The Lion The Beast The Beat, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' fourth studio album for Hollywood Records, will be released June 12th. The musically powerful and conceptually dazzling work was produced by Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco, the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s 2012 Grammy winner Revelator) and Potter at Scott’s studio PLYRZ in Santa Clarita, CA, with the exception of "Loneliest Soul," which was produced by Dan Auerbach and engineered by Collin Dupuis at Easy Eye Sounds in Nashville, TN. David Campbell (Beck, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne) arranged and conducted the strings on the album.

The album was mixed by fellow Vermonter and Grammy award winner Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, TV on the Radio, Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball) and mastered by Grammy award winner Bob Ludwig (David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Foo Fighters). The first single from The Lion The Beast The Beat  is "Never Go Back," written by Dan Auerbach and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. The track went to radio on March 23rd for an April 9th impact date. GPN's debut performance of "Never Go Back" is set for April 5th on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A companion video for the track will be shot in Los Angeles in April.

"I think there’s a Lion and a Beast within all of us— as humans. There's also true goodness, and the appearance of goodness…" says Grace. "Maybe I’ve watched too much Mad Men, but I'm in love with the idea of a story with no heroes and no villains. I've never really even dipped my toes in the whole 'concept album' thing but these themes just kept creeping into all the new songs and I didn’t fight it. I decided to embrace it."

Among the song titles are Stars, The Divide, Steady, Parachute Heart, Never Go Back, and Loneliest Soul, both co-written with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, as well as the title track The Lion The Beast The Beat.

"Each song stands upright on its own, but these songs really belong to this album. The way we’ve always made records is to put together a list of 30 or so songs, pick the best ones, throw them together and hope it congeals. I didn’t wanna do that this time. I came up with the track order before we recorded so we could really bring you in and out of these songs like scenes in a movie. I want to bring the listener into our weird fantasy and keep them there."

 
Norah Jones is unveiling something new at South By Southwest— again. Ten years after she shook Austin and the music world with "Come Away With Me," the 25 million-selling debut she released just weeks before the 2002 conference and festival, she returned to play her entire new album "Little Broken Hearts" at La Zona Rosa in Austin on Saturday night. "It seemed to make sense to come back to my new record," Jones said. "I'm just going to play the new record. I'm not even going to play any old songs because it's South By Southwest. It doesn't seem wrong to do it that way. It's fun. This is a festival. It's for new bands but it's also just for new stuff, so it feels right to do the new record."

The stylish yet deeply emotional 12-song collaboration with Danger Mouse is due to be released on May 1st. In an interview Friday, Jones described "Little Broken Hearts" as a concept album of sorts that examines a difficult breakup. She said she and Danger Mouse, the producer whose given name is Brian Burton, wrote most of the songs as a team, working out lyrics and the instrumentation together. It's something of a departure for Jones and another step in her evolution away from the jazz of the Grammy-winning "Come Away With Me."

Jones came back to SXSW in 2006 with her side project The Little Willies, a group she played two shows with on Thursday. The experience performing as a solo artist will be a little less discombobulating this time around. "It was kind of crazy," Jones said. "I remember 10 years ago when I came... and it was insane. It was like we were doing four shows a day or something. I don't know. It felt very strange, but it was fun."

 
Dear Lucy— 
I felt the need to compose a letter thanking you for being the remarkable human being that you are. It was [as it always is] both an honor and a pleasure talking with you during your Green Peace protest against Shell Oil. I've interviewed, gotten to know and became friends with a sleuth of actors and actresses in my lifetime. An entire lifetime... and I can say with the utmost sincerity that I have never felt compelled to call any one of them a hero. But thanks to your selfless actions aboard that ship, I can finally bestow the title of hero upon YOU... with great pride and admiration. As much as I love Fiona Hutchison [as we are sisters], I CANNOT see her boarding that ship and climbing to incredible heights to send a message to Shell Oil, just one of the many corporate giants who prey upon this planet like parasites. You are a hero Lucy, not just to me or millions upon millions of fans all over the world... but for those generations yet to come. 

