http://www.jasonrubacky.com/
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
#GetSome
This is THE original #GetSome logo aka 'slug" pressed 5 times nice and fresh on THE finest quality Turquoise tee with a Fluorescent Green stroke.
http://www.jasonrubacky.com/
http://www.jasonrubacky.com/
#GetSome
This #GetSome tee is for all of my graffiti heads. Show some love by rocking this "Fresh to def" slate tee with the ill bubble lettering and the classic black & white scale picture of the "worlds finest" Montana 94.
Shout out to my guy JASON RUBACKY!
Shout out to my guy JASON RUBACKY!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthaday TO MY WIFE ALI28.
xoxoxox
XOXOXOXO
Thanks for everything and all the LOVE and SUPPORT!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
RIP Amy Winehouse!
Amy Winehouse Dead: Russell Brand Calls Winehouse 'Genius'
Troubled singer Amy Winehouse’s death was simply a matter of time, her heartbroken mother said Saturday.
The soulful British singer-songwriter, who won five Grammys in 2008 at the age of 24, lived life on the edge of a cliff downing alcohol like water and taking destructive drugs like heroin, cocaine, and ecstasy.
Her mother, Janis Winehouse, told the U.K.’s Sunday Mirror that her 27-year-old daughter’s death had been “only a matter of time.” Winehouse was found dead in her apartment on Saturday by her bodyguard and was pronounced dead when the ambulance crew and police arrived.
“She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn’t hit me,” said the elder Winehouse, who was with her late daughter the day before she died.
Amy Winehouse had reportedly told her mother the day before she died, “I love you mum.”
“They are the words I will always treasure,” said Winehouse. “I’m glad I saw her when I did.”
Although Winehouse has a long history of alcohol and drug abuse, she was beloved by fellow musicians and fans for her enormous talent. Winehouse is considered one of the most important musicians on the pop scene this millennium, introducing a jazzy retro-soul sound to the genre.
Her game-changing album, Back to Black, in 2006 included the award-winning single “Rehab” that was named by Time magazine as the Best Song of 2007 and by Rolling Stone as the eighth-best song of the 2000s.
Notably, the lyrics to her song “Rehab,” which nabbed her three of her five Grammys, are sadly similar to her own life’s story. The lyrics include the lines:
“They tried to make me go to rehab but I said ‘no, no, no’/Yes I’ve been black but when I come back you’ll know, know, know/I ain’t got the time and if my daddy thinks I’m fine/ He’s tried to make me go to rehab but I won’t go, go, go”
Winehouse had unsuccessfully tried to kick her alcohol and drug addictions by going to treatment facilities several time, with the latest being in May when she entered The Priory clinic in southwest London.
The official cause of Winehouse’s death is still unknown, but friends say that she had been binge drinking and taking ecstasy pills in the days prior to her sudden death.
Condolences from celebrity friends and admirers of the talented but troubled singer have poured in.
Lady Gaga posted on Twitter: “RIP to the amazing #amywinehouse. Such a talented singer.”
Usher tweeted: “I’m so sad to hear the horrible news of Amy Winehouse’s death. I’m so happy I knew you Amy… Rest Well. Gone Too Soon … we’ll miss you!!”
And American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson said, “I’m incredibly sad. I didn’t know her but I met her a few times and got to hear her sing before she blew up. She was a beautiful and talented girl. I’m angry. What a waste of a gifted person.”
Country star LeAnn Rimes wrote, “Sometimes people’s demons are too hard to fight. I can only imagine her pain. What I imagine that torture is like makes me hurt.”
Fellow British stars Sir Elton John said, “She was one of the most seminal artists this country has ever produced,” while supermodel Kate Moss tweeted, “RIP Amy Winehouse, So upset, my heart goes out to her, sad to see such talent vanish from the world.”
Lily Allen said, “It’s just beyond sad, there’s nothing else to say. She was such a lost soul, may she rest in peace.”
While British comedian and actor Russell Brand, who is also a former drug addict, posted a tribute to Winehouse on www.russellbrand.tv : “Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened”
And legendary crooner Tony Bennett paid a touching tribute to Winehouse, who he recorded the song “Body and Soul” with.
“She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end,” said Bennett to US Weekly.
