Charges against three brothers and associates include money laundering, cocaine trafficking, income tax evasion and selling guns illegally. There are alleged links to Hezbollah, prison gangs and drug cartels. One brother and owner is a person of interest in a cold case murder of a former business associate. 

There was a lot of local press during the raid and soon after. There have been one or two hearings, thus far, for the purpose of setting bail but since the second hearing, there has been virtually no publicity. None of this story seems to have made national news which is very surprising given the fame of The Austin Music Scene. Just days earlier, thousands of fans and hordes of media were in town for SXSW 2012. Almost all the clubs seized hosted SXSW showcases. 

The Yassine brothers entered the Austin, Texas nightclub scene in the mid-90’s. There is some speculation that the businesses might have been set up as a front from the very beginning. Money was being deposited in Swiss bank accounts as well as sent to an uncle in Lebanon who is alleged to have ties to Hezbollah. 

Not only did The Yassine brothers own several trendy and cutting edge nightspots, they also created a vodka which went by the name of Famous Vodka and had a couple of other non-alcoholic locally produced beverage companies.

The entire entertainment district was shocked by the raids and seizures as well as the locals of the city. Nothing quite like this had ever happened in the music scene before. This seems to be the kind of story that would happen more in Nashville, Los Angeles or New York.

So, if you are coming to Austin, Texas anytime soon because of the famous music scene, you will be glad to know that the music scene is still alive and well. But there are several very hip, cool and trendy nightspots that remain shuttered. 

Image via Wikipedia

The United States of America has produced remarkable names that helped and made America a great and powerful nation of the world. They became the presidents of the USA like:

The present President Barack Obama – he is the 44th presidents of the United States of America. He is a left-handed person who leads the country and the millions Americans. He was born on August 4, 1961. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, he is the first African American to hold the office. He previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

The former President Bill Clinton – he was born on August 19, 1946. He is a left-handed person – an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. President Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance, while on other issues his stance was center-left.

The former President George H. W. Bush Senior – he was born on June 12, 1924. He is a left-handed person - an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993. He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981to 1989, a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence. He was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Senator Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, becoming a millionaire by the age of 40.

The former President Reagan was born in Tampico in Whiteside County, Illinois and educated at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology. He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in over 50 movie productions. Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and later spokesman for General Electric; his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. He was born on February 6, 1911 – a left-handed and was the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

The former President Gerald Ford – he was born on July 14, 1913 – a left-handed. He was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment after Spiro Agnew had resigned, when he became President upon Richard Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President nor Vice-President by the Electoral College.

From America, let’s check Costa Rica. This country has also produced a president who is also a left-handed person. She is President Laura Chinchilla. She was born on 28 March 1959 – a Costa Rican politician and the first female President of Costa Rica. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez’s two Vice-Presidents and his administration’s Minister of Justice. She was the governing PLN candidate for President in the 2010 general election, where she won with 46.76% of the vote. She is the sixth woman to be elected president of a Latin American country and the first woman to become president of Costa Rica. She was sworn as president of Costa Rica on May 8, 2010.

From Costa Rica to Ireland. Former Ireland’s Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, is left-handed. He was born on 10 January 1960 and is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 7 May 2008 to 9 March 2011. He was head of a coalition government led by Fianna Fáil which until 23 January 2011 had the support of the Green Party and independent TDs. Cowen was also leader of Fianna Fáil from 7 May 2008 until 22 January 2011, when he resigned under political pressure after a failed and highly controversial attempt at a cabinet reshuffle.

From Ireland to Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is left-handed. He was born on October 21, 1949 and is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel. Netanyahu is the first and, to date, only Israeli prime minister born in Israel. Netanyahu joined the Israeli Defense Forces in 1967 where he served as a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal Special Forces unit, taking part in many missions including Operation Gift and the hostage rescue mission from the hijacked Sabena Flight 571 in 1972, where he was shot in the shoulder.

Now let’s go to UK. Prince William was born on 21 June 1982 – a left-handed and is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and third eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is second in the line of succession, behind his father, to the thrones of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Another from England a lefty musician Tom Milsom has released a new single under the persona of “Tommy Firefly”. It is a cover of a David Bowie song with Tom on vocals, ukulele and accordion. Tom is 18 and lives just outside London, England. He has been a talented musician and creative writer since a very early age and has recently completed A Levels including Music and Music Technology. He is currently taking a year off of studying before going to university in England to study Creative Music Technology. In that year, he is bringing together some of his music and lyrics into finished songs that can be distributed to his many followers around the world. He may even sell some to generate some income to pay for University and the instruments and equipment needed to develop his musical career.

