You've found Father McKenzie. But are you really looking for Eleanor Rigby?

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Raise the Bleached Mullet

First we hear that former Van Halen frontsman David Lee Roth has swapped his striped leather pants for a New York paramedic's uniform:

Legendary Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth has stopped "runnin' with the devil" to do God's work -- riding ambulances in gritty neighborhoods throughout New York City to become a paramedic.

The famed rocker has cut his trademark blond mane and dropped his celebrity persona so he can ride unrecognized with ambulance crews in The Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn several nights a week.

Several weeks ago, the charismatic crooner saved the life of a Bronx woman who had a heart attack by shocking her back to life with a defibrillator.

The Post caught up with Roth last week as the 1980s icon grabbed a slice of pepperoni pizza after sitting for hours in an ambulance waiting for a call.

Just three days earlier, he had played to an adoring rock-'n'-roll crowd in Minnesota.

Roth, 49, initially expressed reservations about discussing his latest endeavor because he felt publicity "would diminish what I am trying to do here."

But the following day, he told The Post more about his new passion.

"I have been on over 200 individual rides now," Roth told The Post. "Not once has anyone recognized me, which is perfect for me."

"It has been an eye-opening adventure," said Roth, who asked The Post not to disclose which "very colorful neighborhoods" he works in because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself or his colleagues. [...]

-- Erika Martinez, "David Lee Roth a NYC Paramedic", Fox News (16 November 2004)

One pictures DLR correcting a colleague's inept CPR by screeching "You'll lose her in the turn!". But better not put him on duty talking would-be suicides into climbing down, especially not from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Now, I learn that former Sydney Swans football godling Warwick Capper is now a "nondescript road worker flipping a stop-go sign for $16.50 an hour":

[...] Warwick Capper has gone from one-time Sydney Swans sex symbol to nondescript road worker flipping a stop-go sign for $16.50 an hour.
Almost unrecognisable in a reflective top, sheriff-style cap and sunglasses, Capper began work last week with Queensland road management company Traffic Services Australia.

Capper, keen to downplay his latest foray into the workforce, expressed surprise when contacted by The Sunday Telegraph.

"How did you get that photo of me?" he asked of a shot of him at work. "Mate I'm not a council worker, I just drive utes for this private company. I don't do it fulltime, I only work for them a couple of times a month. How funny is that?"

Capper, who rocketed to prominence when he kicked 103 goals for Sydney in the 1987 season, insists he has not fallen on hard times.

"No way, I needed to do something casual because I'm very busy and I'm going away all the time," he said. "My wife started it all - she said: 'Stop being a big-head, go and get a job in the real world'. It's certainly been an eye-opener. Even though I don't do too many hours, it's a lot bloody harder than life as a celebrity." [...]

-- Peter Badel, "High-flyer working as stop-go man", News.com (27 February 2005)

Cappa would be less wasted if he, too, worked as a paramedic. You can be durned sure no one would bleed to death with one of his tourniquets.

PS: Re Dawn Eden's sacking -- to complicate the picture, she's also ethnically Jewish and a convert to Christianity.

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