For several years late in the decade Andy Partridge was one of the most interesting/disturbing/exciting/innovative and talented songwriters/singers/guitarists in popular music. Songs such as "Dear God", "Merely a Man" and "Mayor of Simpleton" to name just a few kept power pop relevant in the days leading up to the grunge onslaught. Partridge's lyrics were brutally cynical and took on all comers from religion to politics to consumerism with a vitriol that seemed not quite consistent with his baby-faced, good boy looks.

After contract disputes led to the end of XTC following the stellar album "Nonsuch" Partridge became something of a musical vagabond which is what he remains to this day (XTC, says Partridge, is something he thinks of "in the past tense"). He lives a fairly secluded life with his long time gf Erica Wexler and is fond of creating his own board games.







Left:
Then: Andy Partridge late 80s
Now: Andy Partridge and GF Erica Wexler

On March 30, 1981 Ronald Reagan was leaving the Washington Hilton hotel in D.C. when a deranged man in the crowd outside the hotel opened fire on his entourage at it approached the Presidential limousine. Upon hearing the first shots Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy did the unthinkable - or at least what would be unthinkable to the vast majority of human beings - he turned to face the fire spreading his body wide to use as a shield between the gunman and Reagan. No sooner had he turned than he took a bullet in the gut and fell to the ground wounded as the President's limo sped away. It was an unmitigated act of valor. An extraordinary expression of the professionalism and dedication of the people assigned to the Presidential Protection detail.

So where is Timothy McCarthy now?

After spending several hours in surgery following the shooting to remove the round from his abdomen, McCarthy made a full recovery. In 1993 he retired from the Secret Service after running the Chicago office for several years. Since 1994 he has been Police chief of Orland Park Illinois.

(left) March 30, 1981: Agent McCarthy after taking a bullet protecting the President and (right) in a recent photo.

Aha's single "Take on Me" is one of the great pop songs of the 80s (or any decade for that matter). The video that accompanied the song was also groundbreaking in its fusion of animation and live action footage and won numerous awards. Key to the success of the video was the young actress who played the girl drawn into the comic book world of the singer. Her name was/is Therese "Bunty" Bailey and she was Aha lead singer Morten Harket's girlfriend at the time the video was shot.

So what ever happened to Bunty Bailey?

After "Take on Me" Bailey went on to star in Aha's follow-up video "The Sun Always Shines On TV" and then had a short career in motion pictures. After a 16 year hiatus she returned to the silver screen in the 2008 low-budget comedy "Defunct". These days Bailey is a dance teacher who describes herself as "happily married" and is the mother of two teenage children.

(left) Bunty Bailey in Aha's 1985 video "Take on Me" and (right) in a recent photo

Huey Lewis and the Afterthoughts, uh, I mean the News became music superstars with the release of 1984's "Sports". Lewis himself looked like he worked at a machine shop during the day and let his sister-in-law cut his hair and pick his stage outfits. In many ways though it was his everyguy image that underpinned his popularity and Lewis never shied away from it. Following the pinnacle of "Sports" and it's followup "Fore" HL&TN began a long slide into obscurity. By the late 80s they had parted with their record company and gone on an extended hiatus. The advent of grunge drove the final nail into the coffin of Lewis' brand of feel good, uber-mainstream, working class pop.

So where is Huey Lewis today anyway?

Huey Lewis then and now.

Huey Lewis and the News still do a fair number of live shows each year, though these days they play venues like the California State Fair and the Cape Cod Melody Tent. Their new album "Soulsville" did manage to crack the Billboard 200, peaking at number 121. Lewis himself doesn't seem to have changed much over the years. He's still a happy go lucky figure who seems quite content to get together with the boys and play to whoever will listen.

Maybe the first tangible sign for most people that cracks were beginning to appear in the armor of the formerly impregnable Soviet Union came on May 28, 1987 when an 18 year old West German named Mathias Rust casually flew from Finland directly through Soviet airspace and landed his little Cessna aircraft near the heart of Moscow's Red Square. His escapade sent shockwaves through Gorbachev's Kremlin and resulted in the sacking of several high level Soviet Defense ministers.

