IT HARDLY MATTERS Back to Main Index Browse the Archives	Thursday, January 26, 2006 ( 02:10 PM ) Most sexually suggestive lines in Star Wars (I didn't write this) 10. "Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell!" 9. "Luke, at that speed do you think you'll be able to pull out in time?" 8. "Put that thing away before you get us all killed." 7. "You've got something jammed in here real good." 6. "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" 5. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought." 4. "Sorry about the mess..." 3. "Look at the size of that thing!" 2. "Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!" 1. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid." The Empire Strikes Back 10. "I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me." 9. "Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?" 8. "There's an awful lot of moisture in here." 7. "But now we must eat. Come, good food, come..." 6. "That's okay, I'd like to keep it on manual control for a while." 5. "Control, control! You must learn control!" 4. "Hurry up, golden-rod..." 3. "I must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh kid?" 2. "Possible he came in through the south entrance." 1. "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!" Return of the Jedi 10. "Hey, point that thing someplace else." 9. "I look forward to completing your training. In time you will call me master." 8. "I never knew I had it in me." 7. "There is good in him, I've felt it." 6. "Grab me, Chewie. I'm slipping -- hold on. Grab it, almost... you almost got it. Gently now, all right, easy, easy, hold me Chewie." 5. "Hey, Luke, thanks for coming after me -- now I owe you one." 4. "Back door, huh? Good idea!" 3. "She's gonna blow!" 2. "I think you'll fit in nicely." 1. "Rise, my friend." And the best of them all... "Wedge! Pull out! You're not doing any good back there!" Tuesday, January 24, 2006 ( 11:08 PM ) Chris Penn, 1962-2006 Oh we knew it couldn't last And we should have left it long before One great year and one for luck And like all good things you soon wanted more You were always so polite I think I loved you - Sleeper Monday, January 23, 2006 ( 04:29 PM ) Is the world ready? Let the circus...begin! And seriously, how many different answers to "Why did you shoot me in the face?" can there be other than "BECAUSE I HATE YOU SOOOO MUCH." Buttafuocos, Fisher plan TV reunion Monday, January 23, 2006; Posted: 1:31 p.m. EST (18:31 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- More than a decade after 16-year-old Amy Fisher had a sexual relationship with a much-older car mechanic and shot his wife in the face, the one-time "Long Island Lolita" and Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco have agreed to appear together in a televised reunion. All three have signed on for the appearance, which has yet to be sold to a network, television producer David Krieff told the New York Post for Monday editions. "It's time to just put it behind us," Fisher, now 31, told the newspaper. "We played this all out in a public eye. It'd be interesting to let the public see the healing process at the end. They saw everything else -- why not let them see the final product?" Fisher spent seven years in prison. Joey Buttafuoco, who was jailed for statutory rape following the 1992 shooting, said he planned to ask Fisher to explain her actions. "I've been asked about a million times by Mary Jo, 'Why did Amy shoot me?' I was never able to get that answer," said Buttafuoco, now 49. "There's going to be a lot of shocking revelations, and that's why I'm excited to sit down to do this," he said. The Buttafuocos moved to California and divorced in 2003. Mary Jo, who remains partially paralyzed from the shooting, is engaged. Joey Buttafuoco, who has remarried, was sentenced in March 2004 to a year in jail and five years' probation after pleading guilty to felony insurance fraud. In August, he pleaded not guilty to charges that he violated probation by possessing ammunition. Friday, January 20, 2006 ( 10:59 AM ) I used to go to Rhino quite a bit, especially when it was in the original, smaller store. They had a great used selection, and I even got Bleed American there a week before its release. The best thing about Rhino was that you could listen to used CDs before buying them on some beat up old boomboxes with disintegrating headphones. You could do that at Aron's (RIP) also, but it was never nearly as crowded at Rhino. Oh, and I saw Benicio del Toro there once, too. But it's all the price of progress, I guess. Pretty much every used record shop in Los Angeles suffered when Amoeba opened. And if I had to choose between Rhino (or Aron's) and Amoeba, I would go with Amoeba every single time. Death of a record store Famed Rhino Records shop in L.A. has last gasp By Chris Morris The Hollywood Reporter Friday, January 20, 2006; Posted: 8:59 a.m. EST (13:59 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- They're throwing a wake of sorts for the Rhino Records store Saturday and Sunday. Founded in 1973, the venerable record shop officially closed its doors after the turn of the year, hard on the heels of the folding