Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ben Mankiewicz, "Forget the Twitter Hate: Little Boy Writes Beautiful Letter to Kyle Williams" (Huffington Post)
Trying to get his son to stop crying, Michael asked him, "If you feel this way, how sad do you think Kyle Williams is?" Owen paused a second, then asked his dad, "Can I write him a letter to make him feel better?" And from that, an old-fashioned letter -- the ultimate anti-Twitter, the un-social media -- was born.
Kermit And Miss Piggy Speak Out Against FOX News Report
"When you actually believe that The Muppets movie might be pushing some sort of communist, anti-oil agenda on our kids, you've got problems, but when you are called out by Kermit and Miss Piggy, two fleece-skinned superstars that aren't afraid to tell it like it is, your claims start to look like utter hogwash. Watch as my favorite frog (sorry Frogger!) and pig (sorry Babe!) put the commie claims to bed via press conference."-Neatorama
Froma Harrop: In Defense of Southern-fried Paula Deen (Creators Syndicate)
Celebrity chef Paula Deen lustily massages salt into "a mighty fat hog," as the dogs circle the cooking island. For the yams, "I'm only using half a stick of butter," she drawls before breaking into high laughter. Deen's popular Food Network show does Southern cooking with no brakes on the pork fat, butter, sugar or other dietarily incorrect ingredients.
Mark Morford: Oh my God please do not eat this (SF Gate)
America! For the love of God and guns, sex and sunlight, kittens and iPhones and all that you hold dear, please please please do not eat this new and completely repulsive food-like item you see before you. Can't you see it's made of chemicals and fat and dead, lost dreams?
Scott Burns: Gifting, Feasting and Sharing (AssetBuilder)
Spending goes in only one direction. Up. This is a fundamental law of the universe. It is always possible to spend more money.
"'Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners' By MICHAEL ERARD": Reviewed by Graeme Wood
The ability to speak multiple unrelated foreign languages fluently counts among a short list of showstopping talents, like the ability to play a Bach fugue or fly a helicopter (assuming one isn't a harpsichordist or pilot by profession). It impresses in part because it suggests discipline, time, and effort -- and, perhaps, other hidden skills.
Dawn C. Chmielewski: YouTube video-game channel Machinima aims for the next level (Los Angeles Times)
With 125 million viewers watching more than 1 billion of its videos a month, Machinima may be the most-watched channel that's not on TV.
The Ting Tings and that difficult second album (Guardian)
The Ting Tings recorded songs their label loved - so they ripped them up and started again. Are they tempting fate, asks Tom Lamont.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Travel Destinations
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Reminder
Groundhog Day, Feb, 2nd
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer morning, sunny afternoon.
Rapper Upset Mittens Used His Song
K'Naan
The rapper K'Naan is upset that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney used his song "Wavin' Flag" during his Florida primary victory speech, and is seeking legal action as a result.
In a statement released Wednesday, K'naan says Romney's campaign did not seek approval to use the song and that he would not have granted permission if it had.
The Somali-born, Canadian-based rapper says he would happily grant President Barack Obama's campaign the use of the song.
"Wavin' Flag" was an international hit for K'Naan in 2010. The song had several country-specific remixes, featuring artists from those territories. It was co-written and co-produced by Bruno Mars' production team, The Smeezingtons.
K'Naan says he wants to make sure Romney does not use his song again.
K'Naan
In The Mail
Oscar Ballots
Oscar ballots were mailed to 5,783 Academy Members on Wednesday morning, in an odd but endearing ritual that may never again take place at the Academy.
With online voting scheduled to begin in time for the 85th Academy Awards next year, the ceremonial ballot-mailing may well be replaced by something more private and not nearly as photogenic.
"That is the plan," Academy president Tom Sherak told TheWrap after the mailing. "But there's still stuff to be done."
The tricky part, he said, is that while more than 85 percent of Academy members have supplied AMPAS with email addresses to use for voting, others haven't.
