Mariah Carey's HIGH NOTES!!!...

Do you want to hear Mariah Carey's high notes???... 

GO TO:  https://youtu.be/_0TUphfi5zs

(Insanely high!!! I could hardly believe it!!! You HAVE to hear this, --- if it doesn't hurt your ears!!!)

SHE'S GORGEOUS TOO!!!... YES, SHE'S OLDER NOW, BUT STILL FABULOUS... 💘💖💙💚💛💜😉... I LOVED IT WHEN SHE SANG THE JAMES BOND SONG, --- "NOBODY DOES IT BETTER"...

Jon Bon Jovi in a tablecloth, --- and nothing else...

    Yes... So sexy... 

    He was, still is... The good ones don't change much. Of course, --- OMG, he CAN ---- SING!!!... ***("SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOU'RE TO BLAME!!! YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!!!... I WANT TO LAY YOU DOWN IN A BED OF ROSES...") Yes, he wrote most of his music or Richie Sambora did.

What popular singers have the biggest vocal ranges???...

FASCINATING, --- MARIAH CAREY HAS THE BIGGEST VOCAL RANGE. NOW, WE KNOW FREDDIE MERCURY COULD EFFORTLESSLY GO FROM BARITONE TO HIGH TENOR NOTES IN SECONDS... REMEMBER HOW HE DOES THAT IN "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS"?... AND, MY FAVORITE, --- JON BON JOVI, 💖SINGING "LIVIN' ON A PRAYER," & "LAY YOU DOWN ON A BED OF ROSES," --- THOSE SLIDING, EFFORTLESS SHIFTS. (THE MALE SINGERS WITH THE GREATEST VOCAL RANGES ARE USUALLY TENORS..) DAVID DRAIMAN, ELVIS PRESLEY , DAVID BOWIE (WHO HAS A MUCH BIGGER RANGE THAN PAVAROTTI) AND AXEL ROSE HAVE AND HAD BIG RANGES.

WE LOOKED AT THE VOCAL RANGES OF THESE ICONIC SINGERS, --- AND THEY'RE REALLY IMPRESSIVE!!!...

Musician vocal ranges. Picture: Classic FM

By Sofia Rizzi

 

From Pavarotti to Prince, some of these musicians' vocal ranges span a spectacular four octaves.

A middle C on the piano can also be described as a C4 – and any number above or below that measures an octave. So, a C3 would be an octave below C4, while C5 would be an octave above.

That considered, the vocal ranges seen here are nothing short of a miracle.

Pavarotti is hailed as the world's greatest tenor, and his impressive vocal range proves just that. In his prime, the larger-than-life tenor could hit an F5 – that's an octave and a half above middle C.

Then, there are those of musicians from the pop world. While David Bowie and Freddie Mercury both had ranges spanning four octaves, Prince could hit a gobsmacking B6.

Beyoncé isn't far off that either, with a versatile range starting at A2 and hitting E6. Plus, Lady Gaga's earthy lower register allows her to hit a B flat 5.

The new 'Pavarotti' film is coming out this July – watch it here!

Credit: CBS

As heavenly and awe-inspiring as the high notes are, let's not forget the lower register. Montserrat Caballé and Renée Fleming, for instance, can both reach an F sharp 3. Montserrat Caballé hits this note in Strauss' opera Salome.

But it's Mariah Carey who takes the prize for the largest vocal range of all. She can reach a low F2 and hit an unbelievable G7, a note that dolphins would envy, and that only some dogs can hear.

Yippee!!!... She has!!!...

 💙💚💛💜...

You don't have to forgive abusers...

    I don't understand why people want to hurt others, why they're bullies and monsters. I guess they're just emotionally sick, sick, sick. And, they want to spread their 💩💩💩around. Screw them. I have zero tolerance. They will get their's eventually... Karma bites real, real hard. 

   If you're mean to people you can't expect them to care about you. Ha, --- they may not even care about you when you're old... There was a man who beat his wife and children. He was a drunk, took drugs, was vile. 👿 When he got old and became demented he was put in a nursing home. But, his wife and children wouldn't come to see him. And, he died alone.

"YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO FORGIVE YOUR ABUSERS. 