of crosstown competitor Aron's Records. But, in a final gasp of Rhino tradition, old customers will gather at the Westwood Boulevard location to paw through boxes of CDs, LPs, DVDs and videocassettes at the store's final parking lot sale. Rhino, a Westside institution for three decades, never recovered its footing after moving into a large new space about five years ago. The old shop, left open as an outlet for used and budget product, closed within a year. A partnership with the Golden Apple comics store failed, and an attempt to rebrand the shop as Duck Soup with the addition of high-priced collectibles never caught fire. These stabs at instilling new life into Rhino coincided with a precipitous decline in the music business. Owner Richard Foos says: "As bad as it is for everybody, it's much worse for independents. I don't know all the reasons. It's so complicated. There's literally hundreds of reasons." Foos adds dispiritedly: "There's too many other things to do and too many ways to get your music without paying $18 for a CD. ... I don't see a great future for physical product." The demise of Rhino hits home on a very personal level for this writer. For years, it was my neighborhood record store, conveniently located between my Westwood Village apartment and the Santa Monica Boulevard office of the film exhibitor I worked for. It was the hip shop on the Westside -- one of the few places you could buy that hot import album or that cool local punk 45. There, music obsessives gathered to buy their records, socialize and, frequently, argue with the store's highly opinionated clerks. In a gambit worthy of "High Fidelity," Rhino for many years maintained a "Worst Customers List," posted prominently behind the counter; the more obstreperous patrons -- including, on more than one occasion, myself -- were duly namechecked there. As combative as things could get, the store also spawned its own tightly knit community. When Rhino's fledgling record label wanted to promote one of its early novelty acts, the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra, the store drafted some of its regulars to march through Westwood Village, where they serenaded passers-by with kazoo renditions of "Whole Lotta Love" and other classic-rock chestnuts. The era when music lovers on both sides of the retail counter bonded is long gone. Foos notes with some astonishment that there are now no free-standing independent stores selling music between West Hollywood and Santa Monica. The options are Best Buy, Borders and Barnes & Noble. "The days of going into a place like Rhino and saying, 'What's the cool new import?' -- forget it," Foos says. Things aren't any better for the big mall music operators: Witness the bankruptcy filing last week of the 869-store Musicland chain. Does this reflect a paradigm shift? Of course, but, if a new study from England's University of Leicester is to be believed, it also reflects a basic difference in the way consumers are looking at music. The school's psychologists noted last week that music had "lost its aura," and was now viewed as simply a commodity. Says Foos with a sigh: "It's really sad and dangerous. Everybody's like a silo." Ave atque vale, Rhino Records. For some, you were a way of life. ( 09:14 AM ) In the aftermath of my 28th birthday, I have discovered just what it means to be old. I was sitting in class yesterday, surrounded by doctoral students who were in all likelihood a little bit older than me, when I noticed how young they looked to me. Thing is, when I was a kid, people who were 28 looked really, really old (or mature, however you want to put it) to me. Now I'm one of them and I see things differently. I'm just dreading the day when people my age start looking OLD to me!! Thursday, January 19, 2006 ( 08:27 AM ) Normally, economic scandal is quite boring and not worth mentioning here. Until someone dies. Then it becomes like an episode of Law & Order! Maybe it was MURDER!! Japan trading exec found dead Authorities investigating cause; dead man's firm involved in Livedoor takeover deals. January 19, 2006: 8:48 AM EST TOKYO (CNN) - An executive of a Japanese securities firm involved in takeover deals by the high-profile Internet startup Livedoor has been found dead, police say. The executive, Hideaki Noguchi, 38, was found dead on the southern island of Okinawa, according to Kyodo news agency, quoting police in a report Thursday. Authorities said tests would be needed to confirm the cause of death. pic Takafumi Horie, the young entrepreneur whose company, Livedoor, is under investigation in Japan. Kyodo, quoting police in the Okinawa capital Naha, said that Noguchi apparently slit his wrist at a Naha hotel on Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital but died there. Noguchi worked for H.S. Securities, a company involved in the acquisition of publishing company Money Life by ValueClick Japan, the predecessor of Livedoor subsidiary Livedoor Marketing. This deal is at the center of the investigation into Livedoor that prompted a massive sell-off on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday and Wednesday, raising volume levels so much that the TSE suspended trading 20 minutes early because its computer systems were being overloaded. The Japanese sell-off, aided by weaker than expected earnings for key U.S. tech stocks Intel and Yahoo, was followed by substantial falls Wednesday in other markets, including Europe and Wall Street. But on Thursday the benchmark Nikkei index rebounded, climbing to close up 2.3 percent. