The Dead Thread

Philthy Animal Taylor of Motörhead. :(

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-motorhead-drummer-phil-philthy-animal-taylor-dies-at-61/

R.I.P. Holly, who came from Miami F.L.A.

NewsEurope: Holly Woodlawn

Actor Al Molinaro died Friday in Glendale, California He was 96.

Al Molinaro, best known for his role as Big Al Delvecchio in the long-running sitcom "Happy Days," suffered from complications of a gallstone ailment and was at Verdugo Hills Hospital when he died. Due to his age, he could not have his gallbladder removed.

"Happy Days" chronicled teenagers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the 1950s. The ABC series ran from 1974 to 1984, and Molinaro appeared in more than 140 episodes as Delvecchio, who bought the diner Arnold's in the show's fourth season.

When Delvecchio wasn't cooking, he'd launch into stories with a wistful, "Yep, yep, yep, yep."

The character later married Chachi Arcola's mother and appeared on the spinoff "Joanie Loves Chachi" for 17 episodes

Aw, hell. Unfortunately this was just confirmed on the Official Motorhead facebook page.

Lemmy is gone.

[ Edited by: bamalamalu 2015-12-28 17:10 ]

Meadowlark Lemon, the "clown prince" of basketball's barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters, whose blend of hook shots and humor brought joy to millions of fans around the world, has died. He was 83.

Lemon's wife and daughter confirmed to the team that he died Sunday in Scottsdale, Arizona, Globetrotters spokesman Brett Meister said Monday. Meister did not know the cause of death.

Though skilled enough to play professionally, Lemon instead wanted to entertain, his dream of playing for the Globetrotters hatched after watching a newsreel of the all-black team at a cinema house when he was 11.

Lemon ended up becoming arguably the team's most popular player, a showman known as much for his confetti-in-the-water-bucket routine and slapstick comedy as his half-court hook shots and no-look, behind-the-back passes.

A sign of his crossover appeal, Lemon was inducted into both the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the International Clown Hall of Fame.

"My destiny was to make people happy," Lemon said as he was inducted into the basketball hall as a contributor to the game in 2003.

Lemon played for the Globetrotters during the team's heyday from the mid-1950s to the late-1970s, delighting fans with his skills with a ball and a joke. Traveling by car, bus, train or plane nearly every night, Lemon covered nearly 4 million miles to play in over 100 countries and in front of popes and presidents, kings and queens. Known as the "Clown Prince of Basketball," he averaged 325 games per year during his prime, that luminous smile never dimming.

"Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I've ever seen," NBA great and former Globetrotter Wilt Chamberlain said shortly before his death in 1999. "People would say it would be Dr. J or even (Michael) Jordan. For me it would be Meadowlark Lemon."

Lemon spent 24 years with the Globetrotters, doing tours through the racially torn South in the 1950s until he left in 1979 to start his own team.

He was one of the most popular athletes in the world during the prime of his career, thanks to a unique blend of athleticism and showmanship.

Playing against the team's nightly foil, the Washington Generals, Lemon left fans in awe with an array of hook shots, no-look passes and the nifty moves he put on display during the Globetrotters' famous circle while "Sweet Georgia Brown" played over the loudspeaker.

He also had a knack for sending the fans home with a smile every night, whether it was with his running commentary, putting confetti in a water bucket or pulling down the pants of an "unsuspecting" referee.

"We played serious games too, against the Olympic teams and the College All-Stars," Lemon said. "But that didn't stop us from putting the comedy in there."

Lemon became an icon in the 1970s, appearing in movies, including "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh," numerous talk shows and even a stint in the cartoon "Scooby Doo," with Scatman Crothers doing his voice.

After leaving the Globetrotters, Lemon started his own team, The Bucketeers, and played on a variety of teams before rejoining the Globetrotters for a short tour in 1994.

Lemon spent the last years of his life trying to spread a message of faith through basketball. He became an ordained minister in 1986 and was a motivational speaker, touring the country to meet with children at basketball camps and youth prisons with his Scottsdale-based Meadowlark Lemon Ministries.

"I feel if I can touch a kid in youth prison, he won't go to the adult prison," Lemon said in 2003.

He never lost touch with his beloved sport. Lemon said he rose every day at 4 a.m. and, after prayers, headed for the gym to run sprints and practice shooting.

"I have to keep that hook shot working," he said.

Born in 1932, Meadow George Lemon III — he lengthened his name after joining the Globetrotters — didn't have money for a basketball when he was young, so he rigged up a makeshift hoop in his backyard in Wilmington, North Carolina. Using a coat hanger and onion sack for the basket, he made his first shot with an empty milk can.

Lemon first contacted the Globetrotters before his high school graduation and joined the team in 1954. He missed a game in 1955 because of a bad bowl of goulash in Germany, but that was the last one. What followed was a run, by his calculations, of more than 16,000 straight games that took him to places he never could have imagined.

"I was one of the most fortunate athletes that ever lived," he said. "I was able to watch history."

Promoted Stories

David Bowie,
One of the greatest songwriter & musicians has died at 69.

If my life had a soundtrack, David Bowie would be at the top of my playlist
and set on permanent repeat, rest in peace Ziggy.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/david-bowie-dead-legendary-artist-854364

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2016-01-11 00:18 ]

Alan Rickman.

Just like Bowie, He died of cancer at the age of 69
by Grabthar's Hammer, he shall be missed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35313604

Actor Dan Haggerty, TV's 'Grizzly Adams,' dies at 73

The Eagles' Glenn Frey dead at 67

Aw, drat.

