The Dead Thread

On 2006-06-25 09:09, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Aaron Spelling died Friday.

NO ONE in my dead pool picked Spelling, but one person picked Patsy Ramsey and moved into second place!

... art the dog...r.i.p...

Eddie the feisty dog in 'Frasier' dies

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

(06-27) 13:12 PDT Los Angeles (AP) --

The scrappy dog known as Eddie on TV's "Frasier" has died.

The 16-year-old Jack Russell terrier, whose real name was Moose, passed away of old age Thursday at the Los Angeles home of trainer Mathilde Halberg, Halberg told People magazine.

The canine character Eddie drove Kelsey Grammer's lead character crazy for 10 years on the show.

Moose was naturally "extremely mischievous," Halberg said.

Moose also played the older dog Skip in 2000 film "My Dog Skip" and was retired in recent years.

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/06/27/entertainment/e131200D16.DTL

Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett dies
Musician a major influence on British psychedelia
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/11/britain.floyd/index.html

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Syd Barrett, the eccentric guitarist who founded Pink Floyd but later left the music business to live quietly and somewhat reclusively, has died at the age of 60, according to a spokeswoman for the band.

A spokeswoman for Pink Floyd told the Press Association: "He died very peacefully a couple of days ago. There will be a private family funeral."

The singer and guitarist, born Roger Keith Barrett on January 6, 1946, founded the band in 1965 with Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. (Its name was derived from two American bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.)

He wrote many of the early hits for the avant-garde rock band, including the 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and the band's first hit singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play."

His songs were odd and charming combinations of childlike lyrics and swirling melodies, often augmented with strange arrangements. The titles alluded to space, the occult and sometimes nonsense: "Astronomy Domine," "Lucifer Sam," "Chapter 24."

Consider some lyrics of "Bike," from "Piper":"I know a mouse, and he hasn't got a house / I don't know why, I call him Gerald / He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse."

Pink Floyd, taken under the wing of Beatles engineer Norman Smith, had early success, but Barrett, suffering from mental problems and heavy drug use, started demonstrating erratic behavior, including catatonia during concerts. He left the band in 1968. He was replaced by David Gilmour, who had joined the band as its fifth member earlier that year.

Barrett put out two noted solo albums, "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett," both in 1970.

In 1975, during the recording of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album, Barrett showed up unannounced at the studio -- ironically, during the recording of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," a song about him. He had become overweight and shaved his eyebrows; the other members didn't recognize him at first.

"Wish You Were Here" was dedicated to Barrett.

Much of British psychedelic music was influenced by Barrett, and a number of musicians have credited him, according to Allmusic.com.

Barrett had since lived in anonymity in the eastern English city of Cambridge. According to The Associated Press, he suffered from diabetes.

The spokeswoman said a low-key, private funeral would be held. She did not disclose the cause of death.

That's a bummer...shine on you crazy diamond.

"Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined"

The chairman of Hooters, Robert Brooks, has died.....

Age 69

[ Edited by: cheeky half 2006-07-17 09:56 ]

Mickey Spillane

Aged 88

.....Spillane had critics among fellow writers. Rival detective novelist Raymond Chandler described his work as "nothing but a mixture of violence and outright pornography".
But Spillane was immune to such criticism. "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar," he once pronounced.

... fr. george m. luznicky, o.s.m... r.i.p...

... bill meistrell...

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-meistrell28jul28,1,13054.story

From the August 5th Washington Post ....

"Arthur Lee and his off-again-on-again rock group Love made only one great album -- a brooding, opulent and improbable dream called "Forever Changes," released in the fall of 1967. Still, such devotion has this single disc inspired over the decades that the news of Lee's death from leukemia -- on Thursday, in Memphis, at age 61 -- affected his more ardent listeners as a personal loss."

Full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401683.html

I was fortunate to be able to catch Arthur Lee and Love twice in the last couple of years. The first time, I had not yet heard any of his music at all, and was quite blown away by his performance - and that night became one of those ardent listeners who is now feeling a small personal loss.

