Yeah, uh-huh, I don’t THINK so.
Cynthia McMullen
April 21, 2008 8:03 PM
I’ve been out of town for a week—a family emergency that turned out beautifully (as in, my father is back home and doing well, thank you!)—so of course my e-mail in-box was crammed and spammed to the max. I suppose the most unexpected piece of mail I received was an invitation.
An invitation, you say? How lovely!
Not so, this one.
Do NOT ask how I ended up on this mailing list. I have no clue. But it’s true. I—Miss Sweetness and Light of 2008, right?—have been cordially invited to attend the launch of Girls Gone Wild magazine in West Hollywood, Calif.
It wasn’t enough that jillions of DVDs are already available?
Apparently not. “The Popular Lifestyle Brand Moves into Publishing, bringing its Celebration of Fun, Freedom and Hot College Girls to the Newsstand,” says my invitation. (Capital letters are courtesy of Girls Gone Wild.)
Furthermore, smilin’ Joe Francis, mighty proud founder and CEO of GGW (hang on a sec! Is he out on parole?) will 
be on hand, along with “beautiful girls and more than 100 of Joe’s closest celebrity friends (including the Kardashian clan).”
I still haven’t figured why members of the “Kardashian clan”—Kim, Kourtney and Khloe—are so big in the tabloids. I mean, I know there’s the E! reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”—and I just found out, to my horror, that Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner is their stepdad. But I still can’t figure out what the big deal is.
By the way, Jenner’s offspring with the Kardashian mom, Kris, includes Kylie and Kendall. Too cute, huh? The one brother—not Jenner’s biological child—is named Robert. Lucky for him because he could’ve ended up a Kidron, Krispin, Kalvin or Klark. At least now he has a chance for a normal life. Nah ... scratch that.
But back to the GGW magazine kickoff (ooh, Kickoff Kardashian has a ring to it!). I’m also invited to attend the red-carpet reception, the thought of which immediately brings to mind dozens of college-age women strutting down the carpet for their Joan Rivers interview. “Who are you wearing?” she screams, as big banners (or small, depending ... ) flash across their chests: “REAL! RAW! UNCENSORED!”
Gosh, Joe, thanks, but I’m busy tomorrow night. I’m pretty sure I have to wash my hair. In fact, I might need a hot, hot shower. Suddenly I feel just a tad dirty.
Ford Flannagan’s bloody good story
Cynthia McMullen
April 11, 2008 6:19 PM
Ford Flannagan is one of several Richmond actors who was cast for HBO’s “John Adams” miniseries. Though his part—as an unnamed smallpox doctor—took only a total of three to four days to shoot, there was much he enjoyed about the experience.
First of all, he said, “I think the film is great, very well done. Anyone who enjoys history will get a kick out of this.” Like Laura Linney, who plays Abigail Adams, he hasn’t seen the whole series yet. But he has seen the first three episodes.
Flannagan spent some quality time with Linney. If you haven’t seen Part 2 of the miniseries, in which the two are featured together, here’s a sneak preview: Go to http://www.hbo.com/films/johnadams/index.html, click on Part 2, then click on Behind the Scenes.
That’s Flannagan in the poofy gray wig!
Although the costumes were heavy, he says—not to mention all that extra hair—“The food was incredible. I 
wanted to screw up every day so they’d bring me back.”
Waxing enthusiastic, he noted that the set chefs grilled fish one day. Other times, actors would find whole tables of beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, even desserts.
Once, he said, they had “Italian Day” with four different pastas. So—despite all you hear about how boring people often say it is to wait around on set—at least they eat well.
Flannagan said filming the smallpox scenes was a fairly lengthy process because of the special effects. No, not those nasty pox all over the kids’ faces, but the blood that erupted when he cut them to “bleed” them as part of their treatment.
“It took longer to set up than to shoot the first scene,” he said. “They had to work out the kinks.”
Basically, he had a tube running up his sleeve from his wrist, down his back, down his pants and across the room to a man with a little squeeze bottle of “blood.”
One problem was that if people weren’t aware of the tubing and stepped on it, unexpected blood would spurt from Flannagan’s hand.
“In the first take,” he recalled, “I felt my hand getting wet. It was dripping all down my arm, and I was dripping blood all over the medicine bag.”
Apparently the tube had taken a big hit.
“Then it was dripping all down my arm, and I was trying not to drip on Laura!”
Fortunately, said Flannagan, it was fixed pretty quickly. “Those props guys were amazing.”