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's office raided Livedoor's Tokyo headquarters and other locations on Monday on suspicion it may have released false information on the Money Life acquisition and earnings. According to the Nikkei news network, H.S. Securities has not commented on its involvement in the Money Life deal, but said in a statement it believed it had acted within the law on two other deals under scrutiny. H.S. Securities said its offices had also been searched. Livedoor probe continues Livedoor, headed by the high-profile entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, on Thursday released the results so far of its own internal investigation of the Money Life deal. It defended its decisions and fund-raising steps, including the use of a share swap deal rather than a cash purchase. Livedoor said it would continue the internal investigation, the Nikkei news network reported. "We have officially asked Livedoor to submit the findings of its internal investigation by Friday," Tokyo Stock Exchange President Taizo Nishimuro told a news conference on Wednesday. "We'll have to see that outcome first," Reuters quoted him as saying. Sources familiar with the situation said the official investigation initially focused on whether Livedoor and Livedoor Marketing had made misleading statements about the Money Life acquisition. Local media reports, however, said Livedoor was now suspected of acquiring Money Life as well as two other companies expressly so it could beef up its accounts with profits created from the transactions, Reuters reported. Livedoor and Livedoor Marketing said in a joint statement they believed that they did not have to disclose the acquisition of Money Life when it was bought by an investment fund associated with Livedoor because the fund was not directly controlled by Livedoor's investment unit, Livedoor Finance. Even if Money Life was treated as a group company, they said, they were unlikely to have been required to disclose the initial acquisition by the fund under Tokyo Stock Exchange rules. Livedoor later bought Money Life from the fund and disclosed the acquisition then. Under Horie, a media-savvy 33-year-old, Livedoor has rapidly built up a portfolio of nearly 50 Internet-related businesses. But Horie has ruffled feathers in conservative Japanese business circles through a failed attempt to take over the Fuji Sankei media group and an unsuccessful run for parliament in the September 2005 general election. Tuesday, January 17, 2006 ( 02:01 PM ) Busted! Mouthy parrot 'reveals sex secret' Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Posted: 12:20 p.m. EST (17:20 GMT) LONDON, England -- A computer programmer found out his girlfriend was having an affair when his pet parrot kept repeating her lover's name, British media reported Tuesday. The African grey parrot kept squawking "I love you, Gary" as his owner, Chris Taylor, sat with girlfriend Suzy Collins on the sofa of their shared flat in Leeds, northern England. But when Taylor saw Collins's embarrassed reaction, he realized she had been having an affair -- meeting her lover in the flat whilst Ziggy looked on, the UK's Press Association reported. Ziggy even mimicked Collins's voice each time she answered her telephone, calling out "Hiya Gary," according to newspaper reports. Call-center worker Collins, 25, admitted the four-month affair with a colleague called Gary to her boyfriend and left the flat she had shared with Taylor, 30, for a year. Taylor said he had also been forced to part with Ziggy after the bird continued to call out Gary's name and refused to stop squawking the phrases in his ex-girlfriend's voice, media reports said. "I wasn't sorry to see the back of Suzy after what she did, but it really broke my heart to let Ziggy go," he said. "I love him to bits and I really miss having him around, but it was torture hearing him repeat that name over and over again. "I still can't believe he's gone. I know I'll get over Suzy, but I don't think I'll ever get over Ziggy." Taylor acquired Ziggy as a chick eight years ago and named him after the David Bowie character Ziggy Stardust. The bird has now found a new home through the offices of a local parrot dealer. Collins, who admitted the affair, said: "I'm not proud of what I did but I'm sure Chris would be the first to admit we were having problems. "I am surprised to hear he got rid of that bird," she added to The Guardian newspaper. "He spent more time talking to it than he did to me." Friday, January 13, 2006 ( 04:58 PM ) Time up for camera film? Nikon focuses on digital Fri Jan 13, 11:37 AM ET TOKYO (AFP) - Nikon, the iconic Japanese camera maker, has put another nail in the coffin of traditional photography with plans to stop selling most of its film models in favor of hot-selling digital