"We know that a percentage of our constituency doesn't have a way to vote online," he said. "We're not going to leave them out, so we have to figure out a way where they can come in or we can get them ballots so they can vote. It's not like, 'Well, you don't have a computer so you're not voting!'"
Oscar Ballots
Moving To New Zealand
James Cameron
Hollywood director James Cameron is planning to move onto a New Zealand farm.
Cameron has successfully applied to buy 1,067 hectares (2,636 acres) of farmland in New Zealand. In an application filed with the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office, Cameron says he and his family "intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm."
Cameron, a Canadian, directed two of Hollywood's most successful films, "Titanic" and "Avatar." He could not be immediately contacted by The Associated Press Thursday, but it's believed he will move to New Zealand this year to film the sequel to "Avatar."
The rural properties are about a 90-minute drive from Wellington, home to Weta Digital, which won an Oscar for its visual effects work on the first "Avatar" movie.
James Cameron
The Comic Book
"Saturday Night Live"
Live, from Vancouver, it's "COMICS: Saturday Night Live," a 24-page history of the long-running show in comic book form.
The comic book comes from Vancouver-based Bluewater Productions, which has also produced pop culture comic books on "Glee," the Three Stooges, Jon Stewart, Steve Jobs, Tina Fey, Gabrielle Giffords, Taylor Swift and "Hunger Games" author Suzanne Collins.
The "SNL" issue, which will be released in March, covers the show's entire 37-year history, and is written by "lifelong 'SNL' fanatic" Chad Lambert.
"The real trick was writing 37 years of comedy history in 24 pages . Here's a guy ('SNL' creator Lorne Michaels) who created a formula for success that's lasted through five very different decades. You have to respect any amount of longevity in comedy, but this level of integrity is off the charts."
"Saturday Night Live"
Fracking Über Alles
Josh Fox
"GasLand" director Josh Fox has been processed and released following his arrest at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Fox, who was charged with unlawful entry for trying to film a House Science Committee meeting on hydraulic fracturing -- aka "fracking" -- is due in court on the matter February 15.
But just because Fox is a free man again, doesn't mean he's placated. Fox issued a scathing statement from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday following his release.
"I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill," Fox said in the statement. "I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism."
Fox, who's currently working on his sequel to the HBO documentary, characterized his refusal to stop filming the hearing as "an act of civil disobedience" and claimed the Constitutional high ground over the legislators that had shut him out.
Asserting that hydraulic fragmenting is an environmentally damaging practice, Fox predicted that lawmakers' efforts to keep the hearing under wraps would ultimately prove futile.
"The truth that fracking contaminates groundwater is out, and no amount of intimidation tactics -- either outright challenges to science or the arrest of journalists --will put the genie back in the bottle," Fox said. "Such a brazen attempt to discredit and silence the EPA, the citizens of Pavillion and documentary filmmaking will ultimately fail and it is an affront to the health and integrity of Americans."
Josh Fox
Coroner Probed
Amy Winehouse
British officials say the coroner who oversaw the inquest into the death of singer Amy Winehouse has resigned after her qualifications were questioned.
Winehouse's relatives said they were still absorbing the implications of the news.
Greenaway had been appointed an assistant deputy coroner in London by her husband, Coroner Andrew Reid. But she resigned in November after authorities learned she had not been a registered U.K. lawyer for five years as required. She had practiced law for a decade in her native Australia.
Reid said Wednesday he was "confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly" - but offered to hold inquests over again if the families of the deceased wanted it. Greenaway had been in the job since 2009.
Amy Winehouse
Requests Name Removed From Oscars Venue
Kodak
Eastman Kodak Co has asked the U.S. bankruptcy court to void an estimated $4 million-a-year contract to have its name on the Hollywood theater that hosts the Oscars as the bankrupt photography company tries to reduce its debt.
Kodak said in court documents that it was filing a motion to reject the contract and that the theater should take all steps necessary to remove Kodak's naming rights and signage associated with it.
About 10 years ago, Kodak agreed to pay $74 million to developers to see its name on the 3,400-plus seat theater. The building is owned by CIM Group. A spokesperson for CIM was not immediately available to comment.
