Health

Push Girls: The Best in Reality TV

If you need a shot of inspiration, a dose of courage, or a kick in the butt, tune into Push Girls on the Sundance Channel Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.

The show stars Angela Rockwood, Auti Angel, Tiphany Adams, and Mia Schaikewitz, four hot, fearless friends who, through accident or illness, are paralyzed from the neck or waist down.

Forget the Real Housewives of New York, Atlanta, Beverly Hills or anywhere else. If you want to come away feeling good, filled with gratitude for your life and ready to tackle the world, Push Girls is it.

Angela, Auti, Tiphany and Mia’s motto is “IF YOU CAN’T STAND UP, STAND OUT” and boy do they. These women know who they are and they don’t waste one moment feeling sorry for themselves. They are fully engaged in life. That’s something we can all stand to remember.

Natalie Cole: A New Chance at Life

By Marsala

Hepatitis C and a kidney transplant may have left Natalie Cole somewhat frail and weak, but oh that lady still has an incredible set of pipes. Her voice is smooth as a spoonful of honey, rich like a piece of dark, decadent chocolate, powerful as a freight train barreling through your mind, sensual like your man’s lingering caress, warm like a sip of brandy, and divine as an angel who takes flight on the wings of love..

Music is in Natalie’s genes which she inherited from her father, the late, great, Nate King Cole who she adored. After he died from lung cancer in 1965 at the age of 46, Natalie was sent away to boarding school by a mother she wasn’t close to. Being only 15-years-old and away from home, it was a difficult time for the teenager to deal with such a devastating loss.

That may explain why Natalie turned to drugs to numb the pain and perhaps deal with the success she’s known ever since she came on the music scene in 1975.

Since then she has been mesmerizing audiences with bluesy ballads, scat-singing jazz like her idol Ella Fitzgerald, and performing signature her hits that include “Mr. Melody,” “Inseparable,” “Our Love,” and “I’ve Got Love On My Mind,” as well as “Unforgettable,” the duet she sings (thanks to film and audio splicing) with her father, and the finger-snapping, toe-tapping, tongue-twisting, “This Will Be” (An Everlasting Love) co-written by Natalie’s ex-husband Marvin Yancy, who died of a heart attack in 1985 at the age of 34.

Phoebe Snow: Soulful Sound R.I.P.

By Marsala

Singer, composer Phoebe Snow died today, April 26, 2011, at the age of 60 from a brain hemorrhage she suffered on January 21, 2010. When I heard the news, I realized that even though the Rolling Stone had called her voice a “natural wonder” back in the 1970s, I’d never really followed her music, nor appreciated what an amazing artist she was.

After more than 35 years, the only tidbit of information I had tucked away in my brain about her was that she had a child who’d been born severely brain-damaged.

In researching her life I was enormously touched by the heartache and disappointment, the resilience and courage that filled Phoebe Snow’s life.

Olivia Newton-John: You Can’t Help but Honestly Love Her

By Marsala

A lot of A-list celebrities hail from Down Under, including Simon Baker, Cate Blanchette, Toni Collette, Russell Crowe, Portia de Rossi, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Miranda Kerr, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Elle Macpherson, Geoffrey Rush, Keith Urban, Naomi Watts, and Sam Worthington.

But none are more beloved by fellow-Australians than Olivia Newton-John, the first Aussie to capture American hearts with hit songs like “I Honestly Love You” (1974) and “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975).

In 1978 Olivia was catapulted into super-stardom when she appeared in Grease as Sandy Olsson, the goody-two-shoes-girl-next-door who trades in her wholesome “Sandra Dee” image for some skin-tight, black spandex pants, red peep-toe high-heeled sandals, an off-the-shoulder top, teased hair, and horror-of-horrors, a cigarette, in order to win the heart of the leader of the T-Bird gang, Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta.

Bret Michaels: A Walking Miracle

By Marsala

I make no apologies. I enjoy watching NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice! There’s a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned as 14 well-known and not-as-well-known celebrities split into two teams and perform various challenging tasks that usually involve the show’s corporate sponsors.

Over the course of six seasons of The Apprentice and three seasons of Celebrity Apprentice there have been more than 100 tasks that required the participants to create marketing campaigns and advertorials, compose songs and jingles, write and perform in commercials and videos, design comic books, put together live charity auctions and VIP events, set up storefronts, create 3-D experiences, and sell various wares on the street and on QVC.

Watching the show is like auditing college-level crash courses in business management, advertising, marketing, sales, script writing, video editing, production, etc. If you pay attention and don’t skip an episode you could earn an honorary television doctorate.

Wynonna: A Portrait in Healing

By Marsala

The first in a six-part series called The Judds aired last night on Oprah’s OWN network. It was filmed as Wynonna and Naomi prepared for their 2010 “Last Encore” tour, the first they would perform together in ten years.

As I watched the show, I was struck by both women’s honesty, openness, and willingness to be vulnerable with each other especially knowing that millions of people would be watching. It’s impressive anytime anyone is willing to let go of their ego, but in Wynonna and Naomi’s case, it is extraordinary, because when you are famous it’s even more difficult to give up the facade.

I had my own personal experience with Wynonna back in January 2006 when I interviewed her for my monthly celebrity column called “Up Close and Personal” in Luxury Las Vegas Magazine. She blew me away then just as she did last night. She touches my heart in a very profound way. Here is my recollection of that experience and excerpts from that interview: