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Surprise! You're Dead, 2007

seawolf17
Feb 23 2007 08:36 AM

Don't know what happened to the Dead Thread '07, so I figured I'd just restart it, courtesy of a song title from the first Faith No More album.



Dennis Johnson was one of my favorite players as a kid. I grew up a Celtics fan -- and still am, at least in name -- largely because of Larry Bird, who was just the best. I'm not going to wax poetic about it, but I loved all those players from the mid-80s/early-90s Celtics: McHale, Parish, Ainge, and DJ were all my favorites growing up. When I sold off all my basketball cards a few years back, I saved one Celtics team set, just to have the memory of all my favorite players.

Bill Simmons wrote a nice tribute to DJ [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070222]here[/url] as well.

Edgy DC
Feb 23 2007 08:42 AM

The first thing I thought of on was a comedy routine from the eighties about how ugly the Celtics were as a team.

KC
Feb 23 2007 08:52 AM

It'll be interesting to see what the reason was, apparently he was just
talking to someone and dropped dead

Johnny Dickshot
Feb 23 2007 09:07 AM

You guys probably don't know who Bob Norris was, but when I went to school, he was a running back and kick returner who made Rich Gannon look good and a guy I kinda knew around campus. We used to call him "Fumbler Norris" although his ironic nickname by the sports information office was "Bullet Bob"

Anyway, here's the grisly story of his execution the other day:
]
Navy Yard | Investor rage, lethal trap
Shooter at Naval Yard feared a deal had gone sour.
By Larry King and Joseph A. Gambardello
Inquirer Staff Writers
He was enraged, police say, over a nest egg he believed had turned rotten in a $1.3 million real estate investment.

Vincent J. Dortch was so angry, investigators say, that he plotted a lethal trap for those he felt had scammed him.

Dortch, 44, of Newark, Del., called a meeting of investors in Watson International Inc. late Monday at an office in South Philadelphia's Navy Yard. His ostensible agenda was to bring a new investor aboard.

The tools of his true mission lay secreted in a pair of bags he carried: two handguns, fully loaded.

When the 8:30 p.m. meeting commenced around a conference table, Dortch pulled out one of the guns and told everyone to "say your prayers."

Minutes later, three key investors lay dead, shot through the head. A fourth man who was gravely wounded managed to summon police.

After trading fire with an officer, Dortch shot himself through the head, ending a brief but terrifying siege and the life of an outwardly mild man who exuded a veneer of prosperity.

The three men Dortch targeted and killed were identified as Mark David Norris, 46, of Pilesgrove, N.J.; his brother Robert E. Norris, 41, of Newark, Del.; and James M. Reif Jr., 42, of Union, N.Y.

Robert Norris was vice president of business development for Watson International, which a year ago bought a 200-year-old country club - formerly owned by IBM - in Union, near his home town of Endicott, N.Y.

His brother was president and chief executive officer of Zigzag Net Inc., the primary occupant of the Navy Yard building where the three were killed. Reif, a former deputy sheriff in Broome County, N.Y., was a friend of the Norrises' from Endicott.

Wounded was Patrick Sweeney, 31, of Maple Shade, Zigzag's human resources manager. He was listed in critical condition yesterday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Police said Dortch may have invested up to $200,000 in Watson International. Its country club resort was heavily damaged in a flood last summer, but police could not confirm whether Dortch had lost any money because of that.

Philadelphia police gave this account of Monday night's carnage:

As the meeting began, Dortch pulled out an AK-pistol - a shorter version of the AK-47 assault rifle - and told his three intended victims they had stolen from him.

"He said something to the effect that you have a minute or two to say your prayers," Chief of Detectives Joseph Fox said.

Brandishing the gun, Dortch pulled out the phone lines and ordered someone in the room to bind Reif and the Norrises to their chairs with duct tape. He ushered two fellow investors from the room, assuring them he would not harm them.

"We know what the shooter believed," Fox said. "The shooter believed that he and the two individuals... lost money."

Returning to the conference room, Dortch opened fire, shooting the Norrises, Reif and Sweeney. He brought one investor back into the room and told him to resecure Sweeney.

"I have to finish this job," he allegedly said, and then shot Reif and the Norrises point-blank in their heads.

Still, he was not done.

A fourth key investor in New York, Vasantha Dammavalam, had been on a conference call during the meeting. Dortch took the two unharmed investors to his car at gunpoint, put the AK pistol and a briefcase in the trunk, and ordered them to drive with him to New York, where he planned to kill Dammavalam, police said.

The two talked Dortch out of it. He returned with them to the building, where he bound them with duct tape in a back office - one so tightly that police had to cut him free.

Meanwhile, despite his wounds, Sweeney had managed to splice the disconnected phone wires together with his loosely bound hands and call 911 on the speaker phone.

Police rushed into the building. "Don't come any further," Dortch told one officer before firing once with his other handgun as the door slammed shut.

The officer fired back, apparently wounding Dortch through the door. Dortch then shot himself in the head.

Fox said Dortch had told one survivor he meant no harm to Sweeney. "I didn't want to shoot him, he didn't have anything to do with this," Fox quoted Dortch as saying.

The scene in the conference room was "utter chaos," said Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who called the shootings "a shocking and unspeakable act."

"You've got seven children who'll never see their fathers again," he said.

Watson International had paid $1.32 million for the country club building and about 10 surrounding acres, said Jim Walsh, co-owner of Walsh & Sons Construction Corp. of Vestal, N.Y., the previous owner.

Walsh said that he knew the three slain men and Dammavalam, but that there were other investors from the Philadelphia region whom he had never met.

And though the New York property suffered a severe hit from flooding in June, Walsh said he believed Watson International was in line to receive an insurance settlement to help cover the damages.

John Serpentelli, an animation artist who once lived with Mark Norris in West Philadelphia, said his former partner "played close to the edge," always alert for the next big chance.

"He was always wheeling, dealing," Serpentelli said. "The stakes kept getting higher and higher. I saw the down sides, the risks of it. Obviously, nobody thought it was going to come to this."

Indeed, Watson International's Web site still featured a gung-ho, invest-now tone yesterday.

"Entertainment is serious business," the site proclaims. "That's why your investment to develop the former IBM Corporate Getaway Resort provides you with a profitable business opportunity."

Instead, its Monday board meeting was the city's deadliest shooting spree since the Lex Street massacre of December 2000, when seven people were fatally gunned down in a West Philadelphia crack house.

Equally incongruous to the killer's relatives and acquaintances was Dortch's role in the carnage.

Described by his mother-in-law yesterday as tall, handsome and "very nice," Dortch drove a Lexus and lived for five years in a five-bedroom, split-level house in Newark with his wife, Stephanie.

A former neighbor, Jeff Stevenson, said Dortch was an unassuming, impeccably dressed man who kept his yard in pristine condition.

Still, there were indications of past financial strains, including a $9,000 federal tax lien in 2003.

On June 29 - three days after the New York flood - Dortch sold his house for $270,000. Kenneth James, the agent who listed the property, said the house sold in less than a week.

According to James, Dortch had moved to an apartment and was watching the market. He was looking for an upscale development, James said, similar to one inhabited by a business acquaintance of Dortch's.

A business acquaintance named Robert Norris.

Edgy DC
Feb 23 2007 09:16 AM

Wow.

Unmentioned in the story. Norris was an ex-cop:

Frayed Knot
Feb 23 2007 10:32 AM

**Dortch pulled out one of the guns and told everyone to "say your prayers." **

I thought they only said stuff like that in the movies

Edgy DC
Feb 23 2007 10:39 AM

Or Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Centerfield
Feb 23 2007 10:56 AM

James Reif was my wife's good friend's cousin. The family is devastated. He was a father of four, one of the boys celebrated a birthday last week.

I can't listen or read something about this without feeling sick to my stomach.

ScarletKnight41
Feb 23 2007 10:59 AM

That is so horrible :(

DocTee
Mar 01 2007 11:06 AM

Pulitzer prize winning historian Arthur Schlesinger, 89.

While a graduate student, I met AS a number of times. Once, at a shindig thrown by the NY Historical Society, he showed up in a vintage 1930s automobile-- standing about 5'5'', he had a leggy blonde, less than half his age, on his arm. Conventional wisdom was that it was his grand-daughter but we had our suspicions.

SteveJRogers
Mar 07 2007 07:43 PM

[url=http://nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/503132p-424376c.html]Captain America killed off![/url]

Uh... no comment...

In all seriousness though, hell of a way to attract readers to Marvel's current Civil War crossover series, and to be fair, it has been several decades since the Cap was THE GUY, or even in the the top 5 of best known Marvel characters, never mind where the Cap stands currently in the patheon of comic book icons

Amazing that it gets press, even in the NY Times as well.

Also, and I just saw this on a comic message board, the character "Captain America" can survive the death of the current person under the mask, heck as seen many times in comic (and the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genres) the death of the person isn't always permanent!

metirish
Mar 08 2007 12:10 PM

For those you watched "are you being served" on PBS will know John Inman.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2029031,00.html

cooby
Mar 08 2007 08:26 PM

I love that show

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 09 2007 08:00 PM

I don't know why, but this news saddens me more than the typical classic rocker death might, I think.

]Boston lead singer Brad Delp dies at 55

March 9, 2007

ATKINSON, N.H. --Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55. Atkinson police responded to a call for help at 1:20 p.m. and found Delp dead. Police Lt. William Baldwin said in a statement the death was "untimely" and that there was no indication of foul play.

Delp apparently was alone at the time of his death, Baldwin said.

The cause of his death remained under investigation by the Atkinson police and the New Hampshire Medical Examiner's office. Police said an incident report would not be available until Monday.

Delp sang vocals on Boston's 1976 hits "More than a Feeling" and "Longtime." He also sang on Boston's most recent album, "Corporate America," released in 2002.

He joined the band in the early 1970s after meeting Tom Scholz, an MIT student interested in experimental methods of recording music, according to the group's official Web site. The band enjoyed its greatest success and influence during its first decade.

The band's last appearance was in November 2006 at Boston's Symphony Hall.

On Friday night, the Web site was taken down and replaced with the statement: "We just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."

A call to the Swampscott, Mass., home of Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau was not immediately returned Friday night.

Methead
Mar 09 2007 08:33 PM

Yeah, that does hit close to home... wow.

cooby
Mar 09 2007 08:45 PM

Why, when I hear the song "more than a feeling" in my head, do I picture Henry Winkler walking?

cooby
Mar 09 2007 08:52 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Mar 09 2007 08:56 PM




Okay, this is why, and it was Kansas, but I always did get those two groups mixed up


Edit: It also was "Carry on my Wayward Son". Jeez, I better shut up now.

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 09 2007 08:56 PM

]It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah
And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin'
Sail on, on a distant highway
I've got to keep on chasin' a dream, I've gotta be on my way
Wish there was something I could say


Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' on
You'll forget about me after I've been gone
And I take what I find, I don't want no more
It's just outside of your front door
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been such a long time
It's been such a long time


Well I get so lonely when I am without you
But in my mind, deep in my mind, I can't forget about you
Good times, and faces that remind me
I'm tryin' to forget your name and leave it all behind me
You're comin' back to find me


It's been such a long time, I think I should be goin', yeah
And time doesn't wait for me, it keeps on rollin'
There's a long road I've gotta stay in time with
I've got to keep on chasin' that dream, though I may never find it
I'm always just behind it

Well I'm takin' my time, I'm just movin' along
Takin' my time, oh, I'm just movin' along
Takin' my time, takin' my time
Takin' my time, yeah

Rockin' Doc
Mar 09 2007 09:05 PM

I have an awful lot of good memories of high school and college linked to the music of Boston's first two albums.

Edgy DC
Mar 09 2007 09:28 PM

Boston alway tasted plastic to me.

But this is one reason why it's crazy when you hear about bands who have been on a 15-20 year hiatus saying "Oh, we talk all the time, we just need to get some legal stuff sorted out and then we need to find the right project..." Dude, time is short. If Peter Gabriel wants to get back in front of Genesis so they can be a great art rock band instead of an overpriced pop rock band, he should do it NOW!!!! Ditto Led Zep and JPJ.

I'm sure Joe Strummer died just knowing the Clash would return when the time came, but it didn't. I don't care if it's a great band. Mediocre is fine. Felix Caviliere, cut the shit and re-form the Rascals. Maurice White, Earth, Wind, and Fire are playing 100 dates a year while you sit at home and it's wrong. Peter Cetera, I don't really care much about Chicago with you or without you, but if it's gonna happen, make it happen. Look at Brad Delp and realize what's being lost.

I don't care about old bands putting out substandard records. I care about magical musical guys not working when they could be.

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 10 2007 11:42 AM

]Boston alway tasted plastic to me.


Pretty Mama, let me show you sweet delight.

KC
Mar 10 2007 11:58 AM

I don't think I've ever heard all of the third album, but I liked the second one
almost as much as the first even though it got a heap of flack and people
said it wasn't worth the wait bbbyyy. That, and Don't Look Back reminds me
of a vacation romance with a girl who I met and rescued me from hanging
out with Mom and the others because it was seemingly always blasting from
somewhere. Valerie from Staten Island, if you're out there ...

Edgy DC
Mar 10 2007 12:41 PM

Teresa G. was my vacation romance. "Bad Time" was the song I associated with it.

DocTee
Mar 10 2007 01:25 PM

Their debut was the best-selling first album in history. They held that distinction for more than twenty years, until Hootie and the Blowfish's Cracked Rear View toppled it.

I remember them as any number of bands with geographic titles coming up aroud the same time: Boston, Kansas, America...I'm sure there are others, or at least it seemed that way.

seawolf17
Mar 10 2007 01:27 PM

The first album is one of those discs where you know every single song, even though you don't realize it. It's classic in that respect, but the CD hasn't made its way out of the case and into any of my various players in years.

KC
Mar 10 2007 01:33 PM

Not unlike (to me) Rumors.

If someone walked up to me in the street and asked if I was a big Boston
fan or Fleetwood Mac fan, I'd laugh at them. Those album are imprinted on
on my brain and they are classic albums.

"Listen to the Record"

Frayed Knot
Mar 10 2007 02:40 PM

Like most suburban white teens at the time, I owned that debut record, played it a lot, and heard it just about everywhere while it was new.