Kodak's bankruptcy on January 19 has been reverberating through Hollywood in several ways.
Major entertainment companies listed among Kodak's top 50 unsecured creditors include Sony, owed $16.7 million; Time Warner's Warner Brothers, due $14.2 million; Comcast NBC Universal, short $9.3 million; Viacom's Paramount Studios, owed $6.8 million; and Walt Disney Studios, $4.2 million.
Kodak
Arrested In Oregon
Deen Castronovo
Deen Castronovo, drummer in the rock group Journey, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Oregon to four misdemeanor charges related to a reported domestic violence incident in West Salem.
The 47-year-old was arrested Jan. 20 after a dispute with a woman and charged with recklessly endangering another person, interfering with making a police report, criminal mischief and harassment.
The Statesman Journal reports the woman told police he had accused her of cheating and they had broken up.
Deen Castronovo
Likes Willard
Marc Andreessen
Among the 150-plus major donors disclosed by Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney: Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder who's become one of the biggest venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. His firm, Andreessen Horowitz, manages more than $2.7 billion, including a $1.5 billion round of funding that was announced earlier this week.
According to Restore Our Future's most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, Andreessen donated $50,000 the group, adding to $30.2 million the group raised through Dec. 31. The PAC has spent more than $17 million on the 2012 campaign to date--and more than $16 million attacking Newt Gingrich.
Andreessen's contribution to Restore Our Future was scant in comparison to the multi-million dollar donations made by other private equity and hedge fund executives--including John Paulson, founder of Paulson & Company, and Ed Conard, former top executive at Bain Capital. (Sam Zell, the chairman and former chief executive of the bankrupt Tribune Company, donated $50,000 to Restore Our Future, too.)
In 2009, Andreessen personally invested in Talking Points Memo, the liberal political site founded by Josh Marshall. Andreessen, who is a member of Facebook's board of directors, also contributed to the FB PAC launched by the social network last year.
Marc Andreessen
Theater Protest
Hungary
Around 300 people gathered outside Budapest's New Theater on Wednesday to protest its new director, an actor with links to far-right parties.
Gyorgy Dorner became head of the theater Wednesday after being named in October by Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos. Dorner was picked by Tarlos over the theater's previous director, Istvan Marta.
Dorner initially named far-right playwright and politician Istvan Csurka, also known for his anti-Semitic articles, as the theater's artistic director, but Tarlos blocked the plan.
Dorner has described himself as a "national radical" and has taken part in rallies of Jobbik, a far-right party which won nearly 17 percent of the votes in the 2010 elections.
Dorner is also known in Hungary as the voice of Eddie Murphy and Bruce Willis in dubbed films.
Hungary
Gears Up
Political Graft InfluenceFacebook
Preparing to join the ranks of publicly traded companies, Facebook Inc is also beefing up its presence in the U.S. capital with a first report of money pouring into its newly created political fundraising arm.
A latecomer to Washington, the social networking site is joining scores of powerful technology companies such as Microsoft Corp and Google Inc that have political action committees (PACs) used to raise funds for donations to political campaigns or causes.
The Facebook PAC, officially registered in December, last year raised just above $170,000, predominantly from Facebook's own executives and employees, according to its filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Co-founder and newly minted billionaire Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg gave $5,000, and so did investors Marc Andreessen, James Breyer, and Peter Thiel. Thiel last year also contributed to a so-called Super PAC Endorse Liberty that supports Ron Paul.
Facebook
Funding Held Up by One Senator
9/11 Museum
There's a controversy brewing in the halls of Congress pitting budget hawk Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Self-Righteous), against two New York senators and touching on a politically and emotionally sensitive subject.
Coburn is singlehandedly holding up federal funding for the 9/11 memorial museum at Ground Zero.
Legislation before the Senate calls for $20 million a year, $200 total over the next 10 years, in federal funding for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero.
