blind Items - Your Wife Is Here - Anniversary Month

Promoting concerts is always a gamble. It is especially true when you are not someone with the pocketbook of Live Nation and you have to take chances on much smaller bands or find a niche. Sometimes that niche doesn't pay off. For whatever reason, I thought at one point in time that you could make some money promoting concerts featuring contemporary Christian groups. I was wrong. I was 0 for 4 before finally pulling the plug on that idea. One of those shows though, did provide a great story. 

One thing I learned when I saw my first rider for a gospel group is that they have two different riders. One is for when they perform in a church. They ask for wholesome things a church would be willing to provide. When they performed outside a church, they had a different rider which really was no different than any other band's rider. They wanted as much booze and the best quality they thought they could get out of you. The particular group that I am referring to in this blind, was A list in their corner of the music world. I thought it was going to be a money maker because they were so popular. What took me a few times to figure out though is people get used to seeing these groups for free in big churches because the churches pay the fee and hope to recoup it during offering time. 

Usually groups will roll in around 2pm or so and then depending on how big they are, will often stay at the venue until the end of the show because they want the showers and the food and some rest. Bigger bands tend to go back to whatever hotel they are staying at. I assumed this group, being higher on the list would head to whatever hotel they were staying at. Nope. Apparently they all convinced their wives to take a one night trip to a casino. I know, right. So, these guys were looking to party hard. Beginning about noon, they started drinking and they kept right at it up until they hit the stage about 8pm. They held their booze pretty well and were obviously experienced at drinking and playing. 

After the show, I assumed there would be some kind of meet and greet, but realized that reeking of booze and being half in the bag was probably not the message they were looking to send. Who they did meet and greet with were some female college age students they had "worshipped" with the previous summer. A couple of the guys used the backstage area to "worship" while a couple others went to the tour bus. It was probably no more than 30-45 minutes later that a black Suburban pulled up to the back of the venue and four women piled out if it. I wasn't there to see that happen. I was there to see two of the women start beating on their husbands while two of the college age students fled the backstage area with their clothes in their hands. The two guys on the bus managed to emerge from the bus fully dressed, and without any women in sight. They tried to get the women to go back inside the venue so the students could escape, but no such luck. The students were found hiding on the bus. Thankfully they at least had managed to get dressed. The wives had known what was going to happen. Someone tipped them off. I believe all of them are still married to the same women.

Today's Blind Items - The Deal - Anniversary Month

I have seen all kinds of contracts for all kinds of things, including fake relationships. This is not that. There was never anything memorialized in writing. It happened in the space a of a few minutes. Granted, these two celebrities knew each other long before this deal went down, but it was still remarkable to watch. Prior to COVID when people would actually still get together and after parties were still a thing, each week after Dancing With The Stars aired, the professionals and celebrities and their friends who had been in attendance would gather at a restaurant/bar at The Grove for some cocktails and ass kissing. 

One night, there was a couple in attendance. They didn't come together and they didn't leave together, but they made a deal together. One needed some publicity. They were a little parched and needed that thirst quenched. One, was trying to string together some paychecks and knew they could get a paycheck for going on a certain reality show. It was a group of about five standing there, all of whom other than yours truly was a celebrity. I don't remember how the pair got started on their conversation, but I do remember when they were about five minutes deep into it and the thirsty one wanted to know what the show was and what the pay was and what kind of publicity could be expected and what kinds of interviews and with who would the interviews be. The three or four of us not involved in the conversation watched in awe, as this pair, no strangers to this type of situation hammered out a deal in another ten minutes about how they would first announce themselves as a couple and where and how often they should be seen and that they just needed to keep it up for the two or three weeks before the show started filming and then after filming would go their separate ways. 

Two days later they were a couple and a week after that announced they were doing a network reality show together. I think they ended up doing two shows. They each made $200K or so for each show and afterwards went and found other hustles.

Today's Blind Items - Convenient - Anniversary Month

This actress is foreign born. She has a franchise that moved from television to movies and has the most secret love life. In a way, she will tell you she is extremely lucky that she is able to use something from her past, to keep people asking about her love life. At the time our encounter happened, I didn't know her because I hadn't seen the show which made her famous. I knew of the show, but had never seen it. I was at a club with some friends and was fairly bored. I was thinking about heading back to the house where everyone had parked their cars. I was about to leave when two women with British accents came up to me and said they had no money and asked if I wanted to buy them a drink. Why not. I buy them a drink and the next thing I know, they are sitting at a table making out. Making out is almost too mild of a term for what they were doing. Judging by the growing interest in what the pair were doing, I think many of us would not have been surprised if they took it many steps further right then and there. They would drain their drinks and ask if they could have another and then get right back to doing what they were doing. It never happened to me before and never since. I'm fairly sure the other dozen or so people who witnessed it would say the same.

