Catherine Evelyn Smith (born on 25 Apr 1947 in Hamilton, Ontario^[1]) is an occasional backup singer, rock star girlfriend, "groupie" and drug dealer, who served 15 months in the California state prison system for injecting John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine in 1982^[2].

Smith had been paid for a front page headline story in the Hollywood tabloid the National Enquirer,^[3] where she stated she was the person who injected the actor with a fatal drug overdose. In 1984, Smith co-wrote a book entitled Chasing the Dragon^[4] which told her life story. The title is an allusion to Smith's heroin addiction. Smith appeared prominently in the Bob Woodward book Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi, and was played by Patti D'Arbanville in the film version. She has been called a backup singer but has also been described as merely a groupie.

Levon Helm and The Band[link]

Smith became notorious in the Belushi case, but her association with well-known performers goes back at least 20 years prior to her confession in the National Enquirer. Her earliest association was with Levon Helm, later a member of The Band in 1963.^[5] In Helm's autobiography, he recalls that Smith first met him in Hamilton, Ontario.^[6] Helm, with friend and bandmate Rick Danko, was in a band called The Hawks at the time (see Ronnie Hawkins). At one point, the musicians were in Toronto facing a drug bust.^[3]

Smith has been connected to The Band's famous song, "The Weight", released in 1968. Smith says in Rock and Roll Toronto: From Alanis to Zeppelin,^[7] that Richard Manuel offered to marry her but she refused.^[8] Nevertheless, she continued to tour and party with Helm, Rick Danko and Manuel through the 1960s. She later had an affair with Gordon Lightfoot. After the affair ended, Smith returned to Levon Helm and the circle who now composed The Band.

Gordon Lightfoot[link]

Smith became an employee and then mistress of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in the early to mid-1970s. At one point, she even drove their tour bus. Smith sang backup on Lightfoot's song "High and Dry" which was on the Sundown album.^[9] She apparently sang more backup on the album but Lightfoot mixed most of it out.^[10]

By several accounts,^[who?] the Smith-Lightfoot affair was volatile and illustrated in the lyrics of "Sundown", Lightfoot's Number One hit and most financially lucrative song. It reflects the dark feelings Lightfoot was experiencing at the time. Drinking too much and married to another woman, he on one occasion broke Smith's cheekbone in a fight.^[11] Lightfoot has stated of his three-year relationship with Smith, "I was sometimes crazy with jealousy".^[12]

Bluegrass musicians Bruce and Brian Good, The Good Brothers, who were one of Lightfoot's opening acts during that time, got fired by Lightfoot for "flirting" with Smith.^[13] Smith was cited in divorce papers, and shortly after his affair with Smith ended, Lightfoot was a party to the most expensive divorce settlement in Canadian history to that date.^[14]

In a 1975 interview, Lightfoot expanded upon Sundown and hinted at the worry he experienced in his relationship with Smith:

"All it is, is a thought about a situation where someone is wondering what his loved one is doing at the moment. He doesn't quite know where she is. He's not ready to give up on her, either, and that's about all I got to say about that."^[15]

Lightfoot gave another insight into his relationship with Smith in a 2000 interview when he remarked upon "Sundown" being:

"a back-alley kind of tune. It's based on infidelity -- I've seen both sides of that."^[16]

In 2008, Lightfoot gave an interview confirming that "Sundown" was written with his then-girlfriend in mind:

"I think my girlfriend was out with her friends one night at a bar while I was at home writing songs. I thought, 'I wonder what she’s doing with her friends at that bar!' It’s that kind of a feeling. 'Where is my true love tonight? What is my true love doing?'^[13]

Belushi case[link]

After Lightfoot and The Band, around 1976 Smith became a backup singer for Hoyt Axton, who was struggling with cocaine addiction at the time.^[17] She sang on his song "Fearless" (1976) and co-wrote "Flash of Fire" with Axton (1976).^[18]