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Belonging to a very poor family, Hoagy learned from his mother to play the piano and he learned to love and appreciate jazz music from an early age. He became a very talented piano player and learned to write great songs. He spent many hours writing and performing around Bloomington and the city still wants his talents and accomplishments to be acknowledged. His life in Bloomington is just a touch of the history that music talents have brought to the city.

There are many tributes around town to Hoagy, but one of the best ones to see is the statue on the north patio of the IU Auditorium which is of him playing and casually writing another classic song. Also on the campus, there is the Hoagy Carmichael room inside the Morrison Hall which showcases many mementos of his life and all of the memorabilia was donated to the school by his family.  Also, outside of Buffalouies there is a really nice historical marker at The Gables, one of his favorite places to write and play.

Hoagy is even buried in Bloomington at Rose Hill Cemetery. Visitors who would like to see his grave can stop at the cemetery which is located just off of Fourth Street in downtown Bloomington. For those who want to learn more about Hoagy can visit this website which will tell much more about his life.

In a recent interview Edie Falco slammed Kim Kardashian and those who are influenced by her. When asked if she watches reality shows Falco responded “Who the hell is Kim Kardashian? Who are these people and why are they famous and why are they advertising things and being asked their opinions about things? I just don’t understand what these people did to be in a position of having everyone ask their opinions about stuff.”  

She does have an interesting point, why does the public care about Kim Kardashian’s opinion? She hasn’t really done anything of value other than have a sex tape, a realty show and a big bum. However, on the same token why does the public care about Edie Falco’s opinion? She is an actress, some might even say a really good one, but that’s about it.  Why do actors and singers feel that they are more entitled to have an opinion than reality stars are? What gives them more authority, just the fact that their job has existed for more than ten or twenty years? That’s it? I wouldn’t go to my physician to ask about financial advice and I wouldn’t go to my accountant to ask for medical advice so why ask an actress who is the best presidential candidate? Or which vitamin drink is the best for my child? It really doesn’t make any sense and yet people do it all the time. We trust celebrities to sell us clothing, food and beauty items. We even trust them to tell us which social issues are worthwhile and we give money to the causes they promote, but why? It seems that simply just because these people are familiar to us and we feel like we kind of know them even though we don’t, we are willing to believe that their opinions have some sort of bearing on our lives.

Another interesting point in this situation is that often times these same celebrities are extremely outraged when you try to impose on their private lives. Now this does make sense, most people don’t care to divulge their deepest darkest secrets to total strangers but am I, your fan, supporter and consumer (of stuff you sell, not of you-the celebrity), really a stranger? Why is it that when you, the celebrity, are trying to sell me things you are my friend but when I want to come up and say hi to you at a grocery store I am some creepy and scary stranger? Isn’t that a little bit hypocritical?  Am I only your friend when I turn a bunch of money over to you?  Is that not a little bit like being a gold-digger, or a prostitute? We can only have a relationship if I pay you, but if I refuse to do so you will have your pimp, bodyguard, come and rough me up? That doesn’t seem like a very healthy relationship. It’s almost as if celebrities just use the public for their own benefit. 

As I’ve worked, I’ve found that some of the entries have little or no details aside from a brief mention that they had been homeless, so while I will include them in this list, I won’t waste anyone’s time by trying to write individual articles on those without accessible details.

• Halle Berry (Actress)
• Danny Bonaduce (Actor/Radio Host)
• Gautama Siddhartha (The Buddha)

Drew Carey (Actor/Comedian/Author) Few details available

• Jim Carrey (Actor/Comedian)
• Charlie Chaplin (Actor)

Kelly Clarkson (Musician)

• Kurt Cobain (Musician)
• Benjamin Franklin (Author/Inventor/Politican)

Kelsey Grammer (Actor) Few details available

Cary Grant (Actor)

Woody Guthrie (Musician)

Harry Houdini (Magician)

Don Imus (Radio Host)

Burl Ives (Actor/Musician)

Jesus of Nazareth (Son of God)

Jewel (Musician)

David Letterman (Comedian/Talk-show Host)

Phil McGraw “Dr. Phil” (Talk-show Host)

Jim Morrison (Musician)

Michael Oher (Athlete)

George Orwell (Author)

Joan Rivers (Talk-show Host)

“Colonel” Harland Sanders (Businessman)

William Shatner (Actor)

Martin Sheen (Actor)

Sylvester Stallone (Actor)

Hilary Swank (Actress)

Shania Twain (Musician)

Jean-Claude Van Damme (Actor)

John Woo (Director)

Occupation: Actor, Radio-show Host

Birthday: August 13, 1959

Birthplace: Broomall, PA

Claim to Fame: Danny Partridge

Where he stayed: In his car

Reason: Broke

Danny Bonaduce got his initial claim to fame as a child actor playing Danny Partridge in the early 70s series The Partridge Family. After the series finished in 1974, however, Danny fell into a lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction.

