Labor Day
Labor Day Parade, Union Square, New York, 1882
Observed by	United States
Type	Federal Holiday (federal government, DC and U.S. Territories); and State Holiday (in all 50 U.S. States)
Date	First Monday in September
2011 date	September 5
2012 date	September 3
2013 date	September 2
Celebrations	Parades, barbecues
Related to	Labour Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (September 3 in 2012) that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.

History[link]

In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York.^[1] Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882,^[2] after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada.^[3]

Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.^[2] Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.^[4] The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day.^[5] All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.

Pattern of celebration[link]

The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations",^[1] followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.^[1]

The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest and parties. Speeches or political demonstrations are more low-key than May 1 Labor Day celebrations in most countries, although events held by labor organizations often feature political themes and appearances by candidates for office, especially in election years.^[6] Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water sports, and public art events. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer recess. Similarly, some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school, although school starting times now vary.

End of summer[link]

Labor Day has come to be celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable to wear white^[7] or seersucker.^[8][9]

In U.S. sports, Labor Day marks the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons. NCAA teams usually play their first games the week before Labor Day, with the NFL traditionally playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day. The Southern 500 NASCAR auto race was held that day from 1950 to 1983 in Darlington, South Carolina. At Indianapolis Raceway Park, the National Hot Rod Association hold their finals to the U.S. Nationals drag race.

In the U.S. most school districts that started summer vacation in early June will resume school the day after this day (see First Day of School), while schools that had summer vacation begin on the Saturday before Memorial Day in late May will have already been in session since late August. However this is tradition is changing as many school districts end in early June and begin mid-August.^[10]

See also[link]

• International Workers' Day
• Labor history of the United States
• Labor unions in the United States
• Trade union
• Workers' Memorial Day

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Green, James (2007). Death In the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. Anchor. ISBN 1-4000-3322-5. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Labor Day in the United States

• In Praise of the American Worker - slideshow by Life magazine

Rock Hudson
An image from the trailer for Giant (1956)
Born	Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. (1925-11-17)November 17, 1925 Winnetka, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 2, 1985(1985-10-02) (aged 59)[1] Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	AIDS
Other names	Roy Harold Fitzgerald
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1948–1985
Spouse	Phyllis Gates (m. 1955–1958, divorced) Layla Coates (m. 1959-1963, annulled)

Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald (November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985), known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, most recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in Magnificent Obsession (1954), Giant (1956) and several popular comedies with Doris Day. Later roles included the leads in Ice Station Zebra and the popular television series McMillan & Wife along with a role in the hugely successful series Dynasty.

Hudson was voted "Star of the Year", "Favorite Leading Man", and similar titles by numerous movie magazines. The 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall actor was one of the most popular and well-known movie stars of the time. He completed nearly 70 motion pictures and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over four decades.

Hudson died in 1985, being the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.^[2]

Early life[link]

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., in Winnetka, Illinois, the only child of Katherine Wood (of English and Irish descent), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, Sr., (of German and Swiss descent) an auto mechanic who abandoned the family during the depths of the Great Depression. His mother remarried and his stepfather Wallace "Wally" Fitzgerald adopted him, changing his last name to Fitzgerald. Hudson's years at New Trier High School were unremarkable. He sang in the school's glee club and was remembered as a shy boy who delivered newspapers, ran errands and worked as a golf caddy.

After graduating from high school, he served in the Philippines as an aircraft mechanic for the United States Navy during World War II.^[3] In 1946, Hudson moved to the Los Angeles area to pursue an acting career and applied to the University of Southern California's dramatics program, but he was rejected owing to poor grades. Hudson worked for a time as a truck driver, longing to be an actor but with no success in breaking into the movies. A fortunate meeting with Hollywood talent scout Henry Willson in 1948 got Hudson his start in the business.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Hudson made his debut with a small part in the 1948 Warner Bros.' Fighter Squadron. Hudson needed no fewer than 38 takes before successfully delivering his only line in the film.^[4]

Hudson was further coached in acting, singing, dancing, fencing, and horseback riding, and he began to be featured in film magazines where he was promoted, possibly on the basis of his good looks. Success and recognition came in 1954 with Magnificent Obsession in which Hudson plays a bad boy who is redeemed opposite the popular star Jane Wyman.^[3] The film received rave reviews, with Modern Screen Magazine citing Hudson as the most popular actor of the year. Hudson's popularity soared with George Stevens' Giant, based on Edna Ferber's novel and co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Hudson and Dean both were nominated for Oscars in the Best Actor category.