“When we recorded together, she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance,” he said. “I was honored to have the opportunity to sing with her.”
“It had been my sincere hope that she would be able to overcome the issues she was battling and I send my deepest sympathy to her father Mitchell, her entire family and all of those who loved her,” Bennett said.
Even the wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown mourned Winehouse’s death. Sarah Brown tweeted, “Sad, sad news on Amy Winehouse – great talent, extraordinary voice, and tragic death, condolences to her family.”
Many have noted that Winehouse is now part of the “27 Club,” made up of undeniably talented musicians whose drug and alcohol addictions led to their untimely death at age 27. “27 Club” members include Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones, The Doors’ Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.
Dozens of flower bouquets have been left outside Winehouse’s home in Camden, England, according to the BBC.
Monday, June 20, 2011
'Jackass' star Ryan Dunn dies in fiery Pa. crash
'Jackass' star Ryan Dunn dies in fiery Pa. crash
"Jackass" star Ryan Dunn, who along with his castmates made Americans cringe and snicker through vulgar stunts in their multimillion-dollar TV and movie franchise, was killed early Monday in a fiery car crash. He was 34.
Dunn, a daredevil whose most famous skits included diving into a sewage tank and shoving a toy car into his rectum, was driving his 2007 Porsche in suburban Philadelphia when it went off the road into the woods and burst into flames. A passenger was also killed, and speed may have been a factor in the crash, West Goshen Township police said.
Dunn appeared on MTV shows "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" and the three "Jackass" big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, "Homewrecker," and hosted "Proving Ground" on the G4 cable network.
His longtime friend and fellow "Jackass" daredevil Johnny Knoxville tweeted on Monday afternoon, "Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy."
Dunn also starred in the yet-to-be-released film "Living Will." The film's website describes Dunn's character as a "party bum slacker (who) returns from the dead as a mischievous and perverted ghost."
In a statement, MTV praised Dunn's tireless humor and enthusiasm and said he would be sorely missed.
"We are devastated by the tragic loss of Ryan Dunn — a beloved member of the MTV family for more than a decade," said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Films Group. "The Jackass brotherhood will never be the same."
Dunn was born in Ohio and moved at age 15 to Pennsylvania, where he met Bam Margera on his first day of high school, according to a biography posted on his website.
Dunn, Margera, Christopher Raab (known as Raab Himself) and Brandon DiCamillo, under the moniker CKY for "Camp Kill Yourself," started making videos that featured them skateboarding and performing stunts.
Dunn was working as a welder and at a gas station when Knoxville, a friend of Margera's through the skateboarding circuit, asked the crew to allow their videos to be part of the series "Jackass," which became a hit on MTV and ran from 2000 to 2002.
Perhaps his most famous stunt, in 2002's "Jackass: The Movie," involved inserting a toy car into his rectum and going to an emergency room, where he made up a story that he was in mysterious pain after passing out at a fraternity party. Dunn's X-ray from the hospital became a popular T-shirt with "Jackass" fans.
In a 2000 stunt, he dived into a tank at a raw sewage plant wearing flippers, a mask and a snorkel.
A few hours before the 3 a.m. crash, Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking with two friends. The photo has since been removed.
The passenger who died with Dunn has not yet been identified.
"Jackass" star Ryan Dunn, who along with his castmates made Americans cringe and snicker through vulgar stunts in their multimillion-dollar TV and movie franchise, was killed early Monday in a fiery car crash. He was 34.
Dunn, a daredevil whose most famous skits included diving into a sewage tank and shoving a toy car into his rectum, was driving his 2007 Porsche in suburban Philadelphia when it went off the road into the woods and burst into flames. A passenger was also killed, and speed may have been a factor in the crash, West Goshen Township police said.
Dunn appeared on MTV shows "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" and the three "Jackass" big-screen adaptations. He also was the star of his own MTV show, "Homewrecker," and hosted "Proving Ground" on the G4 cable network.
His longtime friend and fellow "Jackass" daredevil Johnny Knoxville tweeted on Monday afternoon, "Today I lost my brother Ryan Dunn. My heart goes out to his family and his beloved Angie. RIP Ryan, I love you buddy."
Dunn also starred in the yet-to-be-released film "Living Will." The film's website describes Dunn's character as a "party bum slacker (who) returns from the dead as a mischievous and perverted ghost."