...NOT IF THEY'RE DYING.  NOT IF THEY'VE FOUND JESUS. NOT IF THEY BEG. NOT IF THEY WANT TO KNOW YOUR KIDS. YOU DO NOT OWE YOUR ABUSERS ANYTHING. IT IS NOT AN ACT OF AGGRESSION TO CLOSE THE DOOR AND NEVER LOOK BACK." --- TWO LEMONADES.

. 

"Wildwood Flower"...

 

😘😜😛😚😏😎😌😋💪💫💥💓💋👍👀✌🌱🍃🌺🌻🌼

Wildwood Weed

Jim Stafford

The name of this song is the Wildwood Flower
Now the Wildwood Flower is an old country classic
It's gained a whole new popularity
The song isn't any more popular
But the flower's doin' real good

The wildwood flower grew out on the farm
And we never knowed what it was called
Some said it was a flower and some said it was a weed
I didn't give it much thought
One day I was out there talkin' to my brother
And I reached down for a weed to chew on
Things got fuzzy and things got blurry
And then everything was gone
Didn't know what happened
But I knew it beat the hell out of sniffing burlap

I come to, and my brother was there and he said,
"What's wrong with your eyes?"
I said "I don't know, I was chewin' on a weed"
He said, "Let me give it a try"
We spent the rest of that day and most of that night
Tryin' to find my brother Bill
Caught up with him about six o'clock the next mornin'
Naked, singing on the windmill
He said he flew up there
I had to fly up and get him down
He was about half crazy

The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds
And we put 'em in the sun to dry
Then we mashed 'em up and we cleaned 'em off
Put 'em in the corn cob pipe
Smokin' them wildwood flowers got to be a habit
We never seen no harm
We thought it was kinda handy
Take a trip and never leave the farm
Big 'ole puff of that wildwood weed
And the next thing you know
You're just wand'ring 'round behind the little animals

All good things got to come to an end
It's the same with the wildwood weeds
One day this feller from Washington come by
And spied 'em and turned white as a sheet
And he dug and he burned
And he burned and he dug
And he killed all our cute little weeds
And then he drove away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack o' seeds

"Y'all come back now, y'hear!"

Songwriters: Don Bowman, Jim Stafford

Fascinating, magical Marie Laveau...

 

MARIE LAVEAU, --- from "Ghost Tours," of New Orleans... 😏😎😍😉😈😇💪💫😁💥💟💝💀💃💋👻👸👀...

Few people have captured peoples' imagination like Marie Laveau. Famous for being a Voodoo Priestess, Marie Laveau's story is shrouded in mystery.

Whether you’re on a ghost tour, a voodoo tour, or a historical tour of New Orleans, the chances are high that you will hear stories and legends of the City’s beloved Queen of Voodoo, Marie Laveau.

Marie Laveau was a free person of color living in the most colorful city in the United States, New Orleans. An article in The New Orleans Times Picayune, April 1886, adoringly remembered Marie Laveau, as “gifted with beauty and intelligence, she ruled her own race, and made captive of many of the other.” A Creole woman with her own set of rules and strong beliefs who was surrounded by the political and religious influence of wealthy white men. Marie Laveau was a trailblazer for all women, her strong convictions and loyal confidentiality have kept her a mysterious legend for centuries.

The Early Life of Marie Laveau...

It is believed that Marie Laveau was born in the French Quarter of New Orleans. When she was born was not recorded, but by doing some research and math, it has been deduced it was in 1801.

Her mother, Marguerite Darcantrel, was a freed slave and mistress of her father, Charles Laveaux, a wealthy mulatto businessman. Marguerite gave birth to Marie at her mother, Ms. Catherine’s home, and then returned to her relationship leaving her baby girl with her mother.

Marie Laveau was the first born free in her family. It is said that Marie’s great-grandmother came to New Orleans as a slave from West Africa in the mid-1700s. Her grandmother, Catherine, was purchased by a free woman of color. Catherine was eventually able to buy her freedom and build her small home in the French Quarter, where Marie Laveau would live and become the legendary Voodoo Queen of America.

Marie Laveau: Wife and Mother...

On August 4, 1819, a young Marie Laveau married Jacques Paris, a free person of color from Haiti, at St. Louis Cathedral. Her father, who never married her mother but signed documents declaring to be Marie’s father, stood at her wedding and signed the marriage contract on her behalf on July 27, 1819. Her wedding gift from her father was property that he owned on Love Street (now North Rampart). But documents show that by 1822 Marie and Jacques were living on Dauphine Street between Dumaine and St Philip. The city directory lists Jacques as a cabinet maker.