Following Richard Brooks' notable Something of Value (1957) was a moving performance in Charles Vidor's box office failure A Farewell to Arms, based on Ernest Hemingway's novel. In order to make A Farewell to Arms, he had reportedly turned down Marlon Brando's role in Sayonara, William Holden's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Charlton Heston's role in Ben-Hur. Those films went on to become hugely successful and critically acclaimed, while A Farewell to Arms proved to be one of the biggest flops in cinema history.^{[citation needed]}

Hudson sailed through the 1960s on a wave of romantic comedies. He portrayed humorous characters in Pillow Talk, the first of several profitable co-starring performances with Doris Day. This was followed by Lover Come Back, Come September, Send Me No Flowers, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Spiral Road, and Strange Bedfellows. Along with Cary Grant, Hudson was regarded as one of the best-dressed male stars in Hollywood, and received "Top 10 Stars of the Year" a record eight times from 1957 to 1964. He worked outside his usual range on the science-fiction thriller Seconds (1966). The film flopped but it later gained cult status, and Hudson's performance is often regarded as one of his best.^[5][6] He also tried his hand in the action genre with Tobruk (1967), the lead in 1968's spy thriller Ice Station Zebra, a role which he had actively sought and remained his personal favorite, and westerns with The Undefeated (1969) opposite John Wayne.

Later career[link]

Hudson's popularity on the big screen diminished after the 1960s. He starred in a number of made-for-TV movies and series. His most successful TV series was McMillan & Wife opposite Susan Saint James which ran from 1971 to 1977. In it, Hudson played police commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan with Saint James as his wife Sally. Their on-screen chemistry helped make the show a hit.

In the early 1980s, following years of heavy drinking and smoking, Hudson began having health problems which resulted in a heart attack in November 1981. Emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery sidelined Hudson and his new TV show The Devlin Connection for a year; the show was canceled in December 1982 not long after it first aired. Hudson recovered from the heart surgery but continued to smoke. He was in ill health while filming The Ambassador in Israel during the winter of 1983-84 with Robert Mitchum. The two stars reportedly did not get along with each other, with Mitchum himself having a serious drinking problem.^[7] During 1984, Hudson's health grew worse, prompting different rumors that he was suffering from liver cancer, among other ailments, because of his increasingly gaunt face and build.

From December 1984 to April 1985, Hudson landed a recurring role on the ABC prime time soap opera Dynasty as Daniel Reece, the love interest for Krystle Carrington (played by Linda Evans) and biological father of the character Sammy Jo Carrington (Heather Locklear). While he had long been known to have difficulty memorizing lines, which resulted in his use of cue cards, on Dynasty it was Hudson's speech itself that began to deteriorate. Hudson was originally slated to appear for the duration of the show's 5th season, however, because of his progressing ill health, his character was abruptly written out of the show and died offscreen.

Personal life[link]

While Hudson's career was developing, he and his agent Henry Willson kept his personal life out of the headlines. In 1955, Confidential magazine threatened to publish an exposé about Hudson's secret homosexual life. Willson forestalled this by disclosing information about two of his other clients.^[8] According to some colleagues, Hudson's homosexuality was well known in Hollywood throughout his career;^[9] former costars Elizabeth Taylor and Susan Saint James claimed they knew of his homosexual activity, as did Carol Burnett, who often worked on television and in live theatre with Hudson, but also that she did not care. However, after Hudson's death, Doris Day, widely thought to be a close off-screen friend, said she never knew of Hudson engaging in any homosexual behavior.^{[citation needed]}

Soon after the Confidential incident, Hudson married Willson's secretary Phyllis Gates. Gates later wrote that she dated Hudson for several months, lived with him for two months before his surprise marriage proposal, and married Hudson out of love and not, as it was later purported, to prevent an exposé of Hudson's sexual orientation.^[10] Press coverage of the wedding quoted Hudson as saying, "When I count my blessings, my marriage tops the list." Gates filed for divorce after three years in April 1958, charging mental cruelty. Hudson did not contest the divorce, and Gates received alimony of US$250 a week for 10 years.^[11] After her death from lung cancer in January 2006, some informants reportedly stated that she was actually a lesbian who married Hudson for his money, knowing from the beginning of their relationship that he was gay.^[12] She never remarried.