But Jeez I got so damn sick of the thing after a while to the point that, to this day, if one of those songs comes on the radio I'll turn it off. The other unfortunate consequence of the success of that record is that it made radio stations jump over everything else the band ever put out and play it like some kind of Beatles reunion release, except that the follow-ups here (plus their live shows from what I heard) just plain sucked.

A one hit wonder - whether a single or an album - is cool and all, I just don't think it should warrant treatment as an all-time band or a quarter-century long career.

KC
Mar 10 2007 03:01 PM

Frampton's dying next.

"Bob Mayo on the keyborards, Bob Mayo"

Frayed Knot
Mar 10 2007 03:12 PM

He better not cuz you & I once got yelled at for discussing Frampton on a Met board.
52 demerits was the penalty IIRC.

cooby
Mar 10 2007 03:20 PM

="KC"]Frampton's dying next.




no worries




though he's not the sweet faced strawberry blond any more

KC
Mar 10 2007 05:52 PM

I don't remember that, FK ... but lol

Whose wine? What wine?
Where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream
I don't believe where I've been.
Come on, let's do it again.

Edgy DC
Mar 10 2007 10:34 PM

Oddly enough, Mayo himself comes alive no more:

On February 23, 2004, Mayo was touring with Frampton in Basel, Switzerland, when he had a heart attack and died promptly. Frampton said after his death, "Bob was like a brother to me. I have lost a close personal friend and a talented, professional, and outstanding musician."
http://bobmayo.net/mp3/Bob%20Mayo%20solo.mp3

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 11 2007 09:19 AM

"Bob Mayo with the congestive heart failure, Bob Mayo."

Frayed Knot
Mar 11 2007 09:34 AM

"I don't remember that, FK ... "

It was back at the old place obviously when some thread started veering off on a tangent in a gettin-goofy on a Friday afternoon kinda way. The tangent somehow strayed onto 'Frampton Comes Alive' and how part of it had been recorded at the old Commack Arena, yadda, yadda ... All of which led the sheriff there to step in and reprimand us about sticking to Met-only content.
You & I weren't the only ones at fault there but were definitely the prime ringleaders and your attempt at claiming that Frampton was a Met fan seemed to fall on deaf ears with the law.




P.S.
As I'm typing, the DJ I'm listening to (on the Nassau Comm Coll station) is playing back-to-back Boston tunes in tribute to the late Mr. Delp:
- Something About You ... I GOTTA, GOTTA HAVE YOU!!!!
- and now something from the second album I don't recognize (on edit: Feeling Satisfied) but it has the same freakin guitar licks as all their other stuff

metsmarathon
Mar 11 2007 02:27 PM
platypus down

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/11/comedian.dead.ap/index.html

richard jeni. dead. shot in the face by his own hand.

cooby
Mar 14 2007 04:41 AM

From Staff Reports (LH Express)

A sad day for Woolrich, this guy literally saved the Company...nice man, too.

Roswell Brayton Jr.
WOOLRICH — Roswell Brayton Jr., who ushered the Woolrich company into the 21st Century by emphasizing the licensing of new products and promoting internet sales, died Monday. He was 55.

Woolrich Inc. today regretfully confirmed the sudden passing of Brayton Jr, the company president.

Brayton collapsed Monday afternoon at Woolrich headquarters in Woolrich. He was rushed to Jersey Shore Hospital, where medical personnel were unable to revive him, Tim Joseph, Woolrich director of marketing and media, said in a prepared statement this morning.

A sixth generation of the founding Rich family, Roswell grew up in Woolrich and joined the company in 1978. He became president of Woolrich in 1996 and assumed the role of CEO in 1997.

“This comes as a completely unexpected shock to all of us at Woolrich. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family during this difficult time,” Joseph said, requesting privacy for the Brayton family.

Brayton leaves behind his wife, Sally, and seven children. Funeral arrangements will be announced as details become available.

The company’s succession plan has not been announced at this time. “Everyone at Woolrich is dealing with the sudden loss of an active and vibrant president. Our thoughts are focused on support of the family and we have no additional information now,” Joseph said.

A majority owner of the privately-held company founded in 1830, Brayton helped to take Woolrich to new heights, partly by dramatically expanding its products “with a whole range of goods related to the outdoors,” Brayton wrote in a book, “Woolrich: 175 Years of Excellence,” published in recognition of the company’s anniversary in 2005.

As majority owner, Brayton’s passing leaves the company somewhat in management limbo. According to the business website Hoovers.com, the company’s key executives under Brayton are Richard Insley, senior vice president of retail and marketing, and Frederick Osborne, vice president of the Woolen Mill. In 2006, Brayton was a nominee for Pennsylvania Business Central Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year. As such, he was interviewed by the magazine, which posted that interview on its web site, www.pabusinesscentral.com.

A segment of it is as follows:

Job description: “My main responsibility is to make sure we have a team that’s energized, that works well together, that know their golden objectives,” this third-generation Woolrich CEO said. “Then I just need to give them the tools they need to do their jobs and support them with answers to their questions and resolutions for their problems.

“I am not an entrepreneur,” he continued. “My job is to allow my employees be the entrepreneurs.”

First job: “The day I graduated Harvard, I signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox. I grew up playing the game,” he said. Brayton also grew up with the family business, living 200 yards from the family company and experiencing its growth through his father, Roswell Brayton, Sr. and his grandfather, company founder, John Rich. He played ball with the Bo Sox from 1973 to 1977, then came home to work at Woolrich. Twenty years later, he took over as the head of the corporation.

Mentor: “My father instilled me with a work ethic,” he said. “Honesty, truth, and being honorable people – it’s something we assume here at Woolrich, and as a public company, we continue to follow that path. I learned by watching his actions and how he treated people.”

Inspiration: “I have a picture of all my kids on my wall (seven children and his wife, Sally). It reminds me of my responsibilities and what’s most important in life,” he said.

Further, Brayton told the magazine that one of the “biggest recent accomplishments” was the “careful expansion of the company, going from two licensees two years ago to 21 licensees and two new divisions.”

Brayton “directed the company in its transition from a manufacturer to a lifestyle brand company,” including a furniture division, the magazine wrote. “We were able to make these changes in an increasingly fast-changing environment – positioning Woolrich for the next 100 years,” he told the publication.

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 14 2007 07:25 PM

Turns out Brad Delp was a suicide. Locked himself in the bathroom with two charcol stoves (?!), taped notes to the door.

He closed his eyes and he slipped away.


The Richard Jeni story is grisly too. Apparently he survived his attempt and died at the hospital.

Benjamin Grimm
Mar 22 2007 02:00 PM

="New York Daily News"] Letterman's straight man 'Bud' Melman is dead at 85

BY DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Posted Thursday, March 22nd 2007, 4:00 AM

Calvert DeForest, better known as Larry (Bud) Melman from 'Late Night with David Letterman,' has died. He was 85.

Calvert DeForest, who as comic foil Larry (Bud) Melman kept a straight face through 20 years of absurd indignities on David Letterman's late-night show, has died at age 85.
Larry Bud Melman

He died Monday at Good Samaritan Hospital in Babylon after a long illness, officials with the Letterman show said yesterday.

DeForest was a Letterman regular from 1982 until 2002, acting as straight man in dozens of often surreal sketches.

At Letterman's bemused prompting, DeForest would explain the virtues of a new product called "toast on a stick" or head through the halls in a bear suit seeking change for a $10 bill.

While DeForest said he never spoke much with Letterman off the air, because "I guess we're both private people," Letterman yesterday mourned his passing.

"Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character," said Letterman in a statement. "But in reality he was just himself - a genuine, modest and nice man. To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him."

Letterman was off yesterday and for the rest of this week. It is expected he will note DeForest's death on the air Monday.

Born in Brooklyn in 1921 and a life-long borough resident, DeForest took up acting against the wishes of his actress mother. He took theater roles and bit parts for years and was working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center when Letterman saw him in an NYU student film called "King of the Z's."

They developed a character who said and did ridiculous things as if nothing were amiss. DeForest didn't break that character even in his rare off-air interviews, and he parlayed it into numerous movie and TV gigs.

He left "Melman" behind when Letterman jumped from NBC to CBS in 1993, continuing by his real name. His last appearance came on his 81st birthday.

At his request, said a family spokesman, there will be no funeral ceremony.

Edgy DC
Mar 22 2007 02:13 PM

We started a local chapter of the Calvert DeForest Fan Club as smartass high school seniors.

Calvert has a small but great appearance in the wonderful Heaven Help Us.

Benjamin Grimm
Mar 22 2007 03:36 PM

I met him back in 1983 (I think.) My encounter with Calvert is related on page 2 of the Brush with Greatness thread, now in the Featured Archives.

DocTee
Mar 22 2007 06:35 PM

During one Late Show skit, there was a look back at all who had died the preceeding year, including a feature on Bud. Shortly later he appeared yelling "I'm not dead you bastards"

very funny, and if only it were true today

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 22 2007 06:40 PM

I saw him perform as an opening act for juggling comic Michael Davis in 1984. I'm still not entirely sure whether reading off cue cards was his act, or just the only way it could be pulled off. Whatever, it wasn't very good I have to say.

He was entertaining in the early days of Late Night, but kinda needed a real talent to bring it out of him.

soupcan
Mar 26 2007 07:31 AM

Those of us that grew up in the area should remember Jerry. I remember that he always seemed to have a Band-Aid somewhere on his face.

Always thought he was just a clumsy guy, but maybe he was constantly having melanomas removed?

GIRARD DIES AT 74

By PHIL MUSHNICK


March 26, 2007 -- Jerry Girard, a wise-cracking, knowledgeable and popular Ch. 11 News sportscaster for more than 20 years, died yesterday afternoon in a Westchester hospital. Girard, diagnosed with cancer a year ago, was 74.

After various radio jobs in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Altoona, Pa., and Gary, Ind., Girard joined WPIX in the late 1960s as a news writer. In 1974, he became an on-air sportscaster, and remained synonymous with PIX until he was replaced in 1995, by Sal Marchiano. Girard then left Ch. 11 after refusing a weekend role.

"He was the best; there was no one better," said David Brodsky, his Ch. 11 producer who is now a coordinating producer at ESPN. "No one cared more about informing the true sports fan."

Girard, married briefly many years ago, had no children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Johnny Dickshot
Mar 26 2007 07:33 AM

He was 74? Wow.

Funny guy but so low-key you could miss it.

Frayed Knot
Mar 26 2007 08:08 AM

I still remember some of his quips:

- [film of Kingman muffing an easy fly]: "Dave Kingman was attacked by another fly ball today"

- "Wayne Gretzsky was named NHL player of the month today ... for NEXT month"

HahnSolo
Apr 04 2007 07:44 AM

Eddie Robinson, football coach at Grambling for 56 years, dead at 88.

Frayed Knot
Apr 04 2007 11:44 AM

So now I guess the college football world will mourn his passing after spending most of his career avoiding playing against his teams and ignoring his accomplishments.
For years his win totals were treated seperately from other all-time leaders since they only considered the records of "major" college football. Treating "major" as a synonym of "white" had the advantage of not having Bear Bryant's records threatened by some peon from Grambling.

Centerfield
Apr 04 2007 12:11 PM

Nicely said FK.

soupcan
Apr 05 2007 08:15 AM

[url=http://sports.excite.com/news/04052007/v5413.html]I'm guessing Jack Tatum will not be a pall bearer[/url]

Frayed Knot
Apr 05 2007 08:22 AM

There's sometimes a tendancy for people to mentally think of the suddenly paralyzed as being exactly as they were before except for the ability to use their limbs. But there are all kinds of health problems which can develop from paralysis (particularly higher up) and those folks frequently don't tend to live real long or real well afterward.
Add Stingley now to that list along with the likes of Chris Reeve, Curtis Mayfield, etc.

Edgy DC
Apr 05 2007 08:38 AM

I guessa lot depends on how high up the paralysis occurs. Teddy Pendergrass lives on.

SteveJRogers
Apr 05 2007 05:47 PM

Edgy DC wrote:
I guessa lot depends on how high up the paralysis occurs. Teddy Pendergrass lives on.


Campenella lived what, another 40, nearly 50 years after his car accident as well.

Willets Point
Apr 08 2007 07:58 PM

Johnny Hart, 76, famous for creating a comic strip about cavemen who are fundamentalist Christians. It seems appropos that he pass on Easter Sunday since he frequently published his most Christian comics on this day.

cooby
Apr 08 2007 08:05 PM

Wow. I did not know that when I read the funnies this morning. One of the ones I quietly enjoyed

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 09 2007 07:03 AM

I hated BC. I guess I liked it years ago, but I was very put off by its more recent preachiness.

Willets Point
Apr 09 2007 11:31 AM

The Christian stuff didn't bother me as much as the fact that it wasn't funny.

Comics Curmudgeon has a tribute: "I’ll just note that the dude died at his drawing board. That’s hardcore."

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 09 2007 11:32 AM

I also didn't like how "Fat Broad" was always getting pleasure out of pounding on snakes.

Just an awful strip for so many reasons.

cooby
Apr 09 2007 06:14 PM

I give it points for not raising my blood pressure by simply accidentally sliding my eyes over it

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 09 2007 06:50 PM

It didn't raise my blood pressure either.

I guess it was a better strip than I had realized!

Willets Point
Apr 09 2007 08:15 PM

What low expectations we have for our comics.

cooby
Apr 10 2007 05:23 PM

Willets Point wrote:
What low expectations we have for our comics.


While averting my eyes today I see we are now doing our taxes accompanied by a blizzard of post it notes. What a tool.


Thank god she's in the upper corner of our comics page where I can almost ignore it.

Edgy DC
Apr 11 2007 06:41 PM

It's hard to understand, but Hart was hardcore, and he maintained not one but two leading strips. He once had a subtle worldview but his humor just got retrograde*, and he go just got insane about the same time his Christianity became an overt part of the strip, and it'd be wishful thinking to say they weren't related. It's almost like he knew peeps would get pissed by him wearing Jesus on his sleeve, so he grew a huge chip on his shoulder to inure himself.

