The Dead Thread

Sad to see Lee Hazlewood pass away. He makes a couple duet appearances in the DVD of "Movin' With Nancy", which was Nancy Sinatra's 1967 television special. That is one of my favorite music features of all time, sadly now apparantly out of print.

I thought some of you might enjoy these photos and comments from Nancy Sinatra, concerning the recent death of her friend and colleague Lee Hazlewood.

http://sinatrafamily.com:80/forum/showthread.php?t=31687

Vern

Tony Wilson dies at 57

The former broadcaster, record label boss and owner of the legendary Hacienda nightclub, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the Christie Hospital in Manchester (England...!)

Wilson founded the famous Hacienda and was one of five co-founders of Factory Records, which produced bands such as New Order and the Happy Mondays during a period in the 80s dubbed "Madchester".

He was a presenter on 'So It Goes' - the UK TV music show that first aired punk bands.

Merv Griffin, the US entertainer who created the game shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, has died aged 82.

Ben, whadja do...lose your way on the Tiki Central cyborhiway? I was still lamenting the loss of Merv when...BAM, you're interjecting a shameless solicitation for your business. Oh well, nothing like spending a buncha money on new tiki shit to help ya get over bad news.

Merv was a great guy. I met him on a couple of occasions. He was an acquaintance of my mom. My mom was friends with Merv's ex, Juleann, who actually (according to Mom) invented the answer-question game that became Jeopardy. Juleann and Merv would often play word games and such on long flights. One time they were flying back to the East Coast from Cali and, to change things up, Juleann decided to come up with answers while Merv had to figure out what the questions to them were. They enjoyed that game and Merv turned it into a TV game show.

The first time I met Merv was on the set of his daytime game show in the early 60's called Play Your Hunch (broadcast from studios in NYC). That was the show where a panel of celebrities had to guess which of three people was the real "interesting person" being spotlighted. The panel asked questions of the real person and the two impostors, then had to guess who they thought was the real one. That was the show where the phrase, "Will the real Whoever The Guest Was please stand up!" For drama, the impostors were supposed to act like they were about to stand up, but then the real person would stand then everyone would applaud and cheer. If the three stumped the panel then the contestants/impostors won prizes. When I was 11 my mom volunteered me to be an imposter on his show. We three kids didn't stump the panel, but it was fun being on the show and meeting Merv.

The other time I met him was at his house/horse farm in NJ. Juleann had invited my mom and me to spend the weekend with her at the farm. Juleann made THE best grape preserves I ever had with Concord grapes from their little vineyard about 50' away from the kitchen. I spent most of that semi-drizzling weekend out in the pastures wandering around with Merv's quarter horses from one meadow to the next. Merv was apparently not around much at all, so I guess that marriage was possibly on the rocks at that time. Juleann isn't even mentioned in any of Merv's readily available biographies. It's hard for me to think of Merv with any kind of animosity. Oh, well. Anyway, he did show up that Sunday and spent most of his time with his son (Nick, if I recall his name correctly). It was good seeing him again and fun hanging out in his home and with his horses.

Among all the luminaries of entertainment enterprises, I believe Merv was known to be one of the most personable.

For those of you from the East Coast or baseball fans:

Phil Rizzuto Yankees player and broadcaster passed away today.

Here is a link to the Fox Sports article:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7120816?MSNHPHMA

Here's a bit of it:

Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees' dynasty years and beloved by a generation of fans for exclaiming "Holy cow!" as a broadcaster, died Tuesday. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by the Yankees. Rizzuto had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J.
Rizzuto, known as "The Scooter," was the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and '50s, won seven World Series titles and played in five All-star games.

Rizzuto was a flashy, diminutive player who could always be counted on for a perfect bunt, a nice slide or a diving catch in a lineup better known for its cornerstone sluggers. He played for 13 seasons alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

He stood just 5-foot-6 but was equipped with a productive bat, sure hands and quick feet that earned him his nickname. A leadoff man, Rizzuto was a superb bunter, used to good advantage by the Yankee teams that won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956.

Others may still remember him for his infamous Money Store commercials on local TV.

Jazz percussionist and composer Max Roach
1924 - August 2007

Yahoo News: Max Roach

Leona Helmsley, 'Queen of Mean,' Dies
By RICHARD PYLE,AP
Posted: 2007-08-20 21:56:00
Filed Under: Business News, Nation News

NEW YORK (Aug. 20) -- Leona Helmsley, the cutthroat hotel magnate whose title as the "queen of mean" was sealed during a tax evasion case in which she was quoted as snarling "only little people pay taxes," died Monday at age 87. Helmsley died of heart failure at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn., said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.

Already experienced in real estate before her marriage, Helmsley helped her husband run a $5 billion empire that included managing the Empire State Building. She became a household name in 1989 when she was tried for tax evasion. The sensational trial included testimony from disgruntled employees who said she terrorized both the menial and the executive help at her homes and hotels.

That image of Helmsley as the "queen of mean" was sealed when a former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

Helmsley denied having said it, but the words followed her for the rest of her life.

She clearly enjoyed the luxury of her private fortune, flying the globe in a 100-seat jet with a bedroom suite. She and her husband's residences included a nine-room penthouse with a swimming pool overlooking Central Park atop their own Park Lane Hotel; an $8 million estate in Connecticut; a condo in Palm Beach; and a mountaintop hideaway near Phoenix.

"Leona Helmsley was definitely one of a kind," said Donald Trump , whose rivalry with the Helmsleys made headlines in the 1990s. "Harry loved being with her and the excitement she brought, and that is all that really matters."

The Helmsleys' financial excesses overshadowed millions in contributions for medical research and other causes. In recent years, she contributed $25 million to New York Presbyterian Hospital, $5 million to Katrina relief and $5 million after Sept. 11 to help the families of firefighters.

Yet Helmsley nickel-and-dimed merchants on her personal purchases, stiffed contractors who worked on her Connecticut home and terrorized both menial and executive help at her homes and hotels, detractors say.

When her husband died in 1997 at age 87, Helmsley said in a statement: "My fairy tale is over. I lived a magical life with Harry."

Earlier this year, Forbes magazine ranked her as the 369th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

She was 51, with the good looks of a former model and already a successful seller of residential real estate in a hot New York market, when she married Harry Helmsley in 1972.

He was 63 and one of the richest men in America.

In 1980 he made her president of Helmsley Hotels, a subsidiary which at the time operated more than two dozen hotels in 10 states, including the Park Lane, St. Moritz and Palace in New York and the Harley Hotels. Harley was a contraction of Harry and Leona.

For the better part of a decade, a glamorous Leona Helmsley smiled out of magazine ads dressed in luxurious gowns and tiara, advertising that the Palace was the only hotel in the world "where the Queen stands guard."

The press portrayed them as an adoring couple, with Leona calling Harry "gorgeous one" and "pussycat." Friends and acquaintances described her as generous, charming, playful and having a good sense of humor.

She threw parties on his birthdays at which guests wore buttons that said "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and he wore a button that said "I'm Harry." The couple would dance until dawn.

On July 4, 1976, Harry Helmsley lit the Empire State Building in red, white and blue - a tribute not to the Bicentennial, but to his wife's birthday. It cost $100,000 - "less than a necklace," he said.

But the Helmsleys' charmed life ended in 1988 when they were hit with tax-evasion charges.

Harry's health and memory were so poor that he was judged incompetent to stand trial. His wife, after an eight-week trial, was convicted of evading $1.2 million in federal taxes by billing Helmsley businesses for personal expenses ranging from her underwear to $3 million worth of renovations to the Dunellen Hall estate in Connecticut.

Sentenced to four years in prison, she tried to avoid jail by pleading that Harry might die without her at his side. Her doctor said that prison might kill her because of high blood pressure and other problems. (At a March 1992 hearing, the judge rejected that argument and even ordered her to surrender on April 15 - tax day.)

Helmsley served a total of 21 months and was released in January 1994. She had 150 hours added to her 750 hours of community service because employees had done some of the chores for her.

Several top executives at Helmsley companies said their firings coincided with her release. She maintained she couldn't have fired them because she had given up her management post - as a convicted felon she was barred from running enterprises with liquor licenses, such as hotels. The State Liquor Authority said it had no evidence that she was still in charge.

In 1996, two of Harry Helmsley's longtime partners accused his wife of scheming to loot the main corporation, Helmsley-Spear Inc. They said she was stripping away company assets to avoid paying $11.4 million owed them and to make the company worthless, because Harry Helmsley had given them an option to buy Helmsley-Spear at a bargain price upon his death.

After he died a few months later, the dispute with the partners was eventually settled and control of Helmsley-Spear was turned over to them. The settlement freed Leona Helmsley to sell off other assets.

The Helmsleys' charitable gifts may have run to the tens of millions, but people who dealt with them spoke bitterly of being stiffed.

One of them, a painting contractor, said Leona Helmsley wouldn't pay an $88,000 bill for work on Dunellen Hall because she was entitled to a "commission" for the $800,000 worth of other jobs he got in Helmsley buildings.

After making a sales clerk rewrite a bill for earrings to save $4 in sales tax, she reportedly said: "That's how the rich get richer." Her lawyers suggested that the government came after her to make an example of someone with high visibility.

Helmsley was born Leona Mindy Rosenthal on July 4, 1920, the daughter of a Manhattan hat maker. She left college after two years to become a model.

She married a lawyer, Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1959. Their only child, Jay Panzirer, later ran a Florida-based building supplies company that did extensive business with Helmsley properties. She later was briefly married to a garment industry executive, Joe Lubin.

Before her son's death of a heart attack in 1982, she told interviewers she would not talk about him "because terrible things can happen to people these days."

She evidently was referring to being knifed by robbers at her Palm Beach home in 1973. She was stabbed in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, and Harry was wounded in the arm.

After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son's widow, Mimi.

Mimi Panzirer said afterward that the legal costs wiped her out and "to this day I don't know why they did it."