According to the 1986 biography Rock Hudson: His Story by Hudson and Sara Davidson, Hudson was good friends with American novelist Armistead Maupin, and Hudson's lovers included: Jack Coates (born 1944); Hollywood publicist Tom Clark (1933–1995), who also later published a memoir about Hudson, Rock Hudson: Friend of Mine; and Marc Christian, who later won a suit against the Hudson estate.

An urban legend states that Hudson married Jim Nabors in the 1970s. In fact the two were never more than friends. According to Hudson, the legend originated with a group of "middle-aged homosexuals who live in Huntington Beach" who sent out joke invitations for their annual get-together. One year, the group invited its members to witness "the marriage of Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors", at which Hudson would take the surname of Nabors' most famous character, Gomer Pyle, becoming "Rock Pyle". Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor. As a result, Nabors and Hudson never spoke to each other again.^[13]

In 2007, Shannon Ragland described Hudson's involvement in a 1962 sex scandal at the University of Kentucky involving the football team. He told how wrestling promoter Jim Barnett hired players, including Hudson, as prostitutes.^[14]

AIDS and death[link]

Hudson (left) with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan at a White House state dinner, May 1984

In July 1985, Hudson joined his old friend Doris Day for the launch of her new TV cable show, Doris Day's Best Friends. His gaunt appearance and nearly incoherent speech were so shocking that it was broadcast again all over the national news shows that night and for weeks to come.

Hudson had been diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, but when the signs of illness became apparent a few months later his publicity staff and doctors told the public he had inoperable liver cancer. During most of 1984 and 1985, Hudson kept his illness a secret while continuing to work and at the same time travel to France and other countries seeking a cure, or at least treatment to slow the progress of the disease. It was not until July 25, 1985, while in Paris for treatment, that Hudson issued a press release announcing that he was dying of AIDS. In another press release a month later, Hudson speculated he might have contracted HIV through transfused blood from an infected donor during the multiple blood transfusions he received during his heart bypass procedure in November 1981. He flew back to Los Angeles on July 31, where he was so physically weak he was taken off by stretcher from the Air France Boeing 747 he had chartered and upon which he and his medical attendants were the only passengers.^[15] He was flown by helicopter to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where he spent nearly a month undergoing further treatment. When the doctors told him there was no hope of saving his life, since the disease had progressed into the advanced stages, Hudson returned to his house, "The Castle", in Beverly Hills, where he remained in seclusion until his death on October 2, 1985 at 8:37 a.m. PDT. He was a month and a half away from his 60th birthday.

The disclosure of Hudson's HIV status provoked widespread public discussion of his homosexuality. In its August 15, 1985 issue, People published a story that discussed his disease in the context of his sexuality. The largely sympathetic article featured comments from famous show business colleagues such as Angie Dickinson, Robert Stack, and Mamie Van Doren, who claimed they knew about Hudson's homosexuality and expressed their support for him.^[9] At that time People had a circulation of more than 2.8 million,^[16] and, as a result of this and other stories, theories about Hudson's homosexuality became fully public.

Hudson's revelation had an immediate impact on visibility of AIDS, and on funding of medical research related to the disease. Among activists who were seeking to de-stigmatize AIDS and its victims, Hudson's revelation of his own infection with the disease was viewed as an event that could transform the public's perception of AIDS. Shortly after Hudson's press release disclosing his infection, William M. Hoffman, the author of As Is, a play about AIDS that appeared on Broadway in 1985, stated: "If Rock Hudson can have it, nice people can have it. It's just a disease, not a moral affliction."^[9] At the same time, Joan Rivers was quoted as saying: "Two years ago, when I hosted a benefit for AIDS, I couldn't get one major star to turn out. ... Rock's admission is a horrendous way to bring AIDS to the attention of the American public, but by doing so, Rock, in his life, has helped millions in the process. What Rock has done takes true courage."^[9] Morgan Fairchild said that "Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face".^[17] In a telegram Hudson sent to a September 1985 Hollywood AIDS benefit, Commitment to Life, which he was too ill to attend in person, Hudson said: "I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth."^[3]

Shortly after his death, People reported: "Since Hudson made his announcement, more than $1.8 million in private contributions (more than double the amount collected in 1984) has been raised to support AIDS research and to care for AIDS victims (5,523 reported in 1985 alone). A few days after Hudson died, at 59, on Oct. 2, 1985, Congress set aside $221 million to develop a cure for AIDS."^[18] Organizers of the Hollywood AIDS benefit, Commitment to Life, reported after Hudson's announcement he was suffering from the disease, it was necessary to move the event to a larger venue to accommodate the increased attendance.^[19]

