Thursday, November 13, 2014

Alvin Dark

All-Star, pennant- and Series-winning former MLB shortstop and manager -- via the Sporting News. AKA Al, Blackie, the Swamp Fox. Won the '54 Series with the old New York Giants; won the '74 Series as manager of the A's. His service in WWII might have kept him out of the Hall of Fame, according to Bill James. He was accused of racist comments in 1964, but was defended by Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson. His autobiography bears a title that is testimony to his coaching career: "When in Doubt, Fire the Manager."




Harry Pearson

Journalist and audiophile -- via the New York Times. He founded the magazine Absolute Sound, and crusaded against the playback limitations of CDs.

Raleigh Trevelyan

Writer and historian -- via the Telegraph.


Oriel Malet

Writer -- via the Telegraph. AK Lady Auriel Rosemary Malet Vaughan.




Kelvin Moore

Former MLB player -- via the San Jose Mercury News.

Christiane Minazolli

Actress -- via purepeople.com.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Carol Ann Susi

Actress -- via The Wrap.

Allen Ripley

Former MLB pitcher -- via the Attleboro Sun Chronicle.


Warren Clarke

Actor -- via the Mirror.

Rebekah Gibbs

Actress -- via the Independent.

David Watson

Actor -- via hollywood.com.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

John Doar

Lawyer with the Justice Department who stood up to racism and the imperial presidency -- via the New York Times. He prosecuted the men who killed Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, and Viola Liuzzo. He was on the Freedom Ride. He lived with James Meredith while the latter was integrating the University of Mississippi. Later, he helped make the case for Nixon's impeachment.

Steve Dodd

Actor -- via the South Coast Register.

Abdelwahab Meddeb

Nikola Simic

Actor -- via Focus Information Agency.

Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz

Surfer -- via the Times of Israel. Perhaps the greatest Jewish surfer to date, he is believed to have introduced the sport in Israel.

Big Bank Hank

Rapper -- via the New York Daily News. AKA Henry Jackson, Imp the Dimp. One of the founders of the Sugarhill Gang; a pioneering rap group whose "Rapper's Delight" is a classic! He had a degree in oceanography, but found it hard to enter that vocation. Grandmaster Caz insists that Hank plagiarized his unpublished lyrics for this song, but the controversy has never been settled.





Tomas Young

Anti-war activist and disabled veteran -- via the Standard Examiner. A very noble individual.



Maggie Boyle

Folk singer and musician -- via the Guardian.

Geoffrey Clarke

Sculptor and stained glass artist -- via the Guardian.

Vivienne Price

Jonathan Athon

Bassist for Black Tusk -- via the New York Daily News.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Jerry Tallmer

Journalist, theater critic, editor, and writer -- via the New York Times. He pretty much put the Village Voice together at its beginning; he started Jules Feiffer's career, among many others; and he invented the Obie Awards (Off-Broadwy theater).

Geula Nuni

Actress -- via ynetnews.com.

Gary Lane

Gary is far right in this picture.
Bassist for the Standells; their big hit was the ever-popular "Dirty Water" -- via Ultimate Classic Rock. AK Gary McMillan.

Michael Lennick

Documentary filmmaker -- via Yahoo Movies.

Zoltan Gera

Actor -- via origo.hu.

DEATHCETERA: A weekly roundup of death-related news from around the world

(Editor's note: After some feedback, trying a new title for this weekly feature. "Deathcetera"? It's corny, but a bit better than Weekly Reader.)

TOP STORIES

A top-notch multipart digital feature from Consumer Reports: “A Beautiful Death”

Jenny Gold from Kaiser Health News talks about the Institute of Medicine’s recent report, “Dying in America”. You can download a free copy of the report here. Gold interviews the report’s author, Nancy Metcalf, here.