Vern

Vern, I too was sorry to read of Arthur Lee's death in yesterday's fish-wrap. I've been a BIG Love fan ever since I heard their first single Little Red Book on L.A. top 40 radio in 1966 (or 67). I received Love's 1st LP and a cheep knock-off Beatle Bass for my sixteenth birthday and that pretty much launched my musical career. I also caught Love at the Anaheim Convention Center in '69...that performance was so great it took plastic surgery to wipe the smile off my face!

Bruno Kirby died. 57. Leukemia. Sad.

RIP, Bruce Gary, the original drummer for the Knack, who died of cancer this past Tuesday at the age of 55.

He was the musician behind the drums for the song 'My Sharona'

"When the song was first brought in I was a bit dubious of it," Gary said. "I remember saying, 'No, I don't want to play that. It sucks.' "

Drummers don't stay employed long by refusing to play the singer's songs, so Gary came up with something to match "My Sharona's" stuttering style.

"The way I approached that beat was very much like a surf stomp," he said. "Surf bands play lots of songs with no cymbals, just toms and snare drum." He also borrowed from "Going to a Go-Go," by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Then he added something he considered central to the song's success, something called a flam.

A flam is when two drum strokes are slightly staggered, first one drumstick, then the other, just barely apart. It gives a fuller sound. And that's the sound at the beginning of "My Sharona," a ditty that like certain tropical parasites burrows under your skin, lays its eggs and never really goes away.

The song swept the country, reached No. 1 and spurred sales of 6 million copies of the "Get the Knack" album

"What came out of me was something that was unique. I'm very proud of it. How many drummers can say they have a drum beat that is a total signature beat? Not a lot. . . . I can go up to somebody's door and do the 'My Sharona' beat and they know who I am."

Full appreciation can be read at ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401884.html

Vern

Maynard Ferguson, jazz trumpet virtuoso

Grammy Nominated Trumpeter Known for "Gonna Fly Now"
Theme To Movie "ROCKY" was 78

Ojai, CA (August 24, 2006) - Walter "Maynard" Ferguson, one of the most influential musicians and band leaders in the history of Jazz, passed away August 23rd at 8:00 pm Pacific Time at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California. He was 78 years old. His death was the result of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection. Mr. Ferguson's four daughters, Kim, Lisa, Corby, Wilder and other family members were at his side when he passed away after this brief illness. He spoke by phone with his friend and manager Steve Schankman from St. Louis, longtime tour manager Ed Sargent, and friend, and fellow trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.

Mr. Ferguson had recently returned home to California from New York after several sold out performances in July at the famed Blue Note Club. During this time, Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau band also recorded a new album at Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey.

Complete Story here:
http://www.maynardferguson.com/index.htm

Vladimir Tretchikoff dead aged 92

Gene Simmons passed away on 8/26/06.

No, not that Gene Simmons. This Gene Simmons....

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2376263&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Rockabilly singer "Jumpin" Gene Simmons who was rockin' before that Gene Simmons

In a not terribly surprising development, Steve Irwin pissed off the wrong animal:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_en_tv/obit_irwin_5

On 2006-09-03 22:40, Humuhumu wrote:
In a not terribly surprising development, Steve Irwin pissed off the wrong animal:

I had to break the news to my kids this morning. That was hard.

On 2006-09-01 14:41, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
Gene Simmons passed away on 8/26/06.

No, not that Gene Simmons. This Gene Simmons....

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2376263&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Rockabilly singer "Jumpin" Gene Simmons who was rockin' before that Gene Simmons

Also Jean Simmons--still alive.

On 2006-09-03 22:40, Humuhumu wrote:
In a not terribly surprising development, Steve Irwin pissed off the wrong animal

Crikey!

My heart goes out to Steve Irwin's family.

[ Edited by: hiltiki 2006-09-04 15:25 ]

Legendary Los Angeles Disk Jockey Richard "Huggy Boy" Hugg.
Signed off on 8/30/06

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003086598

http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/hes-an-angel/5417/

... rupert the swan...