However, Hudson's revelation did not immediately dispel the stigma of AIDS. Although then-president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan were friends of Hudson, Reagan, who was viewed by some as indifferent to the disease and its sufferers, made no public statement concerning Hudson's condition.^[20] At the same time, privately, Reagan called Hudson in his Paris hospital room where he was being treated in July 1985, and Nancy Reagan telephoned French President Francois Mitterrand to ensure that Hudson would receive the best possible care.^[9] Reagan's first public mention of the disease came in response to questions at a September 15, 1985 press conference, nearly two months after Hudson's announcement. In those remarks, Reagan called medical research on AIDS a "top priority". However, when asked, "If you had younger children, would you send them to a school with a child who had AIDS?," Reagan responded equivocally: "[G]lad I'm not faced with that problem today. ... I can understand both sides of it."^[20] Several days later, Reagan sent a telegram to the Commitment to Life AIDS benefit, in which he reiterated his position that his administration would make stopping the spread of AIDS a top priority.^[19] Nevertheless, Reagan did not publicly address AIDS at length for another two years.^[21]

In addition, a controversy arose concerning Hudson's participation in a scene in the television drama Dynasty in which he shared a kiss with actress Linda Evans. When filming the scene Hudson was aware that he had AIDS, but did not inform her. Some felt that he should have disclosed his condition to her beforehand.^[22] At the time, it was known that the virus was present in low quantities in saliva and tears, but there had been no reported cases of transmission by kissing.^[23] Nevertheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had warned against exchanging saliva with members of groups perceived to be at high risk for AIDS.^[18] According to comments given in August 1985 by Ed Asner, then president of the Screen Actors Guild, Hudson's revelation caused incipient "panic" within the film and television industry. Asner said that he was aware of scripts being rewritten to eliminate kissing scenes.^[24] Later in the same year, the Guild issued rules requiring that actors be notified in advance of any "open-mouth" kissing scenes, and providing that they could refuse to participate in such scenes without penalty.^[25] Linda Evans herself appears not to have been angry at Hudson: she asked to introduce the segment of the 1985 Commitment to Life benefit that was dedicated to Hudson.^[19]

Hudson was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.

Post burial, debate and legacy[link]

Following Hudson's funeral, Marc Christian sued Hudson's estate on grounds of "intentional infliction of emotional distress".^[26] Christian tested negative for HIV but claimed Hudson continued having sex with him until February 1985, more than eight months after Hudson knew he had HIV. Hudson biographer Sara Davidson later stated that, by the time she had met Hudson, Christian was living in the guest house, and Tom Clark, who had allegedly been Hudson's partner for many years before, was living in the house.^[27]

Following his death, Elizabeth Taylor, his co-star in the film Giant, purchased a bronze plaque for Hudson on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk.^[28]

Hudson has been the subject of three plays: Hollywood Valhalla by Aidan Harney, starring Patrick Byrnes as Rock and Stewart Roche as his personal trainer, Toby, which was staged at Bewley's Cafe Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, in 2011; "For Roy", by Nambi E. Kelley, starring Richard Henzel as Roy and Hannah Gomez as Caregiver, which was staged at American Theatre Company in Chicago in 2010 and Rock, by Tim Fountain, starring Michael Xavier as Rock and Bette Bourne as his agent Henry Willson, which was staged at London's Oval House Theatre in 2008.

In 2010, with the gag orders finally lifted from the 1985 lawsuit trial of Marc Christian versus the estate of Rock Hudson, Robert Park Mills, the attorney who represented the Hudson estate against Christian in court, released a new 492 page book entitled Between Rock and a Hard Place-In Defense of Rock Hudson. In the book, Mills argues that the public was blinded from the real truth, the gross injustice done to the late actor by Christian and by Rock’s alleged friend, Mark Miller, as was the court, the jury, and the press. Mills argues that the jury overlooked the possibility Christian may have been AIDS-free simply because Hudson never had the relationship with Christian which Christian claimed to have had with him. According to this argument, if Hudson had had such a relationship, Christian would have had to have acquired HIV and AIDS if the repeated unprotected sexual activity claimed had taken place. Christian, who died in 2006 at age 56, never had HIV or AIDS.