Strangely, Wizard of Id, the strip he partnered on, was spared the insanity, while he poured it into BC. Check out this dope shit:

(Can't find the recent strip I wanted to reference.)

*And I realize that having your only two female characters name "Cute Chick" and "Fat Broad" suggests that he was pretty retrograde all along.

Gwreck
Apr 11 2007 10:10 PM

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?hp]Kurt Vonnegut.[/url]

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 12 2007 05:16 AM

Oh geez.

TheOldMole
Apr 12 2007 08:58 AM

Here's a Vonnegut reminiscence:

http://opusforty.blogspot.com/

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 12 2007 09:22 AM

Fun.

I was Vonnegut fanatic, read everything he wrote, most several times. I know little from good writing, but his stuff is just superb, illustrating the tremendous power in simply being straightforward and economical.

My favorites of his are some of the lesser discussed (and I believe, worse-reviewed): Galapagos and Bluebeard, both of which punched college-age Johnny D. in the gut and which were warm-hearted and funny-sad.

Never did get through Timequake.

A little known fact is that SLAPSTICK inspired the whole idea behind Mets by the Numbers.

TheOldMole
Apr 12 2007 09:24 AM

Little known, and not sufficiently explained. What's the story?

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 12 2007 09:40 AM

Slapstick imagines a future in which Wilbur Swain becomes president of the United States running on a platform to unite people by randomly issuing them new middle names based on a combination of numbers and words.

People who shared a number or a name were like cousins in "artificial extended families."

]When he last managed to articulate his message, I embraced him. He had come out of the steamy depths to tell me ever-so-bravely that he, too, was a Daffodil-11.

“My brother,” I said.


I tried imagining all Mets who've worn a particular number to be members of the same tribe too.

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 12 2007 12:00 PM

Join a family:

[url]http://thesurrealist.co.uk/lonesome[/url]

I'm an Iron-16

metirish
Apr 12 2007 12:05 PM

Daffodil-18

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 12 2007 12:22 PM

Call me... Pachysandra-11

Edgy DC
Apr 12 2007 12:41 PM

Raspberry-9, yo.

Kid Carsey
Apr 12 2007 01:18 PM

Chipmunk-5

TransMonk
Apr 12 2007 01:23 PM

Helium-4...it makes so much sense.

sharpie
Apr 12 2007 01:28 PM

Strawberry-14. Too bad I couldn't be Strawberry-18.

A Boy Named Seo
Apr 12 2007 08:47 PM

That one bummed me out more than I thought it would.

I loved that his stories about us destroying our planet and ourselves felt like they could've been written last month, and I dug how he crafted them in his quirky, hilarious, sardonic wit that was just cooler than anything.

Haven't read Slapstick, but I'll trade for it at the library when I finally take Hocus Pocus back.

Hollyhock-17

GYC
Apr 12 2007 09:18 PM

Pachysandra-18

MFS62
Apr 12 2007 09:40 PM

I am Sulfur-4.
Echhhh!
Later

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 14 2007 10:18 PM

Just when you thought you'd heard enough about Hos:

]
Don Ho, an entertainer who defined popular perceptions of Hawaiian music in the 1960s and held fast to that image as a peerless Waikiki nightclub attraction, died yesterday in Honolulu. He was 76.

The cause was heart failure, his daughter Dayna Ho said.

Mr. Ho was a durable spokesman for the image of Hawaii as a tourist playground. His rise as a popular singer dovetailed with a visitor boom that followed statehood in 1959 and the advent of affordable air travel. For 40 years, his name was synonymous with Pacific Island leisure, as was “Tiny Bubbles,” his signature hit, which helped turn him into a national figure.

Born Donald Tai Loy Ho in the Honolulu enclave of Kaka‘ako, Mr. Ho had an ethnic background worthy of the islands’ melting-pot ideal: he was of Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and German descent. He grew up in Kaneohe, on the windward side of the island of Oahu, and it was there that he began his singing career at Honey’s, a restaurant and lounge owned by his mother, Emily.

Mr. Ho enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1954, receiving his certification as a fighter pilot in Texas but never seeing combat. He transferred to Military Airlift Command and flew cargo transport routes across the Pacific before leaving the service the year that Hawaii joined the Union as the 50th state.

Mr. Ho took over Honey’s and resumed performing. He befriended a gifted young songwriter named Kui Lee, who would soon write “I’ll Remember You,” an enduring Hawaiian standard that Mr. Ho effectively introduced. With a repertory that included some of Mr. Lee’s earlier work, Mr. Ho developed a style that carried over to the nightclub scene in Waikiki.

By 1962 he was headlining there with a backing group called the Ali‘is. Their blend of two guitars, piano, drums and xylophone, along with Mr. Ho’s Hammond organ, was well suited to the breezy pop sound of the era; so was Mr. Ho’s nonchalant, slightly slurred baritone. Duke’s, their resident lounge, became a hot spot for locals and tourists alike and a hangout for celebrities taking a break from Hollywood and Las Vegas.

Within five years, Mr. Ho had achieved nationwide fame with several successful albums and a hit single, “Tiny Bubbles.” A full decade before Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” the song painted an appealing portrait of tropical indulgence that cemented Mr. Ho’s character as an easygoing romantic rogue. He adhered to that character in his frequent television appearances in the late 1960s and early ’70s, and on his own ABC variety series, “The Don Ho Show,” from 1976 to 1977.

While Mr. Ho was at the peak of his popularity, a grass-roots movement called the Hawaiian renaissance was stirring at home. The movement, an effort at cultural preservation inspired by such folk traditions as Hawaiian falsetto singing and ki ho‘alu slack-key guitar, offered an implicit rebuke to the slick commercialization that Mr. Ho, as well as the CBS television series “Hawaii Five-O,” had come to represent.

But there was respect for Mr. Ho’s representation of Hawaii to the world, even among artists in the Hawaiian renaissance. For much of the past three decades, Mr. Ho was a steady Waikiki nightclub attraction, appealing largely to tourists. In his long-running show at the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber hotel, he would crack jokes and play familiar songs. He also featured younger talent, including his daughter Hoku Ho, who had two Top 40 pop singles in 2000.

Late in 2005, Mr. Ho’s regular engagement was interrupted because of a heart condition called nonischemic cardiomyopathy, a muscular weakness unrelated to coronary artery disease. He traveled to Thailand in December 2005 to undergo an experimental stem cell treatment.

Less than seven weeks later, Mr. Ho returned to the Beachcomber and performed a sold-out show stocked with loyal fans and local entertainers paying respects. He resumed performing on a weekly basis and lunching at Don Ho’s Island Grill, a restaurant in which he was a partner that opened in 1998. Last September Mr. Ho took another medical leave to have a new pacemaker installed.

Around the same time Mr. Ho married his longtime executive producer, Haumea Hebenstreit.

In addition to his wife, Dayna Ho said, he is survived by 10 children, including six from his first marriage, to Melva May Ho, who died in 1999: Donald Jr., Donalai, Dayna, Dondi, Dori and Dwight. With his second wife, Patricia Swallie Choy, he had three daughters, Hoku, Kea and Kaimana, Ms. Ho said. The Ho family provided no further information.

Methead
Apr 15 2007 02:09 PM

I'm late to re-naming party, but I'm a Strawberry-5.

Who knew I had a Mets family cousin?

sharpie
Apr 15 2007 05:25 PM

So, Methead, as Strawberry-14 we are cousins.

Rockin' Doc
Apr 15 2007 06:05 PM

I was positive that I had responded to this thread previously, but I don't see it.

Anyway, I shall henceforth be known as Eagle-11.

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 19 2007 04:34 AM

Kitty Carlisle Hart, 96, star of Broadway and To Tell the Truth.

And one of the last living links to the Marx Brothers: She co-starred in A Night at the Opera.

A Boy Named Seo
Apr 20 2007 11:54 AM

This was from my hometown paper, but I don't know where that thread made off to so it goes here. Pretty amazing.



Obituaries

Emma B. Begay

Emma B. Begay, 119, of Prewitt, New Mexico passed away on April 6, 2007 in Prewitt. Emma was born Nov. 3, 1887 in Mariano Lake, New Mexico. She was a homemaker and weaver.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Santiago Begay; parents, Littleman Bodie and Edi Bah Charley Bodie; sons, Wilbert Begay, Herman Begay, Marvin Begay and Freddie Begay; daughters, Jenie Thomas and Beatrice McDonald, sisters, Julia Jake, Esther Newman and Mrs. Vandever.

She is survived by her children, Angela Begay and Velma Delarito, both of Prewitt, New Mexico, and Anita Willetto of Casamero Lake, New Mexico; and more than 300 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great great-grandchildren, and great great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services for Emma B. Begay, 119,of Prewitt, New Mexico will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 13, 2007 at the family home in Prewitt, New Mexico. Burial will follow at Grants Memorial Park.

Pallbearers will be Glenn Loretto, Delbert Begay, Mike Willeto, Eugene Lee, Jeremiah Apachito, and Bennie Loretto.

Compassion Mortuary is in charge of all arrangements.

Gwreck
Apr 23 2007 08:32 AM

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Obit-Yeltsin.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin]Boris Yeltsin[/url].

metirish
Apr 23 2007 08:53 AM

I remember this well,it was a laugh...

]

Yeltsin stood up Reynolds in 1994

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who died today, infamously stood up former taoiseach Albert Reynolds on the tarmac at Shannon airport in September 1994.

Mr Yeltsin was meant to meet Mr Reynolds in Dromoland Castle for a lavish reception, but that event had to be cancelled.

At the time, it was said the Mr Yeltsin had "overslept" on his aircraft. He was making a stopover at Shannon on his way back to Moscow from the United States but, as it turned out, it was more like a sleepover as he failed to emerge from his aircraft.

Mr Reynolds had to be content with meeting deputy prime minister Oleg Soskovets, who said the president was "asleep."

It was rumoured the vodka-loving Russian leader had over-indulged on the journey from Washington, but back in Moscow he said: "I feel excellent. I can tell you honestly, I just overslept."

Mr Yeltsin visited Ireland again last year - almost 12 years after the minor but embarrassing diplomatic incident that made news around the world - for a three-day private visit.

During the August visit, Mr Yeltsin travelled to the Cliffs of Moher and spent a morning shark fishing off the Clare coast, before travelling to Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, for lunch. Although frail and requiring assistance alighting from the boat, he was in good spirits.

iramets
Apr 23 2007 09:19 AM

In Russia, Alarm clock turns off YOU

Frayed Knot
Apr 23 2007 09:47 PM

Author David Halberstam - in a car crash.

Edgy DC
Apr 23 2007 09:50 PM

Spring of 2007.

Johnny Dickshot
Apr 24 2007 08:28 AM

That's too bad about Halberstam. He was en route to do an intrerview with YA Tittle.

Edgy DC
Apr 24 2007 08:39 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 24 2007 06:53 PM

Almost sounds like a euphemism.

Benjamin Grimm
Apr 24 2007 08:49 AM

I wonder if he was using Jon Corzine's driver.

SteveJRogers
Apr 24 2007 06:43 PM

His death got some play on ESPN interestingly enough, mostly for Summer of 49 and The Teamates.

iramets
Apr 24 2007 07:03 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote:
I was Vonnegut fanatic, read everything he wrote, most several times. I know little from good writing, but his stuff is just superb, illustrating the tremendous power in simply being straightforward and economical.


An awful lot of late Vonnegut is terrible. Did you read his latest? It almost caused me pain--the only good sentences were when he quoted his old stuff.

He was also a pretty good short story writer--I have a copy of CANARY IN A CATHOUSE, which has most of the stories later collected in 'WELCOME TO THE MONKEYHOUSE' that are amazing.

iramets
Apr 24 2007 07:11 PM

SteveJRogers wrote:
His death got some play on ESPN interestingly enough, mostly for Summer of 49 and The Teamates.


I was disheartened in reading the Summer of '49, because there were assertions all over the place that simply weren't so (BillJames caught some of these, but I caught still others). A very sloppy job. I'd read badly researched baseball books before, of course, but the dishearteneing part was that I'd credited him in his political books (like The Best and the Brightest) with doing solid research. Now, I'm no longer so sure.

Edgy DC
Apr 24 2007 08:03 PM

It's funny, in telling his stories, he digs deep enough to get the minute and human details that everybody missed, and missed the matters of public record that everybody knows (or can find out from numerous sources).

Frustrating.

Edgy DC
Apr 24 2007 08:04 PM

I guess part of his problem was trusting ballplayers' memories. Still another part was trusting his own.

Rockin' Doc
Apr 24 2007 08:09 PM

Summer of '49 was a pretty good read, mistakes and all.
Teamates was a wonderful book.

Nymr83
Apr 24 2007 08:12 PM

Frayed Knot wrote:
Author David Halberstam - in a car crash.


I saw "Author Halberstam dead at 70-whatever" and got scared....i have a teacher with that last name who is probably that age and i'm sure has been published at some point (publishing counts more than teaching in academia after all) fortunately she is well.

SteveJRogers
Apr 25 2007 03:11 PM

Edgy DC wrote:
It's funny, in telling his stories, he digs deep enough to get the minute and human details that everybody missed, and missed the matters of public record that everybody knows (or can find out from numerous sources).

Frustrating.


Can you guys elaborate on some of them?

Was he ever called on his mistakes?

sharpie
Apr 25 2007 03:22 PM

They get into some of that in this article:

http://www.slate.com/id/2164960?nav=tap3

Batty31
Apr 26 2007 05:19 PM

Bobby "Boris" Pickett..famous for the "Monster Mash" I saw one of his final performances this past October while I was at a horror convention. He appeared to be in good health when I saw...I had no idea he was sick with leukemia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070426/ap_en_ce/obit_pickett_3

Frayed Knot
Apr 28 2007 06:31 AM

Jack Valenti - from the result of a stroke a few weeks back.

Will be best remember as the long time head of the motion picture industry, guiding it through the period of the introduction of the ratings system and well beyond.