Flannagan’s next big adventure is playing Peter Pan—for the third time since 1996—at Theatre IV’s Empire Theatre, beginning April 25. He’s been fully wired for the flying parts . . . and what a far cry from 18th-century doctor. For details, visit http://www.theatreivrichmond.org.
Help, I’m on a SERIOUS sugar high.
Cynthia McMullen
April 10, 2008 6:52 PM
So I saw this commercial for McDonald’s new iced coffees last night on TV. I try to ignore TV ads on principle—even if I could tolerate Pepsi, Justin Timberlake is NOT going to talk me into running out and buying a six-pack.
But this coffee ad interested me, for whatever reason, to the point that on the way to the office from the dentist’s this afternoon, I drove through a Midlothian Turnpike McDonald’s. The iced coffee is available in regular, hazelnut and vanilla. Thinking the latter two might be too sweet, I ordered regular.
Oh. My. Gosh. If you saw me speeding, weaving in and out of traffic around 3:30 today, all I can say is that Mickey D’s new iced coffees—even the “regular”—are CHOCK-full of sugar. Yikes. (Yeah, I know, I hope my dentist isn’t reading this, either.)
So you know I went straight to http://www.mcdonalds.com to check it out. First, I’d like to congratulate the company for burying its nutrition info so deep that I practically ended up with carpal tunnel from all the clicking. But at last—success!—or maybe not, because this is something I did not need to know: My large, regular iced coffee has—are you sitting down?—280 calories and 100 fat calories (11 grams). In comparison, a small burger has 250 calories and 80 fat calories (9 grams). Oh, and the vanilla and hazelnut coffees have 10 fewer calories! Same amount of fat.
D’oh! No wonder the nutrition stats were 6 feet under. Maybe McD’s has a sugarless version. If not ... uh, cup of water, please?
Rumor has it …
Cynthia McMullen
April 09, 2008 7:02 PM
So we keep hearing that our own—we can call him that because he’s from Virginia—anyway, that our own Chris Brown is dating the lovely Rihanna. It’s all over the tabloids (such as In Touch last week) and even the more “serious” entertainment magazines, such as People.
Any truth to it? Only time will tell because Chris’ lips are sealed.
We also heard ... and this was a while back ... that Jessica Rae Springsteen had applied for admission to University of Richmond. No need to say whose kid she is, right?
As one wag (a loyal UR alum) said, “And this means that UR will have to officially join the New Jersey state college system.”
Nothing’s been confirmed, but an anonymous N.J. source implied that if a Springsteen had applied to UR, it would have been Jessica’s one-year-older brother, Evan.
Again, only time will tell. But if The Boss shows up for Parents’ Day, he’d better come in disguise or he’s playing the next dance for sure.
And speaking of gossip ... here are some interesting results from a new AOL Television survey of more than 1.35 million users. Who knew?!
* Ellen DeGeneres, sez the survey, is more popular than Oprah. Ellen wins as overall best talk-show host and the host most people would like to have attend their dinner party.
* Kelly Ripa beat out Tyra Banks and Matt Lauer for sexiest talk show host, snappiest dresser and best hair. Although that’s not completely fair because Tyra often leans on faux locks and Matt doesn’t have any.
* Larry King was voted most unsexy host. What, people don’t love those retro glasses and red suspenders? Or perhaps braces, in his case? Whatever.
* I hate even typing this in ... but Jay Leno edged out David Letterman, 41 percent to 34 percent. Say it ain’t so! Because I love me some Dave.
* On “The View”—as if you could distinguish one from another when they get to jabbering—those surveyed said if the ladies had a smackdown, Whoopi would come out on top, followed by Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Hasselback and Sherri Sheppard.
* Given the choice, they would elect Diane Sawyer as U.S. president over Oprah, Jon Stewart and Martha Stewart. I dunno, I guess Diane would make a good-looking president, but she dances around the tough questions too much for me ... .
Rain, rain, GO AWAY.
Cynthia McMullen
April 05, 2008 6:25 PM
So I was assigned to help cover the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K today. All would have been peachy, DESPITE the early hours—I’m a night owl—had the rain not gotten heavy right about the time I was balancing a reporter’s notebook, a camera and an umbrella.
Yes, the Times-Dispatch has professional photographers—and good ones, at that—but they can’t be everywhere all the time. Given that they deal with this inclement weather on a regular basis, let me just say “hats off.” Except it was far too icky outside to doff my hat.