Most researchers say that Marie and Jacque did not have any children, however, Baptismal records from St. Louis Cathedral show entries for two daughters. Marie Angelie Paris baptized in 1823 and Felicite Paris baptized in 1824 are both listed as the daughters of Marie Laveau and Jacques Paris. Felicite’s records state that she was seven years old at the time of her baptism, which would mean that she was born in 1817, two years before Marie and Jacque’s marriage. Unfortunately, the records on Marie Angelie and Felicite stop there.

The mysteries that surround Marie Laveau started early in her life. The disappearance of her first two daughters is similar to the disappearance of Jacque Paris. There is no documentation of his death, though the baptismal record of Felicite declared him to be deceased. What we do know for certain is that Marie called herself “the Widow Paris” for the remaining years of her life. (You can see a very good movie, "The Widow Paris," on youtube.)

In around 1826, Marie found love again with Louis Christophe Dumensnil de Glapion. Glapion came from a prominent New Orleans family, a wealthy white gentleman that would spend his last thirty years in a common law marriage with Marie Laveau - interracial couples were common in New Orleans, but forbidden to marry by law.

Catherine, Marie’s grandmother passed away in 1831. A creditor surfaced and claimed that Catherine was indebted her home and an additional lump sum. Her cottage on St. Ann, that Marie had grown up in, was put up for auction. Glapion came to the rescue and purchased her childhood home. The Creole cottage on St. Ann would continue to be the home of Marie Laveau, Christophe Glapion, and their family until the end of the 19th century.

Christophe Glapion died in June of 1855, after being Marie Laveau’s common-law husband and devoted father to their children for almost thirty years. There is no evidence of Marie ever taking up with another man after Glapion’s death. One can only assume she knew it would be impossible to replace a love so big.

There are stories out there that say Marie started having babies with Glapion immediately and that they had 15 children over the course of 20 years. However, what is actually recorded is that they had seven children from 1827 - 1839. Three of these children died in infancy. Marie Philomene Glapion, born a “free quadroon” in 1836, lived the longest of the children. She would eventually be who many assumed the infamous Marie II.

Marie Laveau: Voodoo Queen or Good Samaritan?...

Gods always behave like the people who make them. ~Zora Neale Hurston

Nobody knows how Marie Laveau spent her days or her nights, but the story that most tour guides tell is that she was a hairdresser to wealthy white women who felt comfortable confessing their darkest secrets and fears to Marie. Some part-time researchers think that Marie II actually held the hairdresser profession. The Widow Paris was much more likely to spend her days in service to others. Marie was a generous woman of devout Catholic faith and known to use her means and “magic” to help those in need.

Marie attended Catholic mass regularly, her home filled with images of saints, and she created a space that was protected and safe for all that lived with or visited her. She ministered to prisoners locked up inside the Cabildo, offering guidance to redemption and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Marie Laveau was a woman filled with compassion and strong religious faith and a clear intention to help the people in her community.

John Kendall, a local writer in the early twentieth century and a self-professed expert on Marie Laveau, wrote, “After dark, you might see carriages roll up to Marie’s door, and veiled ladies, elegantly attired, descend and hurry in to buy what the old witch had for sale. An arrant fraud, no doubt, but money poured into her lap down to the last day of her evil life.” Mr. Kendall was not a fan of Ms. Laveau; perhaps he was one of many that thought Voodoo was part of the dark arts, which is unfortunate. The core value of New Orleans Voodoo is protection.

New Orleans Voudou (Voodoo) is the only Afro-Catholic religion to emerge in North America. New Orleans Voudou was born of the influence of not only the African nations that were at the root of the religion but also from the New World colonies that had brought in African slaves. We have to remember that in the 1700s there were many enslaved in Saint Domingue, Cuba, Brazil, as well as Louisiana. And it was the Haitian Revolution that began in 1791 that had the most significant influence in the creation of New Orleans Voudou. And it was the frightening stories of the Revolution that heightened the fear of the religion in the white community.

The Haitian Revolution began with a Vodou ceremony at Bois-Caiman. A Vodou Priest led the service which included sacrificing a pig and a blood oath to overthrow the French. Just a few days later, rebel slaves began to burn the sugar plantations and kill the white population.

