Batman

AP Picks Top 10 'Pop Culture' Moments of 2008

Stories

“Yes We Can”

dowThe Associated Press

NEW YORK–

In any normal year, it would be impossible to discern a coherent theme from a year of American pop culture, try as we journalists might. This year was different.

The presidential campaign seeped into our culture everywhere it could: into our music, our television, our street art, our Internet habits. And it was a symbiotic relationship, for pop culture seeped back into our politics, too. Remember the bizarre moment Paris Hilton and Britney Spears became part of the campaign, courtesy of a John McCain ad likening Barack Obama to a vapid Hollywood celebrity?

Or try this: Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, walking by each other at a fake news conference on “Saturday Night Live,” indistinguishable from each other in matching red blazers and Palin hairdos. Even Fey’s toddler daughter had trouble telling them apart that night.

Now Palin’s back in Alaska, Fey’s back on “30 Rock” and, oh yes, Obama’s on his way to the White House. But they weren’t the only big names in the 2008 pop culture firmament. A chronological journey back:

JANUARY

How can we begin without BRITNEY SPEARS still, amazingly, the most-searched term on Yahoo. A few days into 2008, she melts down spectacularly, ending up in a hospital after locking herself in a room with her young son. We don’t need Dr. Phil to tell us this girl needs help, though he does. Celeb magazines freely diagnose her as bipolar. (But more on Britney later.)

In politics, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON has her first real pop-culture moment of the year when she chokes up talking to voters in a New Hampshire diner, a scene to be replayed endlessly on YouTube.

And true tragedy strikes when actor HEATH LEDGER dies of an accidental prescription drug overdose in a New York apartment, cutting short a brilliant career.

FEBRUARY

The Obama slogan “Yes We Can” ricochets across the Web in rapper and songwriter WILL.I.AM’s viral video hit, starring a host of celebrities. It’s not the only good news for Obama: His campaign raises a staggering $55 million this month, a success attributed to small donations gathered on the Internet.

And “SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE” spoofs the media’s fondness for Obama later, Clinton will refer to the skit in a real debate.

HOLLYWOOD WRITERS, meanwhile, end their 100-day strike. Days later, the OSCARS air to dismal ratings.

MARCH

Politics continues to enthrall, and this time it’s New York Gov. ELIOT SPITZER who’s on everyone’s mind. The most striking visual: the ashen-faced misery of his wife, Silda, standing next to him at the podium as he resigns over a prostitution scandal. The blogosphere and the airwaves buzz with the question: Why did she stand by him? Would you?

Obama may be the Internet candidate, but here’s an Internet sensation he’d prefer disappear: video of his former pastor JEREMIAH WRIGHT, making incendiary comments that will give Obama a major political headache.

APRIL

MILEY CYRUS is a genuine superstar at age 15, a role model to countless girls. So what’s the problem? A few pesky photos shot by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. They show the Disney princess, aka Hannah Montana of course, in a come-hither pose, with a bare back and shoulders. A rare bump in the road for this teen phenom.

In one of his many pop-culture moments, OBAMA displays true hip-hop cred, channeling Jay-Z with a “Dirt Off Your Shoulders” reference at a North Carolina rally. Mashups spread across the Web.

MAY

After four years and endless buildup, the “SEX AND THE CITY” gals return in a feature-length film. Will Carrie find happiness with Mr. Big? Yes, but even happier are the producers, after a $55.7 million opening weekend unprecedented for a chick flick. And this IS a chick flick. Men flock to root canal appointments.

HARRISON FORD returns as Indiana Jones at age 65! We doubt Hollywood would be so kind to a 65-year-old actress. And speaking of older women, they’re said to be behind the “American Idol” victory of 25-year-old DAVID COOK, who beats the baby-faced 17-year-old, DAVID ARCHULETA, breaking the hearts of countless tween girls.

Los Angeles street artist SHEPARD FAIREY creates his wildly popular poster of Obama, a red-white-and-blue hued image of the candidate gazing ahead, underlined by the word “HOPE.”

JUNE

TIM RUSSERT dies at 58 of a sudden heart attack, after more than 16 years in one of the most influential jobs in TV news moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press.” The death causes some baby boomers to start to wonder about their own health.

A computer-animated science fiction romance? Leave it to Pixar. After “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille” and “Cars,” another triumph for the studio comes in the form of “WALL-E,” a futuristic film about love between two robots.

JULY

Bonjour to the new JOLIE-PITT twins, who emerge in France, where parents ANGELINA JOLIE and BRAD PITT are hunkered down on their enormous estate. And BATMANIA reigns, thanks to LEDGER’S stunning (and posthumous) portrayal of the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

BRITNEY and PARIS make their unwitting entrance into the campaign, fodder for McCain’s commercial mocking Obama as “the biggest celebrity in the world.” Hilton, though, gets the last laugh: The doe-eyed hotel heiress, lounging in a leopard-print swimsuit, offers up a much cleverer video riposte.

AUGUST

Call this the anti-celebrity month: Wary after that Britney-Paris spot, the DEMOCRATIC PARTY does its very best to de-emphasize the celeb factor at its convention in Denver. Meanwhile, McCain’s anti-celebrity campaign unveils its own, well, celebrity: the telegenic PALIN, who bursts onto the scene with a speech that galvanizes the GOP convention.