cameras. Nikon said it will end production of all but two of its eight single-lens reflex (SLR) analogue models and axe all of its non-digital compacts, signalling the end of its more than 50 year history of selling film cameras. Sales will end when stocks run out -- news that could trigger a rush by camera buffs to snap up the remaining ones. Experts believe the days of conventional film cameras are now numbered. "Only film camera maniacs and a limited number of professionals will buy film cameras now," said Kouichi Fujimoto, an analyst at Okasan Securities. The F6, Nikon's top-of-the-line professional camera, will continue to be produced for the time being along with the FM10, an entry-level model. "As the market for film cameras has been shrinking, we would like to spend financial resources on the digital camera market," a Nikon spokeswoman said. The decision reflects a wider shift away from film to digital cameras, which have won over consumers by eliminating the need for rolls of film and allowing users to view images immediately and delete unwanted ones. "The trend of shifting to digital cameras is a common phenomenon in the world camera market although the trend is led by Japan," analyst Fujimoto said. "Most of the camera market in Japan is taken by digital cameras so it is natural to expect that other camera makers might take the same decision to withdraw from film cameras," he added. According to Japan's Camera and Imaging Products Association, shipments of film cameras here in November stood at just 457,819 units -- far below the 7.72 million figure for digital cameras. Nikon, along with Japanese rival Canon, is increasingly focusing on high-end digital SLR cameras which are more profitable than cheaper digital compacts where competition is fierce. Nikon made a record net profit of 9.37 billion yen (82 million dollars) in the six months to September on sales of 342.85 billion. The company aims to boost global sales of its SLR digital cameras to 1.6 million in the year to March 2006 from 1.05 million in the previous year. While Nikon and Canon are enjoying robust sales of their digital cameras, other Japanese rivals are faring less well. Konica Minolta slumped into loss in the first-half as sales of conventional photo film fell and a price war in digital cameras intensified, while Olympus saw a sharp decline in net profit. US film and photography giant Eastman Kodak, one of the best-known global brand names, also failed to adapt to the digital age quickly enough and has long struggled to catch up with competitors. The shift from analogue to digital is taking the heaviest toll on those manufacturers that also produce camera film. "It must be an annoying problem for companies such as Fuji Photo Film and Konica Minolta on whether to stop producing film cameras," said Fujimoto. Wednesday, January 11, 2006 ( 01:39 PM ) Bingo! The entire world would be better off to go with the legit Permanent Midnight. 'Pieces' buyers offered refund Move believed to be unprecedented Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Posted: 1:56 p.m. EST (18:56 GMT) NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Random House will refund readers who bought James Frey's drug and alcohol memoir "A Million Little Pieces" directly from the publisher, a move believed to be unprecedented, after the author was accused of exaggerating his story. Readers calling Random House's customer service line to complain on Wednesday were told that if the book was bought directly from the publisher it could be returned for a full refund. Those who bought the book at a bookstore were told to try to return it to the store where it was bought. "If the book was bought directly from us we will refund the purchase price in full," one Random House customer service agent told Reuters, noting readers would have to return the book with the original invoice. "If you bought it at a book store, we ask that you return the book to the book store." Asked why the publisher, which normally sells books directly to consumers as nonrefundable, would offer refunds, the agent said, "because of the controversy surrounding it." Several customer service agents called by Reuters reporters also agreed to pay refunds. A Random House spokeswoman said the company would issue a formal statement about returns later. Frey's memoir of alcohol and drug-induced mayhem sold 1.77 million copies last year after being chosen by Oprah Winfrey's book club in September. But investigative Web site The Smoking Gun on Sunday reported the book, published by Random House's Doubleday division, was full of exaggeration and inaccuracies. Frey, who will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday to discuss the controversy for the first time, has called the accusations "the latest attempt to discredit me." "I stand by my book, and my life, and I won't dignify this bulls--t with any sort of further response," Frey wrote this week on his personal Web site bigjimindustries.com. Tuesday, January 10, 2006 ( 05:04 PM ) I smell an episode of Law & Order: SVU in the works! 