I know for a fact that you do not have an egotistical cell in your entire body and that you would totally disagree with everything I am writing. You would tell me in that infamous Kiwi accent, "Bridget, you've gone completely mad because I'm not special. I'm just a Mom who cares about her children and the planet." But what you do not see... is that you ARE so much more than special. You, my humble friend, are far more heroic than the character you played for six seasons. Xena Warrior Princess, sword in hand, couldn't come close to who you REALLY are on her best day.

You see Lucy, by nature; the United States of America is a very pessimistic society. We seem to have great difficulty believing in the good nature of most people. Everyone has skeletons buried in their closets. We seem to have the need to dig them out. How many times have we heard the words uttered "It seems too good to be true they must be hiding something". So we take whatever heroes we may have and tear them down. We are more concerned with tragedy than we are with hope. You defy this logic  and in doing so, you have set an example, a true precedence for the rest of us. We need to consider the process of learning to add courage to our faith.

Many people have faith, or at least they say that they do, but it does not seem to reveal itself in the outworking of their lives. The problem is the absence of courage and "courage is the muscle that faith uses to hold its ground." So many people today do not seem to have the ability to courageously live out their faith in humanity and what is best for our future. Now I am not talking about those instantaneous heroes who make the headlines because they happened to be at the right place at the right time. I'm talking about TRUE heroes like you Lucy... who make daily conscious decisions to respond courageously to life's dilemmas. The Webster's Dictionary defines courage as: "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." Courage is putting our faith into action, adding sweat to our convictions, doing what is hard to do because we know it needs to be done. This is precisely what you did, without hesitation. 

Perhaps the simple acts of kindness that we all perform need to be taken just a little further. Maybe all it takes is the belief in ourselves, and the courage to face reality fearlessly. We all want to make a difference, to be someone Lucy... but you have given all of us an example to follow, to believe. This is my challenge to everyone who reads this, become a hero to others. Have the courage to stand up for your convictions and stop living in fear. 

And Lucy? Please accept my compliments and this letter as a testament to what it means to be a hero and a heartfelt thank you for your wisdom and courage.

Much Love,

Bridget Petrella

 
The trial over Nicollette Sheridan's firing from Desperate Housewives featured one last twist Monday with the disclosure of a mystery witness who has indicated show officials tried to cover up correspondence related to the actress. A judge ordered the man to appear in court Tuesday morning to determine whether he will become one of the final witnesses that jurors considering the case will hear from. The man, who was identified as Michael Reinhart, left a message for Sheridan's attorney on Sunday afternoon stating that he mistakenly got an email that suggested that messages related to Sheridan's departure would be purged. The man on the message said he didn't want to become involved in the case, but by day's end had becoming the latest intriguing thread in a trial that has featured a behind-the-scenes look at Desperate Housewives and conflicting testimony on whether Sheridan was struck by show creator Marc Cherry during a September 2008 dispute. 

"There was a definite conspiracy to cover up the correspondence on email-wise in regards to Nicollette," the caller is heard saying on the call, which was played in court outside the presence of the jury. Adam Levin, an attorney for Cherry and the ABC television network, dismissed the claims. He noted in court that he had not spoken with Reinhart. "Today's antics by the plaintiff, conjuring up mysterious emails, appears to be a last ditch effort to save her case," Levin said after Monday's proceedings. Closing arguments are likely to begin on Tuesday as both sides call their final witnesses. Sheridan's attorney Mark Baute, who received the message Sunday, said he would like to call Reinhart as a witness. Sheridan, 48, is suing Cherry and ABC for wrongful termination and battery and is seeking $6 million in damages. All of us here at UPBEAT think that Nicollette deserves a small fortune for having to put up with Marc Cherry. That's right ABC, we/ believe that Marc Cherry doesn't really deserve another show let alone all of the dubious "ass-kissing", similar to the same empirical treatment given to ex-ABC Daytime Head Brian Frons!

In the end, the character, Edie Britt's death came after she escaped being strangled and survived a car crash only to be electrocuted by a downed power line. Baute, in opening statements, called it a triple homicide that reflected Cherry's animosity toward Sheridan. Cherry told jurors that he had contemplated killing Sheridan's character at the end of season three, but studio and network executives didn't approve. As he began to plan season five, he said he wanted to kill Britt as part of a "risky but potentially effective change to the series."