Coburn is calling for equivalent cuts to be made to pay for the added government spending on the project
9/11 Museum
Legitimizing Graft
"Super PACs"
Groups known as "Super PACs" raised more than $42 million to back Republican U.S. presidential contenders in 2011, according to campaign filings that show how new donation rules are allowing a relatively few wealthy Americans to shape the race.
The reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) late on Tuesday offer a vivid picture of the impact of a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited donations to political action committees (PACs), groups that are legally separate from the candidates they support.
The reports showed why the Super PAC supporting Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, called Restore Our Future, has been such a force in the campaign - largely by running attack ads against Newt Gingrich, Romney's top Republican rival.
Super PACs were forged from the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that erased longstanding limits on corporate and union money in federal elections as an unconstitutional restriction of free speech.
The ruling unleashed a flood of money into a political system coming off the most expensive presidential election in U.S. history in 2008, when candidates spent more than $1 billion. It also opened the door for wealthy individuals to prop up candidates by writing a check.
"Super PACs"
In Memory
Angelo Dundee
There was no way Angelo Dundee was going to miss Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday party.
The genial trainer got to see his old friend, and reminisce about good times. It was almost as if they were together in their prime again, and what a time that was.
Dundee died in his apartment in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday night at the age of 90, and with him a part of boxing died, too.
He was surrounded by his family, said his son, Jimmy, who said the visit with Ali in Louisville, Ky., meant everything to his Dad.
"It was the way he wanted to go," the son said. "He did everything he wanted to do."
Dundee was the brilliant motivator who worked the corner for Ali in his greatest fights, willed Sugar Ray Leonard to victory in his biggest bout, and coached hundreds of young men in the art of a left jab and an overhand right.
Promoter Bob Arum credited Dundee with persuading Ali to continue in his third fight against Joe Frazier when Frazier was coming on strong in the "Thrilla in Manilla." Without Dundee, Arum said, Ali may not have had the strength to come back and stop Frazier after the 14th round in what became an iconic fight.
Dundee also worked the corner for Leonard, famously shouting, "You're blowing it, son. You're blowing it" when Leonard fell behind in his 1981 fight with Tommy Hearns - a fight he would rally to win by knockout.
A master motivator and clever corner man, Dundee was regarded as one of the sport's great ambassadors. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 after a career that spanned six decades, training 15 world champions, including Leonard, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles.
The partnership with Ali began in Louisville, Ali's hometown, in 1959. Dundee was there with light heavyweight Willie Pastrano when the young Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, called their room from a hotel phone to ask if he could have five minutes. Clay, a local Golden Gloves champion, kept asking the men boxing questions in a conversation that lasted 3½ hours, according to Dundee's autobiography, "My View From the Corner: A Life in Boxing."
After Ali returned from Rome with a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, Dundee ran into him in Louisville and invited him to come to Miami Beach to train. Ali declined. But that December, Dundee got a call from one of Ali's handlers, seeking to hire Dundee. After Ali won his first pro fight, Dundee accepted.
He helped Ali claim the heavyweight title for the first time on Feb. 25, 1964, when Sonny Liston quit on his stool after the sixth round during their fight in Miami Beach.
In an age of boxing when fighter-manager relationships rarely last, Dundee and Ali would never split.
When Cassius Clay angered white America by joining the Black Muslims and become Muhammad Ali, Dundee never wavered. When Ali defied the draft at the height of the Vietnam war, losing 3 1/2 years from the prime of his career, Dundee was there waiting for the heavyweight's return. And when Ali would make bold projections, spewing poetry that made headlines across the world and gave him the nickname "The Louisville Lip," Dundee never asked him to keep quiet.
"Through all those days of controversy, and the many that followed, Angelo never got involved," Ali wrote in the foreword to Dundee's book. "He let me be exactly who I wanted to be, and he was loyal. That is the reason I love Angelo."
Born Angelo Mirena on Aug. 30, 1921, in south Philadelphia, Dundee's boxing career was propelled largely by his older brother, Chris, a promoter. After returning from World War II - "We won, but not because of anything I did" - he joined Chris in the boxing game in New York, serving as his "go-fer" and getting the tag "Chris' kid brother." Angelo and Chris followed another brother Joe, who was a fighter, in changing their surname to Dundee so their parents wouldn't know they worked in boxing.