The New Orleans’ Spanish Judicial Archives has a 1773 documented case in which several slaves were tried for conspiring to kill their master and the slave overseer by means of gris-gris. Gris-gris in New Orleans is a bag of herbs or magical substances that is carried or delivered with the intention of taking control over another, protection, or for good luck. This comes from the African gris-gris bags, bags with blessed objects or substances that were believed to have magical properties of protection or power. The slave owners were convinced that the practice would insight slave rebellions.

It is likely that as the influx of African and Haitian slaves was coming into Louisiana and New Orleans, their practices began to blend. Some say that the elders passed down what they remembered and the young slaves began to incorporate all of these practices into what is now New Orleans Voodoo. The making and carrying gris-gris bags was a huge part of the Voodoo practice, and if you think about it, quite similar to statues, candles, and pendants of saints which are adorned by Catholics. Praying to “lesser” deities, communing with loa (spirit), and placing offerings at altars are common practices in many faiths. But these secret, “uncivilized” practices generated pure fear in the white community.

Becoming the Voodoo Queen...

There is much speculation on how Marie Laveau rose to her throne as Voodoo Queen. There is the theory that she trained under the guidance of Sanité Dédé and Marie Saloppé. Probably the most exciting theory is that she was a student of the famous Dr. John. And others rationalize that she would have been raised in a collaboration of Catholicism and Voodoo by her grandmother and mother, both of whom would have been practitioners with Catholic faith. There may even be some elements of truth in all of these theories.

Visit New Orleans and take a Cemetery or Ghost Tour and you will undoubtedly hear about Marie Laveau’s followers and her mysterious gatherings in Congo Square. Congo Square is just a short walk over Rampart St. from the Laveau-Glapion house on St. Ann. In the 1800s, Code Noir granted Sundays and holidays to the New Orleans slaves. They would spend their free time cultivating gardens, fishing, and other things that would give them goods to sell and trade. Many would have their Sunday worship at St. Augustine’s Church and walk over to Congo Square with their goods to set up a market. By the mid-1800s Congo Square had become more than a market, it was a community center for New Orleans people of color.

Marie Laveau would attend the gatherings in Congo Square on Sundays and sell her gris-gris bags, offer advice and service to her community, and partake in the celebration. It is here that legends talk about her singing and performing her spiritual celebrations, conjuring the Great Serpent Spirit and becoming filled with the spirit of loa, wearing her Queen of Voodoo crown, proudly.

The Congo Square celebrations were weekly; however, there was one night a year that was sacred to the Creoles who practiced Voodoo, St. John’s Eve. St. John’s Eve, or the Eve of the Fest of St. John the Baptiste, is an observance of the summer solstice, Midsummer’s Eve. The day is acknowledged and celebrated among many cultures and religions, dating back to the Celtics, Druids, and European Pagan rituals. For the New Orleans Voodoo community, it meant coming together for ritual bathing in sacred waters and communing around bonfires. And like the Sunday Congo Square celebrations, St. John’s Eve ceremonies were supposedly lead by Marie Laveau.

You can use your imagination and the images that have been planted in our minds by modern cinema, to picture what exactly went on during these ceremonies. Hollywood tells us it was a lot of naked dancing and orgies around bonfires. Even the white journalists of the 19th century used the mysterious celebration to report the supposed “savage and immoral” acts.

In July of 1869, a local news column reported, “June is the time devoted by the Voodoo worshippers to the celebration of their most sacred and therefore most revolting rites.” The writer goes on to describe “midnight dances, bathing, and eating, together with less innocent pleasures…” There is an interesting little mention in the article where the writer announces the retirement of Marie Laveau. He refers to her reign as “The Voodoo Queen for a quarter of a century.”

Today the celebration of St. John’s Eve is still alive and revered. It takes place on Bayou St. John in New Orleans and brings together the practicing Voodoo community, as well as those with respectful curiosity. You will find everyone dressed in white and following the lead of local Voodoo Priestess, Sallie Ann Glassman, doing their best to make Marie proud.

Marie the Second sported a bright tignon to signal her status and identity. She flaunted her turban, gold jewelry, and a proud walk that announced to all that saw her, -- I am not white, not slave, not black, not French, not Negro, not African American. I am a free woman, a Creole of New Orleans.