Helmsley is survived by her brother and his wife, four grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

Hilly Kristal, the founder of New York club CBGB's
1932(?) - Aug 29, 2007

Yahoo News: Hilly Kristal

[ Edited by: KING BUSHWICH THE 33RD 2007-08-29 17:17 ]

ROME (AP) - Luciano Pavarotti, opera's biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71. He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C's.

Pavarotti, who had been diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment last month, died at his home in his native Modena at 5 a.m., his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement.

His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among family at friends at his side, manager Terri Robson said.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer," Robson said. "In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness."

Pavarotti's charismatic personna and ebullient showmanship - but most of all his creamy and powerful voice - made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since the great Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar.

For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his thrilling performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.

"Nessun Dorma" turned out to be Pavarotti's last aria, sung at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006. His last full-scale concert was at Taipei in December 2005, and his farewell to opera was in Puccini's "Tosca" at New York's Metropolitan in March 2004.

Instantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras - his partners in the "Three Tenors" concerts - never quite could.

"I always admired the God-given glory of his voice - that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range," Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles.

Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.

"The word 'commercial' is exactly what we want," he said after appearing in the "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word 'commercial,' or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."

In the annals of that rare and coddled breed, the operatic tenor, it may well be said the 20th century began with Enrico Caruso and ended with Pavarotti. Other tenors - Domingo included - may have drawn more praise from critics for their artistic range and insights, but none could equal the combination of natural talent and personal charm that so endeared Pavarotti to audiences.

"Pavarotti is the biggest superstar of all," the late New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg once said. "He's correspondingly more spoiled than anybody else. They think they can get away with anything. Thanks to the glory of his voice, he probably can."

In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high C's in quick succession that turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's "La Fille du Regiment" at the Met in 1972.

From Beijing to Buenos Aires, people immediately recognized his incandescent smile and lumbering bulk, clutching a white handkerchief as he sang arias and Neapolitan folk songs, pop numbers and Christmas carols for hundreds of thousands in outdoor concerts.

His name seemed to show up as much in gossip columns as serious music reviews, particularly after he split with Adua Veroni, his wife of 35 years and mother of their three daughters, and then took up with his 26-year-old secretary in 1996.

In late 2003, he married Nicoletta Mantovani in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. Pavarotti said their daughter, Alice, nearly a year old at the time of the wedding, was the main reason they finally wed after years together.

In the latter part of his career, he came under fire for canceling performances or pandering to the lowest common denominator in his choice of programs, or for the Three Tenors tours and their millions of dollars in fees.

He was criticized for lip-synching at a concert in Modena. An artist accused him of copying her works from a how-to-draw book and selling the paintings.

The son of a baker who was an amateur singer, Pavarotti was born Oct. 12, 1935. He had a meager upbringing, though he said it was rich with happiness.

"Our family had very little, but I couldn't imagine one could have any more," Pavarotti said.

As a boy, Pavarotti showed more interest in soccer than his studies, but he also was fond of listening to his father's recordings of tenor greats like Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Jussi Bjoerling and Giuseppe Di Stefano, his favorite.

Among his close childhood friends was Mirella Freni, who would eventually become a soprano and an opera great herself. The two studied singing together and years later ended up making records and concerts together.

In his teens, Pavarotti joined his father, also a tenor, in the church choir and local opera chorus. He was influenced by the American movie actor-singer Mario Lanza.

"In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror," Pavarotti said.

Singing was still nothing more than a passion while Pavarotti trained to become a teacher and began working in a school.

But at 20, he traveled with his chorus to an international music competition in Wales. The Modena group won first place, and Pavarotti began to dedicate himself to singing.

With the encouragement of his then-fiancee, Adua, he started lessons, selling insurance to pay for them. He studied with Arrigo Pola and later Ettore Campogalliani.

In 1961, Pavarotti won a local competition and with it a debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Boheme."

He followed with a series of successes in small opera houses throughout Europe before his 1963 debut at Covent Garden in London, where he stood in for Di Stefano as Rodolfo.

Having impressed conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti was given a role opposite Bonynge's wife, Sutherland, in a Miami production of "Lucia di Lamermoor." They subsequently signed him for a 14-week tour of Australia.

It was the recognition Pavarotti needed to launch his career. He also credited Sutherland with teaching him how to breathe correctly.

Pavarotti's major debuts followed - at La Scala in Milan in 1965, San Francisco in 1967 and New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1968.

Throughout his career, Pavarotti struggled with a much-publicized weight problem. His love of food caused him to balloon to a reported 396 pounds in 1978.

"Maybe this time I'll really do it and keep it up," he said during one of his constant attempts at dieting.

Pavarotti, who had been trained as a lyric tenor, began taking on heavier dramatic roles, such as Manrico in Verdi's "Trovatore" and the title role in "Otello."

In the mid-1970s, Pavarotti became a true media star. He appeared in television commercials and began singing in hugely lucrative mega-concerts outdoors and in stadiums around the world. Soon came joint concerts with pop stars. A concert in New York's Central Park in 1993 drew 500,000 fans.

Pavarotti's recording of "Volare" went platinum in 1988.

In 1990, he appeared with Domingo and Carreras in a concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome for the end of soccer's World Cup. The concert was a huge success, and the record known as "The Three Tenors" was a best-seller and was nominated for two Grammy awards. The video sold over 750,000 copies.

