Y-Que Looks To Lindsay, Mel For Next T-Shirt Designs

You can always count on Los Feliz's Y-Que boutique to quickly turn the current celebrity scandal into a T-shirt.

It all started with Y-Que's "Free Winona" shirts more than a decade ago. Now, every celeb with jail troubles gets a shirt. That, of course, includes Lindsay. I gotta imagine "Free Lindsay" merchandise is selling quite well at the moment.



Writes Y-Que: "Stop the injustice before it's too late!!! Free Lindsay before she is jailed again."

Then there's the obligatory BP shirt:



And the American Apparel shirt, just as creepy as Dov Charney himself:



Check out more Y-Que shirts here.

Press Release of the Day: Free Lindsay Edition

Lindsay Lohan's tanning salon -- or, so they claim -- is feeling the hurt now that the former actress is in the pokey.

The salon is so desperate for publicity... er, I mean, so concerned for Lindsay's well-being, that it is staging a "Free Lindsay" rally thousands of miles from where Lindsay, well, actually is incarcerated.

Here's the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GIANT RIBBON TO BE TIED AROUND MANHATTAN BUILDING WITH RALLY BY FRIENDS AND FANS FOR LINDSAY LOHAN'S JAIL RELEASE

New York, N.Y.--TUESDAY, July 26, 2010—James Oliver of Beach Bum Tanning Salon who has kept the Lohan family bronzed for over a decade is holding a “Free Lindsay" rally to support the troubled starlet with Lohan's friends and fans in attendance.

The ceremony kicks off, Tuesday July 27, 2010 at 12 P.M. at the 239 7th Avenue salon location, with a press conference and ribbon tying ceremony. On display will be a prominent homemade Sign across the building saying “We love you Lindsay! Come home soon.”

Beach Bum held a similar rally in 2007 when one of their high profile clients, Paris Hilton, did jail time after being sentenced for a DUI.

Lindsay Lohan is one of Beach Bum’s most loyal clients, with her entire family regularly visiting the salons. The salon hopes its campaign will draw awareness to the harsh punishment inflicted on Lohan due to her celebrity status and that she will be released from jail before her 90 day sentence reaches completion. Beach Bum has pointed out that Lohan was ordered to serve twice the time Paris Hilton was sentenced back in 2007 for a similar probation violation.

Lohan began her sentence on July 20, 2010 at a Hollywood facility after a trial that was filled with media attention and paparazzi presence. The actress is set to be released in October; however, she may be let out early due to overcrowding. The owners of Beach Bum miss seeing her at the salon and hope for her speedy return.

Contact: Danielle Orsino
Phone: 480.XXX.XXXX

Some businesses are fed up with the freeloading ways of the Lohan clan, which didn't meet a gifting lounge it didn't like... or completely suck dry. But apparently Beach Bum Tanning Salon doesn't care for, you know, actually getting paid.

MTV Video Music Awards: "Dude, They're Not Letting In The Princes of Malibu!"

We're notoriously late for events -- parents, you know how tough it is to get ready, wait for the baby sitter and prep the kid for the fact that mommy and daddy are going out -- without him.

That's why we got to the Paramount lot at 5:30 on Sunday, right when doors closed to the sound stage where the MTV Video Music Awards were being held. We found some amazing street parking on Melrose and Bronson too -- well, amazing until we realized the entrance was on Gower, and we'd have to hike a few blocks over.

That brought us to 6 p.m., right when the show was starting. No way they were going to let us in at that point -- and that's how we ended up in a cramped, makeshift alley way with other latecomers. As we shuttled back and forth between doors, we stumbled across virtually everyone: John Legend. Lil Wayne. And yes, the Jonas Brothers. Really.



Waiting along side us to get in: "The Hills" stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag (above, with our oh-so-high-res camera phone). Yep, Speidi had about as much luck as we did in getting inside, at least early on: None. Ditto Pratt's pal Brody Jenner (hence the "Princes of Malibu" cracks we kept hearing).