The image of his tiny plane sitting in Red Square with Saint Basel's Cathedral in the background became one of the iconic images of the 80s. He received a four year sentence in a Soviet labor camp for his flight though he was never transferred to said labor camp and was released early by Gorbachev as a 'goodwill' gesture to the West.

Though his flight became iconic Rust himself, like many unlikely heroes, turned out to be something less than that, living a checkered life in the aftermath of his adventure. He's done time for attempted manslaughter and been convicted of theft and fraud. On the up side he's tried to organize a think-tank of sorts to find non-violent solutions to political, ethnic or religious problems (apparently he decided manslaughter doesn't solve anything) although it seems that project never managed to find its legs. He's also tried his hand at being a financial adviser. Today he's apparently living in Germany with his second wife and describes himself as a professional poker player.

(left) Mathias Rust in a Soviet courtroom. (center) His Cessna on the ground in Red Square 1987. (right) In a recent photo.

If you've ever seen Blade Runner one of the most indelible images from that amazing film is that of the building-sized electronic-billboard geisha seductively puffing away on a cigarette or popping happy pills (at least I assume they're happy pills). Ever wonder who that Japanese actress was? Well, in fact, she wasn't Japanese at all. She was/is Korean-American actress Alexis Rhee.

So what is everyone's favorite unknown cyber-noir icon doing these days?

After appearing in Blade Runner she waited almost six years for her next movie gig; a small part in the underwhelming 1988 film "Silent Assassins" which starred Linda Blair. A few other B-movies followed with tantalizing titles like "Gang Justice" and "The Visit" but nothing substantial. Then, 22 years after leaving her anonymous imprint on pop culture in Blade Runner, Ms Rhee found herself cast as Kim Lee in 2004's Academy Award winning film "Crash" and won herself a Screen Actor's Guild award for "Outstanding performance by a cast member". The recognition seems to have sparked interest in her from the powers-that-be in Hollywood as since then she's been working much more steadily and in higher visibility projects like the 2007 Eddie Murphy comedy "Norbit".

Not one to simply sit around and wait for the calls to come in from casting agents though, away from the movie set Ms Rhee is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a classically trained violinist, a registered hypnotherapist and a certified Microsoft Systems Engineer.

(left) Alexis Rhee as iconic geisha in Blade Runner 1982 and (right) as Kim Lee about to go medieval in Crash 2004.

Update: RIP Moses Malone. A true basketball legend. 

He came right out of high school to become one of the most dominant big men in NBA history. A rebounding machine he once grabbed 37 boards in a single game and holds the league record for offensive rebounds in a career. In 1981 he averaged 31 points and nearly 15 rebounds a game, led the Houston Rockets to the NBA finals and was declared the league MVP for the second time. Following the 1982 season the Rockets traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers and Moses Malone finally found a place where all the pieces came together.

Teamed with the legendary Dr J and all-stars Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Tony and Bobby Jones the Sixers tore through the regular season like a blender through mango winding up with 65 wins and Malone won his third MVP award. He predicted the Sixers would go "four, four, four" in the playoffs (meaning they'd sweep each of the series they'd play in) and win it all. He wasn't far off as the team lost only one game in the second round to go "four, five, four". It was one of the most dominating seasons in NBA history and none of it would have been possible without Moses, who would go on to play another 12 years in the league and ultimately be named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players.

As much as he was a part of the daily sports discourse during the 80's Malone pretty effective disappeared after retiring. So what's he doing these days?

Well, unlike a lot of sports stars who squander the riches that come their way and wind up hard luck stories on the news, Malone lives happily and quite comfortably these days just outside of Houston Texas. "What am I doing? I'm doing nothing, just relaxing and enjoying life. I did 21 years of hard labor in the NBA, invested my money right, so I'm set. I earned the right to relax and enjoy, you know?" He isn't without his opinion of current NBA players either "I bet if I came out (of retirement) I could still be one of the top five centers in the league ain't that something? There are just so few centers left!" Amen.