O.C. Patrol Boat Kills Harbor's Black Swan
Craft hitting Rupert, a Newport fixture for more than two decades, was on its way to the site where a body was found.
By David Haldane, Times Staff Writer
September 14, 2006

A Harbor Patrol boat speeding to where a woman's body had been found Wednesday inadvertently ran over and killed Rupert, the black swan of Newport Harbor whose misadventures with fishing lines and burning boats made him a local legend for more than two decades.

The body of the unidentified woman was found wrapped in a blanket and floating off the dock of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club about 4:15 p.m., said Sgt. Bill Hartford, a spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department.

"Right now it's being investigated as a probable homicide," Hartford said. The body was first reported by a dock worker at the club.

As police and coroner's examiners began their investigation, harbor denizens — unaware of the woman's death — were mourning the loss of the bird they considered an icon.

"Everybody in Newport Harbor knows him," Elizabeth Barnes, 42, said of the big Australian swan reputed to have once been a pet.

Over the years, Rupert's antics attracted notoriety. Velvety-rich black with a bright red beak, the 15-pound bird was known for chasing lifeguards, honking at boaters and causing at least one terrified pair of canoeists to capsize.

He was impaled by fishhooks, routinely swam toward burning boats, was nearly strangled by fishing line and once was found near death after coming upon a diesel fuel spill.

Several years ago, Rupert's longtime mate, Pearl, died under mysterious circumstances, prompting locals to initiate a fund drive to buy him a new wife. "He'd been really depressed," Barnes said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Perry Emsiek, 16, was in a sailboat near the Balboa Yacht Club practicing for a race when she saw the Orange County Harbor Patrol speed by.

"I looked up, and Rupert was in their wake," she said later. "We just kept looking and didn't see him pop back up, so we sailed over there, and he was floating upside down. There was blood everywhere in the water; it looked like he was pretty cut up."

Some familiar with the bird's habits speculated that he might have been drawn by the patrol boat's bright red color, which he seemed compelled to chase.

"He kind of got sucked under," said Sgt. David Ginther of the Harbor Patrol. "We all basically loved Rupert; he was part of the patrol."

[ This Message was not edited by: alohabros ]
[ Edited by: datasmog, leader in data & social engineering ]

[ Edited by: alohabros 2006-09-14 14:33 ]

... ann richards... 1933 - 2006...

Warren Bolster
Surf and Skateboard photographer
June 1947-September 2006

http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/warrenbolster

Danny Flores from the Champs, played the Saxophone and shouted "Tequila!" in the song Tequila!
Danny Flores Man Who Shouted Tequila!

Cleopatra Jones, dang, I was hoping for a comeback.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/05/obit.dobson.ap/index.html

Robert 'Bobby' Cook -- owner of S.F. tavern that was full of owls.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/12/BAG61LNO301.DTL&hw=owl+tree&sn=001&sc=1000
(I got this from cynfulcynner's post under owls.)

[ Edited by: mrtikibar 2006-10-13 10:21 ]

GROG's love-life. (This IS the dead-thread, right?)

[ Edited by: GROG 2006-10-13 16:44 ]

Runaways Drummer Sandy West
1959-2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6079542.stm

http://www.therunaways.com

The pink, plastic flamingo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_bi_ge/flamingo_s_swan_song

Robert Altman, acclaimed director of MASH, Nashville, Gosford Park and The Player, has died at the age of 81

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6170376.stm

Dirk Dirksen, SF's "pope of punk"

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/22/BAGCJMHQ8B1.DTL

The world's most famous circus clown, Emmett Kelly Jr.
November 13 1923 - November 29 2006

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/34508.php

http://www.emmettkellyjr.com/pages/146986/index.htm

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2006-12-04 11:23 ]

Anita O'Day. Jazz singer almighty and one cool dame....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6179888.stm

http://www.anitaoday.com/default.htm

[ Edited by: cheeky half 2006-12-04 11:19 ]

Peter Boyle. :cry:

http://kevxml2adsl.verizon.net/_1_2GL1TO102CM1HCC__vzn.dsl/apnws/story.htm?kcfg=apart&sin=D8M0BCF00&qcat=entertain&ran=7281&passqi=&feed=ap&top=1

Ahmet Ertegun, 83, co-founded Atlantic Records in 1947
7/31/23 - 12/14/06

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/15/news/obits.php

http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=99

Artists on Atlantic Records included John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Rolling Stones, Cream and Led Zeppelin.