I honestly can't remember what month it happened, but probably late summer. Fast forward a few months to January. It is Golden Globes time and I am in my award season brunch hangout seeing what I can see. It is a buffet, so I am moving from station to station looking for food and also looking at many of the men and women who are eating the same buffet but already full on dressed to leave for the award shows. Others, who get to arrive later, are still in regular clothes. I saw a woman getting a steamed dumpling and thought she looked familiar. During those buffets, that was not an unusual sensation. It is taking that thought and then going through your memory until you can identify the person. I was drawing a blank. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing and we bumped into each other and both said sorry. I heard her voice. Boom. I was back to the summer and that bar and that voice. I looked and then looked again, and I was sure. The problem is I still didn't know who she was or if she was an actress or a publicist or what. I watched where she went and at her table were two other actresses. I didn't know that at the time and didn't recognize them. Then, a stroke of genius. An actor walked up to them and they all knew him and I knew who he was and I went to his IMDb page so fast. I saw what show he was starring in and then went down the list of cast and there was my actress. 

I had a name and I had a face and I had quite the little tale to turn into a blind item. So, imagine my surprise when she supposedly ended up with a boyfriend/fiancé, which flew in the face of what I had seen in person. Everything I learned about her was that she had never in her life dated a man, but here she was, supposedly head over heels in love. It was the perfect situation. When he ended up leaving her under fairly novel circumstances, it gave her an excuse to never discuss her love life again.  

Today's Blind Items - Craigslist - Anniversary Month

Back in the very very early days of the blog, I had a blind about this former A/A- list female singer who was an A list reality star and comes from a singing family. The blind was about her trying to find a guy to have a baby with and her celebrity friend was helping her, but I think he was more interested in finding a guy for himself. 

Later on I found out more about it, but never wrote about it. It was such a bizarre story, but heard it from a then employee of the celebrity friend. A year or maybe two after I wrote it, I was at a birthday dinner at a friend's house. One of the guests was the singer. We both knew the host really well and had been friends with the host forever, but for some reason the singer and I had only met once or twice and it wasn't through our mutual friend. Anyway, the singer was drinking and getting a little plastered. A very very fun plastered. I had to ask. I had to know the details on this whole thing. Apparently it was at the request of the celebrity friend. He was having trouble finding guys who he hadn't hooked up with or heard about and wanted something new. He wanted her in on it and to use the pretense of wanting a baby, to find guys. I know, it really makes no sense, but they were also drunk when they came up with the idea. They also decided they couldn't do it in Los Angeles because the idea was he wanted guys he had not seen or met and she would be less well known there. I know, but then again, that was the thinking. They placed an ad in Craigslist and used her phone number. Well, that lasted about 30 minutes before they deleted the ad and then went an got a new phone number they used just for the ad. She said the whole thing was ridiculous because they were sitting in a suite of this hotel downtown and were they going to invite the guy over? To them it sounded innocent, but to guys who saw the ad, they thought it was an escort trying to find clients. 

They did eventually meet a couple of guys in the bar downstairs, but nothing really ever happened with anyone she said.

Fast forward about six months from the birthday dinner party. We see each other again at a party for some store opening and she says she has a confession. She asked if I remembered what we spoke about at the birthday dinner. I said yes, and she said she didn't remember everything because she was kind of out of it, but she said that she did actually hook up with a military guy she met there, but wanted to keep it quiet. She says he had no idea who she was and she wore a black wig. She didn't say whether he responded to the ad or they just met in the bar, and I didn't ask. 

Today's Blind Items - The Triangle - Anniversary Month

It was not really a love triangle, and this actually involved more than three people, but I like the name, so I kept it. I need you to go back in time just a bit. I want you to think about all the hype and screaming and click bait articles printed about this movie franchise. There was a mania. People were traveling internationally just to try and get a glimpse of the stars. For most of the time, they were protected on a set, but when not shooting, they stayed in a hotel right in the center of this downtown metropolis. The budget for the movie, despite being a blockbuster, was small. Sharing the same accommodations was the cast of this rebooted television show. The cast of the television show had been coming to town just as long as the movie people, but the movie people shot as quickly and cheaply as possible and bailed. 

There was definitely partying between cast members of the two productions. At the center of it all was a member of the television cast. She was probably A- list then, but has dropped much further down the list. She comes from a celebrity family. Whenever I would hang out with her, it was strictly a lunch thing. I couldn't keep up with her partying. One Sunday, we are having brunch together and she is massively hungover. She begins to tell me that it was a normal Saturday night party thing. This foreign born A list mostly movie actor had a big room in the hotel, but would always go to the room of our television actress because her kitchen/dining room was laid out differently and he thought it was better for hanging out. Plus, no one could find him there, because he didn't let people know who he was partying with. The only other person he liked to party with is this actress who is probably B/B- list now and was barely B+ list when she was in the movie. The two of them would usually get drunk and maybe do a little coke and then have sex in the bed of the television actress, before joining her for a long slow night of drinking.