Mills argues that Christian did not tell the truth to his attorney Harold Rhoden or in court, and that Rock Hudson could not defend himself before the jurors because Christian waited until Rock died. Only when Christian found out he was not in the late actor's will did he bring his lawsuit, which won $5.5 million dollars from Hudson's estate (minus attorney's fees).^[29]

In the book Rock Hudson, Friend of Mine by his live-in Hollywood publicist Tom Clark, Clark said he would go to his grave believing Hudson acquired HIV from blood transfusions during his emergency quintuple bypass open heart surgery in 1981. Clark's book characterized Christian as "a criminal, a thief, an unclean person, a blackmailer, a psychotic, an extortionist, a forger, a perjurer, a liar, a whore, an arsonist and a squatter." Christian then sued Clark. Christian was living in the guest house after Clark, who had left in 1983, had returned to Hudson's home in 1985 to take care of him at assistant Mark Miller's request.^[30]

In December 2011, TV channel Investigation Discovery showed an episode of, "The Will: Family Secrets Revealed," which detailed Rock Hudson and the aftermath involved with Marc Christian suing the estate. The episode depicted those close to Rock Hudson as untrusting of Marc Christian while one of Marc Christian's former lovers depicts Marc Christian as not being the person depicted by the friends of Rock Hudson. If you believe the friends of Rock Hudson, then Marc Christian was only using Rock Hudson to immerse himself into Hollywood society to launch a film career. After Rock Hudson's death and the receipt of millions from the lawsuit, Marc Christian did not attempt to use the fame he achieved from the lawsuit for any personal gain leaving people independent of the situation to question which side is telling the true story.

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

• Academy Award: Nominated 1956 Best Actor for Giant
• Golden Globe: Winner 1959 World Film Favorite: Male actor
• Golden Globe: Winner 1960 World Film Favorite: Male actor
• Golden Globe: co-Winner with Tony Curtis 1961 World Film Favorite: Male actor
• Golden Globe: Winner 1963 World Film Favorite: Male actor
• Hudson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard.

See also[link]

• Rock Hudson's Home Movies

Bibliography[link]

• Clark, Tom; Kleiner, Richard (1990). Rock Hudson, Friend of Mine. New York, NY: Pharos Books. ISBN 0-88687-562-5. 
• Gates, Phyllis; Thomas, Bob (1987). My Husband, Rock Hudson. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-24071-6. 
• Hudson, Rock; Davidson, Sara (1986). Rock Hudson: His Story. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-688-06472-8. 
• Ragland, Shannon P. (2007). The Thin Thirty. Louisville, KY: Set Shot Press. ISBN 0-9791222-1-X. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rock Hudson

• Rock Hudson at the Internet Movie Database
• Rock Hudson at the TCM Movie Database
• Transcript of CNN Larry King 7. June 2001, Special on Rock Hudson offscreen with Dale Olson
• Transcript of CNN Larry King 1. October 2003, 18th anniversary of Hudson's death

Alessandro Liborio "Al" Madrigal (born July 4, 1971^[1]) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Al also co-starred in the CBS prime-time situation comedies Gary Unmarried with Jay Mohr and Welcome to the Captain^[1] with Fran Kranz. He is also a regular sketch performer on The Late Late Show^[2] with Craig Ferguson and appears on other network shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live. A fixture on the stand-up comedy circuit, he is among the most prominent members of the Latino community to achieve recognition in the mainstream U.S. comedy scene.

Early life[link]

A native of San Francisco, California, Madrigal grew up in the city's Inner Sunset District, where his neighbors included future comedians Mike Pritchard, Margaret Cho and the Meehan Brothers. He attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School where he was salutatorian for the class of 1989. He then attended the University of San Francisco, but left the school two credits shy of receiving a degree. Madrigal worked for 10 years in a human resources staffing agency run by his family. In 1998, he decided to pursue a full-time career in comedy.^[3]

Comedy career[link]

Madrigal appeared in San Francisco's comedy clubs, both as a solo performer and as a member of the sketch group Fresh Robots, which he co-founded. In 2002, he enjoyed his first major exposure in two comedy festivals: Sketchfest in San Francisco, as part of Fresh Robots,^[4] and the "New Faces" showcase of the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.^[5]

In 2003, Madrigal successfully auditioned for a starring role on The Ortegas, a comedy series for the Fox Network. The series, which was based on the BBC comedy The Kumars at No. 42, cast Madrigal as the son of a Mexican American family in California who hosts a TV talk show from a studio he operates in the backyard of his parents' home.^[6] However, the network dropped the series from its schedule before broadcasting any of its six filmed episodes.^[7]

