The Beach Boys Open a Restaurant: Good Vibration!

What do you do when you reach stardom and have enough money to spare? Open your own restaurant of course! Owning a restaurant seems to be what ridiculously wealthy stars like to do (the other one being sponsoring spirits as we mentioned earlier). Hearing the news that the Beach Boys are opening a restaurant in Las Vegas, I thought it would be fun to investigate what other stars also own their own restaurants. So here we go….

Today I found out that the Beach Boys want to open a restaurant called Good Vibration at a casino called Bally’s. Apparently, the restaurant will serve some form of surf fusion. I’m intrigued, I wonder how they’ll pull it off.

Operations Manager, Nick Raymond, said the restaurant will serve “a diverse menu and bar with affordable prices.” Non-coincidentally, the restaurant will open on the summer of 2012, or the Beach Boys’ 50^th anniversary. Wow, it’s already been fifty?! I wonder if when they realized they went around announcing their accomplishments to the world like Molly Shannon on a Saturday Night Live skit (if you watch the video, and I highly recommend it, look at the girl on the far left when the girls enter at around 4:30, you’ll see a moment of awkwardness that only comes with live performances).

To continue the list of celebrities with restaurants, and in no particular order, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their restaurant Lynyrd Skynyrd BBQ & Beer, located at the Excalibur, serves all-day Texas-style barbecue. My kinda place! Other notable celebrities are Dan Aykroyd with House of Blues, Arnold Schwarzenegger with Schatzi On Main, and of course, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger with Planet Hollywood.

With all these celebrities coming out with their own restaurants, I wonder which ones are worth the money and which ones should be ignored. What do you think? Have you ever been to any of these? Do you have a memorable story to tell about it? Let us know in the comment section!

Boy Band Hanson MMMBops to Beer

Do you guys remember Hanson? That’s right, that Hanson band made up of three boys that looked surprisingly similar to a chick band. They made that music video that is forever etched in our minds with no possibility of getting it out of there, MMMBop! Well guess what, those annoying little boys who I thought would remain forever innocent are thinking about having their own beer: MMMhop by IPA. Apparently it will be some form of a pale ale. Zac Hanson said, “We of course make records, they are fundamental to what we do, but we wanted to create a brand so that our fans have a greater experience.”

Whether or not this is an internet rumor, the fact remains that celebrity endorsement of alcohol is a bit of a fad in and of its own. Dan Aykroyd teamed up with Patron to create Crystal head Vodka.

The following is an interview in which Aykroyd explains his decision to endorse a spirit. Listen up for the “put into the mouths of people your passion.” Taken out of context, a hilarious quote in an otherwise very serious interview.

Lance Armstrong, an icon of fitness and health, after all he did defeat cancer, endorses Michelob Ultra. Sure the beer is very low in calories, but the alcohol content is still there. Justin Timberlake directed a pretty funny commercial for 901 Tequila. Even Jackie Moon, a fictional character by Will Ferrell, has his own Bud Light commercial.

Whether artists (if you can call Hanson that), actors, athletes, heartthrobs (as in Timberlake), or fictional characters, it seems everyone is endorsing some form of alcoholic beverages. With their vast and pervasive influence in our society, should celebrities endorse alcoholic beverages? What do you think? Is it an ethical duty for celebrities not to endorse alcohol? Or is it their acquired prerogative?