In a statement, MTV praised Dunn's tireless humor and enthusiasm and said he would be sorely missed.
"We are devastated by the tragic loss of Ryan Dunn — a beloved member of the MTV family for more than a decade," said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Films Group. "The Jackass brotherhood will never be the same."
Dunn was born in Ohio and moved at age 15 to Pennsylvania, where he met Bam Margera on his first day of high school, according to a biography posted on his website.
Dunn, Margera, Christopher Raab (known as Raab Himself) and Brandon DiCamillo, under the moniker CKY for "Camp Kill Yourself," started making videos that featured them skateboarding and performing stunts.
Dunn was working as a welder and at a gas station when Knoxville, a friend of Margera's through the skateboarding circuit, asked the crew to allow their videos to be part of the series "Jackass," which became a hit on MTV and ran from 2000 to 2002.
Perhaps his most famous stunt, in 2002's "Jackass: The Movie," involved inserting a toy car into his rectum and going to an emergency room, where he made up a story that he was in mysterious pain after passing out at a fraternity party. Dunn's X-ray from the hospital became a popular T-shirt with "Jackass" fans.
In a 2000 stunt, he dived into a tank at a raw sewage plant wearing flippers, a mask and a snorkel.
A few hours before the 3 a.m. crash, Dunn tweeted a picture of himself drinking with two friends. The photo has since been removed.
The passenger who died with Dunn has not yet been identified.
Private eye tells homeless man of inheritance
Private eye tells homeless man of inheritance
Sat Jun 18, 8:33 pm ET
SALT LAKE CITY – A private investigator says he has tracked down a homeless Utah man and delivered some good news: He's inherited a lot of money.
David Lundberg said he found Max Melitzer pushing a shopping cart filled with personal possessions in a Salt Lake City park Saturday afternoon.
Lundberg declined to disclose how much money Melitzer will be receiving, but said the man's brother who died of cancer last year left him a "significant" amount in his will.
"He'll no longer be living on the street or in abandoned storage sheds," he told The Associated Press. "He'll be able to have a normal life, and be able to have a home, provide for himself, and purchase clothing, food and health care."
The story about Lundberg's two-month search for Lundberg has been reported by the Deseret News and KSL of Salt Lake City.
Lundberg said he was hired by the family's New York law firm to locate Melitzer, and some family members plan to meet Melitzer next week in Salt Lake City. He declined to identify them.
Melitzer's family wishes to remain private, and lawyers are deferring questions to Lundberg.
The investigator said he broke the news to Melitzer while they were sitting on a bench at Pioneer Park. While Lundberg said he didn't tell Melitzer how much money he was inheriting, the man was excited.
"He's still in shock. This came out of nowhere," Lundberg said. "He's a really mellow guy in his 60s, very sweet and more articulate than I thought for a man in his position."
Melitzer has been homeless for years and last had mail correspondence with his family in September. But when family members gave him a number to phone, he never called.
Don Hill, house manager at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, told Lundberg on Friday that he had seen Melitzer near the facility two days earlier.
Hill said he has known the homeless man for four years, and Melitzer stayed at places like the Rescue Mission when he's not roaming between Salt Lake City and Ogden.
"During the summer, I'd imagine, once in a while he'll stay out nights — outside," Hill told the Deseret News.
Earlier this month, a police officer found Melitzer sleeping in a car in an Ogden salvage yard.
Lundberg said Melitzer was taken Saturday to an undisclosed location in Salt Lake City and doesn't want to talk to the media right now. But Lundberg said he would talk to family members about possibly holding a news conference next week.
The investigator said he found Melitzer with the help of a tip. He received about 60 or 70 such calls after news about his search went out Friday.
"Someone called today (Saturday) and said they saw him at Pioneer Park. I thought it was another crazy tip, but sure enough, there he was," Lundberg said.
www.yahoo.com
Sat Jun 18, 8:33 pm ET
SALT LAKE CITY – A private investigator says he has tracked down a homeless Utah man and delivered some good news: He's inherited a lot of money.
David Lundberg said he found Max Melitzer pushing a shopping cart filled with personal possessions in a Salt Lake City park Saturday afternoon.