Tour guides often tell the tale of the shady switch that Marie Laveau and her daughter concocted. Marie was growing older, and with her daughter’s likeness to her, they would lead the community to believe that Marie Laveau wasn’t aging. Her daughter would wear her mother’s clothes and carry on in her mother’s professional footsteps, leading everyone to think that Marie’s powers were so strong, she would stay young forever.

(Marie the Second)

Marie Laveau attended daily mass well into her old age and visited prisoners trying to convince them to repent their sins for salvation. Surely the folks in the French Quarter saw her continue with her routines over the decades. But as we now know, the gossip and embellishments that surrounded her life were in abundance.

The one common thread in most of the stories about Marie II is that she was a bit more “wicked” than her mother. She was a proud woman who carried herself confidently and was by all definitions, an entrepreneur. Marie II is the Laveau that reportedly was the hairdresser to New Orleans’ affluent white women, and she used their secrets to concoct money making schemes disguised as supernatural powers, and always kept her eye on the prize. Or so they say.

In truth, we’re not even sure who Marie II was. Was she daughter Marie Philomène or Marie Heloise? Perhaps Marie II was one of Marie Laveau’s granddaughters. There is also some speculation that Marie II was not of relation to Marie Laveau at all. Carolyn Morrow Long writes in her book, A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau, “I can only conjecture that the second Marie Laveau, successor to the Queen of Voudous, must have been some other woman who, although unidentified and undocumented in the archival record, lived in the famous cottage on St. Ann during the later decades of the nineteenth century.” Marie II, another mystery that surrounds the enigmatic life of Marie Laveau.

The End of an Era...

On June 15, 1881, Marie Laveau died peacefully in her cottage on St. Ann Street just a few months shy of her 80th birthday. The cottage was demolished, and the current structure at 1020 St. Ann (below) marks the approximate location of her home. 

New Orleans Cemetery records prove that she was interred in the “Widow Paris” tomb in St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery.

Marie Laveau’s tomb is the most visited tomb in all of New Orleans Cemeteries. Unfortunately, not all visitors are respectful, and there have been countless acts of vandalism to her tomb. The defacing of her tomb became such an issue that the Archdiocese and New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries (NOCC) no longer allow tourists to enter St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery without a licensed tour guide who holds a permit from the NOCC.

If we listen to the guides on Ghost Tours or Voodoo Tours, then we are excitedly led to believe that Marie Laveau was indeed a Voodoo Queen and that her ghost still roams her cottage on St. Ann and has even been sited at her tomb. Unfortunately, the only recorded truth to any of those stories is that she indeed live and die in her St. Ann cottage, which was demolished in 1907.

Songs have been written about her. She has inspired movies. And the popular television show, American Horror Story, has created a fan cult devoted to her legend. She has crossed the line from a historical figure to famous pop-culture icon, 138 years after her death.

Marie Laveau will always be a central figure in the history of New Orleans. If we go by the obituaries that were written about her, she was a healer and philanthropist. She was a woman who nursed the unfortunate souls stricken by Yellow Fever, who ministered the prisoners in the Parish Prison, and who attended Catholic Mass daily. Perhaps there was Voodoo woven through her faith and service. We’ll never know. The one rumor that has proven itself to be true was that secrets were safe with Marie Laveau. And still are. Including her own. Of course, there are many tales, and many secrets, in the mysterious bayou country of the deep South.

The patron saint of cats...

    Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, --- patron saint of cats, gardeners, travelers, women, widows, the poor and sick, and the mentally ill. She sounds like my kind of person... 

Article By Whitney Hopler 

Updated July 23, 2018

   St. Gertrude of Nivelles, the patron saint of cats lived from 626 to 659 in Belgium.

   Sailors--who were crossing a sea while on business for Gertrude's monastery--were caught in a ferocious storm and threatened by a large sea animal who they feared would capsize their boat. After one of the sailors prayed to God for mercy because they were doing business for Gertrude's ministry work, they said that the storm stopped right away and the sea creature swam away from them.

   Feast Day: March 17th

   Patron Saint of: Cats, gardeners, travelers, and widows.

