The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

hummmmmmmm
00:38 Jun 30 2011
Times Read: 688

Servers/Bartenders - The Vampire Room (Downtown/Gastown)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 2011-06-29, 9:58AM PDT

Reply to: job-rmmkv-2468964202@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





New themed lounge The Vampire Room opening in Gastown is seeking full time and part time servers/bartenders to join our team. Must be available to work nights and weekends. Bartending experience is a plus but we are more interested in hiring the right people and are willing to train. Qualifications required organized, able to multitask, fluency in english, able to speak other languages, must be hard working, responsible and a great attitude. Duties include opening/closing, cleaning, cash handling, keen knowledge in alcohol, able to stand and walk long periods of time. Vampire Room is both creepy and strange at the same time, blood is not on the menu but our morbid motifs extend to the food presentation, all of the menu items have vampiric names....Will definitely be an experience for everyone..





Please send your cover letter and resume in pdf to above email, include on the the subject line which position you are applying for - Server or Bartender...What makes you the perfect Vampire.





Please note only the right candidates will be contacted, Thank you in advance.







•Location: Downtown/Gastown

•Compensation: $10.00 plus Tips and Meal

•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.

•Please, no phone calls about this job!

•Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.







PostingID: 2468964202

I KNEW it...lol
23:47 Jun 29 2011
Times Read: 693

Wow. I go for weeks where things are relatively quiet...
05:16 Jun 28 2011
Times Read: 708

Then BAM.



Work. Well, let's see. I was supposed to have last Friday off, so I told Scott I would take his car, get the oil changed, fill it up with gas, go grocery shopping, and treat myself to sushi and a book for lunch. As I was leaving he says "take the phone"



I said no, cause when I take the phone it RINGS.

Then I have to answer it, and that is NEVER good for me...lol



He insisted, in case the hissing I had heard from his A/C turned out to be something more dire, and I needed to get a hold of somebody.



So I took the phone.



I went to Super Lube, had a nice cuppa tea, read my book, and let the guys have at it. They finished, told me how much they loved hearing my accent, and off I went.



I got 10 miles towards the house, and guess what?



The phone rang.



And dumbass that I am, I answered it. It was Kat (one of the MOD's)



"Hi Luanne it's Kat. Can you come in an hour early?"



Why would I need to come in an hour early on Saturday?



"No, I mean today"



I'm not WORKING today. Do you want me to come in an hour early tomorrow?



"No I need you to come in today"



........why.......?



"The cage is a mess, I need the stock that came in yesterday put up, and all kinds of stuff cleaned up."



*sigh*



When do you need me to come in?



"Now?"



*growl*



I'm on my way.



So I get there, and find her and Kristy (the other bane of my existence) sitting in the resturaunt having lunch, just like perfect ladies...



What is it you want me to do?



"Well, there are boxes of wine all over the floor because the bartenders...."



HOLD it right there. The ONLY boxes on the floor are the open bottles of red, and they are going to STAY on the floor, so the kids will use them first. And I KNOW that is all that's on the floor, because I worked last night, and I put it there.



"Well, the canned sodas need to be put up, the liquor needs to be put up, and it's just a mess everywhere."



Then why didn't you just say so. And while we are on the subject, why aren't you or Kristy doing this, since you guys seemed adamant about doing inventory and whatnot yourselves, since you didn't even trust me to have my own keys anymore, must less do inventory?



"I have to do waitress reviews, and Kristy has back to back meetings."



You mean, neither of you wants to get hot, sweaty and nasty like I'm about to....



"Please?"



So I worked. For 2 and a half hours, I got nasty, sweaty, and hot. I got all of the expired beer and whatnot up on top of the storage shelves, so that it was out of the way, because they refuse to throw shit away. I hoisted an entire case of Lamb's rye up top as well, since we never used it. I put up all the liquor (all six cases of it) which had to go on the bottom shelf, which necessitated me getting down on my hands and knees.