Lundberg declined to disclose how much money Melitzer will be receiving, but said the man's brother who died of cancer last year left him a "significant" amount in his will.
"He'll no longer be living on the street or in abandoned storage sheds," he told The Associated Press. "He'll be able to have a normal life, and be able to have a home, provide for himself, and purchase clothing, food and health care."
The story about Lundberg's two-month search for Lundberg has been reported by the Deseret News and KSL of Salt Lake City.
Lundberg said he was hired by the family's New York law firm to locate Melitzer, and some family members plan to meet Melitzer next week in Salt Lake City. He declined to identify them.
Melitzer's family wishes to remain private, and lawyers are deferring questions to Lundberg.
The investigator said he broke the news to Melitzer while they were sitting on a bench at Pioneer Park. While Lundberg said he didn't tell Melitzer how much money he was inheriting, the man was excited.
"He's still in shock. This came out of nowhere," Lundberg said. "He's a really mellow guy in his 60s, very sweet and more articulate than I thought for a man in his position."
Melitzer has been homeless for years and last had mail correspondence with his family in September. But when family members gave him a number to phone, he never called.
Don Hill, house manager at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, told Lundberg on Friday that he had seen Melitzer near the facility two days earlier.
Hill said he has known the homeless man for four years, and Melitzer stayed at places like the Rescue Mission when he's not roaming between Salt Lake City and Ogden.
"During the summer, I'd imagine, once in a while he'll stay out nights — outside," Hill told the Deseret News.
Earlier this month, a police officer found Melitzer sleeping in a car in an Ogden salvage yard.
Lundberg said Melitzer was taken Saturday to an undisclosed location in Salt Lake City and doesn't want to talk to the media right now. But Lundberg said he would talk to family members about possibly holding a news conference next week.
The investigator said he found Melitzer with the help of a tip. He received about 60 or 70 such calls after news about his search went out Friday.
"Someone called today (Saturday) and said they saw him at Pioneer Park. I thought it was another crazy tip, but sure enough, there he was," Lundberg said.
www.yahoo.com
Friday, June 17, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Keath Sodapop
Interview with Phor CMK
By: Matt Garcia
Question 1: were do you find your inspiration for your pieces.
Question2:who inspired you to do graffiti and how Long have you been doing it for?
Question3: how do you feel about the Chicago being under ranked in the graffiti game.
Question4: have you ever had any near death experience?
1. I find inspiration from many different things and different people. My Wife and child are big factors in the fuel that keeps me going. Inspiration comes to me in many forms thou and I always keep a leveled and open mind about life. People can be mean to you and cause a good reaction in the turn out by ignoring the negative and focus on the positive. A piece of art by another artist or a song you have never heard before. Maybe not have caught certain lyrics in a song before then finally hearing them can cause inspiration. I just take inspiration and run with it as far as I could. I have been sent to earth to give myself to others through art and visually spread righteous faith to all.
2. I covered the part of inspiration and that has been then case since I can remember. My friends I grew up with that were older than me are the ones that got me into graffiti art. A friend name “Phybs” is the one that really taught me about the culture and started helping me get involved and showed me important knowledge to get started. After that I was on a rampage to become very good and very well rounded. I was at the age of 10 when this all went down in time. By the age of 12 and 13 I was infected by the culture. That’s all I wanted to be was a good graffiti artist and spread the knowledge how it was passed down to me.
3. I don’t know about being under ranked, but it is a sleep on city. More and more writers are visiting from out of state more lately. I think the problem or the ranking is coming from the local’s when the rest of the country and world I hear different. It is a swell city to operate out of I believe. Don’t get me wrong I get sick of the city when I get into a mood too, but I love Chicago and I love the Chicago graffiti scene. We could be a little more united about ourselves here in the city, but just like baseball the city tends to take side’s and never really accepts each fully. There is no unity really and that needs to be seen more.
4. Yes. Many of times I have encounter near death experiences. Nothing that really stands out in my mind but numerous little things, like falling through a roof half way, chases (Human and animal) both, police, etc. Graffiti has taught me to learn from mistakes fast and to become more cautious in life always.
By: Matt Garcia
Question 1: were do you find your inspiration for your pieces.
Question2:who inspired you to do graffiti and how Long have you been doing it for?
Question3: how do you feel about the Chicago being under ranked in the graffiti game.