   Gertrude Becomes a Nun

   Gertrude was born into a noble family who lived at King Dagobert's court in Belgium. Her father served as mayor of Dagobert's palace. When Gertrude was 10 years old, King Dagobert tried to arrange a marriage between her and the son of a duke in order to form a political alliance, but Gertrude refused to marry him because she wanted to become a nun in the church instead, saying that she would only be married to Jesus Christ.

   Gertrude did become a nun, and she worked with her mother to start a monastery at Nivelles, Belgium. Gertrude and her mother both served as co-leaders there. Gertrude helped build new churches and hospitals, and she took care of travelers and local people in need (such as widows and orphans). She also spent lots of time in prayer vigils.

   Since Gertrude was known for offering hospitality to people as well as animals she was kind to the cats that hung around the monastery, offering them food and affection. Gertrude is associated with cats because she often prayed for the souls of people in purgatory, and artists of the time symbolized those souls as mice, which cats liked to chase. Therefore, Gertrude came to be linked with both mice and cats. She died when she was only thirty three.

Who are the Rom???...

 

THEY ARE THE ROMANI OR THE "ROM".  TRAVELERS... (THIS, ABOVE, IS A ROMANTIZED PAINTING.) 

    IT'S THOUGHT THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE ORIGINALLY COME FROM INDIA, WHERE THEY  WERE 5000 PEOPLE GIVEN AS SLAVES TO A MAHARAJA. THEY  WERE MUSICIANS AND DANCERS , --- ENTERTAINERS... THEY  WERE GIVEN HOUSES AND GRAIN AND OTHER SEEDS, LIVESTOCK AND TOOLS  TO GROW CROPS. BUT, APPARENTLY, AS THE LEGEND GOES, THEY DIDN'T LIKE BEING SLAVES, AND A YEAR OR SO LATER, --- THEY HAD ALL LEFT THE AREA...

     ANOTHER STORY HAS IT THAT THEY ROAM BECAUSE OF A CURSE...

    BY THE 1500'S THEY COULD BE FOUND IN THE CELTIC ISLES. 

MANY BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THE ROM. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, YOU WON'T HAVE ANY TROUBLE FINDING READING MATERIAL. 

***photos of the Romani, --- over 100 years ago... Today they may look like anyone else, and they may travel, or not.

SMILE & look friendly!!!...

 

   WHEN THEY ASKED YOU TO SMILE AND YOU'RE TRYING YOUR BEST TO LOOK FRIENDLY. ...😒😕😖😎😈😆😁💤💣💀👺👹👎.

James Dean posed in a casket in a funeral parlor 7 months before he died...

HE WAS A LOST SOUL... THE WAY HE GREW UP AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS LIFE, COMBINED WITH HIS ULTRA-SENSITIVE NATURE. HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO BE NORMAL...

 It's amazing that he...

...lived as long as he did...

   He was born in Indiana, lived in Santa Monica, California for a while with his father, after his mother died. Then, went back to be raised an Indiana farm boy by his aunt and uncle; although he found farm life boring. His mother was a sensitive young woman who died of cervical cancer when he was 9; his much older father was cold-natured toward him, perhaps partly, because he might have believed James wasn't really his son. His father kept urging him "to get a real job," instead of pursuing an acting career, which his father considered strange and flighty.

   James Dean was only 24 when he died. He recklessly rode his Triumph Trophy motorcycle like a madman. Many times, friends said, he should have died, narrowly missing, by inches, being killed, especially at night, on the streets. 

   He had as a girlfriend, Liz Sheridan, who eventually, in her mature years, played a role on "Seinfeld". They were in the famous New York City Actor's Studio, run by Lee Strasberg, when they were both broke, young and in love, in their 20s, --- a much coveted school where the competition in try-outs was fierce. One of his friends at the Actor's Studio was T.V.'s "Mission Impossible'" star Martin Landau. Marilyn Monroe, and plenty of other eventually famous actors also attended there. James even asked Liz to marry him, but she said "no".  She didn't want the "ties" of marriage, not at "this time in her life", and they parted. James was much more sad about it than Liz.

   James Dean was known as a "crazy" all over Hollywood, but his talent was absolutely stunning. There had never been anybody like him, nor has there been anybody like him since.