Hats off to the runners and walkers, too. I salute you for making it despite the weather. You guys rock! (Look for tons of coverage in tomorrow’s Times-Dispatch and at http://www.inRich.com.) By the way, I was sorry to miss my friend Helena, whose birthday is today. You might have seen her—she wore a birthday-cake hat as she ran. Gives new meaning to “Someone left the cake out in the rain” (for those of you who know “MacArthur Park"). Ha!
I also dropped by the Festival of Punjab at Cultural Center of India. If you get a chance next year (too late this year!), check it out. Exotic food, dancing that combines traditional with MTV and wonderful, colorful, bejeweled and gemmed garb.
The one funny, sort of out-of-place thing was the pink cotton candy machine in the food area.
I asked what cotton candy had to do with it. Andrew Schwieder, a freshman at Henrico High School who was working the machine, said, well, cotton candy got its start in India ... . Smart aleck! Manpreet Dhillon, a junior at Henrico, took pity on me and explained, “They sell cotton candy at fairs in India, too. AND it makes a lot of money.”
I had hoped to make it to the first Downtown Lofts Tour today, as well. But it wasn’t in the cards, time-wise. Lucy Meade, who does marketing and development for Venture Richmond, said nearly 1,000 tickets were sold to the 14-loft tour. People were totally impressed, she said—of course, that stands to reason because would YOU open your home to tourists if it weren’t perfection?
She said the loft-owners had a great time, too. One of them commented, “I’ve never had this many people in my bedroom!”
I’m going to stop talking about this NOW, but just for the record ... two more George Michael “sightings” since Thursday: 1. I was home yesterday afternoon and turned on the TV so I could read the paper. You know, multi-tasking. “Ellen” happened to be on, and suddenly I realized she was doing a George Michael bit where she had him on the phone. Then today, I turned on Lite 98 on my way to work. Who do you suppose was playing? You guessed it. Aiiiieeeeeeeeee! He truly IS everywhere.
Random (as opposed to deep) thoughts
Cynthia McMullen
April 03, 2008 9:34 PM
Did you read Melissa’s column, The Beat, in today’s Weekend section?
You know how sometimes you’ll hear a name or a word or a phrase you never heard before—or haven’t heard in a long time—and suddenly it’s EVERYWHERE. Somebody else uses it or you see it on a billboard or your Scrabble partner pops it on the board.
That’s how it is for me and George Michael, whose tour-ticket prices Melissa discusses in her column. Who’s heard of him lately? But suddenly G.M. shows up on “Eli Stone.” Then he shows up on “Men in Trees” (not literally, mind you, but he’s been mentioned on the show several times). Then he shows up on tour.
I had to chuckle at the $250 ticket price Melissa quoted. On “Eli Stone” the other night, one character referred to him as “pop superstar George Michael.”
“Melissa,” I said, “I think when it comes to ‘superstar,’ that ship has sailed.”
“Cynthia,” she replied, “That ship sailed back in the ‘80s.”
Actually, music-lover that she is, she might have nailed the exact year. But that was earlier this week, and a lot has happened in the interim.
Speaking of music, I see the Eagles took out a full-page ad today. They’re not leaving anything to chance, eh?
And speaking of chance—check the smooth transition here—I was blown away by Richmond Ballet’s performance of “Chance Favors the Prepared Mind” Tuesday night. The ballet premiered six new works by six choreographers.
I enjoyed them all, but what struck me about “Chance” (choreography by Todd Rosenlieb) was that I was watching guys partnering guys (what one of Richmond Ballet’s star performers wryly refers to as “dude on dude"). Here you have not only demonstrations of startling athleticism, but you’re seeing male dancers do things they ordinarily don’t—as in catching one another in mid-air and so forth.
As my dancing friend “Jailbait” points out, it’s not so easy when you’re used to being the guy in the duo and suddenly you’re having to follow, not lead (yeah, I know, ballroom terminology. But you know what I mean). I’m sure it’s NOT easy, but it looked just amazing. Kudos to Rosenlieb and those Richmond Ballet boys.
As I said, it was all good for me, but another quick shout-out to “Morning Overtures” by uber fight-choreographer David Leong, chairman of VCU’s theater department, and Patti D’Beck, recently of Broadway. Having the dancers play families, broadcasters, office workers and so forth—using them to portray everyday folk just trying to get by—was hilarious. And hey, those dancers can act!
The New Works Festival runs at Richmond Ballet’s Studio Theatre through Sunday.
P.S. I got a kick out of the fact that “Chance” was commissioned with support from Car Pool. Who said carwashes aren’t artistically inclined?