DEATH



That Victorian terror of being buried alive – by Ella Morton at Atlas Obscura, via Slate



MOURNING


Stained-glass windows memorialize war dead – from Anne Fletcher at the Vancouver Courier


FUNERALS

Funeral home launches mobile showroom – via Craig Hlavty at the Houston Chronicle

Zoroastrian sky burials – from Ella Morton at Atlas Obscura, via Slate

‘Amusement and Contradiction in the Contemporary Funeral Industry’ – a paper by George Saunders in Critical Sociology


END-OF-LIFE ISSUES

Pro-Death with Dignity op-ed from Dr. Peg Sandeen, Executive Director of Death with Dignity National Center


Gwendolyn Crenshaw

Librarian -- via the Denver Post.

Tolbert N. Lester Jr.

Automobile restorer -- via legacy.com. He restored the 1949 Hudson Commodore used in the film "Driving Miss Daisy."


Lee Young-ok

Beloved neighborhood store owner -- via the Korea Times U.S.

Alok Nembang

Film director -- via eKantipur.com.

Big Paybacc

Rapper -- via the Chicago Tribune. AK Habeeb Ameer Zekajj

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Francis Harvey

Poet, playwright, and writer -- via the Irish Times.

Alexei Devotchenko

Actor and activist -- via the Independent.

William Rosenberg

Actor -- via dr.dk.

Magrai Jain

Social activist -- via Business Standard.

Lawrence J. Quirk

Journalist and writer -- via askgaydbill.blogspot.com.

Friday, November 7, 2014

FRIDAY REVIEW: 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' -- Working toward the Good Death


By BRAD WEISMANN

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory
Caitlin Doughty
W.W. Norton & Company
2014
New York, London

OK, you really need to read this one.

At first I thought it was postmodernist standup comedy. A gag, a gimmick. A very vibrant, droll, and personable young lady was posting videos online titled “Ask a Mortician,” and representing something called The Order of the Good Death. Was she for real?

She is. Caitlin Doughty is a visionary, licensed mortician with a great story to tell and an inimitable style in which to tell it. Her new book “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” does many things – lays out a rollicking bio of its author and details her adventures in the death trade, all in a clear, polished and hilarious style.

If that were it, it would be enough. However, Doughty is serious about her profession and wants to transform it. She doesn’t want to be some kind of celebrity mortician (there are a few, actually). Starting as a crematory operator, her experiences led her to formulate contempt for what she sees as “our society’s structural denial of death,” aided and abetted by the funeral industry.

Her impeccably researched observations on our culture, which she sees as largely lacking the traditional religious frameworks for dealing with death and mourning, ring true. “Smoke” is a manifesto. Doughty asks for, first, thinking about death; and rethinking attitudes about and approaches to the end of life, its observances, and repercussions.

That Doughty overcame her resistance to the standard way of doing things, entering the belly of the beast and attending mortuary school, becoming licensed, is a testament to her seriousness. As Mark Mothersbaugh said, “If you hate elevator music, you should write your own.” Doughty, simply on the strength of her excellent rhetoric and self-presentation, charms the reader ad presents a compelling case for solving this problem at the same time.

Even if you do not agree with her alternative ideas for disposing of the dead, her warm wit and clear-eyed sincerity makes “Smoke” a pleasurable and thought-provoking read. And who knows? With the approaching demise of 64 million Baby Boomers, maybe the time has come for a revolution at the far end of life. Caitlin Doughty makes excellent company there.



Jeanne Black

Singer best known for "He'll Have to Stay" in 1960 -- via the Williamson Herald. AKA Gloria Jeanne Black Shipley Strange. "He'll Have to Stay" is what is known as an "answer song"; this was written as a follow-up to Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go," a hit released earlier that year.

Rick Rosas

Bassist; highly regarded session musician -- via Ultimate Classic Rock. AKA "Rick the Bass Player."

S. Donald Stookey

Inventor of superstrong glass ceramics (CorningWare) -- via the New York Times. BTW, he invented photosensitive glass as well. Not bad!


Michael Alsbury

Test pilot -- via the Independent.


Manitas de Plata

Flamenco guitarist -- via the New York Times. AKA Ricardo Baliardo. His stage name means "Little Hands of Silver".