Left: Moses Malone and Dr J hold the 1983 NBA championship trophy. Right: Moses today.

He was a rising star during the 80s appearing in such seminal coming of age flicks as "Saint Elmo's Fire" and "The Breakfast Club". It seemed he would have a bright future in Hollywood but not long after coming to the public's attention he began a slide into obscurity that has shown few signs of letting up.

Saint Elmo's Fire was followed by "Fandango", a film that producer Steven Spielberg hated so much he removed his name from the credits. After that the (non) hits just kept on coming: "Relentless", "The Dark Backward", "Conflict of Interest" and the immortal "Blindfold: Acts of Obsession".

So what's Judd Nelson been up to lately? Well, in the past two decades the highest profile project he's had his name attached to were a couple of 2010 episodes of "Two and a Half Men" and it doesn't seem as though those appearances have lit a fire under his career. This year he appeared in something called "Mayor Cupcake" and next year finds him returning to the silver screen in such hotly anticipated outings as "Bad Kids Go To Hell" and "Buds". Still, it's hard to feel too bad for him. After all, here it is nearly 30 years since he had a major hit movie and he's still able to make a living in Tinseltown, even if "Bad Kids Go To Hell" is only seen by a few folks who pick it up in the DVD sale pile at Walmart.

Judd Nelson then and now. Maybe bad kids really do go to hell.

Sean Young was one of the highest profile actresses in Hollywood in the 80s. Her credits included "Stripes", "Dune", "No Way Out" and Ridley Scott's masterpiece "Blade Runner" in which she played Rachel opposite Harrison Ford.

Unfortunately it wasn't long before she developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. In the late 80s she had her role in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" drastically cut back after clashing on set with Stone and though she managed to land the role of Vicky Vale in Tim Burton's "Batman" (1989) she had to withdraw from the film after she injured herself in an off-set accident. In 1990 she was fired from the role of Tess Trueheart in "Dick Tracy". Young claimed she was let go because she refused Warren Beatty's advances, though Beatty denies this. She was eventually replaced by Madonna who went on to accept Beatty's advances, a developement which added some weight to Young's claims. She made a very public (and unsuccessful) push to land the role of Catwoman in Burton's Batman sequel, "Batman Returns", and then had a small role in the Jim Carrey vehicle "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" in 1994. After that she pretty much disappeared from the silver screen.

So what ever happened to Sean Young?

For nearly 15 years she found it hard to get meaningful work both because of her reputation and because much of her time was spent raising her two sons. In 2008 she was removed from the Director's Guild of America Awards show after showing up drunk and heckling Julian Schnabel (you go girl!). Finally in 2010 she landed what turned into a recurring role on TV's The Young and the Restless and that exposure has seemed to reignite her career, albeit to a limited degree. Next month she's due to be seen in the film "Gingerclown" opposite Tim Curry, Brad Dourif and Lance Henriksen, though it's unclear at this point if that film will see wide release.

Sean Young then and now. She looks pretty good for a 50 year old!

Because I know that Chris is going to turn the review spotlight on The Road Warrior one of these days and because all the recent talk about mullets got me to thinking, I'm doing this "Where are they now?" segment on the immortal Emil Minty or, as we know him, The Feral Kid from The Road Warrior.

Emil won the part in TRW when he was just 8 years old, beating out a slew of other child star wannabes. The movie was shot in New South Wales near where he was born and though Emil had a lot of screen time in the film he never uttered a word of dialogue (I guess dem feral kids don't get a lot a book learnin'). His character went on to achieve something resembling cult status but Emil, as an actor, just sort of faded from view.

So what's he up to these days? Digging burrows all over the outback to hide his stash of Dinky Dee dog food in preparation for the pocaclypse? Doing battle with other angry commuters waiting in line for $4 a gallon gasoline? Practicing for the World Boomerang Championships? Sorry to disappoint you but its nothing so glamorously disturbing. Today 38 year old Emil is manager of a Sydney jewelry store and, rumor has it, has even learned to speak!