Saying goodbye
Cynthia McMullen
April 02, 2008 3:25 PM
When Elliott Yamin addressed the crowd at his mother’s funeral a few hours ago, he summarized her legacy perfectly.
Whenever he’s walking down the street and a stranger approaches, he said, they usually have two questions. The second one is, is Simon really that much of a jerk? But the first is, how is your mother doing?
In an emotional ceremony at Bliley’s-Central, Elliott and his brother Scott spoke to the 150 or so people gathered to remember Claudette’s humor, her warmth and her honesty.
Both sons recounted, with tearful smiles, how much their mother loved the attention she received as a result of Elliott’s rise on “American Idol.”
In fact, we—Melissa and Cynthia—ordinarily wouldn’t have considered recounting what happened at a private funeral. But, as Elliott said, his mother used to read the obituaries first thing every day. So it almost made him chuckle when he opened the paper and saw a tribute to Claudette.
Scott mentioned that he used to get annoyed when his mother would answer cell phone calls from his brother’s fans, but realized today that they weren’t just fans of Elliott’s—they were fans of Claudette, too. He also read aloud several of the condolence postings from http://www.inRich.com as proof of the affection many people had for Claudette—even those who never knew her.
One of Claudette’s cousins expounded on her ability to make everyone feel like part of the family—it was sort of like the Mafia, he said, once you’re in, you can never get out—and reiterated how proud she was of her two sons and their sister, Jodi, who was also in attendance.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Elliott and Scott referred to their mother as their best friend and credited her for the men that they have become. Elliott said his mother’s love for music—she used to be a singer herself—had fostered the same love in him.
Only family, extended family and invited friends attended the private burial service, including Elliott’s “American Idol” competitor and friend Ace Young. Ace, who said he lives 2 miles from Elliott in Los Angeles, flew in from Atlanta for the funeral.
The thing about his mom, said Elliott, is this: Even if he hadn’t achieved the success he has, the outpouring of support would have been just the same. It was his mother—his honest, wisecracking, loving mother—who inspired and deserved such tender tribute.
-- Melissa Ruggieri and Cynthia McMullen
A personal note from (and to) Elliott
Cynthia McMullen
April 02, 2008 10:37 AM
Because I was concentrating in yesterday’s entry on including all of Elliott’s comments about his mom, I neglected to mention how grateful he is for his fans’ support.
He’s overwhelmed by the response from people who knew Claudette, either in real life or via her appearances on “American Idol” or at his concerts the past couple of years.
One of his biggest fans is an old friend, Barbara Williams, who called today to offer condolences. “I’ve been knowing Elliott since she was 10,” she said.
Barbara met Elliott when he first moved to Richmond. She worked at Beth Sholom, where Claudette’s parents, Mickey and Bernice Goldberg, were living. Claudette, ever the friendly one, asked Barbara if she had kids. Elliott wasn’t too keen on leaving California, and Claudette wanted him to make friends in Richmond.
So Barbara introduced him to her son, LaKeith Holly.
“Please tell Elliott, we miss you and we’re proud of you,” said Barbara. “We’re sorry about Claudette. Last time I talked to her, she said she wanted to see me and my granddaughter.
“This is from, A.J., Tony, Reggie and LaLa. Elliott, if you ever get a chance, just call me.”
And now, a word from Elliott
Cynthia McMullen
April 01, 2008 11:28 PM
Elliott Yamin was kind enough to take a few moments this afternoon and share a few comments by phone about his loss.
Elliott had just returned to the States from Japan and was supposed to be in D.C. to sing “God Bless America” that night. But, he said, he got off the plane and called his brother Scott to see how their mother was. Scott told Elliott she had taken a turn for the worse, so Elliott headed back to his hometown.
He was grateful to have been close enough to see her at the end. Here’s what he had to say about Claudette:
“I’d just like to say that she left so many gifts behind, and she touched so many lives.”
“She’s always maintained that spunk no matter what challenges she ever faced. I think that she just had that kindred spirit about her, and I think everybody really saw that.”
“She’s going to be missed by so many people. I think it’ll be part of of her legacy and something that was really important to her and the thing she was so proud of: that she was able to connect with her daughter, whom we didn’t meet until almost three years ago. Jodi finally got to meet her birth mother, and she was always so happy when we were together. We formed such an amazing bond in such a short time.
“She loved being able to share in the success of me and my brother in his academic studies. And being able to see her grandchildrden. These are all such amazing blessings she was able to share with us.”