Bonaduce had several failed marriages and evidently struggled to find work at times, doing some TV talk shows in the 1990s until he seemed to find a place in radio. In 1997, Bonaduce related to his audience how he had lived in his car behind Grauman’s Chinese Theatre while being greeted by fans and autograph seekers.

Bonaduce’s homelessness is different from many of the stories I have compiled, in that his homelessness seems to have come after his initial success.

Today, Danny Bonaduce continues in the radio business. He currently works in Philadelphia, hosting the morning drive at WYSP.

Sources for this article:
http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/lists/homeless.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_bonaduce

Occupation: Actress

Birthday: August 14, 1966

Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio

Claim to Fame: Academy Award Winner, Emmy Award Winner, Golden Globe Award Winner.

Where she stayed: In a NYC homeless Shelter

Reason: Her mom refused to send her money.

Source: Reader’s Digest, US Magazine

Halle Berry is one of Hollywood’s most highly paid stars, but it wasn’t always that way. She started out in beauty contests in the 1980s, winning Miss Teen All-American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. She was the runner-up to Christy Fichtner in the 1986 Miss USA pagent, where in her interview she told the judges that she hoped to “become an entertainer or have something to do with the media”.

Somewhere in the transition between pageantry and acting, however, Halle had some trouble finding work. In a 2007 interview, she told Reader’s Digest, “I probably was about 21. But a girl had to do what a girl had to do. You can do that when you’re 21 and ambitious, and your eyes are this big and you don’t want to go home.”

In the April 22, 2007 edition of US magazine it was reported that “Halle Berry was homeless. Berry slept at a shelter in NYC after her mom refused to send her money.”

While that probably wasn’t the high point in her career, she seems to have made out all right for herself in the long run. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama in 2010 for her role in Frankie and Alice.

Sources for this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halle_berry
http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/lists/homeless.html

Image source

The Jongleurs were the professional entertainers in England and France during the Middle Ages.  They sang; played the vielle, lute, or harp; told jokes; and performed magic tricks.  The term jongleur came from the Latin word meaning “juggler.”  Often, a dancing bear was part of a jongleur’s performance.  No festival, wedding, tournament, or knighting of a page was ever complete without a jongleur to sing songs of chivalry.  Jongleurs provided the music accompaniment for the peasant dances on the village greens as well as for the dances of the noblemen in their castles. 

The jongleur traveled from place to place, going wherever he thought he could be rewarded with money or a meal. Some jongleurs had permanent jobs as companions to knightly troubadours and trouvéres (the poet-musicians of northern France), vagabonding from castle to castle with their masters.  The jongleur either sang the songs composed by the troubadour or accompanied him on the vielle– the medieval fiddle.  Sometimes he would transcribe the words and notes of the song, preserving it for future functions.

Jongleurs who were satisfied to remain in one place were regarded as household servants and were called minstrels.

During Lent, there were no public entertainments.  This became the time for the jongleurs “school” themselves. The “school” was in reality a convening of jongleurs where songs, jokes, and news were exchanged.

From the 9th to the 14th centuries, jongleurs performed the same services that  television and radio do today.  They not only entertained but brought news of the Crusades, of who married whom, and of who beat whom in a tournament.  The traveling jongleurs did a great deal to unite the Frenchmen collectively as a nation by singing of the heroic deeds of Charlemagne, Roland, and other French heroes.

Ozzy Osbourne – slaughter house

He worked in a slaughter house. Don’t tell me you weren’t wondering where the psychotic lyrics were coming from. 

Jon Bon Jovi- shoe store, cleaning a record studio

Remember the TV show Married with Children where the lead character Al Bundy  hated his job as a shoe salesman and was considered to be a lowlife? Well, I am not sure whether Jon Bon Jovi hated the job, but I am sure he was a tad bit more popular with the ladies. I mean, did you really see such a cute salesman like ever?