Smith became involved with heroin use in the late 1970s. In Bob Woodward's Wired, she appears as a drug dealer to Rolling Stones band members Ron Wood and Keith Richards during their touring and rehearsals as The New Barbarians. She moved to Los Angeles and as her addiction increased she became a full-time drug dealer and courier to Wood, Richards and others in the entertainment world. Smith first met comedian John Belushi on the set of Saturday Night Live in 1976 when The Band were the musical guests.^[19]

She later met Belushi again through Wood and Richards and was contacted by Belushi to purchase the drugs that eventually killed him. Smith alleges that she injected Belushi with 83 speedballs (a combination of cocaine and heroin) at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, California in 1982, and that this injection led to his death. According to Woodward, Robin Williams was on the scene at the time, and was "creeped out" by Smith, whom he thought to be a "lowlife".^[14] Belushi had been battling cocaine addiction for years. He was not a heroin addict, though he had used the drug infrequently before his death.

Released after initial questioning on the morning of Belushi's death, Smith spoke briefly to freelance writer Chris Van Ness. Then, two National Enquirer reporters, Tony Brenna and Larry Haley, spoke with her and published their lengthy in-person interviews with her under the headline: "I killed John Belushi. I didn't mean to, but I am responsible." This led to the charge against Smith in Belushi's murder and 13 counts of administering cocaine and heroin.^[20] The National Enquirer reporters refused to testify at the subsequent trial and were threatened with incarceration by Judge Brian Crahan; however, he later vacated the contempt order.^[21]

Smith eventually returned to the United States, in June 1986 where she accepted a plea bargain by "plead[ing] guilty to involuntary manslaughter and several drug charges".^[22] She served 15 months in prison at California Institution for Women between December 1986 and March 1988.^[22][23] She was deported to Canada after release^[22] and moved to Toronto "where she worked as a legal secretary and spoke to teenagers about the dangers of drugs".^[24]

Smith was arrested in July 1991 "with two grams of heroin in her purse" in Vancouver, British Columbia, for which she received a fine of CDN$2000 and "12 months' probation".^[24] She appeared in the E! television network show True Hollywood Story episode on Belushi's death which first aired in 1998.^[25][26][27]

Further reading[link]

• Cathy Smith: Chasing the Dragon (Key Porter Books, January 1984) ISBN 0-919493-50-5

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Daniel Richler (born 1957) is a Canadian arts and pop culture broadcaster and writer. He is the stepson of author Mordecai Richler.

Biography[link]

Born in London, England, his family moved back to his stepfather's hometown of Montreal when Daniel was 15. He became a punk rocker as a teenager and was lead singer of the Alpha Jerks^[1] - the only local band with an anti-Secessionist agenda at the time of the 1980 Quebec Referendum. He also joined the Ontario biker gang, The New Hegelians, which were "encouraged" to quit the road by the Toronto Hell's Angels chapter in the early 1990s^{[citation needed]} .

From 1977 through the early 1980s, Richler was a deejay, presenter and critic on a variety of major market radio stations including CHOM-FM in Montreal and CJCL, CFNY-FM 102.1 "The Spirit of Radio" in Toronto. He also joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where he was a cultural commentator on CBC Radio's Morningside with Peter Gzowski.

He moved to CITY-TV in 1985 becoming co-host and eventually producer of the The NewMusic, the internationally syndicated, pioneering weekly rockumentary show that pre-dated MTV and later gave rise to MuchMusic. The show fused international field journalism and in-depth interviews with rock videos to create an occasionally tough rockumentary newsmagazine geared at 15 to 30 year-olds. Items and documentaries included those on Band-Aid, post-revolutionary music in Zimbabwe, the Japanese pop industry, Andy Warhol’s art video work, William Burroughs, Frank Zappa at the PMRC hearings in Washington, the death and legacy of Bob Marley, Yoko Ono post-John, and Malcolm McLaren’s manufacture and manipulation of the Sex Pistols.