Question4: have you ever had any near death experience?
1. I find inspiration from many different things and different people. My Wife and child are big factors in the fuel that keeps me going. Inspiration comes to me in many forms thou and I always keep a leveled and open mind about life. People can be mean to you and cause a good reaction in the turn out by ignoring the negative and focus on the positive. A piece of art by another artist or a song you have never heard before. Maybe not have caught certain lyrics in a song before then finally hearing them can cause inspiration. I just take inspiration and run with it as far as I could. I have been sent to earth to give myself to others through art and visually spread righteous faith to all.
2. I covered the part of inspiration and that has been then case since I can remember. My friends I grew up with that were older than me are the ones that got me into graffiti art. A friend name “Phybs” is the one that really taught me about the culture and started helping me get involved and showed me important knowledge to get started. After that I was on a rampage to become very good and very well rounded. I was at the age of 10 when this all went down in time. By the age of 12 and 13 I was infected by the culture. That’s all I wanted to be was a good graffiti artist and spread the knowledge how it was passed down to me.
3. I don’t know about being under ranked, but it is a sleep on city. More and more writers are visiting from out of state more lately. I think the problem or the ranking is coming from the local’s when the rest of the country and world I hear different. It is a swell city to operate out of I believe. Don’t get me wrong I get sick of the city when I get into a mood too, but I love Chicago and I love the Chicago graffiti scene. We could be a little more united about ourselves here in the city, but just like baseball the city tends to take side’s and never really accepts each fully. There is no unity really and that needs to be seen more.
4. Yes. Many of times I have encounter near death experiences. Nothing that really stands out in my mind but numerous little things, like falling through a roof half way, chases (Human and animal) both, police, etc. Graffiti has taught me to learn from mistakes fast and to become more cautious in life always.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
RIP Macho MAN Randy Savage
Savage a wrestling legend in ring and out
Randy “Macho Man” Savage, a pro wrestling icon whose fame reached far past the wrestling ring as a television pitchman with the phrase, “Snap into a Slim Jim, oooh yeah,” died on Friday morning in Pinellas County, Fla., after reportedly suffering a heart attack while driving, leading to an auto accident.
Savage, born Randall Mario Poffo, was 58. While perhaps best known for his pro wrestling battles as Hulk Hogan’s major storyline rival in the late 1980s, Savage was also an actor and a one-time major league baseball prospect.
Lanny Poffo, his brother and also a former pro wrestler under the handle “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, told TMZ.com that Savage suffered a heart attack behind the wheel while driving a 2009 Jeep Wrangler.
The Seminole fire department responded to the scene to provide medical care, and he was transported to Largo Memorial Hospital, where he died at 9:25 a.m. The incident remains under investigation and an autopsy will be performed over the weekend.
Savage’s wife, Barbara Lynn Poffo, who he had known from his days as a minor league baseball player in Florida, long before he met his famous first wife, Elizabeth Hulette, was also in the car. She suffered minor injuries.
Savage was best known in wrestling for a storyline that serves as a fond childhood memory to this day for wrestling fans, both lapsed and current.
It was a one-year plot which started at WrestleMania IV in 1988, in Atlantic City, N.J., when Hogan, who was taking time off wrestling for a movie role in real life, helped Savage “win” the finals of a tournament for the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) championship, beating “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
During the postmatch celebration, Savage gave Hogan a glare as Hogan was celebrating too closely with “The Lovely Elizabeth,” Savage’s real-life wife. The WWF teased tension between the two, who remained tag-team partners, throughout 1988 and into the following year.
It climaxed on a live NBC prime time TV special on Feb. 3, 1989, as Savage exploded with jealousy on a live NBC special and blamed Hogan for accidentally “injuring” Elizabeth, leading to the end of the team and a full-on rivalry in which Elizabeth sided with Hogan. The match drew a 9.7 Nielsen rating.
By Dave Meltzer
This led to an encounter at WrestleMania V, on April 2, 1989, also in Atlantic City, where Hogan defeated Savage and won the championship. At the time, it was the biggest pay-per-view wrestling event ever, doing more than 760,000 buys, a record that would stand until 2000, with the onset of the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson era.
