Charice Pempengco, a pop star best known to TV fans for her recurring role on Glee last season, has pulled out of concerts in Singapore this week due a a family tragedy: her estranged father was killed in the Philippines. Local police say Ricky Pempengco, 40, rubbed up against an inebriated individual inside a small grocery store in San Pedro on Monday. The man became angry and stabbed Pempengco in the chest and back with an ice pick. A reward has been posted for information leading to the killer’s capture. Cops report no evidence that this was anything other than a random murder. Charice had grown apart from her father after her mom reportedly moved the singer and her brother away when they were young. But “I loved him and I will still love him,” the artist Tweeted yesterday. “He’s still my Dad after all.” Charice rose to fame at the age of 15 when she appeared on Ellen and later on Oprah . Our thoughts go out to her family. [Photo: WENN.com]
Looks like we’ll finally get to hear some new Amy Winehouse . The album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, drops December 6th and it will have previously unreleased songs and collaborations with the hitmaking producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson. It’ll be more of a compilation of her old work mixed in with some of the music she was planning on recording for her next album. She’ll have a demo version of her classic “Wake Up Alone” and “Tears Dry On Their Own”. The track we’re most excited to hear is her collaboration with Nas called “Like Smoke”. Are you excited for the release and will you be copping on December 6th? And do you think it will be a classic like “Back To Black”?
Dan Wheldon, a two-time winner of the most prestigious event in his sport, died yesterday in a multi-car wreck on lap 11 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was 33. The tragedy took place during the IndyCar Series season finale, as Wheldon was airlifted from his vehicle around 1:19 p.m. and taken University Medical Center. Soon thereafter, he was was announced as the first IndyCar driver to die on the track since rookie Paul Dana in 2006. “IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injuries,” said CEO Randy Bernard . “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. IndyCar, its drivers and owners, have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute to in his honor.” The accident started when two cars touched tires and others proceeded to crash into them, resulting in multiple explosions and holes in the asphalt. Wheldon’s car flipped over and sailed into a fence on the edge of the track. Two other drivers were injured/hospitalized in the wreck. Officials immediately canceled the rest of the race, though most remaining participants did a five-lap tribute in honor of their fallen friend. “There are no words for today,” Danica Patrick tweeted. “Myself and so many others are devastated. I pray for suzi [Wheldon’s wife] and the kids that god will give them strength.”
Like Father, like son… The son of slain U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in an airstrike along with six other al-Qaida militants, including the media chief of the terror group’s Yemeni branch, tribal elders said Saturday. The elders in the southeastern province of Shabwa where the strike took place identified the son as 21-year-old Abdul-Rahman al-Awlaki. There was no official confirmation of his death from Yemeni authorities. The elders, who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals, said that five of al-Awlaki’s clan were among the seven people killed in the missile attack. The older al-Awlaki, a Muslim preacher and savvy Internet operator who became a powerful al-Qaida recruiting tool, was killed Sept. 30, also in a U.S. drone attack. Earlier, Yemeni officials said Ibrahim al-Bana, the media chief for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was among those killed. A Yemeni official described al-Bana as one of the most dangerous militants on their wanted list. Damn, looks like the whole family had targets on their back. Hopefully this keeps the U.S. safer and not stir the pot and put us in even MORE danger. Source
Joel “Taz” DiGregorio, the keyboard player in the Charlie Daniels Band, died in a car accident last night. He was 67. The musician – whose group is best known for the track “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” – was driving a car flipped that flipped over on Interstate 40 just west of Nashville and was actually on his way to a concert when the tragedy struck. The event was consequently canceled. Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Live) “It won’t be easy without him,” Charlie Daniels told the Associated Press. “He was an intricate part of our sound for 40 years. If you listened to our records, you could hear Taz all over them… I won’t replace him now. I can’t come to grips with replacing him right now, but I will.” The group will likely resume performing next week in Oklahoma.