Comedy Central featured his stand up in their animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. Madrigal won a jury award in 2004 for best stand-up comedian at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. After winning the award, he signed a talent holding deal with CBS.^[8] However, he would not appear on a CBS until January 2008, when he was cast as a building attendant named Jesus (pronounced “Jee-sus”) in the CBS comedy Welcome to the Captain.^[9] The series was cancelled after six episodes.^[10]

Madrigal was the star of a 2005 Comedy Central special, and has been a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He co-starred in the CBS series Gary Unmarried (originally titled Project Gary), which debuted on CBS in September 2008.^[5] He appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on July 8, 2009.^[11] He appeared again on Conan's new TBS Show Conan on May 10, 2011.^[12] It was announced on May 17, 2011, that he would be joining The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official web site
• MySpace site
• Al Madrigal at the Internet Movie Database

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. (April 2010)

Philip Xenidis, better known as Phil X (born 10 March 1966), is a Greek-born Canadian ^[1] guitarist and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based turbo pop band Powder. He also has a second band, the Drills. He is best known as the guitarist who replaced Rik Emmett in the Canadian rock band Triumph, for the Edge of Excess album and tour and as the Guitar Reviewer of fretted americana^[2] on YouTube.

An early opportunity in Xenidis's career came when he was asked in 1990 to tour with Randy Coven, whom he met through Aldo Nova; in 1991, he toured the US with Aldo Nova.^[3]

Phil X is a prolific session guitarist, having played on albums by Tommy Lee, Methods of Mayhem, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Orianthi, Rob Zombie, Chris Daughtry, Alice Cooper, Thousand Foot Krutch and many others. He wrote the song "Tired" and also played guitar on Tommy Lee's Tommyland: The Ride album. He has appeared with Lee on Ellen and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Phil X was featured in the "making of" video for the movie Josie and the Pussycats. He, along with his Powder bandmates, taught the young actresses to appear as if they were actually playing their instruments.^[4]

He has performed with the band Frozen Ghost. Phil X is also the inventor of the "Flip Stick," an innovative replacement for the "whammy bar" on Floyd-Rose-equipped guitars.

Since 2008, Phil X has been a faculty member of Camp Rock, a camp in Ontario for aspiring musicians.^{[citation needed]}

In April and May 2011, Phil X substituted for Bon Jovi's lead guitarist Richie Sambora, who could not be present for the required dates. He played the last 13 American shows of Bon Jovi's 2011 world tour.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Web site of Phil X
• Camp Rock Faculty member since 2008
• [1]

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 2009)

Natalie Merchant
In concert in Maryhill, Washington in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Natalie Anne Merchant
Born	(1963-10-26) October 26, 1963 (age 48) Jamestown, New York, USA
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard, piano
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Elektra Records Myth America Records Nonesuch/Elektra Records
Associated acts	10,000 Maniacs Michael Stipe
Website	NatalieMerchant.com

Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She joined the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and left it to begin her solo career in 1993.

Early life[link]

Natalie Merchant was born October 26, 1963, in Jamestown, New York, the third of four children of Anthony and Ann Merchant. Her paternal grandfather, who played the accordion, mandolin and guitar, emigrated to the United States from Sicily; his surname was "Mercante" before it was Anglicized.^[1] Her maternal grandfather, a cartoonist, piano tuner and member of a barbershop quartet, was Irish.^[1] Her parents divorced when she was eight years old, and her mother later remarried.^[2]

When Merchant was a child, her mother listened to music (The Beatles, Al Green, Aretha Franklin)^[3] and encouraged her children to study music, but she wouldn't allow TV after Natalie was 12. "I was taken to the symphony a lot because my mother loved classical music. But I was dragged to see Styx when I was 12. We had to drive 100 miles to Buffalo, New York. Someone threw up next to me and people were smoking pot. It was terrifying. I remember Styx had a white piano which rose out of the stage. It was awe-inspiring and inspirational."^[4] "She [her mother] had show tunes, she had the soundtrack from West Side Story and South Pacific. And then eventually... she'd always liked classical music and then she married a jazz musician, so that's the kind of music I was into. I never really had friends who sat around and listened to the stereo and said 'hey, listen to this one', so I'd never even heard of who Bob Dylan was until I was 18."^[5] During 1988–1989, Natalie claimed she still didn't have a TV: "I grew up in a house where no one watched the news on television and no one read the paper. I've been discovering these things as I get older, and the news has affected me more than it ever has before."^[6]

"A suicidal high school dropout", Merchant started working in a health food store at 16.^[2] She considered a career in special education following her taking part in a handicapped children's summer program. But eventually in 1981 she started singing for a band called Still Life, which was to become 10,000 Maniacs.^[2]

Career[link]

10,000 Maniacs[link]

The period featuring Merchant was the most critically and commercially successful for 10,000 Maniacs. She is seen here with Rob Buck and the band during that time.