But the most interesting chapter may be the day in November 1963 when he went to Dallas as a pr pro in order to coordinate some business interests with the visit of President Kennedy, then ended that same day moving into the living quarters of the White House as an assistant to President Johnson. Johnson, in his usual forceful and direct manner, hired Valenti on the way out of Parkland Hospital and said he needed him immediately. So Valenti, who had no place in Washington to live and took with him nothing more than the clothes he was wearing, accomplanied Johnson (and the body & Jackie) back to D.C. and, for the next few months, became one of the few non-Presidents to live in the WH.

Iubitul
Apr 28 2007 07:23 AM

Frayed Knot wrote:
But the most interesting chapter may be the day in November 1963 when he went to Dallas as a pr pro in order to coordinate some business interests with the visit of President Kennedy, then ended that same day moving into the living quarters of the White House as an assistant to President Johnson. Johnson, in his usual forceful and direct manner, hired Valenti on the way out of Parkland Hospital and said he needed him immediately. So Valenti, who had no place in Washington to live and took with him nothing more than the clothes he was wearing, accomplanied Johnson (and the body & Jackie) back to D.C. and, for the next few months, became one of the few non-Presidents to live in the WH.


Wow - I didn't know that - nice.

Frayed Knot
Apr 28 2007 02:03 PM

Valenti was in the Kennedy motorcade about 6 cars back that day.

Edgy DC
Apr 28 2007 03:09 PM


He's the grumpy faced one on the left that looks like he's going to kill Johnson, right?

Was it Valenti's idea to give the widow a more prominent spot in the photo than the wife?

Has any other president been sworn in by a woman?

Vic Sage
May 01 2007 04:49 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 01 2007 05:17 PM

Aquamarine-16, here. What a euphonious appellation!...gay, but euphonious.

Vonnegut's death is still upsetting me. Despite his age and decline, it still seemed sudden. I was a big fan in my HS days. After being introduced to his work with CAT'S CRADLE, i went back and read his entire output, from PLAYER PIANO through BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. After that, either i changed or he did because his work, which had always been original, funny, insightful and profound began, with SLAPSTICK and beyond, to seem trite, shtick-laden and attenuated. In his dotage, he went off to write more and more non-fiction and i was unwilling to take that trip with him.

But the 7 novels and 2 short story collections he turned out over the first 20 years of his career was enough to put him in the pantheon of great American writers of the 20th century.

Novels:

Player Piano (or, Utopia) (1952) - It reminded me of BRAVE NEW WORLD and 1984, both of which i read during the same period. But only Vonnegut and Chaplin could make you laugh about our loss of humanity from mechanization. Still, the writing is not as fluid and economical as it would later become [B ]

The Sirens of Titan (1959) - Vonnegut takes on religion in the guise of comic science fiction, and he starts to use characters and places and themes he would return to in later works. A great and influential book [A]

Mother Night (1961) - Vonnegut takes his first crack at his WWII novel, and ends up with something else. He introduces various devices of metafiction (devices which become a staple of his later work), in which he pretends that the fiction is real to tell the story about the theme that "we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." Behind it all is an exploration of the nature of guilt. Its very powerful stuff. [A]

Cat's Cradle (1963) - The quintessential Vonnegut book... an indictment of religion and the arms race, disguised as humorous SF. It had a profound effect on my world view. Busy, busy, busy. [A+]

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (or, Pearls Before Swine) (1965) - It took me a little bit by surprise because, while it is his usual biting social satire, it has a sweetness and gentility not commonly found in his novels. There is even some nostalgia for the small town mid-western life he grew up in. This piece of metafiction, while not SF, introduces a minor character, Kilgore Trout, who is a disheveled SF writer that appears in Vonnegut's later books. SF writer Philip Jose Farmer would later write a novel AS "Kilgore Trout" ("Venus on the Half shell"), based on Vonnegut's description of the character. [B ]

Slaughterhouse-Five (or, The Children's Crusade)(1969) - The one he'll be remembered for. This is his "great American novel" about his adventures in WWII, in the form of a SF novel about time travel, with his usual metafiction devices and appearances by most of his repertory cast. It's up there with CATCH-22 and NAKED AND THE DEAD. And so it goes [A+]

Breakfast of Champions (or, Goodbye Blue Monday!) (1973) - Kilgore Trout gets center stage in Vonnegut's surrealist "fin de siècle" novel. He uses his whole bag of tricks -- metafictional devices, recurring characters, deadpan satire -- and at the end, he personally frees all his characters, clearly intending to never use them again (although he did, from time to time). Its all a mess, but a fascinating end to the cycle of unique fiction Vonnegut spawned over 20 years. [C+]

Everything that came after paled in comparison, though ocasionally showed flashes of the old brilliance.

Slapstick (or, Lonesome No More!) (1976) - Hi Ho. [C]
Jailbird (1979) - couldn't finish it
Deadeye Dick (1982) - couldn't finish it
Galápagos: A Novel (1985) - didn't even start it
Bluebeard (The Autobiography of Rabo Karabekian) (1987) - ditto.
Hocus Pocus (1990) - finished it, unfortunately [D]
Timequake (1997) - His last novel... I couldn't finish it.

Short stories:
Canary in a Cathouse (1961) - Didn't read it.
Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) - Inconsistent, but some great stories, especially "Harrison Bergeron" [B- ]
Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) - Didn't read it.

Essays:
Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974)
Palm Sunday (1981)
Nothing is lost save honor (1984)
Fates Worse than Death (an Autobiographical Collage) (1990)
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
A Man Without a Country (2005)

"...if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, “Kurt is up in heaven now.” That’s my favorite joke."
- from A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.

MFS62
May 01 2007 05:04 PM

Tom Poston, sometimes called this generation's "everyman".
http://news.aol.com/entertainment/articles/_a/newhart-sidekick-tom-poston-dies-at-85/n20070501181609990033

Later

Benjamin Grimm
May 15 2007 12:40 PM

Jerry Falwell, dead at 73.

If I believed in consciousness after death, I'd be sitting here imagining how surprised and confused he must be right now.

Johnny Dickshot
May 15 2007 01:17 PM

Radd, I missed your KV rundown but I've read Bluebeard and Galapagos often enough to suggest they are easch worth reading, Bluebeard especially.

MFS62
May 16 2007 05:35 AM

Jerry Falwell dead:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070515/D8P4VBJG0.html


No comment.

Later

Vic Sage
May 16 2007 01:20 PM

Jerry Falwell's hit parade...
http://www.slate.com/id/2166220/entry/2166209?nav=ais

SteveJRogers
May 19 2007 04:25 PM

Quick question, wouldn't it be better for a seperate thread for member family members/friends and save this thread for noted personalities?

As it was said with Edgy's dad, it seemed kind of jarring to see posts about him alongside Jerry Falwell posts.

Anyway, just came back from my Uncle's funeral. He was 72 and in declining health over the last 5 or so years.

Had a full and rewarding life though. Prayers and thoughts of course to his family.

Edgy DC
May 19 2007 05:04 PM

Sorry to hear of it Steve.

SteveJRogers
May 19 2007 08:09 PM

Yancy Street Gang wrote:
Jerry Falwell, dead at 73.

If I believed in consciousness after death, I'd be sitting here imagining how surprised and confused he must be right now.


Heh, just ran that line by my mother and she retorted that he did do good works in his life. Gotta love the devouts who think that any good a man does can wipe away a lifetime of hatefull comments.

Maybe I listen to her so much is why I went so overboard on the Rivera argument last year.

Willets Point
May 20 2007 07:33 PM

Bill Clinton dead of injuries suffered in North Carolina.

Johnny Dickshot
Jun 04 2007 01:09 PM


]Former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. dies
By Jenna Fryer, AP Auto Racing Writer
Bill France Jr., who transformed NASCAR from a small Southern sport into a billion-dollar conglomerate during his 31 years as chairman, died Monday. He was 74.

He died at his Daytona Beach, Fla., home, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. France had been in poor health for much of the last decade - he was diagnosed with cancer in 1999. Although he was in remission, the extensive treatments took a toll. He never regained his full strength, often had difficulty breathing and had taken to using a motorized scooter to get around.

France was hospitalized at least twice this year but spent his final days resting at home. Officials at Dover International Speedway, where the Nextel Cup series was racing Monday afternoon, lowered the flag to half-staff in his memory.

His last public appearance was Feb. 12 in Daytona Beach, where NASCAR's top names gathered to "Roast and Toast" him at the Bill France Hot Dog Dinner during the Daytona 500 build-up.

Even there, especially there, France Jr., who ruled NASCAR with an iron fist, called the shots.

His toasters that evening were gently reminded to avoid any harsh roasting. France did not speak during the dinner but received guests from his seat on the banquet floor.

A shrewd businessman who was fiercely protective of his family-owned company, France always acted in NASCAR's best interests. His decisions often riled car owners, drivers, sponsors and fans, but France never backed down. He was in charge - like it or not - and he quickly reminded dissenters.

"Part of leadership is having the guts to make a decision and then having the guts to stand by it and making it work," said four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "That's what he did on a lot of occasions. He did it in a way that let you know who the boss was and also did it in a way that you respected him. And I've said it all along, I think that is the cornerstone in our sport."

France became chairman in 1972 when he replaced his father, NASCAR founder William Henry Getty France, who retired 25 years after forming the National Association for Stock Car Racing.

He had prepped for the job by doing a little bit of everything during his rise through the grass roots ranks of racing.

Bill France Sr. put Bill Jr. in charge of crowd control at one of the early 1950s beach races at Daytona Beach. It was a difficult situation - there seemed to be no way to fence in the beach area and keep people from walking in without buying tickets. But young France had learned some lessons from his dad about ingenuity:

"We put up signs in the scrub areas along the road that said 'Beware of snakes' and funneled people through out gates. It worked out pretty good," France said.

He also was a flagman, sold concessions, parked cars, scored races, promoted events and even helped in the construction of Daytona International Speedway.

France worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week as he drove a compactor, bulldozer and grader in the 13 months it took to build the track. He once even tried to use a mule to pull trees out of the swamps, because the motorized equipment kept getting stuck.

When he finally took over NASCAR, he inherited a sport that was rich in Southern tradition but mostly unknown everywhere else in the United States.

"Other than the founding of NASCAR itself, Bill Jr.'s appointment to leadership is probably the most significant event in the history of the sanctioning body," the International Motorsports Hall of Fame said about the transition.

"His role in the impact of the sport has been huge," Gordon said. "His personality came at a time when it was what our sport needed. I think he did an incredible job of basing his opinion on what he believed the facts to be and then having the courage to make that decision and see it through.

"He ain't a waffler. ... He's just going to go do it."

Over the span of three remarkable decades, France oversaw the expansion of the sport, parlaying the loyal fan base of the Deep South into sold-out tracks in New England, California, Texas and the Midwest. He also moved the season-ending awards banquet to New York City in an effort to court the Madison Ave. money.

It all translated into more money from sponsors, bigger paydays for drivers and robust TV audiences.

seawolf17
Jun 04 2007 01:39 PM

Somehow, I missed this last week. Stunning.

[url=http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/news/celebrity/mmx-0601reillyjun01,0,3119424.story?coll=mmx-celebrity_heds]Charles Nelson Reilly[/url] dies at 76

The most scrumtralescent performer of our times. As a hyuuuuuge Match Game fan, I will miss him.

Willets Point
Jun 04 2007 02:51 PM

I watched that show when I was a kid and I thought he was hilarious.

sharpie
Jun 04 2007 03:15 PM

With Reilly and Paul Lynde both dead we are bereft of openly gay 1970's game show contestants.

HahnSolo
Jun 04 2007 03:25 PM

^^^
Don't forget Wayland Flowers. He's just as dead as those two. No word on the fate of Madame, however.

Edgy DC
Jun 04 2007 04:55 PM

The partners of the great ventriloquists generally live forever silenced in the Vent Haven Museum.

Don't know if Madame made the cut. Didn't know Waylon had passed.

Willets Point
Jun 04 2007 04:57 PM

That must be the creepiest museum. Except maybe this one.

Edgy DC
Jun 04 2007 05:55 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 05 2007 08:14 PM

Creepier than you may think.

Berger had arranged his figures so that they looked out all the windows until local residents complained.
That comes from "Hey, Let Me Outa Here!" an essay in Cullen Murphy's outstanding 1995 collection, Just Curious.

There's something surreal and ghastly about a ventriloquist dummy. In its life on stage it serves as a source of entertainment, but in its private life, we all know, it is an all-too-willing slave of dark forces, a characteristic displayed in movies like Dead of Night (1945) and Magic (1978) and in television programs like The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. At the Venthaven Museum there are some six hundred of these beings, clustered together in mobs of sixty to a hundred or more. Some of them have human hair or teeth. Virtually all their masters are long since dead, yet here sit the dummies, intact and immortal, though torn forever from their original voices. One dummy on display was found amid the rubble of a German house destroyed during the Second World War. Four others, from the turn of the century, were washed ashore after a shipwreck, the only survivors. On the walls, arrangements of photographs show the great ventriloquists of yore getter older and frailer; the agelessness of their partners seems to mock them. A ventriloquist who came to the museum with me pointed out a certain figure and said, "The first time I saw him sitting there, I nearly broke down. He belonged to a friend who had just died in an accident." A visitor to Vent Haven whose thoughts do not somehow touch on death is probably not human.

TheOldMole
Jun 05 2007 01:27 PM

MFS62
Jun 13 2007 02:08 PM

LOS ANGELES -- Don Herbert, who as television's "Mr. Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

Later

seawolf17
Jun 13 2007 02:28 PM

A terrible loss for science. Loved, loved, loved that show as a kid. Honestly, though, I thought he was already dead.

MFS62
Jun 13 2007 02:31 PM

seawolf17 wrote:
A terrible loss for science. Loved, loved, loved that show as a kid. Honestly, though, I thought he was already dead.

I wonder how many kids who got into science after watching his show were instrumental in getting us into space.

Later

Benjamin Grimm
Jun 13 2007 02:35 PM

I don't think I ever saw his show. (That's probably why I had nothing to do with putting anyone in space.)

His obituary in The Philadelphia Inquirer this morning noted that he was a guest on the first-ever episode of Late Night With David Letterman back in 1982. That was the show where Bill Murray performed Olivia Newton-John's "Let's Get Physical."

I remember watching, thinking it was an odd show. I must have liked it, though, since I continued to tune in and am still a faithful viewer 25 years later.