Jesus Take Wheel ! This is just horrible. The body of a 23-year-old pregnant woman was discovered in the basement of a woman who had been pretending to be pregnant for months… She had been cut open and the unborn fetus was removed. A Wisconsin woman was arrested after allegedly killing a pregnant mother, cutting her baby from the womb and telling cops the child was hers. Milwaukee police are releasing very few details of the incident, including the name of the suspect, but say it was a case of ‘foetal abduction’. The family of the victim later identified her as Maritza Ramirez-Cruz, 23, who was expecting her fourth child that she planned to name Omar. He said emergency services responded to a call on Thursday from a house near 7th and Mitchell Streets in suburban Milwaukee. The suspect said that she had just given birth to the baby, and the child was not breathing. Paramedics were unable to revive the boy and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was taken to the hospital but, after an autopsy of the full-term baby – and medical examinations of the woman herself – detectives became suspicious of her story. Chief Flynn said: ‘During the ensuing investigations, detectives determined that the 33-year-old woman was not, in fact, the birth mother of the baby.’ Police returned to the address the following day and found Ramirez-Cruz’s mutilated body in the basement. Chief Flynn said: ‘Evidence at the scene indicated that she had been fatally injured there, and that the baby had been removed from her womb by force. Chief Flynn did not elaborate on how the older and younger woman came into contact with each other, except to say that there was no evidence that the two were acquainted before Thursday. Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz told MailOnline there is no indication that Ramirez-Cruz knew the 33-year-old suspect. Local residents and neighbours have been shocked by the brutal killing, and many cannot believe police have the right person in custody. On Sunday night, Ramirez-Cruz’s husband Christian Mercado told WTMJ that his wife was a ‘good person.’ Because he doesn’t speak English, Mr Mercado’s stepmother Darla Guiterrez translated for him. She said: ‘We still can’t believe it. We know it’s true but we can’t believe it and the whole family is taking it real hard.’ Jacqueline Bonilla, whose daughter lives next-door to the suspect, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘She was acting like she was [pregnant]. ‘She’d push her belly out and I’d say, “Oh, she’s pregnant.”‘ Another neighbour, Keila Perez, claimed the suspect is the godmother to her daughter. ‘From what I know she had a baby, she had baby stuff in there, she has a car seat and everything in there. I don’t know what the hell is going on.’ The suspect lived in the property with a man and three other children, but police say no-one else is being considered as an accomplice. Chief Flynn said: ‘We are confident that we have the person responsible.’ Neighbors said the suspect claimed to have been pregnant for months. Ms Perez said the woman had been talking about pregnancy, and had even shown her a sonogram of the baby. She was expecting to deliver the baby by Caesarean section in coming weeks but had called Ms Perez around noon on Thursday to say she was having contractions. She said the woman’s three other children ranged in age from five to 14, and her current boyfriend was not their father. She added that the suspect had lived in the neighborhood for seven years, after moving from Puerto Rico. This ish is just crazy. This crime leaves SIX kids without their mother, three belonging to the victim and three to the suspect. Just terrible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim and the children of the woman arrested. Jesus Please Take The Wheel! Source
Roger Williams, a virtuoso pianist who topped the Billboard pop chart in the 1950s and played for nine U.S. presidents during a long career, passed away Saturday. He was 87. The electrifying stage performer and an adept improviser died at home in Los Angeles of complications from pancreatic cancer, according to reports. Williams’ 1955 hit “Autumn Leaves” is the only piano instrumental to reach No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts and remains the best-selling piano record of all time. Nicknamed the “pianist to the presidents,” Williams played for every commander in chief from Harry Truman to George W. Bush. He was a close friend to several. Williams was close friends with Jimmy Carter, with whom he shared a birthday. When the two men turned 80, Mr. Williams played at the Jimmy Carter Library. As a teenager, Williams had already scored his own 15-minute radio show on KRNT, broadcast live from a Des Moines, Iowa (his hometown), department store. Later he hosted a program on WHO, where he met a young sports announcer named Ronald “Dutch” Reagan. The two became friends – for over six decades. Williams moved to New York to study jazz at the Juilliard School of Music. He is credited with at least 22 hit singles from 37 commercially successful albums. He is not to be confused for the 17th Century English theologian for whom a Rhode Island university is named, or for JWoww’s huge boyfriend Roger Williams .
Irv Gotti is back to talking yang again. He hit up MTV’s “Rap Fix” with Method Man to sh*t on his old artist Lloyd and make a case for the Def Jam presidency. Method Man also came by the show and dropped a Nate Dogg freestyle.
After a fight with cancer that lasted over seven years, Steve Jobs died in Palo Atlo, California today. “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” said a statement posted this evening on Apple.com, the computer maker’s website. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” Jobs revitalized Apple by transforming smartphones, computers, and media players into objects of desire. He insisted the company put the human experience first, focusing on design as well as technological prowess. Fifteen years ago, Apple flirted with bankruptcy; today, it is one of the most successful companies on earth. Only oil titan Exxon Mobil Corp. is worth more. “He taught all of us how to transform technology into magic,” said John Sculley, Apple’s chief executive in the mid-1980s, and the man who once had Jobs kicked out of the company he’d co-founded. After he was ousted, Jobs endured a decade of exile. But the experience taught him lessons that would, once he returned, help him lead Apple to heights of achievement. “Steve’s big contribution to the computer industry was to take it away from the nerds and give it to the people,” said Bob Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet networking technology and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Jobs was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004. In 2006 and 2008, he appeared at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference looking visibly ill, which started rumors about his health worsening. It didn’t help that a few months after the 2008 conference, Bloomberg accidentally published a Steve Jobs obituary. In 2009, he took a medical leave from his duties at Apple to have a liver transplant. Almost two years later, this past August, he resigned from the company he started. Steve Jobs leaves behind a wife and four children: two sons and a daughter with his wife Laurene, and a daughter from a previous relationship. He was 56. Source