In 1987 and 1988 Richler was Chief Arts Correspondent on The Journal, CBC’s national news program. His international profiles and docs included those on Anthony Burgess, Keith Richards, Art Spiegelman, Pat Nixon and numerous others. He subsequently moved to TVOntario where he became Creative Heads of Arts Programming and launched the long-running literary program Imprint, which he later served as host and Executive Producer. At that time Richler also oversaw the schedule, acquisitions, commissioning and original programming of the channel's arts sector. He developed and launched Prisoners of Gravity with Mark Askwith and host/comedian Rick Green - a prize-winning, weekly half-hour, hybrid magazine/documentary/veejay show devoted to science fiction, fantasy, comics, and horror.

In the mid-to-late 1990s he was producer/director and presenter of the counterculture show, Big Life, on CBC Newsworld. Subjects included trepanation, anti-Frankenfood activism, digital downloading, auto-erotic asphyxiation, the Furries, anti-G8 anarchism, Burning Man, Genesis P-Orridge, the true nature and history of ecstasy, turntablism, etc. In 1998, he won Best Presenter Gemini.

In 2001 he moved back to ChumCity as Editor-in-Chief/Executive Producer of its new literary specialty channel BookTelevision, which launched September 1, 2001 as a digital service across Canada. There he conceived and developed the channel format, oversaw development of its schedule, budget of original in-house programming, acquisition selection and overall design. He served as Executive Produced and/or Director for The Word News, The Word This Week, Richler, Ink., Writers on the Road, Authors at Harbourfront, Lust, The Electric Archive and a variety of full-length documentaries. He also developed literary video and literary ad/EPK initiatives and was credited with boosting sales of new books, including Alice Munro’s Runaway.^{[citation needed]}

Richler has published one novel, Kicking Tomorrow (1991), a bestseller in Canada for 13 weeks,^{[citation needed]} which was named one of New York Times Book Review’s Best Books of 1992.

He presently resides in London, England, where he works as a freelance TV director and writer. He has most recently directed episodes of Wag TV / Discovery UK’s How Do They Do It? and Real Vampires, a 2-hour factual/dramatic documentary for Discovery UK and Canada that examines the scientific and historical underpinnings of the vampire myth.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Prisoners of Gravity fan site

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

John Adam Belushi ( /bəˈluːʃi/; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live and starring alongside Dan Aykroyd in the comedy film The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James "Jim" Belushi.

Early life[link]

John Belushi was born in Chicago. He was the son of Agnes (née Samaras), who was of Albanian descent, and Adam Belushi (1918–1996), an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of sixteen. John was raised in a Chicago suburb, along with his three siblings: younger brothers Billy and Jim and his sister, Marian.^[1][2][3][4] The family's name at the time of immigration was Bellios, or Belliors.^[4] Belushi was raised in the Albanian Orthodox church and grew up outside Chicago in Wheaton. He attended Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, Judy Jacklin.

Career[link]

Belushi's first big break as a comedian occurred in 1971, when he joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago. He was cast in National Lampoon's Lemmings, a parody of Woodstock, which played Off-Broadway in 1972 and showcased future Saturday Night Live (SNL) performers Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest.

In 1973, Belushi and Jacklin moved together to New York. From 1973 to 1975, National Lampoon Inc. aired The National Lampoon Radio Hour, a half-hour comedy program syndicated across the country on approximately 600 stations. Belushi was a regular player on the show. Other players included future SNL regulars Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray and Chevy Chase. Jacklin became an associate producer for the show, and she and Belushi were married on December 31, 1976. A number of comic segments first performed on The Radio Hour were transformed into SNL sketches in the show's early seasons.

1975–1979[link]

Belushi achieved national fame for his work on Saturday Night Live, which he joined as an original cast member in 1975. Between seasons of the show, he made one of his best-known movies, Animal House.