OlerudOwned
Jun 13 2007 08:56 PM

Somewhere, Bill Nye and Beakman bow their heads in respect.

Batty31
Jun 13 2007 09:30 PM

I never saw his show and had no idea who he was when I heard the news.

Edgy DC
Jun 14 2007 07:40 AM

Kurt Waldheim, UN General Secretary with some ugly shit in his closet.

Died under a ban restricting him from ever travelling to the US.

Johnny Dickshot
Jun 14 2007 07:49 AM

Can't think of him without thinking also of Gilbert Gottfried's routine: which begins "The other day I bumped into Kurt Waldheim..." and which morphs into Gilbert doing Waldheim explaining away his sins: "My wife and I were getting our picture taken and who walks into the frame? Adolph Hitler! Can you believe that!?!"

DocTee
Jun 14 2007 07:50 AM

]Kurt Waldheim, UN General Secretary with some ugly shit in his closet.


Is it just me or is the sky bluer this morning? Is the sun shining brighter and warmer? Is the grass greener?

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Farmer Ted
Jun 29 2007 06:41 PM

Is there a movie that Joel ever liked?

Surrounded by family and friends, ABC's beaming and insightful movie critic Joel Siegel has died in New York, after a long and remarkably courageous struggle with cancer, at the age of 63.

Johnny Dickshot
Jun 29 2007 08:01 PM

I always thought Seigel was a softy. Not Gene Schalit soft, but generally easy to please.

Of the NYC TV Moviemen, I guess he aimed between Schalit's rubber-stamp of approval and Dennis Cunningham's "It stinks!"

MFS62
Jun 30 2007 11:45 AM

I almost got added to this list a little while ago.
I was trimming some hedges and disturbed several bees/ wasps.
I got stung multiple times and just got to my medicine in time, with the help of my wife.
Talk about "surprise, you're dead".
whew!

I was only stung one before, and that's when I found out I was allergic. Almost went into anaphalectic (sp?) shock that time. I should have had my medicine with me today, but didn't.

Oh, in case you're wondering - none of you are in my will. :)

Later

Mods, if you want to move this to the apropos of nothing thread, be my guest. But it sure was something to me.

smg58
Jun 30 2007 12:20 PM

Glad you're still here.

Edgy DC
Jun 30 2007 01:09 PM

Damn. Carry your medicine.

And leave instructions with your estate, everyone, to log on and let us know when you die.

Nymr83
Jun 30 2007 01:13 PM

thats pretty scary, you gotta carry that medicine around.
what i think everyone needs is a pre-generated "i must be dead" email that automatically sends to everyone on your contact list if you don't click an "i'm alive" button once every few months.

MFS62
Jun 30 2007 01:47 PM

Nymr83 wrote:
thats pretty scary, you gotta carry that medicine around.
what i think everyone needs is a pre-generated "i must be dead" email that automatically sends to everyone on your contact list if you don't click an "i'm alive" button once every few months.


Thanks, guys.
But if you think that's scary, think of how scary it would be for folks to read an email that was from someone who is dead. I like Edgy's idea of someone else sending it out.

Later

Edgy DC
Jul 05 2007 08:02 AM

Bill Pickney was the last original Drifter and a former Negro League pitcher.

Johnny Dickshot
Jul 11 2007 10:52 AM

RIP

]Squid 'biggest found'
Glenn Cordingley
July 11, 2007 03:10pm
A GIANT squid washed up dead on Tasmania's west coast is one of the biggest found, weighing in at 250kg, with a cross-section as big as a truck tyre and longer than a station wagon.

Scientists, who see it as an exciting and intriguing discovery, will today take DNA and tissue samples from the sea monster before transporting it to Hobart for a post-mortem examination.

Tasmanian Museum curator David Pemberton said the 8m long Archotheuthis is one of the biggest discovered.

The museum's senior curator of invertebrate zoology, Genefor Walker-Smith, is heading a team of experts investigating the discovery at Ocean Beach, near Strahan.

"It is a whopper," Ms Walker-Smith said while en route to the scene today.

"The main mantle of the squid is about 1m across and its total length is about 8m.

"It's a very exciting discovery and we will be carrying out a number of tissue tests and take pictures and measurements on the animal today."

She said the squid was full of ammonia to aid buoyancy and would not recommend it as calamari. "It would not taste very nice at all," she said.

Mr Pemberton said it was the first time a giant squid had washed ashore on Tasmania's west coast.

"It is an intriguing and puzzling discovery," he said.

"Usually we find giant squid washed ashore on our east and south-east coast."

Mr Pemberton, who has been tracking and studying the diets of giant squid around Tasmania for the past 10 years, said it was not surprising it was in the area.

"In mid-winter they congregate along the Continental Shelf, off Tasmania's west coast, and feed on Grenadier fish," he said.

"The Sperm whales then feed on all of them while migrating north from the Southern Ocean."

He said the cephalopod was in very good condition, and had been dead for possibly less than a day.

"The body is quite fresh," he said.

"The hood (mantle) has separated from the body which is not unexpected."

He said the entire specimen might be preserved to gather information on its biology and that it could be publicly displayed at the museum.

Iubitul
Jul 11 2007 11:27 AM

There goes our archive....

soupcan
Jul 11 2007 11:50 AM



Its a sad day.

metirish
Jul 11 2007 01:57 PM

Iubitul wrote:
There goes our archive....


right after we moved too....

Rockin' Doc
Jul 11 2007 09:53 PM

Lady Bird Johnson passed away in her Austin, Texas home this afternoon of natural causes. The former first lady was 94 years old.

Help to beautify America and honor her memory by planting a flower.

Edgy DC
Jul 11 2007 10:02 PM

Strangely, across the Potomac in Arlington, there's been a Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park for about 15 years.

Benjamin Grimm
Jul 12 2007 05:18 AM

I guess they somehow knew that one day she'd be dead.

RealityChuck
Jul 12 2007 12:31 PM

No surprise -- he was 102 -- but the great character actor Charles Lane died on Tuesday.

The name probably doesn't ring a bell, but you've seen him many times. He's been in well over 300 movies and TV shows, usually playing short tempered authority figures.

cooby
Jul 13 2007 08:15 PM

MFS62 wrote:
I almost got added to this list a little while ago.
I was trimming some hedges and disturbed several bees/ wasps.
I got stung multiple times and just got to my medicine in time, with the help of my wife.
Talk about "surprise, you're dead".
whew!

I was only stung one before, and that's when I found out I was allergic. Almost went into anaphalectic (sp?) shock that time. I should have had my medicine with me today, but didn't.

Oh, in case you're wondering - none of you are in my will. :)

Later

Mods, if you want to move this to the apropos of nothing thread, be my guest. But it sure was something to me.



MFS62, I just saw this!
I'm glad you are okay! Hire a yard boy!

metirish
Jul 25 2007 01:43 PM

Just to keep up to date.

Tammy Faye Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire that collapsed in disgrace, died on July 20. She was 65. Messner had battled colon cancer since 1996 that more recently spread to her lungs. She passed away peacefully at her home near Kansas City, Mo.

HahnSolo
Jul 25 2007 02:11 PM

She's survived by her son and vast amounts of eye makeup.

metirish
Jul 25 2007 02:31 PM

Her son is a preacher in NYC....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bakker

sharpie
Jul 30 2007 07:45 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 30 2007 07:55 AM

Iconic Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman

plus

Lame Los Angeles talkshow host Tom Snyder.

Edgy DC
Jul 30 2007 07:51 AM

Snyder was the last butt-smoking talk show host.

I wonder how tedious an interview he could do with Bergman.

"So when you say 'film,' we're talking movies, right?"

Frayed Knot
Jul 30 2007 08:14 AM

Dan Akroyd (as Tom Snyder) interviewing Mick Jagger (as Mick Jagger) was one of
the funniest SNL skits ever.

Willets Point
Jul 30 2007 09:39 AM

For some reason I got Tom Snyder confused with Tom Hayden (of SDS fame). I guess I don't know who Tom Snyder was.

sharpie
Jul 30 2007 01:04 PM

Busy day for dying: Former 49er coach Bill Walsh.

Edgy DC
Jul 30 2007 01:15 PM

Wow.

It's worth pointing out that Bergman is a prime example of what distinguishes great film directors in Europe, in that he, throughout his film career, continued to stage plays and operas.

In the US, stage direction was, once upon a time, a job that you graduated from when you got into film. Now it's not even that, and I can't recall the last leading US film director with a stage background.

G-Fafif
Jul 30 2007 01:16 PM

Alan Pottasch, the marketing executive responsible in great part for the Pepsi Generation:

]He joined Pepsi-Cola in 1957 and devoted his career to marketing and advertising. In the early 1960s, Mr. Pottasch was among the first to recognize the coming youth culture, dominated by so-called "baby boomers." Of that era he said, "Pepsi named and claimed 25 million young people for its own with a big, sweeping invitation to live life to its fullest." The landmark effort shifted the focus of advertising from extolling the virtues of a product to celebrating the lives of its consumers -- in this case, the young at heart, optimistic and vibrant "Pepsi Generation." Launched in 1963, the "Pepsi Generation" was one of the longest-running, most successful advertising campaigns in history. Although initially aimed at Americans, the campaign proved to have universal appeal and resonated with consumers around the world. The phrase remains an important part of today's global pop lexicon.

sharpie
Jul 31 2007 09:11 AM

Bad week for foreign film directors: Michaelangelo Antonioni.

Edgy DC
Jul 31 2007 09:16 AM

Franco Zeffirelli, please call home.

sharpie
Jul 31 2007 10:23 AM

Well, there's already been one Italian. It's Jean-Luc Godard who should be worried.

Frayed Knot
Jul 31 2007 10:36 AM

Michaelangelo Antonioni always sounded like 4 people to me.

Michael, Angelo, Antonio, and Tony

Willets Point
Aug 02 2007 06:17 AM

Tommy Makem, 74, Irish singer and song writer. Saw him play several times in my youth with the Clancy Brothers and as a duo with Liam Clancy.

Edgy DC
Aug 02 2007 07:37 AM

Just as that fourth field is blooming again, huh?

"What did I have?" said the fine old woman
"What did I have?" this proud old woman did say
"I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, they fought to save my jewels
They fought and died, and that was my grief" said she

"Long time ago" said the fine old woman
"Long time ago" this proud old woman did say
"There was war and death, plundering and pillage
My children starved by mountain valley and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens
My four green fields ran red with their blood" said she

"What have I now?" said the fine old woman
"What have I now?" this proud old woman did say
"I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
In stranger's hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once again" said she

metirish
Aug 02 2007 08:18 AM

R.I.P. Tommy Makem.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem influenced Dylan.

TheOldMole
Aug 02 2007 04:14 PM

Oh, all the money that e'er I spent,
I spent it in good company,
And all the harm that e'er I've done,
Alas, it was to none but me.

And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall,
So fill to me the parting glass,
Good night, and joy be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had,
Are sorry for my going away,
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
Would wish me one more day to stay.

But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not,
I'll gently rise and softly call,
"Good night, and joy be with you all."

TheOldMole
Aug 02 2007 04:16 PM

Bergman shattered me. He was such an important figure in my developing selfhood. Antonioni was a passing to be honored. Tommy Makem's death made me cry.

sharpie
Aug 06 2007 12:05 PM

Note should be made that Lee Hazlewood died over the weekend. He wrote "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and sang, along with Nancy Sinatra, one of the weirdest songs of the period, "Some Velvet Morning" as well as the minor hit "Sweet Summer Wine."

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2838621.ece

Willets Point
Aug 06 2007 12:13 PM

Not to be confused with Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the Exxon Valdez, nor country musician Lee Greenwood, writer of the mawkish "God Bless the USA". These are the first two people I thought of when I saw the name.

SteveJRogers
Aug 12 2007 11:07 AM

[url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20051312,00.html]Merv Griffin, 82[/url]

MFS62
Aug 12 2007 11:49 AM

Some memories of Merv:
He was a smart businessman, a pioneer in TV game and daytime interview shows, and one of the first entertainers I can recall who entered the casino/ resort business with their own money.
But once celebrities came on his show, he was the master of the closed end question. I remember seeing guests whose ideas I wanted to hear more about being asked a 5 minute (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration) question answerable by "yes" or "no". (His style was later copied by White House correspondants who asked long and complex questions in order to try to show their colleagues how smart they were.)
and
I had occasion to visit his Manhattan offices (Griffin Enterprises) on business. There I was greeted by the most magnificently beautiful receptionist I was ever to see in 40 years in business.

Later

SteveJRogers
Aug 12 2007 12:17 PM

His show was honored on the Seinfeld episode: [url=http://www.tv.com/seinfeld/the-merv-griffin-show/episode/2402/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;161]The Merv Griffin Show [/url]where Kramer found the entire old set and converted his apartment accordingly.

Mr. Zero
Aug 12 2007 06:41 PM

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6941392.stm]Tony Wilson[/url], founder of Factory Records, 24 hour party person.

SteveJRogers
Aug 13 2007 05:59 PM

[url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQH5T61ejTQ8&refer=us]Brooke Astor, 105[/url]

TheOldMole
Aug 14 2007 06:51 AM

Did she ever have an awful last part of her life.

Johnny Dickshot
Aug 17 2007 09:34 AM

His albums with Clifford Brown are dyn-O-mite



]NEW YORK Max Roach, a master percussionist whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations provided the dislocated beats that defined bebop jazz, has died after a long illness. He was 83.

The self-taught musical prodigy died Wednesday night at an undisclosed hospital in Manhattan, said Cem Kurosman, spokesman for Blue Note Records, one of Roach's labels. No additional details were available, he said.

Roach received his first musical break at age 16, filling in for three nights in 1940 when Duke Ellington's drummer fell ill.

Roach's performance led him to the legendary Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where he joined luminaries Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the burgeoning bebop movement. In 1944, Roach joined Gillespie and Coleman Hawkins in one of the first bebop recording sessions.

What distinguished Roach from other drummers were his fast hands and his ability to simultaneously maintain several rhythms. By layering different beats and varying the meter, Roach pushed jazz beyond the boundaries of standard 4/4 time.