I moved stuff to the beer cooler, because nobody else had bothered, and it was just sitting on the floor in the cage. Then I cleaned the beer cooler and straightened everything out there. I helped move stuff to the bev cart barn for the girl who runs the bev cart girls. I loaded TWENTY TWO cases of soda onto a cart, then hauled it to the top floor, and then cleaned and organized the dry storage room, straightening up the existing stock of sodas, and then unloaded the cart of what I had brought upstairs.



After I signed out, I went on to the grocery store, and then went home. I put up everything, then took a shower. After I got out and got dressed, I laid down on the couch, and that was the last thing I remembered until Scott came home at 10:30.



Saturday, I went and worked a hosted bar for a Croatian/Portuguese wedding, and they emptied me out of damn near everything, inlcuding the beer cooler, and that twice. The dj played a mix of Portuguese old people music, oompahpah music, and rap. My ears were bleeding, since after all, the giant fucking speaker was right. Next. to the BAR.



While I was making a drink for a lady, I thought I had grenadine on the inside of my right thumb. So I wiped it off. It came back, so I wiped it off again. One of the servers was standing there, and informed me that he was going to get me a bandaid...Seems I had slit my thumb opening up the bottle of clamato juice...Then, when I was pulling beers to restock, I slit the left side of my middle finger on that same hand on a bottle top. You'd think I would be more careful, being a bartender, wouldn't you? But I kept working like a mad woman.



I made not one red cent in tips doing it, and they were rude. Someone would walk up to the bar, order a beer, I would open it and set it on the bar, only to have someone behind them pick it up and walk off. Then the person who originally ordered the damn thing yells at me because they didn't have a beer.



Really?



Then, towards the end of the night, I was slinging beer fast and furious, and I had two people standing at the bar. Some jackass was flicking ice at them from the table right in front of the bar. Suddenly, the two people at the bar parted right down the middle, and that stupid fuck flips the ice cube and hits me dead in the chest. I looked up, and started around the bar, and as soon as I did, this guy ran.



Literally. He jumped up from the chair and bolted out of the room and down the stairs.



Suffice it to say, he did not come back....



Then, after taking two hours of restocking and cleaning up, I finally got to go home.



I got home. I was two shades of dead, but Scott, bless his heart, had heated up the pizza from the night before, poured me a HUGE pepsi, and helped me get undressed and in the shower. I had asked him to ask his parents over for dinner on Sunday, to say thank you for all the help Steve had given Scott around the house while I was at work, so I told him to email them and set it up for 6 pm.



I went to bed at 3:30, AFTER taking one extra strength benadryl complete, and one benadryl allergy.



I woke up at 10 am. And I was NOT happy about it.



But I got up, and started cooking. And like the rat always says, the house smelled amazing by the time Scott got up.



Asian pork in the crock pot.



Pink lemonade bars for dessert.



Then Scott got up, and we did some running around for the computer, and so I could pick up some veggies at the local market.



Then the rice and the tomato au gratin casserole went in, and I got the baking soda biscuits that Scott and his dad had been talking about recently mixed, kneaded, cut out and on the baking sheet.



Then, I sat down for an hour...lol



just before my in laws got there, I started making the Oriental cucumber and onion salad. I had been looking forward to this all day. I love vinegary stuff anyway, and cucumbers are my fav too. I was down to the last inch of the cuke, slicing it on the side of the grater, when OOOOPS....



I snatched my hand away, and realize that I have taken off the outside of my LEFT thumb. I am throwing blood everywhere, trying to keep it out of the food, which I succeeded in doing, and hollered for Scott, who came running. I ran water over it until he got back with the bandaid. He wrapped me up, and I promptly bled right through it. So we graduated to sterile gauze pads and surgical tape on top of it.



I managed to get dinner finished and on the table, AND play poker, and not pass out, but I guarantee you, it weren't easy. AND I lost at poker, which REALLY sucked...lol



At 9, the in laws left, once again raving about the cooking (Steve even hugged me for making the best biscuits he had since his mom died), and I decided to go clean up my finger again. Scott went to the door to say good bye to his parents, and I went into the bathroom. I got everything off, washed my hands (THAT hurt) got peroxide on it (again FUCK), added polysporin, and found that we had no more large bandaids. So I used two small ones, wrapped it in gauze, and tried to get a piece of surgical tape off the roll. Obviously, since I am left handed, and it is my left thumb I am now doctoring, tearing the tape wasn't that easy....