The three-tenor extravaganza became a mini-industry and widely imitated. With a follow-up album recorded at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in 1994, the three have outsold every other performer of classical music. A 1996 tour earned each tenor an estimated $10 million.

Pavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in his series of charity concerts, "Pavarotti & Friends," held annually in Modena. He performed with artists as varied as Ricky Martin, James Brown and the Spice Girls.

The performances raised some eyebrows but he always shrugged off the criticism.

Some say the "word 'pop' is a derogatory word to say 'not important' - I do not accept that," Pavarotti said in a 2004 interview with the AP. "If the word 'classic' is the word to say 'boring,' I do not accept. There is good and bad music."

It was not just his annual extravaganza that saw Pavarotti involved in humanitarian work.

During the 1992-95 Bosnia war, he collected humanitarian aid along with U2 lead singer Bono, and after the war he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Center in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as an earthquake in December 1988 that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia.

Pavarotti was also dogged by accusations of tax evasion, and in 2000 he agreed to pay nearly roughly $12 million to the Italian state after he had unsuccessfully claimed that the tax haven of Monte Carlo rather than Italy was his official residence.

He had been accused in 1996 of filing false tax returns for 1989-91.

Pavarotti always denied wrongdoing, saying he paid taxes wherever he performed. But, upon agreeing to the settlement, he said: "I cannot live being thought not a good person."

Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July 2006 to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, though doctors said the surgery offered improved hopes for survival.

"I was a fortunate and happy man," Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published about a month after the surgery. "After that, this blow arrived."

"And now I am paying the penalty for this fortune and happiness," he told the newspaper.

Fans were still waiting for a public appearance a year after his surgery. In the summer, Pavarotti taught a group of selected students and worked on a recording of sacred songs, a work expected to be released in early 2008, according to his manager. He mostly divided his time between Modena and his villa in the Adriatic seaside resort of Pesaro.

Just this week, the Italian government honored him with an award for "excellence in Italian culture," and La Scala and Modena's theater announced a joint Luciano Pavarotti award.

In his final statement, Pavarotti said the awards gave him "the opportunity to continue to celebrate the magic of a life dedicated to the arts and it fills me with pride and joy to have been able to promote my magnificent country abroad."

He will be remembered in Italy as "the last great Italian voice able to move the world," said Bruno Cagli, president of the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome.

The funeral will be held Saturday inside Modena's cathedral, Mayor Giorgio Pighi told SkyTG24.

A local station dug up a performace of Pavarotti and the Godfather of Soul James Brown doing James Brown's "It's a Man's World." It was fantastic.

A brilliant performance of two now fallen kings. It was great listening to opera on DC's #1 Hip Hop-Rap-Soul-R&B station.

IN honor of the passing of Luciano Pavarotti

http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

Jane Wyman has died at the age of 90.

Not a famous person and nobody knows her...but a friend of mine named Ginger passed away from cancer yesterday. I mention her here because the first time I met her she brought over a bottle of Frangelico and me and my friends enjoyed the delightful hazelnut liquor from Martini glasses. I raise a toast in the memory of Ginger!!! :)

boo.

Alex, the world's most famous talking parrot, dies

September 12, 2007

He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with
his own brand of one-liners he established himself in TV shows, scientific
reports, and news articles as perhaps the world's most famous talking bird.

But last week Alex, an African gray parrot, died, apparently of natural causes,
said Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and
Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of his life and
published reports of his progress in scientific journals. Alex was 31.

Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability
to learn human language. Alex's language facility was, in some ways, more
surprising than the feats of primates that have been taught American Sign
Language, like Koko the gorilla or Washoe the chimpanzee.

In 1977, when Pepperberg, then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard,
bought Alex from a pet store, scientists had little expectation that any bird
could learn to communicate with humans, as opposed to just mimicking words and
sounds. Research in other birds had not been promising.

But by using novel methods of teaching, Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn scores
of words, which he could put into categories, and to count small numbers of
items, as well as recognize colors and shapes.

“The work revolutionized the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a
psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “That used
to be a pejorative, but now we look at those brains – at least Alex's – with
some awe.”

Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against characterizing
Alex's abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in basic
expressions – but it did not show the sort of logic and ability to generalize
that children acquire at an early age, they said.

“There's no evidence of recursive logic, and without that you can't work with
digital numbers or more complex human grammar,” said David Premack, emeritus
professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pepperberg used an innovative approach to teach Alex. African grays are social
birds, and pick up some group dynamics very quickly. In experiments, Pepperberg
would employ one trainer to, in effect, compete with Alex for a small reward,
like a grape. Alex learned to ask for the grape by observing what the trainer
was doing to get it; the researchers then worked with the bird to help shape the
pronunciation of the words.

Alex showed surprising facility. For example, when shown a blue paper triangle,
he could tell an experimenter what color the paper was, what shape it was, and –
after touching it – what it was made of. He demonstrated some of his skills on
nature shows, including programs on PBS and the BBC. He famously shared scenes
with actor Alan Alda on the PBS series “Look Who's Talking.”