Merchant was lead singer and primary lyricist for 10,000 Maniacs, joining in its infancy in 1981 while she was a student at Jamestown Community College. The group recorded their album Human Conflict Number Five and performed a corresponding Music video at The Hotel Franklin and at Group W Westinghouse studios (Jamestown, New York) in 1982. Merchant sang lead vocals, and later played the piano as well, for 10,000 Maniacs for seven studio albums. In 1993 she announced that she was leaving the group.^[7]

[edit] Tigerlily (1995)

Merchant has said in interviews that after her split with 10,000 Maniacs she was so eager to begin writing her own material that she went home that very day and composed the song "I May Know the Word", which was originally meant to appear on the soundtrack to the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. The song was eventually cut from the soundtrack, but it would go on to appear on Merchant's debut solo album, Tigerlily, which was released on the Elektra label in 1995. Merchant chose to name the album Tigerlily as she felt it captured the feel of the album, which she described as both "fierce" and "delicate".

The third song on the album, "Beloved Wife", was featured as the first song in the trailer for the movie Message in a Bottle.

Seeking creative control, Merchant chose to fund Tigerlily herself, refusing the advance from the record company. She also wanted to work with a core-group of young musicians who she felt would be enthusiastic about the music. The group would consist of guitarist Jennifer Turner, bassist Barrie Maguire, and former-Wallflower and eventual boyfriend to Merchant, Peter Yanowitz, who played drums on the album and who continued to do so with Merchant until their abrupt split in 2000.

Tigerlily was a critical and commercial success, spawning her first top-ten hit in the single "Carnival", and achieving top-40 success with subsequent singles "Wonder" and "Jealousy". The album would go on to sell over 5 million copies, and continues to be Merchant’s most successful album to date. Merchant did extensive touring for the album and made numerous television appearances, including performances on SNL, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and all late-night talk shows. The media's immediate and critical impact on culture and cultural icons was of particular interest to Merchant. In "River", a song from Tigerlily, Merchant defends River Phoenix as she castigates the media for systematically dissecting the child actor after his death. Much of their emphasis was on Phoenix' suspected drug-using lifestyle. In "River," Merchant asks, "Why don't you let him be / Give his mother and father peace." Merchant's anger is later replaced with quiet reflection, asking, "It was such a nightmare raving, 'How could we save him from himself?'"^[8]

[edit] Ophelia (1998–1999)

Three years passed before Merchant would release her second solo effort, Ophelia. While Tigerlily contained a lot of sparse instrumentation, the music on Ophelia featured plenty of lush symphonic arrangements composed and conducted by British composer Gavin Bryars. Merchant treated the recording of Ophelia as a series of workshops, where she would invite various musicians she had met over the years into her home studio to collaborate and record. In the end, 30 different musicians featured on the album, among them Brand New Heavies frontwoman N'Dea Davenport (with whom she duets on the song Break Your Heart), famed trumpet player Chris Botti, and the husband and wife duo, Don and Karen Peris, from the band The Innocence Mission.

While Ophelia is not a concept record in the traditional sense, the album-cycle saw Merchant flexing her creative muscles in surprising ways. The name of the album and the title track are a literary reference to Shakespeare's Ophelia, who in the play Hamlet becomes mad and eventually commits suicide when Hamlet remains non-committal and lost in himself. Merchant's Ophelia describes a series of women throughout time—women who dared question the patriarchal status quo and who were often castigated for doing so—and is a cry for women's rights and for more understanding of female archetypes beyond the scope of the "mother" and the "whore", both of which severely limit women and attempt to turn them into little more than chattel. The portrayal of the women in the song is a tribute to the non-traditional, the "too smart for her own good" type of woman who is often misunderstood by society. As a lyric to the title song cries: "Your common sense, your best defense, was wasted and in vain!" A reflection of women driven mad by social limitations, Natalie's tribute described Ophelia as being at once a "novice carmelite," a "suffragette," a "circus queen," a "demigoddess" and a "mafia courtesan." The album sleeve saw Merchant pictured in colorful and ornate costumes as each of these different characters. As a companion to the album, she also released a film where she portrays each of these different characters, with voice-overs used for the "novice carmelite," the "sweetheart" and the "courtesan" as they are Spanish, German and Italian, respectively.