He worked major boxing scenes with Chris, with stops at the famed Stillman's Gym in New York and Miami Beach's 5th Street Gym. Dundee's fun-loving attitude, combined with his powerful Philly accent, made him a joy to be around. His lifelong love and respect for the sport earned him praise from those across the boxing world.
"He is the only man in boxing to whom I would entrust my own son," the late sportscaster Howard Cosell once said of Dundee.
Always a slick strategist and fierce competitor, Dundee developed countless tricks to help his fighters win.
If he thought a referee might stop a fight because of a gash on his fighter, Dundee would stretch his butt so the referee couldn't peek into the corner, allowing him to conceal the wound before the bell. If a fighter was tired, Dundee would do anything he could to buy time, once untying a boxer's shoes after every round only to slowly retie the laces each time.
Dundee also went well beyond the usual tricks of smelling salts to revive fighters.
If his man was dazed, Dundee would often drop ice down the fighter's shorts to take their attention off injuries. During Ali's 1963 fight against Henry Cooper, Dundee pulled off a stunt that took him decades to publicly acknowledge.
After Cooper dropped Ali and left him dizzy at the end of the fourth round, Dundee alerted the referee to a small rip on Ali's gloves - a split Dundee would later admit he noticed before the fight - and the search for replacement gloves that never came gave Ali a few extra seconds to recover. Ali pounded Cooper's cuts in the fifth and the fight was stopped, keeping Ali's title shot alive. Many boxing commissions would soon require extra gloves to be kept at every fight.
After living in the Miami area for decades, Dundee moved to the Tampa suburb of Oldsmar in 2007 to be closer to his two children after his wife of more than 50 years, Helen, fell ill. She died three years later.
Angelo Dundee
In Memory
Don Cornelius
Don Cornelius, the silken-voiced host of TV's "Soul Train" who helped break down racial barriers and broaden the reach of black culture with funky music, groovy dance steps and cutting-edge style, died early Wednesday of an apparent suicide. He was 75.
Police responding to a report of a shooting found Cornelius at his Mulholland Drive home around 4 a.m. He was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound about an hour later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to the coroner's office.
His death prompted many to speak of the positive influence he and his show had on pop culture, music and the black community.
"God bless him for the solid good and wholesome foundation he provided for young adults worldwide and the unity and brotherhood he singlehandedly brought about with his most memorable creation of 'Soul Train,'" said Aretha Franklin, an early performer on the show.
Franklin called Cornelius "an American treasure."
"Soul Train" began in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV as a local program and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006.
It showcased such legendary artists as Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Barry White and brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.
"Soul Train," with its trademark opening of an animated chugging train, was not, however, an immediate success for Cornelius, an ex-disc jockey with a baritone rumble and cool manner.
Only a handful of stations initially were receptive.
"When we rolled it out, there were only eight takers," he recalled in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "Which was somewhere between a little disappointing and a whole lot disappointing."
The reasons he heard? "There was just, 'We don't want it. We pass,'" he said, with race going unmentioned. "No one was blatant enough to say that."
"Soul Train" was seen by some at first as the black "American Bandstand," the mainstay TV music show hosted by Dick Clark. While "American Bandstand" featured black artists, it was more of a showcase for white artists and very mainstream black performers. "Soul Train" followed some of the "Bandstand" format, as it had an audience and young dancers. But that's where the comparisons stopped. Cornelius, the suave, ultra-cool emcee, made "Soul Train" appointment viewing by creating a show that showed another side of black music and culture.
When it started, glistening Afros dominated the set, as young blacks boogied and shimmied to the music of the likes of Earth Wind & Fire and other acts perhaps less likely to get on "American Bandstand."
People tuned into to see the musical acts, but the dancers soon became as much of a main attraction. They introduced Americans to new dances and fashion styles, and made the "Soul Train" dance line - where people stand line up on each side while others sashay down to show their moves - a cultural flashpoint.
