Guilty Pleasures

She works hard for the money – Gaga labouring

Lady Gaga was building her own stage on tour last week. There’s a picture up there of her doing just that in hotpants and heels. They must have a fairly relaxed health and safety policy at her construction company or it was dress down / up Friday.

In light of Gaga drill, here are some other stars who have pre-fame done a hard days work involving manual labour and grubby finger nails come the end of the day.

Ozzy in casual, relaxed mode

Before he invented heavy metal in the Midlands with Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne had all manner of jobs where chips are a justified tea every day. He was a labourer on a building site, a trainee plumber and worked in a slaughterhouse. Oh and a criminal. All useful skills, apart from crime; it never pays kids.

Maybe the slaughterhouse was where he got his taste for the occult and biting dead birds’ heads off and that. All that blood could turn you loopy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rod: Now I ain’t saying he’s a gravedigger…

Before he discovered hi-lights, tight trousers and a pop career, the teen Rod Stewart was famously a trainee footballer and indeed a promising one. But less famously, Rod earned his cash by digging graves. That’s some tough work.

Apparently he had a fear of death and the job was a way of facing his fears. Making great big holes in the ground in all weathers to put corpses in probably sorted that fear out. Maybe it developed a hatred of digging. Maybe he has a fear of shovels and spades. Maybe he doesn’t need to worry about that now he’s rich and lives in LA.

Maybe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This man can build you a (wonder) wall

Noel Gallagher worked on his dad’s building sites where he just argued with his dad all day in between the tasks required when building. He stopped the labouring when a heavy cap from a large steel gas pipe landed on his foot.

Yeah that would put us off a bit too. No one wants heavy caps falling on their feet. Baseball caps are probably fine though. Can’t see them hurting that much. Unless you have very sensitive skin of course.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bricking it: Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg was a bricklayer before she entered the acting world and was in fact invited to join the brick layer’s union. Whether she did or not, we don’t know.

After that she made up dead bodies in funeral parlours. Don’t think she did it to face a fear of death like Rod and his grave digging. Think she just needed a job. But it should have given her nightmares, seeing what her boss did to her on her first day in the “making up the dead” world:

‘Here’s the story of my first day making up the dead. I got a call saying I was wanted in the boss’s office. Which just happened to be where the bodies were kept in drawers. I went down and there was no one there. So I sat down and waited. A few minutes later I heard sort of creaking. I turned round and one of the drawers was slowly opening. Then someone sat up and waved at me. Someone who should have been dead.

‘Man, I was totally freaked out. Turns out it was the boss. He jumped out and said: “That’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you here, and it won’t. So there’s nothing to be scared of. Just think of the bodies as big dolls whose face and hair you are going to fix.” I was fine after that.’

Er thanks boss. I wonder if he had a sign on his desk which said “You don’t have to be mad to work here – but it helps!!!”? GREAT GUY.

That’s the end of the labouring stars blog.

Bye.