When Stroke Inspires Hyper Creativity

This is not a soupy journey into the mind. It is a story about people whose brains were jolted and re-engineered by psychic trauma, leaving them with curious new talents.

"Line after line, all the time it was in rhyme," McHugh said. "Cup of tea, just for me, nice and sweetened, just be neat."

Eventually, his then-wife Jan McHugh handed him a sketch pad.

"And he'd filled a page with these little alien heads," she said. "There was hundreds on the page and every one of them had a different expression."

An Unwelcome Change

The old Tommy McHugh was no creative person or poet. Early in his liveliness, he was wild and hot-tempered. He got in trouble for fighting, stealing and diacetylmorphine addiction.

When he suffered a stroke at 51, it was as if this man world Health Organization once had been processed in and out of prisons had now been processed into a new existence and doctors were no serve in attempting to explicate it.

"It was just unspeakable," Jan McHugh said. "And I was constantly on the earpiece to people, trying to get help. Or an understanding of what was going on. I thought he was ... going insane."

Tommy McHugh was convinced that he had two brains and he confronted his wife by claiming to be Vincent Van Gogh.

"At this point I was getting really scared," she said. "And he aforesaid, 'You just don't know me at all.' And I thought, well, I don't. I don't know you at all, really."

The partner off eventually divorced, but remain friends.

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Kenny Rogers releases exclusive hits collection

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Seventy-year-old whiz Kenny Rogers is celebrating 50 age in the music business and has invited Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores along for the play.

Sold exclusively at Cracker Barrel stores and on crackerbarrel.com, "Kenny Rogers: 50 Years" includes some of his biggest hits, including "The Gambler," "Lucille," "Coward of the County," "Lady" and "Islands in the Stream" (with Dolly Parton). There ar also ternary new songs -- "She'll Believe in You," "Something's Wrong in Vegas" and "Only Time Will Tell."

Cracker Barrel, which has released sets by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Alabama, Amy Grant, Ricky Skaggs and Sara Evans, has sold more than 3 meg units of exclusive music since launching its CB Music label in 2003, according to the company.

/Billboard

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Rocker

The Rocker tells the story of a failed drummer wHO is disposed a arcsecond chance at fame. Robert "Fish" Fishman (Rainn Wilson) is the extremely consecrated and astoundingly passionate (not to mention sweaty) drummer for the eighties haircloth band Vesuvius, who is living the rock n' roll dream until he is unceremoniously kicked out of the band. Twenty years subsequently his rock candy star fantasies are destroyed, just when Fish has finally disposed up all hope, he hears that his nephew's high school rock band A.D.D. is looking for a new drummer. They reluctantly work him the newest member of the band, giving him a chance to reclaim the rock God throne he's always thought process he merited, and taking the whitney Moore Young Jr. band along for the ride of their lives.

--� Fox Atomic

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Bonnie Raitt heads into fall

Blues vet Bonnie Raitt [ ] will return to the road this week with a revamped tour agenda that stretches into October.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer will start with an Aug. 9 performance at the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, Nova Scotia, and play around 20 shows in the US and Canada, including a legion of benefit concerts. Two-night stands ar scheduled in Orillia, Ontario; Salt Lake City, UT; and Coquitlam, British Columbia. Dates ar listed infra and benefit details tin be launch at Raitt's website.

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The performer's most recent studio attempt, 2005's "Souls Alike," marked her eighteenth release and her number one time pickings on manufacturer duties. The set debuted at No. 19 on The Billboard 200 and spawned adult-contemporary singles "I Will Not Be Broken" and "I Don't Want Anything to Change."

Raitt recorded the album with the members of her tight-knit touring band, with whom she has worked for more than a decade. The players include bassist Hutch Hutchinson, drummer Ricky Fataar, guitarist/keyboardist George Marinelli and keyboardist Jon Cleary.

"With this band, it's the first or second takes on near all the album," Raitt said in an online bio. "It keeps the kind of spontaneity that makes the music clean and alive."

The

Keane close to completing third album

NEW YORK -- U.K. rock outfit Keane is "nearly done" with its third album, according to a Web posting from pianist Tim Rice-Oxley. No title or release date has been confirmed for the project, but it's likely to appear before year's end via Interscope.
Keane has recorded in Paris and Berlin, with assistance from producer Jon Brion and new bassist/guitarist Jesse Quinn. Among the songs likely to make the cut are "Playing Along," "Black Burning Heart" and "Perfect Symmetry," as well as "a lovely song we're trying to do in a kind of Mercury Rev-type of way," Rice-Oxley said.
Of the latter, he adds, "It's begging to burst into some kind of 'Only Living Boy in New York'-style (background vocal) extravaganza at the end."
Earlier postings referred to "gospel-infused backing vocals," "huge, pounding concert drums and timpanis" and "the grandness of (a) Steinway piano" as enriching the songs.
The new album will be the follow-up to 2006's "Under the Iron Sea," which has sold more than 369,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

John Mayer: Hasn't Dumped Aniston Yet

John Mayer gave Jennifer Aniston a ride last night -- then he took her somewhere in his car.

The two lovebirds were spotted leaving the Beverly Hills Hotel together.






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'Michael Jackson Is Incapable Of Ever Performing Again'

A top promoter in Las Vegas has lambasted reports that Michael Jackson is set for a spectacular comeback in the city, stating that the pop star is incapable of performing ever again.

Speculation that the Thriller singer will be making a triumphant return with a residency in Sin City has been rife since it was discovered an equity group linked to the Las Vegas Hilton helped him save his Neverland Ranch from foreclosure.

Jackson has also been spotted in the Nevada state a number of times recently, leading to further gossip.

However, promoter Jack Wishna, who helped Celine Dion secure her successful stint in Las Vegas, insists Jackson isn't fit enough to return to the stage.

He tells the National Enquirer: "Sadly, Michael's incapable of keeping promises, because he hasn't got the will to even show up anywhere, much less get himself into shape for a world-class performance.

“He might drop by to wave at guests, or do a dance on top of a limo, but a longterm show? That dream will never come true, I'm afraid."

Do you think Michael has it in him to make an amazing comeback? Be sure to leave your comments below.