MADONNA turns 50! And the chiseled superstar is hardly alone. Also hitting the half-century mark this year: MICHAEL JACKSON, PRINCE, ELLEN DEGENERES, MICHELLE PFEIFFER, VIGGO MORTENSEN. Let’s imagine an amazing party at the royal palace in Monaco, where PRINCE ALBERT also hits the big 5-0, perhaps covered for CNN by CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR (yup, 50 too.)

SEPTEMBER

“I can see Russia from my house!” FEY debuts her impersonation of PALIN on “Saturday Night Live.” Kudos to the “SNL” writers, but you can’t say Palin doesn’t give them plenty of material including verbatim chunks of her rambling exchanges with KATIE COURIC. The CBS anchor, long plagued by low ratings and high expectations, makes a welcome comeback.

Also making a comeback: the ’60s, with all that guilt-free smoking, thanks to “MAD MEN,” the evocative drama on cable’s AMC. “Mad Men” wins an Emmy this month, thrilling its small but hugely loyal audience.

OCTOBER

Shall we just call it “HSM3”? And if you don’t know what that means, you probably won’t be seeing the movie. “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” the big-screen sequel to the two Disney TV movies, sings and dances its fresh-faced way to the top of the box office, thanks to the durable appeal of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and the other “HSM” alums.

“SNL” scores its highest ratings in 14 years when it snags the ultimate prize: Palin herself. The VP candidate proves a game cast member, obliging happily when Amy Poehler shouts out: “All the mavericks in the house, put your hands up!” ”

And JOE THE PLUMBER makes his debut, as a constant reference in the third presidential debate. Later, Joe, aka Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, campaigns for McCain and Palin.

NOVEMBER

Yeah yeah, Obama is elected, but we’ll reserve the pop culture prize this month for OPRAH WINFREY. Weeping on the shoulder of a stranger at Obama’s victory rally, and gushing uncontrollably on her postelection show, the talk-show queen can surely claim a little credit for the triumph of her “favorite guy.” Maybe MOST celebrity endorsements don’t mean much, but this is Oprah. Two economists even claim she brought Obama a million votes in the primaries.

DECEMBER

Any true pop culture story must end as we started: with BRITNEY for, after a year in which she seemed to reach the depths, this famously durable young woman is in the midst of an astonishing comeback, with “Circus,” her latest CD, reaching No.1 on the album charts, according to her label, Jive. At 27, she seems to be not only “the world’s pop princess,” as her manager says. She’s the world’s pop culture princess, too.

Batman Surfing

Comic Books, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Music, Music Scoring, Musician, Television, Video

Neal Hefti dies at 85; former big band trumpeter, arranger and composer

By Dennis McLellan
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 15, 2008

Neal Hefti, a former big band trumpeter, arranger and composer who worked with Count Basie and Woody Herman and later composed the memorable themes for the movie “The Odd Couple” and the campy hit TV series “Batman,” has died. He was 85.

Hefti died Saturday at his home in Toluca Lake, said his son, Paul. He did not know the cause of death, but said his father had been in good health.

“Everybody in the music business loved Neal Hefti,” radio and television personality Gary Owens, a longtime friend, told The Times on Tuesday.

“He was one of the really great arrangers and composers of all time,” Owens said. “He worked with all those guys — Charlie Spivak, Harry James, Woody Herman — and he made arrangements that were just spectacular.”

Described as “one of the most influential big band arrangers of the 1940s and ’50s” in “The Encyclopedia of Popular Music,” Hefti turned his attention to composing for film and television in the 1960s.

Among his credits as a film composer are “Sex and the Single Girl,” “Harlow” (one of his most famous tunes, “Girl Talk,” came out of the score), “How to Murder Your Wife,” “Boeing Boeing,” “Duel at Diablo,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “A New Leaf,” “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” and “The Odd Couple,” whose theme he reprised for the 1970s TV series.

Hefti also gained wide notice for composing the energetic title theme for “Batman,” the over-the-top 1966-68 superhero series that became an overnight sensation.

It was, Hefti later said, the hardest piece of music he ever wrote.

“I tore up a lot of paper,” he told Jon Burlingame, author of “TV’s Biggest Hits,” a 1996 book on television themes. “It did not come easy to me. . . . I just sweated over that thing, more so than any other single piece of music I ever wrote. I was never satisfied with it.”

“Batman,” he said, “was not a comedy. This was about unreal people. Batman and Robin were both very, very serious. The bad guys would be chasing them, and they would come to a stop at a red light, you know. They wouldn’t break the law even to save their own lives. So there was a grimness and a self-righteousness about all this.”

Hefti said it took him “the better part of a month” to come up with the theme.

“I was almost going to call them and say, I can’t do it,” he said. “But I never walk out on projects, so I sort of forced myself to finish.”

Hefti’s “musical solution to a combined dramatic and comedic problem,” Burlingame wrote in his book, “was perfect: bass guitar, low brass and percussion to create a driving rhythm, while an eight-voice chorus sings ‘Batman!’ in harmony with the trumpets. It was part serious, part silly: just like the series.”