Like parrots can, he also picked up one-liners from hanging around the lab, like
“calm down” and “good morning.” He could express frustration, or apparent
boredom, and his cognitive and language skills appeared to be about as competent
as those in trained primates. His accomplishments have also inspired further
work with African gray parrots; two others, named Griffin and Arthur, are a part
of Pepperberg's continuing research program.

Even up through last week, Alex was working with Pepperberg on compound words
and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last
Thursday, she recalled, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you
tomorrow. I love you.”

He was found dead in his cage the next morning.

Oh man...that is sad. African Grays are very smart and inquisitive birds. It sounds like he had a wonderful life. Bless his beak. :(

Yeah, the last couple lines of that story really got me. I had seen him on tv several times over the years; he really was pretty amazing.

So sorry for the loss of your friend Ginger, also.

Ralph Kent passed away on Monday, Septemeber 10, 2007, at the age of 68.

Kent was a Disney artist (a 'Disney Legend') who worked on marketing material for the Enchanted Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise, and other classic Disney attractions. He is perhaps best known for designing the first limited-edition Mickey Mouse watch.

He was also a regular at the former 'Big Bamboo' bar in Kissimmee, Florida, where he was known for drawing Disney characters for patrons.

http://cartooncave.blogspot.com/2007/09/goodbye-dear-friend.html

'Match Game's' Brett Somers dies at 83

WESTPORT, Connecticut (AP) -- Actress and comedian Brett Somers, who amused game show fans with her quips on the "Match Game" in the 1970s, has died, her son said. She was 83.

Somers died Saturday at her home in Westport of stomach and colon cancer, Adam Klugman said Monday.

Hosted by Gene Rayburn, "Match Game" was the top game show during much of the 1970s. Contestants would try to match answers to nonsense questions with a panel of celebrities; much of the humor came from the racy quips and putdowns.

Shows from the 1973-79 run, featuring regulars like Somers, Richard Dawson and Charles Nelson Reilly, are still seen on cable TV's GSN (formerly Game Show Network).

Somers married actor Jack Klugman, the future star of the television shows "Quincy" and "The Odd Couple," in 1953. The two separated in 1974, but never divorced.

They made many television appearances as a couple. Somers appeared on several episodes of "The Odd Couple," playing the ex-wife of Klugman's character.

In the summer of 2003, she appeared in a one-woman cabaret show, "An Evening with Brett Somers," which she wrote and co-produced. She continued to perform after being diagnosed with cancer.

She was born Audrey Johnston in New Brunswick, Canada, and grew up in Portland, Maine. She ran away from home at age 17 and headed for New York City, where she settled in Greenwich Village. She changed her first name to Brett after the lead female character in the Ernest Hemingway novel "The Sun Also Rises." Somers was her mother's maiden name.

Her son said she was caustic, irreverent and a self-declared bohemian.

"She maintained her independence till the end, and her irreverence," Adam Klugman said. "She died very much at peace."

In addition to Adam Klugman, Somers is survived by another son, David, and a daughter, Leslie.

Robert Jordan - Writer of 'The Wheel of Time' dies

James Oliver Rigney Jr., author of the bestselling fantasy series, was 58.

September 19, 2007

James Oliver Rigney Jr., a major voice in modern fantasy literature who wrote the bestselling series "The Wheel of Time" using the pen name Robert Jordan, has died. He was 58.

Rigney, who was working on the final volume of the long-running saga, died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his publisher confirmed. The rare blood disease caused the walls of his heart to thicken.

Only eight people in 1 million contract the disease each year, Rigney wrote in March 2006 as he addressed his illness in the science-fiction magazine Locus.

"Few people have managed to imagine a world the way that Robert Jordan did," Wendy Bradley, editor of the science-fiction magazine Farthing told The Times. "That was a great strength of his writing. He was trying to tell a story on a heroic scale, and he was good -- he had the same grip on storytelling that J.K. Rowling has."

More than 30 million copies of the books have been sold and the series has been translated into about two dozen languages, according to Tor, his New York publisher. By the 1990s, Rigney had come to dominate the fantasy genre spawned by J.R.R. Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings."

The "Wheel" novels tell the story of Rand al'Thor, who heroically battles evil in a mythical land and was modeled on the Norse god of justice. The increasing popularity of the fantasy genre was reflected in reader fascination with the escapist tale, and fans at book signings could range in age from their early teens to their 80s.

When asked to describe what fueled the series' incredibly complicated plot lines, Rigney often replied by saying, "What if somebody came up to this average person on the street and said, 'You are the savior of humanity.' What do you do with that?"

He had a secretary whose main job was to keep the facts straight in the elaborate world he created that spanned 11 books and almost 7,420 pages. Some critics questioned his wordiness, yet he could sum up the series' driving force in three words: "Life changes. Deal."

The series has inspired a thriving online community with hundreds of Internet sites devoted to it. Among the largest is TarValon.net, which has several thousand members, said Melissa Craib, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based site.

"An amazing community has been built around what he has created," Craib told The Times. "His thoughts and his ideas about honor and service and making it through difficult times are exceptionally inspiring to many people. It draws together people who want to embody these qualities."