While Hulette and Savage had been married since 1984, a year before Savage joined the WWF, in 1991, the WWF promoted a storyline reconciliation between the two moments after Savage had lost a “retirement” match to “The Ultimate Warrior” at WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles. A storyline wedding between the two was held on PPV in Madison Square Garden a few months later.
But shortly after that mock wedding, the couple separated in real life and Elizabeth left the wrestling business for many years. They officially divorced in late 1992.
Hulette died on May 1, 2003, at the age of 42, while living in an Atlanta suburb with wrestling star Larry “Lex Luger” Pfohl, of an accidental overdose from a combination of drugs.
Savage’s other most famous match during wrestling’s 1980s golden era was on March 29, 1987, at WrestleMania III, before a then-pro wrestling record crowd of 78,000 at the Pontiac, Mich., Silverdome. While Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was the main event, Savage’s match with Ricky Steamboat over the Intercontinental title was generally considered the best WWF match of that era, a fast-paced, back-and-forth battle won by Steamboat.
Related: Randy Savage’s career highlights]
From the late 1970s until the early ’90s, Savage was considered one of the great in-ring workers in the business. In his prime, he was a quick and fearless daredevil known for his intensity, which bordered on scary at times. His unique interviews were among the most recognizable in the industry, imitated by people in and out of wrestling to this day.
However, his national fame didn’t come until 1985 with WWF because his family ran a renegade wrestling promotion based out of Kentucky and were unofficially blacklisted from the mainstream of the industry for several years.
“I remember in 1980 when we were talking about new talent in St. Louis, and [promoter] Pat O’Connor told me, the best young talent in the business is Randy Savage, but we can’t use him,” remembered Larry Matysik, a longtime wrestling announcer and promoter out of St. Louis. Savage and his family sued the then-dominant National Wrestling Alliance at one point, claiming restraint of trade, but the case never went to trial as many of the key witnesses on the Poffo family side were hired away by NWA promoters.
In his early 40s, Savage was being phased out of in-ring competition by WWF promoter Vince McMahon Jr., and in 1994, he signed with rival World Championship Wrestling, following the lead of Hogan, who had signed there a few months earlier.
He was back in the ring as one of the major stars in that organization through 1999, including a period from the spring of 1996 through the spring of 1998 when it was the wrestling business’ leading promotion. By that point Savage had suffered a number of serious injuries from his years of high-flying, physical wrestling style. When his contract expired and the company, bleeding money by that time, didn’t offer him similar money for a new deal, he opted to leave the company.
Savage was intense and driven in everything he did. He played minor league baseball from 1971-74 in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He wrestled during the offseason, often under a mask to hide his identity from his baseball employers, but sometimes under his real name, as part of a family unit with his father, Angelo, and brother Lanny.
An outfielder, after he blew out his right shoulder, making him unable to throw with any force, he taught himself to throw left-handed in an attempt to continue his career.
“I saw his tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971,” remembered Matysik. “Man, he could hit. He was a little squirt, I don’t think he was more than 165 pounds at the time.”
He batted .232 with nine home runs and 66 RBIs in his final season of pro ball, with Tampa of the Class-A Florida State League, before turning his attention full time to wrestling.
Savage also appeared as an actor in a number of television shows, often playing himself. His best known role, of course, was as the legendary Slim Jim pitchman, but he also played the role of wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in the 2002 “Spider-Man” movie.
World Wrestling Entertainment released an official statement on Friday afternoon.
“WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of one of the greatest superstars of his time, Randy Poffo, aka Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental championships. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn. Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and his fans.”
The end of Savage’s wrestling career was unique. He was scheduled to appear in the main event of a pay-per-view show put on by the group Total Nonstop Action on January 16, 2005, against Jeff Jarrett.
“I hadn’t seen him since the TNA show,” remembered Dusty Rhodes, one of wrestling’s biggest stars of the 1970s and 1980s, who had done a WrestleMania match with Savage almost 15 years earlier. “The last words he said to me, five minutes before the PPV, was, ‘I can’t do this. I don’t want people to see me looking like this.’ Jerry [Jarrett, a TNA company co-owner] called [event producer] Keith Mitchell in, and I said, ‘Change the main event. I said to him, ‘Randy, just go home. It’s okay with me.’ That’s the last words he said to me.” Rhodes, who lived a 20-minute drive from Savage, never saw him again, and compared Savage of the past five years to notorious recluse Howard Hughes.