Do I wait for Scott?



Fuck no.



I grab the scalpel I keep in my makeup kit, and tried to slice through the tape.



I promptly sliced through to my ring finger on my right hand. At that point, Scott is standing there, torn between laughing at my ass, taking the scalpel away from me before I do him bodily harm, and helping me tape myself up AGAIN.



So. That's one wore out body from working on my day off. A bruise on my chest from an unlicensed ice shooter. A one inch slice on my right thumb, a 1/2 in ragged rip on my right middle finger. A one inch flap of skin loose on my left thumb, and a scalpel nick on my left ring finger.



And I have a golf tournament to work tomorrow.



Will somebody PLEASE just shoot me? Or at the very least, win the lottery for me so I can get my damn Goth B+B going, and hire OTHER people to tote barges, and lift bales???

And then on Monday.....
07:11 Jun 21 2011
Times Read: 735

I worked a golf tournament. Nice guys, moderate drinkers, moderate tippers, they came in, kept me busy for an hour or so, had dinner, got their prizes, and hit the road. I love golf tournaments...



But the highlight of my night? Diane, one of the chefs, hunts me down, and says she wants to ask me a favor....



Seems her son is acting in his high school production of "Footloose". And the school has recruited some of the parents, including her husband, to play some of the adults in the production, like the book burner, church members, etc......



It would seem I have been recruited myself.



Apparently, they need someone who can "coach" some of the adults in how to speak with a southern accent.........





I shit you not. I am about to corrupt yet another generation of Canadians.......



I had damn well better get credit in the program...lol

My Saturday
07:05 Jun 21 2011
Times Read: 737

I worked a wedding. You know the kind I mean; where the people hit the door, running for the bar. THAT kind of wedding.



I did over $4,000 worth of liquor sales. Single handedly.



As soon as dinner was over, the wedding reception suddenly turned into a night club and I spent all night swinging liquor like there was no tomorrow. Up to and including bride, groom, maid of honor, best man, and attending wedding party tossing back every conceivable shot I could spin. It took me 20 minutes to get the smell of jager bombs (hi rat) and espresso vodka out of my hair and skin....



And of course I got these....



"Can I get a Canadian Club and rye?"



......really.....?



Then there was the money who thought he could swing his arms everywhere. Had he not been constantly turning on the beer taps as he did so, I would have handed him a banana and let him go. But after getting splashed with draft beer for the third time, I flipped some in his face. He just looked at me and goes "What?"



GET away from my bar. NOW.



He leaves, only to pair up with the blonde at the OTHER end of the bar, and while they are wrestling with the second guy who wanted to join in, he knocks her glass of wine spinning, which I managed to catch before it went all OVER the computer keyboard. When he turns around, he looks at me and says, "That's HER glass of wine."



And I will give it back when YOU get AWAY from my bar. NOW.



The blonde later came over and shook my hand and apologized for her asshole friends (her words, not mine). I gave her a hug and told her no sweat, it happens. She just thought I was the cutest thing since sliced bread...lol



TWELVE hours. I tended bar for 12 hours, non stop.



By the time I got home I couldn't breath for the smell, I ached in places I didn't even know I had places, and I could have cheerfully slept for a week.



*shaking head*



I'm too old for this shit...

'Twilight' town death heats up border debate
19:44 Jun 18 2011
Times Read: 747




By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press The Associated Press

Saturday, June 18, 2011 1:24 PM EDT



FORKS, Wash. (AP) — Benjamin Roldan Salinas, a forest worker in the country illegally, leapt into the frigid Sol Duc River to escape a pursuing U. S. Border Patrol Agent, disappearing into the fast-moving waters.



For more than three weeks, his family, friends and volunteers — including other illegal immigrants — scoured the dense forest along the swollen river's banks for any sign of him.



The search ended June 4 when a family friend spotted the 43-year-old Salinas' bloated, decomposing body entangled in roots downstream, according to the sheriff's report.



