Friday, May 4, 2012

Adam Yauch aka MCA

Founding member of the Beastie Boys -- via the New York Times.





George Murdock

Actor -- via . He was equally at home playing authority figures (such as God, in "Star Trek V"), villains and creeps (Lt. Scanlon on "Barney Miller"). Prolific -- 51 years in the biz, 186 roles on film and TV.



Lloyd Brevett

Bassist for the Skatalites -- via the New York Times.

Rick Parson

He helped others -- via ohio.com.

Zvi Zeitlin

Violinist and teacher -- via the Slipped Disc.

Achala Sachdev

Actress --  the New York Daily News. Over the course of a 64-year career, she appeared in 144 films!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Shanmuga Sundari

Actress and playback singer -- via mgrroop.blogspot.com.

Tufan Minnullin

Playwright and writer -- via russkiymir.ru.

Charles "Skip" Pitts

Soul, blues, funk, R & B and blues guitar great -- via the Commercial Appeal.





Marilynn Lovell Matz

Actress, singer, therapist and AIDS activist -- via Variety.


Kenny Roberts aka George S. Kingsbury Jr.

Singer -- via cmt.com.



Joel Goldsmith

Composer for film and television -- via Variety.

Buddy Saltzman

Drummer -- via artiewayne.wordpress.com. He played on a vast number of recordings, for among others, Peter Paul and Mary, Tim Hardin, Melanie, Ian & Sylvia, Janis Ian, Neil Diamond, Cyrkle, The Coasters, The Four Seasons, Frank Sinatra and Laura Nyro.




Larry Ruiz

Disability activist -- via the Denver Post.

David Weiss

Artist -- via the Guardian. Known for his long-term collaboration with fellow artist Peter Fischli.



Bill Granger

Journalist and novelist -- via the Chicago Sun-Times.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Eric Charden aka Jacques Puissant

Singer and songwriter -- via Le Monde.

Peter Carsten

Actor -- via westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com.

Manfred Richter

Actor -- via westernsalliitaliana.blogspot.com.

Robert O. Ragland

Film composer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. Among his titles: "Q: The Winged Serpent," "Grizzly," and "The Thing with Two Heads."

Gladys Gewirtz

Composer, music director for Camp Ramah, actress -- via the Eulogizer.


Greg Ham

Multi-instrumentalist and mainstay of the band Men at Work -- via the L.A. Times.





Tommy Marth

Saxophonist -- via MSNBC.

Todd Simko

Guitarist, producer and engineer -- via the Vancouver Sun.


Frank Bulkley II

Founder of the Eskimo Ski Club and the Denver-Winter Park Ski Train; taught thousands of children to ski -- via the Denver Post.

Leila Berg

Children's author; journalist and writer on education and children's rights -- via the Guardian.


John Birch

Organist, choirmaster; and director of music at Chichester Cathedral -- via the Telegraph. Most famously, he commissioned Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms."

Joe Muryani

Clarinetist, music producer and writer -- via the New York Times.

Albert Falco

Diver, undersea explorer and ship captain -- via the Telegraph. A long-time associate of Jacques Cousteau; when we were kids and would pretend to be deep-ocean explorers, we would vie to see who would play him . . . as he had the coolest name. "Falco weel now attempt to engage zee elooseeve jiant squeed!"

Walter L. Gordon Jr.

Pioneering African American lawyer -- via the L.A. Times.

Wanda Weiskopf

Singer, voice teacher, poet and writer -- via oregonlive.com.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Robert Miles Parker

Artist and preservationist -- via the New York Times.


Hugo Fiorato

Long-time conductor for the New York City Ballet -- via the New York Times.


Irving Millman

Microbiologist -- via the New York Times. He helped develop the vaccine for hepatitis B, as well as a test for it.

Pete Fornatale

Visionary, pioneer radio dj -- via the New York Times. He invented a new way of listening to radio, and music, crafting long thematic sets of wildly varied musics; playing entire albums; and generally created the "FM sound."

Ernest Callenbach

Writer, editor and futurist -- via the New York Times. His fiction and non-fiction writing on "ecotopias" predicted and called for many of the ideas used in sustainable, selective-tech living today -- recycling, solar power, legalized marijuana, local organic food growth, etc.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Bob Smith

Orthodontist and inventor of ski goggles -- via the Associated Press.

Joshua Micheal McMahon

A free spirit -- via the Ponca City News.

Louis le Brocquy

Artist -- via the Guardian.


Amos Vogel aka Amos Vogelbaum

Cineaste, film society director, co-founder of the New York Film Festival, and writer of the great text "Film as a Subversive Art" -- via the New York Times. "The commercialization of art and entertainment is a negative factor in human development," he said.

Randy Purcell

Trombonist -- via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.