“I could see it in his eyes … he just didn’t want to do it,” said Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil Runnels. “Obviously, he was financially set. Out of all of us from that era, [Ric] Flair, Hogan, Andre, myself, how many of us walked away. One.”
For more on the death of Randy Savage, go to The Wrestling Observer online.
Keath Sodapop
Randy “Macho Man” Savage, a pro wrestling icon whose fame reached far past the wrestling ring as a television pitchman with the phrase, “Snap into a Slim Jim, oooh yeah,” died on Friday morning in Pinellas County, Fla., after reportedly suffering a heart attack while driving, leading to an auto accident.
Savage, born Randall Mario Poffo, was 58. While perhaps best known for his pro wrestling battles as Hulk Hogan’s major storyline rival in the late 1980s, Savage was also an actor and a one-time major league baseball prospect.
Lanny Poffo, his brother and also a former pro wrestler under the handle “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, told TMZ.com that Savage suffered a heart attack behind the wheel while driving a 2009 Jeep Wrangler.
The Seminole fire department responded to the scene to provide medical care, and he was transported to Largo Memorial Hospital, where he died at 9:25 a.m. The incident remains under investigation and an autopsy will be performed over the weekend.
Savage’s wife, Barbara Lynn Poffo, who he had known from his days as a minor league baseball player in Florida, long before he met his famous first wife, Elizabeth Hulette, was also in the car. She suffered minor injuries.
Savage was best known in wrestling for a storyline that serves as a fond childhood memory to this day for wrestling fans, both lapsed and current.
It was a one-year plot which started at WrestleMania IV in 1988, in Atlantic City, N.J., when Hogan, who was taking time off wrestling for a movie role in real life, helped Savage “win” the finals of a tournament for the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) championship, beating “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
During the postmatch celebration, Savage gave Hogan a glare as Hogan was celebrating too closely with “The Lovely Elizabeth,” Savage’s real-life wife. The WWF teased tension between the two, who remained tag-team partners, throughout 1988 and into the following year.
It climaxed on a live NBC prime time TV special on Feb. 3, 1989, as Savage exploded with jealousy on a live NBC special and blamed Hogan for accidentally “injuring” Elizabeth, leading to the end of the team and a full-on rivalry in which Elizabeth sided with Hogan. The match drew a 9.7 Nielsen rating.
By Dave Meltzer
This led to an encounter at WrestleMania V, on April 2, 1989, also in Atlantic City, where Hogan defeated Savage and won the championship. At the time, it was the biggest pay-per-view wrestling event ever, doing more than 760,000 buys, a record that would stand until 2000, with the onset of the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson era.
While Hulette and Savage had been married since 1984, a year before Savage joined the WWF, in 1991, the WWF promoted a storyline reconciliation between the two moments after Savage had lost a “retirement” match to “The Ultimate Warrior” at WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles. A storyline wedding between the two was held on PPV in Madison Square Garden a few months later.
But shortly after that mock wedding, the couple separated in real life and Elizabeth left the wrestling business for many years. They officially divorced in late 1992.
Hulette died on May 1, 2003, at the age of 42, while living in an Atlanta suburb with wrestling star Larry “Lex Luger” Pfohl, of an accidental overdose from a combination of drugs.
Savage’s other most famous match during wrestling’s 1980s golden era was on March 29, 1987, at WrestleMania III, before a then-pro wrestling record crowd of 78,000 at the Pontiac, Mich., Silverdome. While Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was the main event, Savage’s match with Ricky Steamboat over the Intercontinental title was generally considered the best WWF match of that era, a fast-paced, back-and-forth battle won by Steamboat.
Related: Randy Savage’s career highlights]
From the late 1970s until the early ’90s, Savage was considered one of the great in-ring workers in the business. In his prime, he was a quick and fearless daredevil known for his intensity, which bordered on scary at times. His unique interviews were among the most recognizable in the industry, imitated by people in and out of wrestling to this day.
However, his national fame didn’t come until 1985 with WWF because his family ran a renegade wrestling promotion based out of Kentucky and were unofficially blacklisted from the mainstream of the industry for several years.