106-year-old, caretaker die in apparent suicide pact Tuesday, January 10, 2006; Posted: 5:23 p.m. EST (22:23 GMT) SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A 106-year-old widow and her 30-year-old caretaker died together in an apparent suicide pact at the home they shared, police said. The bodies of Helen Godet and her friend and caretaker of nine years, David Lund, were found Friday along with suicide notes indicating that Lund strangled the woman after she decided she could not take her own life, Inspector Dennis Maffei said Tuesday. Lund then swallowed a fatal dose of antifreeze, authorities said. The notes were dated December 27. "There are indications that it was going to be a double suicide, but she couldn't force herself to drink the poison, so he killed her and then drank the poison," Maffei said. Both notes, which were taped to the closed door of a bedroom where the bodies were discovered, were in Lund's handwriting and indicated "that their time had come," Maffei said. Godet apparently signed one note. However, police were investigating the case as a murder-suicide, he said, adding that a motive was not immediately known. "Did she know what she was signing at 106 years old? I don't know," Maffei said. "She was definitely killed at the hands of another, so we have to assume it was a murder." Witnesses told homicide detectives that Godet, who never had children, and Lund had been inseparable after meeting nine years ago. Lund slept on the sofa in Godet's house. "I was told they had a different kind of relationship -- platonic, but affectionate," Maffei said. ( 09:13 AM ) When I go, this is how I would like my remains to be handled: Mummified body found in front of TV Tuesday, January 10, 2006; Posted: 9:15 a.m. EST (14:15 GMT) CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- The mummified body of a woman who didn't want to be buried was found in a chair in front of her television set 2 1/2 years after her death, authorities said. Johannas Pope had told her live-in caregiver that she didn't want to be buried and planned on returning after she died, Hamilton County Coroner O'Dell Owens said Monday. Pope died in August 2003 at age 61. Her body was found last week in the upstairs of her home on a quiet street. Some family members continued to live downstairs, authorities said. No one answered the doorbell at Pope's home Monday afternoon. It could take weeks to determine Pope's cause of death because little organ tissue was available for testing, Owens said. An air conditioner had been left running upstairs, and that allowed the body to slowly mummify, he said. The machine apparently stopped working about a month ago, and the body began to smell. "Standing outside, one could smell death," Owens said. Police went to the house last Wednesday after receiving a call from a relative who hadn't seen Pope in years. They found a staircase behind a door blocked by a basket and climbed to the second floor, where they found the body. It was not clear if any crimes were committed, Owens said. Authorities did not identify the caregiver, a woman in her 40s who apparently lived in the home with Pope, Pope's daughter and her 3-year-old granddaughter. "The caregiver is not someone you'd think was from another planet or really seems off the wall -- (she's) a pretty normal kind of person," he said. "But I think out of loyalty, friendship and love of her friend, (she) decided to keep the body at home." Monday, January 9, 2006 ( 05:16 PM ) Well, we all knew this day would come. It just wasn't good enough for her that he played a murderer who had sex with and killed some elderly woman on Law & Order: SVU... Hilary Swank, Chad Lowe separate Couple married for eight years Monday, January 9, 2006; Posted: 3:31 p.m. EST (20:31 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank and actor husband Chad Lowe have separated after more than eight years of marriage. "Hilary and Chad have decided to separate, but they are hopeful they'll be able to get through this tough time," Swank's manager Troy Nankin said in a statement Monday. There was no elaboration on the reason for the split. Swank, 31, and Lowe, who turns 38 on January 15, were married on September 28, 1997. They have no children. Swank famously forgot to thank a tearful Lowe while accepting her best actress Oscar in 2000 for "Boys Don't Cry." Last year, Swank won again for "Million Dollar Baby" -- this time, thanking her husband. She will next star in "The Black Dahlia," Brian De Palma's adaptation of James Ellroy's novel. Lowe, who is the brother of actor Rob Lowe, won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of AIDS patient Jesse McKenna on the TV series "Life Goes On" in 1993. David Rose, the actor's agent at Innovative Artists, said there would be no comment from Lowe. ( 02:50 PM ) Eberhard. Ahahahahaha From News of the Weird: Guilty Despite Deformity: In November, engineering student Mischa Beutling, 22, became the most recent rape defendant to profess innocence by impossibility, arguing that his penis is simply too large to have committed the crime. Beutling, who stands 6-7 and weighs 240 pounds, called a urologist to the stand in Newmarket, Ontario, to testify that Beutling's is 8 1/2 inches long "semi-relaxed" and 6 1/2 inches in circumference