He also worked at his cousin’s recording studio, as a janitor. But of course at night, he used the equipment to record his demo tapes. Remember the first Bon Jovi hit Runaway? Jon first recorded it there.

Bon Jovi Concert: Best Rock Experience Ever

Bon Jovi Trivia

All Posts on Bon Jovi

Elvis Presley- truck driver

Elvis Presley used to work as a truck driver.

Rod Stewart- grave digger

Well, Rod Stewart’s former job is only slightly more appealing than Ozzy’s but it sure as hell didn’t reflect on his music.

Gerard Butler- lawyer trainee

Well, Gerard Butler hated being a lawyer. To be precise, he hated having to wear a suit and be in an office all day, especially when so many festivals were taking place. Oh, yes. King Leonidas is a university graduate. He just preferred pursuing an acting career instead and we are just grateful.

5 Reasons to Love Gerard Butler

All Gerard Butler posts

John Malkovich: office supply store, school bus driver, house painter, landscaper for gardening company…

Now that’s one miscellaneous non-acting resume!

Mel Gibson- KFC

All young Mel Gibson could think about was surfing and girls. He was working at KFC when his sister filled in an application for acting school behind his back.

Mel Gibson Trivia

11 Fun Mel Gibson Films

Simon Baker- bricklayer

Previously The Guardian, and now The Mentalist, Simon Baker worked as a bricklayer. Now, that ought to help his fitness…Plus, he has been surfing since his teens.

Simon Baker Trivia

Josh Holloway- picking up dead chickens at a farm, construction, modeling

If there is one CV that mixes glamour and hard labor, it is Josh Holloway’s – a.k.a Sawyer from Lost.

As you see above, he did pick up dead chickens as a farm He also did construction work. He modeled. He also got a real estate license, in case his career didn’t pick up. Then Lost came up…

Kevin Costner- drove a bus to Hollywood star’s houses tours, modeled

Kevin Costner was one of the ultimate hunks of the 80s and 90s so a modeling career makes sense. But the fact that he took people to Hollywood’s stars homes, only to become an even bigger star himself…

Now, that is just poetic.

Kevin Costner Trivia

Renee Zellweger- cocktail waitress at a strip club

Probably this is the least interesting one as most actors are known for having waited while they worked to get auditions.

    There is a reason why stars represent such ideality in society.  Amorality or not, they have all achieved great success in life.  They have climbed to the forefront of the world through its most popular mediums; they have secured an occupation that many would consider ideal, with little to no monotony or serious danger; they have amassed huge sums of money as the forerunners of some of the world’s best-paying industries.  It is only natural that kids around the world have striven to follow in these stars’ footsteps.  For those who seriously consider pursuing a career in sports, television, politics, or the arts, there is no choice but to admire those whom they aspire to replace in the future.  Taking this wonderment away from hopeful future stars saps their desire to become such stars by taking away that which inspired them in the first place.
    Those who believe that the fraction of stars who make bad decisions reflect on the entire world of stars can be considered among those who relate blacks with gang-related violence or women with mental inferiority.  These stereotypes are not fair to the rest of the group of victims, the innocent who have done nothing to justify their categorization into such lowly standards simply because of their race, gender, class, religion, or other natural classification.  In fact, many stars have made use of their substantial funds and incredible influence on society to support worthy and charitable causes in ways that ordinary people could never do.  These acts of charity may even be more frequent then acts of atrocity among stars, but the alarm that rises from those occasional flagrant offenses is enough to frighten the overanxious into condemning the entire entertainment business.

    It should also be noted that such crimes are evident in all groups of people.  Ordinary men and women, not just the stars, take part in criminal acts and other scandalous behavior everyday; it is only human nature that we are imperfect in these ways.  The only reason why the behavior of stars seems to be so apparent and alarming is the fact that they are stars and, like everything else about their lives, their behavior will be ever-present in the media.  But one can’t tell the youth of the world that they can’t idolize stars because of some of their fellow stars’ non-role-model-like behavior, because they will likely retort (with truth) that no one in the world can be idolized under this system because of everyone’s connection with at least one person who has done something wrong.
    Not all stars should be idolized.  There are those few who, due to constant and habitual atrocities, should never serve as a positive example to society.  However, those whose names are untarnished by such crimes and have even made positive efforts to better the world through charity and positivity should not be brought down with their fellow celebrities when they have done nothing wrong themselves.