Monday, October 29, 2012

REVIEW ROD STEWART AUTOBIOGRAPY


Rod Stewart: Learning to Love a Spoiled-Rotten Lothario

Published: October 28, 2012 @ 1:29 pm
By Carole Mallory
“'Spoiled rotten' tends to be shorthand for my childhood,” Rod Stewart writes in his autobiography. “I object. There wasn’t much to spoil anyone with.”
Rod’s self-effacing wit rips at these pages and will leave you adoring this aspiring bad boy or budding lothario, as he referred to himself in his youth. It wasn’t always easy for this lady-killer who was the son of a plumber. In the beginning, a record label said that his voice was too rough. “And had a bit of gravel in it. And I was not pretty enough to make it as a solo singer," Rod writes. As to being spoiled, it was his "mum" who did it to him.
“My mum used to make rabbit stew and the heart was a real treat and was cut into fours and shared with the children. Once I came along, it was given to me.”
Mrs. Stewart also drank gin and tonic while her husband did not drink at all. He gambled on the horses. Then Mrs. Stewart burned Rod’s smelly beatnik clothing just as she had her husband’s football boots when she wanted him to stop playing football. Hence Rod went from being a smelly beatnik to a mod -- “a guy you couldn’t get out of the bathroom." he writes.
In 1964, his mum made him cheese sandwiches to take to his first recording session. Mrs. Stewart reminded me of Fanny Mailer who took Norman freshly laundered white shirts to
Harvard on the milk train.
“My lyrics I drew from experiences in the past. 'Cindy’s Lament' is about trying to impress a girl from a social class above mine. A big theme for me." So big he fell in love with Britt Ekland after spotting her on the arm of an elegant Peter Sellers whose lifestyle Rod emulated. Rod also was in awe of George Hamilton and his savoir faire. Enter Alana Hamilton, wife number one.
Rod is loved, I would suspect, because he does not try to be something he’s not. Though when he was with Britt and Alana, his need for Hollywood’s approval clouded this thinking and lyrics. Hence we were given the vacuous, "Do You Think I’ m Sexy?”
Originally, Rod aspired to sound like Sam Cooke in “You Send Me” while he was in awe of the timbre of Dylan’s music and mystery of his lyrics which drew Rod to America and
its freedom. “I was confident that I could sing a song, but how to occupy it? To make it my own? I was blessed with distinctiveness,” Rod writes.
Rod Stewart has had -- and that is the correct verb -- many women, but none so fair as Penny Lancaster who sounds down to earth and humble enough for the naughty Grammy Award
winner. She can allow him center stage and not muck it up by trying to climb up there with him or cry at a distance that her life has grown far apart from Rod and his entourage.

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Sunday, October 14, 2012

TAKEN 2 THE WRAP



Why Mysterious Istanbul Makes a Perfect Backdrop for the Action in 'Taken 2'

Published: October 12, 2012 @ 10:27 am
By Carole Mallory
"Taken 2" takes place in Istanbul, which brought back fond memories. My mother and I visited this city shrouded in mystery when I was a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines.
Istanbul has an unfair reputation for being a dangerous city filled with menacing Turks. During our trip around the world, my mother and I had not met a more chivalrous group of men. It was about to rain one day in October, and we were approaching a huge circle with eight streets converging. Rush hour -- how were we to cross, as there were no traffic lights? Two men approached from either side of us and grabbed our elbows and led us through the congestion. We thanked them as best we could and went back to the Hilton. 
Istanbul is a beautiful city with many exquisite mosques, monuments and treasures to be seen.  Why the writers of "Taken 2" chose it for its sequel is undoubtedly because of its mystery. The bigger question is: Why did Liam Neeson invite his family back to Istanbul so near to the scene of the original crime? Didn’t he realize that the hate-mongering Albanians were multiplying with rapid speed and could be out to seek revenge for the bloody trail Neeson made in killing the men who kidnapped his daughter?
"Taken 2" is a good sequel for those who were fans of the original, but it is not great. The opening scenes are edited with flash-bang wizardry and get you into the film without time to fasten your seat belt. Bryan (Neeson) invites his estranged wife, the competent Lenore (Famke Janssen), on a holiday in Istanbul with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Lenore and Kim hem and haw about wanting to go but then appear in Istanbul, surprising Bryan.
But the family does not surprise the Albanian terrorists who are laying in wait for Bryan because he killed their sons. Moored Krasniqi (Rade Sherbedjia) has vowed to seek revenge for Bryan's bloody murderous swath of his family. Bryan and Lenore are almost immediately captured leaving Kim to hold the familial fort. Kim does a bang-up job of taking direction from Bryan over her cell. (Oh, where would we be without technology in these action films?)
Here the plot loses a bit more credibility, as Bryan instructs Kim over the cell about to find Lenore and him in congested Istanbul with one marketplace built upon the other. Lenore is being tortured by the Albanians, while Kim has managed to escape the terrorists who had wanted to capture the entire family and transport all three to Albania, then kill them in a public demonstration of loyalty to the sons that Bryan slaughtered. 
The acting is top-drawer, and Neeson manages to hold the audience's attention, save for fleeting laughable moments when Bryan is a bit too deft in his ability to kill off Albanians. Olivier Megaton’s direction fell apart in the end. It could be that Neeson was not believable to those audience members adept with gun-slinging or that the action sequences had been seen before. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MORE NEWS:
FACES NEWS:
BAND NEWS:
Cregan and Co dates
Posted September 24, 2012
Jeff Golub, Subway Horror
Posted September 6, 2012
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October 11, 2012

Calendar Girl Carole Mallory

'This girl writes as good as she looks'-Rod Stewart 

posted by Mike Walton


One of the great pictures in our 2013 calendar features actress and author Carole Mallory, we have already been asked about Carole so here goes…

Rod dated Carole in the late 70s during his breakup with Britt Ekland

One night Carole went alone to a party in the Hollywood Hills at a crowded castle belonging to tobacco heir Patrick Reynolds. Carole explained ‘Someone was staring at me across the room, someone who had bedroom eyes to die for, tousled blonde hair and who appeared to be wearing a blouse, Was it a man or a woman?

