In the mid-Sixties, “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” was a trans-Atlantic hit that catapulted two American white boys to the top of the Billboard charts and other play-lists around the world. Produced by Phil Spector, the single showcased a remarkable duet of voices – Bill Medley’s bass baritone and Bobby Hatfield’s soaring tenor. The Righteous […]
David Berkowitz: Son of Sam
For an entire year, from late July 1976 to late July 1977, the New York boroughs of the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn were in a high state of anxiety. Young women with long dark hair cut it short, dyed it blonde, or bought wigs to disguise their looks. A serial killer was on the loose, […]
Planetary wars: Russia & Ukraine
For most Vedic astrologers, graha yuddha is an abstract thing. This time it’s different. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the pre-dawn hours of February 24th, the planetary war in the heavens has come to Earth. February and March of 2022 will have seen a highly unusual celestial drama played out. After coming out of […]
Thich Nhat Hanh: spiritual warrior
Thich Nhat Hanh, after a lifetime of service to Buddhism, died recently at age 95. Born 11 October 1926 in central Vietnam, he entered a monastery at age 16, where his primary teacher was a Zen master. He received training in the Vietnamese tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, and was ordained as a Bhikkhu in 1951. […]
Will & Jada: doing it in public
A month ago, a petition began making headway on the website change.org, asking for the media to please stop interviewing Will and Jada Pinkett Smith about their sex life. To date, the site has gathered input from over 23,000 digital signatories, who expressed their collective frustration at the celebrity couple’s tendency to disclose intimate details […]
Elon Musk: Martian mogul
Nature abhors a vacuum, Aristotle is alleged to have said. So, when I realized that one of the world’s wealthiest men did not have a known birth time, I felt compelled to address this void. The multi-billionaire in question is Elon Musk, for whom Astrodienst (astro.com) provides only birth date and place. I won’t burden […]
Leonardo da Vinci: polymath for the ages
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance, a highly-skilled architect, draughtsman, engineer, painter, scientist, sculptor, and theorist. Although he initially acquired fame as a painter, he later became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a wide range of topics, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and […]
Randy Andy and the Dungeon of Crumpet
Although he later became a helicopter pilot, Prince Andrew in his youth was never able to fly below the radar of the British tabloids because he was such an obvious target. Before getting married, he was relentlessly tracked by the paparazzi for the sheer number and diversity of his dates – college girls, actresses, models, […]
Jackie Collins: wild child does Hollywood
Although her sister Joan achieved fame first, Jackie Collins found her own path and ultimately worked her niche as romance novelist to achieve blockbuster status. Along the way, many of her highly popular novels, eg, The Stud, The Bitch, Hollywood Wives, and many more, were made into movies and TV series, for most of which […]
Halston: the birth of urban chic
When the biopic series on American fashion designer Roy Halston appeared on Netflix, it presented the ideal binge-watching experience – urbane, provocative, and poignant but over all too soon – like a wild weekend whose escapades linger on in the memory. Halston was an interesting subject for such a series, being one of the major […]