And of course, ABC, made sure that numerous witnesses for the show's creator and network testified that the decision to kill off Sheridan's Edie Britt character was made in May 2008, four months before her dustup with Cherry on the show's set. Cherry maintains he tapped the actress while trying to give her direction for a scene, but Sheridan claims he struck her hard on the left temple, leaving her stunned and humiliated. For the record, we believe Nicollette Sheridan, not only is she a superb actress, but we've spoken with and interviewed her several times and she's also an extraordinary person. Maybe it's time for ABC to grow a set and take better care of their TALENT and the SHOWS as opposed to guys like Cherry and Frons!


As Harriet Ryan from The Los Angeles Times summed it all up in her brilliant piece, "Underscoring it all was the absurdity of asking a group of strangers to care deeply about the minor travails of the very rich and semi-famous." 


Her entire article can be found at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0313-desperate-housewives-20120313,0,3547030.story
 
Rita Hayworth dancing by candlelight in a small Mexican village; Elizabeth Taylor devouring homemade pasta and tenderly wrapping him in her pashmina scarf; streaking for Sir Laurence Olivier in a drafty English castle; terrifying a dozing Jackie Onassis; carrying an unconscious Montgomery Clift to safety on a dark New York City street. Captured forever in a unique memoir, Frank Langella's myriad encounters with some of the past century's most famous human beings are profoundly affecting, funny, wicked, sometimes shocking, and utterly irresistible. With sharp wit and a perceptive eye, Mr. Langella takes us with him into the private worlds and privileged lives of movie stars, presidents, royalty, literary lions, the social elite, and the greats of the Broadway stage.

What, for instance, was Jack Kennedy doing on that coffee table? Why did the Queen Mother need Mr. Langella's help? When was Paul Mellon going to pay him money owed? How did Brooke Astor lose her virginity? Why was Robert Mitchum singing Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs at top volume, and what did Marilyn Monroe say to him that helped change the course of his life? Dropped Names is a sizzling platter of stellar vignettes— pungent, indeed, but poignant as well. He opens telling of a chance Manhattan encounter with Marilyn Monroe in 1953, and ends with the wealthy Bunny Mellon, whose motto was "Nothing should be noticed." Through these shared experiences, we learn something, too, of Mr. Langella's personal journey from the age of fifteen to the present day. Dropped Names is, like its subjects absolutely riveting and completely unforgettable.

Frank Langella has been a professional actor for over five decades and hopes to carry on for several more. He began performing as a boy in his hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey, and currently resides in New York City. This is his first book.

 
I read this book when it was released back in 1999. I have always been fascinated with Alfred Hitchcock. He will always be, in my opinion, the greatest director that ever lived. From a couple desperately racing across the top of Mount Rushmore to a woman's final shower at an isolated motel, no other filmmaker has given movie fans more unforgettable images or heart-pounding thrills than Alfred Hitchcock. Now for the first time, you can finally share in the Master of Suspense's inspiration and articulate development, his entire creative process, his subtle brilliance... in Hitchcock's Notebooks. With the complete cooperation of the Hitchcock estate and unprecedented access to the director's notes, files, and archives, Dan Auiler takes you from the very beginnings of story creation to the master's final touches during post-production. 

Actual production notes from Hitchcock's masterpieces join detailed interviews with key production personnel, including writers, actors and actresses, and his personal assistant of more than thirty years. Mirroring the director's working methods to give you the actual feel of his process, the book explores the production files of 'Shadow Of A Doubt,' 'Strangers On A Train,' 'North By Northwest,' and others, as well as the legendary lost works: 'The Mountain Eagle' and the unfinished film 'Kaleidoscope'. Highlighted by nearly one hundred photographs and illustrations, chapters focus on finding and constructing the right story (featuring interviews with such renowned screenwriters as Charles Bennett, Samuel Taylor, and Ernest Lehman); envisioning the film (from storyboards to set design); the filming (spotlighting Hitchcock's innovations and trick shots); music; and so much more.  