His death heightened tensions in what has become a protracted engagement between the Border Patrol and the immigrant population of Forks — the small, remote Washington town best known as the fictional home of the vampire series "Twilight."







Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wow.
22:41 Jun 17 2011
Times Read: 769

I read Lady K's entry about Cancer, and decided I should take a look.



Wow. That was unsettling...lol

hehehehe......
20:52 Jun 14 2011
Times Read: 792

Excellent....
19:13 Jun 14 2011
Times Read: 800

Miss Morrigon said it was like ruffling through people's underwear drawer....



I guess some of them will be like silks panties, while some of us.....

My, my, my.....
22:50 Jun 11 2011
Times Read: 813

Ain't karma a bitch.



After two years, count 'em, TWO years, of going back and forth with the powers that be at work, constantly telling them that the bartenders were leaving messes that I was cleaning up after, of constantly trying to get something done about how the bartenders didn't care about anything but showing up, making their tips, and getting out as fast as they could ("Oh, don't worry about that, Luanne will take care of it").....



After screaming and crying to Scott about how hard I worked and how little people appreciated it sometimes...



Not to mention the fact that the then wedding coordinator, now MOD was one of the main ones I had to clean up after when she deigned to tend bar if we were shorthanded....



I get THIS in my email last night after I got home from work....



Hello Bartenders,



I am not going to try and sugar coat this in ANY way...the blue cage A was absolutely disgusting today when I went to put liqour away. There were half full boxes of wine just thrown onto the shelves, boxes on the floor, it was extremely disorganized. It took me and ****** half an hour just to reorganize the shelves so we could put liqour away. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We removed the sundry items from the blue cage A in order to make more room for the banquet wines so you wouldn't have to have boxes everywhere on the floor. There is a spot for everything on the shelves so there is no excuse for boxes being on the floor. Please take wine from ONE box and not three different cases. It makes it very difficult for us when we have to do inventory and really there is no need for it. You have all been here long enough to know what is acceptable and what is not, and what we saw today in NOT!



*****







I cannot WAIT to get to work tonight.....

Titanic II sinks in harbour on maiden voyage
00:18 Jun 09 2011
Times Read: 832






....Most people would think twice before buying a boat named Titanic II. And sure enough, when Briton Mark Wilkinson took the 16-foot (4.8-metre) cabin cruiser out for its maiden voyage, it promptly sank.



"If it wasn't for the harbourmaster I would have gone down with the Titanic," Wilkinson, who had to be fished out of the sea at West Bay harbour in Dorset, told local media.



"It's all a bit embarrassing and I got pretty fed up with people asking me if I had hit an iceberg."



Wilkinson, in his 40s, had only recently bought the boat and brought it by road from his home in Birmingham for its first outing.



After a successful fishing trip, things started to go wrong when he entered the harbour and the boat began taking on water. Wilkinson was forced to abandon ship and pictures showed him clinging to a rail before he was rescued.



One eyewitness said: "It wasn't a very big boat -- I think an ice cube could have sunk it!"

..

And that makes three....
01:14 Jun 04 2011
Times Read: 853

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor James Arness, who personified the tall, rugged lawman of the American frontier as Marshal Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke," U.S. television's longest-running prime-time drama, died on Friday at age 88.



Arness died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, said his business manager, Ginny Fazer.



The actor was in relatively good health but had "just been fading" in recent years, Fazer told Reuters. "No disease, nothing untoward, he just got tired, I guess," she said.



Arness was best known for his 20 years on TV playing Matt Dillon, the U.S. marshal in the dusty wild-west town of Dodge City, Kansas, a role for which he was recommended by his showbiz mentor and friend, the film star John Wayne.



When "Gunsmoke" left the CBS airwaves in 1975, Arness had set the record for the longest-running role played by a single actor in prime time. The feat that went unmatched until Kelsey Grammer tied the record after 20 years of playing psychiatrist Frasier Crane on two NBC comedies -- "Cheers" and "Frasier."



"James Arness will always be remembered as one of the biggest stars in the history of television, playing an iconic role on the medium's longest-running prime-time drama ever," CBS said in a statement.



