Lead singer for the Chairmen of the Board - via The News of Today. Their big 1970 hit? "Give Me Just a Little More Time."
Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Mary Malcolm
A prominent early BBC TV presenter -- via the Guardian. Interestingly, her mother was the illegitimate daughter of Edward VII and Lillie Langtry.
Raymond Castro
The man whose arrest sparked the Stonewall Riot in 1969, beginning the gay liberation movement -- via Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida.
Charles W. Utter
One of the last of the crusty old-school newspaper editors with a heart of gold -- via boston.com. He helmed the Westerly Sun of Rhode Island. His paper was the first in the country to publish a report on the attack on Pearl Harbor; then he joined the Air Force, completed 30 missions and got shot down over Germany. He returned from the war and continued there until 1991.
Vernon Biever
Official Green Bay Packers photographer had been covering them since 1941 -- via WFRV-TV. He is one of only two men (his son is the other) to have covered all of the first 35 Super Bowls.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Michel Hugo
Cinematographer -- via Variety. He served as d.p. on an astonishing variety of projects, including many now-obscure but vividly remembered TV series, movies-for-television, and cinema on the margins. It's a roll call of delicious strangeness! Misfires, cult hits, etc. The original "Mission: Impossible." "Head." "Bless the Beasts & Children." The original "The Night Stalker" TV film. "They Only Kill Their Masters." The remarkably funny "Shirts/Skins." Elizabeth Montgomery in "Mrs. Sundance." Dick van Dyke in "The Morning After." Martin Sheen in "The Last Survivors." The uniquely abysmal "Ode to Billy Joe." The Edward Herrmann/Blythe Danner Lou Gehrig bio. "The Manitou"! Andrew Stevens as "The Bastard"! "The Streets of San Francisco." "Terror from the Sky," the sequel to the TV-movie "The Savage Bees"! He worked on "The Octagon," ferChrissake. He wound up his career with stints on "Dynasty" and "Melrose Place." He could do it all.
Rodger Clayton aka Mr. Prinze
West Coast hip hop master -- via dubcnn.com. He was part of Uncle Jamm's Army; he produced "Dial-a-Freak."
Chance Conner
Journalist and writer -- via the Denver Post. He worked at the Colorado Daily, the Boulder Daily Camera and the Rocky Mountain News, among other places.
Bill Griffith
A jack of all trades who owned a newspaper, played the trumpet, collected circus calliopes and much more -- via the Wisconsin State Journal. Here's a longer piece on him from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Maurice Allais
Nobel Prize-winning economist -- via the Telegraph. He issued prescient warnings against "casino practices" of stock markets; he also claimed to have disprove the Theory of Relativity. Unexplained fluctuations in the cosmos that conflict with the theory are still referred to as "the Allais effect."
Reggie Leon Battise
Actor, musician, dancer, choreographer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. He was part of the Bus Boys and Sha Na Na.
Robin C. Kirkman
Computer programmer -- via monsterkidsclassichorrorforum.yuku.com. As a USC student, Kirkman helped bankroll the low-budgethorror film "The Hideous Sun Demon," serving also as actor and sound man on the project.
Neil Richardson
Composer for film, TV and radio -- via radiocafe.co.uk. He is best known for his "music library" compositions -- themes that are used for programs introductions, conclusions and punctuation.
Angelo Infanti
Actor -- via ansa.it. He will be best remembered in America as Fabrizio, the bodyguard who betrays Michael Corleone in "The Godfather."
Carla Cohen
Co-owner of the Washington, D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose -- via the Washington Post.
Art Jarvinen
Composer, musician and educator -- via New Music Box. He worked extensively with Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.
Audoin Dollfus
Astronomer and aeronaut -- via the French government. He studied Mars; he discovered a satellite of Saturn; he set several records in ballooning in the course of his research.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
One country dies . . . two are born
Saba Island.
The Netherlands Antilles, floating off the coast of Venezuela, has dissolved -- via Reuters.The flag of Netherlands Antilles, before Aruba seceded.
This small island chain fragments politically now into the islands of Bonaire, Saba and and St. Eustatius, now designated "special municipalities" of the Netherlands; Saint Martin aka Saint-Martin aka Sint Maarten; and Curacao, now named Kousou in the language Papiamentu, "a mix of Portuguese and Spanish with traces of English, Dutch and French," according to Reuters -- doesn't that sound like a heavenly language? -- which Curacao shares with Bonaire as its primary tongue. The other three islands use Dutch.Come to think of it, all these islands have fascinating, interwoven-with-marauding-colonizers histories that go back at least 500 years. And, yes, the blue liqueur called Curacao comes from Curacao, from the dried peel of the fruit of the laraha tree. I'm not kidding.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Joan Sutherland
One of the great operatic sopranos of the 20th century -- via the New York Times. "La Stupenda" was best known for her key work in reviving bel canto and Baroque pieces; her Alcina was groundbreaking. She was ever-present in recordings of the 1960s, especially for her numerous collaborations with Pavarotti early in his career. Other memorable roles: Lucia, Norma, Elvira, Gilda, Marie in "La fille du regiment." This Australian dramatic coloratura was named a Dame of the British Empire.
Plus, she had a great sense of humor and didn't take herself all that seriously. I jut loved her to pieces.
Plus, she had a great sense of humor and didn't take herself all that seriously. I jut loved her to pieces.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Solomon Burke
Soul singer extraordinaire -- via Yahoo News. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who was equally expert in gospel, blues, country, R & B and rock.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Rhys Isaac
Australian historian, the only to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. He won for his 1983 tome, "The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)