No fan or film student should be without this definitive guide to the renowned filmmaker's art. From a couple racing across the top of Mount Rushmore to a woman's final shower at an isolated motel, no other filmmaker has given movie fans more unforgettable images or heart-pounding thrills than Alfred Hitchcock. Now for the first time, you can finally share in the Master of Suspense's inspiration and development— his entire creative process— in Hitchcock's Notebooks. With the complete cooperation of the Hitchcock estate and unprecedented access to the director's notes, files, and archives, Dan Auiler takes you from the very beginnings of story creation to the master's final touches during post-production. Actual production notes from Hitchcock's masterpieces join detailed interviews with key production personnel, including writers, actors and actresses, and his personal assistant of more than thirty years. 

Mirroring the director's working methods to give you the actual feel of his process, the book explores the production files of Shadow Of A Doubt, Strangers On A Train, North By Northwest, and others, as well as the legendary lost works: The Mountain Eagle and the unfinished film Kaleidoscope. Highlighted by nearly one hundred photographs and illustrations, chapters focus on finding and constructing the right story (featuring interviews with such renowned screenwriters as Charles Bennett, Samuel Taylor, and Ernest Lehman); envisioning the film (from storyboards to set design); the filming (spotlighting Hitchcock's innovations and trick shots); music; and much more. No fan or film student should be without this definitive guide to the renowned filmmaker's art.

 
Lucy Lawless took on Shell Oil and created an "awareness" that hopefully won't go away anytime soon. She obviously created a massive "hole" in the oil company's plans to continue drilling in the Arctic off the coast of Alaska as Shell Oil managed to "dig up" an old ad that the actress did for them OVER 20+ years ago! This is precisely the reason that this story MUST be told in the United States of America! The story has NOT been broadcast here in the US on any major network— cable or otherwise! The questions we should now be asking are: WHY IS THIS STORY BEING SUBDUED IN THE US? and... WHY AREN'T THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF OFFSHORE DRILLING? How is it that Shell Oil was allowed to slip their "agenda" under the radar? We have a few theories here at UPBEAT... First of all, Shell Oil is a publically traded company. This means that ALL information about the company, including any/all plans are PUBLIC DOMAIN according to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As citizens of the US, we are entitled to ALL information having to do with Shell Oil. But, NOTHING has been reported by our so-called "free press" in terms of broadcast television. Why is it that we have been left in the dark? Here are some names that all of you need to become familiar with: David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch— the two brothers still with Koch Industries— are affiliated with the Koch family foundations. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/21/private-companies-11_land.html  Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is all about … lining the pockets of their funders like the oil industry magnates the Koch Brothers and Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP... all while ignoring what is actually important to American families and their children.  

The Koch brothers held their annual meeting in Coachella a few weeks PRIOR to the Shell incident. According to reports from our source, the theme was removing Obama from office: Republican supporters led by secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers have pledged to oust Barack Obama from power— by stumping up a $100 million (£63million) war-chest. David and Charles Koch, worth a combined $50+ billion [quite possibly much more], have been joined by 300 of America’s wealthiest businessmen in promising the cash to stop Obama from being re-elected. They met at the conservative brothers’ annual three-day Californian retreat, where they gain pledges for non-profit groups that share their world views.

Who else you ask? Broadcasters like Rupert Murdoch benefit greatly from federal giveaways. Holding frequency licenses worth fortunes, they're now receiving free slices of a digital spectrum valued at up to $70 billion. Likewise, cable TV conglomerates— with Malone's TCI in the lead— continue to expand under the protection of federal regulations that place severe limits on the power of municipalities to charge franchise fees fo the use of public rights-of-way. While lauding the "free market," Murdoch and Malone rely on the federal government's aid in their quest for media monopolization... giving them the ability to LITERALLY control the US broadcast media highway... 

In walks Lucy Lawless, a television pop-culture icon, with a dream and a deeply rooted compassion for saving our future as well as the future of our children. Unaware of the back story that we have been uncovering layer by layer, Lucy Lawless' genuine concern for our environment and the children who will inevitably be responsible for cleaning up a mess comprised of corporate greed and selfishness, was taking a stand to educate Americans as well as the rest of the world about the very REAL dangers posed by off-shore drillng. She wasn't committing any crimes; she was simply following her heart. 