"Gunsmoke," which originated on CBS radio in 1952 with William Conrad as the voice of Matt Dillon, debuted on TV as one of the first in a wave of "adult westerns" that sought to portray gunslingers and cowboys in a way that appealed to grown-up viewers, rather than youngsters.



Although not an immediate hit, "Gunsmoke" climbed up the ratings chart to No. 8 in its second season and went on to become the top-rated show on U.S. television from 1957 to 1961.



The show's success helped generate a lot of competition, with network television's prime-time lineup including more than 30 westerns at one point, but "Gunsmoke" outlasted them all.



MEMORABLE ENSEMBLE CAST



The cast comprised one of television's most memorable ensembles of supporting characters -- the good-natured but gullible deputy with a limp, Chester Goode, played by Dennis Weaver; the red-haired, whiskey-voiced saloon keeper Miss Kitty Russell; crusty old "Doc" Adams, and Louie, the town drunk.



Chester, who spoke with a pronounced twang -- "Meester Deellon!" -- left the series in 1964 and was replaced by scruffy deputy Festus Haggen. Miss Hannah took over the Long Branch Saloon after Kitty's exit.



Arness, who stood 6-feet-7-inches tall, earned three Emmy nominations for the program over the years.



Born James Aurness in Minneapolis to a family of Norwegian heritage, Arness dropped the "u" at the outset of his film career. He attributed his acting success to luck.



He was severely wounded in the leg in World War Two, which left him with a life-long limp.



While recuperating, his younger brother Peter -- who gained fame as the actor Peter Graves in TV's "Mission: Impossible" -- encouraged him to take a radio course. Arness got an announcing job, but then headed to Hollywood in hopes of a movie career.



He made his film debut in "The Farmer's Daughter" in 1947 as Loretta Young's brother, and appeared four years later in the title part as a space alien in "The Thing from Another World."



An agent who represented John Wayne later introduced him to Arness, and Wayne took the actor under his wing, giving him roles in several of his movies. Wayne ultimately suggested Arness for the lead part in "Gunsmoke," and even introduced the first episode for CBS.



Arness returned as Matt Dillon in five "Gunsmoke" reunion specials, the last of which aired in 1994 when he was 71. He also starred in the 1977 TV mini-series "How the West Was Won," the modern police drama "McClain's Law" in 1981, and reprised John Wayne's role in a TV remake of "Red River" in 1988.



Arness is survived by his second wife, Janet, two sons and six grandchildren.

*squee*
02:04 Jun 03 2011
Times Read: 894

See, I knew I had me some good friends on here- and I knew as soon as I put the aforementioned entry up, most of you would be right up on it...and I was right.



I also have once again discovered that I have married myself the most wonderful man in the world. If I could clone him and give him as a gift to you gals, I would.



I went in to wake him up for work.



After writing the previous entry, I was understandably upset. As a matter of fact, I have been upset all week long, despite the relatively upbeat outcome of the whole Monday meeting thang. So I bitched again, and I cried, again. And finally Scott kissed me hard on the lips, no doubt to shut me up. Then he tilted my head up so I was looking at him, looked me square in the eye and said:



"You know what the problem is, right? She's just jealous cause you're better at everything than she is...."



PURRRRRRRRRRRRR............

I told Angelus I would write this....
21:12 Jun 02 2011
Times Read: 908

When I could do so without slamming the keyboard into the wall. I'm not 100% sure I'm quite there, but what the hell- I can replace the keyboard...



One of the new managers, which regular readers of my journal already know about, is getting on my last nerve.



This girl trained me when I first started at Westwood, then went on her merry way to start her own business. She still worked at Westwood as a wedding coordinator, and when we were short a bartender at Christmas time, somebody would have to beg her to help out, and then she would make disparaging remarks about how she didn't sink to do that anymore, but she supposed she could help out in a pinch.



Then she would make an absolute shambles of my bars and storage. Leaving me to have to clean it up and not be able to say anything, because, and I quote "we need her to work periodically, and so we don't want to piss her off."



My ass.



Then, in February when the other manager left, she applied for the job. And because she was everybody's darling, she of course got the job.



Fine- do your job, I'll do mine, and all's right with the world.



