For the convenience of boycotters, this is a list of alternatives to buy so that folks can ease the shift away from Doritos, Pepsi, Coke and other mainstream products that are associated with Israel.
On May 7, 2021 I unexpectedly lost a social media friend and the entertainment industry (specifically, the music industry) lost a music video icon. Everyone who was alive during the 80s (and who enjoyed the music of Whitesnake) remembers her demonstrating her gymnastics abilities across the hood of Coverdale’s Jaguar. Her thick red hair flipping up and around while her slim legs kicking up the hem of her sheer white dress, she backflipped her way into MTV Land. We had never seen any performance in media quite like it. She was one of the original video vixens (if not the first one) who showed us that it was possible to gain fame by being a music video girl. In later years, the fame-making scenes would be what people referred to as “that girl in the Whitesnake videos”. However, it didn’t quite capture her range of gifts and natural talents.
Tawny was born to a working class family who once had to rely on food stamps to get fed. She went from being a regular girl to being a rock star’s wife -adorned in diamonds and fur- to being a divorced resident of the legendary Sierra Towers, then finally the wife of Chuck FInley, living an opulent and lavish lifestyle in Newport Beach. To many people she was many things: an attention-seeking social climber, an actress with great comedic timing, a boutique owner, a mom, an aunt, a sister, an loqacious conversationalist. She was multifaceted, complex, and certainly more than a pretty face. Her extroverted and hyperactive personality meant that a tranquil domestic life wasn’t a life she could settle for. She was a firecracker, a diva, the life of the party. She couldn’t be contained in the traditional role of mother and wife. Her later years found her getting into trouble with substance use, run-ins with the police, and a stint on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. She was simply not suited to live a life that wasn’t static electricity and crackling lightning, all attention on her.
1986
As she got older, she found it hard to adjust to her impending geriatric years. TV and film roles got sparse; it seemed that her time on The Surreal Life and Celebrity Rehab cast her in a negative light and many producers didn’t prefer to hire her. It didn’t help much that her physical appearance changed a great deal as well; to maintain her youthful beauty, she began getting Botox injections and other procedures. I was surprised when I realized these procedures started in 1998, when she was just 36 years old. I didn’t think she needed them so young, but she seemed to be determined to never appear old, always maintaining the beauty that dazzled so many and propelled her into the spotlight.
I never intended to become a fan. In my mid 20s, I found myself fascinated with her. In 1987, the same year she, Coverdale, and Whitesnake exploded on MTV airwaves, I was 2 years old. She was famous before I even knew what fame was, and by the time I was old enough to view media and comprehend it, she had moved onto shows I was too young to watch. I first saw her name associated with a song I became mildly fond of then I Googled her. As it turns out, I already was familiar with her work but I didn’t know it. In 1995, I started watching a new television show starring the lank haired, muscle bound Kevin Sorbo. Tawny portrayed his strong willed and good hearted wife, Deianira. The show was Hercules. I enjoyed Tawny’s performance as a loving mother and Hercules’s moral and honorable equal. She wasn’t as bad an actress as some may think, and she did improve during the 1990s.
1994
As an adult, I explored more of her work. Unfortunately, the 1980s brought with it several human tragedies: the AIDS epidemic, the Reagan administration, and campy, poorly made B movies. Much of Tawny’s resume for the 1980s contains these forgettable films. She did star in Bachelor Party and Witchboard (the former notable for being an early Tom Hanks film and the latter much cherished as a horror classic). Her fans usually remember these two movies as standouts in her career. The final years of the 1980s brought her better gigs: she was a regular on the soap operas Capitol and Santa Barbara. I think Tawny’s contribution to the entertainment industry is more based on the way she proved one entertainer can do many things and always adapt. Once the 80s ended and the 90s began, Tawny was no longer living in the world that made her a star, but she continued to work in the industry that loved her beauty more than anything.
Hercules (1994)
When I was a child, 1990s media was filled with beautiful women who ended up (either by strenuous effort or sheer dumb luck) in front of the camera. I was fascinated with the power of beauty, that natural gift of good looks that many models and actresses were blessed with. Women like Bobbie Jean Brown, Anna Nicole Smith and Stephanie Seymour made me look at them in awe. I knew I’d never possess their powers or magic. I sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a stunning young women who got discovered by a modeling agency scout in a cafe, or to be like Tawny: charismatic, radiant, ambitious, a self-starter, a risk taker, and a bubbly extrovert. This was a woman who steadily worked at any job that came her way: she was a model appearing in Bride Magazine, then an actress working in Paris, then a music video vixen, a soap opera regular, a TV show host, and the voice of a cartoon cat. Tawny’s adaptability and “come what may” approach to work and life opened so many doors for her. Hard work was not something she was afraid to do, and she could never be accused of being indolent or idle. Her charming and outgoing personality served her well, as she had no problem chatting up any person. As her ex-husband Finley said at her memorial service, “she knew no stranger”. I think my fascination with women like Tawny had much to do with the power of beauty and how they wielded it. Tawny was no fool: she knew she was gorgeous and she knew what she wanted. She wouldn’t allow any man to use her and she knew her worth. As I ponder her life, I wonder if I will ever encounter another person whose spark is as bright and hard to dim, who smiled so easily and widely. It was impossible for her to not end up in the entertainment industry. She wouldn’t have fit in anywhere else.
The loss is tremendous because there was only one Tawny Kitaen. There will only ever be one Tawny Kitaen. Only one person who could gracefully turn cartwheels on the hood of a car, work her brand of magic on rock stars and baseball players alike, stay employed on TV throughout two decades and finally, keep folks captivated and charmed even after all these years. She had fans who still remembered her appearance in those music videos and went looking for her online. She was only 59…..one wonders what else she would have accomplished if she didn’t pass so young.
Here’s to Tawny: may she rest in peace with her parents and Robbin. May her demons be vanquished. May her children find comfort and happiness. May she know we were grateful to be exposed to her effervescent personality and scintillating natural gifts.
Writer In Reverie 