The first single off the album was a happy and uncharacteristically simple song called "Kind and Generous", which received massive airplay on VH1 and which solidified Merchant's role as a bona fide solo artist. That summer, Sarah McLachlan invited Merchant to co-headline the year's biggest music festival with her, Lilith Fair. The exposure from the tour helped the album reach Platinum status in just under a year, with subsequent singles "Break Your Heart" and "Life Is Sweet" receiving moderate airplay on adult contemporary stations. No video was filmed for the latter, however, with a clip from Merchant's appearance on VH1's Storytellers being used instead. She would also go on to appear on PBS' Sessions at West 54th and VH1's Hard Rock Live before the year's end. In 1998, Merchant also recorded George Gershwin's "But Not for Me" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute to George Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

The Ophelia tour ended in 1999 with the final few shows being performed and recorded on Broadway. The performance would be released as the album Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert with a companion video of the same name. The performance was notable in that it featured numerous covers including songs by David Bowie, Neil Young, and the Breton-Welsh singer-songwriter Katell Keineg.

[edit] American Folk Music Tour (2000) and Motherland (2001)

In 2000, Merchant embarked on a folk tour in the United States with many shows being supported by alt-country band Wilco.

Merchant's next studio album on the Elektra label was Motherland, released in 2001. Motherland saw Merchant at her most experimental musically. Motherland achieved Gold on the Billboard charts after debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top Internet Albums of 2001, respectively. Rolling Stone favored this album with 3½ stars, and also noticed a difference in Merchant's voice, which was more deep and gritty than her previous albums. Singles that were released from Motherland were "Just Can't Last", "Build a Levee" and "Tell Yourself".

Merchant embarked on a year and a half world tour to promote Motherland. The first leg of the tour started in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 17, 2001, trekking all over the United States, and then heading to Europe with some special acoustic shows in Europe. Merchant also participated in the Rock am Ring Festival and Rock im Park in 2002. In the summer of 2002, she was paired with Chris Isaak and both played at stadiums and arenas.

[edit] The House Carpenter's Daughter (2003)

Merchant at the piano in 2005

After her contract with Elektra expired in August 2002, Merchant decided not to sign with them again, or any other major label.^[9] Her next studio album, The House Carpenter's Daughter, was released in September 2003 on her own label, Myth America Records. To date this has been the only release on Myth America.

[edit] Leave Your Sleep (2010)

In October 2009, the official websites of Nonesuch Records and Natalie Merchant announced that she had signed with the label. Leave Your Sleep was released on April 13, 2010 ^[10] and is a compilation of five years of inspiration from a "conversation" with her daughter over the "first 6 years of her life." The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at No. 17, Billboard Folk Albums at No. 1, Amazon.com at No.1, and ITunes, No. 3. The album was co-produced by Grammy winning Andres Levin.

Merchant contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game" to the tribute album Listen to Me: Buddy Holly, released September 6, 2011.

Personal life[link]

Merchant became known for her swirling style of dancing and her simple dress while performing with 10,000 Maniacs

In 2003, Merchant married Daniel de la Calle and had a daughter with him named Lucia. However, in an interview in 2012, she indicated that she is now divorced.^{[11] [12]} She likes gardening and painting.^[13] Some paintings can be seen at her official website.

She has been a vegetarian since 1980,^[14] save for the duration of her pregnancy when she temporarily resumed eating meat.^[11] In 1997, she said:

"The '60s aesthetic has never really appealed to me, the tie-dyed Deadhead running barefoot through the forest on LSD. I don't think that's really me. But I've been a vegetarian for 17 years and I consider myself an environmentalist in as much as I can be, considering the job that I have. I prefer living in the countryside rather than the city; I find it more sane and sustaining for myself..."^[15]

Discography[link]

With 10,000 Maniacs[link]

• Human Conflict Number Five (EP) (1982)
• Secrets of the I Ching (1983)
• The Wishing Chair (1985)
• In My Tribe (1987)
• Blind Man's Zoo (1989)
• Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983 (1990)
• Our Time in Eden (1992)
• MTV Unplugged (1993)
• Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings (2004)

Solo[link]

• 1995: Tigerlily
• 1998: Ophelia
• 2001: Motherland
• 2003: The House Carpenter's Daughter
• 2005: Retrospective (1990 - 2005)
• 2010: Leave Your Sleep

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]