“She had multiple complications (that had nothing to do with her hip). She left us just the way she lived, which was fighting. But she went peacefully.”
“She would want nothing more than to see her name in the paper. She loved attention. She’s probably smiling right now at that slide show you all did.”
“She knew how loved and proud everybody was of all of us. My sister and brother and my mother’s brother, we were all able to be together for her last moments. We were all able to see her off together.”
********************************
Elliott, by the way, will appear on “American Idol” April 9 for “Idol Gives Back.” Many thanks to Monet Corso for all her assistance today, and to Melissa for helping me contact Monet.—Cynthia
Memories of Claudette
Cynthia McMullen
April 01, 2008 11:10 PM
How highly Claudette Yamin was regarded is evident by all the condolences, memories and comments streaming in all over the Web: to http://www.inRich.com, to http://www.etrainstation.com, even to http://www.people.com, which picked up the news of her death from yesterday’s Times-Dispatch via inRich.com.
An obituary and appreciation for Claudette will run in Wednesday’s newspaper. In the meantime, here are some snippets that didn’t make the story:
Elliott’s friend Brandon Crowe, who operates etrainstation.com, called to say how sad he was. “I’ve been in shock the last couple of days,” he said. Like so many people, he had seen or talked to Claudette recently.
She used to call Brandon her adopted son.
What has impressed him most are how Elliott’s (and Claudette’s) fans have reacted since Brandon originally posted the news Monday night. He’s been hearing from people all over.
In addition, he said, “The ETrain ladies found out I didn’t have a suit (to wear to Claudette’s funeral). I had a suit in two hours.
“They’re amazing, the best people in the whole world.”
Linda Tiller, who’s been on the ETrain since Elliott hit “American Idol,” shared that she and about 40 other fan club members had had lunch with Claudette the day after Elliott appeared and performed at Richmond’s JCC Forum.
‘’We ate at Picadilly because that’s how Claudette is,” she said. “She wanted to go to Shoney’s, but Sunday is a big day for Shoney’s.”
Claudette wore “a little ETrain sweatshirt” that day, Linda recalled. “She was telling Elliott stories. She was doing so well.”
Linda saw Claudette again the next week at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation gala. “She never met a stranger,” said Linda. “She adored spending time with us, and we adored her.”
The ETrain fan board has more than 5,000 people, she said. “We’ve kind of become a family.”
Linda Sloan said, “We at the Central Virginia chapter of JDRF extend our deepest sympathy to the Yamin family. Claudette (made) a difference for both her son and the broader Richmond community, whether it was championing the cause with Elliott at various JDRF events, including last month’s gala, or taking initiative to make a difference on her own.”
Sloan is a board member and vice president for the Central Virginia chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Finally ... both Melissa and I saw Claudette for the last time at the JCC Forum, as well. While Melissa was reporting on the event for the next day’s paper, I spent a little time with Claudette.
We were talking in the hall when two young girls rushed up to her and stopped, suddenly shy. “May we have your autograph?” one asked.
Claudette laughed. “You don’t want MY autograph!” she said good-naturedly.
When the girls insisted they really, really did, she took the pen and said, “OK. But how about I sign it ‘Elliott’s mother’?”
The young autograph-seekers nodded, all grins.
Claudette looked frail that night but insisted she was doing OK. She was using a cane—a wonderfully colorful cane, of course—but when I offered her a chair during the reception, she waved it off. “I’m fine,” she said. “I want something to eat.”
She didn’t get much of a snack because people kept coming up to greet her. One woman, who had just seen Elliott perform for the first time, said, “Your boy is so talented! You should be proud.”
“Oh, I am,” Claudette said. “I am.”
Once you’ve interviewed Claudette a few times, nothing she says or does really surprises you. But here’s what tickled me the most that night:
Elliott was on a low platform, busily signing autographs for what seemed like most of the JCC Forum’s audience. A steady stream of people passed by, each wanting to kiss him or chat with him or tell him how they might be related.
Claudette had finally picked up a bit of a nosh. A friend had just said how sorry she was that Elliott’s plane was leaving early the next morning; otherwise, she had hoped he’d have breakfast at the synagogue.
“What time IS it?!” Claudette said. When she realized the time, she immediately dropped her plate on the table and headed for the platform.
“I have to see Elliott!” she called out to us as she walked toward her son. “I need to know if he wants spaghetti tonight!”
Once a mom, always a mom ... and God bless her for it.
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