The occupation of an Arctic-bound Shell drill ship by six Greenpeace activists including actress Lucy Lawless finally ended after police climbed the ship’s drilling tower and arrested the group. The protest was into its fourth day and the activists had spent 77 hours on top of the 170 ft. drilling tower. "This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun," said Lucy Lawless, before being arrested. "Seven of us climbed up that drillship to stop Arctic drilling, but 133,000 of us came down." She continued, "We will continue to stand in solidarity with the communities and species that depend on the Arctic for their lives until Shell cancels its plans to drill in this magical world, and makes the switch to clean, sustainable energy." 

Despite the fact that the charge of "unlawfully being on a ship" was available, prosecutors have chosen to charge the protestors with the more serious crime of burglary. Are they SERIOUS? What on Earth would Lucy Lawless have stolen from a ship so old that they might just as well be using the Titanic to drill? Greenpeace insists that no property was taken or damaged during the occupation. The activists entered the Port of Taranaki at 6:30 a.m. on February 24th, scaled the drilling tower of the Shell drillship the Noble Discoverer and set up camp. The ship was preparing to leave for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska where it is scheduled to drill three exploratory oil wells this summer.

Over the course of the four-day occupation, more than 135,000 people sent an email to Shell executives telling them to cancel their plans to drill in the Arctic. Thousands of people tweeted messages of support to Lucy and the activists using the hashtag #savethearctic, which also featured on banners hung from the drillship. Celebrities like Jared Leto and the official Beatles twitter page posted messages to their followers as well. UPBEAT Entertainment News Syndicate was the first to break this story and began pushing it along to every blog and news outlet available as well as their own subscribers. 

"We did what we came to do," said Lawless. "Together we sent a clear message to Shell that has echoed across the globe— it's time to draw a line in the ice and say: enough."

Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a major focus. If the Noble Discoverer strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark an Arctic oil rush. The company has a very tight window in which to drill for oil. Freezing temperatures, extreme weather conditions and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges, and make an Arctic oil spill virtually impossible to contain and clean up. Even former Shell Oil CEO and founder of the non-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy John Hofmeister, warned that this year, Americans are likely to pay the highest average price for gasoline in history, but cautioned that the U.S. could not rely on tapping the strategic oil reserve to solve the problem.

 
Brittany Murphy, the bubbly, free-spirited actress who appeared in such films as Clueless and 8 Mile, died of natural causes back in 2009. She was only 32. Our favorite film starring Brittany will always be Little Black Book as the actress perfectly captured how we all sometimes feel when it comes to relationships and matters of the heart. This little gem of a film pulls together a stellar cast including Kathy Bates, Holly Hunter and Carly Simon [as herself]... This snippet from the film goes out to Brittany Murphy as she will always be in our hearts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFF0tfzLqPE If you have an opportunity to snag up a DVD of Little Black Book, do so... as it brings out the dreamer in all of us... there's a spark of optimistic magic in the film that we could all use right now.

Murphy got her first big film break playing one of Alicia Silverstone’s high-school clique in Clueless. She followed this intuitive performance with a series of roles on TV, before again turning in a notable supporting performance in the Winona Ryder/Angelina Jolie starrer Girl, Interrupted. She also stood out in another challenging supporting role in the Michael Douglas thriller Don’t Say a Word, which no doubt helped to land her a starring role in 2002 in 8 Mile opposite rapper Eminem. Playing Eminem’s beautiful but unfaithful new girlfriend in Curtis Hanson’s powerful Detroit drama, Murphy turned in a raw and sympathetic performance in what was on the surface an unsympathetic role.

Brittany was a "breath of fresh air" compared to so many of the "mini divas" that permeate the film industry like so many parasites. She brought such a natural charm and genuine love/vulnerabilty to every character she played. One of the first things Brittany Murphy did when she showed up on the Oregon set of her independent thriller Something Wicked was acknowledge— and apologize... for her weight, which, to us, was absurd. "I met her on the first day she arrived in Eugene with her husband," explained Scott Chambers, a principal at Chambers Productions and an executive producer on the picture. "She looked ill, as much as 10 pounds underweight, and she's a small person to begin with. She easily could have made an excuse not to come to work, but she didn't. She said, 'I've got to get better, but I want to do this part.'"