Abe Vigoda died today.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/abe-vigoda-sunken-eyed-character-actor-dead-94-36528884

bummer

I guess after decades of hoax reports that Abe Vigoda had died, one eventually had to be true.
R.I.P., Detective Sergeant Fish.

Joe Cocker 70 & Paul Kantner 74 of Jefferson Airplane.

Joe Cocker died 12/22/14

On 2016-01-29 13:46, tikicoma wrote:
Joe Cocker died 12/22/14

Add Leslie Nielson to the twice dead list...
http://www.inquisitr.com/2748384/joe-cocker-and-leslie-nielsen-have-also-died-as-of-january-2016-but-they-died-years-ago/

Generalissimo Francisco Franco

Dan Hicks
http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_29485608/dan-hicks-bay-area-music-icon-dies-at

Denise "Vanity" Matthews
January 4, 1959 - February 15, 2016

NY Daily News: Vanity

Singer and actress

[->>King Bushwich 33rd on Hulu.com

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, dead at age 89.

George Constantine Nichopoulos , also known as Dr. Nick
October 29, 1927 – February 24, 2016

CNN: Dr Nick

Elvis Presley News: Dr Nick

Legendary D.J. Charlie Tuna

AllAccess: Charlie Tuna

Character Actor George Kennedy Dead at 91.
:down: From Cool Hand Luke :down:

Country music legend Merle Haggard passed away today. It was his 79th birthday. I listen to all kinds of music from hard rock to classical. Merle's music has always held a special place for me and his passing will leave a void not easily filled.

"And you don't have to call me Merle Haggard anymore"

RIP, Doris Roberts - aka Marie Barone, and so many others ('Christmas Vacation') - dead at 90.

Prince died of the flu in Paisley Park today. 4/21/16

I like this article best, quotes my friend Nate and mentions the club I worked at for 5+ years and my youngest brother still works for...
http://www.startribune.com/authorities-investigating-death-at-prince-s-paisley-park/376578441/#1

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/21/entertainment/prince-estate-death/

http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/21/prince-dead-at-57/

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2016-04-21 12:04 ]

Phil Kives, K-Tel International founder, dies at 87

Yahoo!News: Phil Kives

The end of an era, June 3,2016.

Muhammad Ali

Wait, Muhammad Ali is dead?
They should put something on TV about it.

Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) - I Am The Greatest - 1964 45rpm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Rj58ZTUNc

Candye Kane

San Diego Reader

Yumi Ito of the Peanuts, apparently back in May.
Those Mothra songs are delightfully suited for a Tiki space.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/11/national/death-yumi-ito-twin-pop-duo-peanuts-confirmed/#.V4UvT_krLIV

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160711/p2g/00m/0et/062000c

Aussie surf legend Midget Farrelly.

Jazz legend Pete Fountain July 3, 1930 - August 6, 2016

Los Angeles Times: Pete Fountain

Drat; Kenny Baker died.

(beep booooop)

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37072736

Gene Wilder, dead at 83, from complications from Alzheimer's disease.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Nephew-Gene-Wilder-star-of-Mel-Brooks-movies-9191048.php

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2016-08-29 13:46 ]

He cashed in his golden ticket. RIP you funny, funny man.

There's no earthly way of knowing/Which direction they are going... There's no knowing where they're rowing...

Or which way the river's flowing... Is it raining, is it snowing?/Is a hurricane a-blowing?

Not a speck of light is showing/So the danger must be growing... Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?/Is the grisly Reaper mowing?/Yes! The danger must be growing/'Cause the rowers keep on rowing

And they're certainly not showing/Any sign that they are slowing!

On 2016-08-29 17:43, tikiskip wrote:
There's no earthly way of knowing/Which direction they are going... There's no knowing where they're rowing...

Or which way the river's flowing... Is it raining, is it snowing?/Is a hurricane a-blowing?

Not a speck of light is showing/So the danger must be growing... Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?/Is the grisly Reaper mowing?/Yes! The danger must be growing/'Cause the rowers keep on rowing

And they're certainly not showing/Any sign that they are slowing!

I decided a couple weeks ago during an unexpected weekend viewing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that if I ever win the lottery and own a property with a river or lake (like the one at Trader Vic's Palm Springs house currently on the market) that I would commission a replica of the Wonkatania boat, maybe even with a dark tunnel with weird projections on the walls. I know we've got some tiki folk with the connections to make that happen!

Best part of that movie.
I love his snarky but loveable character in that role.

Johnny Depp played it just stupid and goofy.

Prince Buster...

The Prince:
"Buster, he sold the heat with a rock-steady beat . . . "

Nurse kissed in iconic V-J Day photo dead at 92

Ernie Cruz Jr, was found dead in the water off Sandy Beach on the south shore of Oahu.Cruz , along with Troy Fernandez founded The Ka’au Crater Boys in the early nineties.

Buckwheat Zydeco, aka Stanley Dural Jr., of lung cancer, age 68.

Arnie Palmer.

[ Edited by: GROG 2016-09-25 22:45 ]

Drat. And I was just thinking about Blood Feast a couple days ago.

Herschell Gordon Lewis

http://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3407951/r-p-herschell-gordon-lewis-godfather-gore-passed-away-87/

Richard Trentlage, Writer of the Oscar Mayer Jingle dead at 87

Rolling Stone: Richard Trentlage

YouTube: Oscar Meyer Weiner

Phil Chess who with his brother founded Chess Records
March 27, 1921 - October 19, 2016

New York Times: Phil Chess