When interviewed for retrospectives on John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd told stories of John often finishing SNL rehearsals, shows or film shoots and John being exhausted, simply walking unannounced into nearby homes of friends or strangers, scrounging around for food and often falling asleep, unable to be located for the following day's work.^[5] This was the impetus for the SNL horror-spoof sketch "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave",^[6] in which Belushi torments a couple (played by Jane Curtin and Bill Murray) in their home looking for snacks, newspapers and magazines to read, and taking control of their television. During the opening of the SNL episode that aired on December 17, 1977, Belushi, while in character as himself, quipped, "I plan to be dead by the time I'm 30."^[7] SNL also featured a short film by writer Tom Schiller called "Don't Look Back In Anger",^[8] where Belushi, playing himself as an old man and the last-surviving SNL cast member, visits the graves of his now-former cast members.

Belushi left Saturday Night Live in 1979 to pursue a film career. Belushi made four more movies; three of them, 1941, Neighbors, and most notably The Blues Brothers were made with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd.

Other movie projects[link]

Dan Aykroyd wrote the roles of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters and Emmett Fitz-Hume in Spies Like Us with Belushi in mind. The roles were eventually played by Belushi's former SNL castmates Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, respectively.

Released in September 1981, the romantic comedy Continental Divide starred Belushi as Chicago home town hero writer Ernie Souchack, who gets put on assignment researching a scientist studying birds of prey in the remote Rocky Mountains.

At the time of his death, Belushi was pursuing several movie projects, including Noble Rot, an adaptation of a script by former Mary Tyler Moore Show writer and producer Jay Sandrich entitled Sweet Deception.

Belushi recruited the band Fear and brought them to Cherokee Studios to record songs for the soundtrack of Neighbors, a film he and Aykroyd were starring in. Cherokee Studios was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers back in the early days of the band. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother and guitar player Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. "John was a crazy guy, but a heavy drinker. At times, he would drink an entire fifth of Jack Daniel's in less than five minutes," Aykroyd commented. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb, worked on a number of music projects with the two comedian/musicians, the band Fear and later Aykroyd's movie Dragnet. "What can I say? John was excessively talented, and I guess you could say he sort of lived life 'excessively.' I think what happened to John had a sobering effect on a lot of people, me included," said music producer Bruce Robb.

Death[link]

On March 5, 1982, Bill Wallace found Belushi dead in his room, Bungalow #3 at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California.^[9] The cause of death was a speedball; the combined injection of cocaine and heroin. On the night of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams^[10] and Robert De Niro,^[11] each of whom left the premises, leaving Belushi in the company of assorted others, including Catherine Evelyn Smith. His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Dr. Ryan Norris among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article "I Killed Belushi" in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Toronto, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.^[12]

Shortly before Belushi's death, he appeared in a cameo for the comedy series Police Squad! At the suggestion of the show's producer, Robert K. Weiss, Belushi was filmed, face down in a swimming pool, dead. The footage was part of a running gag wherein the episode's "special guest star" would not survive past the opening credits without meeting some gruesome end. The scene was cut after his death and the footage is believed to have been lost.

Belushi and his friend Dan Aykroyd were slated to present the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 54th Academy Awards, an event held less than four weeks after his death.

Belushi was slated to appear on the well-known Canadian comedy show SCTV, which was by then being syndicated to the United States, but according to Dave Thomas, one of whose best-known characters on SCTV was Doug McKenzie in the "Great White North" sketches, they were "planning him into their set, when suddenly, they received a phone call that Belushi had died in his hotel room. We stopped our work and just stared at each other, not being able to believe what had happened. John Candy began to cry, for Belushi as a friend, but also because it, to him, signaled the end of that era of comedy TV, now that one of their greats was dead." The segments he was to be in were scrapped, and the show continued without him. An earlier SCTV sketch had starred Tony Rosato as Belushi.

Belushi's wife arranged for a traditional Orthodox Christian funeral which was conducted by an Albanian Orthodox priest^[13] and he is interred at Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His tombstone, a New England classic slate design, complete with skull and crossbones, reads, "I may be gone but Rock and Roll lives on."^[14] He also is remembered on the Belushi family stone marking his mother's grave at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois. This stone says, "He Gave Us Laughter."^[15]

The manner in which Belushi died has spawned a term in popular culture. For example, in the CSI episode titled "Way to Go (Part 2)" (season 6, episode 141), CSI Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) investigates the death of a Civil War aficionado, whose body was found in a hotel room, and who seemed to have been drugged. Forensic evidence leads Willows to ask a call girl if she had "Belushied" the victim.