The night before though, there had been a little twist. The room directly next to the television actress was occupied with an actor who at the time was probably A- list. He has also slid down the list. There came some noises from the room that were obviously sex. So, the trio silently sat there drinking while listening. Our television actress assumed it was the fiancé of the actor joining him for the weekend. They had been together since he cheated on his first wife with her. No one really thought it could be anyone else. Nearing midnight, they all decided to run down to the wine store that was just outside the front entrance. It was dark, and the movie actor wanted a cigarette. So, they all went out the door to the hotel room and walk right into this married alliterate actress leaving the room where the sex had just occurred. This was not the betrothed. The trio just walked away and went on about their business. When they come back about thirty minutes later, both the alliterate actress and the actor with whom he had been making loud noises, kindly asked the trio to not say anything to anyone. They didn't except to friends, but somehow the fiancé found out. Oh, they still got married, but the actor left the show a couple of months after this, and never came back. 

Today's Blind Items - Bad Mushrooms - Anniversary Month

A few years prior to the blog being started there was a massive concert for charity. Not Live Aid or Farm Aid. The concert lasted a couple of days, but wasn't as large as say, The Blockbuster Festival. It felt like from the beginning of this concert, there had been one bad luck event after the next. There was one band who was really in charge of everything. They weren't headlining, but it had been their idea and they were big enough to headline if they wanted. This was not the first time they had done it, but this time around everything was going so bad. On the first day, several people had been injured, some very seriously. At some point, someone said it felt like that announcement that was made at Woodstock about bad acid. The thing is, the person forgot it was acid and remembered it as bad mushrooms. So, for the remainder of the concert, if something went wrong, it was referred to on the radios or in conversation as bad mushrooms.

This was all well and good until this one group from Asia had just finished playing and the group really didn't speak much English at the time. Later, as their career progressed, and they spent more time in the US, they spoke excellent English. The language barrier was proving to be difficult and one of their members was really sick. No one around could speak their language and then this at the time A- list singer in a group who is an offspring of a permanent A lister said he could speak the language. No one believed him, and they were correct not to. He knew some words he once saw in a movie and kept repeating them. After doing this for a solid five minutes and the group member obviously in misery, the singer looks up at the people standing there and said the band member had taken some bad mushrooms. All the crew and people in on the phrase started laughing thinking this was a prank. Nope. Neither the singer or the ailing bad member knew about the phrase. It turns out there were actually some bad mushrooms that had been taken by the group member and also later by this permanent A list singer of a permanent A list group. 

Today's Blind Items - I Didn't See Anything - Anniversary Month

This actress peaked at A- list, but she was A- list for a long time. I think she is still A- list, but if you ask her, she would say she is B+ list at best. She is super sweet and one of those people who what you see is really how she is. She had a movie franchise and two massive television hits. She is still on television constantly, but the shows she is on, are not massive hits. Anyway, about a season or so before her first big television show ended, she had a party at her place. It was either an engagement party or just after she got engaged. At the party were several of her co-stars on the show but not that many. It was a very crowded party. The number of people exceeded the amount of space in what was a fairly small space. It was super hot and just too crowded for me, so I made my way to the back door because there was a mass of people between myself and the front door. I figured, hey, I will go out the back door and work my way to the front of the house. I didn't know it would work, I just assumed it would. So, I exit the back door and there is no one in the back yard, which was also small. It is dark outside and there is one small light for this back patio area, but nothing else. It is really hard to see if there is a way around to the front. I finally noticed there is a path on one side of the house which allowed you to take the garbage cans from the back of the house to the street in front. I can't see much, but I decided to head that way. I am not being particularly quiet. It is not late at night, just dark, and the sounds of the party were very loud. The sounds coming from the party may have been the reason the couple heavily making out and groping each other on the side of the house didn't see me coming. I didn't even see them there until I was about two feet away. When I saw them I said something like, "Sorry. I just need to squeeze by." It wasn't until I got right next to them that I realized it was two co-stars of the host of the party. One was an A- list actor who was married, and still is, although a serial cheater and the other was an A- list actress who was not married but was about to be married to her now husband. Yikes. I just moved along and have rarely mentioned it in the intervening years.