Emil Minty as The Feral Kid 1981 and in a recent photo

"A Christmas Story" (1983) seemed to come out of nowhere to become an instant holiday classic. Its story of the nerdy kid with the (gently) overbearing dad and doting mother set in postwar middle America rang a bell with an entire generation of baby boomers. Its starred Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon (of Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and a nerdy blonde kid named Peter Billingsly as "Ralphie". He was perfect for the role showing remarkable range while retaining a sense of childish wonder at the events going on around him. Though he had been acting in commercials for years he was basically an unknown. After A Christmas Story went on to gather such a huge following it only seemed natural that Ralphie would be someone with a bright future in Hollywood. Instead though he seemed to kind of fade away. While he still showed up in the occasional TV show episode he never really had that big adult hit that would have cemented his place in Hollywood. Or so it seemed.

So what became of Ralphie?

Well when his acting career didn't take off Billingsley moved behind the camera (once he grew up of course). He's become a successful TV producer receiving an Emmy nomination for the 2001 IFC channel film "Dinner for Five" and he even served as a executive producer of "Iron Man" which was directed by his friend Jon Favreau. Most recently he directed the hit comedy movie "Couples Retreat".

Peter Billingsley as "Ralphie" (left) in "A Christmas Story" and in a recent photo

Jonathan Frakes did a lot of acting before Star Trek came calling. He studied Theater Arts in college, played off Broadway in New York in the 70s and appeared fairly regularly on the tube during the late 70s and 80s in series as diverse as The Waltons, The Dukes of Hazzard and Matlock. But it wasn't until he landed the role of Lt Cmdr William T. Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation that he became a household name.

Though playing in the shadow of the incomperable Patrick Stewart might have intimidated other actors Frakes managed to carve out his own territory in the Star Trek universe. He remains the only TNG actor to also appear in episodes of Voyager, DS9 and Enterprise and he developed a reputation for being a dependable director as well, taking the helm for many of TNGs most popular episodes (including my personal favorite "Cause and Effect").

So what is Will Riker up to these days?

After directing two TNG movies Frakes moved back to tv-land where he's been the host of numerous series, both popular and obscure, dealing with outer space and paranormal themes; most recently hosting History Channel's "That's Impossible". Frakes is married to actress Genie Francis and lives in California with her and their two children aged 17 and 14. He's also popular on the Star Trek convention circuit and, oh yes, he really does play the trombone.

The redoubtable Commander Riker (left) and Jonathan Frakes at a 2009 Star Trek convention (right)

He was the quintessential 80s movie star. His resume included such 80s classics as "Stripes", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Beverly Hills Cop". Edward Ernest Reinhold Jr was born in Wilmington Delaware in 1957 and later moved with his family to Florida. After attending the North Carolina School of the Arts he made his first forays into the entertainment business, working in regional repertory productions. He began to appear in minor TV roles in the late 70s once appearing in an episode of Wonder Woman.

After Stripes in 1981 his career took off. Besides Fast Times and Beverly Hills Cop (I,II and III) he appeared in "Gremlins", "Pandemonium" and "Ruthless People" among other films. By the 90s his acting career was on the wane though he did make a memorable appearance on Seinfeld as the "close talker" who can't do enough for Jerry's parents.

These days Judge reportedly spends most of his time in Arkansas, his wife's home state, and has taken on the cause of troubled veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also involved in bringing film production to his adopted state and plans to produce work there that focuses on the lives of people "overlooked by New York and Los Angeles."

As for the origin of his famous nickname Judge had this to say for an Arkansas newspaper story:
“My father graduated top of his class from Harvard Law School. At that time he had a practice in Washington, D.C.,” Reinhold said. “It cracked him up whenever I would frown because I looked just like an old Judge who presided over a case of his, so at two weeks old, he nicknamed me Judge.”

Judge Reinhold in the 80s (left) and in 2011 (right)

He was enigmatic, he was quirky, he was a squeaky voiced paranoid comic book character and he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world in the 80s. David Byrne was so uncool he was actually cool. It was like he'd pulled off some kind of physics experiment where he'd managed to travel in a straight line so far that he actually met up with himself again in a parallel universe where he was a happenin' guy. And then he recreated that universe around the rest of us.