Tributes[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

John Belushi's life is detailed in the 1985 biography Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward. Many friends and relatives of Belushi, including his wife Judy, Dan Aykroyd and James Belushi, agreed to be interviewed at length for the book, but later felt the final product was exploitative and not representative of the John Belushi they knew. The book was later adapted into a feature film in which Belushi was played by Michael Chiklis. Belushi's friends and family boycotted the film, the publicity from which helped cause the movie to be a box-office flop.

The Grateful Dead performed the song "West L.A. Fadeaway" beginning in late 1982. The song, penned by long time lyricist Robert Hunter and sung by Jerry Garcia, contains fairly explicit references to Belushi's death, especially the line "Looking for a chateau, 21 rooms but one will do.^[16]

Belushi was portrayed by actors Eric Siegel in Gilda Radner: It's Always Something, Tyler Labine in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy (which also features his friendship with Robin Williams), and Michael Chiklis in Wired.

His widow later remarried and is now Judith Belushi Pisano. Her biography (with co-biographer Tanner Colby) of John, Belushi: A Biography is a collection of first-person interviews and photographs, and was published in 2005.

On April 1, 2004, 22 years after his death, Belushi was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after a ten-year lobbying effort by James Belushi and Judith Belushi Pisano. Among those present at the ceremony were Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, and Tom Arnold.

In 2006, Biography Channel aired the "John Belushi" episode of Final 24, a documentary following Belushi in the last 24 hours leading to his death. In 2010, Biography aired a full biography documentation of the life of "John Belushi".

The 1987 song "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)", by the American thrash metal band Anthrax was dedicated to John Belushi.

Several characters in Neil Gaiman's short story "The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories" reference Belushi's death with varying (and incorrect) details.

Belushi's gravestone is also discussed in great length in the Tony Kushner play Reverse Transcription.

Belushi's alma mater, the College of DuPage, has established an annual performing arts scholarship in his honor.

Credits[link]

• National Lampoon's Lemmings (1973) (Stage)
• The National Lampoon Radio Hour (1973–1974) (Radio) (also Creative Director)
• The National Lampoon Show (1975) (Stage)
• The Beach Boys: It's OK (1976) (TV)
• Saturday Night Live (1975–1979) (TV)
• Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle (1975) (voice)
• Goin' South (1978)
• National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
• The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) (TV)
• Old Boyfriends (1979)
• 1941 (1979)
• The Blues Brothers (1980)
• Continental Divide (1981)
• Neighbors (1981)

[edit] SNL characters and impersonations

Recurring characters

• Samurai Futaba
• Captain Ned, one of Miles Cowperthwaite's cronies
• Jacob Papageorge alias 'Joliet' Jake Blues, from the Blues Brothers
• Jeff Widette, from the Widettes
• Kevin (from The Mall sketches)
• Kuldorth (from The Coneheads)
• Larry Farber (one half of the Farber couple [the wife, Bobbi, was played by Gilda Radner])
• Lowell Brock, from the H&L Brock commercials
• Matt Cooper, from the Land Shark sketches
• Pete, from the Olympia Cafe
• Steve Beshekas (who was in real life a good friend of Belushi's since community college)
• Frank Leary, one of St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus

Celebrity impersonations

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2010)

• John Belushi at the Internet Movie Database
• John Belushi at AllRovi
• John Belushi at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• John Belushi at Find a Grave Grave
• John Belushi at Find a Grave Family marker
• Interview (MP3) with biographer Tanner Colby and Judith Belushi Pisano on the public radio program The Sound of Young America regarding their book, Belushi. Includes clips from Belushi's work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.
• Belushi: A Biography, official website for the book
• John Belushi Cult Turns 25 from The Conservative Voice
• Blues Brothers
• Top SNL performer from Maxim
• Noble Rot the "lost" screenplay of Novello and Belushi, from Subterranean Cinema

Body of War, directed by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue, is a 2007 documentary following Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran paralyzed from a bullet to the spine, on a physical and emotional journey as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq.

