Tuesday, August 08, 2006

August 8

As I loaf away my luxurious midwestern vacation, we may pause momentarily and reflect upon the straight line of misfortune that connects the lives of the agrarian revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, hero to the peasants of Southern Mexico; Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, author of the majority opinion in Griswold v. Conencticut (1965) and advocate for the abolition of the death penalty; Puerto Rican baseball great Jose Cruz; and American actors Dustin Hoffman, Keith Carradine, and Don ("Donnie") Most.

All, I am sad to report, share their August 8 birthdays with Scott Stapp.

In August 2002, USA Today Weekend ran a fawning profile of the singer, whose band Creed had yet to dissolve into a self-righteous mist. As disclosed by Stapp, "I meet a lot of women, and let's just say I have numerous friends. But I've heard some crazy stories about what certain artists have done with fans. You've got to have a little compassion for their hearts. I mean, one night there was a 15-, 16-year-old girl in the audience. She gave me [a lewd come-on] sign. She's just a little girl, and she thinks that's what rock 'n' rollers want. I went to her and said, 'Honey, that's not what men want.' I don't know what compels me to do that."

In February 2006, it was revealed that Stapp and Kid Rock had made an improbable tour bus sex tape in 1999 with four young Florida women, one of whom is now suing Stapp for defamation of character and invasion of privacy. In the trailer to the film (whose release has been stalled by a most fortunate court injunction), Stapp is heard to remark, "Hey, it's good to be The King," as the plaintiff attends to his rock star needs.
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