The Crane Pool Forum

Kattungal Subramaniam Manilal, 86, everyone's favorite Indian botany scholar and taxonomist. You may know him better as കാട്ടുങ്ങൽ സുബ്രഹ്മണ്യം മണിലാൽ.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2025 8:00 am You may know him better as കാട്ടുങ്ങൽ സുബ്രഹ്മണ്യം മണിലാൽ.

That's a font I use every day.
Later

Wayne Osmond, one of the singing Osmond brothers, 73.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51221062/ut ... dies-at-73

Agnes Keleti, 103, world's oldest living Olympic gold medalist. She won gold in gymnastics at Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956 at the age of 35 (!). Also managed to avoid deportation as a Hungarian Jew during WW II and later emigrated to Israel.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summ ... -1.7422521

Jean-Marie LePen, the OG RWNJ, 96.

I was going to say that I hope Jimmy Carter kicks his ass when they meet each other, but I don't think LePen is going to the same place Carter's going.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituari ... ance-dead/

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. Sang lead vocal on "Puff the Magic Dragon" among others. Paul Stookey is the only surviving member of the trio.

They were many a kid's first entry into neo-folk-style music. (I just made up that term)
Later

And as we note President Carter's legacy, probably not the shiniest part of that legacy was him giving Yarrow what is believed to be the only presidential pardon in history for a sexual offense against a child.

I could never keep Yarrow and Stookey straight.
I mean, I knew the differences between them: Yarrow was Jewish, Paul's name was actually Noel, the sex thing with the minor, etc.
But if shown a picture of the two I would never be able to match person to face. It's like, within the trio, they were interchangeable.

Director David Lynch, 78.

He directed a lot of things that I really enjoyed: Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, The Elephant Man.

George Kalinsky, famed photographer and one-time official photographer for the NY Knicks, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the NY Mets, 88.

Big name guy to those who pay attention to such things...

RIP

John Sykes, brilliant guitarist, joined Thin Lizzy for Thunder and Lightning, toured with them , Lynott would be dead with a few years, recorded Whitesnakes 1987 album but left (fired ) before it was released ,

Tygers of Pan Tang and Blue Muder were other groups he formed/played in

Sykes battled cancer , he was 65

Jules Feiffer, cartoonist, playwright, novelist, and bard of American despair and neurosis, enters the hereafter on the same day as David Schneiderman who, as editor and publisher of The Village Voice, therefore provided the platform that many first discovered Feiffer.

Also a curtain falls on The Band, as the last surviving member, Garth Hudson, breathes his last in a Woodstock nursing home.

Virginia Halas McCaskey 102
Principal owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1983 until her death in 2025.
Later

Tony Roberts - 85
Actor in many Woody Allen films.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/movi ... -dead.html

Later

Rode an escalator at Shea next to Tony Roberts one day.

I didn't notice him at first. He and his buddy were yakking away in front of me and mine. At one point my friend starts mumbling something to me.
- 'that's Tony Roberts in front of us'
- What?
- 'that's Tony Roberts in front of us'
- Huh?
- 'That's Tony Roberts in front of us!'
- "Oh yeah, so it is"

I was staying in a hotel for a conference in New York. And ever five minutes the "shit to do in New York" TV channel plugged a crap play (possibly a Grand Hotel revival) starring Tony Roberts. Nothing against TR, but I couldny't believe he was the best the producers could do for a film actor to ring for them in a stage musical.

Then I noticed he was wearing a wireless mic, with a flesh-colored pickup/element. He was so out of his depth that he needed this apparatus to help him project, and it made him look like he had a big beige mole on his face.

Flash forward to 20 years later and it seems many (or most?) productions use remote headsets for everybody.

Edgy MD wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2025 11:57 am Also a curtain falls on The Band, as the last surviving member, Garth Hudson, breathes his last in a Woodstock nursing home.

That's a great selection in terms of highlighting how integral Garth was to the Band's sound.

They're not the same outfit, at this point, post Richard Manuel's death and Robbie Robertson's departure, but they were still great even then.

Roberta Flack, 88.

One of my first loves, she and Donny Hathaway

Longtime MSG voice -- and ABA Nets ballboy -- Al Trautwig, 68. Neat story here about his LI roots.

https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/colu ... 263696007/

G-Fafif wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:33 pm Longtime MSG voice -- and ABA Nets ballboy -- Al Trautwig, 68. Neat story here about his LI roots.

I'm fahklempt.
Later

Boris Spassky - 88

If you have to ask it means you weren't there at the time to know why a Russian chess player was so well known over here.