Today's Blind Items - The Massage - Anniversary Month

Back in the day, these two bands were on tour together. One was just starting out and one was at about their peak. Neither one ever hit A list, although the one starting out, really came close. On the backstage rider for the more established band was a masseuse. Specifically a female masseuse. I had never seen it on a rider before, because usually bands or singers will have their own masseuse with them if that is something they need. When they have their own, there is trust and a relationship and you don't have a different stranger touching you in every city. I didn't hire one from a high end spa or anything like that, because they all wanted to charge per person and I was pretty sure that between the two bands and all the crew members, that I would be out some serious money. So, I found a masseuse who would work for a flat rate for a few hours and she thought she could get some serious tip money. I told her that although one of the bands was established, that this was not a stadium or arena tour and they might not have as much money as she thought. I wanted her to know that going in and she said not to worry. 

So, the day of the show comes and she has a massage table set up backstage in its own little area behind a curtain. Apparently most promoters didn't actually fulfill the masseuse part of the rider so both bands were pretty excited about it and not twenty minutes after pulling up a band member was enjoying a massage. About ten minutes after it started, the band member came out from behind the curtain in his underwear and ran back to the bus and came back with his wallet. Ten minutes after that he emerged again from behind the curtain and said he was finished. One by one, the members of the more established band went in behind the curtain until they had all been serviced. Well, that left the guys from the lesser known at the time band, and they were not getting paid very much for this tour. It was for exposure. They explained the issue to the masseuse who told them not to worry. She liked their hit song and said she knew the guys from the other band would be back and would pay her again. She serviced the up and coming band for free. The band was so grateful, if you look at the liner notes from their next record, there is a photo of that massage table. 

Today's Blind Items - An Exchange - House On St. Charles Blind Item - Part Two

It wasn't long before all three of our party goers were wasted on coke and booze and, did I tell you they were all underage too? Yeah. The night ended and nothing was done by the people who controlled the House. Things just proceeded and they filed that little nugget away in case they needed it. Now, these obviously were not all the nuggets they had, but for the purposes of this blind, they are certainly the most interesting. It took a whole lot of nuggets to make the exchange happen. An exchange makes it seem like a prisoner exchange. It was not really that. Fast forward nine or ten months after the party night. Something horrific happened inside the country. Everyone knew who was responsible and almost immediately the richest of the rich from that country who were inside the US were put under protection so nothing would happen to them and then over the course of 48 hours managed to make use of their nuggets to ensure 140+ people could leave the country, and not only leave, but leave with the blessing of the only person in the country who could allow it to happen. A person who was confronted with some party nuggets. Someone on the opposite side was also confronted with a party nugget and more, but this is about the party nugget. There were so many pieces of information collected about so many people in power, that no one raised a fuss. No one questioned the decision. The thing is though, none of these nuggets are only used once. They are used as often as it takes to accomplish what is needed.

Today's Blind Items - The Boyfriends

If you have been a long time reader of the site, then you have seen me write about my history with this A list mostly movie actress. Even though she doesn't act as much any longer, I think it is fair to still call her A list. We have always had an odd relationship from that first time we met which was documented in this space. I don't remember if I assigned her initials. No matter. Over the years, she would go through long long stretches where, in order to protect her career, she would distance herself. Totally understandable. As the years have gone on though, she doesn't seem to care any longer and the stretches are pretty much non-existent. Not that long ago we had a chance to talk about some of her exes. One in particular makes me laugh thinking about it. She says that when she would have sex with this at the time A+ lister, he would talk to himself the entire time and it almost was as if he was acting as a broadcaster. Things like, "That has to feel good for her." "He looks to be enjoying it too." "This is a position I haven't seen in a long time." There were dozens just like this. Sometimes he would be in character, especially when they first started dating and she thought that would fade once the movie wrapped, but it would come out from time to time. She said each day was more bizarre than the previous and wondered if he would have kept things like that or worse, the longer they went out.

Today's Blind Items - Tales From The Road

It has been awhile since I shared some on the road stories from traveling or being around bands. Plus, these are not the usual suspects in blinds.

#1 - This celebrity offspring of a permanent A+(maybe A++) lister had a really successful band of his own. Then he got not one, but two girlfriends of band members pregnant and the band broke up and no one wanted to work with him for a long time.

#2 - This 90's band that was popular for not only its own songs but a hit remake of a former hit song broke up because the lead singer of the band had a massive ego from the success and refused to be in the same vehicle or place or bus or whatever with anyone else from the band. He also demanded first access of any groupie and paid a bounty to roadies of $500 a night to who could find the best looking groupie for him to sleep with that night.

#3 - This former A+ list mostly movie actress who is an Academy Award winner/nominee and someone who has been in many blinds, whether long or like this, said she was saved from a rape by this one hit wonder who does reality now, only because he ended up getting sick and had to go puke. She took that chance to run. Years later when she was famous he tried to hit on her and she could tell he had no idea she was the same person from the bus.