On his personal blog at http://www.dragonmount.com, Rigney updated fans on his health and reassured them that he was working on "A Memory of Light," the 12th and last novel in the "Wheel" series. He reportedly left behind detailed notes on the novel and had shared the end of the story with his wife, Harriet, who was his editor, and a cousin.

"I am quite confident that the series will be finished," Craib said. "This is important to his legacy."

In the early 1980s, Rigney wrote a trio of historical novels set in Charleston, where he was born and lived most of his life. They were written under the pseudonym Reagan O'Neal.

He used the name Robert Jordan on the seven books he wrote in the Conan the Barbarian sword-and-sorcery series that Robert E. Howard created in the 1930s. Several writers have continued the fantasy novels, and Rigney's include "Conan the Destroyer," the novelization of the 1984 movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Rigney used different pen names for different genres to avoid confusing his readers. As Jackson O'Reilly, he also had published a western, "Cheyenne Raiders," in 1982.

Born on Oct. 17, 1948, Rigney learned to read when he was 4 with the help of a teenage brother.

A decorated Army veteran, Rigney served two tours in Vietnam before attending the Citadel, a military college in South Carolina. After graduating with a degree in physics, he became a civilian nuclear engineer for the Navy. When a fall at a naval shipyard injured his knee, Rigney was hospitalized for a month and almost died from a blood clot.

Left with a limp that forced him to use a walking stick, he decided to try to become a novelist in 1977 because "life was too short," he told USA Today in 2003.

Fantasy writing was his favorite genre because it "is an area where it is possible to talk about right and wrong, good and evil, with a straight face," Rigney said in a 2000 interview with CNN.com.

When he was well, he often worked seven to eight hours a day, seven days a week in a carriage house behind his Charleston home that was built in 1797.

A history buff, he enjoyed outdoor sports and "the indoor sports of poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting," his biography said.

To Rigney, "Wheel" was "one very long novel, with the individual books being sections of the novel," he said in a 2001 interview on the Science Fiction and Fantasy World website.

He repeatedly cautioned fans who may have chosen to get lost in "Wheel" by engaging in role-playing or card games based on the series that he was not "a guru or a sage" but simply a "storyteller."

In addition to his wife, Harriet Popham Rigney, he is survived by a son, William Popham McDougal of Housatonic, Mass.; and a brother, Reynolds W. Rigney of New Orleans.

Memorial donations may be made in the name of James Rigney to Mayo Clinic Department of Hematology -- Amyloidosis research, 200 1st St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905.

A moment of silence for Marcel Marceau, French mime artist, who died yesterday at the age of 84.

.

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2007-09-23 08:30 ]

Good post Vern...and indeed a loss.

Actress Alice Ghostley Dies at 81

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alice Ghostley, the Tony Award-winning actress best known on television for playing Esmeralda on "Bewitched" and Bernice on "Designing Women," has died. She was 81.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOssXAwFOoijv8Obpm04bKY_2Z2A

Mikey Donaldson RIP 1961-2007

Pat Doyle( Offender’s Drummer) wrote:

Mikey "Offender" Donaldson passed away in his sleep on September 22 in Barcelona Spain where he had recently relocated from Amsterdam. The cause is unknown at the moment. He was 46. He is survived by his brother Joe Donaldson, sister Marie Donaldson Ward, and sister Sumiko Hakari , all of Killeen, Texas.

Mikey was the bass player for Austin punk band the Offenders from 1978-86. He also recorded bass tracks on MDC's groundbreaker "Millions of Dead Cops" and DRI's "Dealing With It." Mikey also performed regularly with MDC in the early 1980s. He moved to San Francisco in 1986 and went on to play and record with Gary Floyd (Dicks) and Lynn Perko (Imperial Teen) in Sister Double Happiness. After leaving the music scene for ten years or so, Mikey returned to Austin and reunited with the original Offenders line-up for a gig at Emos in March 2002. In 2003 MDC recruited Mikey and the original line-up, recorded a new album, and have been touring all over the world ever since.

Mikey is universally regarded as one of the most innovative and inimitable masters of the bass guitar. He played his Rickenbacker like it was a out-sized rhythm guitar. Taking cues from Jack Bruce and Lemmy, Mikey pioneered an agressive speed-picking style and liberal employment of bass chords that few have been able to emulate in the past 20 years. He will be sorely missed, certainly in Austin and his hometown of Killeen, but also across the globe. A memorial celebration in Austin is pending and the date will be announced soon.

David Dictor wrote: Mikey had rediscovered life in Holland in the last four years. His funny easy going nature was known throughout Europe. He fell in love with and lived with beautiful run away teen model and merch goddess, Selina Hakkensen. He relished playing with Tony Slug from BGK’s band “The Nitwitz” and his own squat band “Brutalized SS”.