As Tomas's journey unfolds, the film cuts back and forth to Congressional proceedings in Washington, D.C. Footage includes passionate speeches by Senator Robert Byrd as well as a running tally of how each U.S. Senate member voted on the resolution to authorize President George W. Bush to war in Iraq.

The National Board of Review named Body of War Best Documentary of 2007. Previous winners include An Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins, Born Into Brothels, The Fog of War and Bowling for Columbine.

Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro appeared on Bill Moyers Journal for a one hour special about Body of War.

Honors and awards[link]

• Shortlisted for an Oscar nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[1]

• Best Documentary (National Board of Review of Motion Pictures)^[2]

• People's Choice Award (runner-up) at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[3]

• Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Hamptons International Film Festival.^[4]

Critical reception[link]

• "Superb documentary ... almost unbearably moving." —Time magazine^[5]

• "Identification with a single protagonist gives "Body" something to set it apart from other antiwar documentaries."
  —Hollywood Reporter^[6]

• "A powerful indictment of the tactical politics that led to the invasion and a heartbreaking account of one man's living with the aftermath."—Los Angeles Times^[7]

• "Architecturally sound, emotionally ravaging...a ferocious film."—Washington Post^[8]

• "A compassionate and impassioned portrait...not merely an antiwar document, but a complex profile in courage of a paraplegic and patriot." —Philadelphia Inquirer^[9]

• "Among the more heartbreaking images this war has produced."—Boston Globe^[10]

• "A powerful film."—TV Guide^[11]

• "One of the most affecting and certainly the most intimate of the cinematic arguments against the war in Iraq yet made."—Austin Chronicle^[12]

• "Body of War secures its strength by offering one, very personal, tale."—Moving Pictures Magazine^[13]

• "Unforgettably intimate, Un-missable. Young is a fascinating, charismatic character, the camera loves him - as will audiences." —Toronto Star^[14]

• "Beautiful, heartbreaking and powerful...has to be seen." —KansasCity.com^[15]

• "A powerful and effective documentary."—Cinema Junkie. KPBS.org^[16]

• "Seeing Body of War is about as close as you can get to beginning to feel what the wounded vets and their families feel."—Veterans Today'^[17]

Media coverage[link]

• Moyers, Bill. Bill Moyers Journal . BODY OF WAR | PBS pbs.org/moyers 2008-03-21. Retrieved on 2008-3-29.
• Zeitchik, Steven. Donahue's 'Body' Builds Buzz: Talkshow Icon's Documentary Sparks Interest. Variety. 2007-7-8. Retrieved on 2007-7-12.
• Goodman, Amy. 'Democracy Now' interview with Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro Democracy Now. 2008-3-25.^[18]
• Gillette, Felix. Phil Donahue Strikes Back. The New York Observer. 2007-6-19. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.
• Donahue, Phil. Body of War. The Huffington Post. 2007-6-17. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.
• Kluger, Bruce. Films No Longer Wait for History. USA Today. 2007-10-31.^[19]
• Friedman, Roger. Phil Donahue Makes Anti-War Film. FoxNews.com. 2006-11-27. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.
• Celizic, Mike. Phil Donahue Unveils Documentary on Wounded GI Today. MSNBC.com. 2008-4-1.^[20]
• Next on Phil Donahue: Body of War New York Daily News. 2008-4-5.^[21]
• Silverman, Jason. Donahue Tackles Iraq in Body of War. Wired.^[22]
• Niles Folsom, Chandra. So What Do You Do, Phil Donahue? MediaBistro.com. 2007-6-6. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.
• Powers, Ann. A War Vet's Unlikely Seat in the Spotlight Los Angeles Times. 2008-4-20.^[23]
• Newman, Laura. Interview: Ellen Spiro (co-director for Body of War) Ioncinema.com. 2008-4-18.^[24]
• Priesmeyer, Molly. Tomas Young of Body of War Continues his Fight. Minnesota Monitor. 2008-5-16.^[25]
• Frehsee, Nicole. Body of War Hero Talks Eddie Vedder, SXSW Premiere Rolling Stone. 2008-3-6.^[26]

Soundtrack[link]

Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, a double-CD compilation of songs curated by Iraq war veteran Tomas Young, was released by Sire Records on March 18, 2008 — two days before the fifth anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Iraq.