Roach's innovative use of cymbals for melodic lines, and tom-toms and bass drums for accents, helped elevate the percussionist from mere timekeeper to featured performer on a par with the trumpeter and saxophonist.
One of the grand masters of our music, Gillespie once observed.

In a 1988 essay in The New York Times, Wynton Marsalis wrote of Roach: All great instrumentalists have a superior quality of sound, and his is one of the marvels of contemporary music. ... The roundness and nobility of sound on the drums and the clarity and precision of the cymbals distinguishes Max Roach as a peerless master.

Throughout the jazz upheaval of the 1940s and '50s, Roach played bebop with the Charlie Parker Quintet and cool bop with the Miles Davis Capitol Orchestra. He joined trumpeter Clifford Brown in playing hard bop, a jazz form that maintained bebop's rhythmic drive while incorporating the blues and gospel.

He was survived by five children: sons Daryl and Raoul, and daughters Maxine, Ayl and Dara.

Edgy DC
Aug 17 2007 09:41 AM

Wasn't Roach the one that OldMole (where is the Mole?) said he saw play the entire drum part from "Take Five" as a solo?

Farmer Ted
Aug 20 2007 10:14 AM

Queen of Mean

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Leona Helmsley, who ran her empire of luxurious Manhattan hotels with an iron fist and went to prison for tax fraud, has died, her publicist said Monday.

Helmsley, who was reviled as the "queen of mean," was 87.

She and fourth husband Harry Helmsley owned such sumptuous properties as the Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue, a block from Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Park Lane and the New York Helmsley.

She died Monday of heart failure at her summer house in Greenwich, Connecticut, publicist Howard J. Rubenstein told CNN.

"Leona was a great businesswoman in her own right who created a tremendous brand and success with Helmsley Hotels and was a wonderful partner and wife to Harry Helmsley," Rubenstein said in a written statement.

"She was extremely generous as a philanthropist and she gave tens of millions of dollars to charity right up until the last months of her life," he added.

Born in Ulster County, New York, and raised in Brooklyn, Leona Helmsley worked as a model and at other part-time jobs.

Her first full-time job was as a secretary in a real estate company specializing in residential sales as the Manhattan's condominium craze was beginning to emerge. She moved to Helmsley's company shortly after meeting him in 1969.

She married Harry Helmsley in 1972. He already was a successful real estate magnate, and she helped him amass a commercial and residential real estate empire worth billions.

The couple's holdings included such landmark buildings as 230 Park Avenue and the Empire State Building, as well as the East Side residential complex called Tudor City. Watch how the Helmsleys once had it all

Adding to her fame was an ad campaign that included her picture and touted her as the "queen" of the empire and a stickler for detail.

She was tried in 1989 for tax evasion, but poor health spared her husband from facing charges. The sensational trial included testimony from disgruntled employees who said she terrorized the help at her homes and hotels.

A former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

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

After serving her prison sentence, and following her husband's death in 1997, she became chief executive officer of Helmsley Enterprises and managed the real estate and hotel portfolio, but with a far lower profile than the one she had cultivated in the 1980s.

Leona Helmsley's charitable activities included a $25 million gift to New York Presbyterian Hospital, $5 million to Katrina relief and $5 million to help the families of firefighters after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In the late 1990s, she gave millions of dollars to help rebuild African-American churches that had been burned in the South.

Helmsley is survived by her brother Alvin Rosenthal, four grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not been made public.

Edgy DC
Aug 20 2007 10:27 AM

Is that Steinbrenner's Howard Rubenstein?

MFS62
Aug 20 2007 04:29 PM

="Farmer Ted"]Queen of Mean

NEW YORK (CNN) She died Monday of heart failure at her summer house in Greenwich, Connecticut, publicist Howard J. Rubenstein told CNN.


Based on her reputation and nickname, there are some who might say that was impossible; she didn't have a heart.

Later

SteveJRogers
Aug 30 2007 06:37 PM

[url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1568463/20070829/ramones.jhtml]CBGB Founder Hilly Kristal Dead At 75[/url]

CBGB 1973-2006
It was created after this song, but this lyrics do apply

"I went down to the sacred store
where I heard the music years before
but the man said the music wouldn't play..." -Don McLean

Willets Point
Aug 30 2007 07:24 PM

Burning Man meets a premature death due to arson.

Willets Point
Aug 30 2007 07:30 PM

Michael Jackson passes away.

No not that one. The beer critic.

Raise a glass to toast his memory.

TransMonk
Aug 30 2007 09:47 PM

Wow, I didn't know he was so well known. I had the opportunity to have a few of the beers he had given a good review to about 9 months ago. It had his name on label.

All of us just kept yelling "Hee, hee" every time we popped another one open.

RIP

metirish
Sep 06 2007 07:15 AM

Luciano Pavarotti now singing on the big stage in the sky....Dead at 71.

soupcan
Sep 06 2007 07:18 AM

metirish wrote:
Luciano Pavarotti now singing on the big stage in the sky....Dead at 71.


That Pancreatic Cancer is a death sentence man.

soupcan
Sep 06 2007 07:22 AM

Willets Point wrote:
Burning Man meets a premature death due to arson.


My estranged younger brother attends that 'festival' every year. There was more than a slim chance that he was the one responsible for this. Apparently someone else burned the 'man' before he could get to it.

Edgy DC
Sep 06 2007 07:26 AM

How stupid must firefighters feel trying to extinguish that?

Willets Point
Sep 06 2007 09:02 AM

Edgy DC wrote:
How stupid must firefighters feel trying to extinguish that?


There are just so many levels of irony to that story.

Arrivederci Pavarotti.

sharpie
Sep 06 2007 09:05 AM

My 2 degrees of separation from Pavarotti: He slept with my ex-girlfriend's sister.

Johnny Dickshot
Sep 06 2007 09:08 AM

I spent 25 minutes reading the Burning Man website and I still don't know what it is.

It's like a festival or something? Soupcan has an estranged brother?

Willets Point
Sep 06 2007 09:15 AM

Basically a bunch of "artistes" go to the desert and camp out for a week and they all try to art projects, get stoned, and have nightly raves. On the last night they burn a giant effigy of a man. This year some dude set fire to it four days early and despite it being his "art project" and "expression of freedom" the corporate honchos in charge of Burning Man had him charged with arson.

I have a friend who went to Burning Man once who had a good time. I'm sure it's fun if you don't take yourself too seriously, but it can sound awfully pretentious as well.

seawolf17
Sep 06 2007 09:20 AM

What? Art, pretentious? Stunning.

soupcan
Sep 06 2007 09:23 AM

As I understand it it - it is a week long expression of creative freedom. Or some such nonsense.

What I really think it is, is an excuse for slackers and the like to run around naked in the desert doing all kinds of drugs under the auspices of artistic expression.

Try and Google up some pictures. Its all naked, painted people on bicycles playing with fire.

Yes, I have a 37 year-old brother that I've had no contact with in over a year.

metirish
Sep 06 2007 09:33 AM

Nekid tug-of-war......


http://home.comcast.net/~burningman/b4index.htm

Edgy DC
Sep 06 2007 09:46 AM

Maybe this old chestnut will fly.

No One Makes It To Burning Man Festival
August 27, 2003 | Issue 3933
Onion staff

GERLACH, NVThe Burning Man festival, a prominent artistic and countercultural event that draws tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert annually, is in danger of cancellation this week because "no one had their shit together enough to even make it," organizers said Tuesday.


The empty Burning Man festival grounds.
"Jesus Christ, this is pathetic," said event coordinator Ethan Moon as he angrily gestured toward the empty Black Rock Desert basin expanse, known as the playa. "We've been promoting this thing all year. You can't start panhandling quarters for gas the week before the festival and expect to make it here in time, man."

Moon listed some of the most common no-show excuses, among them oversleeping, forgetting to request time off work, faulty van-borrowing arrangements, a shortage of ochre body-paint, and the last-minute realization that transportation to the Burning Man festival requires money.

"As of a few weeks ago, or even a few days ago, there were 30,000 people who honestly planned on coming," Moon said. "In every case, however, there were, well, you knowshit happened."

Although Burning Man festivals have had no-shows in the past, Moon said he's never witnessed absenteeism on this level.

"You have to figure out a way to get here, stock up on water and extra clothing for the cold nights, and make sure you have adequate shelter," Moon said. "Apparently, the advance planning it takes to arrange those three basic things was more than anyone could handle. Sorry to be on this uptight trip, but check out the playa. Not a single nude dude in a homemade papier-mch tribal mask as far as the eye can see."

Although Burning Man is billed on its web site as a "temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance," it became evident that the no-shows were more capable of the former than they were of the latter.

Los Angeles silkscreen artist Goldi Trewartha was among the tens of thousands of Burning Man devotees who stayed home this year.

"Yeah, I was supposed to go with Ari and Shel, but they couldn't score [Ecstasy] in time for the trip, and I forgot my bartering beads at my friend Marnie's place in Los Feliz," Trewartha said. "Oh, and I forgot to get a dog sitter."

Added Trewartha: "Shel made this great suit out of old stuffed-monkey pelts and duct tape, and he was going to hop up and down on this old trampoline he found. But his ex, Nikki, made him babysit [their daughter] Gaia while she headed out to Big Sur for a few days. I love Nikki, but sometimes she can be real flaky."

Chaz Bullard, a University of Vermont undergraduate and veteran mud person, had multiple excuses for his failure to attend the Burning Man festival.

"I totally spaced that August is 8, and I wrote down 9 in my sketchbook," Bullard said. "Oh, and I got evicted. Yeah, fuckin' Dyl up and ditches me, right, and I'm stuck owing $700, because he wasn't on the lease."

Bullard added that he contracted hepatitis from his ex-roommate's tacos.



Boulder resident Paul Sandley, who was halfway to Burning Man when his truck "totally konked."
Moon said he has received apologetic phone calls from a squadron of recumbent bicyclists lost somewhere in southern Nebraska, a Kentucky artist whose pet python was too carsick to continue the journey, and a group of Germans who uncovered a fatal structural flaw in their "Freak Harnesses" art installation at the last minute.

Hippies were not the only counterculture group to miss the Burning Man festival. Portland-area Linux user and self-described cyber-conceptualist "Free" Lance Kaegle explained his absence in an instant message from his studio.

"I was organizing this boss techno-art project called 'Off The Grid,'" Kaegle wrote. "We were going to set up computer terminals in various parts of the playa and have people use them. Then we'd feed the binary data from those terminals into this fractals program that [Silver Lake, CA software designer] Ricky [Thomas-Slater] wrote. Those fractals would be sent, on the fly, to a group of exiled Buddhist monks I befriended online. The monks would transform the fractals into a temporal sand painting, the making of which we would webcast live to everyone on the playa."

Added Kaegle: "But I had to stop working on the monk thing to finish up this Pam's Country Crafts web site I'm working on. I really need the money."

While most absences were accidental, a few were not. Doug "Crazyroot" Pycroft, a former smoothie-stand employee, has a history of missing countercultural events.

"I thought about going, but then I decided I don't need some dudes pushing their rules down my throat," Pycroft said. "That's the problem with these things. If they're so nonconformist, how come you gotta obey some fascist wearing a lanyard just to use the Port-A-John? Same reason I refused to go to [The Church Of The Subgenius'] X-Day back in '98. Hell, I ditched the very first Lollapalooza one hour in."

As a cloud of sand whipped across the desolate playa, Moon could only shake his head. Although the weeklong festival traditionally culminates in the igniting of the Burning Man, a 50-foot-tall wooden structure strapped with fireworks and other incendiaries, Moon wondered aloud whether he and the handful of other staffers should even bother.

"I guess we could burn what we've built, but it would just feel anticlimactic with no one around to watch," Moon said. "You gotta look at the bigger picture here, folks. You shouldn't think of Burning Man as a burden. Burning Man is about being part of a community. Unfortunately, it's a community of people who can't get up before 1 p.m."

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 06 2007 09:55 AM

sharpie wrote:
My 2 degrees of separation from Pavarotti: He slept with my ex-girlfriend's sister.


Was she an Opera Annie?

Frayed Knot
Sep 06 2007 10:36 AM

]sharpie wrote:
My 2 degrees of separation from Pavarotti: He slept with my ex-girlfriend's sister.

Was she an Opera Annie?



And was he really a "tenner"?

sharpie
Sep 06 2007 10:44 AM

The gf's parents were big opera supporters and would have singers over to their house frequently. I think the sister was a bit of an Opera Annie (I didn't know her all that well -- she was a few years older than we were). The gf telling me about this was the first I had heard of Pavarotti as he wasn't known much outside the opera world at the time -- soon thereafter he became a household name.

Edgy DC
Sep 07 2007 01:59 PM

Madeleine L'Engle.

She was really great, but she was eighty-eight.

sharpie
Sep 07 2007 02:51 PM

She'd also had Alzheimers for many years.

Edgy DC
Sep 07 2007 02:55 PM

Did you date her sister also?

sharpie
Sep 07 2007 07:48 PM

No but I have dealt with her agent who told me about her condition about 5 years ago.

Edgy DC
Sep 07 2007 08:49 PM

sharpie wrote:
No but I have dealt with her agent who told me about her condition about 5 years ago.


Your new name is Mr. Two Degrees --- dropping names and connections like the Old Mole at a Woodstock reunion.

Edgy DC
Sep 08 2007 07:20 AM



This Pavorottii funeral shot looks like the Devil is coming for that child.

TheOldMole
Sep 08 2007 08:37 AM

Ah yes...it was me that told Hendrix to play the Star Spangled Banner.

sharpie
Sep 11 2007 01:07 PM

Joe Zawinual, a Miles Davis sideman and, most notably, the leader of Weather Report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/11/obit.zawinul.ap/index.html

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 11 2007 01:17 PM

And Jane Wyman, the only woman who married Ronald Reagan but didn't serve as First Lady.

DocTee
Sep 23 2007 07:50 AM

Marcel Marceau, annoying mime.

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 23 2007 08:46 AM

Alice Ghostley, 81, Esmerelda of Bewitched.

Frayed Knot
Sep 23 2007 09:24 AM

DocTee wrote:
Marcel Marceau, annoying mime.