   His unique type of moody "cool" too, has stood the test of time. He was only about 5' 7" and slender, but he could inspire fear because no one ever knew what he would do next; he was totally unpredictable.  And, he was an insomniac. He wandered streets in the very early hours of the morning, going to all night coffee shops. He'd often fall asleep during conversations, developing huge bags under his eyes. He smoked way too much. When he was flush with cash he ate big steaks; when he was broke he eat plate after plate of spaghetti.

   He fell in love with the very sweet and enchantingly beautiful starlet Pier Angeli, whose real name was Anna Marie Pierangeli, who had a twin sister. Pier was born on the Italian island of Sardinia. Her father was a construction worker; her mother was an amateur actress. Pier died at 39 of a barbiturate overdose.  

   Her very domineering mom hated James for lots of reasons, but one of the main reasons was because he wasn't a devout Catholic. And, she succeeded, so some believed, in breaking Pier and James up. Pier quickly married considerably older, settled and stable singer Vic Damone. (After Pier died Vic married again, once to singer Diann Carroll,)

   And, in that same year Pier had a baby that was rumored to possibly be James Dean's son. But, --- really, who knows?... Still, he (below) certainly looks like James, more than he does like Vic Damone, --- very much the same eyes, nose, smile as James. Perry Damone died when he was 59, of lymphoma and had no children...

 (Perry Damone, who was named after singer Perry Como, --- at about age 40)

   As Vic and Pier were getting married James waited very angrily outside the church, sulking and scowling, leaning against his bike. When the couple came out of the church after the wedding James loudly zoomed off in a cloud of dust. Supposedly, he'd cried bitterly all night, the evening before.  

   James Dean played the recorder, a type of simple flute. He was quite near-sighted, wore glasses and could look very geeky. 

   His favorite book was the children's story, "The Little Prince'. He also made of clay ash trays shaped like vaginas. It was thought he might have been bi-sexual and that he might have had a homosexual affair with an older man, a mentor, when he was in his teens in Indiana. A friend said that he was "the most co-ordinated person he'd ever met", --- like an acrobat James could be walking along, turn a somersault, and keep right on walking. 

   He died instantly, or very shortly thereafter, when his tiny Porsche 550 Spyder sports car, "The Little Bastard," that he named after himself, crashed on September 30, 1955 into a big Ford sedan driven by a 23 year old man named Donald Turnupseed. James Dean, whose left foot was trapped between the clutch and the brake petal, suffered a broken neck, both arms broken, a broken upper and lower jaw and multiple internal injuries. James was originally going to tow his Porsche to the race, but, at the last minute, decided to drive it there to "put some good miles on the new engine". 

   Turnupseed's Ford crossed the yellow line into Dean's lane as he turned the steering wheel of his Ford. James' last words were, --- "He's got to see us!"... Then, the impact, the much lighter Porsche "jumped" from the road.

   Famous elegant and Shakespeare trained English actor Alec Guinness saw the car when James was having it's name painted on the back of it and grimly predicted that James surely would die in it. James just laughed. (James happily gives the "thumbs up" sign, below.)

   German mechanic Rolf Wuetherich was with James in the passenger seat of the car when it crashed. Wuetherich was thrown from the Porsche and was severely injured, but he recovered. Donald Turnupseed survived the almost head-on crash too, with only a few bruises, but he was known infamously ever after, and vehemently hated, as --- "The Man Who Killed James Dean," even though it was an accident. It practically ruined his life. He admitted his mind wasn't on the road, at the time, because he was day dreaming about actress Doris Day. 

   The smashed up Porsche was taken various places, for a while, to gruesomely show what can happen in an highway accident But, later the car was salvaged, parts of it being sold at auction. Especially, the engine was salvaged. And, for a while, a fiction was determinedly circulated that the car was "cursed". It was thought too that James, instead of doing 90, was only doing about 50 miles an hour at the time of the crash. (Actually, he received a speeding ticket about an hour before the crash happened.)

   Sadly, James Dean, although he was recorded quite a few times when he made "live" performances in plays on early T.V.,  made only 3 movies: "Rebel Without A Cause," "Giant," and "East Of Eden". (He got an Oscar nomination after his death for his role of Jett Rink, in "Giant".) 

   James was supposedly slated to play the role of Rocky Graziano in "Somebody Up There Likes Me". But, with James' death Paul Newman got the role. (Paul Newman was thought to be a little too handsome to play Rocky, so he gained weight, 20 pounds, for the role and was "roughed up" a little with make up.)