Mikey was planning a tour with MDC for Austailia and New Zealand for February 2008 and with the Nitwitz to Turkey in April 2008. He LOVED touring and loved music. He went everywhere with his music cd binder. He loved Swedish Hardcore and was up on the most obscure of bands everywhere.Mikey was a young hearted person from the old school of hardcore. He was “speed metal” before the term was coined. They don’t make many like this and when he is gone ,,,well he is fucking gone. It is a sad fucking day but know Mikey would want you to love life, belly up to the bar and yes, practice your instrument like it was the most important thing in life.

Actress Lois Maxwell, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in a string of James Bond movies, has died aged 80.

Maxwell starred alongside Sir Sean Connery in Bond's first movie outing, Dr No, in 1962.

She played the role until 1985's A View To A Kill with Sir Roger Moore, who told the BBC she had been a "great asset" to the early Bond movies.

A spokesperson for Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia, said she died there on Saturday evening.

AGGGGGGGG!!! Oh no.....not THEE Ms Moneypenny. :(

FYI...
Everyone knows (or should know) Lois Maxwell as the one and only 'Miss Moneypenny' - but there's much more to her acting career than that. She started out against her parents will - and without their knowledge in a Canadian childrens radio program - credited as 'Robin Wells'. Before the age of 15 she left for England with The Canadian Army's Entertainment Corps and manged (after her age had been discovered) to get herself enrolled in The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she met and became friends with Roger Moore. Her movie career started with a Warner production A Matter of Life and Death (1946). After having won The Most Promising Newcomer Golden Globe Award in 1947 she went on and participated in 6 Hollywood productions before she decided to try her luck in Italy. She had to leave for England caused by her husbands illness, and since then she has had roles in a number of movies beisde the first 14 Bond movies. In 1989 she retired. Lois Maxwell has lived in Canada having moved from England. While still acting in the Bond films during the 80s Lois also became a regular columnist for the Toronto Sun newspaper. She purchased a cottage in northern Ontario and would often share stories about her experiences on the movie set, her co-stars, life in Italy, her experiences growing up in Canada and about her present life in general. As well as commenting on topics of the day. Her feature was a favorite for many and she was sorely missed when she finally retired from writing for the Toronto Sun.

Randy Van Horne, whose vocal group the Randy Van Horne Singers performed the theme
songs for "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons" and several other popular television cartoons of the 1960s, has died at the age of 83.

The singing group, which included Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony the Tiger and Fritz the parrot from the Enchanted Tiki Room) also recorded on many other artist's recordings. They provided the 'Zu-zu-zu,' 'Boink Boink,' 'Pow! Pow!' and other vocal sounds for all but one of Esquivel's RCA LPs, and the jungle tribal chorus sounds from Martin Denny's "Afro-Desia"

One of the members of the Randy Van Horne Singers was Thurl Ravenscroft, known better to us as the voice of Tony the Tiger and Fritz, the German accented parrot from the Enchanted Tiki Room.

http://www.spaceagepop.com/vanhorne.htm

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2007-10-03 21:43 ]

Enrico Banducci
1922- OCT 9, 2007
Owner of the Hungry i in San Francisco.

http://www.hungryi.net

Entertainers such as Bill Cosby and Lenny Bruce performed at the Hungry i when they were starting their career. Tom Lehrer recorded his "That was the year that was" album live at the club.

i was pretty sad to see the news today that teresa brewer passed away. she has a great album titled aloha from teresa brewer, and sang numerous hawaiian hits. my personal favorite is her version of My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii. she had a great twang-hick quality to her voice. i added that selection to the past hooptylau cd when we went a little bit country.

Joey Bishop, the last surviving member to The Rat Pack, died.

Here's The SF Gate article.

On 2007-10-18 11:24, Haole'akamai wrote:
Joey Bishop, the last surviving member to The Rat Pack, died.

Here's The SF Gate article.

It mentions that Joey Bishop had a talk show to compete with Johnny Carson (as if) and that he had a side-kick to banter with, but they don't mention that the side-kick was Regis Philbin. I remember the show. Lasted a couple of years or so, but in Johnny's Golden Age, there was no such thing as competition.

Will I ever learn to spell check? No.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-10-18 13:14 ]

South African Reggae star Lucky Dube was shot and killed while the car he was in was carjacked yesterday.
http://www.luckydubemusic.com/

On 2007-10-18 13:12, The Gnomon wrote:

On 2007-10-18 11:24, Haole'akamai wrote:
Joey Bishop, the last surviving member to The Rat Pack, died.

Here's The SF Gate article.

It mentions that Joey Bishop had a talk show to compete with Johnny Carson (as if) and that he had a side-kick to banter with, but they don't mention that the side-kick was Regis Philbin. I remember the show. Lasted a couple of years or so, but in Johnny's Golden Age, there was no such thing as competition.

Will I ever learn to spell check? No.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-10-18 13:14 ]

I remember Regis on Bishop's show. I'm wondering if anyone remembers a very short lived talk show hosted by Jerry Lewis at about that time. And didn't he have a desk that elevated with his guests about ten feet up a wall?

Deborah Kerr passed away last Thursday.