Young personally selected each of the tracks that appear on Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, including Eddie Vedder's previously unreleased, live version of "No More," which was written specifically for the Body of War documentary and performed with Ben Harper at Lollapalooza 2007 in Chicago's Grant Park. The double-CD set also features incisive songs from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bright Eyes, Neil Young, Lupe Fiasco and Serj Tankian.

This music, Young says, serves as his personal ‘soundtrack for Iraq.’ “The compilation record was an idea that grew out of my love of music and my reliance on it before, during, and after the war,” he says. “The songs I selected for the record were tracks that inspired, motivated, and at times, literally saved me over the past few years.”

“Tomas has taught me a great deal, and our friendship has become one of depth and sincerity,” Vedder adds. “It has been a mind-expanding experience. I see how he relies on the strength of the songs to help him through each day. It is a true living example of the power of music.”

The Body of War music site (www.bodyofwarmusic.com) enables visitors to order the Body Of War double CD set or buy the iTunes version of the album, view the video for “No More” by Ellen Spiro and special bonus footage with Tomas Young and Eddie Vedder, as well as link to sites and a forum where users can take action based on their feelings about the Iraq war.

All proceeds from Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, which features original cover art designed and donated by acclaimed political artist Shepard Fairey, go to benefit the non-profit organization Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), as chosen by Young. Founded in 2004 by Iraq war veterans, IVAW’s goal is to give voice to the large number of active-duty service people and veterans who are against the war, but are under various pressures to remain silent. In September, Sire Records donated $100,000 to IVAW in the name of Young, who is a spokesperson for the organization.

Track listing[link]

Disc one[link]

1. Brendan James – "Hero's Song"
2. Lupe Fiasco – "American Terrorist" (Fiasco, Prolyfic, Armando Corea) – 4:40
3. Michael Franti & Spearhead – "Light Up Ya Lighter" (Franti, Itiene) – 4:57
4. Rage Against the Machine – "Guerrilla Radio" – 3:26
5. Public Enemy – "Son of a Bush" – 5:52
6. Serj Tankian – "Empty Walls" (Tankian) – 3:49
7. Bad Religion – "Let Them Eat War" (Brian Baker, Jay Bentley, Sage Francis, Brett Gurewitz, Brooks Wackerman) – 2:57
8. Against Me! – "White People for Peace" (Tom Gabel) – 3:33
9. The Bouncing Souls – "Letter from Iraq" (The Bouncing Souls, Garett Reppenhagen) – 2:57
10. Dilated Peoples – "War" (Questlove)
11. Rx Bandits – "Overcome (The Recapitulation)" – 3:46
12. No Use for a Name – "Fields of Agony" – 2:24
13. Talib Kweli & Cornel West – "Bushonomics"
14. Immortal Technique – "The 4th Branch" – 5:20
15. System of a Down – "B.Y.O.B." (Daron Malakian, Casey Chaos, Serj Tankian) – 4:17
16. Eddie Vedder & Ben Harper – "No More" [Live]

Disc two[link]

