INF Daily
Rihanna: A Tropical Fruit?
How do you know when you’ve become a household name? Iggy Pop told us that it was when airline stewardesses began recognizing him on flights. For Ryan Adams it was when his name ended up as a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle. For Phish, it was getting their own flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. We’re not positive, but for the always inscrutable Rihanna it means she could concoct her own flavor of Vita Coco.
The fiery Barbados native has been the face of the beverage’s national ad campaign since June, but who knew that part of the deal was they were going let her into the test kitchens to make up her own brew? But they did. Named Tropical Fruit (rather a perfect name for her, given her outfit in this weekend’s celebration), it’s a blend of "coconut water, pink guava, orange, red dragon fruit and pineapple."
“It tastes so delicious and reminds me of home!” enthused the singer. “I grew up in Barbados - so when Vita Coco approached me to help develop a new flavor, I thought we should combine the natural coconut water with fresh tropical fruits - two of my favorite things,” says Rihanna. It will be packaged in a bright magenta Tetra Pak and will have Rihanna’s signature to mark the collabro, just in case you mistake it for something Madonna or Anthony Kiedas, both investors in the company, cooked up.
"Who Do I Have to Bang?" File
Last week Gwyneth Paltrow tweeted: "Who do I have to bang to get an advance copy of the new @coldplay album? I mean, really." Talking, of course, about Coldplay's as-yet-untitled fifth studio album due out on October 24.
Apparently you have to bang Jimmy Kimmel, since her hubby’s band will play two songs on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight. Although having said that, maybe we should look at the subtext of the tweet. Why, why, why hasn't Gwenny heard it yet? Especially since, in the September issue of Elle, the actress-cum-chef-cum-singer admits that she and husband Chris Martin aren’t always a picture perfect couple. Well, they ARE that, but you know what we mean.
“Sometimes it's hard being with someone for a long time," she admits to Elle. "We go through periods that aren't all rosy. I always say, life is long and you never know what's going to happen. If, God forbid, we were ever not to be together, I respect him so much as the father of my children. Like, I made such a good choice. He’s such a good dad. You can never be relaxed or smug and think, I’ve got this thing. That’s also part of it—keeping yourself on your toes. I’m not going to take this for granted.”
As for the singing career, she tells readers not to expect collaboration with her Martin anytime soon, nor does she never ask his advice: “[He’s] a musical genius. It’s like living with Picasso, and being like, ‘Should I make a little something-something?’"
Instead she goes to some other musical geniuses about advice about what she should do about her burgeoning other talent.
“Beyoncé and Jay—they think that I should just go do it by myself,” she shares, “that I should go…in a studio and see what happens. And if it’s good, do it. And if it’s not, don’t. So that’s probably what I’ll do.”
Binge Shopping
Sometimes I think we’d all be disappointed if Courtney Love actually behaved herself. I know I would. Well that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon. This week the singer was spotted shopping in Sydney, Australia, clearly in a state of inebriation, having everything to do with the fact that the upscale shop plied her with graceful goblets of white wine. I ask you, who amongst us hasn’t known the joys of alcohol and binge shopping?
Well, apparently Courtney. According to a report in INF Daily, the singer was visiting Sydney and decided to engage in some retail therapy to help her get over her recent breakup with Brit aristocrat Henry Allsopp. We’re not sure if she ended up buying anything, but while back on the street, Love was spotted stumbling out of her stilettos and just escaped being hit by a car after attempting to cross the street while the light was red.
Lucky for her, a good Samaritan pulled her back onto the curb. Onlookers chided her, saying she had to wait for the light to change. Instead of saying thank you, she tartly replied, “Stop telling me what to do. I can do what I want.”
No Bieber Breakup
What would the week be without a Bieber rumor? The last one was that Justin and Selena Gomez have broken up. But after spotting photos of the former Disney star sunbathing with a loosened bikini top this past weekend, we knew that was a lie, and more so after Master Justin tweeted this rather sweet message to the brunette vixen: “what makes you so beautiful is that you dont [sic] know how beautiful you are… to me.”
Hasn't he ever heard of direct messages? Just saying...
Joss Stone Freaked Out
Joss Stone claimed that she was “just fine” last month after two men were apprehended in a thwarted plot to kidnap her, but she’s changed her story. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Stone admits that she’s paranoid and doesn’t know who to trust, suspecting everyone she comes in contact with.
“I feel like... I’ve turned into Sherlock Holmes, like, 'Oh, okay, well maybe this person? But no, can’t be. Well, what about this time I went to this place and I told that guy to shove it? No, it’s not him. No, I don’t know."
Stone also admits that she’s still shocked by the "rude and uncouth" plot to rob her, adding, "Come on, can’t you do something better with your Tuesday? It’s very, very weird." While Stone is disconcerted, her mother is raging: "My mum’s pretty p**sed off, let me tell you."
Own a Slice of History: You Can Buy Brian Wilson’s House for a Cool $1.49 Million
Like they say, location is everything, so if you’re a budding songwriter and would like to access your inner Brian Wilson, if you have enough cash, you’ll be able to do that. The house that Wilson once inhabited in Illinois is currently on the market for the bargain price of $1.49 million. As for residual genius, it’s where he wrote most of 1998’s Imagination, and comes complete with a custom built underground studio.
While the exterior looks like a British country manor, the inside is said to be very modern, with 6,527 square feet sporting high ceilings, nine fireplaces, and a sweeping freestanding stairway that leads to five bedrooms and six bathrooms. And if that wasn't enough, there's a gourmet kitchen and a whirlpool tub. Wilson's next door neighbor, music producer Joe Thomas, who produced Imagination, spilled the beans to the Daily Herald about Wilson's daily routine and the famous fans who visited Wilson while he was in residence.
“Brian would get up around 11, and we'd work for two or three hours in studio, go out for lunch — Brian always had whitefish from ZaZa (restaurant in St. Charles) — then Brian would take a nap and I'd go golfing. We'd go out to dinner at Mill Race Inn in Geneva, and go back to the studio and write and work at night,” Thomas said. “It was pretty much the same exact thing every day.”
As for visitors: Paul McCartney, Sean Lennon, and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh all came to call. Wilson, a California native, had no connection to Illinois when he and his wife, Melinda, bought the St. Charles house in 1997 for $1.4 million, and when interviewed recently by the paper, Wilson said that he only bought the house because he wanted to work with Thomas, who couldn’t come to California because his wife was expecting their fifth child then, and his company had just gone public.
But those years the two spent working together weren't without drama. The two ended up filing nasty lawsuits against each other in 1999 over the Imagination album, and settled them out of court a year later. Thomas claimed that the two have since made up and resumed their close friendship.
“Brian's one of those guys who can just walk over to your house, open the refrigerator, and make himself a sandwich,” Thomas said.
