Thursday, December 29, 2011

Steve Beshekas

Club manager, lifelong friend of John Belushi, and repeated inside reference during many of Belushi's bits on "Saturday Night Live" -- via the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sam Rivers

Saxophonist and composer -- via the L.A. Times. Although classified as part of the free jazz movement, he could play any style, as well as a broad range of instruments. Additionally, he spearheaded the D.I.Y. movement of loft performance -- concerts in private spaces that allowed musicians the playing time and audiences they needed when clubs and concert halls wouldn't do the trick.

Nicholas G. Bliss

Trumpeter -- via the Chicago Sun-Times.

Clive Robbins

Pioneering music therapist -- via the Guardian.

Eleanor Baillie aka Eleanor Retallack

Musical scholar -- via the Telegraph.

Clem DeRosa

Jazz musician, educator, bandleader, arranger, composer and author -- via basementrug.com.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Bill Morrison

Playwright and writer for radio -- via the Guardian.

Ernest Mehew

World's foremost expert on Robert Louis Stevenson -- via the Telegraph.

Maurice Huggett

Proprietor of the Phoenix Artist Club - via the Telegraph.

Hugh Carless

Career diplomat who accompanied Eric Newby to Afghanistan in 1956, an expedition that formed the substance of the classic travel memoir, Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" -- via the Telegraph.

David Spancer

Script coordinator, video editor -- via legacy.com.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Yoshimitsu Morita

Film director -- via the Chicago Tribune. Directed such well-regarded works as "The Family Game," "And Then" and "Paradise Lost."

Don Sharp

Film director -- via the New York Times. Best known for his efforts for Hammer films, including "The Kiss of the Vampire" and "The Face of Fu Manchu."

Warren Hellman

Financial whiz, civic leader, philanthropist, amateur athlete, bluegrass lover and musician, and founder of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival -- via the New York Times.

Heidi Helen Davis

Director, actress and teacher -- via the L.A. Times.

Ronnie Wolfe aka Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff

Comedy writer for stage, radio and TV -- via the Telegraph.