Any last words?

Nymr83
Sep 23 2007 09:27 AM

No.

TheOldMole
Sep 24 2007 10:04 AM

Should we commemorate his passing with a moment of noise?

Frayed Knot
Oct 01 2007 09:40 PM

TheOldMole wrote:
Should we commemorate his passing with a moment of noise?


Now THAT's funny!





Al Oerter (71 if I heard correctly).
Long time Long Island resident and a Grumman Aerospace employee - back in those days when the 'shamateurism" of track & field meant guys needed real jobs - was the four-time Olympic discus gold medalist (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968)

Edgy DC
Oct 02 2007 07:24 AM

Didn't he come out of retirement and qualify for the Olympics in the eighties?

Frayed Knot
Oct 02 2007 08:23 AM

Yes - in 1980 I think.
IIRC he made the team but then had to withdraw prior to competeing due to an injury. He was 44 y/o at the time if I have all the years straight and was throwing as well or better than he ever had.

Mendoza Line
Oct 02 2007 04:53 PM

He made the 1980 team, but missed out on competing because of the US boycott.

metirish
Oct 18 2007 10:18 AM

Deborah Kerr dies at 86

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2194011,00.html

Edgy DC
Oct 18 2007 10:23 AM

Deborah Kerr:

Frayed Knot
Oct 18 2007 12:01 PM

Joey Bishop - 89

Edgy DC
Oct 18 2007 12:04 PM

Stealing the show from Deborah Kerr.

Benjamin Grimm
Oct 18 2007 12:14 PM

If asked, I would have guessed that both Bishop and Kerr were already dead.

I would have been wrong a couple of days ago, but correct today.

sharpie
Oct 18 2007 12:15 PM

Wonder if Deborah Kerr was ever a guest on the Joey Bishop Show.

HahnSolo
Oct 18 2007 12:28 PM

As a youngster, here's where I first heard of Joey Bishop...

Benjamin Grimm
Oct 18 2007 12:42 PM

I think for me it was the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.

Fun fact: Joey Bishop's Ed McMahon was Regis Philbin.

MFS62
Oct 21 2007 12:08 PM

Maybe Fred "the Hammer" Williamson finally got close enought to him to hit him:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-obit-mcgee&prov=ap&type=lgns

Later

sharpie
Oct 29 2007 08:21 AM

Country star Porter Wagoner. Lenny was at the MSG show referred to in the article.

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/entertainment/2007/10/28/D8SILDBG0_obit_wagoner/index.html

DocTee
Oct 30 2007 09:38 PM

Robert Goulet, national anthem-phucker-upper.

Valadius
Oct 30 2007 10:10 PM

One of Robert Goulet's ESPN commercials:

Edgy DC
Oct 31 2007 07:38 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 31 2007 09:00 PM

Building an after-career, playing against his empty suit, old-leading-man-living-in-the-past image, he was better than, say, George Hamilton, not up to the level of Leslie Neilsen.

I wonder who the first guy was to become a joke but try to stay relevant by being in on the joke.

Valadius
Oct 31 2007 05:56 PM

Sam Dana, 104, was the oldest living former NFL player:

[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AjuW64uiCJP61u0aBpPa3Wyr0op4?slug=ap-obit-dana&prov=ap&type=lgns[/url]

Rockin' Doc
Oct 31 2007 07:05 PM

valadius - "Sam Dana, 104, was the oldest living former NFL player"

Well, not anymore.

May he rest in peace.

Valadius
Oct 31 2007 08:07 PM

He actually played alongside Lou Gehrig at Columbia.

Edgy DC
Nov 03 2007 12:38 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 03 2007 06:41 PM

Ryan Shay, ass-kicking marathoner, goes down with his boots on. I was confusing him with Ryan Hall, who is the greatest American hope in a generation or two.

Run a mile in his memory. OK, then walk.

soupcan
Nov 03 2007 01:12 PM

I'm stunned haring about Shay. Seemingly no health issues. I'll be interested to see what the autopsy reveals.

Meanwhile here is a story about Brian Sell who finished third in today's trial and qualified for the Olympic team.



New York Times

October 31, 2007

Team Turns Unsung Runners Into Elite Marathoners

By GINA KOLATA


ROCHESTER, Mich. When Mike Morgan was in high school in Lincoln, Neb., he wanted to be part of a sports team. But, as he saw it, he did not have much choice. Football was out he was 5 feet 7 inches and 105 pounds. That left cross-country and track.

So Morgan became a runner, doing well but not turning any heads. When it came time for college, no coaches recruited him and he ended up at Nebraska Wesleyan, a small Division III college.

Morgan, now 27, is part of an unusual team, the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, whose goal is to give runners like him a chance to see if they can compete internationally at the highest levels.

He is one of 13 Hansons-Brooks runners who will compete in the Olympic mens marathon trials Nov. 3 in New York; the top three finishers will represent the United States at the Beijing Olympics next summer. Nearly one out of every 10 men in the race is a Hansons-Brooks runner.

And nearly every one of those athletes is, like Morgan, a runner who would otherwise have dropped by the wayside.

The tale of the team and its runners reveals a sport in which money is short, fame hard to come by and glory elusive for all but a very few. It involves athletes who are ready to put their lives on hold for 8, 10, even 12 years while they live a monastic existence in a group home here, far from family and friends, doing little but running, twice a day, day in and day out.

It also is the story of Keith and Kevin Hanson, the brothers who founded, financed and coach the team. They know they have the fate of gifted athletes in their hands and they know there are few scientific studies showing the best way to train.

They have their goal, though. We want to put somebody on that Olympic team, Keith Hanson said.

The Hansons started the team in 1999, after deciding that something was wrong with American distance running. We said, Why is it that Americans were such a factor in the early to mid-1980s and not now? Kevin Hanson said.

They reasoned that it was because Americans had abandoned group training. Ethiopians train in groups, Kenyans train in groups, Japanese train in groups, Kevin Hanson said. But most Americans were trying to work full time after college while training on their own.

The brothers owned three running stores in Michigan in Utica, Royal Oak and Grosse Point that were doing well, so they decided to invest $250,000 a year in a team. They would provide essentials like housing, health insurance, travel money and equipment. And they would give the runners part-time jobs if they wanted them.

Eight years later, the Hansons have spent $2 million, have added another running store, in Lake Orion, and their team has 20 runners 16 men and 4 women. They have two sponsors Brooks, the athletic shoe company, and Saturn, the car company. Most of the runners work 20 to 25 hours a week at one of the Hansons stores, where they are paid $10 to $12 an hour.

The runners start their day at 7:30 a.m., meeting at a duck pond beside a packed-dirt trail. Most end up running 120 to 140 miles a week. Brian Sell, the teams best hope for making the Olympic team, runs 160 miles a week.

Nonrunners seldom understand the life of these athletes, said Patrick Moulton, the newest member of the team. Even many customers at the Hansons running stores do not understand, he said. We get people coming into the store saying, Well, how long of a marathon did you run? he said they asked, not realizing that a marathon, by definition, is 26 miles 385 yards.

The runners devised a short explanation. We call it The Story, Morgan said. We say we are part of a program that provides housing and health insurance and that we train as a group. Hopefully, one of us will emerge and be able to bring American distance running closer to where it was in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the Olympic trials, the runners say, being part of the Hansons team will help. They can run together comfortably and support one another, bringing a team dynamic to an individual sport.

Morgan and another Hansons-Brooks runner, Kyle OBrien, recently competed in the world championships in Japan, so they have not had adequate time to recover. If they are not feeling strong enough to contend at the Olympic trials, they may resort to a support role.

Id probably help some of the guys Ive been training with, Morgan said. I would step in front of them and have them follow me. Kyle and I knew going in that that could be a possibility maybe our only option would be to help a teammate.

The embodiment of the program, said Mary Wittenberg, director of New York Road Runners, is the 29-year-old Sell, who joined the team in 2001. He is a hard working, put everything in it, kind of guy, said Wittenberg, whose organization is staging the trials. He was not a superstar in high school, he was not a superstar in college. His commitment put him at the top of his sport.

Sell would not disagree. The field for the trials includes runners who have Olympics experience, like Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman. I think they are more talented than I am, so I have to work harder, Sell said.

And work he does, running an average of 24 miles a day. Unlike the other Hansons-Brooks runners, he is married and has a 5-month-old daughter and his own house. But when his wife, a nurse, is working, Sell often ends up doing his afternoon run alone on a treadmill in his basement, his daughter propped nearby.

Life with the Hansons team has not been easy. The first six months I was here I wanted to leave every day, Sell said. I was running badly. But then, he said, it was almost like an American dream hard work paid off.

Of course, his competitors are working hard, too, and while the runners talent and willingness to train are important, there also is a question of what coaching strategy is best. With coaching, said Kevin Hanson, so much of it is trial and error.

The Hansons say that running huge numbers of miles each week is crucial, along with training as a team and training for the races terrain. To prepare for the Olympic trials course, which will be mostly in Central Park, the team rode its bus from Michigan to New York last month, ran the course, then rode home. Team members also run on a route in Rochester with hills nearly the same elevation as those on the marathon course in Central Park.

But one method the Hansons do not use is training at high altitude. Altitude training can stimulate the body to make more red blood cells, which can provide more oxygen to muscles in a race.

Their top competitors in the Olympic trials, including Keflezighi, use altitude training, and for good reason, said Keflezighis coach, Bob Larsen. When you look at the medalists in the Olympic Games and world championships, there are very, very few who medal without having trained at altitude, Larsen said.

The Hansons runners say they are not worried. And what choice did they have anyway? Few were good enough when they joined to even have the option of joining Larsens Team Running USA, which trains in the mountains at Mammoth Lake, Calif. And even if they were that good, they could probably not afford it. Team Running does not provide the financial support that the Hansons do.

Larsen knows the hurdles. We get requests quite frequently from athletes who would like to be in our group, but unless they can afford to be with us or have a major shoe contract, it is difficult, he said.

The Hansons runners compete, Kevin Hanson said, by dint of sheer hard work.

Running with the team, the athletes said, was harder than they imagined.

You have to show restraint and not run yourself into the ground every day, said OBrien, a 27-year-old from Danville, Ill. I fell into that trap my first year here. I moved here in August, and by November I had two stress fractures. I wasnt able to run again until the following February.

As for Sell, the years of hard training are taking their toll.

When I first came out here, I was bouncing out of bed, running to the duck pond, he said. Now I have to get out of bed an hour or two ahead of time to warm up enough to make it.

The Olympic trials, he said, may be his last hurrah.

I put as much as I can into this trial, he said.

If Sell does not make the Olympic team, he will retire as an athlete, he said. He has applied to dental school and he and his wife will move back east, closer to their families in Pennsylvania, where there will be no more mornings at the duck pond, and probably no more 160-mile weeks.

It is not a life for everyone, Sell added, but he has no regrets. Even the high mileage was fine with him.

If you lose a race, that just means some guy worked harder than you, he said.

To do well against competitors like those in the Olympic trials, he added, you have to want it.

As for himself, Sell said, I guess Ive just been really lucky to get this little taste of success and then to want it a little more and a little more.

SteveJRogers
Nov 04 2007 07:04 AM

[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_on_re_us/obit_tibbets]Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay[/url]

Edgy DC
Nov 04 2007 12:23 PM

Ryan Hall, meanwhile, destroyed what looked to be the most competitive field in US history, winning by over two minutes in what was only his second full marathon.

He ripped a 4:32 in mile 17.

seawolf17
Nov 04 2007 08:21 PM

Lillian Ellison, better known as The [url=http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-obit-fabulousmoolah&prov=ap&type=lgns]Fabulous Moolah[/url].

MFS62
Nov 05 2007 10:04 AM

No big surprise. Its been a while, BUT:

http://www.newstimes.com//ci_7374102?IADID=Search-www.newstimes.com-www.newstimes.com

Later

Edgy DC
Nov 05 2007 11:46 AM

That's a good story. It's about 20% over-written but better than most of the feature writing in local papers.

MFS62
Nov 05 2007 12:03 PM

="Edgy DC"]That's a good story. It's about 20% over-written but better than most of the feature writing in local papers.

Its my local paper, and you would go nuts at some of the sportswriting when they cover local high school teams.
Here's one I paraphrased, but you'll get the idea:

New Fairfield 3 Brookfield 0

The Rebels beat the Bobcats yesterday. The goals were scored by Pat Murphy (2) and Chris McMullen.

The writer usually leaves out some important things, like the sport they were playing (was it soccer, field hockey, ice hockey or lacrosse?) and even whether it was the mens or womens teams.

I gring my teeth daily.

Later

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 05 2007 12:50 PM

We all thought Stork was brain damaged.

It's a rotten shame that the NatLamp brand has come to mean direct-to-video gross-out guy movies. It at one time really was a brilliant thing.

soupcan
Nov 05 2007 12:56 PM

Agreed.

As with all great things - once there's easy money to be made it all goes to shit.

Edgy DC
Nov 05 2007 01:08 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
It's a rotten shame that the NatLamp brand has come to mean direct-to-video gross-out guy movies.


Part of what I like about the article. That's well insinuated, but he resists the urge to go off on a tangent.

Valadius
Nov 09 2007 12:34 PM

There's only one survivor of the Titanic left. The second-to-last survivor has died at 96.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071108/ap_on_re_us/obit_titanic_survivor[/url]

Edgy DC
Nov 09 2007 12:37 PM

That last survivor is looking pretty suspicous.

MFS62
Nov 10 2007 06:43 AM

Norman Mailer.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071110/ap_on_en_ot/obit_mailer

Later

Edgy DC
Nov 10 2007 07:42 AM

Lean over on a bookcase
If you really wanna get straight
Read Norman Mailer
Or get a new tailor

But are you ready to be heartbroken?
Are you ready to be heartbroken?
Are you ready to bleed?

--- Lloyd Cole

Valadius
Nov 10 2007 09:09 AM

Paul Norris, co-creator of Aquaman:

[url]http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_11_06.html#014315[/url]

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 15 2007 01:06 PM

Not a surprise, since she had been in steady decline for several weeks, but my grandmother died this afternoon, two months and one day shy of her 97th birthday.