Albums like 1980's "Remain in Light", 1983's "Speaking in Tongues" and 1985's "Little Creatures" were albums that helped define the decade and record the passing of it's participants from club-going hipsters to next generation moms and dads.

So what's David Byrne up to these days anyway? Has he returned to the parallel universe from whence he came? Was he caught in the event horizon of a black hole and sucked in, never to remain in light again? Did he buy a condo and go to sleep for 30-odd years? Well, frankly, yes.

He's been up to all the things you'd expect someone with time and money to be up to; photographing his chairs, dabbling in theater, lending his name to the occassional charity album. He doesn't record much original music anymore, maybe because he's pessemistic about the future of the music industry:

"...the big 4 or 5 (record companies)...sure don't know how to sell music anymore. (I have Talking Heads stuff on the shelf that I can't get Warner to release.) The "industry" had a nice 50-year ride, but it's time to move on."

Easy to move on if you made your killing before the rot set in. Not so easy if you're a struggling musician trying to get noticed in todays cannabalistic environment. But maybe Dave will have some kind of epipheny and realize that he could actually leverage his considerable legacy to affect some positive change himself, you know; cause things to "move on" in a productive direction, give back a little. Or maybe he'll just stay seated in one of his big comfy armchairs, a glass of ice-cold lemonade in hand, and watch it all with bemused detachment.

David Byrne then and now. Pass the lemonade!

For a couple of years in the mid 80s he was frontman for one of the most successful pop groups in the world: The Thompson Twins. Videos for their hits "Sister of Mercy", "King for a Day" and especially 1983's "Hold Me Now" were MTV staples. Yeah, Tom Bailey had it all: good looks, hit records and millions of adoring fans. He also had a nervous breakdown when the band were at the height of their career which forced them to cancel a UK tour. Bailey thankfully recovered but the band's reputation never seemed to regain it's legs. They broke up in 1993.


These days Bailey lives in England (or France depending on who you believe) and is the leader of dub band International Observer which has released 4 albums to mixed reviews.  He also collaborates with visual artist José Francisco Salgado in the quasi-scientific audiovisual ensemble, The Bailey-Salgado Project or BSP.

Linda Evangelista burst onto the modeling scene in the 80s and it wasn't long before it seemed like her face was everywhere. She worked for all the biggest fashion houses and appeared countless times on the covers of the industry's most famous magazines. In the late 80s she cut off most of her hair giving her the look that would make her a fashion icon. But the new look didn't come without a price. Most of those same fashion houses cancelled her contract almost immediately after taking a look at her new do. Didn't matter though because what she lost in runway revenue she picked up in commercial revenue. She stayed on top for the better part of a decade before being squeezed out by a new generation models during the 90s.

So what's she up to these days?

After taking time off from modeling for personal reasons and giving birth to a son in 2006, she came back in 2007, signing a big contract with L'Oreal Paris. The following year she signed with Prada and will be the new 'face' of Talbots as well.

She still looks terrific today and seems to have a long second life in modeling ahead of her.

He was a controversial choice to play one of the great genuises of all-time and he had some heady competition: Mel Gibson, David Bowie, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mick Jagger, Sam Waterston, Mark Hamill and Tim Curry all either auditioned or were considered for the role at some point. In his autobiography Kenneth Branagh states that he was actually cast in the role before producer Saul Zaentz changed his mind and decided to work with an American cast and crew.

So the wheel of fortune stopped on Tom Hulce's number and he went on to create one of the most memorable film performances of the 80s as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the film, Amadeus. The movie won 8 academy awards including Best Picture. Hulce himself was nominated for Best Actor but lost out to his Amadeus co-star F. Murray Abraham. Hulce went on to appear in a number of other films through the 80s and 90s, though he was never to revisit the mountaintop that was Amadeus.

Hulce retired from acting in the late 90s and spends much of his time in New York now where he has had a successful second career producing for the stage.