Though "Soul Train" became the longest-running syndicated show in TV history, its power began to wane in the 1980s and '90s as American pop culture began folding in black culture instead of keeping it segregated. By that time, there were more options for black artists to appear on mainstream shows, and on shows like "American Bandstand," blacks could be seen dancing along with whites.
But even when Michael Jackson became the King of Pop, there was still a need to highlight the achievements of African-Americans that were still marginalized at mainstream events. So Cornelius created the "Soul Train Awards," which would become a key honor for musicians. The series also spawned the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards and the Soul Train Christmas Starfest.
Cornelius, who was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said in 2006 he remained grateful to the musicians who made "Soul Train" the destination for the best and latest in black music.
"I figured as long as the music stayed hot and important and good, that there would always be a reason for 'Soul Train,'" Cornelius said.
Donald Cortez Cornelius was born Sept. 27, 1936, in Chicago, graduated from DuSable High School in 1954 and served in Korea with the U.S. Marines.
He was working as an insurance salesman when he spent $400 on a broadcasting course and landed a part-time job in 1966 as announcer, newsman and DJ on WVON radio. Cornelius began moonlighting at WCIU-TV when Roy Wood, his mentor at WVON, moved there, and won a job producing and hosting a local show, "A Black's View of the News."
With the small station looking to expand its "ethnic" programming, Cornelius pitched his idea for a black music show, and "Soul Train" was born.
Asked why it endured, he told the Times in 1995: "There is an inner craving among us all, within us all, for television that we can personally connect to."
Cornelius stepped down as "Soul Train" host in 1993. The awards returned to the air in 2009 after a two-year hiatus. After owning "Soul Train" for its entire run, Cornelius sold the show to MadVision Entertainment in 2008. Last year's awards were held on Nov. 27 in Atlanta, with Earth Wind & Fire receiving the "Legend Award."
Cornelius had two children, Anthony and Raymond, with his first wife, Delores Harrison. His eight-year marriage to Viktoria Chapman, a former Miss Ukraine, ended in divorce in July 2009 after he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor spousal battery and was ordered to attend a yearlong domestic violence course.
Don Cornelius
In Memory
Mike Kelley
Mike Kelley, the daring and influential contemporary installation artist who counted the band Sonic Youth and artist Paul McCarthy among his collaborators, has died, police said Wednesday. He was 57.
Kelley's body was found at his home Tuesday night and it appeared he had committed suicide, South Pasadena Police Sgt. Robert Bartl said, without providing further information on the death. An autopsy was pending.
The artist's death brings a tragic end to a career empowered by both a punk-rock rebelliousness and pop-culture kitsch. Kelley famously filled art spaces with sculptures and unorthodox objects, and his solo exhibit "Catholic Tastes" at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York," which provocatively combined dolls, drawings and other objects, established him as a major figure in the art world in 1993.
Kelley's work will be included in the upcoming 2012 Whitney biennial in New York.
In addition to "Catholic Tastes," other major solo exhibitions included 2004's "The Uncanny" at the Tate Liverpool in the United Kingdom and 2006's "Profondeurs Vertes" at the Louvre in Paris.
Kelley's notable works included a life-size re-creation of his childhood home on wheels, tiny rendition of Superman's extraterrestrial birthplace encased in a glass jug and several spherical sculptures made of stuffed animals.
He erected a life-sized Colonel Sanders statue alongside a miniature Sigmund Freud at the Gagosian in Los Angeles in 2011 and was influenced by old yearbooks for a sprawling 2005 exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in New York that featured a 15-foot-long missile called the "gospel rocket."
Kelley was a student of conceptual artist John Baldessari, and he collaborated with fellow bold artists like Paul McCarthy and Tony Oursler. The band Sonic Youth used Kelley's work on the album cover for "Dirty" released in 1992.
Born in Detroit, Kelley founded the band Destroy All Monsters with three other musicians in 1974. He left the band in 1978 to attend the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, near Los Angeles, but never strayed far from the music scene, frequently contributing to music journals and always counting music as an inspiration.
Mike Kelley
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