Again. My ass



As soon as she started being back in the place, she started noticing the changes I had made over the past 2 years or so. Suddenly, it dawned on her that she didn't know everything about the bar side of banquets anymore. Not that she ever did; most of the things I learned and streamlined I did on my own. So I would get things like:



"When did we start putting Amaretto in the back bar?"



Um, almost three years ago.



"Why?"



Well I......



"That's nice." and off she would go to something else, totally cutting me off.



um hum...



So. Saturday, I was signing out from my shift that night, when I happened to glance at the previous night's shift sign in/out. Seems somebody had overwritten my sign in time for that night, knocking 15 minutes off my time.



Oh hell no. I don't think so. You can treat me like shit, ignore me, be condescending, but do NOT fuck with my check. Since I didn't recognize the initials by it, as soon as I got home, I emailed the head chef, who is in charge of the bulk of the clubhouse banquet business, and let him know what was going on.



The next thing I get is an email from the Assistant F+B manager, telling me he needs me to come in Monday for a meeting.



Apparently she had taken it upon herself to knock off my time, because she didn't bother to check with me first to find out that I had gone in early specifically to do things that needed doing. And as an aside, she had taken the opportunity to "vent" about me, telling them that I was always wanting to go home early, I was "loud" and "rude to the customers"etc.



Suffice it to say, I wasn't having any of that. But it took me 2 hours to explain to these people that I was doing exactly what they had asked me to do in the first place, and I resented having to explain myself to them like this, especially since they were the ones always asking me to and thanking me for taking care of all this nit noid shit in the FIRST place.



Included in this conversation was the head chef, since he was the one I contacted in the first place. And since I now had everyone's undivided attention, I clued them in on one very important story:



When I was hired, and this girl trained me, she told me I was hired to replace her as head bartender. After she left, and the then AFBM was asking me to do more and more, I finally went to him and asked him what my title actually was, and how it was being applied. I got that look.....the one where the person you are talking to has absolutely NO idea what you are talking about.



He asked me what I was talking about, and I repeated what she had said to me. He informed me that not only had I not been hired to replace her as head bartender, there WAS NO head bartender position.



BUT.



He thought it was a hell of an idea, he would bump it up the chain of command, and he was sure it would be implemented, I would be promoted, and all would be right with the world.



Un hunh.



Then the new owners came into the picture, the guy left rather than get fired like the rest of the management team, and that was that.



So I went to the NEW AFBM. He had been there for awhile too, so I felt comfortable talking to him about this, and he said he would look into it.



A few months later, HE was fired.



So that, as they say, was that.



Now here we are, almost 2 years later, and I find out that this is the first the head chef is hearing all of this.



So I told them, I would certainly make sure that everybody in charge knew why I was signing in earlier than my scheduled time if I needed to, but that I still wanted to be able to go about my business the way I had been. Unless of course, they wanted to take over all the paperwork, organizing, etc. that I was doing.



"Oh no, no, that's good- we are very happy you are doing all this for us, it makes things SO much easier for us."



And the head chef said he would make sure that I got whatever I needed to do what I needed to do, that they all wanted me to be a permenant part of the team that would get the clubhouse over the slump they were in because of the new owners (although that part wasn't pointed out, of course). And that they would certainly look into reinstating the possibility of a head bartender position. So her little shenanigans to get me chewed out, and possibly fired, sort of bit her in the ass.



My next question?



"Fine, in that case, can I have a raise?"



Which has also become a distinct possiblity according to chef as well....



But I made sure before this little meeting was over, that while I recognized the fact that there was an obvious personality conflict between the girl and myself, and I acknowledged that I would certainly not go out of my way to aggravate the situation, that I wanted to make sure that they knew that that had to go BOTH ways. That she was as responsible for her behavior towards me as I was mine towards her.



So. I still have a job. I might get a raise (we'll see). I might get a promotion (not holding my breath on that one under the circumstances).



And I have SCRUPULOUSLY avoided her like the plague when at all possible ever since, and will continue to do so. But the fact that one of the supervisors whom I trusted and thought of as my friend, and who came to me and whined about this boyfriend, or that parent, or whatever, and I listened and helped where I could, took something I said in fun and made it into a federal case?