“I remember in 1980 when we were talking about new talent in St. Louis, and [promoter] Pat O’Connor told me, the best young talent in the business is Randy Savage, but we can’t use him,” remembered Larry Matysik, a longtime wrestling announcer and promoter out of St. Louis. Savage and his family sued the then-dominant National Wrestling Alliance at one point, claiming restraint of trade, but the case never went to trial as many of the key witnesses on the Poffo family side were hired away by NWA promoters.
In his early 40s, Savage was being phased out of in-ring competition by WWF promoter Vince McMahon Jr., and in 1994, he signed with rival World Championship Wrestling, following the lead of Hogan, who had signed there a few months earlier.
He was back in the ring as one of the major stars in that organization through 1999, including a period from the spring of 1996 through the spring of 1998 when it was the wrestling business’ leading promotion. By that point Savage had suffered a number of serious injuries from his years of high-flying, physical wrestling style. When his contract expired and the company, bleeding money by that time, didn’t offer him similar money for a new deal, he opted to leave the company.
Savage was intense and driven in everything he did. He played minor league baseball from 1971-74 in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He wrestled during the offseason, often under a mask to hide his identity from his baseball employers, but sometimes under his real name, as part of a family unit with his father, Angelo, and brother Lanny.
An outfielder, after he blew out his right shoulder, making him unable to throw with any force, he taught himself to throw left-handed in an attempt to continue his career.
“I saw his tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971,” remembered Matysik. “Man, he could hit. He was a little squirt, I don’t think he was more than 165 pounds at the time.”
He batted .232 with nine home runs and 66 RBIs in his final season of pro ball, with Tampa of the Class-A Florida State League, before turning his attention full time to wrestling.
Savage also appeared as an actor in a number of television shows, often playing himself. His best known role, of course, was as the legendary Slim Jim pitchman, but he also played the role of wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in the 2002 “Spider-Man” movie.
World Wrestling Entertainment released an official statement on Friday afternoon.
“WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of one of the greatest superstars of his time, Randy Poffo, aka Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental championships. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn. Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and his fans.”
The end of Savage’s wrestling career was unique. He was scheduled to appear in the main event of a pay-per-view show put on by the group Total Nonstop Action on January 16, 2005, against Jeff Jarrett.
“I hadn’t seen him since the TNA show,” remembered Dusty Rhodes, one of wrestling’s biggest stars of the 1970s and 1980s, who had done a WrestleMania match with Savage almost 15 years earlier. “The last words he said to me, five minutes before the PPV, was, ‘I can’t do this. I don’t want people to see me looking like this.’ Jerry [Jarrett, a TNA company co-owner] called [event producer] Keith Mitchell in, and I said, ‘Change the main event. I said to him, ‘Randy, just go home. It’s okay with me.’ That’s the last words he said to me.” Rhodes, who lived a 20-minute drive from Savage, never saw him again, and compared Savage of the past five years to notorious recluse Howard Hughes.
“I could see it in his eyes … he just didn’t want to do it,” said Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil Runnels. “Obviously, he was financially set. Out of all of us from that era, [Ric] Flair, Hogan, Andre, myself, how many of us walked away. One.”
For more on the death of Randy Savage, go to The Wrestling Observer online.
Keath Sodapop
Monday, April 25, 2011
Notes from Ali One 28
Ok and I love you and will continue to do so and put down all i have for my family. I just want to make sure u want it too. I am never going anywhere and want happiness and love for us. I understand a man needs to be a man and a women needs to be a mother. So that's what you need to understand I came from a great family and a great mother so I want my daughter to have the best in life and that includes you her father. As long as we provide all that's right then we are all good. God handles the rest phor.
Xoxo Ali
Xoxo Ali
Notes from Ali One 28
Hey phor, my wonderful everlasting husband. I love you with all my heart and want more painting, family fun and vacations for us. I know we do need some more money to get us in a better place but as long as we are together building on our blueprint than god will have us covered. With love and trying to build my trust up with you than we both have to put in work and do our best to take care of each other. Your the only one I want in my life. As long as you are putting us down on everything then I will do the same like I have been for u me and most importantly ARI. All my heart belongs to you and her only. Past present and definitly future
Xoxoxo Ali
Xoxoxo Ali
Thursday, April 14, 2011
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