and that a woman who has not given birth could not accommodate it without serious injury. (In December, a judge named Margaret Eberhard found Beutling guilty.) [Toronto Sun, 10-29-05, 12-3-05] Sunday, January 8, 2006 ( 11:01 PM ) Oooo I can't wait to see the fallout from this Smoking Gun report. Gotcha, Oprah! ( 01:39 PM ) The saddest part about this is that the theaters probably never had any problem showing gems such as Sorority Boys or White Chicks. Utah megaplex balks at 'Brokeback' Sunday, January 8, 2006; Posted: 2:16 p.m. EST (19:16 GMT) SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A movie theater owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller abruptly changed its screening plans and decided not to show the film "Brokeback Mountain." The film, an R-rated Western gay romance story, was supposed to open Friday at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Instead it was pulled from the schedule. A message posted at the ticket window read: "There has been a change in booking and we will not be showing 'Brokeback Mountain.' We apologize for any inconvenience." Cal Gunderson, manager of the Jordan Commons Megaplex, declined to comment. The film, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is about two cowboys who discover feelings for one another. The two eventually marry women but rekindle their relationship over the years. The movie's distributor, Focus Features, said that hours before opening, the theater management "reneged on their licensing agreement," and refused to open the film. Gayle Ruzicka, president of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, said not showing the film set an example for the people of Utah. "I just think (pulling the show) tells the young people especially that maybe there is something wrong with this show," she said. Mike Thompson, executive director of the gay rights advocacy group Equality Utah, called it disappointing. "It's just a shame that such a beautiful and award-winning film with so much buzz about it is not being made available to a broad Utah audience because of personal bias," he said. Thursday, January 5, 2006 ( 04:37 PM ) Okay, so since we moved we got satellite TV. It rules. Mainly because we now get the Independent Film Channel, which isn't the main point of this entry. I watched Solaris today (which I recorded on DVR which is also rad but I won't go into right now) which was on IFC last night. Not the original Russian version of Solaris, but the Soderbergh version that didn't really cause much of a fuss when it came out in the theaters. Now if you've seen the Russian version, I don't need to tell you how much of a mindjob that flick is. If you haven't seen it, well, it's probably an understatement when I say that the movie is a total mindjob. Anyhoo, I wasn't expecting much out of the Soderbergh version but let me relay how pleasantly surprised I was! It didn't end up being an exact remake and ended up complimenting the Russian version (IMHO). Still a little mindjobby (having seen the Russion version you kinda know what's gonna happen), visually beautiful (part of the reason I enjoy Soderbergh movies so much), and Jeremy Davies really stole the show. Man, now I want to see the Russian Solaris again! ( 09:33 AM ) I'm sure there's some sort of blasphemy involved with this. Gibb Buys Johnny Cash's House HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees has purchased the home where Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived for 35 years. Gibb and his wife, Linda, bought the rustic retreat on Old Hickory Lake for an undisclosed amount, a lawyer for the Cash family said Wednesday. Hendersonville is 13 miles northeast of downtown Nashville. "This place will always be the spiritual home for the Cashes," Gibb said. "My wife, Linda, and I are determined to preserve it, to honor their memory. We fell in love with it; it's an incredible honor for us. We plan to use the home to write songs because of the musical inspiration." The 13,880-square-foot home and 4.6-acre property was purchased by Balinda LLC, a Florida company owned by Gibb and his wife, according to Nashville lawyer Robert L. Sullivan, who administers the Cash estate for the family. The house, visited by everyone from U.S. presidents to ordinary fans, went on the market in June with an asking price of $2.9 million. The price was lowered this fall to $2.5 million. Cash died in 2003, soon after the death of June Carter Cash. His hits include "Ring of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line." The Bee Gees are best known for their hits of the disco era in the late 1970s such as "Jive Talkin'" and "Night Fever." Wednesday, January 4, 2006 ( 11:27 PM ) In your FACE, USC!!! Monday, January 2, 2006 ( 12:17 PM ) Feels a lot like spring 'round these parts lately. No rain, plenty of sunshine, and grassfires everywhere you turn! The winds must have shifted because Austin smells like smoke today. Most of north Texas burned away and this is what we get. The air is a little hazier than usual, but it's nowhere near as bad as the time all of LA was on fire and the sky looked like this during the mid-afternoon: "It smells like burning."