Guilty Pleasures

By Associated Press

Art exhibit honors fun-loving man killed in mass shooting in Maine

WINSLOW, Maine | Peyton Brewer-Ross was the life of the party, with wraparound sunglasses and an outlandish Randy “Macho Man” Savage Slim Jim jacket. He also was a Navy shipbuilder, the father of a 2-year-old girl, and engaged to be married.

Brewer-Ross, one of the 18 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history, was remembered during a weekend art exhibit dubbed, “There Goes My Hero: Chapter One: Peyton Brewer-Ross.” The 40-year-old was playing cornhole with friends when he was gunned down on Oct. 25 in Lewiston. Another 13 people were injured.

His fiancée, Rachael Sloat, said she curated the art exhibit “to shed a little light on just how fun and eclectic a man he truly was, and most importantly the hero he was and will always be to our daughter Elle.”

“I want Peyton to be remembered for all that he was and not boxed into any particular category, most especially this recent tragedy. Some people will remember him from cornhole, some will remember him as a pipe fitter, some will remember him for his Slim Jim jacket. Peyton was all of those things and so much more,” she wrote.

Sloat was a student of art professor Peter Precourt at the University of Maine at Augusta, who owns the gallery, Art:Works on Main. Sloat inspired Brewer-Ross to take an art class at Southern Maine Community College.

She said she thought it’d be fun for people to see some of his paintings, and for others to join in. The artwork included a cornhole board decorated in Brewer-Ross’ honor and drawings depicting him in his homemade, tasseled jacket that paid tribute to the flamboyant professional wrestler “Macho Man,” who appeared in ads for Slim Jim, one of Brewer-Ross’ favorite snacks.

And Brewer-Ross’ own work was also on display: his painting of a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer signed with his initials “PBR”; self-portrait in sunglasses and a cowboy hat; and, in a nod to his own sense of humor, a man holding aloft a pair of men’s white underwear.

Precourt offered up his gallery because he felt he needed to do something after the tragedy, and he’s willing to continue the series to honor others. “I’m committed as long as people are interested in keeping this conversation going,” he said.

Van Eaton, an early rock ‘n’ roll drummer who played at Sun Records, dies at 86

MEMPHIS, Tenn. | J.M. “Jimmy” Van Eaton, a pioneering rock ‘n’ roll drummer who played behind the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Lee Riley at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, died Friday at age 86, a family member said.

Van Eaton, a Memphis native who came to the famous record label as a teenager, died at his home in Alabama after dealing with health issues over the last year, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis reported, with a daughter, Terri Van Eaton Downing, confirming his death.

Van Eaton was known for his bluesy playing style that the newspaper said powered classic early-rock hits at Sun like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Lewis and “Red Hot” by Riley. He also played with Bill Justis and Charlie Rich.

James Mack Van Eaton initially began playing trumpet in a school band, but he soon moved to drums, saying in a 2015 interview that “it was an instrument that intrigued me.”

Van Eaton had his own rock ‘n’ roll band called The Echoes that would record a demo at the recording studio operated by Sam Phillips. His work there led him to connect with Riley and later Lewis.

“The hardest man to play with in the world was Jerry Lee. I told every musician to stay out of this man’s way,” Phillips told The Commercial Appeal in 2000. “The one exception was JM Van Eaton.”

Van Eaton became a core of musicians that performed at Sun through the 1950s, the newspaper reported.

Van Eaton drifted away from the music business in the 1960s, but he resumed performing by the 1970s, particularly as interest in rockabilly grew following the death of Elvis Presley.

By the early 1980s, Van Eaton began four decades of working in the municipal bond business. But he also was part of the team that played the music for the film “Great Balls of Fire,” about Lewis, and he put out a solo album in the late 1990s. He was a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and Memphis Music Hall of Fame. He moved from Tennessee to Alabama a few years ago.

Other survivors of Van Eaton include another daughter, two sons and a stepson. His former wife, Deborah, said that private services will be held in the coming week, the newspaper said.

Man accused of stalking outside Swift’s Manhattan home to receive psychiatric treatment

NEW YORK | A man accused of stalking Taylor Swift after being spotted multiple times outside the singer’s Manhattan townhouse was found unfit to stand trial and will be committed to state custody for psychiatric treatment, attorneys said Friday.

David Crowe, 33, was arrested three times late last month in front of the pop star’s home in Manhattan’s exclusive Tribeca neighborhood. The Seattle resident faced charges of stalking, harassment and contempt.

Prosecutors have said Crowe violated a protective order issued Jan. 24 mandating he stay away from Swift and her home on the same day it was issued.

Crowe was found unfit to stand trial after a psychiatric exam, and the case was dismissed. He will be committed to the custody of the Office of Mental Health to receive treatment, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“We are pleased that all parties now agree to the obvious truth that Mr. Crowe is too ill to proceed, and that he requires treatment, not jail,” Katherine LeGeros Bajuk of New York County Defender Services said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to ensuring Mr. Crowe is provided with the psychiatric treatment and supportive social services he needs to achieve a successful and stable re-entry into society.”

Crowe had been spotted near the singer’s home about 30 times since Nov. 25, according to court documents.

Swift’s Manhattan townhouse has been the scene of several break-ins when Swift wasn’t there, including by some who were identified as stalkers.

A representative for the singer did not return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

‘Diva’ film soprano Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez Smith has died at 75

LEXINGTON, Ky. | Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez Smith, a renowned soprano known for her performance in the 1981 French cult-classic film “Diva” and who sang through the U.S. and Europe during her operatic career, has died at age 75.

Funeral services were held Friday for Fernandez Smith at a church in Lexington, Kentucky, where she had moved after residing for years in her native Philadelphia. She died of cancer Feb. 2 at her home in Lexington, daughter Sheena Maria Fernandez told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Billed as Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, she opened the movie directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix wearing a white gown and singing in an aging theater the aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” from the opera “La Wally.” It became the signature aria of her 25-year career that took her to the great opera houses in Europe and made her the centerpiece of gala occasions.

She graduated from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and continued her education at the Juilliard School in New York. Filmmakers for “Diva” approached her while she sang “La boheme” in Paris, leading to a film shoot for the thriller that would change her life, the Inquirer reported.

“The film gave me an exposure that I could not have imagined, and I had to catch up with my own fame when the floodgates opened to do countless operas,” she recalled. “My repertory simply wasn’t that great, and there was so much expectation to do everything well.”

Fernandez Smith spent more time in Kentucky after her now-late husband, Andrew Smith, returned in the 1990s to the area where he grew up to direct the voice program at Kentucky State University, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. In Lexington, she was known as a special education teacher at an elementary school and a member of Main Street Baptist Church, where she worked with the children’s music program.

“Wilhelmenia was always a very quiet person and did not crave the limelight,” Everett McCorvey, director of the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, told the Lexington newspaper. “Although the limelight craved her.”

In addition to her daughter, Fernandez Smith’s survivors include a sister, Kerr Brothers Funeral Home of Lexington said on its website.

—From AP reports