She may or may not have been born on the same day as Dizzy Dean.


Very sad right now, but also a bit relieved. These last few weeks were difficult for her and everyone else.

Edgy DC
Nov 15 2007 01:09 PM

Condolences, my brother.

Rockin' Doc
Nov 15 2007 04:30 PM

Sorry to hear of your grandmother's passing. My sincerest condolences to you and your family upon her passing.

A Boy Named Seo
Nov 15 2007 04:38 PM

Sorry to hear, Yance.

metirish
Nov 15 2007 04:50 PM

Condolences Yancy, born 1910, what an age and life.

Valadius
Nov 15 2007 04:53 PM

My condolences.

SteveJRogers
Nov 15 2007 05:05 PM

Same here. My condolences to you and your family.

MFS62
Nov 15 2007 05:18 PM

Condolences to you and your family.

Later

smg58
Nov 15 2007 05:30 PM

Deepest regrets and best wishes for you and your family in this tough period.

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 15 2007 05:41 PM

Thank you everyone!

Kid Carsey
Nov 15 2007 06:28 PM

Sorry for your loss, Yance.

97 is a nice run, especially if she was relatively healthy
until only recently.

DocTee
Nov 15 2007 06:40 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 15 2007 08:48 PM

97! Wow-- I'd be happy if my I reached that inversed.

Sending prayers, thoughts, and condolences your way as we enter what must be a difficult Thanksgiving and Holiday Season for you and yours.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 15 2007 07:09 PM

Sorry to hear the news, YSG. 97 is excellent.

seawolf17
Nov 15 2007 07:23 PM

Sorry to hear the news; my thoughts go out to you and your family.

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 15 2007 08:13 PM

Yes, she had a long life and over 96 years of pretty good health. She was a remarkable woman and all of the condolences are greatly appreciated.

soupcan
Nov 15 2007 08:13 PM

97.

God bless.

My condolences.

Valadius
Nov 16 2007 07:09 AM

[url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AknUXC.okfI3n9EoE0x8hVERvLYF?slug=ap-obit-nuxhall&prov=ap&type=lgns]Joe Nuxhall[/url], 79.

Nymr83
Nov 16 2007 02:38 PM

Valadius wrote:
[url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AknUXC.okfI3n9EoE0x8hVERvLYF?slug=ap-obit-nuxhall&prov=ap&type=lgns]Joe Nuxhall[/url], 79.


i was just going to post that. NuxHall was the youngest player ever in MLB, 15 years old when he appeared in 1 game in 1944.

SteveJRogers
Nov 16 2007 05:46 PM

Ironically nicknamed "The Old Lefthander" during his long broadcasting career with the Reds.

cooby
Nov 17 2007 09:26 AM

Benjamin Grimm wrote:
Not a surprise, since she had been in steady decline for several weeks, but my grandmother died this afternoon, two months and one day shy of her 97th birthday.

She may or may not have been born on the same day as Dizzy Dean.


Very sad right now, but also a bit relieved. These last few weeks were difficult for her and everyone else.



Yancy, I am so sorry, please accept my condolences

Iubitul
Nov 17 2007 05:50 PM

Yancy - please accept my heartfelt condolences on your loss.

G-Fafif
Nov 18 2007 03:26 PM

Condolences on your grandma, Yancy. A great run, it sounds like, and as Dizzy himself put it, it ain't braggin' if you can back it up. Near 97, no doubt she could.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 20 2007 08:18 AM

His tombstore should read:

WORLD'S GREATEST
TOILET PAPER SALESMAN

]Dick Wilson, 91; Mr. Whipple in Charmin commercials

By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 20, 2007
Dick Wilson, a character actor who turned "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" into a national catchphrase as exasperated shopkeeper Mr. Whipple in the TV commercial campaign that ran for more than two decades, has died. He was 91.

Wilson died Monday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, announced Procter & Gamble Co., maker of Charmin tissue.

From 1964 to 1985, and again in 1999, Wilson portrayed Mr. Whipple in more than 500 commercials for the toilet paper.

The first ad was filmed in Flushing, N.Y., a bit of trivia that the former stand-up comedian liked to share in interviews.

The commercials typically feature giddy, middle-age women who enter his store and cannot resist squeezing the soft Charmin rolls, despite his protests. Then, when nobody is looking, Whipple can't help himself and hugs a package of the toilet paper.

Wilson knew the premise was silly but told the Chicago Tribune in 1985: "What are you going to say about toilet paper? I think we handle it the best way we can."

In a statement, Dennis Legault, brand manager for Charmin, called the Mr. Whipple character "one of the most recognizable faces in the history of American advertising."

Wilson was so well-known as Mr. Whipple that he ranked as the third-most-recognized American in a 1978 poll, behind former President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham, Indiana's Fort Wayne News Sentinel reported in 2001.

Procter & Gamble eventually replaced the Whipple ads with cartoon bears. When Whipple returned in 1999, he was shown coming out of retirement against the advice of his buddies for one more chance to peddle Charmin.

Born in England in 1916, Wilson moved to Canada as a child. His father performed in vaudeville and his mother was a singer.

After graduating from the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto with a degree in sculpture, he designed scenery for a dancing school. Paid in dance lessons, he became a comedic acrobatic dancer and performed in vaudeville for 20 years, according to Procter & Gamble.

He acted onstage and appeared in dozens of television shows and movies, including starring in "The Better Home Show" on ABC in 1951. Often, he had guest roles in Westerns and sitcoms, and he was a regular on "Bewitched" and "McHale's Navy."

His film career lasted more than 30 years and included the Don Knotts movies "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966) and "The Shakiest Gun in the West" (1968). In one of his final roles, Wilson played a store manager in "The Incredible Shrinking Woman" (1981).

During World War II, Wilson served in the Canadian Air Force and became a U.S. citizen in 1954, the Associated Press reported.

He beat out 33 other candidates for the Mr. Whipple role and often expressed gratitude for his commercial career.

With "the kind of pictures they're making today," Wilson told the Associated Press in 1985, "I'll stick with toilet paper."

Wilson is survived by his wife, Meg, who lives in the Los Angeles area; his daughter, Melanie, an actress who appeared on the ABC sitcom "Perfect Strangers"; another daughter, Wendy; a son, Stuart; and five grandchildren.

Willets Point
Nov 20 2007 09:04 PM

Edgy DC
Nov 20 2007 09:13 PM

Housewives are morons.

I mean, what else can you conclude?

Willets Point
Nov 20 2007 09:14 PM

Morons ... and dangerously crazy as well.

seawolf17
Nov 26 2007 09:34 AM

[url=http://www.metalsludge.tv/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1388&Itemid=42]Kevin DuBrow[/url], frontman for Quiet Riot.

Fman99
Nov 27 2007 08:30 AM

RIP to [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3129406]Sean Taylor,[/url] Washington defensive back.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 27 2007 09:56 AM

seawolf17 wrote:
[url=http://www.metalsludge.tv/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1388&Itemid=42]Kevin DuBrow[/url], frontman for Quiet Riot.


Instead of a moment of silence, we should have a moment of noize.

Quiet Riot had to be the stepping-in-shittiest band of the entire MTV era. They were smart enough to dust off a few cool but underknown cover tunes and lucky enough to pioneer the ridiculous glam-metal era before hair became too important (they were out-glammed in like 5 seconds and never heard from again).

DuBrow in the iconic "Noize" video appears to be losing his hair but in subsequent vids looks like he OD'ed on Monoxodil.

Was he murdered? I recall reading where he was known to routtinely trash his former bandmates & shit.

Edgy DC
Nov 27 2007 10:06 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 27 2007 07:41 PM

Before they exploded, Quiet Riot could brag that Randy Rhoads was a member.

I remember DuBrow doing a few hours as a VeeJay and mispronouncing other musicians' names while reading the Music News.

Valadius
Nov 27 2007 12:51 PM

Dr. Robert Cade, inventor of Gatorade, died at 80.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_on_re_us/obit_cade[/url]

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 27 2007 01:16 PM

Hey, his name rhymes with the thing he invented!

Nymr83
Nov 27 2007 04:07 PM

from the article
]Instead of the original four flavors, there are now more than 30 available in the United States and more than 50 flavors available internationally


what flavors are we missing out on??

Valadius
Nov 27 2007 04:15 PM

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gatorade_flavors]Here's the list of flavors.[/url]

themetfairy
Nov 27 2007 04:21 PM

Valadius wrote:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gatorade_flavors]Here's the list of flavors.[/url]


Biceps flavored Gatorade? I'm not too sorry about missing out on that one....

Nymr83
Nov 27 2007 04:41 PM

Apple-ice sounds good.

what the hell is "Women" flavor?

MFS62
Nov 27 2007 05:36 PM

Nymr83 wrote:


what the hell is "Women" flavor?


I think we all have our own idea of what it might be.
Now, about how they obtain it....

Later

DocTee
Nov 27 2007 05:53 PM

Citrus Cooler kicked ass. Can't find it anymore.

ESPN, the Flavor?

cooby
Nov 27 2007 06:14 PM

themetfairy wrote:
="Valadius"][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gatorade_flavors]Here's the list of flavors.[/url]


Biceps flavored Gatorade? I'm not too sorry about missing out on that one....



They all taste like Biceps to me

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 28 2007 07:23 AM

Yet another death in my family, this time it's our cat, Phoebe, age 17. She died peacefully this morning after a couple of days of steep decline.

November's been a sad month for me. I'll be glad to see it end.

seawolf17
Nov 28 2007 07:36 AM

You know your pet is not likely to outlive you, but it's still so hard to take when it happens. My mom had to put her cocker spaniel to sleep last week; it's such a hard thing to do.

17+ years is a long time; my condolences on your loss.

metirish
Nov 28 2007 07:36 AM

Very sorry for your families loss , that seems like a great age for a cat, is it?

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 28 2007 07:50 AM

Yes, it is. I recently found some cat-to-human age calculators on the Internet, and the results varied a little, but it was safe to say she was roughly the equivalent of an 88- or 89-year-old lady.

She had a very similar decline, and the same cause of death, as my grandmother just thirteen days earlier. One thing I've learned is that recently
losing a grandmother doesn't make it any less difficult to lose a cat.

It won't be long before my kids start talking about puppies and kittens. We had told them that we'd table such discussions until after our cat had died; it wouldn't be fair to subject her to young bouncy animals at her age. But I suspect that within a few months our home, which had become a feline geriatric residence, will have an entirely different atmosphere, petwise.

Thanks for the condolences.

Centerfield
Nov 28 2007 08:20 AM

Yancy,

I'm sorry I missed your earlier post. My condolensces on both your losses.

2007 has been kind of a sucky year for CPF members. I'll be glad to see it end.

themetfairy
Nov 28 2007 09:05 AM

My condolences on your losses.

metsguyinmichigan
Nov 28 2007 01:01 PM

Yancy,

Very sorry for your losses. I lost a grandmother -- my last grandparent -- earlier this year.

And pets are family. We had a cat 17 years, too. She was a constant in our lives through four apartments, two houses, two states and three jobs. And people say, "Well, just go buy another cat." but it's not like that, as I'm sure you know.

Hang in there, friend.


We did get another cat three months later -- "Tug" -- and he is fun. But I still miss Teddi sometimes.

MFS62
Nov 28 2007 05:27 PM

Yancy,
My heartfelt condolences for your recent losses.

Later

Rockin' Doc
Nov 28 2007 08:18 PM

Yancy, I'm sorry to hear of the passing of your beloved family cat. I wish you and your family a most joyous and happy December after all the losses you have had to endure in November.

soupcan
Nov 29 2007 07:32 AM

Pets that have been with you for years are really tough to lose.

Mookie's been dead almost a year now and we're going on 8 months with our still very puppy-like Bucky.

I still miss the Mook.

My condolences Mr. Grimm.

Edgy DC
Nov 29 2007 07:39 AM

From me, also.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 29 2007 07:50 AM

Me and Skipper send along condolences as well.

Benjamin Grimm
Nov 29 2007 07:55 AM

Thank you all!

Edgy DC
Nov 29 2007 01:39 PM

Congressional giant Henry Hyde joins Phoebe in the hereafter.

Valadius
Nov 30 2007 02:25 PM

Evel Knievel dead at 69.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071130/ap_on_re_us/obit_knievel;_ylt=AkZlWrrxu1VDKXLony2XZflvzwcF[/url]

Edgy DC
Nov 30 2007 02:37 PM

Kanye West: poison.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Nov 30 2007 02:45 PM

He's got some nerve dying of a disease and not a horrific rocketcycle wreck.

Willets Point
Nov 30 2007 02:47 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
He's got some nerve dying of a disease and not a horrific rocketcycle wreck.


Good point. Once he learned it was incurable he should have set up a jump over Grand Canyon.

Edgy DC
Nov 30 2007 02:51 PM

Second grade, every kid in my class was Superman for Halloween, and I was some dumb shit (a devil, I think).

In third grade, I wised up and went as Superman, and every other kid was Evel Knieval.

I'm through with following.

HahnSolo
Dec 01 2007 07:50 AM

At first I though Evel jumped out a window when he heard about the Milledge trade.

Edgy DC
Dec 12 2007 05:14 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 16 2007 07:33 PM

Ike Turner is now ineligible to sing for Quiet Riot, passing from this world at 76.

Fman99
Dec 16 2007 07:08 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56.

Edgy DC
Dec 21 2007 06:30 AM

No surprise, but J. Russell Coffey passes at 109. He fought Gerry in World War I.

Nymr83
Dec 21 2007 07:03 PM

Edgy DC wrote:
No surprise, but J. Russell Coffey passes at 109. He fought Gerry in World War I.


There are now two known American veterans of WW1 left

seawolf17
Dec 21 2007 07:22 PM

Nymr83 wrote:
="Edgy DC"]No surprise, but J. Russell Coffey passes at 109. He fought Gerry in World War I.


There are now two known American veterans of WW1 left

No, Julio Franco is not one of them.

Nymr83
Dec 21 2007 08:22 PM

julo franco, whenever you need an age joke, he's there for you.

sharpie
Dec 24 2007 12:38 PM

Jazz great Oscar Peterson

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/24/obit.peterson.ap/index.html