SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Her show had been canceled, but that didn’t stop alternative folk and rock singer Michelle Shocked from showing up at a Santa Cruz nightclub where she staged a sit-in with tape across her mouth that read “Silenced By Fear.”
Moe’s Alley was one of several nightclubs that canceled Shocked’s gigs after she made what were considered anti-gay comments during a rambling outburst at a show earlier this month.
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On Thursday evening, Moe’s Alley owner Bill Welch had replaced her with two local bands that support gay rights, Beaver Fever and Frootie Flavors.
“We will not be bashing Michelle Shocked,” he said. “Rather, we will celebrate music, diversity and send some healing Santa Cruz energy her way.”
Sitting on the ground outside the venue and strumming her guitar, Shocked was largely ignored and refused to speak. She pointed to a sign inviting people to pick up a Sharpie marker and write on the white disposable safety suit she was wearing.
Earlier this week in an email to The Associated Press and other media, Shocked apologized and said her comments were misinterpreted.
“Of course the fault for that is completely my own, and I cannot and do not blame anyone for defending the gay community,” she wrote.
On Thursday night, she posted signs that read “Does speech scare you that much?” and on her back she had scrawled “Gimme Wit, Not Spit.”
Rapper has had epileptic seizures ‘for years’
NEW YORK – Lil Wayne says he’s an epileptic and has had seizures for years.
In an interview with Los Angeles-based radio station Power 106 on Thursday, the 30-year-old rapper said epilepsy caused his most recent health scare earlier this month when he was rushed to a hospital. Wayne said he had three back-to-back seizures.
The Grammy winner says: “I’ve had a bunch of seizures, y’all just never hear about them.”
Wayne says he “could’ve died” and that the recent seizures were a result of “just plain stress, no rest, overworking myself.”
He released his 10th album, “I Am Not a Human Being II,” this week. He’ll embark on a 40-city tour in July with rappers T.I. and Future.
The New Orleans native is one of the biggest stars in music.
Lopez: I have no interest in talk-show gig
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Amid rumors of another “Tonight” show shake-up, comedian George Lopez says he has no desire to return to the late-night talk show scene.
Lopez said he had a great two-year run as a late-night talk show host. But, he said, “I’m out of that thing.”
“I know all those guys. They’re all good guys, but that’s a tough job. There are a lot of tough jobs in TV. That could be one of the toughest, hosting a show every night,” Lopez said Wednesday.
Lopez’s comments in Sioux Falls before taking the stage for a stand-up show benefiting the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy come after amid fresh turbulence in the late-night talk show business after word leaked last week that “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon will unseat Jay Leno as the new host of NBC’s “Tonight.”
Lopez wound up losing his cable television gig in August 2011 in a trickle-down effect from the last time the “Tonight” seat changed hands.
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