Hefti’s “Batman” tune became a Top 40 hit — for both the Hefti and the Marketts’ versions — and won a 1966 Grammy Award for best instrumental theme.

The son of a traveling salesman, Hefti was born Oct. 29, 1922, in Hastings, Neb. He began playing the trumpet at age 11.

His family was poor, and in high school he started playing in local bands during summer vacation to help his family financially.

Hefti began writing arrangements in high school for local bands, and some of his arrangements also were used by the Earl Hines band.

In 1941, two days before his high school graduation, Hefti was asked to tour with the Dick Barry band, which had lost some of its musicians to the military.

The short-lived job ended in New Jersey. But other band jobs followed, including playing with the Bob Astor, Charlie Barnet, Bobby Byrne, Horace Heidt and Charlie Spivak bands.

Hefti, who was classified 4-F during World War II after being hit by a car in New York and breaking his pelvis, joined Woody Herman’s band in 1944.

He did the arrangements for many of the Herman band’s popular recordings, including composing and arranging “The Good Earth” and “Wild Root.” He also co-arranged, with Ralph Burns, “Caldonia.”

In 1945, Hefti married the Herman band’s lead female vocalist, Frances Wayne. They remained married until her death in 1978.

Hefti formed his own band in 1951, with his wife as lead vocalist. But after two years of touring, he returned to arranging and studio work.

As a composer and arranger for Basie in the 1950s, Hefti composed numerous tunes that were featured on various Basie albums.

That included the Grammy Award-winning album “Basie,” which Hefti produced. Known as “Atomic Basie” because of the atomic explosion pictured on the cover, the album featured 11 songs composed and arranged by Hefti, including “Splanky,” “Kid From Red Bank” and “Lil’ Darlin,” which Hefti wrote for his daughter.

“If it weren’t for Neal Hefti,” legendary trumpeter Miles Davis said in a 1955 interview, “the Basie band wouldn’t sound as good as it does.”

As head of A&R (Artists and Repertoire) at Reprise in the early ’60s, Hefti arranged and conducted “Sinatra and Basie: A Historical Musical First” and “Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass.”

Hefti retired in 1976.

In addition to his son Paul, a music composer, Hefti is survived by a brother, Joe; a sister, Pat Wacha; and three grandchildren.

Services will be private.

Instead of flowers, Paul Hefti suggests that donations be made to Boys Town, P.O. Box 145-Memorial, Boys Town, NE 68010, or to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123. Both Hefti’s wife and daughter, Dr. Marguerita Hefti, died of cancer.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com

"The Dark Knight" Assails Box Office, Mother and Sister

Batman, Christian Bale, The Dark Knight

ABC NEWS

‘Batman’ Allegedly Turns on Mother, Sister

Actor Christian Bale Reportedly Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting His Family

By AMMU KANNAMPILLY

LONDON, July 22, 2008 —

Batman star Christian Bale was arrested today for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister, according to reports in the British media.

Scotland Yard declined to confirm the reports, but a spokesman told ABCNews.com that “a 34-year-old man was arrested in connection with allegations of assault. He currently remains in custody at a central London police station.”

The Press Association reported that the actor, 34, was questioned by police at a central London police station. He is now believed to have left the station.

Bale was allegedly arrested after attacking his mother and sister in his suite at London’s Dorchester Hotel Sunday, according to the British wire service.

The Dorchester Hotel’s public relations representative, Brett Perkins, also refused to confirm the reports, telling ABCNews.com that “we have a hotel policy of never commenting on guests, so we cannot confirm these reports.”

The actor’s U.S. representatives declined to comment on the matter.

Bale was reportedly arrested hours after attending the London premiere of his film, “The Dark Knight,” with co-stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart and Michael Caine.

The UK’s Sun newspaper reported that detectives allowed the actor to attend the premiere, despite the complaint lodged against him.

“It was a very difficult situation but it would have been wrong to have wrecked the premiere over a complaint, which we don’t yet know is founded in truth,” a source told the Sun.

Bale’s mother Jenny, 60, and sister Sharon, 41, live in Dorset, England, and are reported to have made the complaint to a police station in Hampshire. A spokesman from Hampshire police told ABCNews.com that “we cannot confirm anything.”

A senior executive at Warner Brothers, which produced “The Dark Knight,” told ABC News that this was a personal matter and the studio would have no comment on it.

Bale’s reported arrest is only the most recent in a long string of controversies surrounding the latest Batman installment.

In January, Bale’s co-star, 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger, was found dead after an accidental drug overdose.

Last September, a special-effects technician was killed during a stunt car accident on the film’s set.

None of this has dented the film’s box-office fate: “The Dark Knight” had a record-setting opening weekend in the United States.

Bale was born in Wales, England, and spent his childhood in a variety of countries, including the United States and Portugal. His father, the late David Bale, was reportedly married to the American feminist Gloria Steinem.

Bale made his big-screen debut in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” at age 13. Since then, he has acted in several movies, including “American Psycho,” “The Machinist” and “Batman Begins.”

Sheila Marikar contributed to this report.