That hurt.



I told Scott he needed to win the lottery soon. Suddenly, this isn't as much fun as it used to be, and I'm too old to be starting over yet again. In ANY way......

These things always come in threes....
20:32 Jun 02 2011
Times Read: 912

First:



.US actor Jeff Conaway, known for his roles in the television series "Taxi" and the movie "Grease," died Friday after being in a coma for several days due to a suspected overdose, local media reported.



Conaway died in the Encino Medical Center northwest of Los Angeles as a result of complications from pneumonia, his sister Carla Shreve told the Los Angeles Times.



After several days in an induced coma, the actor's family decided to disconnect him from an artificial respirator.



"Jeff Conaway was a wonderful and decent man, and we will miss him. My heartfelt thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this very difficult time," Hollywood star John Travolta told E!News.



Conaway was hospitalized last June after being found unconscious in his house due to an overdose of prescription medications, said Shreve.



One of his last television appearances was in 2008 on the reality show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," a program moderated by Drew Pinsky, a celebrity physician who specializes in addiction.



Born in New York, Conaway began his acting career on Broadway but his big break came with "Grease," starring with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.



He also became a regular on the hit sitcom "Taxi," playing Wheeler, one of a group of New York cab drivers.



"Taxi," which ran from 1978 to 1983, launched the careers of a host of comedic actors, including Danny De Vito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd and Andy Kaufman.



Conaway later recalled in an interview that a back injury he suffered while making "Grease" led to his becoming addicted to painkillers, the start of innumerable drug problems that sabotaged his career.



On "Celebrity Rehab," he admitted to struggling with addictions to cocaine and alcohol.





Second:



.NEW YORK, N.Y. - Clarice Taylor, the actress and comedian best known for playing grandmothers on "The Cosby Show" and "Sesame Street," has died at the age of 93.



Taylor died of congestive heart failure in her home in Englewood, N.J., on Monday, said her son, William Taylor.



During a career that spanned five decades, Taylor performed on radio and TV, in film and on stage, including in the original Broadway cast of the musical "The Wiz."



Her films included the 1971 Clint Eastwood thriller "Play Misty for Me" and, besides "The Cosby Show," she had another recurring TV role on "Sesame Street," where she was grandmother to the character David.



Both Taylor and Earle Hyman, who played her husband on "The Cosby Show," received Emmy nominations in 1986 for their roles as Anna and Russell Huxtable, parents of Bill Cosby's character and grandparents of the Huxtable youngsters.



While touring with "The Wiz," she roomed with Phylicia Rashad, who played Cosby's wife on the "The Cosby Show." She told The Associated Press in a 1987 interview that she decided to audition to play Rashad's mother.



"I spent three hours making up my face and putting on my tight clothes," Taylor said. "I didn't want to look too old to be her mother."



She didn't get the part.



Later, however, she was asked to audition for the part of Cosby's mother. "I put on a grey wig, a bandana over that, flat-heeled shoes and a long dress with no shape to it," she told the AP. "Bill saw through my act. I read five lines and he said, 'If you're going to go through all of this - you've got the part.'"



In 1987, she played the pioneering black female comedian Jackie "Moms" Mabley in an original off-Broadway play, "Moms," with future "Law & Order" regular S. Epatha Merkerson also in the cast. Taylor later toured as Mabley in a one-woman show.



She also played the role of Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in the stage version of "The Wiz," which opened in 1975.



Taylor began her acting career with Harlem's American Negro Theatre, and in the late 1960s was one of the original members of the New York-based Negro Ensemble Company.



Born Sept. 20, 1917, in Buckingham County, Va., she grew up in Harlem, where she skipped school to watch the sassy comedian Moms Mabley perform at the Apollo Theater.



Taylor told the AP she portrayed Mabley in "Moms" because she was determined that the world not forget her.



"She was so special and so wonderful," she said in the 1987 interview. "Here's a black woman born in the last century who made a living at her craft. She never cleaned house or picked cotton. She went through a lot but she stuck with it."



Taylor is survived by two sons, William and James, and four grandchildren.



Funeral details were pending.