And ditto Seth Green.

We were promised an entrance after the first commercial break -- but that came and went. In the meantime, the LAPD fire marshal started acting tough -- demanding that the alley way next to the studio door be emptied, or else the entire production would be shut down. Whoa.

Guess all of us crowding by the door was freaking him out. Half an hour, then an hour passed, as we stood by the door, waiting for entrance. In the meantime, Lindsay Lohan and gal pal Samantha Ronson came up -- and the security guards began screaming for four people to exit the sound stage. (See, to allow Linds and Sam in, they'd have to even out the number inside the studio by yanking people out.) Sure enough, four people lost their inside privileges so that L&S could get inside. Also making their way in: Paramore. ("MAKE WAY FOR PARAMORE!" -- one of the night's rallying cries.)



Meanwhile, we finally decided to give up on the inside and head to the after party, where hundreds of people were aleady gathered. Best decision of the night. Drinks were flowing, food was being served, and people we knew were already there. The show was playing on monitors, but we mostly waited to see Kanye West perform the closing number outside next to the party. He did... and then... well, what was that? Anticlimactic, no?

Afterward, we headed to In Touch Weekly's post-VMA party at the Bar Marmont. As the Veronicas performed upstairs, we found a small, non-roped off booth next to the bar. Sipping our ginger-flavored cocktail, in walked -- once again! -- Samantha and Lindsay, in a VIP area next to the DJ. Later, Pauly Shore climbed into the booth next to us. It was a made-for-TMZ kinda night.

Yeah, Yeah, It's Sad -- But More Importantly, How's Lindsay Handling the News?

TMZ manages to sniff out the Lindsay Lohan angle to Heath Ledger's sad demise. Because, after all, there's a Lindsay Lohan angle to everything.

Make Your Own Hollywood Sign

Trust me, it's only a matter of time.

The fine folks at Blogging.la tipped their readers off today (via Thrillist) to Glass Giant's Hollywood Sign generator. Yes, it's a colossal time suck. Here are some of my creations:


Sorry, Lindsay, Hollywood's clean out. Better try downtown.


Yeah, you heard us, New York! Suck. It.


Waking up after one smoke-filled day, Snoop discovers that he has purchased the Hollywood sign.


Being mayor has its privileges.


C'mon Ryan, you're hallucinating. The Hollywood sign says no such thing. You really need to sleep more.


Pretty good guess.


Just because it's undeveloped land doesn't mean it screams out for a Wetzel's Pretzels.

Share your creations with us (e-mail 'em to the address above) and we'll feature them in a future Franklin Avenue post.

Los Angeles Story: A Dead Body, a Clueless Ambulance and a Woman With a Cell Phone

My Variety colleague Michael Leamonth, in town for the TV press tour, witnessed a rather disturbing sight on Olympic this Tuesday.

Driving back to the office from the Beverly Hilton, he saw what looked like a lifeless body just sitting on the sidewalk on Olympic. The man was shirtless, and only wore a pair of shorts. (Dead body on the sidewalk? Must have made our New York boy feel at home. Sorry, gratuitous Gotham-bashing.)

A woman stood a few feet away from the body, on the cell phone -- clearly calling someone to get medics out there. In his rearview mirror, Michael spies an ambulance pull out of a driveway... and proceed to speed down Olympic the wrong direction!

Michael says the ambulance made it all the way past 405, before the driver realized his mistake and turned around. Ouch. If that sidewalk guy wasn't dead before, this gaffe sure didn't help things.

Michael mentioned this story to me because I brought up the just-released 911 tape from the woman chased earlier this week by a crazed, drunk Lindsay Lohan. The frightened caller -- the mother of Lindsay's assistant -- had no idea she was being chased by Lindsay, and was freaked out. But not helping matters: The 911 operator, who keeps shouting at her to tell her location, and gets pissy when the caller -- who's clearly scared -- won't calmly answer his questions. Are all 911 operators this pissy?