1. Bruce Springsteen – "Devils & Dust" (Springsteen) – 4:58
2. Pearl Jam – "Masters of War" [Live] (Bob Dylan)
3. Bright Eyes – "When the President Talks to God" (Conor Oberst) – 2:46
4. John Lennon – "Gimme Some Truth" (Lennon) – 3:16
5. Neil Young – "The Restless Consumer"
6. The Nightwatchman – "Battle Hymns"
7. Kimya Dawson – "Anthrax"
8. Blow Up Hollywood – "WMD"
9. David Ford – "State of the Union" (Ford)
10. Tori Amos – "Yo George" (Amos) – 1:25
11. Laura Cantrell – "Love Vigilantes"
12. Ben Harper – "Black Rain" (Ben Harper/Jason Yates)
13. Roger Waters – "To Kill the Child"
14. Tom Waits – "Day After Tomorrow" (Kathleen Brennan, Waits)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Body of War at the Internet Movie Database
• Body of War at Rotten Tomatoes
• Body of War at Metacritic
• Body of War at Box Office Mojo
• Body of War at AllRovi
• Body of War music site
• Official trailer at Youtube
• Eddie Vedder interviewed on Body of War at Youtube
• Donahue and Spiro talk about Young's album Body of War at Youtube

Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber at the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, France in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Justin Drew Bieber[1]
Born	(1994-03-01) March 1, 1994 (age 18)[2] London, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Pop, R&B, teen pop[3][4][5]
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, percussion,[6] trumpet[7]
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Island, RBMG
Associated acts	Usher, Ludacris
Website	justinbiebermusic.com

Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994)^[2] is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor.^[3][5] Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun,^[8] who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher,^[9] and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid.^[6][10] Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.^[11]

Bieber's first full-length studio album, My World 2.0, was released in March 2010. It debuted at number one or within the top ten in several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby". The music video of "Baby" is currently ranked as the most viewed and most discussed YouTube video.^[12] Bieber followed up the release of his debut album with his first headlining tour, the My World Tour, the remix albums My Worlds Acoustic and Never Say Never – The Remixes, and the 3D biopic-concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, that nearly matched the record for the biggest opening weekend gross for a concert-film. Bieber released his second studio album, Under the Mistletoe, in November 2011, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Bieber has received numerous awards, including Artist of the Year at the 2010 American Music Awards, and has been nominated for such awards as Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. In 2012, Bieber was named Forbes 3rd most powerful celebrity in the world, earning $55 million. As of May 2012, Bieber has sold 15 million albums.^[13]

Early life[link]

Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario in St Joseph's Hospital,^[14][15] and was raised in Stratford, Ontario.^[16] Bieber's mother, Patricia Lynn "Pattie" Mallette, was 18 years old when she became pregnant. Mallette, originally from Stratford, raised her son with the help of her parents, Bruce and Diane.^[17] Mallette worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father, Jeremy Jack Bieber, who married another woman and had two children.^[18][19][20] Bieber's great-grandfather was from Germany.^[21] Bieber's mother's ancestry is French Canadian.^[22] Bieber attended a French immersion elementary school in Stratford called Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School.^[17]

During his childhood, Bieber was interested in hockey, soccer, and chess; he often kept his musical aspirations to himself.^[18] As he grew up, Bieber taught himself to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet.^[16][23] In early 2007, when he was twelve, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and was placed second.^[6][23] Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Bieber's popularity on the site grew.^[10] Chris Hicks, Bieber's A&R at Island/Def Jam, explained the young artist's huge online following to HitQuarters by saying:

"He was doing something different. He was an attractive white kid singing very soulful R&B hits. That set him apart immediately from anyone in his range because no one was covering or singing these kind of records. But equally important was that you believed in these songs – it was real. And you wanted to hear more."^[24]

Career[link]

[edit] 2008–09: Discovery and My World

While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident.^[18] Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette. Mallette was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label! ... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"^[18] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,^[10] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.^[18] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.^[25] Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher.^[9] Justin Timberlake was also reportedly in the running to sign Bieber, but lost the bidding war to Usher.^[9][26] Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact Antonio L.A. Reid of Island Def Jam Music Group.^[24] Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 (resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records) and appointed Hicks as executive Vice-President of Def Jam where he would be able manage Bieber's career at the label.^{[6][9][10][24]} At that point, Bieber and his mother moved to Atlanta temporarily, also the home of Usher and Braun, to record and get counseling from Braun.^[9] Braun became Bieber's manager.^[10]