Deborah Kerr holds the record for most Best Actress Oscar nominations without a win (6), which is all the more impressive considering that she quit the movie business in 1968, after expressing her dislike for the excessive sex and violence in films. She appeared in only one theatrical film after 1969 (when the films she had been working on earlier were released), concentrating instead on stage and TV roles. But before she left, she gifted us with some very special performances. In fact, I don't believe she ever gave a performance that was less than adequate, and most were quite memorable.

Born in Scotland on September 30, 1921, and originally trained as a dancer, Deborah Kerr began appearing on stage in England in the late 30s, thanks to the efforts of a radio star aunt. She first appeared in a film in 1940 (Contraband, in a bit part), and was soon "discovered" by Gabriel Pascal, a British film producer. Roles in Major Barbara (1941) and Love on the Dole (1941) quickly resulted in popularity among English filmgoers during the WWII years, and in turn a New York Film Critics Best Actress Award for her role in Black Narcissus (1947) resulted in a ticket to Hollywood and a starring role opposite Clark Gable in The Hucksters (1947).

She received the first of her six Oscar nominations for Edward, My Son in 1949. She also had a successful Broadway debut in 1953, in Tea and Sympathy (which she later repeated for the 1956 film version). Feeling she was in danger of becoming typecast on both sides of the Atlantic as the reserved, proper, independent woman -- which she played very well, of course -- she fought for and got one of the two signature parts of her career: the adulteress in From Here to Eternity (1953), the one with the famous beach scene with Burt Lancaster. She got her second Oscar nomination for that one, followed by The King and I (1957), her other best-known part, then Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958) and The Sundowners (1961).

She was one of the most popular performers of the late 50s, demonstrated by her 1959 Golden Globe as the world's most popular female film star. While never winning on Academy Award or a BAFTA award (4 nominations) for Best Actress, she was given a special BAFTA in 1991 and an honorary Oscar in 1994, and a Companion of the Order of the British Empire in 1998 -- the equivalent of knighthood for women.

After leaving Hollywood in 1968, Deborah Kerr appeared on the big screen only once more, in The Assam Garden (1985). Her TV appearances included an Emmy-nominated role in A Woman of Substance, a 1983 miniseries.

This article was originally written in 2001 for her 80th birthday. She passed away in October, 2007 at the age of 86, after suffering from Parkinson's.

Porter Wagoner
Mr. Grand Ole Opry

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=281442>1=7702

While not very tiki, the man was a legend.

Watching the news...I just heard that Robert Goulet died. :(

There are no reports online, but i'll post one (or someone will) as soon as it's up.

RIP Robert Goulet...

EDIT: Robert Goulet dies at 73
only news source so far. :(

---

"It's like a Koala crapped a rainbow in my brain!"

[ Edited by: ravenne 2007-10-30 16:53 ]

Sirius better play him on the Sinatra channel tomorrow.

whos gonna mess up my stuff at 3pm now?

Professional female wrestler Lillian "Fabulous Moolah" Ellison
First Goddess of the Squared Circle
1923-November 2, 2007

Wrestling Museum: Fabulous Moolah

Yahoo News: Fabulous Moolah

Norman Mailer January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007

Former road manager for the Allman Brothers Band
John C. 'Scooter' Herring, 67

Macon Telegraph: Scooter Herring

His drug conviction in 1976, in which Gregg Allman testified against him, contributed to the breakup of the Allman Brothers Band.

The Fabulous Moolah
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/sports/06moolah.html?em&ex=1194498000&en=89e29b5cca94fe96&ei=5087%0A

and now

Mr. Whipple
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_en_tv/obit_wilson

Kevin DuBrow, lead singer for the popular 1980’s heavy metal band Quiet Riot, was found dead inside his Las Vegas home on Sunday. DuBrow was 52-years-old.

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=28935&cat=16

Dead: The inventor of Gatorade.

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-obit-cade&prov=ap&type=lgns

Sean Taylor

American football: Redskins' Taylor dies after shooting
Monday 11/26/2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Washington Redskins star defender Sean Taylor died early Tuesday morning after being shot Monday at his home in Miami, the National Football League club announced Tuesday.

The 24-year-old safety died in a Florida hospital where he underwent nearly seven hours of emergency surgery Monday to repair a severed femoral artery, the team announced.

---

He was one of the best players on the Skins. Even gone, he is still currently a league leader in interceptions. A little more than a week ago there were two back-to-back break-ins at his Miami area home. Nothing was stolen. On one of the break-ins, they say that a knife was left on his bed. Naturally, his fiancee and 18 mo daughter were scared. It has been repoted that Sean, who was on injured reserve, went down to Miami to check out the situation. In the early morning hours of the day he was to return to Washington, someone started trying to bash in his back door. Sean had his fiancee and daughter hide under the covers of his bed, he grabbed a machete that he kept nearby and went to see what was going on. When he incountered the invader, the guy shot Sean in the groin area hitting his femoral artery, then left. By the time that help arrived, Sean had lost a lot of blood and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. This is a yet to be solved mystery.

Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.

Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, Knievel always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. In later years he still made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

I wanted to be Evel when I was a kid. He was a childhood hero of mine. Well, that changed later in life, he turned out to be like a white OJ, minus murder..

I still have a bunch of Evel news articles from his Snake River jump, and my two childhood T-Shirts..