A day after the death of the 32-year-old actress, people in the film business described a woman who continued to work tirelessly even as her star-wattage dimmed somewhat and health issues began to take their toll. Murphy spent about three weeks shooting her role as a psychiatrist in Something Wicked, a mystery thriller about a teenage couple experiencing supernatural phenomena. Chambers noted that although the part was not physically demanding— most of the scenes took place in an office setting— he nonetheless was struck by Murphy's commitment to her part given her fragile state.

Angelo Bertolotti, who says he is the late actress Brittany Murphy’s biological father, has filed suit this past year against the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office and the Los Angeles Police Department. He wants to force them to do additional toxicology testing on a sample of the star’s hair and to re-open the investigation into her death. Brittany's mother has also filed a lawsuit against the attorneys that represented her in a suit against the builders of the home where the actress died, claiming the lawyers never told her about a possible wrongful death suit due to mold growing in the house. The suit by Sharon Murphy in Los Angeles Superior Court came nearly two years after the December 20th, 2009 death of Brittany Murphy, which was followed by the May 2010 death of Brittany's husband Simon Monjack. Sharon Murphy apparently did not become convinced that toxic mold was a cause in the death of her daughter and son-in-law until this past summer, when she was in the process of selling the house in the Hollywood Hills.

"Due to the lack of investigative efforts by the Los Angeles Police Department," states one of the lawsuits filed in L.A. Superior Court, "and the failure to conduct toxicology tests on the specimens" of her hair, Bertolotti believes that "his daughter's death was incorrectly determined to have been allegedly caused by pneumonia and anemia." No word as to where the case stands at this point. 

When the final curtain came down for Brittany Murphy, the drama played out in the one room in her Hollywood Hills mansion that had become her refuge: her bathroom. This tiled, peach-colored sanctuary was where she went to get away from the mounting pressures of her life: a house she hated, a city where she no longer wanted to live, a career that was imploding and the constant burden of being a caregiver. Even though she didn’t feel well herself, Brittany was there to care for her mother, Sharon Murphy, a breast cancer survivor suffering debilitating neuropathy, and her ailing husband of three years, 39-year-old Simon Monjack. For nearly a year, the England native had been having seizures and a month earlier suffered an apparent heart attack. When he had a seizure, his arms and legs flailing on the big four-poster bed, Brittany would rush to his side. Although weakened by anemia and gasping for breath from her own ailments, Brittany held his 300-pound body down, using a spoon to keep him from swallowing his tongue.

The tabloid noise had increased over the years as Brittany got thinner and blonder in a quest for leading roles in movies, which also raised the specter of anorexia, which haunts many Hollywood actresses who feel the need to be thin. Brittany was 115 pounds when she died, a healthy weight for her height, even though she looked fragile. "She had curves in all the right places," Simon said as he was terribly upset by all of the tabloid innuendos. "She was just miniaturized. She ate whatever she wanted when she wanted."

It was wonderful that Brittany never lost her childlike innocence and sense of wonder... or that infectious giggle she often displayed as she was indeed an eternal optimist. But what worked for her as an actress made for a confusing life: She never learned to drive or balance her own checkbook. She looked to her mother, business managers and finally Simon to care for her. It was the need for a father— as her biological father [Bertolotti] was rarely part of her life— mentor, teacher and anchor that finally led her to Simon, who, inevitably died just 5 months after she did.

Whatever becomes of the two seperate lawsuits, filed by each of her parents... nothing can EVER replace the smile, the acquiescent person we all came to know and care about. There is still a noticible void in the industry... a place that will never be filled in quite the same way. Brittany Murphy herself once said, "I've learned to be selective of the people in my world, because if I love someone, I will give them my blood, whatever they need. In doing so, one can end up with little left for themselves. It's a lesson in self-preservation that I'm still learning. If you don't have yourself, you have nothing to give." This statement could easily sum up Brittany's life... but we prefer to remember her as a compassionate soul who dared to be selfless when it came to love... and everything else that she left behind in every role she played. We still miss her terribly... and always will.