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2006-12-15 13:40 ]

The loss of Ahmet Ertegun is a devastating blow to the music & recording industry. At least he died in the line of duty (complications from falling down at a Stones concert). I wonder if Ahmet Zappa is going to attend his funeral in Turkey. R.I.P. Ahmet.

[ Edited by: Shipwreckjoey 2006-12-15 18:42 ]

Joseph Barbera, one half of the team behind such cartoon classics as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and Huckleberry Hound, has died, aged 95.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6191999.stm

What would Saturday Mornings have been like in the 60's & 70's without Hanna Barbera and their cartoon characters running past repeating scenery?

http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/hannabarbera/index.jsp

Geez it's been a bad week in the baby boomer cartoon world, I hope his eulogy is filled with clever puns like his work

Rocky and Bullwinkle' Writer Dies at 81

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/rocky-and-bullwinkle-writer-dies-at-81/20061218125009990001

On 2006-12-19 05:26, cheeky half wrote:
Joseph Barbera, one half of the team behind such cartoon classics as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and Huckleberry Hound, has died, aged 95.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6191999.stm

Man, how did I miss that? Thanks for posting. Dang....

Didn't Barbera also do the Banana Splits show....I loved that show...and right afterwards...."Here they come...walkin' down the street..b;ah blah..hey hey we're The Monkees" Wow he lived pretty danged long....musta been all those cartoons!!!

On 2006-12-15 13:12, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
Ahmet Ertegun, 83, co-founded Atlantic Records in 1947
7/31/23 - 12/14/06

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/15/news/obits.php

http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=99

Artists on Atlantic Records included John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Rolling Stones, Cream and Led Zeppelin.

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2006-12-15 13:40 ]

Another great loss. I was a LZ freak...saw them eveytime they played the SD arena. :)

Updated:2006-12-25 10:10:39
'Godfather of Soul' James Brown Dies
By GREG BLUESTEIN
AP

ATLANTA (Dec. 25) - James Brown , the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.

Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.

Copsidas said the cause of death was uncertain. "We really don't know at this point what he died of," he said.

Along with Elvis Presley , Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie 's "Fame," Prince 's "Kiss," George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.

If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.

"James presented obviously the best grooves," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. "To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close."

His hit singles include such classics as "Out of Sight," "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride.

"I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black," Brown said in a 2003 Associated Press interview. "The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society."

He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living In America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers.

He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island near the Georgia line, spent more than two years in a South Carolina prison for aggravated assault and failing to stop for a police officer. After his release on in 1991, Brown said he wanted to "try to straighten out" rock music.

From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, "Please, Please, Please" in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," and often tried to prove it to his fans, said Jay Ross, his lawyer of 15 years.

Brown would routinely lose two or three pounds each time he performed and kept his furious concert schedule in his later years even as he fought prostate cancer, Ross said.

"He'd always give it his all to give his fans the type of show they expected," he said.

With his tight pants, shimmering feet, eye makeup and outrageous hair, Brown set the stage for younger stars such as Michael Jackson and Prince .

In 1986, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And rap stars of recent years overwhelmingly have borrowed his lyrics with a digital technique called sampling.

Brown's work has been replayed by the Fat Boys, Ice-T , Public Enemy and a host of other rappers. "The music out there is only as good as my last record," Brown joked in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Long

Live

Agusta!!!

and a President too?

Crazy!

Who's next???

Gerald Ford dies at 93 years old.
http://www.cnn.com/