Gravestone for Rick James

Buffalo, N.Y. – The two-ton, jet-black gravestone for funk legend Rick James was hoisted into place last week, just in time for the second anniversary of his death Sunday. The Buffalo-born James lives on in his leather image from the 1981 hit album “Street Songs,” etched into stone in tight pants, jacket and guitar.

The album sold 3 million copies and made James a superstar.

His family chose the portrait and the words on the gravestone, lyrics to a song the “Superfreak” singer never released:

“I’ve had it all/I’ve done it all/I’ve seen it all/It’s all about love/God is love.”

Older brother Carmen Sims said the monument shows the softer side of the man who once told an interviewer, “I wanted to be Rick James, wild man, party machine, lady slayer, and the cocaine told me I could.”

The monument says, “I’m at peace,” Sims said.

James’ ashes are interred at the site.

Mel Gibson not anti-Semitic, friend Patrick Swayze says

London – Patrick Swayze has joined several of Mel Gibson’s celebrity friends in defending the actor, who in a drunken tirade blamed Jews for the world’s wars.

Gibson is “a wonderful human being,” Swayze told GMTV in an interview being aired today. “He is not anti-Semitic.”

Gibson, 50, was arrested on drunken driving charges July 28 on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., where he unleashed an angry anti-Semitic outburst on the arresting deputy.

The “Lethal Weapon” series star and Oscar-winning director of “Braveheart” has apologized twice for his words and acknowledged his long struggle with alcoholism.

Swayze, 53, downplayed his friend’s drunken outburst, telling GMTV that “people say stupid things when they happen to have a few, and especially if you don’t drink any more, or have limited your drinking for a long time and all of a sudden you decide to have one too many with the boys – you are stupid.”

Swayze, who is starring in the West End production of “Guys and Dolls,” said the incident certainly would not end Gibson’s career.

Boston area has leading role in Ben Affleck’s new film

Boston – Ben Affleck finished shooting his film “Gone, Baby, Gone” and thanked residents for their support during the nearly three-month production in and around the city.

“This is a great place to shoot movies,” Affleck, who is making his directorial debut, told reporters on Saturday. “We’ve had an enormous amount of cooperation.”

The Cambridge native, who won an Oscar for co-writing “Good Will Hunting” with hometown friend Matt Damon, shot his new film in Boston, Chelsea, and Quincy.

Affleck, actress wife Jennifer Garner and baby Violet have been living near Harvard Square for the summer.

The film, expected in theaters next year, stars younger brother Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman. It’s based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote novel-turned-film “Mystic River.”