An African American man appeared by my side. "Hi, I'm the DJ, JJ Jackson," he said. "Rod Stewart wants to meet you."
I took JJ's hand and walked up to the King of Rock 'n Roll and curtsied to play along with the charade. Within minutes I was speeding along Sunset in my yellow Fiat convertible, top down of course, following his white Excalibur. We stopped at a club called On the Rox while I had to wait for a bevy of beauties vying for his attention to be rejected by His Highness. "Would ya like ta see m' home?" Rod asked.
"I have a teacup poodle that hasn't had his dinner," I replied.
"Let's fetch Doggie then," he said, and that's how it went for some time. Rod would pick up my poodle Tutu in the Excalibur and take Tutu and me back to his lavish estate on Carolwood Drive.

I was stunned by the opulent interior of Rod's estate, lit with Tiffany lamps and one big crystal chandelier in his ballroom. Here we danced to Odyssey's "Native New Yorker," which I came to think of as our song. Dancing with Rod Stewart as he holds the small of your back with his very large soccer player's palm is a close second to making love to him.

Rod's bedroom was decorated in baby blue eyelet that had to be Britt's influence and destroyed any masculine overtones. Didn't matter; Rod's masculinity was never questioned besides which he has an incredible physique, which his tendency to slouch often obscures.

As time passed so did our dates. Rod invited me sailing to Catalina one weekend with the band and their girlfriends. Rod and I stayed in a hotel, but the band stayed on the boat. Going was rough but on the way back to Los Angeles the sea was calm and Rod sang "Sailing" along with the band. He mooned playfully standing at the masthead and the band followed suit. I took photos.

A few weeks after we returned, Rod invited me to a recording session at Cherokee Studios, where he was cutting the huge hit single "Hot Legs." I have always wondered if those were my legs he was singing about.
But I didn't have to wonder what Rod thought about my novel, Flash. When I asked him for a blurb, he offered the following words, "Amazing... This girl writes as good as she looks. Flash is funny sexy brilliant... "


As the years go by I will always nurture a soft spot in my heart for an old and true friend, Rod Stewart.

If you would like to buy a copy of one of Carole’s books. recommended by Rod himself!!
go to Carole’s website http://www.carolemallory.com/ or
linkedin.com/in/carolemallory
facebook.com/cwmallory
malloryhollywoodeast.blogspot.com

Carole has also written two other great books LOVING MAILER and PICASSO'S GHOST ( A Love Story) both are available on Amazon's Kindle as is FLASH.

https://kindle.amazon.com/search?keywords=carole+mallory&x=6&y=1

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/b?ie=UTF8&node=1286228011#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D1286228011&field-keywords=carole+mallory&rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A%21133143011%2Cn%3A%21251259011%2Cn%3A1286228011%2Ck%3Acarole+mallory
Picture - Carole Mallory
Hot Legs on the cover of Flash..Also Carole Mallory!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

TAKEN TWO....A NEAR MISS



Carole Mallory

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Movie Review -- Taken 2, A Near Miss

Posted: 10/09/2012 4:26 pm

Liam Neeson does it again, but with a bit more effort.Taken 2 is a good sequel for those who were fans of the original, but it is not great. The opening scenes are edited with flash bang wizardry and get you into the film without time to fasten your seat belt. Bryan (Neeson) invites his estranged wife. the competent Lenore (Famke Janssen), on a holiday in Istanbul with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Lenore and Kim hem and haw about wanting to go, but then appear in Istanbul surprising Bryan. But the family does not surprise the Albanian terrorists who are laying in wait for Bryan because he killed their sons. Moored Krasniqi (Rade Sherbedjia) has vowed to seek revenge for Bryan's bloody murderous swath of his family. Bryan and Lenore are almost immediately captured leaving Kim to hold the familial fort. Kim does a bang up job of taking direction from Bryan over her cell. (Oh, where would we be without technology in these action films.) Here the plot loses a bit of credibility as Bryan instructs Kim over the cell about to find Lenore and him in congested Istanbul with one marketplace built upon the other. Lenore is being tortured by the Albanians while Kim has managed to escape the terrorists who had wanted to capture the entire family and transport all three to Albania, then kill them in a public demonstration of loyalty to the sons that Bryan slaughtered.
The acting is top drawer and Neeson manages to hold the audience's attention save for fleeting moments of laughter when Neeson is a bit too deft with his ability to kill off Albanians. Olivier Megaton's direction fell apart in the end. It could be that Neeson was not believable to those audience members adept with gun slinging or that the action sequences had been seen before. 
Then there were too many chases as they seemed to be the focus of the plot. Car chases and stars running along the roofs of Istanbul's markets and while this made for action and glorious shots of Turkey, they were a bit tiring and did not make up for what was lacking in plot. 
Screenwriter Luc Besson should have watched more closely to avoid the repetitive phrases of Bryan, whom we all know by now is a former CIA agent. In Taken 2, Bryan says phrases directly from the original Taken. But all in all no one was expecting a sequel to be a masterpiece and a good time was had watching Bryan outwit the Albanians with his 'special set of skills.'