I know he was Muslim, but he was also Bangladeshi — and when it comes right down to it, death— er, being absorbed into the absolute — is The Great Equalizer, so who cares in the end if I don’t know which language to use? All that matters is, he was brilliant, and his music inspirational beyond words.
So here’s a rough (very rough) translation to Sanskrit:
During a raid in mid-January on a massage parlor in Midvale, Utah, the father of last year’s American Idol runner-up, squeaky-clean Mormon David Archuleta, was arrested by police and charged with prostitute solicitation, a Class B misdemeanor.
According to Us Weekly, Jeff Archuleta, 41, who was the consummate stage dad during his son’s Idol run, has pleaded no contest to the charge, paying a $582 fine following his arrest at an establishment called the Queens of Reiki on January 14th. …
Jeff Archuleta figured prominently in last year’s Idol, with various media outlets reporting throughout the season that he was influencing his son’s song selections. One report claimed Jeff was seen yelling at David following a recording session. Others suggested Archuleta had his son add a lyric from the Sean Kingston song “Beautiful Girls” into a rendition of “Stand by Me,” which upped licensing costs for the show; the move led producers to ban Jeff from backstage rehearsals.
Well, it’s the show’s fault then — it was obviously the stress of being banned backstage that led to his back pain, which led him to seek “legitimate massage therapy” (as Daddy’s lawyer puts it). Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket!
I’ve paid my dues Time after time I’ve done my sentence But committed no crime
And bad mistakes I’ve made a few I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my face But I’ve come through
We are the champions, my friends And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end We are the champions We are the champions No time for losers ‘Cause we are the champions of the world
I’ve taken my bows And my curtain calls You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it I thank you all
But it’s been no bed of roses No pleasure cruise I consider it a challenge before the whole human race And I ain’t gonna lose
We are the champions, my friends And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end We are the champions We are the champions No time for losers ‘Cause we are the champions of the world
“You just can’t pick what it is you want to be the truth. If you want to be a televangelist, fine. You want to talk about faith and glory of God and all the rest of it, great. That’s freedom of religion. But taking my freedom away by moralizing and judging, if that’s the God they believe in, I don’t want any part of it. It’s astonishing to me that the most judgmental people seem to be those who think they speak for God.”
Lynda Carter talks to Metro Weekly — and you’re going to love what she says. You’re also going to be knocked out by the gorgeous pictures:
The things you find when you’re surfing anti-gay blogs…
Or, actually, the things you find when you’re looking at your server logs, and you see an unexplained flurry of Google queries coming in on such phrases as “homosexuality + gospel singers,” and you start searching Google to see what’s bringing these queries in, and you realize it’s notDonnie McClurkin they’re looking for…